HTWingNut's Sager NP7330 / Clevo W230ST REVIEW

Prop it up and drop temps 10C, simple as that. If we can undervolt then drop another 5-6C off that.

Idle temps are mid to upper 50's mainly because the fan doesn't run until it hits 60-65C.

 

Yeah hopefully propping up stays a good and easy way to drop temps for most laps. Stock pads are way too low on most laps and it causes throttling and all. Kind of stupid.

Clevo should start to care about power efficiency, especially for small laps as people buy them expecting to get decent battery life. Their laps are among the worst if not the worse when it comes to idle power consumption. Bios improvements could be a way but i wouldn't put too much hope in that unless there's a major flaw. And Full hd is not to blame either, the asus N550JV idles at 12W instead of 27W with a 15,6" full hd screen and a HDD...

And afaic i would have preferred a two fans cooling system instead of two useless m-sata ports. But that's just me. This lap could have been near perfection.

On the bright side, you will have to find some tweaks to get it cooler and quieter. That's always an interesting challenge.

 

I was waiting for that review and I am very disapointed.
My first guess was, that they got a bad sample down at notebookcheck.com. I still think so mainly because HTWingNut and gaminglaptopjunky also stated high temps, but not horribly high ones. (In the NBC stress test the CPU throttled back to 2GHZ and was still at 99°C - no way!)

Yet again, my W110ER will also hit the 97°C with Prime + Furmark running, when sitting on the table. (With PremaMod that is).
When putting it on a Cooling Pad heat goes down by 10+ °C

So concidering that, you can either prop it up, put a decent cooling pad underneath it, undervolt it, and maybe later put a PremaMod BIOS on it, temps will improve a lot.
And concerning noise. The guys at notebookcheck seem to be very sensitive to noise. They also declared the W110 as "very loud". I have to say I even use the Fn + 1 every once in a while and I dont't think it's anywhere close to loud. Yet that may be because of the "pleasant" whoosh sound it makes.

So don't worry - as with the W110ER temps will improve a lot.

[EDIT] As far as mysn.de undervolting WILL void warranty as it goes under their "do not use the CPU outside its stock specification" policy. BUT there is no way for them to figure out whether or not you undervolted your machine. Especially since you can use Intels own XTU utility. I am going to be asking that question directly to them though.

 

Thanks for your fast replies. I guess I´ll give it a try or "pull the trigger" as you guys like to say
I am still a bit nervous about those temps but as you said it looks like you can improve it.
MySN seems having a "rough time" selling this one, since everybody wants some. I´ll have to phone them tomorrow to see if I can get one of their this weeks delievery or if it is already sold out till september.

 

I cross the fingers that you can get one of the next shipment. I ordered last week and I hope mine will be on that shipment too.

 

That's total crap. Usually pretty much anything that is allowed through software doesn't/shouldn't void warranty. There are so many hardware restrictions and failsafes it's pretty much impossible to harm a laptop with any software clocking or volt changes. If it's working with a software underclock, it's still within it's stock specification because it isn't locking up. And it *IS* Intel's utility. If they don't want you doing it then they need to lock out any way to under/overclock or under/overvolt.

Surprising how propping it up does improve temps significantly. Just use XTU to undervolt when doing CPU intensive stuff. It's a pain to set it after it resets out of sleep mode but if it bothers anyone too much just set your machine to hibernate or just fire up XTU. I'm in the habit now of starting XTU, MSI Afterburner, HWInfo64, Throttlestop before starting anything intensive, so that one extra program isn't a big deal. I could just set power config CPU % to 99% and it would limit CPU to its 2.7GHz and leave it at that if I really didn't want to fuss with anything.

Also I don't think most users would find the mSATA ports "useless". If anything I'd rather have two mSATA ports and no main SATA bay since it consumes enough space to house a fan. Eliminating two mSATA ports would gain you nothing for improved cooling.

 

FWIW the mSATA slots are one of my favorite parts. I couldn't afford a big enough SSD for everything so it's nice to have a big HDD and an SSD.

Can't wait to get my laptop back in the mail. It took Sager a full week to send it back after they got it. According to LPC they've been swamped with repairs. Wednesday can't come soon enough.

 

Even if you did undervolt, there's no way a reseller would be able to find out if you reset the voltages to stock.

 

Any recommendations on a laptop case? I'm looking for something small and compact; not a case with 10 pockets and room for lunch.

 

Which is pretty much what I said.
A mysn.de employee stated in a German forum that any manipulation of the CPUs frequencies (over- under- clock or volt) will void warranty.
But as I already said. How could they find out? Not at all. Especially since it's an Intel own software, which resets itself after failure [EDIT] or even after reboot - so no BIOS flash is needed to restore the origingal settings [/EDIT] it's totally safe.

 

I noted that both times you mentioned the mysn.de policy, you said "frequencies" or "clock" -- a voltage change is *not* the same as a clock change, and technically neither is modifying the max multiplier (which are the only two things you're going to do in XTU). I wouldn't worry about it!

 

Right, good point. Multiplier does not change frequency... plus the stock speed for the i7-4700MQ is 2.4GHz and i7-4800MQ is 2.7GHz. The system will run itself anywhere from 800MHz to their boost frequencies of 3.4 or 3.7GHz respectively. So anything within that range is "within specification".

