Sager NP9262 - 8800M GTX - Benchmarks / Review

Sager NP9262 Review
Purchased at XoticPC
last updated : January 28th, 2008


Click for High Resolution Photo


Click for High Resolution Photo

Brief Introduction:

The Sager NP9262 is amongst the most powerful of desktop replacement notebooks. It is built on the D901C chassis by Clevo.

It sports a 17" widescreen LCD available in two versions, WSXGA+ 1680x1050 resolution in the matte finish or the WUXGA 1920x1200 resolution in the glossy "glare" type finish.

If you are looking for the fastest laptop in the world, then read on...




What makes the 9262 so special?

There are a few key aspects that separate this laptop from the rest.

• It does not use a mobile CPU. It uses full-fledged desktop processors, making it quad-core capable.

• It can support two video cards for use in an SLI configuration. This includes the newest mobile GPU, the NVidia GeForce 8800M GTX.

• It has three hard drive bays for amazing storage capacity on a laptop. You can also configure it in RAID 0, 1 or 5 using the on-board RAID controller.

• Two fully programmable macro keys on the left-hand side of the keyboard. Anyone who has used a Logitech G15 keyboard knows that a few macro keys can be extremely useful inside and outside of games.

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Of course, it has all the bells and whistles that you would expect in a high-end laptop, including Bluetooth, built-in camera and microphone, etc. More on that later.


My system

• WUXGA - 1920x1200 "Glare-type" Glossy Screen

• Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 - 2.4 ghz 8mb L2 Cache - 1066 FSB Processor

• NVidia GeForce 8800M GTX 512mb - DirectX 10 - PCI-Express Video Card

• 4,096mb DDR2 800 Dual Channel Memory

• 2x 200gb 7200rpm SATA-150 HDD - RAID 0 - Striping

• 1x 200gb 7200rpm SATA-150 HDD - Not part of RAID

• Combo 8x8x6x4x Dual Layer DVD/CD Writer

• Windows XP Professional 32-Bit

• Windows Vista Business 64-Bit

I opted for the Q6600 instead of the faster Q6700 due to the price difference, about $300. Aside from that, and possibly a Blu-Ray optical drive, these specs are just about maxed out.

You can also get the E6850 Dual Core, there are tons of arguments back and forth about quad core and dual core.

At the time of this review, the SLI version with the new 8800M GTX has not been released yet, scheduled to be released at the end of February, something I am looking forward to.



Build Quality

I have been a dell user for many years, with the occasional HP laptop and also some work on Macintosh laptops.

The build quality of this laptop, in my opinion, surpasses everything that I have ever laid my hands on. Picking it up feels solid, you don’t feel any kind of flex in the chassis. There is negligible keyboard flex, in other words, you can only flex it if you are really trying to.

The touchpad is pretty standard. I have had no problems using it, it looks good and feels good. The buttons are a very attractive brushed aluminum, not cheesy plastic buttons so you won’t see any color fading in the future.

This laptop is heavy, 11 pounds 12.5 ounces to be exact. This is the weight of the laptop with 3 HDD’s and 1 Video card, so your exact weight may vary if you choose fewer HDD’s.

The power supply weighs in at 2 pounds 11 ounces, including all cords. This is the biggest power supply I have ever seen for a laptop. Check it out next to the Wii Zelda DVD case. I recommend getting a backpack, unless you are perfectly accustomed to carrying 15 pound weights back and forth places. It gets heavy quickly.


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Click for High Resolution Photo


The LCD Screen

The screen itself is beautiful. My version being the glossy one, I don’t think I can ever use a matte screen again. The colors are extremely vivid. Everything is incredibly clear. The brightness is quite addicting. I am typing this review on my laptop instead of my desktop which has a 20” matte screen.

I received it with no dead pixels. The laptop comes in custom Sager box with perfectly cut foam packaging materials, you do not have to worry about damage in shipping.

I haven’t noticed any uneven lighting anywhere.

The hinge on the LCD is very rigid. It takes a fair amount of force to get it to open and close. This is very good, I feel like the hinges will last for many years. There are two spring-loaded latches that hold the LCD when it is closed and it will take both hands at once to open it.



