np8690

someone stupid (ie: me) is getting an np8690 for review and compare to the np8662. I should divulge the spec of what I'm reviewing

Sager 8690 Ultimate Custom Gaming Notebook Computer (Built on Clevo W860CU) i7 Calpella! Qty: 1
15.6” HD+ (1600x900) 16:9 LED Backlit Super Clear Glossy Widescreen w/Fingerprint Read Qty: 1
30 Day No Questions Asked Money Back Guarantee! (Others only give you 15 days) Qty: 1
nVidia GeForce GTX 280M Video/Graphics Card w/1GB (1024MB) Memory (User Upgradeable!) Qty: 1
Intel® Core™ i7-820QM CALPELLA Clarksfield Processor, 1.73-3.06GHz, (45nm, 8MB L3 cache) Qty: 1
Arctic Silver 5 High Performance Thermal Compound Qty: 1
4GB (4096MB) DDR3 1333MHz SDRAM (2 SODIMMs) (2048MB x 2048MB) Qty: 1
160GB Intel X25-M Gen 2 Solid State Hard Drive "SSD" Serial-ATA II-Lasts 1.2 million hours Qty: 1

8X DVD±R / RW / 4X + Dual Layer Drive with Software Qty: 1
Integrated-Built In Fingerprint Reader (Free!) Qty: 1
Enhanced High Definition 3D Audio Sound System with S/P DIF Digital Output Qty: 1
Integrated Built-In Bluetooth Module + EDR Qty: 1
Internal Built-In 7-in-1 Memory Card Reader (MS/MS PRO/MS DUO/SD/Mini-SD/MMC/RSMMC) Qty: 1
Integrated 2.0 Megapixel Digital Video Camera (Built In Webcam!) Qty: 1
Integrated Built in 10/1000 Fast Ethernet / LAN Network Card Qty: 1
Integrated Built in Intel Pro Wireless Wi-Fi Link 5300 802.11 A/G/N Qty: 1
Microsoft Windows VISTA Business 64 Bit Installed w/FREE Upgrade to Windows 7 64 Coupon! Qty: 1
Standard 11.1V Smart Li-Polymer battery pack 3800mAh, 42.18Wh Qty: 1
Deluxe Black Business Carrying Case (Free!) Qty: 1
No Microsoft Office Qty: 1
Sager 3 Yr Labor, 1 Yr Parts Warranty (Labor Yrs 2+3 paid by PCT) Lifetime Tech Support Qty: 1

Anything you folk would like to see in the review, lemme know.

Jason

 

i want to see as much information as possible.

 

Some temps under full load and the real deal on the screen brightness/picture quality?
And what the dude above me said

 

What both dudes said above:wink:

 

Hot... Hot.... Hot.

And I dont mean that in a good way... the QX chipset is better.. and will the real i7 please stand up?

But... I have seen some numbers... 180+ degrees to over 190+ degrees... on a mobile i7 already..

http://www.hphdx.net/Forum/tabid/55/forumid/6/threadid/1542/scope/posts/Default.aspx

http://www.hphdx.net/Forum/tabid/55/forumid/6/threadid/1257/scope/posts/threadpage/5/Default.aspx

http://tech.tbreak.com/2009/10/intel-corei7-820qm-mobile-cpu-benchmarks/

http://www.xoticpcforums.com/showthread.php?t=5084

I hope this helps regular people (not that you guys are not great.. you are.. its just normal {normal being persons not having Ninja / Pro Skills} people should understand why this chipset is really not as good as some of the others available for less money..

IMHO..

Be well all, JW

 

Everything mentioned above but also info on how loud its fans are idle, under load, etc would be great. In addition I read at least one report (translated) that said silent mode wasn't working right. Could you check that too?

thanks much!

 

I'll do fans, the brightness, (if it's anything like my np8662, it should be quite nice to use even at 1/2 capacity... I don't like too much brightness, hurts my eyes), heat at idle, normal use, gaming, modularity, etc.

It's a 30 day review, so keep em coming.

 

tell me how the keyboard is, seeing as it's a bit recessed.

