How do I tap into this power?!

Ok, so I have the Sager 9262. Here are the specs:

Q9550 CPU
dual nvidia 9800GT (sli enabled)
Dual 320GB 5400rpm (non raid)
1920x1200 screen
4GB RAM
Vista Ultimate 64-bit

I think that's all the important stuff. Anyways, the reason I'm making this thread is that although I KNOW this machine is simply a beast, I can't seem to get the performance out of it. I know a big problem is Vista but this is the first time I've used it seriously. In any case here are the symptoms...

1. I enabled hibernate and when I turn the computer back on, all of my information is lost and I got the safe mode startup screen.

2. When I boot up, my HD's are going crazy for about 15 minutes before they stop. I know on my previous laptop, this greatly diminished performance. It was usually a scan or something from antivirus software, but I don't have antivirus software on my Sager.

3. Programs and folders seem to take a while to open (probably due to the HD being accessed by SOMETHING in Vista). My previous laptop runs XP and isn't half the machine of my Sager boots up faster and loads everything faster.

4. Running my stock setup, my 3Dmark06 scores were only around 10,200. I've seen scores of 15,000+ with the setup that I have.

I think that about covers it all. I'm sure all of these problems are easily fixed, but I don't quite yet know how to get around Vista to fix these problems. Thanks in advance!

 

Probably not Vista's fault. Vista is just as fast as XP as long as you are using recent drivers. Make sure all your drivers are current. Use the process explorer and eliminate any unnecessary processes.

 

did you do a fresh reinstall of vista? cause when i got my laptop, it was kind of sluggish, even though there was no bloatware installed..but after i did a clean reinstall of vista64...i got waaay better performance in games and apps....oh, and make sure your drivers are up to date.

 

Hmmm, alright. I'll do a fresh install of Vista. How do I know if my drivers are up to date? Or better yet, where can I download the most recent drivers?

 

laptopvideo2go.com for latest gpu drivers
intel.com for chipset drivers
realtek.com for sound drivers (if you have a realtek sound card)
intel.com for wireless drivers
oh, and after you clean install, make sure windows is completely uptodate

 

Thanks! I appreciate the fast response. I'll try everything mentioned here tomorrow and post back. (Gotta do my homework tonight first).

 

Oh one more thing, how do I address the hibernation problem?

 

Don't know if this is the fix but might be worth a try to fix the BCD File: (it has worked for some)

1. Run CMD.EXE as administrator

2. Run the following command: bcdedit -enum all

Look for "Resume from Hibernate" in the output from the command above(example below):

Resume from Hibernate

---------------------

identifier {3d8d3081-33ac-11dc-9a41-806e6f6e6963}

device partition=C:

path \Windows\system32\winresume.exe

description Windows Vista (TM) Enterprise (recovered)

inherit {resumeloadersettings}

filedevice partition=C:

filepath \hiberfil.sys

pae Yes

debugoptionenabled No

3. Once you have found it, copy the value for identifier (in this example - {3d8d3081-33ac-11dc-9a41-806e6f6e6963})

4. Run the following command: bcdedit /deletevalue {3d8d3081-33ac-11dc-9a41-806e6f6e6963} inherit

5. Test hibernation.

 

Chipset drivers for 9262??? How do I check my chipset and mobo type?

 

Use the force, Luke.

 

you should do some benchmarks (3DMark06, PCMark05 / Vantage, HDtune) and post the screenshots of them to help us figure out what the issue might be.

Here are the common software issues that could make it slow:
- you must be plugged into AC power to enable full performance for gaming
- make sure you are using latest and stable videocard drivers (either from Sager or from laptopvideo2go forums)
- the "Windows Power Options" and/or "Nvidia Control Panel" should be switched to Max Performance
- disable the resource hogs going on in the background
..... disable Aero Theme, disable anti-virus suites, disable Drive Indexing, etc...

also read this thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=311800

 

Smart azz LOL

 

Better a smart azz than a dumb azz

 

Toucher my friend toucher.

 

I think you mean touché

 

Well in the english way of spelling things, yes, but in the french way, no. (don't know how to the accents)

 

You use unicode symbols. You may find this attachment helpful.

 

well, this thread is done. goodnight gracie...

 

Thanks for that.

 

Surely both ways should be the same as there is no english version of the word. Toucher in french is the verb "to touch" where as touché is the conjugation of that verb "touched"

 

Ah I see... (this thread has gone WAY off topic lol). Sorry but I haven't been able to play with my toy yet, hopefully tonight a little bit.

 

Bout to run 3Dmark06 and PCmark05. I'll post scores in a few and then reinstall Vista and run them again.

 

Surprisingly, my 3dMark06 score went up 3000+ points. Wonder why

Anyways, here are the scores. Bout to do a fresh install of Vista.

 

if the SLI was not enabled or there were driver issues, then that would account for the 3000-ish point difference.

 

Yeah I know but SLi was enabled. Anybody know where I can find the wireless driver for this thing? The one on the disk doesn't work and it was working before. The driver from sager's site is taking WAY TOO LONG. (ETA: 2.5 hours)

 

Here are the benchmarks after a fresh install. I'm quite happy with the 3Dmark06 scores. It would seem to be that the CPU test really strains the computer (less than 2fps). With a quad core processor, I would have expected the performance to be much higher. Perhaps 3DMark06 is only stressing one core? Anyway to change the settings to get a better CPU score? My PCMark05 score shows my CPU score nearly twice that of 3DMark06. Anyways, now that that is all said and done, what else can I do to get more performance?

PS The first benchmarks are SLi disabled, and the second is SLi enabled.

 

Here are the SLi results.