**D900F (Sager 9280) Owners Lounge**

thanks alot d2ultima..
ok i wanted to ask u can i install the ssd in any of the three bays or a specific one?
thanks!

 

thanks for the help bro

 

thanks for the help bro

 

Same here I asked Eurocom but they said they're fully busy until November with new product launches.

 

Yes, everyone is busy with "new" product launches, never with one second left to support the s...t they already sold before.

 

Not much.. but i dont think ill have much time left after i start studying medicine (in 2 days..) so i want to get my lappy working 100% before that..

I havent been using any antivirus, firewall or anti spyware software (though i have avast on another machine with win7 and it doesnt have the issue) since i dont think any is efficient enough to get rid of all the nasty bugs - i have to format computers every once in a while so why bother with useless antivirus software..
I also dont use any virtual drive programs or any unnecessary stuff.. its just firefox, acrobat, flash, java, office, photoshop, msn and winrar.
I really have no idea what is causing these occasional crashes..

And it was just the graphics driver for the m17 causing the stuttering? When and how did you figure that out?

 

no it's wasn't the graphic driver doing that. the gpu driver did however effect the "windows explorer" error. when i uninstalled it, it went away. so i would suggest for you to try a different graphics driver and make sure you clean it out.


good luck on your medicine.

 

Yes any drive you want it will work.

 

your problem is most likely being caused by viruses. I've seen it before on Windows XP machines, and twice on Vista machines at my old job. I *do* suggest a good antivirus software for any windows machine you could be using (I.E. vista/7/XP/NT/2000/2003/win 8 whenever it comes out/etc etc) and keep it up to date.

As for drivers, this machine comes with excellent drivers in the Drivers & Utilities disc you get when you buy it. I have had to reinstall Windows 5 times on this machine (due to hard drive failures) and each time the drivers caused no problems at all. I suggest running through all the drivers (except video card drivers) and installing nVidia's 186.81 video card drivers when you're done. That'd give you the best setup you could run through.

Also, just wondering, why is it you have to reformat your computer so many times? As far as I see someone shouldn't have to reinstall that many times unless you're constantly changing hardware and/or Hard Drives.

 

The drivers on the disc are meant for vista, so they could cause some troubles in windows 7 and im not even sure which actually need to be installed on win7 since it installs some itself. And concerning the graphics drivers, why should i use an older release when a much newer one for windows 7 is out?

I did remote virus scans with several scanners (from another laptop never connected to the net), i have a harware firewall and i dont use any strange websites or download any unscanned content so im pretty sure its not a virus.. no unknown processes or files, no strange resource hogs.. i went over the system and error logs and nothing strange there either..its done that on the previous installation too so what are the odds of getting the same virus with all this.. slim to none - thats why im pretty sure its either a driver or program.


Also another thing; i know that installing the ssd in any of the bays will work, but which one would you guys suggest to put it in.. (ill run the remaining two hdds in raid0 for storage)
I thought of putting it into bay 1 (the one that holds two hdds and is not under the battery) since i presume that two conventional hdds would create more heat together and i could cut down on the heat by putting the ssd there and leaving one in there.. but on the other hand the bay under the battery has no air flow if im not mistaken so i wonder how hot it gets in there..
if anyone has three drives and doesnt use raid could you post your temps for the ones that are in bay1 and the one in the bay2?

 

I too have this occasional problem that Windows explorer stops and restarts. I have not been able to figure out what causes it yet. But it happens rarely, and is not a big problem.

As for SSD/HDD placement; I originally had both my SSD and the HDD in the double bay, but I found that the HDD then would get a little warm for my liking - close to 50c idle - so I moved the HDD to the bay under the battery. Now it idles around 39c. So in your case, I would put the SSD and one HDD together in the double bay - I think 2 HDD's together would produce too much heat. That way you will probably still get 1 HDD that runs a little hot, but it shouldn't be of any concern for the SSD.