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Inputs and Outputs

• VGA and DVI outputs for external displays

• S-Video output for TV

• TV-Input for optional TV-Tuner card.

• IEEE-1394 Firewire Port

• 4 USB 2.0 ports

• 1 Express Card 54/34 Slot

Click for High Resolution Photo


Click for High Resolution Photo


Click for High Resolution Photo

Speakers – Sound quality

There are 4 built-in speakers, two on the front edge and two on the top on the outsides of the keyboard. They are decent sounding speakers. You can only get so much out of speakers on a laptop. I don't think they have enough bass, although I cannot talk of a laptop that does.

They are definitely loud enough in a normal environment but if you are at an occasion with a bunch of people, you will probably have trouble trying to show people a video.

I would recommend, as with any other laptop, a good pair of headphones.

The audio ports are on the front, in between the two speakers.



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As with any desktop replacement, the 9262 must get really hot and really noisy, right?

Not quite. Even during gaming with the fans on full blast it is not that loud. It is extremely quiet during normal use. I would feel comfortable taking this laptop anywhere I went without the worry of it bothering anyone with noise.

About the heat, the warmest part of the laptop is to the left of the touchpad. Although, it never gets hot enough to be uncomfortable. Even after holding your arm in that spot, with your hand on WASD for many hours, you won’t feel like it is getting too hot.

It does, however, blast tons of hot air out the back of the laptop. Someone standing on the other side of it would definitely start getting warm fast. I don’t think this is a big problem though, but I suppose it would be possible that if you are in a lecture hall taking notes and there is someone else in front of you that they might get uncomfortable.

I do recommend using a notebook cooler when you can. Here's a shot of the Zalman NC-1000.


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Other Notes

Battery life is as you suspect, not too long. In normal use, under 70% brightness or so, you will probably get between 1 hour and 1.5 hours.

Max performance gaming, on battery power, will drain you in approximately a half an hour.

No problems with the internal wireless card, it is fast and reliable.

I’ve used the Bluetooth to test wireless keyboards and mouses, as well as linking to my cell phone for picture transfers and internet access on the road. No problems here either.

I use the Logitech VX Nano as a USB mouse.



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On to the benchmarks!

The intended purpose of this section is not only provide good FPS numbers for the most demanding games out there, but to also give insight on the battle between Windows XP and Windows Vista for gaming.


Drivers Tested:
167.43 / 167.44 (Vista version) - This is the stock driver off of the Sager CD.
168.21 - This version found at laptopvideo2go.
168.28 - One of the newest at laptopvideo2go.
171.16 - Also a new one at laptopvideo2go.

***What is laptopvideo2go?
NVidia does not directly support video cards for laptops. It is up to the manufacturer to create drivers that are compatible. Laptopvideo2go does the necessary modifications to original NVidia drivers so that they are compatible with laptops. They also unlock certain features that are not always enabled with stock NVidia drivers. This sometimes includes tweaks for overclocking.

These drivers often offer a performance gain when compared to official drivers.


Test Scenarios

My tests include 3dMark06 Pro, Crysis, Call of Duty 4 and Unreal Tournament 3. Other games will follow if people are interested. Let me know.

Crysis is benchmarked using the benchmarking tool created by Crymod.
Crysis Benchmark Tool 1.05
This tool runs through the game in the development mode, essentially flying around the map at a very fast speed and reading the FPS, although it reads a lot of other stuff as well.

This is a good way to get a consistent benchmark. Using fraps and running around for a few minutes can sometimes be inaccurate since you do not experience the exact same run every time. Sometimes you will spend more time in areas with higher or lower fps.

I did not benchmark with BioShock for this reason, as least as a means to compare operating systems and drivers. Although, getting some examples of FPS are still helpful for general system performance.


These benchmarks dp not necessarily represent the exact FPS you will see in game (assuming similar system specs) but it should give you a good idea of the average FPS.


I ran the following tests with each driver.

1. 3DMark06
2. Crysis - Windows XP 32-bit
3. Crysis - Windows Vista 64-bit - DirectX 9
4. Crysis - Windows Vista 64-bit - DirectX 10

Then I tried these games using the stock drivers.

