What Clevo/Sager laptop for a 3920XM ?

Hi !

I need a laptop for hard working with i7-3920XM (without overclocking).
I'm usually working for 10 to 20 hours, few days a week, with CS6 Premiere / After Effects
(and also 3D software), to edit, preview, and rendering huge 4K video files,
and I'm also doing some rendering during night.

I read some thread saying that the P170 have some cooling problem...
so, if I need a laptop with i7-3920XM / GTX680M / 32Gb / 3 SSD (with or without bluray burner),
what is the best laptop, "colder", not too heavy, and with at least 1hour of autonomy ?

I see the P170 have 2 cooling fan, and the P370 can have 3 fan...

So.... P170, P370, V270, etc...???

Thanks for your help.

 

1.) All models (P170EM, P370EM, P270WM) can run 1h to 1:30h of medium work when on battery (or even 2h)
2.) About weight - all of the laptops that you mentioned are heavy, the lightest is P170EM. Then comes P370EM and the heaviest is P270WM
3.) Right now, the P270WM model is unavailable. Clevo withrew all of them from the market, because of some design issues. You need to choose from P370EM and P170EM.
4.) If you dont want to overclock, use a i7 3820QM or 3840QM processor. The 3920QM is 2x more expensive and performs almost the same as the 3800 series. Only difference is 100mhz higher clock and unlocked multiplier for overclocking. So, pick 3840QM (its the new refresh model after 3820QM).
5.) About the cooling systems - the P370EM is a step ahead in cooling. It has 2 VGA slots, hence 1 fan for each (you will be using one Nvidia GTX680m, right?) and the third fan is for the CPU. The thermal design is a bit better than P170EM, but both models will do the job just fine.
6.) If you need Optimus (switchable graphics) then choose P170EM. You sacrifice some GPU power for longer battery life when doing non-intensive work. If you want more power all the time, choose P370EM and prepare to have less battery life.

So, if I missed something, ask!

 

I don't have any problems with cooling and I have the 15" model. I think the 170EM will be more than enough cooling.

 

agree^ 15" cooling is good so 17" should be better as more space to dispurse the air.

 

Thanks for your help... I asked that because I read this thread (and few other about same concern) :
" http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...g-systems-neglected-clevo-solutions-here.html"

b0b1man, thanks for those precise replies.
Yes, I will use only 1 GTX680M... but if I understood well,
I can install a third fan in the P370 even without second GPU, right ?

Anyway, if you confirm me that I can use a P170 with i7-38xxQM CPU
for long hours (and days) of intensive works,
without loss of stability and blue-panic-screen due to heat,
I think the better is to take the one with the higher autonomy.

In the P170, is it possible to disable Optimus in case
of "3D render emergency" when far from power outlet ?

 

hello

No probleme I7 3920Xm P170EM

Spoiler

 

1.) You don't need the 3'rd fan if you dont have a video card for it to cool. It can't help to cool the other videocard, they are separate. I think the reseller will put a placeholder there, to keep the dust from getting inside the empty videocard socket.
2.) Yes, P170EM can work non-stop with any CPU from both Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge series. I recommend 3840QM, because of its price that is 2 times lower than 3920QM and has similar performance. And you said you will not be overclocking it, so you dont need 3920QM. You can still overclock the 3840QM a little bit trough the XTU support in the BIOS. Don't buy the 3820QM, get the 3840QM since its a bit faster and the price difference is minimal. It might also have other thermal improvements as well.
3.) Optimus cannot be disabled. This is the downside of having switchable graphics, because everything is hardwired. The GTX680m gives the signal directly to the Intel HD 4000 integrated GPU (which is inside the CPU) and from there goes to the display. That means, everything goes to the Intel GPU first, before it goes to the display later. So you cant disable it. As a result, some games have problems detecting the dedicated GPU and people might need to manually force the game to use the Nvidia one trough the driver control panel. And performance with Optimus is a little bit slower than without Optimus. Drivers are constantly improving, but the future belongs to manually switchable graphics, but thats not gonna happen this year.

Personally, I am waiting for P370EM with a single AMD 7970m and Core i7 3740QM to become available at MySN and this is what Im gonna order. I hate switchable graphics, Optimus cannot be controlled or disabled and Enduro has tons of problems, so Im gonna avoid both. P370EM doesent have switchable graphics at all and I like that. Im gonna get the full 100% performance out of my card and I can downclock it so I can save battery life when Im browsing internet on the road.

I would suggest this config for you:
Chassis: P370EM
VGA: gtx680m
CPU: 3840QM
RAM: 4x8GB
SSD: Samsung 830/840 or Intel 520 or maybe Corsair Neutron GTX series. Stay away from OCZ, it has reliability issues. I was lucky with mine, never had problems with it, but some people weren't so lucky.
For random read operations, the Samsung 830 and Intel 520 series are the fastest. For sequential read/write, the new Corsair GTX and Samsung 840 series are best. You choose.
WiFi card: Intel 6300 or Intel 6230 (the first one has the best range and the second has bluetooth. If you dont need bluetooth, get 6300. You can always buy a USB bluetooth stick later on.)