 

The drivers on the disc are 100% compatible with Windows 7 as far as I've heard, and also Windows update uses older drivers than what's currently out, it's a known fact. Also for the graphic drivers, the latest *nVidia* release is 186.81 for the 200m series, for Vista/win 7 x64. There is a 186.82 which I encountered serious problems with, and there is a 186.91 which I have yet to try until I learn more about it.

As for the Hard Drives, they keep cool under the battery, the one under the battery is currently my gaming drive (since the original one died off a while back and I did not redo it in RAID when I got it replaced... too much work on SF4 to lose XD) but it runs fine now. As for RAID-0 temps, I had Vista SP2 and at the time, HWmonitor did *not* show me hard drive temps so I cannot account for it, but I'll say it does keep quiet and cool under the battery non-RAID.

Also, Microsoft Update often has viruses on their website. With my bitdefender, it will on occasion block trojans from "download.microsoft.com" when I try to check for new updates either automatically or manually. I *have* gotten viruses from windows update before, and it was the cause of me having to wipe my old system more than once. I had to hold off on updates the last time I did it due to it saying there were viruses. When I did not get the alerts, I updated. All was well. The viruses do not show up in scans for some reason, but they do affect the explorer from time to time. I'd say the possibility of getting the same viruses are high if it's from a trusted safe source.

 

I agree its not so problematic but annoying once it happens.. it takes those precios 10 seconds of my life to log off and back on to get rid of it..

And if you got 50C idle with a hdd and ssd paired i wonder what im getting with two hdds in there.. i never ran it without raid so i cant tell..

 

man, these look like sweet machines - wish I had one rather than my old 8662!

 

hey ppl
my systems abviously the D900f
ok gotta question for u guys

i installed windows 7 ultimate.everythins fine.....but i did a benchmark of winrar under the tools option(version 3.90 64bit) im getting average of 3000

but when i had vista homepremium 64bit i was getting close to 4300.

can anyone of u verify this to be only a winrar problem or windows 7??

i dont remeber the test scores of pcmark and passmark and cinebench on my vista! iwould have to install vista again to test.

but if somones done it already on our system can u verify !!

THANKS

 

hey again, well I want to use a ps3 controller on some of my games like street fighter, n4s, etc..

Anyways it is possible but have to take some steps, there is 1 step where I run into a problem, here is the how to:

http://www.hardcoreware.net/how-to-playstation-3-controller-64-bit-windows-7-vista/

my problem is:

--Restart Windows – when it starts to boot up again, hit F8 just after the BIOS does its POST. Select “Disable driver signature enforcement” - this is very important!--

I get nothing when hitting f8 and when using f2 to enter setup do not get this option eather.

Anyone??

Thanks all

 

a q that has been rattling around.

Ok I got the 2.6 i7 option in my 900f,...

From what I have heard the desktop 2.6 is much more powerful than say a core2duo laptop 2.6.

IS this true?

If so what is the i7 desktop 2.6 cpuy comparible in performance compared to a laptop cpu?


Thx

 

Yeah - a desktop Core i7 is architecturally superior to Core 2, whether C2D or C2Q - it should be faster clock for clock in any given tasks. In single thread processes, its faster due to chip design; and in multithread, it will leave equally clocked Core 2 duo/quad out in the cold, given higher efficiency and better scaling, due to HTT.

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5094

 

well I found the specs I was lookin for, impressive!

http://images.gfx.no/538/538904/Effektforbruk_Lavereerbedre.png

i7 920 2.66 is close to but stil better than Core 2 Quad q6600 @ 3.6ghz !!

nice...................

 

What is the max speed of ddr3 mem the d900f can use? I know oyu can get 1333 but when there is faster than 1333 available will it be able to exploit this or will it downclock to 1333 as the max?

Also when there is a faster than 3.33 i7 developed will we be able to upgrade with this? Or will it be too hot for the 900f to handle?

 

If the chip is a 1139 socket, then there's a chance of upgrading. Like the future i9 is supposed to be using an 1139 socket.

But the heat issue and the size of the heat sink would probably prohibit us upgrading.
In my opinion, if you want to be able to take advantage of upgrading components here and there, you really have no business buying a notebook. You should stay with a desktop where this is easy. Plus overclocking is permitted by the BIOS.