 

Can you download this chess benchmark utility and let me know what you get, relative speed and kilo-nodes/second? Thanks!!

http://www.jens.tauchclub-krems.at/diverses/Schach/Fritz Chess Benchmark.zip

 

keyboard, yes... Chess game I'll have to test on my old comp to see if it works.

 

battery life.

how far can you stretch it.

 

I would like to see how are the temp under stress tests, HWmonitor if possible to see the temps.

Furmark 1.7 at your native resolution, stability test probably 1000sec or so (or as much as you feel comfortable with).

Intelburntest 2.3 Standard test, with 10 loops. But monitor your temps as it will really stress your cpu.

 

Don't forget some game benchmarks!

 

Pictures and battery life as was already mentioned

Duane

 

I would love to see how the Arma 2 Demo plays on this one. The Demo has a built in benchmark.

 

Battery life under full load, under power saving option with constant web browsing, and just typing with wifi and bluetooth turned off

 

here's what I'm testing:

• Battery Life
• GTR: Evolution
• 3DMark06
• 3Dmark Vantage
• Passmark 7
• wPrime
• Temperatures and Brightness
• NFS:Shift (Possibly)
• Anything else?

 

Not a test, but could you comment on the screen? Brightness, contrast, color? A comparison with a Macbook Pro or anything else you've seen would be great. Thanks!

 

I can compare it to th np8662, the xps m1710, the hp dv2000 that are large enough to compare to.

 

All those would be a great start, I really need to see some numbers

 

don't forget Crysis!

 

I know it's not important to many people at all, but I'd love to see you run my chess benchmark when you have the time. It shouldn't take more than 2 minutes to finish.

http://www.jens.tauchclub-krems.at/diverses/Schach/Fritz Chess Benchmark.zip

 

OK,

I have several PMs asking if it's 820 or 920 for the cpu. It's 820. The reason for this is because even though the 920 would make NBFers go "YAY!" because it's the fastest and would run like hell, it would appeal to a very narrow audience. The 820 would appeal more to those wishing to have a fast, yet somewhat mainstream CPU in the review. It is my job as a reviewer to get the majority of the market share to not only read it, but find the review applicable, even in bits and pieces (ie: ooh, this part on the 820 seems like something i could afford the upcharge to) rather than just read the review because it's something they dream of but cannot afford.

However I will side on the fact the 920 kicks .

 

I believe many people will go with the 720 for the mainstream.

 

i wouldn't. if i can afford the best i would get it. if not then the second best.

 

Can you give us a size comparison to the NP8662 possibly with pics as well as weight

 

The 720 will give you the bulk of the performance of a 820 and 920 and save you $200 over the 820 or $750 over the extreme chip. It's still faster than most C2D or C2Q and even with a 720, the GPUs on the market today are STILL the bottleneck.

Saw in your sig you have a Palm Pre too. I love mine.

 

I can afford the best, but after seeing my 920 desktop crush my i7-extreme 3.33ghz after OC'ing at 23% the cost.....I'm banking on some new OC'ing utilities.

Plus, the form factors out there aren't doing it for me.

I really like the 8690, but 15.6" screen is a deal breaker. I like 17"+ big body benz's.

I like the 8760, but the lack of a 1600x900 option dooms it for me.

So basically I want:

i7 720/820 (920 @ $1150 is just not gonna happen)
17"+ with 1440x900 or 1600x900
LED
Two drive bays (Since I'm going SSD)
GPU power equal to or greater than 9600M GT (since my 1722 handled WoW @ 1680x1050 great at that resolution).
Back lit keyboard (not required, but helps)

After crunching everything out there, I kept coming back to the Studio 1747 (especially since I already have a DPA account), since it fit every criteria.

MSI: No backlit keyboard, 2nd drive bay or LED screen

Sager: Lack of screen resolution options @ 17.3"

Alienware: 15.6"

It doesn't hurt the pricing is great and I've used and serviced them before, so I know exactly what I'm getting.

But as always, I'm keeping my options open.

 

my palm is amazing. i love mines as well

i understand about the cost of the cpu i think the price for it is alot also but that's the cost of being the best

i would say it's alittle early to buy one becuase of the options that you pointed out but it's good to know where these cpu's stand

i myself would like to know where these stand but i would wait for sli and i7 mobile(or desktop ) before buying one.

