Sager (7280) Clevo (X7200) Power Supply Issues.

There is very little to gain by using a c300 on a sata III interface. The gains are there, but are neglijable, and i believe they are only on seq writes. So you wont be losing much by using a c300 on laptops, especialy the 128gb version.
The way i see it, is c300 better than sandforce 1200 better than intel ssds. Anandtech prefer the sandforce 1200, than the crucial, then intels 2nd gen.
But the thing is, sandforce gains its speed by compressing data, whereas the c300 is speedy, but works with data as it is. So i prefer the c300 because if the sandforce deals with heavy compress data, it looses speed.

 

I Have a sata 6 board and the C300 The speeds are like 355mb max and like fzhfzh say is not worth to pay more and get minimum performance gains also the sata 6 boards have a marvel controller good luck getting trim to work with the Marvel drivers the only way you get trim to work is leaving windows drivers intact

i would wait for the real sata 6 intel controller at this point sata 6 on marvel is nothing to get exited for, if you guys really want speed get 2 intel 160gb g2 drives in raid 0

and we should keep the thread on topic don't you guys think so ?

 

Just as a point, if I'm not mistaken, 300MB/s is the theoretical maximum, which doesn't take overhead, etc... into account, so in a real world situation no one can really reach 300MB/s.

 

I have also read the review of the X7200 running C300. All I know is the set of C300's I installed in my X7200 would not work correctly. Maybe I had bad drives, but they would not work for very long in RAID-0 or even as single drives.

I tried everything. I even formatted them as someone suggested.....lol

Trust me, I know how to install, format and run SSD's. I talked to both Sager & Crucial and both informed me they were not tested together and Sager went as far as to say their tech tried for a week and could not make them work.

I was getting reads of ~600MB/s and writes of ~425MB/s. I really wish they would have worked. The two Intel X25-m in RAID-0 are at 500MB/s Reads and ~200MB/s in writes.

 

Interesting. I wonder where the problem is... It's probably the MB controller, I've heard people say some rather unpleasant things about them.

 

I was not too happy to see the review showing the drives I had just waisted 4 days work trying to get to run correctly. I also saw the AVADirect listed dozens of SSD options. Xotic PC (where I got mine from) only listed Intel SSDs.

 

Trust me - you won't see any difference in speed whether the SSD is a Intel G2, a Crucial or Sandforce 1200 based units. Measurable, yes - difference in perceived speed, no. You be better off going with the one that has better "track record", in durability and stability ... and so far that is still a Intel win, in my opinion.
You can agree or disagree, but let's stop this SSD talk in this thread now - and don't argue with me

 

If i were me, and i am, i would wait for 3rd gen ssd, and 470m sli. But, the way things are in present with sli and crossfire, i\d rather wait until lucid logix hidra makes its way into laptops. That is by far the best multi gpu solution there is.
Right now a msi with dinaudion and 460m is also a good solution. Esspecialy since the x7200 has psu issues in this period.

SLI and Crossfire is not the best multi gpu implementation that we can have. They SUCK. To be honest. But for NOW in laptop world its all we have.

A good solution now, might be an msi dynaudio laptop, 15" 1080p screen, 460m, a 3rd gen intel ssd + a tb hdd. ANd a 840qm would do.

 

SLI actually works fine.....CF is not far behind it, but right now SLI is best.

The PSU issues will be fixed one way or another, I just hope it is a solution that we will like (not crippling the system with bios restraints)

There is always something better coming out, so waiting is not worth it.

 

Can you be more detailed as I tried but it just wont install

 

Sorry about that...I did get it to install however all of the tools to overclock and such would not recognize the driver version and such, it just put blanks in there. I do not reccomend installing it yet.

The way I installed it was right clicking the downloaded file, extracting it to a new folder then going to the device manager I right clicked the 480m under display adapters and clicked update the driver software, then let me pick, select the driver, then Have Disk. Then browse to the folder of the extacted driver and it picks it up. Again, I would wait a little for a better option...

 

Yep, with every new system/cards it takes some time to sync everything. I'd say, screw the latest drivers for now, just stick to the stock and stable ones for gaming and OC'ing.

 

Any news about the power supply?

 

Heard nothing so far

 

Glad you guys are enjoying your new toys.
Sent mine back power supply kept shutting off with no intelligent answer except don't O.C.

This is a business laptop and anyone buying the 980 is just wasting money. Its an old guys laptop starcraft and excel.

 

In the review by Anandtech they mention a Clevo utility which keeps the performance at lower levels so that it never draws too much power.

 

i think not all the units are affected like yours and mine with no overclock at all but Clevo should step up and give the buyers a resolution soon because this is looking bad on the business stand point

 

Are there actually any confirmed cases where the PSU doesn´t have issues under stressing like the one you did?

