My Recent Purchase: 8850+

Okay, so, let me start off by saying that I've been reading somewhere on the internet (several sites, including .gov ones) about a disturbing fact. So, here goes.....

I'm a truck driver. Don't have a bank account, so I carry cash, alot of it. Up until recently anyway. LOL

It seems on the law books, that if you carry more then $10,000 in cash, that if pulled over and searched and a canine unit hits on the cash for drugs (even if there is none, but 90% of money out there in circulation has traces of it), the officer at that time can seize all your cash and not a thing you can do about it.......I hate government.

So, with that said, I broke down and spent some of it yesterday, alot of it. Here's what's coming to me. An early Christmas gift. Hope I made a WISE decision.

From XoticPC:

Sager NP8850 Laptop

• 17.3" FHD LED Backlit 16:9 "Glare Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright Glossy Screen (1920x1080
  0 Dead Pixel Warranty (30 Day)
  Intel® Core™ i5-520M, 2.4-2.93GHz
  Stock OEM Thermal Compound
  nVidia GeForce GTX 480M 2,048MB PCI-Express GDDR5 DX11
  8,192MB DDR3 1333MHz Dual Channel Memory
  Combo 8x8x6x4x Dual Layer DVD +/-R/RW 5x DVD-RAM 24x CD-R/RW Drive w/Softwares
  500GB 7200RPM (Serial-ATA II 300 - 16MB Cache)
  Internal 7-in-1 Card Reader (MS/MS Pro/MS Duo/MS Pro Duo/SD/Mini-SD/MMC/RS)
  Internal Bluetooth + EDR
  Intel® Ultimate-N 6300 - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module
  Built in 2.0 Megapixel Camera
  Sound Blaster Compatible 3D Audio
  Basic Black Business Case
  11.1V Smart Li-Polymer battery pack 3800mAh, 42.18Wh
  Sager NP8850 AC Adapter
  Integrated Fingerprint Reader
  3 Year Labor* 1 Year Parts Warranty Lifetime -24/7 DOMESTIC Based- Toll Free Telephone Tech Support (Labor Warranty through Xotic PC)
  Includes FREE Shipping Both Ways for Warranty Repairs
  Standard Shipping and Handling Charges

From Newegg.com:
SANS DIGITAL TowerRAID TR5UT-B 5 Bay SATA to USB2.0 / eSATA Hardware RAID 5 Enclosure (Black)
(x5) Western Digital Caviar Black WD2001FASS 2TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
(x2) Verbatim 700MB 52X CD-R White Inkjet, Hub Printable 50 Packs Disc Model 94755
Rosewill RX81U-ES-25U3 2.5" USB 3.0 External Enclosure
(x3) Case Logic CDW320 CD Wallet Nylon Black Hold Up To 336 CDs

From Tigerdirect.com:
(x2) Seagate ST95005620AS Momentus XT 500GB Solid State Hybrid Drive - 500GB, 7200 RPM, SATA 3Gb/s

From Laptopmonkey:
INTEL quad mobile i7-940XM 3.33GHZ QS CPU
3 year Warranty

Misc. Retailers:
IC Diamond 24 Carat Thermal Compound - (4.8 gram Tube)
Targus Blacktop Deluxe Notebook Case - Clamshell - Carrying Strap - Nylon - Black
(x6) Verbatim DVD+R DL 8.5GB 8X Inkjet Printable 50-pack spindle (96862)
(x5) Verbatim DVD+R 4.7GB 16x Inkjet Printable 100-pk spindle (95145)
Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Full Retail Version - 32bit & 64bit DVD's
Microsoft Office Professional 2010 Full Retail Version - DVD


All this for a measely small amount of........

$5640.86

Man, I shoulda bought a car, seeing how I dont have one. LOL

The DVD's and Cd's were bought so I have hard copies I can take with me on the road in case the Raid Tower fails. I don't want to bring the original DVD's with me in case they get damaged.

My current Laptop I will be selling once I get all this. It's an Asus G60vx. Now, don't get me wrong, I love this laptop, but I just wanted a better resolution screen and overall faster performance.

I'll also be selling off that i5-520 cpu.

Also will be selling 3 enclosures with 1.5TB drives installed. I will no longer need those once I get the raid. So keep an eye out for them. And before ya ask, no, You don't get the movies that's illegal. They'll be wiped clean before selling.

