Sager, noise

From what ive read trough this forum, there are mixed feelings about the noise produced by the Sager laptops. Some say they had a lot of issues with noise, and some say they didnt.

Is it unfair for me to have expectations or demand a laptop that i quiet when doing low intense task such as browsing the internet, chatting and such? I know gaming will have noise. LOL. But i want a laptop that i can enjoy when not gaming. Not a beast that i get mad on, just because that bloody fan is spinning in full all the time. Or like toshiba, having a ****ed up cooling system: The fan goes on and off every minute.

Im planning to purchase the lowest Montevina CPU, P8400 (2.3Ghz i think?), Nvidia 9800 GTS, SSD disk for less heat and great performance, 4 GB DDR3 Ram.

From what you people have experienced from Sager, is it possible that their laptops, running with this config, will live up to my expectations?

 

The complaints were mainly about the earlier versions (5790,5791,5792). By the time the 5793 came along, there had been fan firmware updates, and the noise was very bearable (audible, but not annoying).
There is now a good working fan toggle, with which you can toggle the different stances of cooling (so when doing low intensity tasks, you can put it on the lowest stance, and then it will be quite quiet, and it will still be cooled well.

And the new NP5796 has a new feature: Stealth Mode!! That would mean that it stops the fans from going on, so it would be nearly completely quiet!! But we don't know how this feature works yet.

 

Yeah, that needs a disclaimer. We don't actually know what Stealth Mode does yet. It might shut off the fans, it might downclock the GPU and CPU, we won't really know until maybe Tuesday when the first units start to get delivered.

 

I've had a 9262 for about a week now and the noise hasn't annoyed me one bit. With the fans running normally the system is essentially silent. This is fine for the tasks you were talking about, such as browsing the net. After hitting Fn+1 they go on full-blast and you can definitely hear them, but it's not annoying. Plus I think this is only really necessary whilst gaming, so the noise of the game will easily drown the fans out.

 

Minds_i is correct in that the fans will be drowned out when you're gaming, because you either are playing using the speakers, or have headphones on.

I don't mind using the fans on max for most of the time of use it because it's summer. My desktop is noisier and that has 6 fans. It does not bother me one bit.

 

My 5793, even with the fan updates, is just plain loud. It's not gonna do well in a library or classroom. However, it's not really geared for those places. It's a gaming laptop. I use it in places that the noise is not a big deal. Only problem is it's not good to use for watching movies unless I turn the volume up a bit.

 

I don't suppose this "Stealth Mode" in the new 5796s will be something that we can upgrade a 5793 to? Some sort of firmware or BIOS or simple software patch? Boy, that'd be GREAT.

 

minds_i: That is great. Gonna take a shot and say you have Quad core and SLI? If so, it means that the np9262 have an effective cooling system.

But SubZero is one of those users i was talking about. Is it really that far apart from how effective and silent the fans are from the different models? It really bugs me, because of that it will be a little more difficult to find a silent one.
And yeah, when gaming i dont care about noise at all. I will be using my headphones or a sound system with some volume.
But i will sometimes be using my laptop in public areas, such as library and school. Dont want a laptop that makes so much noise that my fellow students get mad and stuff like that

Gonna have to read trough user reviews and stuff before ordering. If some of you know of any models with Montevina that fits my requirements, please let me know

 

Unless you can get answer in db,you can't have a clear answer.

What's silent to me might be noisy to sm one else.

 

Explanation of stealth mode: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=273408&page=2

Sorry, but I don't know the exact db levels.

 

I have 9550 quad core and an 8800M GTX, but not in SLI mode i'm afraid. Still, how they manage to stick all these desktop components in a laptop and keep it all cool is amazing to me. I really don't think you'll be disappointed if you get one.

 

sonce we all know that no one will have the laptop on tuesday or even be close to shipping shows that you have mal information. We know what silent mode does. It downclocks the cpu and gpu to pretty much the lowest points possible. this then makes the fans not needed at all, or spin so slow that they are SILENT.
What we are not exactly sure of yet is if the silent mode feature actually reduces the voltage going to the cpu.

 

To answer my own question (re: "stealth mode" in a 5793),

If I run RM Clock and set the Power Saver profile to engage when on battery, and limit it to the lowest multiplier, and cut that multiplier's voltage, and then use Fn+3 to minimize the fans - is that the same thing as "stealth mode", basically?

 

One thing I want to clear up about stealth mode: it does not downclock the GPU.

 

I bought my laptop because I wanted a mobile gamer. I could care less if the fans were loud, not as long as she played the games I wanted. If I wanted a silent laptop, I would have gone with a cheap sub 1k 15.4 incher with integrated graphics.