 

I can not confirm that because the forum users here have different
experience also I think many people accept the laptop problems for different reasons

I personally do not understand why someone would accept to pay that amount of money for something bad but everyone has his reasons and I respect that

as I said before this can be a problem on few machines only but with the amount of laptops that have sold that are counted and the number of reviews that confirm the problem I think this must be scaled to a higher step.

 

That is what I am thinking too. That´s why I was naturally curious if there is a single known case/report that such issues did not appear under that heavy stressing (no OC). It would be nice if more owners come here, do the tests and post their results

 

I ran Furmark by itself, I ran prime 95 by itself, Battlefield 2 at 2500x1600 all options maxed, Mafia 2, Civ 5, Left for dead 2 all with no problems. None, zero problems.

 

This is what most experience. Furmark and prime 95 together give no problems is what others have said. Looks like your system is fine...
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But does he have single or sli gpu?

 

most of the people would be happy with this machine if simply play games perfect we know with one card would be no problem but who want this monster with one card only I should be not posting here since i return my machine but i think this problem should be solved for that people who are in the position where they can't return the machine or they don't want to proceed that way because whatever reason

if more people come here and say this machine should be OK with 300w power supply this engineering fail" will never be solved and Clevo will laugh at you at some point they will release the lower end cards and the problem would be solved for the new buyers but what about the GTX 480M SLI buyers this beast should be faster than the alienware M17X already but is not is a joke , you buy the most powerfull laptop on the world and the PSU shuts down

some people will say you don't need to run furmark and prime at the same time but what about if i want to encode a bluray and play a game at the same time that would be extreme? no because i do it all the time on my desktop and that is just me some people have more extreme use for their computers well guys like i say i don't belong here but i just want everybody to receive a perfect machine and free of problems that's all

 

Speedy you only had one comma in that whole thing?..
On topic, which was already discussed, Sager or Clevo obviously didn't do enough stress testing in their labs/factories. Hopefully they will make a new PSU for us future buyers. Chances are that more than half people buying this laptop will probably want to OC this.

 

My specs are as follows:

980x
480M SLI
12GB 1333
Vertex 2 240GB (aftermarket) as primary drive
Hybrid 500Gb as secondary
Blur Ray Burner

Absolutely no problems running any games, including resolutions at 2500x1600 on my external Dell monitor. SLI and 980X with no problems.

 

Just for the fun of it I ran the Mafia 2 benchmark and scored the below. I don't even know if it's good or not...

Min 11.5 FPS
Max 250.0 FPS
Ave 88.1 FPS

Rank A

Game is performing optimally.

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when we start upping the TDP on the processors and Video Cards.. with this in mind.. we will probably have issues..

I know I had to get a custom 150w PSU for my m1710 with the Vid map i did on the 7950gtx bios and overvolt. stock it ran @130w max PSU. I melted right through the breaker and it stuck to my hard wood floor! with my first vid maps with overvolting it.

then I raised the maps and got to the limit of the 150w.. luckily I had 2 of them ordered. fried the 150w to the floor.

Now.. on my d901c with single 8800.. i remapped the vid maps (voltages) and also pin modded the processor (q6600).. and upped the speed from 2.4ghz to 3ghz 1333mhz.. and never had any issues... but if I had another card??? who knows.. i also was the first to do this on d901c. and pioneered the vid map bios hacking for it as well.. with my buddy gangsta.. (all in the archives) I also went through 4 dell video cards.. when I was learning how to vid map voltages via bios...

anyways.. we will see what we have... when i get my x7200 from UPS.

 

"...who wants this monster with one card only..." - - Well, me. And I don't think I'm alone. Apart from being the most powerful gaming laptop there is, it is also the most powerful mobile workstation there is. I think quite a lot of people would be tempted to get one for that purpose - and maybe even exchanging the GTX 480M for a Quadro FX 3800 card. I mean, that is why I have the D900 really - not for gaming (primarily), not for oc'ing, not for benchmarking - but as a work tool. Now that the D900 is extinct, I would consider the X7200 as my work tool, if I needed it. But I don't, yet. The D900 is just as good as the X7200 for my purposes.

 

Well your a mad man, I use mine for work also but when the power supply shuts of during compiling or in Maya because i choose a 980 I am madder than hell. please don't tell me you bought it as a work station and did not buy the 980 !

I sent mine back, its not stable enough for me to use as a workstation. Shutting off during a game no big deal, during my work day with tight deadlines BIG DEAL !

 

I brought the i7 950 because i knew the 995x is coming out around in Jan 2011, i definitely dont was Clevo to ignore this problem because people can run games ok.

Message to Clevo
I want the most powerful monster on the planet, thats half the reason why I brought this machine, dont water it down and weaken it with a Bios update, dont ignore it, you are loosing heaps of business over this because it is not a true king of laptops is its faulty!