 

oh nooo....

My wife was cleanin up and thought my laptop was turned off so threw a wool blanket over it to get it out of the way, I woke up 1 hr later and the fans were on full blast, i yanked the blanket off and it was HOT to the touch, mostly back right and front right of the laptop.

I could use the onboard fingermouse but the buttons on the onboard mouse were unresponsive, I grabbed the BT mouse and was able to open temp checker, everything was 70 or below.. but then again it drops fast when cleared.,. I hope no damage has been done

How can I find out if anything has gotten any damage?

Passmark performance test or somethin?



(it seems fine now, i hope everything is!)

 

Bump ( and I even started a Benchmark thread!, oh well )

Yeah, run a burn test of some kind, even a game for a little bit should be a good test. Running Passmark will stress the whole system, that way you can cover every bit of the lappy. I had that happen with my old Gateway Fx, I got lucky and caught the blanket within 10 minutes, and it was running some game too, GPU was 101C when I minimized, never did have any hiccups after. I got really really lucky, I'm sure your baby will be ok!

 

Now what we need is Sager to have a LED version of the D900F.

 

Sager will probably launch a 900F refresh by the time i9 hits.

 

Run OCCT for 1 hour and if the GPU temps are under 90C it should be ok.

 

Anandtech has a thorough review with the D900F, W870CU and a Eurocom M980CU.

http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.aspx?i=3660

It includes benchmarks on the LCDs, which for me was very informative.

Edit: I'm not sure if it is appropriate to post this in the W870CU owner's thread since I don't own one. So, it's just here for now.

 

Yeah, I saw that earlier today (the review). Kind of confirms the lackluster 1600x900 LED on the NP8690. Poor contrast and lots of bleed.

On the other hand, the D900F screen faired decently, and when it counts, as expected, the real i7 that has ALL cores blazing at 3.2ghz+ crushed the competition.

 

So, Monday I get my 9280! I had one concern only owners of the laptop could answer though. I keep seeing these pictures of the lid having a few millimeters of give when the lid is shut? Can you guys confirm this? That would drive me crazy ( I'm somewhat meticulous with little stuff like that, but hey it's a $2,000 laptop! ).

 

Hey congrats!

Yes it has a tiny bit of space viewing from the side with the lid shut, but it does lock into place when shut so it feels shut in a solid way.

 

well well well I have been gone for like 3 weeks and only one extra page has been added since I last posted??? You people need to stop playing games 24/7 and post here!!!
*proceeds to give myself that advice*

 

Yeah, mine is the same. Never noticed it until now. Maybe about 1.5mm. The lid locks securely with a satisfying CLICK though.

The slight give doesn't bother me at all. I would rather have this, than a too tight of a fit, like a Thinkpad R50 I used to own. On the R50 the top was so tight to the bottom, that the keyboard actually touched the LCD screen. After a while you could see the scratched outline of most of the keys on the screen.

 

Oh ok, as long as it isn't banging up and down while in a bag or something, I guess all laptops have to have some sort of give, or else like Tjp888 said, it would just be too tight and create more problems in the process

My lappy is like 50 miles north of me right now, so I'll have it by monday, and will throw up some benchmarks for you guys of some games not tested on any sites yet. I have alot of CPU bound games that this thing will just eat up, I'll test some MMO action, The Witcher, and some others.

 

Lol D2.... you do realize that D900 owners are few and far between, don't you? Sure, lot's of people have opinions about it - actual owners are relatively few.

 

lol yeah I know.... but there have been at least 20 people who've said "I got my 9280 finally! It works like a dream!" and/or "I'm having <insert problem here>! I'm using Windows XP SP3/Windows 7 x64!" (vista problems I very rarely see somehow... they could be there though I might just miss them)

So I know there are enough people to chat about them here! XD

 

What is there left to be said though?
This is a beautiful machine, works like a dream.
I wouldn't want any other lappy that's on the market right now. Perhaps the lack of activity in this thread is because people don't experience much problems with it?

