Sager's answer to my dead video card: You're S.O.L.

Wow. The nVidia 9800m-gtx in my Sager np5796 died (as seems to happening to quite a few others), so I called Sager. They're response? "Sorry, that card isn't available anymore. Maybe try Google."

Impressive.

Add that to the fact that they didn't support Windows 7 on this machine even though the laptop was only a year old when it came out.

This thing was over $2500, and its never run particularly well. I won't make the Sager mistake again.

 

Dude that laptop is over 4 years old, what do you expect?

 

I expect there to be some response to a chronic problem that Sager is having with their video cards. I expect a $2500 laptop to be compatible with current operating systems when it's one year old. I expect a more helpful response than, "Sorry, you can't get that card anymore. Try Google."

 

Did you have a warranty that covered the part this far from purchase? If not, then there isn't much they can do for you other than potentially find a replacement at your cost.

That 9800m card is not manufactured anymore either, so it's going to be tough to replace unless you buy used or find someone who still has stock of them. I'd recommend posting in the owner's lounge to see if there are other cards you can replace it with. You can always swap that card out for another one that is compatible. MXM upgrade is usually a good place to look for cards, as well as the NBR marketplace.

Oh, and for what it's worth, the 8xxx series Nvidia cards (which the 9xxx series just basically rebadged) had known flaws that resulted in a class action lawsuit. The issue here is with Nvidia, not so much any particular manufacturer as many were affected.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10037632-64.html

 

do a forum search and you will find lots and lots of members with dead 9800 graphics cards including me.
your best bet is to look for a 260gtx which is a much cheaper card and more powerful than the 9800. i get over 1000 more in 3dmark06 with it.

 

This is what you should buy:
HP FX3600M Video Card | eBay

Thats not correct.

 

whats not correct. many posts on here have mentioned the difference in price between the two cards.

 

The notion that its your best bet to spend anywhere near 300$ USD on a GPU thats 4 generations old. I don't even see them for sale.

Also, there is the somewhat well known fact that you can flash a FX 3700m to a gtx 260m and the 3700m core is still a 65nm g92 A1 revision with defective solder prone to failure. I think there are a few fake cards floating around.

And lastly, you failed to mention the very important fact that most 260m are MXM 3.0 and MXM 3.0 cards wont work.

 

my mistake then. never heard of that card or the lappy model number hes on about.
im going by what i was told is best to replace a 9800.

 

I have an fx 2700m coming my way now; I was just disappointed in Sager's lack of interest in helping with information or anything else.

 

It is the best, its just that they're 525$.

Most people want a more practical answer. I mean, its best to reball the 9800m GTX with a 55nm GTX 260m core, it will cost you about 50$ IF you can do it.

FX 2700m is an OK card, the card I linked is very similar to the 9800m GT and will perform a lot better. However its built onto an adapter and needs a vBIOS flash to work.

 

Unfortunately that's why resellers have sprung up for sager. Did you purchase through sager directly?

Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

 

Nope - purchased through xoticPC.

 

Wow and that was xoticpc's answer or sagers?

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Xotic's = Sager's in this regard..

Sager isn't as huge enough with a stable sales figure as Dell to provide warranty extensions, accidental damage, etc.

It still seems like a boutique brand to me.

 

That was Sager. Haven't tried Xotic yet.

 

My bad. I somehow thought I saw Justin's reply on page 1 or something...

Try asking them and see what they can do for you, and if they do, don't forget to write a feedback review about them in the Reseller feedback thread.

 

You're thinking of anthony from malibal. +1 on the letting us know how they follow up and the reseller feedback thread afterwards.

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If Sager cant get them its going to be tough for us as we get our parts from them. I'll have our service dept take a look into it and maybe we can squeeze one out of them, can you PM your order number please.

 

From my understanding the customer worked directly with Sager and not us and was advised this from Sager. This is a very old GPU and simply may not be available @ Sager anymore. We can certainly double check if the OP would like.

 

That's what I thought. I refused to believe the best you guys would tell a guy was to google it

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I like how they call a 9800m "very old" lol

 

9800m
280m
480m
580m
now soon 680m

It's four generations old. By gaming computer standards it IS old. Four years old card.

 

Actually its

9800m
160m
260m
360m
460m
560m
660m

Thats 5 generations old but architecturally speaking its only 3 gens old or so.

 

Was there ever really a 1xx series though? I don't recall them ever being made or used. The went right from 9xxx series to the 2xx series.

 

There was a 1xx series and I don't recall any 3xx series.
Most of the 1xx series got rebranded as the 2xx series.

 

3xx series were sold back in 2010, a friend's asus that has 360m just died a week ago.

 

I would expect sager to have a few 3xx series cards laying around but at the point you are on mxm3.0 I would just drop in a 580 or radeon 6990m instead

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Time was, anything over three years of life on a laptop was gravy. I know that hurts when you spend a lot of money, but the heat build up inside a confined environment really kills shelf-life.

With current CPUs that run significantly cooler, I think the mean life is probably more like 4 years, but still, this is something you use everyday. Even for people who baby them, these things can only last so long.

When you consider this was a gaming laptop with a small thermonuclear core graphics engine, its even more impressive. I know people who have bought two "namebrand" laptops in that time and they never had the performance of my Sagers.

Basically, you had an awesome laptop for roughly 2 cents a day....not a bad return. I know that doesn't make you feel too good, but you could get a current laptop that will run rings around that old beast for $1000-1300 depending on screen size. Hard to put $100 worth of used parts into a 4 year old machine at this point

 

Thanks Gerry. Those are good points.

 

I think you're a teensy-weensy bit off in that calculation, but it's still a good point.

 

0.02/day is about 342yrs. Not bad, personally I have never been able to keep
a laptop much more that 150yrs or so.

 

$2 a day isn't horrible at all. Costs less then the internet I use to power the thing lol

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buddy, did that fx2700 arrive yet? I have a gtx 280m that's MXM type IIc so it should work with your laptop.

the only thing is it has the backplate for the M860(E)TU so you would have to take that off yourself and I don't know if yours requires its own backplate or can take the card on its own.

let me know if yo interested.


by the way, how does your laptop not support Win7? My M860TU ran windows 7 just fine and it's coming up to four years now.

 

I fail to see how this is a negative on Sager's part when a part is no longer manufactured then they are not going to be able to get it. Along with the fact that the machine is no longer under warranty. I'm not sure what else you could expect from any manufaturer. I guess they could have worded it a little nicer. You'd still be SOL.

 

NVIDIA GeForce GTS 160M - Notebookcheck.net Tech

 

That's fine, but show me laptops that carried this GPU besides the MSI.

 

Well, there was a bunch of laptops that had the 130m.

The 1xx and 3xx series were just rebrands of previous GPUs, but they definitely existed.

 

160m had a short life, 260m was released like three months after 160m. I know they existed, but they were really a 9800m in sheep's clothing.