5. Unreal Tournament 3 – Windows XP 32-bit
6. Unreal Tournament 3 – Windows Vista 64-bit – DirectX 10
7. Call of Duty 4 - Windows XP 32-bit
8. Call of Duty 4 - Windows Vista 64-bit - DirectX 10

In each of the Crysis tests I used the following settings.

1. All Medium
2. All High
3. All Very High ( Vista DX10 only )
4. Custom - a board favorite - All high except for medium shadows and medium shading.

I ran them all in three different resolutions.

1. 1900x1200
2. 1650x1080
3. 1400x960

All are widescreen resolutions for our LCDs. I am not sure why the Crysis tool reports it as 1900x1200, in-game it runs at 1920x1200


Preliminary Results

Very few drivers seem 100% compatible with our new 8800M GTX.

Anything earlier than 169.28 did not want to install on Windows XP, except for the drivers off of the CD of course. I tried 169.21, 169.09, 169.04.

The newest one, 171.16, installed fine but did not run at full speed, I could not adjust any settings to make it run higher than 275/300 ( as opposed to 500 core clock speed and 800 memory speed) Other people seemed to have this same problem with different drivers on the Sager NP5792 as well.

The 64 bit version of 171.16 is not yet released.

169.21 performed identical to 169.28 on Windows Vista so I will omit that.


Benchmark Results





Click here for actual screenshot of my 3DMark06 test results. You can also see the separate scores for CPU/etc.



Looks like RAM is the weakest link here. I ran the update a few different times. Sometimes the RAM score is 5.6, most of the times 5.7.

The graphics score also goes between 5.8 and 5.9.

Keep in mind I am running RAID-0. I am not sure how much it affects the score.



These Crysis benchmarks were done on the first level, here is what it looks like.


Click for High Resolution Photo


Click for High Resolution Photo


What good are benchmarks without pretty charts right?

I did tests at every resolution with a few different drivers. This will show you my results on XP, Vista using Direct9 and Vista using DirectX10.












Unreal benchmarks were done on the Sanctuary level. I thought this was a good choice because it had a mix of inside and outside environments.

These were done using the UT3 Benchmarking tool available at http://olrac.org/ut3bench
It creates a deathmatch between bots on your chosen map.

I set it to 24 bots and ran 5-10 runs of 200 seconds each for each resolution, then averaged the results.

All detail levels were set to maximum.

The resulting numbers were so high that I did not bother with benchmarking the lower detail levels.


Click for High Resolution Photo


Click for High Resolution Photo




Results were fantastic, max out your settings when you frag your friends.







Call of Duty 4 was benchmarked in the Overgrown map. Outside environments seem to be more reliable for benchmarks since they are more graphic intensive, generally.

I recorded a demo of myself running around the map, for 5 minutes, going into different inside rooms, outside, looking at surroundings, smoke, plants etc. 5 minutes of benchmark time seemed like a good amount of time. I have recorded the average FPS as well as the minimum FPS.

This is without enemies and explosions, so take results with a grain of salt. If there are tons of rocket and grenade launchers, you will see mixed results.

All tests were done with settings maxed out. Texture settings set to extra.

As a note, Call of Duty has an option in the settings menu for Dual Video Cards. However, it does not look like SLI is needed for this game since this laptop is already a beast.

One test was done using 4x anti-aliasing, an option not available in a lot of games right now for some reason. What is anti-aliasing? In short, it smooths out sharp edges, but slows your frame rate. I test it here just as a way to show how demanding the game can be. At higher resolutions, anti-aliasing is not that necessary.


Click for High Resolution Photo


Click for High Resolution Photo





Test results - in a nutshell

• In Crysis, Windows XP 32-bit was faster than Vista in every situation by up to 20%.

• Windows Vista 64-bit in DirectX 9 was about 5-10% faster than DirectX 10.

• The 169.28 driver from laptopvideo2go was about the same speed as the stock driver. Using the stock drivers will be fine for now until better drivers for the 8800M GTX come out. Using Vista, the stock driver came out ahead most of the times.

• Keep in mind that at these FPS rates, even 2-3 FPS can make a big difference. I would recommend Windows XP 32-bit for anyone looking to maximize their system on Crysis. We will see if this changes when SLI becomes available.