 

Only buy 3840qm if its an OEM CPU. ES or QS CPU will perform even worse than OEM 3720qm. And yes, 3920xm is a waste of money in a p170em, you can get almost the same pefromance out of a 3820qm with XTU OC. And no, XTU OC does not void your warranty - its a feature added by Clevo to their laptops for users to use.

 

^Exactly. Thanks for filling in, this is very important. Engineering Samples are to be avoided.

 

I chose to buy on XOTIXPC, even if I live in France, because my local french Clevo reseller have only ES/QS CPU.
And, as far I know XOTIC is the only one which doing cooper colling upgrade...
I know you guys can do that by yourself, but I don't want to do any mistakes ! ; )

That's also why I will "only" take a 3840QM instead of a 3920XM/3940XM, because I won't take the risk to OC it.
(even if ArticJoe kindly confirmed me many times that's working, I can't take no risk...
The Murphy's law is ruthless in computer's world, and this laptop will be used
in the middle of nowhere, and possibly in combat zone - I'm making documentary films -
so I really have to minimize the instabilities possibilities.)

About the P370/P170, I understood that the Optimus can be a real pain for games,
but I won't play with this laptop, and I also found a way to bypass it with CS6 Premiere ,
so I hope I'll can always use the GTX680M at its full power
for my 2D (CS6 Premiere/After Effects/Photoshop) and 3D software (Maya/3DSmax).

And if the P170 have less power consumption (when working with "regular" software, or on web task) than the P370 it seems better for me...
but the P370 have also a bigger battery (80WH for P170 vs. 90WH for P370) !! ; )

XOTIC only sells Crucial M4, and not Samsung 830. Even if the Samsung was my first choice,
I read there is not a lot of difference in reading speed, so... good choice ??
The same for wifi card.... I will take the Intel 6235... there's no 6230.

Logically, with all the informations you gave me, I think to take :
P170EM / i7-3840QM / 32Gb RAM / GTX680M 4Gb / 1 mSATA 256Gb Crucial M4 / 3 SSD 512Gb Crucial M4
(so with 3 SSD I can't take an internal bluray burner more)

Do you have an idea about the availability of Thunderbolt inside Clevo laptop ?
Do you think they will release it in few month (under 6 months) or far in 2013 ?
USB3 is nice, but for my video work Thunderbolt is far better.

 

No thunderbolt yet. I suppose it's possible next year.
I really wouldn't bother with the copper cooling upgrade. It's not that effective unless you add another fan. Also if you order from the US you will have the vastly increased cost of sending it back if anything goes wrong. Not that there is anything wrong with Xotic, but buying from Germany or UK would be a better option.

 

one comment will make about current P1x0HM or EM laptops is that their heatsinks do not hold completely still when you are travelling with your laptop. I have had to repaste my GPU / CPU 4 or 5 times with both my P170HM and p150em - because when your suitcase with your laptop gets thrown around in the airport, cracks or bubbles develop in your thermal compound, so I would take some thermal paste with you if you're going to a warzone.

 

Great news !! I'm sure I will have lots of fun with this "mobile" workstation....
do repasting also make the CPU bulletproof ??

Thanks for the tips Tmets & ArticJoe.
So the copper is less important than repaste....
but when you say repaste, you mean I will only have to dismount the cooling,
and paste Gelid Extreme/MX-4 or Prolimatech PK-3 like you said on my previous thread ?

Do I also need to repaste the GTX680M ?

 

Both the CPU and GPU heatsinks aren't secured as well as they could be. I travel a fair amount and haven't had the problem, but some have as arcticjoe explained. The cooling performance can be degraded by the heatsinks moving around.
These laptops aren't Toughbooks, but high performance machines, so aren't made for rough handling.

 

It's not my intention... I'm very kind with my laptops.
Neoprene suit + rugged backpack + lots of hugs...
and always aboard, not as checked baggages.

 

Except Tmets, I don't know if another persons saw my previous post about thunderbolt, so I ask again... ; )

Does someone have an idea about an availability of a Clevo with thunderbolt (they already have display port, so thunderbolt is not so far away...).
If Clevo will change their line in next months, I can wait...
but if it will be in more than 6 months, I can't.

And other things, is someone already buy his Clevo laptop at "pcsystems-evolutionx.de" ?

 

All of the new models for this year are either out or announced and none have thunderbolt. You will be waiting at least 6 months, until the next years refreshes, before you might see thunderbolt.

3920XM works great in P150EM, and IS overclockable, if you do a little bit of work. However the cooling in these laptops is not great, and you cannot overclock a ton. If you want to push your OC a lot, then an Alienware M17x or M18x will be better. For 15" though, the P150EM is great!