The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Making NP9280 more efficient

    Discussion in 'Sager and Clevo' started by shleepy, Jun 2, 2009.

  1. shleepy

    shleepy Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    16
    Messages:
    104
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    31
    The first thing I thought of when I heard about the NP9280 is "why the hell don't they offer more efficient CPU options?" For my desktop, I have a 95W TDP Xeon Gainestown CPU (i7 for servers), which works just fine on X58 motherboards. Well, the NP9280 is on an X58 platform, but the sites I've seen selling the laptop only sell them with standard i7 CPU's - the i7 9xx series, all at 130W TDP.

    Wouldn't a 60W Xeon L5520 work just fine on this laptop? It would run a lot cooler and would probably significantly improve battery life. IMO, that's worth the slight performance drop (which would still presumably kick the butt of any Core 2).

    Also, would the newer mobile ATI video cards, if somehow acquired in MXM form, theoretically work without problems? I'm not sure, but something like the HD4850 should give similar performance to the GTX280M with increased power efficiency.

    Hook up a nice SSD (or two if you must), instead of an HDD, and you can even further increase power efficiency.

    Thoughts?
     
    shleepy, Jun 2, 2009
    #1
  2. pbcustom98

    pbcustom98 Goldmember

    Reputations:
    405
    Messages:
    1,654
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    being a powerhouse computer and being energy efficient normally do not go hand in hand. it is obviously made for desktop grade power in a somewhat mobile package.

    most times, this unfortunately means very low battery life, and it runs hot. luckily the 9280/d900f is close to the same as the d901c which has an amazing cooling system.
     
    pbcustom98, Jun 2, 2009
    #2
  3. shleepy

    shleepy Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    16
    Messages:
    104
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    31
    I know what you mean, but using a 130W TDP processor in a laptop is just ridiculous to me. It's one thing to shove a 65W E8xxx series CPU in a laptop (they're actually virtually the same as the T9xxx/P9xxx series, even in terms of power consumption), but the i7's need a giant heatsink for good cooling and a half-decent power supply in a DESKTOP, let alone a laptop. Even the L5520 is still quite definitely a desktop component - and like I said, it would still be very powerful. I'm not planning on buying this laptop, mind you. :) But if anyone already owns it and wants to experiment with how much battery life and heat a lower-power Intel Xeon CPU would save, please post your results!
     
    shleepy, Jun 3, 2009
    #3
  4. catacylsm

    catacylsm Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    423
    Messages:
    4,135
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    106
    The 4850 does not need the power boost, just good cooling, then the clocks can be flashed past the limits unbelievably sucessful :)
     
    catacylsm, Jun 3, 2009
    #4