 

HP DV-8 coming this fall.. in the next few weeks.. will be 18.4 inches of screen.. dual bays... the 160gb SSD with a 500GB HDD is only $400 bucks in an HDX so maybe similar pricing for the DV-8.. but it will offer the Mobile i7..

I should let you know I am not an Mobile i7 fan...

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3647&p=5

Quoting "The new Clarksfield i7-920XM isn't substantially faster than the old Core 2 QX9300 when it comes to running highly threaded code. The problem is that when running highly threaded code, Clarksfield's Turbo modes aren't able to fully activate. We end up with a Core i7 running at 2.26 GHz compared to a Core 2 running at 2.53 GHz, and overall performance is relatively close. Clarksfield is 6% faster in SMP CINEBENCH, 14% faster in the second x264 pass, and 12% faster at DivX encoding. The first x264 pass is basically a tie."

As well... http://ark.intel.com/Compare.aspx?ids=33921,36727,43126

the 55w running the i7 mobile... verse the 45w QX... with 12mb of cache...

Max Consumption 132W

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1084/11/

IMHO.. and a few others.. maybe a QX would be a better purchase.. buying at the top of the swing with the QX series as opposed to the bottom of the swing with the Moible i7..

Be well, JW

 

18.4" is nice, but I'm wondering about the overall size factor too. 1600x900 @ 17.3 = 1920x1080 @ 18.4 for me.

I will keep an eye on it though, as I really liked the fit and finish of the HDX18T I had previously (which, too, had a QX9300 in it).

The DDR2 9600M GT was atrocious, though.

Take a look at Tom's hardware: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/mobile-core-i7,2443.html

"If you approach Clarksfield realizing its role as a high-performance part best suited in a desktop replacement role, then you won’t be disappointed by the power it uses to beat Intel’s former flagship, the Core 2 Extreme QX9300."

I respect them just as much if not more than anand.

i7 mobile is a step in the right direction, but not earth shattering (I've said basically this in previous posts) at
this point. I would never go with a 920xm based on cost alone.

SLI is a non factor for me at this time. Been there; done that. Back to single card solutions, since WoW isn't SLI optimized. Of course if the new WoW, or whatever game or games I was playing, were heavily SLI optimized, I'd start to look. (Can't wait for the new SW MMORPG).

I had a QX9300. Beautiful stuff, but from personal tests, WoW loves some i7....being basically single or dual core at heart, it will love the turbo mode of the 820, especially in dense populated scenarios like raids.

My systems are on AC 99% of the time.

 

In a laptop.. on a cooler?

The 132w Mobile i7.. will run hot.. not to mention the 12mb cache will catch up at some point.. QX9300 overclocks on air to well over 4ghz.. with no stress.. the non-turbo maxed out 8gb cache..

Well beauty is in the eye of the beholder...

I am going backwards.. I have eyeballed a D900F to death.. but I am chicken.. I do lack a real skill set.. but I do have a desire to tinker.. so maybe my wanting SLI with a real i7 is not something that I have to wait on?

For me it would be a hot rod.. thats the way I look at it.. I would use it.. but considering my ignorance with software.. I was looking at building something with a raid 5.. stripe 2.. mirror 1.. but the G-Monster SSD's have on board raid.. so could I double stripe? I am asking for trouble but I would love to bench mark it..

Any way.. the other thing to look at for a mobile chip is the qx-9650.. nut nothing looks like a 975.. unless you want to double up with a X chip.. but that is not something for a laptop.. or maybe if someone did build a double cpu lappy.. well?

Be well, JW

 

You do realize that there's no 130 watt Mobile i7, right? The D900F uses a regular desktop Bloomfield i7...

 

The problem with the 12mb of cache is it isn't truly shared among all four cores, but 6mb per what is effectively 2 T9400's (2.53 / 1066 / 6mb). The 8mb cache is truly a 4-way cache in the nehalem architecture.

I've yet to see a retail level laptop, as is, take a QX9300 to 4ghz, ever stable (Stability defined as running OCCT or Prime95 max heat, all cores for 1hr). I think the highest I ever saw a QX9300 run truly stable was 3.2ghz. This includes the M17x crowd and when I had a OCZ Whitebook with a QX9300. I am waiting for someone to seriously stress test the 920xm in the 8760 at 2.53ghz (which is what it OC's to via BIOS apparently).

