M860TU Custom Build - Critique Needed

Hey I have spent quite a bit of time searching and thanks to everyone's contributing comments I found the perfect candidate - Anyway I just recently found out about the Clevo/Sager products and would like to suggest the CEO of the company(s) to start advertising and whip out all of the bloat ware mainstream junk brands existing in today's market

Anyway, instead of buying the Sager NP8660 I have decided to buy a M860TU barebone and order the remaining products from newegg. From my understanding all I need after purchasing the M860TU barebone http://mivasecure.abac.com/rjtech/m...ode=R&Product_Code=M860TU&Category_Code=CLEVO is a CPU, HDD, Memory, and OS

The above being said these are the products I have chosen to complete the M860TU barebone

CPU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819111007

HDD - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148336

Memory - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148191

OS - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116478


I would like to mention that 2 days ago I had no idea what a " Clevo " nor a " Sager " was. I also have no prior Desktop/Laptop building experience and to be completely honest besides watching youtube videos ( which by the way look easy ) I do not have a clue on how I am going to be able to install the CPU, HDD, Memory, and OS into the M860TU. So if any of you on here have a little extra time to spare I would appreciate any input provided on installing the CPU, HDD, Memory, and OS into the M860TU

Then again maybe I have this entire thing wrong and need much more then what I think is needed to complete the M860TU barebone



Thank you all for your prior enlightening input on the M860TU platform,


Pwn


**Edit**

--- From my understanding, besides the SSD the HDD that I have selected is the best money can buy. Also if any of you have any better DDR3 suggestions your input would not be overlooked.

--- I am also wondering if any better quality products such as ( HDD, Memory, CPU ) will be released in the next couple weeks. I believe Intel is releasing the T9800 - From what I understand new products start debuting after the first of they year


Thanks again,

Pwn

 

Any particular reason you're buying barebones? It really won't save you much at all. For example, you're saving $7 on that CPU. Why bother? You'll only save yourself a few bucks on each item, so why waste your time scouring the internet and installing the goods? Just BTO the system you want, and spend your time using it instead.

 

put a quadcore in it..

i want to see some one put a quadcore in a M860tu..

 

Now there's a reason to go barebones. I'd love to see a quadcore in one of these puppies.

 

It is not because of the money issue, it is actually about $60 more this way with no warranty. The main reason is because I do not know what name brands are in the Sager NP8660.

If that were possible I would be all over it like white on rice - I think there will be some heating issues and there is no mobile quad core CPU available, from what I understand - Money is not an issue and I would have no problem doing this if it were EFFICIENTLY possible. I can not experiment due to the fact that I make a living off of using Computers


Pwn

 

Also would you please answer the initial questions


Thanks in advance,

Pwn

 

Hello Pwn.

It seems that we are both in the same boat. I also will be investing in a new Clevo M860TU from RJTech. After months of planning on my finely aged Clevo M38AW, I have decided that I will purchase the core essentials seperately just as you are planning. Lets go ahead and cut right to the chase.

For the CPU, the P9500 has been a forum favorite in the M860TU. However, Intel will be releasing a new flagship for the P series on December 28, namely the P9600 clocked at 2.66GHz, half a step up from the P9500. The P9600 will most likely sell for the same price as the P9500 now, and also push the prices of the P series lower.

There will also be new releases in the P series and the T series as well as a new mainstream quad core CPU dubbed the Q9000 clocked at 2GHz with 6MB L2 under the hood. On Clevo's website, they list in the specs sheet that the Q9000 is one of the compatible CPU's along with the rest of the dual core CPU's. However I do not know if this is true with the current production M860TU's or if Clevo will be updating the motherboard along with a BIOS revision just as they have done with the M570TU. I have not been keeping up with "quad cores in a M860TU" news as religiously as others so please take it with a grain of salt.

As for RAM, the Crucials that you have selected will do just fine. But if you want to push your laptop to the max, you can try a set of Kingston's newly released HyperX set of 2x2GB sticks, each of them fancying 5-5-5-15 timings, compared to the standard 7-7-7-20 timings in current DDR3 1066MHz sticks. They are priced at $228 off of Kingston's online store, but if you want I have a coupon for 30% off if you want to save a little dough. Kingston's HyperX sticks come with these cheesy blue aluminium heat spreaders which, in my opinion, are rubbish and may only make installation harder as the heat spreaders make the sticks thicker. I might just rip off the heat spreaders if they interfere with the fitting into the RAM slots. They are attached to the memory chips by a cheap film of adhesive so they should not be difficult to remove.

For the hard drive, the 320GB 7200.3 is also a great performer. But again, there will be a new line of hard drives coming as early as December 29 or through the first two weeks of January. Seagate will be releasing their new Momentus 7200.4 in both 250GB and 500GB flavors. From what I hear in the hardware forum, the 7200.4's power consumption seems promising.

Installing the CPU, RAM, and hard drive should not be difficult. Directions on how to install the hard drive and the RAM are explained in the manual and the CPU should be as easy as removing the heat sink, dropping that sucker in, putting on some AS5 or MX-2 (pick your poison), and close it all up. I might also recommend undervolting the CPU for cooler temps. Or you can try what I did on my M38AW and lap the face of the CPU heatsink flat and shiny to drop the temps another 1-2 degrees, at least that is what I have gotten on my poor old Pentium M 760.

Best of luck with your new Clevo, Pwn.

 

You have answered all of my question in the utmost enlightening manner! I also would like to wish you the best with your Clevo. Thank you for your time.


Happy Holidays!

Pwn

 

Isn't that a little bit like putting a V-8 into a hatchback? I had a friend a long time ago who managed to put a short-block into an old AMC Gremlin, but only after "reshaping" the firewall with a sledgehammer.