So, with that said and done, and my pocket feeling MUCH lighter now, think I made a good investment? I sure hope I do not need to upgrade again for at least 3 years. I bought this Asus about 10 months ago and has been good, but the screen resolution just isn't true HD (1080p) and I spend alot of time watching movies while I'm on the road.

 

I probably won't try overclocking or anything like that when I get it. Most Likely the stock settings will be fine.

To the current 8850 owners, Is there anything I need to do and/or be aware of when I unpack this thing, apply the grease, CPU, Harddrives, and start up for the first time? Do I need to strap myself down in a seat? Will the performance blow me out of it?

Justin said this had onboard raid hardware, not software based. So, how do I go about setting it for raid 0? And setting it at that, will Windows see it as one complete drive of 1TB (give or take)?

 

I'm sorry but in the current economic climate, how could this possibly be a wise decision?

 

I don't think anyone said it was. lol

Maybe the OP hasn't been affected by it.

 

Merry Christmas!

 

Truckers make alot of money and I mean alot of cash. I doubt that sector has been hit very hard by the recession.

Nonetheless I would suggest with that kind of cash you should buy the x7200, 2 480's would be the only proper way to enjoy the benefits of its tesselation prowess.

 

I meant wise decision as in the brand and configuration of the laptop I selected. Money aside. And yes, trucking industry has not really been affected much in the bad economy right now. But we don,t really make as much as you think. For the hours we work.

I thought about waiting for the x7200, but I don't really want to be carrying around a 12lb brick. An 8lb brick will be more then enough.

I just can't wait to get this thing and all its goodies.

Still unsure of things I need to do to it once I get it put together and start it up. I know with my current Asus, there was a lot of new drivers to download when I unpacked it. Some that I shouldnt.

Anything I should do with the 8850? I know raid must be set up before loading on the operating system. Is that done in the BIOS?

 

We can only tell you if it was a wise decision once the overclock limits of the GTX 480M are known. In any case it's a great laptop and if money does not matter (although this in itself is an unwise statement ;-) ) it is alright to get the GTX 480M over the Mobility Radeon HD 5870 since it will always be a bit faster.

 

I have never liked ATI cards. I owned the first all-in-wonder that came out and had a lot of problems with it. I have never bought ATI since then. Always NVIDIA for me. So its not just a matter of money difference. In my own personal experience, ATI cards just plain suck.

Also, from reading all the reviews, just seems like the 8850 just seems to cool better with its redesigned heatsinks.

Like I said, I may not over clock it. For how much I play games, the risk and strain of overclocking is not worth it. This thing will probably be fast enough as it is for me. Afterall, its a nice upgrade from this Asus. Speed, graphics, and cooling.

 

So you had one ati card 14 years ago, and from that you've deemed all cards since to be crap?

I was one of the suckers that bought the FX5900U right when it came out. Worst $600 I've ever spent, but I've had 3 nvidia cards since then and they've all been great.

 

Don't get me wrong. I'm sure ATI puts out great cards. But when you're sitting on a fence and not sure which side to fall over on....sometimes a bad experience with one thing is just enough to make you go the other way. In this case...money for me is really no object and seems performance between the 480m & 5870 are almost identical...that bad experience with ATI tipped the scale for me.

At any rate...can't wait to get this thing set up. I'm even thinkin of going back to play eve-online again. You get in a gang and battle with like 500 others....really puts a strain on graphics LOL.

 

Yeah! Xoticpc shipped the lappy. Will be here on the 23rd! The CPU shipped, but got no tracking info for it. So no idea when that will come.

Could someone quickly post where I can download the programs for testing it and burning it in? Also maybe the programs needed to overclock CPU and GPU if I choose to.

Anything else I would need to do during setup? Maybe download new drivers, flash BIOS (to which version?), spend 5 hours on Windows update? LOL

Gettin excited. Can't wait to play Pong on it! Will be so much better then my original pong box.

 

It should ship with the newest bios version, for future updates bookmark this handy thread.
You can test you system by using Prime 95 and Furmark, preferable both at the same time. I think I don't need to mention 3DMark Vantage.

As for overclocking GPU I would use EVGA Precision, it's much better than Ntunes...

As it stands now, you will not be able to overclock your CPU. But it's enough power anyway.