• Unreal Tournament 3 ran the same on both Windows XP and Vista. At maxed details and max resolution, the FPS still hit 60. Very solid.

• Call of Duty 4 ran almost as fast as UT3. I maxed all details and max resolution and got an average of 57 FPS. Enabling 4x anti-aliasing dropped this to 39 FPS. Whether or not you need anti-aliasing is always up in the air, personally I don't use it.

• Call of Duty 4 in Windows XP ran 5-8% faster than Windows Vista.

What’s in the box?

Included with every purchase is a carrying case. Pretty basic case, fits the laptop perfectly, with the power supply going into the front pocket. I would recommend a backpack due to the weight.

• Nero 7 Essentials

• Cyberlink PowerDVD 7

• User’s manual

• Sager Device Drivers and Utilities CD

• One-Year Warranty card from Sager. Other warranty options available of course. XoticPC gave me a 3-year warranty.

• Video adapter cable for HDTV Component output / Svideo output.

Click for High Resolution Photo

Summary

Pros

• Extremely fast, the power of a desktop in a convenient notebook package.

• SLI graphics capability.

• Tons of HDD storage space.

• Build quality is top-notch.

• World’s fastest laptop.

• Games, other than Crysis, run extremely well.

• Very quiet and does not get that hot.

• Programmable macro keys.

• Beautiful LCD.

• Did I mention it is crazy fast?

Cons

• USB ports can be in an awkward position if you do not have much desk space and use a large mouse. Any dongles will stick out and possibly hit your hand during use. The VX Nano solves this problem, although users may prefer a full-sized mouse.

• Short battery life. This is to be expected for a desktop replacement notebook of this caliber.

• Crysis on very high still demands too much, although this is also true even for the strongest of desktops.

Ending Notes

I hope this information is useful for many people. There have been a lot of different questions about what OS to use, etc etc.

In the pictures you will see the Zalman NC-1000 Notebook Cooler. Highly recommended. I bought two, one for work, one for home. Not only will it keep your laptop healthier for longer, it elevates it to a good position for typing and is another way to get around the USB port location issue, since the USB ports will be higher up they won’t bother you.

I use the Logitech VX Nano which I think is a great mouse. The USB receiver is amazingly small too. This is a great mouse for everyday use but most likely during hardcore gaming you will want a full sized mouse.

All in all, this is a beautiful machine and I am totally in love with it. It is solidly built. Keyboard feels good. It is quiet. The screen is amazing.

A huge thank you to XoticPC. They have provided excellent customer support before and after the transaction. Their staff is incredibly knowledgeable and they also have their owner posting on the forums here at NotebookReview. Two thumbs up for XoticPC.

Check them out at http://www.xoticpc.com

Enjoy!

 

Oh... i should do a review like that...

 

Awesome review! I've been considering this laptop for a little while but was anxious to see some actual numbers from this machine. My only concern would be that the XP numbers come from the 32 bit version, using DX9, while the Vista results are from the 64 bit version, using DX10 (a trivial point, just saying).

+Rep for the very helpful review!

 

Thanks!

I included Vista 64-bit in DX9 for Crysis as a comparison point.

I figured that people want to see the results of XP 32-bit vs Vista 64-bit so I did not bother trying to install Vista 32-bit although it would be a valid point I guess. XP 64-bit is not so hot on drivers I heard.

 

Interesting, but when I posted my 10K score there were some minor differences with yours. Mine was only 10,259 out of the box. I still cant figure out how the break down of the three components was different than yours. Here is the link

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=207809

I just opened the box it came in and plugged it in and ran 3dmark06.

The scores are so close it probably does not make any difference for pratical purposes. Still I would like to know why they are different.

 

Looks like the difference comes from the CPU score.

Most likely, I turned off more processes in my task manager than you did before running the benchmark.

I just used task manager to disable anything that looked obvious to me. No special tweaks or anything.

I started off with my own fresh install of XP so chances are you have more programs to begin with.

 

Great review! Thanks.

 

Huh? Vista gave my 7900GT a 5.9 @ stock clocks, and your 8800M a 5.8. Shows how realible the rating system is. Otherwise, great review!