 

I had an Apple Powerbook G4 whose display touched the keyboard when closed, and it was super annoying to have to clean the screen all of the time because the oil from my fingers would get transferred to the screen after it was closed. The problem was so prevalent, that Apple even documented it. Believe me, the D900F design is much better.

Good Luck..

 

Can any owners of this machine tell me how the fan noise on their machines are? I heard that's a (not really issue) "noticeable difference" from other gaming laptops.

I have a toshiba sattelite notebook, if that helps at all when comparing the noise...

 

Ok. Let's see. To compare fan noise. If you can hear a pin drop in class, you'll hear your fans. If you can hear an air condition unit making very soft ambient noise, you'll not hear your fans when they're on max. When I want to check if my fans are set to max or not to game, I have to lift my laptop and put my ears down to see if the noise is hard enough. And then I press the auto/full buttons to see if it comes out louder. Turns out if I hear it when I put my ear down, and I press the buttons, the noise disappears almost totally. Then I realise I had it on max and turn it back to max and prepare to game.

 

The fans are relatively quiet, but the GPU fan does experience a rhythmic brief speed up every few minutes that is mildly annoying.

Temps are great, though.

 

well i loved the fn+1 feature sager carries with all there notebooks.

 

Oh snap Don done got himself a M17x......

 

Lol. yeah i just got it yesterday. i'm running threw alot of games to see where it stands.

right now i can say that i love the cooling on this.....

 

And you got it from Quadzilla, so you know A> It works from head to toe and B> It has been treated like a rare diamond.

 

Lol. i know that. he is really cool also. and everything that he said about it is true. i don't have anything to say but positive things about him.

 

That's very helpful, thank you! They sound way less noisy than I had anticipated, from what you said I mean.

I experience that with my toshiba craptop, haha.

One more question, will the fans be noisy enough that I would have to adjust my tv volume to hear the tv over the notebook, me sitting about 10 feet from the tv with the notebook less than a foot infront of me?

 

If your TV was originally set to mute, then yes you'd need to adjust it. If you can hear your TV already, the only time you'll notice your D900F being actually turned on is if you are using a disc actively in the drive. And even then the noise can't even be considered noise, it's very quiet. I simply cannot stress how little of a problem these fans are. The only time you'll notice it is if you are in class and it's exam time and your laptop is open in front of you when everybody is all hush-hush and you can hear stuff you never noticed before, like a swarm of locusts attacking the security guard at Walmart 3 blocks away.

Jokes aside, unless your room is constantly dead quiet, you aren't going to hear your fans. If you use some sort of headphones while you use the machine, you DEFINITELY won't hear them just having the headphones on your head/in your ears, even if no sound is being played. If you are watching TV and you hear your laptop over the TV, then you probably couldn't hear your TV in the first place. You don't have to worry about the fans I assure you. Even in class I thought it might make a noise as the classes are usually a very quiet place, but it doesn't even make a diff. And even then, the fans blend into background noise after a few seconds, you may only notice it at first because it would be a new sound, but once you hear it for a couple of seconds, it's like idle chatter in a school during the day. It's never dead quiet, but it never bothers anyone and most people don't notice that there *is* some sort of chatter.

And if that isn't enough to help you, all of my previous statements were made with my fans running at "max". If your fans are set to auto, it'll make 1/3 - 1/2 the noise that it makes when on max. So for sure no problems there

 

I Agree with D2. Unless your room is quiet, you won't hear the fans. I WoW'd for hours with no discord from the fam.

 

Fans? This thing has fans?

Seriously - agree with the above. In a dead quiet room you will hear the fans, wether they are on min or max. If you sit in front of the lappy with your TV on, you will have difficulty hearing if the fans are on auto or full blast. Which is kind of annoying - I can't hear if I remembered to turn the fans to full or not.
Now, other people might hear a difference though - if they sit between your lappy and e.g. your TV.
I have taken my machine to work meetings, and believe me; my fans were not the loudest in the room.

 

Thank you D2, electrosoft and ReDuNZL, that is very reassuring! =)

I will be purchasing this beast soon from xoticpc, I will be using it for cad and mucho gaming. Thanks for all your replies!