 

He bought a 940XM, so he can use throttlestop to overclock it.

 

Chin, did you overclock yours? What are your settings? Stable? And thanks Daniel. What are links for the throttle thing and 3dmark and evga precision? I'm using mobile phone atm. On the road. So ill check links later when I turn on laptop.

 

Here's the link to ThrottleStop. I do have mine overclocked. Currently I have all cores stable at 3.6Ghz. My max temp is 84*C.

 

I know my chip may be stable at less or more speed than that. I know not every chip is made equal, but, what settings did you have to get it there? I've never overclocked anything before. I need to study up on how it is done, and things to look for when I get close to the danger zone of frying something.

 

I have my TDP to 70W and TDC to 40A. The Multipliers are at 27 for all cores. Those are my settings.

 

Might want to familiarize yourself with the law a bit more, because you are incorrect....but any ways, you should really open a savings account. You should be more worried about someone hijacking your truck with all that loot inside the cab than a random chance that a K-9 unit is going to search your rig. Smart thing to do is open a savings account. Those are free at some banks I believe.

Any who, while you have one awesome laptop, I think the GTX480m is a bit overrated. 5870m performance is about identical. And what is the laptop for that you would need solid state drives and a 940xm? If it's just gaming the i5-520m performs just as well as the 940xm, especially when you consider that it's the gpu that'll weigh you down, especially at 1920x1080 resolution. I went from a 920xm to a i5-520m...no difference in games, and performance overall...plus I got a cpu that idles in the 30s, and a gpu that'll now idle in the 40s.

 

So, at that freq., is it faster than a Core i7 920 Desktop?

 

Yes. I have my TDP to 105W and TDC to 90A now. Currently running at 3.6GHz.

 

Holy cow, what are your CPU temps? Sorry for ot but it sure is interesting.

 

I max at 86*C. This is without a cooler. With a cooler, I get 78*C.

 

Yes, sorry about OT. But, when I said faster than a desktop CPU, I mean, did you bench the overclocked CPU and it shows better performance than the desktop i7 920?

 

I didn't, but both cpu's are based on the same architecture, so I would assume it's performance would be greater than a stock desktop 920. I'll try to install everest and get solid results.

Edit: Here is 5150Joker's wPrime run.

 

Yep, no doubt, a bit faster than 920 desktop at stock clock. + rep. If you can run the everest test, it would be nice.

 

Daniel,

I ran Prime95 stress test and the second i ran Furmark (at same time), the computer instantly shut off. *shrug*

I saw one of the cores at 91c before it shut off

 

It's because two fans are cooling the 480M, leaving very little for the CPU. But at least your GPU is ice cold.

 

Than it's a design failure and I wouldnt want such a laptop. But, it should not shut down "just" because one core is reaching 91°C and others didnt report such a problem... a slightly higher CPU temp, yes, but no shutting down. The cooling system is still one of the best, there has to be some other problem... you replaced the CPU yourself, right? How did you apply the thermal paste? Is everthing connected and doest the heat sink make perfect contact with the CPU?

 

yes, installed myself. However, I think I had themachine unplugged when I ran it? Maybe, the power draw just drain the battery dead like a door nail.

ATM cpu temps are at 56c and only thing its doing is checking my raid 5 disc tower array for errors/bad clusters before moving movies over to it.

So not much of a load atm on it.

I am in the process of posting the pics in the other thread. They show how I placed the thermal paste on the cpu/gpu. Maybe I did it wrong or something.

 

Alright, the pics should help finding the problem. But afaik 91°C on one core is "normal" because of the GPU also sending heat to the CPU fan.

Anyway, I guess its clear what caused the shutdown. Never run prime95 or furmark and especially not both at the same time on battery. I'm sure it was by mistake, but those components draw or try to draw far too much power from the battery. The battery could take serious damage so in order to prevent this the system shuts down.

 

Moved Pictures to the 8850 Owners Lounge thread.

 

holy big picture batman!

let my try and fix that. LOL

 

Oops, I meant to post these in the other thread, will delete that post and do it there. It should be in that post, in case another member has the same problem, can easily find in that post when they read. Moving it too the 8850 owners lounge thread.

 

Do not run high demand stuff on battery, it can't cope with the high current draw and it will shut off - not to mention you'll ruin the battery life.

 

a, lol, i realize that now