What are your priorities? Performace or efficiency? Can't have both....unless you can afford a Tesla Roadster......

 

thats like...epic fail.

 

I have a q9450 (Quad core) in my NP9262, but only one 8800mGTX for now, and the machine is virtually quiet in regular mode. When I take it to work, I am able to run programs such as 3ds max, Maya and Zbrush in the regular mode with a average temp of 50c. When I have to render images though (which pushes the CPU to 100% power for a certain period of time), I turn on the fans on full blast (Fn + 1). As far as noise goes on full blast, it's relatively loud, but not enough to disturb anyone in the cubicles near me. I could understand the noise disturbing someone in a library, but you would only really need the max fan power if you were gaming or using a program the requires a large amount of CPU power.

 

I have a Sager NP 5791 that is loud, but not offensively so. I've taken it with me to many different places and nobody has ever complained of it being too loud.

 

I already thought that, because the system is open to different kinds of graphics cards (such as the ATI 3870). It's logical that one cannot downclock that card by the same approach like the Nvidia.

Anyways, I guess that does not matter very much if you stay in Office Mode, the graphics card shouldn't get too hot then.

 

In that case, I have silent mode on all the time on battery

 

Exactly what minds i said... I have a 9262, and when doing non intensive tasks, the fans are really quiet, and you almost never hear em. while gaming, you'll have game sound and the intensity of the fan speed does not change, so you wont notice it. just hit fn+1 to turn em on full, otherwise the laptop will get really hot (not the best automatic sensors when it gets hot)

 

Cool

I think im almost 100% ready to order the Nexus now. Seems like Clevo knows how to build good solid systems. Ive heard so many bad things about the XPS from dell about noise and overheating so i think im gonna try out Clevo. But im a little scared of buying the laptop from a small company compared to dell, because dont know what will happen if hardware failure accures. But ive read so much good things about Kobaltcomputers, so i shouldnt be scared though

 

Doesn't the m15x have dual graphics (integrated AND discrete)? I think I read a review somewhere that in order for you to switch between the two you need to restart... Sager/Clevo should have notebook models with the dual gfx features so that you can choose which mode you wanted: gaming vs silent. And it would boost battery life too.

 

The discrete and integrated feature is a Nvidia mobo thing which hasen't been released yet

 

Are you sure, I thought the Alienware website has the m15x as featuring "BinaryGFX" where you can switch between "high-performance graphics and integrated graphics".

Even the review here at notebookreview.com says it has an Intel GMA X3100. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you can have your cake and eat it too...

 

Really, I don't understand all this rabble about fan noise. I was worried about it at first, reading the forums, but when I actually got my 5796, I realized that it's not that loud at all.

 

<--- former m15x owner.

Yes, the m15x features both an efficient integrated card and the dedicated gaming card, and you can switch between the two with the push of a button and a system reboot.

 

Time will tell what NVidia's solution in this has to say...

 

Fire268 the M15x is using something that alienware developed primarily for themselves. For every other gaming laptop they are waiting for the Nvidia solution, which will use their MOBO and a NVIDIA dedicated GFX isntead of a INTEL dedicated graphics.

 

The predecessors to the 5796 had some fan noise issues with constant fan ramping up and down etc.. and they issued fan firmwares/controls to deal with it although a times it would not be effective. For most people including me was during low power use (web browsing/word/music) it would get pretty loud, loud enough that it might be distracting in a library enviroment. However, when I called Sager it seems like they made some adjustments as to fans and how they go up and down and the rpm at certain points. Also the said they made "silent mode" for specific situations like in a class or library as that what most owners of the 5793 were complaining about.

They "improved" auto mode.

 

So the NP5796 has different (more silent) fans than the NP5793?

 

I don't know for sure that is what the Sager Tech told me. I will be getting mines tomorrow, so I will post something about it since I have had the 5783.

 

Yes, I know that. I was just responding to ashveratu saying you can't have both.

 

I need a video about that. Could you? In a quiet room of course.

 

Ill try, I dont have my video camera with my so ill see how the webcam works. I could probably put it in words to since i've had the 5793 for about 2 1/2 weeks.

 

Great. It`s probably the most expected info about the 5796 ...the noise or the lack of it, if so

 

I don't hear the fans when browsing the net or doing office work.

When I game I turn them on 100% through Fn+1.... and I don't hear them either then because I increase the sound volume.

 

9262 is alot different from the 5796

 

Yes. The RU/TU is louder than the 9262.