Sager NP8358F2-S (Clevo PB51DF2) mini review: RTX 2070 super, Intel 8 core....

Hi guys! I recently bought this laptop and and would like to know how log does it takes to boot up. I have the version with a 500Gb WD blue, and I'm experiencing a boot time of 35 seconds, and a reboot time of one minute.

I tried all the options from the bios and I couldn't improve this time but in doesn't feel right.

Thanks!

 

I have the 17" model, and it's pretty slow.

 

Boot times can depend on options.

 

I'm SSD only (8TB +4TB +500GB) and my reboot was around 60 seconds, but 45 if you don't include all the time it spent shutting down all of the things I have running in the background.

27 seconds to my windows login screen on boot up.

Seems good enough for me, granted I've never valued the super fast startups, had laptops years ago start up in like 10-15 seconds but it never impressed me. I care more about performance after it's booted.

 

What kind of battery life are you guys getting with this model?

 

How is the chassis of this laptop? I hear it gets bad airflow because of the short rubber feet on the bottom. Also, does this have XMP 2.0 for 1.35v 3200mhz ram clocking?

 

I have the older model and just made little rubber feet to hold the back up higher. They just insert into the rear corner screw holes. Made a difference of 5-10* depending on the game.

@hodgeMN Do you still have the old model with the per-key keyboard? I'm wondering if it'd swap over. If not, we can meet up and swap mine over and see if it works.

 

I ordered from Gentech on 07/30/2020, shipped out 8/7/2020, will be arriving 8/14. Kevin told me build time would be 1-2 weeks so I am very happy.

First time sager user dummy question: I ordered without OS and plan to install windows on my own. Is there a list of drivers I need to install, or a Sager utility software to help with that?

And as one of the user said, I don't want to open up the back panel to inspect if thermal upgrades have been applied (and how I can tell without removing heat pipes..). Is there a way I could check if thermal upgrades have been applied successfully?

Thank you!

 

I got my sager today and only got 3.6k on my cinebench r20. Did Gentech send me a dud? I also hear they skipped repasting some of the ordered laptops too

 

Seems stuck at 3589 cinebench even after tweaking, I've lost confidence in this product.

 

Is that a bad score? Btw do you by chance have any temps measured?

 

Monitored clocks/power/temps?

 

46C at idle, 61 on medium load, 87 during stress tests.

Firestrike only got me 21858 Graphics score with MSI overclock at +150 core +800memory

 

Awful temps.

pretty terrible temps at idle with ambient 78F tempature, and this is after undervolting

https://imgur.com/PHuTBIU

 

temps look ok. Maybe at least you have the thermal paste..wait it's cpu temps right. If it's gpu it's not very good

 

PCH temps hover around 72-75C and the benchmarking so far is night and day vs the rest of what was posted here, dunno whats going on

 

Man this makes me nervous.

 

https://imgur.com/yoWL07b more temp info, undervolt was applied to -.90 core -1.10 cache.

 

https://imgur.com/1Joz0Qc

firestrike after running 3 tests, I think I am just going to give up and return this laptop to Gentech. Woefully disappointed after seeing others' scores and experiences.

 

?

I see nothing out of the ordinary with that score.

 

The drivers should be on the Sager website. https://www.sagernotebook.com/drivers.php?cat=756

Skip the Control Center from the driver list and get the modules you actually want from the Microsoft store. I recommend only getting the Fn Key and Keyboard LED. Everything else is redundant with HWinfo and Afterburner.

 

Thank you!

 

Always my advice to take an image of the install after you have it all setup as a restore point of sorts.

 

Excellent advice. Macrium Reflect FTW! It has saved my bacon many times. There is no better protection against data loss or undoing damage caused by crappy software or malware, including malicious Windows Update filth.

 

Lets you eliminate any software bugs when testing hardware too.

 

Received mine today. Installed Windows 10 Pro, Norton Security, no undervolting/overclocking. ThermalGrizzly CPU+GPU + thermal pads. Ordered from GenTech

Ran Fire Strike at Performance Mode + Discrete GPU. Didn't have paid 3D Mark so didn't test anything else.

I haven't got a chance to run anything else.

The laptop overall feels solid. Good keyboard.

The panel is disappointing. I have the Panda LM156LF1F02, which appears to be PWM. Got eye strain after some use. I am not sure if it is able for myself to replace the panel, for now I am using Iris to modify the brightness while setting hardware brightness at 100%.

Disk is 1T WD SN730. The boot up/wake from sleep is a little slow. I didn't test operation.

At idle; CPU ~50C.
At load: average is 70. But there are peaks up to 100C (i think i need to undervolt it)

EDIT: With undervolting ThrottleStop

undervolting -80mV for CPU core and cache: average gaming temperate: 60-70C, still peaks 100C.

undervolting -80mv + disable turbo: average gaming temperature: 60-70C, no peaks

undervolting -80mv + Turbo Ratio Limit (max 51, I changed Cores to 40,36,36,36...): peak temperature: 88C.