If your system isn't stable, the speed achieved is meaningless IMHO.

As for power consumption:

http://www.tomshardware.com/gallery/win7_corei7vscore2,0101-226659-0----jpg-.html

You can see where the QX9300 also hits 120+ under load. Does it pull as much as a 920xm? No, but the 920xm is also 55w. I'd like to see a shootout between the 820qm @ 45w where I think you would find the 820qm holds its own or even beats the QX9300 in many tests with similar peak wattage. Remember all the lesser Core 2 Quads also pull 45w.


I had a D900F with a 975 in it, and it was a beautiful system. I built it from a pure barebones and it was a thing of beauty. I had zero complaints except I wanted to rebuild my desktop and couldn't justify the $3k+ for the laptop and the desktop, so I downsized. But seriously, the D900F was phenomenal.

Judicator: I think he's talking under load.

 

Intel Core i7 Goes Mobile - Core i7-920XM 'Clarksfield' CPU Review

Battery & Idle
Idle with no battery 39W
Idle with battery 80W
Idle Frequency 1.2GHz
Internet Browsing
Max Consumption 58W
Max Frequency 2.8GHz
Gaming
Mode Consumption 122W
Max Consumption 132W

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1084/11/

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5407629&postcount=30

 

Problem there is at max consumption, the QX9300 is also pulling some major wattage, so you are looking at 10-20w at most which makes sense considering the 920xm is 55w.

Check out the power consumption levels at idle and max:

http://www.tomshardware.com/gallery/win7_corei7vscore2,0101-226659-0----jpg-.html

At the very peak between QX9300 and i7-920xm in real world testing, you are seeing a difference of, what, 6w?

At idle/low, you are seeing, 12w?

You will see the QX9300 and i7-920xm aren't that far apart

 

With a stable form of W7.. with the virual server bugs.. squashed.. I am thinking a home server type set up would work.. I will sound like a kook.. but someone here in notebbokreview posted pics of a home system in something like an old stereo box / foot locker with legs.. but it looked good.. and minus making a cool room for a server rack it seemed to make sense for something for around the house..

the cache 3 shared is nice.. I forgot that part.. I will yeild for some increase in performance... in a ture shared cache..

I did miss quote.. I read something yesterday from almost 1 year ago now..

**** "Thus, Core 2 Quad Q9300 with the nominal frequency of 2.5GHz featuring a 7.5x clock multiplier. It means that you will have to significantly increase the front side bus frequency in order to achieve any noticeable results during overclocking. For example, in order to clock Core 2 Quad Q9300 at 4GHz, which seems to be quite attainable for this processor theoretically, the FSB should be increased to unreal 533MHz." ****
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core2quad-q9300_6.html

But back to a great home set up verse a niche laptop.. I like the idea of being mobile in the house while I am on my network... like at work but for fun stuff only.. sounds corny I am sure.. sorry.

Be well and Thanks, JW

 

I do the same thing JW. I like being mobile at home so I can go from the living room to the computer room to the bedroom, etc...my daughter uses her 1722/GX720 all over the place. Upstairs watching TV to relaxing in her room to sitting in the living room. Being mobile @ home is definitely a plus.

 

ok, let's stay on topic... I wanted an arsenal of tests, and it's become a thread on the qx9300 .

Jason

 

Dont get me wrong... I keep coming back to this thread becuase I am thinking maybe I dont need a Gorrila D900F.. and that this Mobile i7 (as much as it kills me to type that) may be the answer..

Sorry to go far a stray.. heat gun reading after gaming or max use cinebench or whatever suits..

I really would like to know how the chip performs and how much heat it throws off.. to my experience (I admited I am a NOOB already) heat equals death for laptop's.. mostly due to the graphics failing.. but the heat coming from any where in the laptop will do the trick..

So heat gun readings if you have a Gun.. Please...

Be well, JW

 

Maybe you can bench your new toy when you get it verse the Clevo?

Pretty Please Wiff Sugar On Top?

I think the Dell Screen is a HUGE difference with dual lap.. and res..

But the Clevo Graphics cards? I can change the screen myself. the power is in place with the better graphics card..