 

i have a question,if i dont care about overclocking but to play games like crysis on max settings using sli,should i worry about the psu issue?

 

No worries so far

 

I have a X7200 with 980x and single M480. I bought it to be a development system/workstation and have been pushing it pretty hard for two weeks now and have and zero issues with the psu. I have stressed the CPU to 100% for over an hour straight and did not trip the psu.

I have not tried overclocking, but wouldn't mind doing that sometime.

I did order a second PSU to leave at work so I don't have to carry one around and it's on backorder. Not sure if that is because Clevo is working on higher rated one.

 

if i have that notebook,my plan is to game on max settings on most games or to use it for web surfing(if im not gaming that is ).i do not want to game and web surf at the same time. is that stressing the psu or cpu or the gpu?

 

It will be sweet for any game you throw at it

 

That would be awesome (no less than that is expected though), positive sign??

 

but it wont stress the psu or gpu,right?

 

a single gpu won't max the psu... it's minus like 100TDP. fully within spec. if you are just web surfing the gpu downclocks.. as does the cpu.. especially if you are running nhc or the like

 

but im going 2 dual sli if im gaming.thats no issue,right?

 

we don't fully know. there has been problems during stressing with extreme test apps that are run simul. and some reports running a game. it's been confirmed with a few users and via xotic pc and a couple reviews... who knows if it's limited to certain units or a widespread issue... this product hasn't been out for that long.. and frankly there isn't that many people with it yet.

when i got my d901c back in 08. there was a lot more interest it seemed and it got out fast to a lot of people. maybe it will be this way too ...? some more time? i dunno. it seems this clevo board is rather quiet compared to when i was last here 2 years ago.. the overclocking scene was busy and there was much more traffic. a lot of old timers i have seen are gone...

what i am trying to say is... "We as early adopters.. have to pave the way for issues.. if they come up.. so clevo can address them"

my x7200 should be here within 2 weeks from usa to cad.. bet your bank i will test it and overvolt it and pin mod it. and max the crap out of it.

i will be vocal if there is any problems.. but if there is.. i won't be mad.. we are on bleeding edge of notebook tech.. in a boutique business.

we are the early adopters.

if you are really concerned.. don't be the first to do anything.

 

I have a power draw meter, i will go and find it then run crysis on max and let you know how much it draws.

 

Right here are the results...


Crysis
Graphics = Full everything, AA 8x, 1920x1080
PSU draw = 280w average -307w Max
Temps = 1st 480m was 84c 2nd was 68, CPU mid 60's
Time = Played for 40mins
CPU draw = 144.98w
FPS with Fraps, 8x AA, Min 21, Ave 25, Max 27
FPS with Fraps, AA off, Min 23, Ave 30, Max 41
So Crysis on full setting, AA on 8,4,2 or off seemed to draw the same off the PSU.

Star Craft 2
Graphics = Full Ultra settings
PSU draw = 260w max
Temps = 1st GPU 73c, 2nd 60, CPU temps mid 50's
Time = Played for 60mins?
CPU draw = 144.98w
FPS with Fraps, Min 58, Ave 60, Max 94, at times 947

Battlefield Bad Company 2
Graphics = Full High settings, AA=8x CSAA, AF=8x
PSU draw = 315-335w Average, 344w Max
Temps = 1st GPU 84, 2nd 70, CPU's 75
Time = 60mins
CPU draw = 144.98w
FPS with Fraps, Min 49, Ave 70, Max 83

Idle or just surfing the net
PSU draw = 110-115w average
CPU draw = 35.63w
Temps = 45-50c across the board

Not sure why CPUID always says max CPU draw was 144.98w??

Conclusion: Just playing games like BF Bad Company 2 will have your PSU drawing almost 350w which is very close to max draw on the PSU (as others reported it tripping off at about 375w), im sure other games will be more demanding (Metro 2033, Mafia 2?)... sure is touch and go with this PSU, its too small.

It definitely needs beefed up!!!
I hope that helps

 

maybe you could use fraps? for the FPS meter.

 

Here is a real pro.

Please describe this pin mos you speak of

 

so based on the numbers,the psu should be fine then if im gaming because psu dies by 375w and crysis or other games averages 280 to 335,am i correct?

 

wow the psu actually able to take till 375w when it is advertised as 300w, that is really impressive indeed.

if only xeon processor not that ex, the psu draw could be lowered to another 20-35w...

 

One review said it tripped at 410w

 

It doesnt die, it just trips.

Meaning you just turn the power back on again, the laptop keeps going even if the PSU tripped (laptop steps power down to mobile mode).

I havent tripped mine yet, i was surprised the watts draw in Battlefield Bad Company 2,

344watts eek!!

 

CPUID is not reliable for reading the power consumption of the CPU, it is an old bug