Question about NP5790/1 or 9260/1 fan noise.

I am wanting to get a new Sager laptop, either the NP5790/1 or the 9260/1. These are some of the specs I will have on the laptop....

WUXGA Display
nVidia 7950GTX
T7500 Processor (NP5790/1) or E6600 Processor (NP9260/1)
2GB RAM
200GB HDD @ 7.2K rpm (NP5790/1) or 2 x 200GB @ 7.2K rpm (NP9260/1)
Possibly will run the NP9260 in RAID 1 configuration.
XP Pro SP2

I will be using the laptop for work running apps. such as SolidWorks2006, Adobe CS3 Master Collection, Sony Vegas v.7 + DVD Architect (Upgrading to v.8 soon).
Also, will be using the laptop for gaming with Crysis (Soon), CounterStrike, Half-Life 2, GTR 2, DiRT, etc.

The only question I have is in regards to the fan noise that I have been reading about. I have read on some forums that they are pretty bothersome and others say that they are very quiet. Here are the questions I have....

How loud are the fans? If anyone can, can you please describe how loud we are talking?

Do the fans run constantly?

I realize that this is a performance laptop, and they do tend to run a little warm. For this reason, I will have a cooling pad underneath the unit.

 

Well the D900C/D901C (Sager 9260/1) has a Fan Toggle (Fn+1) to switch all fans to go Max Speed or Auto Speed.

... which has been a trademark in their recent gaming notebooks.

The M570RU (Sager 5790/1) needs to get a new BIOS and maybe keyboard firware to enable the same function.

With the fans on Auto, you will notice the fans turn on for each component when the temp gets to a certain point.

With the fans all on Max Speed, you will notice a nice constant (not annoying) airflow from the fans. (I usually Toggle it to Max when I turn it on, so that I wont forget and to avoid any heat issues)

 

Thanks for the quick response Gophn!

That is a nice feature with the D900C/D901C (Sager 9260/1). On the M570RU (Sager 5790/1), are the fans originally set to run @ Max Speed or are they set in the Auto configuration?

With the M570RU (Sager 5790/1), is there a "new BIOS update" available through the "OEM", say "PowerNotebooks.com", and/or also a keyboard fw update? This would surely be a nice function to have.

 

When the 9260 fans are on low, they are unnoticeable. When on high, they are defintely noticeable. I would not say they are excessively loud. My sister sitting 6 or 7 feet awat did not complain while she was watching TV.

I do have my rig on a Zahlman cooler and have the cooler's fans on high and the notebooks set on auto. The Zahlman fans are very quiet, even at full power. It also drops the GPU temp by several degrees, though not as much as the notebook fans will

 

How would you rate the Zahlman cooler? Not to familiar with the notebook coolers available now. Are there any others you can suggest to look at?

 

There are a number of cooler threads in the accessories forum, including some reviews with pictures. The Zahlman was the one I picked going through this material.

It's simple, lighter than I thought, and USB powered. It has and extra USB port on the cooler so you don't loose the use of a port. It has a speed control which enables you to control the fan speed from low to high.

I am happy with it and have it with me on my business trip to Germany. My 9260 is big and hangs over the edges, but the computer feet all fit on the cooler and it is stable.

 

quick spelling correction...

the Zalman ZM-NC1000 is probably the best notebook cooler that is available at the moment. Nothing out there like it at the moment
... except the upcoming Cooler Master Infinite... which seems more gimmicky than the Zalman.

 

Gophn, thanks for the correction and the heads-up on the upcoming product.

 

I just bought a sager 5790 and I have the zalman cooler. I notice almost no noise at most times. Occasionally the second fan kicks in like once every 15 minutes and it is noticable for about 2 seconds then it shuts off. My computer stays very cool so far. The second fan turns on more frequently under gaming load but if you are listening to in game sound effects you will never notice it at all. Not sure what all the hullabaloo is with the noise level on this machine.

 

Hearing conflicting stories from different users on other posts, and I just wanted this clarified before I go ahead and purchase the new NP5791. Giving presentations using a loud laptop would not be good in a business environment. It would not bother me as much when I am working on projects or gaming by myself.

 

I rate mine very highly. You can't really hear the fans running when it's on.

 

I have the NP5790 and hear very little fan noise. I also use the Vantec LapCool 2 and that helps.

One thing that I wonder about is how hot the AC adapter gets.

Also R&J Technology were great to deal with.

 

I would have to disagree with all of these people. I have the NP5790 and a Compal HGL30. I love my Compal, but the Clevo seems to overall be of better build quality. The screen resolution is amazing, which is the main reason I want to keep it. Besides that, I prefer the touchpad of the Compal STRONGLY. It is the best touchpad I've ever used, while the Clevo is tough. Like, if I put the speed to MAX, it is still super difficult to drag something all the way across the screen. I need to be able to make it even faster than max setting (like preferably twice this fast). Also the keyboard and touchpad just have a very rough texture, and I much prefer the smooth feel of the Compal (mostly on the touchpad).

I've been using the Sager on my bed and the super loud fan runs constantly and bugs the piss out of me. Even on a hard surface, it kicks in super super often and I hate it. It's about as loud as my old desktop that had like 8 fans in it. The Compal used to have a similar problem but just needed a Bios update and now it is not loud at all.

I haven't even used the Sager for gaming, so I think it must just be a poor design or the fans are retarded...I would think they could manage (despite the powerful hardware) to keep it cool enough w/out the excessive fan noise when you're not even gaming or doing much of anything.

I have a pretty good cooler but it doesn't help that much, and I never use it with the Compal. The 5790 is definitely the loudest laptop I've ever experienced. Usually if you buy a normal one from HP or something you never hear the sound at all. I'm going to see what the max output monitor resolution support is for the go7600, and then I'm prolly gonna get a monitor and sell my 5790, just because of the fan noise and the trackpad (and the HGL30 is just the ****, and this thing was hella expensive).

 

its not poor design with fans, Clevo just programmed the fans to come on with a certain component is warmed up to a certain temp.

If you use a good notebook cooler (like Zalman ZM-NC1000), the fans will not come on as much since the components are being cooled more.

The remedy for this is about to come in the form of a Fan Toggle.... like other Clevo gaming notebook before it.

The Clevo D900C has a Fan Toggle (Fn + 1) which switches all fans to a constant max speed (from a default Auto speed).

The M570RU just needs to get a new BIOS and maybe keyboard firmware update.

 

Oh, but also on the 5790 I somehow lost my system tray, so if anyone can help me w/ the following:

1. Restore the system tray
2. Make the trackpad faster (3rd party program? I'm going to check out the options in the drivers
3. Make it so the high pitched fan DOESN'T turn on ever...I want some way to manually disable that fan or change the temp at which it kicks in to really high. I highly doubt the heat produced from using the web and what not puts my hardware in danger. When I'm in class or the library, I can't have this loud fan kicking in. If I can't figure out way to stop it I will have to sell this laptop.

Oh, also the speakers are super good compared to my compal, and I can get a TV tuner, making it a MUCH bette media center (still haven't tested the 1080p)

 

For #1, try http://windowsxp.mvps.org/trayicons.htm