Clevo with a Dell dual lamp.. rut ro..

Be well, JW

 

I can get heat readings from HWmonitor64 for CPU, GPU, HDD/SSD, the thermal plate thingy, and I can put sensors on the surfaces themselves for direct keyboard, palmrest, etc., I said earlier I would do heat readings. I think the Clevo will win modularity, and FYI: clevo w860cu = sager np8690

 

We are on topic, but thank you.

Discussing the merits of the i7-mobile vs. QX9300
The merits of i7-mobile vs. i7-desktop

For a 15" form factor, the thermal characteristics of this 15" notebook are of serious importance.

And those arsenal of tests will be put up against the previous generations Core 2 CPUs.

How does this stack up against the 8760? D900F? QX9300 systems?

All valid.

Actually, there are many results available via Toms and anand to give you an idea.

Now, if we were to discuss starting various types of pie......

I vote for peach pie or Apple pie ONLY if the apple to crust ratio 1:1. Anything else and the overkill of Apples is....

....wait....nevermind.

 

what the hell does the q9300 have anything to do with this discussion? the q9300 is a desktop cpu. The other guys are talking about the qX9300, which has a multiplier of 9.5. In order for it to hit 4ghz, which it has on the asus w90 laptwop, it needs 421mhz bus.

 

Always funny how it was somebody in house @ Asus who hit that, but no one else ever did.....

 

@JW - Sorry, you mentioned the D900F and 130(odd) watts, so my mind immediately jumped to the 130 watt TDP of the desktop Bloomfield.

As for the original purpose of the thread, someone mentioned how noisy the fans are at idle and load, and I'd like to put in another vote for that, since it wasn't mentioned in your last list.

The mention of S/PIDF out also makes me wonder if the sound card is actually 5.1 or 7.1 capable, but I'm not sure if you have a way to test that.

 

7.1, nope

Update: test bumped back to early november, sager ran out of np8690s

 

Where'd you hear that? Glad I'm not ordering until Dec!

 

Gosh, fail... I hope it's Sager only (Though I believe RJtech, where I wanna buy from, gets their barebones from Sager; not sure though).

 

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile...deskornote=&month=&or=&search=&sort=wprime_32

1 Intel Core i7 (Desktop) 975 Bloomfield 1333 1 MB + 8 MB 3333 130 45 4 X 12

2 Intel Core i7 (Desktop) 950 Bloomfield 1333 1 MB + 8 MB 3060 130 45 4 X 13

3 Intel Core i7 (Desktop) 920 Bloomfield 1333 1 MB + 8 MB 2660 130 45 4 X 15

4 Intel Core i5 (Desktop) 750 Lynnfield 1 MB + 8 MB 2660 95 45 4 X 13

9 Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9300 Penryn 1066 12 MB 2530 45 45 4 X 18

41 Intel Core 2 Quad Q9000 Penryn 1066 6 MB 2000 45 45 4 X 22

13 Intel Core 2 Duo T9900 Penryn 1066 6 MB 3060 35 45 2 X 15

8 Intel Core i7 820QM Clarksfield 1 MB + 8 MB 1730 45 45 4 X 14

19 Intel Core 2 Extreme X9000 Penryn 800 6 MB 2800 44 45 2 X 17

20 Intel Core 2 Extreme X7900 Merom 800 4 MB 2800 44 65 2 X 2461

28 Intel Core 2 Duo P9500 Penryn 1066 6 MB 2530 25 45 2 X 18

21 Intel Core i7 720QM Clarksfield 1 MB + 6 MB 1600 45 45 4 X 16

34 Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 Penryn 1066 3 MB 2530 25 45 2 X 20

The Q-9000.. the chip I own and run.. verse any of the Mobile i7's listed out performs.. the better QX-9300 or QX-9650 or the QX-9770 which all have 12mb caches.. would crush the hopped up lil Mobile i7's.. the mobile i7's are all horse power.. no torque.. and with the 132w heat pumping / energy eating aspect... I would venture a guess or take a logical leap that over time the Q or any of the QX's.. will outperform and out last the smaller once again hopped up chips..

For my HDX the Q and QX where both options.. so no they are not desk top chips...

Be well, JW