My np9262 Arrived!!!!!

np9262

WUXGA (1920x1200)
E6850 3.0GHz CPU
4GB RAM
2x 160GB/7200rpm HD’s RAID-0
8800M GTX
Win XP 32-bit

I ordered the machine from XoticPC on 1/30 and it arrived yesterday, 2/05. Good job by XoticPC and Sager. It was packed well, and survived the journey from California to the East Coast with no dings that I can see.

I was a little surprised by its appearance. To my eyes it is much more attractive in person than it is in pictures. It has a rugged, utilitarian, down-to-business look, thankfully devoid of fake carbon fiber paint and flashing LED’s. I was also pleasantly surprised at how quiet and cool-running this system is. Even with fans forced to “high” it’s not too bad because the sound is quite low-pitched.

The machine was configured exactly as it was ordered. The screen looks good (no pixel problems that I can see) and everything works as it should.

After I got everything set up I made my first 3DMark06 run. Wow, what a shock! I got a score of 6020! The CPU score was OK but the graphics scores were way down. The video driver that was preinstalled was 167.40. I downloaded and installed the latest driver from Sager (167.46) and things improved. Here are the scores with everything running but antivirus:

Total 3DMark Score: 9733
SM 2.0 Score 4301
SM 3.0 Score 4152
CPU Score 2692

I believe this is about what might be expected for my configuration. It is interesting to note that my total score (running XP) is about 400 points higher than an identical system reported here that was running Vista.

I tried installing the Microsoft hotfix for XP that is supposed to improve multicore operation, as mentioned in the “sticky” here. For me, it didn’t work out. It actually reduced my CPU scores a little and caused an uncharacteristic freeze while running 3DMark06.

I next installed the game “The Witcher”, which I had played using a Dell XPS 1730 with dual 8700M GT’s, along with enough game saves to allow me to try each “Act”. With all settings maxed out and a resolution of 1920x1200, the game played smoothly and perfectly, and looked fantastic. By way of comparison, I had to set the Dell at 1200x resolution and settings between medium and high to get smooth game play. (Dual 8800’s will give a huge boost to that machine!)

So… I still have a few things to set up, applications to load, and things to check out, but, for now, I’m a very, very happy camper!

 

Congrats! Can't wait to get mine also! Mine showed up last week, but I'm not home... so it's waiting patiently for me in the local UPS warehouse. I got the quad core, non raid. I'll post up on it next Tues when I pick it up.

 

if you want to test XP with benchmarks, I recommend to install the SP3 RC1... it will definitely increase XP's performance to beat Vista.

The multi-core hotfix was mainly aimed at AMD dual-core CPUs and 32-bit Intel dual CPUs (Core Duo's)

The hotfix has not really shown noticeable or significant performance increases with Core 2 CPUs.

 

That is because the new CPUs have a technology that can do that without software. Forgot how it's called.

 

Yesterday was 2/5...right?

 

Back in time delivery, that is even more amazing!

congrats on your laptop.

I plan on trying out SP3 RC1 very soon.

My XP 3dmark06 scores are also higher than Vista.

 

congratulations.

 

Maybe in your world (if you're a crypto-chrono-linearist, that is):confused2: :wink:

 

Fixed. Guess I got carried away.

 

Who wouldn't, what with a brand-new 9262?