 

Nice results, and congrats on scoring over 10000 in 3DMark06

 

haha yeah that is weird. I have no idea how the program works or what the criteria are.

I'm betting someone could get it to 5.9 with proper settings in Vista or something like that. I don't actually use Vista so I wouldn't know what else to do to maximize that score.

 

Aryantes which reseller did you order from and can you list your lcds hardware id or edid info?

 

+rep for good review

reseller is mentioned in his sig..

 

XoticPC.

My Monitor ID according to Everest, is

LPLE400

 

Nice review!

 

NICE review

 

Superb review...could you post some 1900 by 1200 FPS for COD4?

 

Well done. A good and informative review, that was intersting and really easy to follow. I pick mine up from customs on Friday, I can't wait!! (even though I have, lol )

Cool information, looks the the benchmark on reviewing for the 9262 has been set.

-Coors916

 

Hey coors do you have 3DMark06 for the notebook in your sig.

 

Great review,very professional +++
I am planing to buy this lappy exacly same configuration also from xoticpc,exept maybie 2x250gb hdd in spring (May probably) when my sister comes back from USA,I hope price will drop for 300-400 buks

 

Sli 8800m gtx's aren't out till february, I believe.

 

yeah, thats when I am getting mine from XoticPC, at the end of may, looks like were both in for a long wait.

 

updated! UT3 benchmarks and 9262 overall review. please comment

 

You only got 8 frames at 1920x1200 in Crysis, so did it stutter.

Congrats on UT3 thats impressive. The comp Im typing this on would explode into a melody of colors.

 

hmmm i have 4 gigs of ram and WEI gives me 4.8... what sorta ram do you have? Can you find it on Newegg? maybe ill upgrade.

 

Garandhero... I would worry about the WEI score... its not a good one to go off of.

You should use programs like wPrime (CPU), PCMark (RAM and system), 3DMark (videocard), and HDTune (HDD). These would give you a better idea of your system compared to someone elses..

 

Aryantes, based on your results, i'm thinking of using the stock drivers with Direct X 9.0c as i'm Vista 64bit

question is, did you have to keep installing and uninstalling the different direct Xs when you ran the test ?

I'm assuming that altho i got Direct X 10 installed, installing Direct X 9.c will uninstall Direct x 10, it's not like you can choose which one to use on an application right?

i have a raid 0 with two 200 GB Sata 300 7.2krpm HDDs, i don't have a standalone 3rd or i would not have hesistated to install Windows XP 32-bit on that.

however do you think it's worth installing windows XP 32 on my current configuration alongside Vista 64 till better drivers come out that should boost DIrect X 10 on a 64bit eill ahead. I also have an 8800GTX, almost identical specs to yours, 4GB ram tho and will be upgrading SLI as soon as it becomes available.

In Summary I have one of 3 options:
I don't want to mess with my current set up of Windows Vista 64bit, DIrect X10, so any change i'm considering would be in light of my Raid 0 config in addition to what i have.

1. Do nothing
2a. Install direct x 9.0c alongside Direct X10
2b. Remove DX10 and just have DX9
3. Install Windows XP 32-bit as a second operating system on the HDD. Running with Direct 9c

i'd love to do option 3, but not sure how good an idea it is to install a second OS on a Raid 0 HDD, i don't want to mess anything up, but i want to maximise performance. I assume i'd have to do thigns like partitions etc, which as a newbie will take a lot of time and research to find out how, unless it's as simple as bunging in the XP CD and hitting install (desperately wishes it is, but doubts it is)

I want to be using all in 1920x1200 resolutions

 

SpringerNew

DX9 is in vista64 as well as as DX10. I do think there was a recent update? But you can play DX9 or DX10 on vista64 without issues. Most of the newer games will let you choose between them.

 

Very nice review.

Just curious, did you do any tuning to Vista before running your benchmarks, or is this pretty much a vanilla install?

 

cool.. how'd u choose which to use on an application? or does the application select which one it's compatible with automatically? or must you tell vista wat to do? [not near my other monster so can't check myself quite]

 

This ultimately depends on the application I think.

For Crysis, you can simply right-click the shortcut that starts the game and choose "Play DX9" or "Play DX10"

You don't have to change drivers or anything.