 

Norton always makes me shiver when I see it

 

Nay I got close to 100C playing games and games crash on me.

Games: DOTA 2, Rainbow 6.

This is without undervolting.

 

What games? What sort of crashes?

 

I am having the same problem. Looking into it a little deeper 1/2 the cores are responsible for the thermal throttling. After waiting 2 months for this computer I am at a loss now what to do next.

 

Dota2, raibow 6. Game just closes. No error code, no asking for restart.

 

Have you undervolted and disable turbo? I found them very helpful (Look at my updated reply earlier). was able to control temps around 60-80 range. If allow turbo, change the turbo ratio limit to 50%~ so the peak temperature does not go crazy.
I don't know about PCH temperatures though, mine is at 60-80+ ranges, hope it does not melt..

 

Have you checked the windows event log? PCH is good up to around 110C.

 

Yeah, I currently have a -100.6mv on core and cache with the turbo locked at 38 when more than 4 cores are in use. Runs at just under 70C during Cinebench R20 on all cores but the 3 (cores 3, 5, 7 in HWInfo) that are still doing 95+ with one normally hitting thermal limit. At this point I am assuming its either bad thermal paste or or bad heat sink. I pulled it apart and re-tightened the screws on the spreader to see if it was unevenly tightened but that didn't help anything. I have an email out to where I purchased the laptop to see what the next step is. After waiting 2 months for the delivery of this one I am not looking forward to sending it back out for a week or and having a ripped apart again. Those tiny screws only have so much life in them.

 

Damn i am sorry that you have the laptop in such condition. If you have undervolted then there is definitely something wrong in my opinion. Ask the seller to fix it (at least ask him to send you back up screws because you have to open it up yourself). I think the long wait might be the "school opening" season and the 10875 CPU having a limited supply back then, which should be over now. So you might get a speedy service this time.

It is pretty weird that your 4/5th cores got high temperatures instead of the first few.

 

I'm also having this issue. Anybody encountered this? Keyboard/touchpad works about 1 / 5 boot ups.

Edit: Setting acpi=off in the kernel boot options seems to fix the issue.

 

Also experiencing some fan whining at lower speed (45% CPU. 50% GPU), where the computer sits most of the time browsing the web (dedicated gpu turned on). Any solutions?

 

A 20c difference in temps betweenibetween cores is certainly an issue.

 

I just downloaded a game and started the install. Then the laptop turned off, no lights, and won't boot. I've tried a couple different AC adapters tried it with the battery in and out and tried on battery power. No lights nothing. Laptop has been running great since I bought it back in May I think. I can't think of any issues I'd had and I hadn't made any changes to it after getting it all setup how I had it this whole time.

Are there any additional troubleshooting steps I should try before removing my drives and starting an RMA? I wasn't sure if there was a button combo I could hold down to reset the BIOS or something like that.

 

If there is no power lights when you plug in ac adapter, with or without battery, then I think something is wrong on your motherboard. Maybe a short circuit somewhere so it didn't power up at all.

I would recommend RMA. By the way would you mind sharing the vendor of it?

Three things you could try but the chances are small and probably not worth the effort.

1. Remove ram: sometimes a faulty ram can cause laptop not boot up.
2. If you can get a good battery try it. This is to eliminate that your charging circuit is dead and your battery is drained. But you still need to fix the circuit...
3. Get a thermal detector, plug in, try turn on. If there is a short circuit somewhere, the shorted area on motherboard might heat up. Or you can try touch it. So you know when you RMA the vendor is talking sense.

Good luck!

 

Sounds like an RMA to me.

 

Sure I got it direct from Sager. I did try it on battery which was fully charged and had the same result.

Yeah I'm also guessing the MB failed. It's crazy that I was just installing a game and not doing anything intensive, but I guess electronics can fail at anytime. I'll call for support and before I send in I'll take out my SSD's.

 

Yeah, they don't have to be under load. When the CPU is clocking down from a burst load can be hard on the VRMs too so a background process could have run too.

 

Sad some people got duds, because mine still performs like a dream. Re-ran Timespy today and set the record for a laptop with a 2070 super and a i7 mobile CPU.

https://www.3dmark.com/spy/13804603
Only scores above that are either using i7-10700K or i9-10980HK

Mine's the NP8378F2 though, the 17.3" model.

 

I got mine about a month ago. Great machine. My squawks are minor:

1. Cord for brick is way too short, no big deal, I have dozens of 6-8 foot ones.
2. Speakers are pretty weak, but I've had a lot worse.

The OLED screen is fantastic.

 

As in the cord from the brick to the wall?

 

Did you attempt removing the CMOS battery to clear the BIOS? I had a very similar thing happen to me years ago with a laptop from a garbage brand, and popping out the CMOS battery then popping it back in did the trick.

 

I couldn't find it but maybe it was on the top of the board under the keyboard, not sure but Sager did not ask me to try this and had me send it in.

 

Usually will be in that sort of spot.

 

Any guide on how to remove the backcover? I’m stuck on a keyboard screw that can’t be unscrewed.