 

Govori6 li Bulgarski? Pro4teh ti signatura i eh na Bulgarski lol


Pwn

 

I did Alot of research B4 I bought mine so....
Intel just released a 160GB version of the Intel X25-M SSD, bout $1000 though....I have the 80GB version and am Very happy with it I don't reccomend any other SSD as they have shown to be lackluster when it comes to multitasking and random writes.
Also, yes the t9800 should soon be available, but the T9600 is available right now @ 2.8ghz. Or if again you want to spend lots of your hard earned cash you can get the X9100 @ 3.06 as I did. There were thermal concerns with the X9100 so I'm not sure Clevo even reccomends it however I had mine installed by Eurocom with thermal paste and I never exceed 70 degrees Celcius. You are supposed to be able to overclock the X9100 however the M860TU bios does not support it.... hopefully it will down the road. *fingers crossed*
You can also grab up 4GB of 1333 DDR3 ram instead of 1066, or you could get 8gb @ 1066 as I did for they don't manufacture 8GB @ 1333 as of yet. But 8GB is about $1000.
Definately reccomend thermal paste on the CPU and GPU....keeps things a bit cooler. My GPU has never been above 70 deg even though I have it OC at 615/975/1525.
A cooler might still be a good idea.
I'd show you a pic of my homemade cooler with ten 70mm x 10mm fans but photobucket is currently down for maintanence.
I was able to get my configuration pretty much maxxed right out for about $4400 shipping and taxes included....so I dunno how much you are looking to spend but I am in love with mine
I love the Build quality....the only peeve I have with it is the CPU whining noise as mine does not go away with bluetooth enabled. Silent mode helps but its still there, hopefully they will find a fix soon
I also reccomend/enjoy the 1920x1200 screen with bluray drive....if you are into or already have a few HD movies
Good luck hope that helps

 

Wow, you people are so helpful I can not even begin to explain. I do not mind spending money on a SSD, but I am not familiar with how much it helps. I would love to install the same CPU as yours but I am not as computer savvy as I believe you are so I must stick to fundamental efficiency.

What ever set up I decided to buy I am going to have to duplicate. That being said I am going to have to spend double the amount just in case something happens to the primary unit. I plan on traveling overseas and exploring the world ( That is any place with a business grade connection, but European connection speeds are off the charts so I should be good there and the U.S. offers business grade connection at most well known hotels )


Thank you for your time and Happy Holidays!

Pwn

 

Soviet Sunrise covered the processor situation very well. You should wait a couple weeks to see at what prices the P9600 and T9800 hit the market, and what movement this causes in the prices of the current line up. Intel has, so far, only announced a price drop for the P8600, but more may be coming.

Or you can be impatient like me and buy an engineering sample. I got a great deal on a final spec T9800 ES, so I jumped on it.

 

haha, My mom had a Pacer when I was a kid, It finally broke down and she was going to get a new car, her friend gave my mom a gremlin, and just when I thought things couldnt get worse.

 

At the temps the m860tu runs at.. and at the safe temps we know for both the CPus and the 9800m GT i can see any of the mobile quads being cooled easerly...

yes the laptop will be hotter but i would be suprized if it pushed the Gpu up to any thing past 90c at full load...

If im not mistaken i remember seeing a europian site selling it with the 2.5q

 

I've looked inside mine, and I'd be surprised if the Quad Core could fit in there. I'd love to be proven wrong though.

 

Not trying to steal the thread, but you guys are talking bout the price drops.
I'm buying a NP8660 from Xoticpc.
Do you guys think the processors prices will drop before Jan 6th (Thats when their sale on the NP8660 goes off)?
Getting the P9500.
So buy it now or wait till beginning of Jan?
Thanks.

 

Hi SemiGamer,

From the articles that are circulating around and from what Kevin_Jack2.0 has mentioned, it appears that Intel is only planning on cutting prices for the P8600. However, I have a feeling that Intel may cut the prices for other CPU's also. For example, the P9600 will release at ~$350, the same price as the P9500 on release. I think you can see the logical paradox from here on. Who knows if Intel will sell both CPU's at the same price, drop the price of the P9500, or discontinue the P9500. We will all know in less than 72 hours providing that Intel makes their move.

I can't speak from your standpoint, but if a new top shelf CPU is going to be released before the end of the big sale at the same price as the current fastest CPU, I would definately wait for it.

Merry Christmas, SemiGamer.

 

Very good read, thank you all. I will be waiting a couple more weeks based on the comments provided in this thread.


Thank you,

Pwn

 

I plan on buying a low-spec M860TU from Eurocom and using their Trade-In program to get ~20% off. Then I'll sell the low-end components and buy high-end replacements at good prices.

I'll add a P9600 for ~$200 and 4GB (2x2GB) of OCZ 1333Mhz RAM for $80, and I'll sell the T5800 and the 2GB stick of RAM.

 

Wow that is actually not a bad idea! Mind if I ask why you prefer Eurocom over PowerNotebooks and XoticPC?


Thanks,

Pwn

 

Eurocom still offers the 9800M GT and they have their Trade-In program which can allow me to get the 20% discount. I can also choose to downgrade or exclude some components in favor of buying my own at the best prices I can find.

 

Based upon my experiencce Eurocom had Excellent customer service. Very quick to respond and usually quite knowledgable. I thought it was the best deal in Canada but I was also looking for the best money could buy and the other companies just couldn't offer that.

Hey 5482741 are you from Alberta?

 

Thanks Soviet, I'll wait till around the first than order it on the second no matter what the prices have done I guess.
Merry (belated) Christmas to you as well.