I use a RAID-0 with XP on one partition and Vista on the other.

Thanks. I installed Vista Business 64 fresh myself. The only tuning I've done is closing applications before running any tests, such as gadgets.

Pretty much stock installs on both XP and Vista 64. There is probably a lot you can do to tweak performance.

Crysis and UT3 also have tons of performance tweaks you can do quickly, but I kept everything as original.

I have whatever RAM that XoticPC gave me.

I don't trust that WEI thing that much, like Gophn said.

However, do you have your HDD's in a raid setup? I bet the results of every one of those categories is skewed by raid.

Those other programs like HDTune are recommended for this kind of benchmark. I only omitted them because I felt I wanted to give more of a review on gaming.

 

Is crysys all on high in 1900x1200 with 14-15fps playable?

 

Personally, I would not play it with that FPS.

Keep in mind that is an average FPS, so the minimum FPS is lower than that.
In certain intense situations, your FPS may drop to 10. AND, this is probably going to be a situation where stuff is blowing up and you're in the heat of battle. You quickly find yourself frustrated due to the choppiness and inability to defend yourself.

Although the custom setting with medium shaders and medium shadows is very playable, this gives you an average of +10 FPS. That is HUGE. Highly recommended.

The people at Crymod.com have tons of ways to improve graphics quality without hitting performance too much. You can tweak that game beyond belief.

 

Very nice review. Sophisticated and very explicit. This is what I like in a review. The pictures gave me a good idea on how it will look when I'm fragging in UT3. I've been pondering the purchase of this notebook, and guess what Aryantes? YOU CLINCHED IT. I am getting this notebook.
+Rep fershizzle.

P.S. I really think this has good potential for stickiness. Anyone else concur?

 

sweet review, i've ordered a laptop/ notebook with an 8800MGTX, but cuz im in uk it wont be delivered till 25/02/08!!!!

but i was wondering, could you do a benchmark of the COD4 demo and some screenshots please?

<3

 

*looks at release date*

OUCH!!!

 

yeah, i know, i ordered it through ROCK. will be worth the wait though, but its waiting thats the hard part!!

at least it comes with the new penryn core duo ;p

 

Do you live in that country or what.

 

oO.

im in uk, rock are uk clevo resellers
apprently they getting delays on new motherboards that fix the sleep issue in the old motherboard that supported the 8700M gt

 

I am working on CoD4 benchmarks but it seems the demo playback for single player demos is broken.

I will get to it soon hehe.

that is quite a wait for your laptop, although the pre-order wait for me was just as bad hehe.

 

yeah, its a good game!
i cant wait to see it at full settings and hi res (1900 x1200) and everything set to max, of course i could test it myself, but i rather know asap rather than wait for my laptop.

i envy usa peeps who get stuff quicker than us ;P

 

Does anyone have benchmarks for Age of Empires III, and can anyone point me to a review of a sager NP5792

 

What a fantastic review. i purchased the Sager9262 myself and wating for it to come. it should be here next friday. how is ur np9262 treating u?

 

Im getting jealous.

 

Thank you. I couldn't be any happier with a laptop I hope that many people read this review so they can experience this laptop.

I did have to buy a USB->Serial port adapter ( for programming Crestron systems ) since the 9262 does not have a serial port.

Although, I don't think many people use it anymore.

 

What FPS do you get in CS:Source with all settings at max. Mine will be coming next friday

 

What frames do you get in Bioshock

 

Updated with Call of Duty 4 benchmarks!

 

Nice review. Will test my system when i recieve it. Ordered it almost 4 months ago... Why it hasn't arrived, i'm unsure about. Keep saying something like motherboard and stuff.
But to my questions.
I had to draw a line somewhere, so i stuck to 2g ram 800. I've also stuck to one 100g 7200 harddisk.
Any idea on how much this will degrade the system?
Was looking forward to play crysis in medium on my sharp 42" Should be able just to do it properly, unless the lack of ram or harddisk will slow it down.

Oh yeah. The graphics card is no longer a 8700 but the 88gtx

 

you wanted a quadcore that bad?

 

yo thanks for doing the cod4 benchmarks for me, the game looks set to run np with the 8800M GTX!