 

I think I made a post about this in the Owners' Lounge, but maybe not (can't remember). I ordered this Amazon.com : Brenthaven Prostyle II 15" Sleeve Color: Blue Shadow : Computers & Accessories, but it was a bit too big. Couldn't resist ordering it since it was only $8 and had Prime, haha. Returned it for refund yesterday, and ordered this in black: Amazon.com: Brenthaven 2176 ProStyle Sleeve I for 13-Inch MacBook Air/MacBook Pro / Ultrabook - Plum: Computers & Accessories. It should be here tomorrow, so I'll report back on it's fit. Overall, the quality should be the same as the 15" version, which was really high quality. Brenthaven as always!

 

Sorry guys I am just telling you what mysn.de is telling the people. They basically say any interference with CPU speed or voltage means warranty loss! So please stop arguing with me, as I agree with you. So write them an e-mail if you are upset about it. info(at)mysn.co.uk

[EDIT] Ok I called mysn.de down at Lepizig and the guy on the phone told me that undervolting will result in a voided warranty. So if you bought yours there it's something you should be aware of not matter how you think about it. At least it's something you shouldn't mention.

 

The multiplier sets the CPU frequency.

Anything beyond 37/36/35/35 is overclocking for the 4800 and 34/33/32/32 for the 4700.

 

So has anyone tested the AUO AHVA display yet? Any subjective impressions and/or gamut measurement?

 

Awesome. I wonder if you can fit the power supply into the sleeve?

 

Well, to answer myself: AnandTech | Acer Aspire S7 Ultrabook: Acer

 

Thanks for the link but are you sure that laptop uses the AUO AHVA? The review describes the screen as a touch IPS and I was under the impression that the AUO was non-touch AHVA.

Interestingly, the review benchmarks the screen against the Asus UX31A-DB7's screen. Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't the ASUS use the same Chei Mei screen found in the W230ST? At least that's what I read in another forum.

 

Nah, it won't. It's only meant for the laptop itself, and an Iphone in the small pocket. I wanted this so that I can put my laptop in my sling/messenger bag, instead of using my giant BP-XF backpack all the time. Or so that on those days where I just wanna go to the boba joint to chill and not really do much work, I'd want to pack lightly

I'll post some pics when it gets here tomorrow, don't worry.

 

1. Download nvidia driver of choice ( http://us.download.nvidia.com/Windows/326.41/326.41-notebook-win8-win7-64bit-international-beta.exe).
2. Download modded inf for your series of driver from laptopvideo2go (e.g. for 326.41 on win8x64, http://laptopvideo2go.com/infs/325series/32641_win8x64/nvwin.inf)
3. Disable driver signing ( How To Disable And Bypass Driver Signature Enforcement In Windows 8 - Six Columns)
4. ???
5. Profit

Spoiler

It doesn't take a genius -- or even anyone who knows what they're doing. Just someone who has access to google.

 

Thanks for the post.
The Asus UX31A has the ChiMei Screen of the W230ST installed, doesnt it?

 

EDIT: Never mind, found it buried in the thread. Thanks - will be trying this later!

Wingnut, where did you find Throttlestop 6.0? Looks like 5.0 is the latest on Tech|Inferno's site.

 

The W230ST owner's lounge identifies the AUO display as being the B133HAN03.0. I guess mounting a capacitive film on it is all it takes to make it a touchscreen. The other available screen so far - and the first to have been properly reviewed - is the ChiMei Innolux.

Yes, afaik.

 

Here you go:
ThrottleStop_600b1.zip

 

Thanks for confirming. The AUO is not actually an IPS screen as the review states but I guess for the purposes of the review then it's near enough

Anyway, it's interesting to see both W230ST screen options compared. I've ordered mine now and the supplier has confirmed they are still using the Chei Mei screen

 

dat thin Clevo with dual fan cooling. 17 inches though.

Schenker zeigt flachen 17,3-Zoll-Gamer XMG C703 mit GeForce GTX 765M - Notebookcheck.com News

 

^Wowwww that's real sexy but 17'' is too big for me.

 

For all practical purposes, it's an IPS (same technology). For brand name purposes (IPS belong to LG / LP), it's an AHVA.

 

So IPS = Chi Mei = AHVA/AUO?

 

IPS is a trademark of LG; an IPS panel and an AHVA panel work in more or less the same way and have (again, more or less) the same advantages and disadvantages. (ref http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1731899)

 

So I got my Brenthaven 2099 ProStyle Sleeve today: Amazon.com: Brenthaven 2099 ProStyle Sleeve I for Tablet / Macbook / Ultrabook up to 13.3-inch - Black/Copper: Computers & Accessories

A list of features: Very high quality "micro" ballistic nylon exterior. Foam padding inside, with faux fur lined interior. Zippers have this inner lining that prevents 'em from scratching the laptop. It has an "EZ Grip" strap thing for you to hold it (check their website for what that looks like). There's a dinky little pocket for Iphones, but should be good enough for flash drives or something small. I have an HTC One, and it WILL NOT FIT, so anything around that size or bigger won't either. I highly recommend this sleeve to anyone who might want to carry their laptop outside a bag, because of the waterproof nylon (I dripped a bit of water on it on purpose, and used my fingers to try to rub it in. The water didn't absorb, and when I tipped the sleeve up, the water just slid off. Pretty cool, actually. Overall, for $40, I think it's good value, considering the high quality materials used, and Brenthaven's Lifetime Warranty. The decision to buy was not difficult at all, considering my familiarity of their products.



Crap, posted in the wrong thread again. My bad, HTW!

Tried installing the Driver only, and that little box with the wifi thing and the green circles going round and round just popped up, and it kept doing that for a while, and would disappear. Nothing appears to have changed... Whats going on here?

 

Just got mine today, from PCspecialist - so far happy about it, still have to fiddle with settings for UC on CPU and OC on GPU - will put up benchmark results before/after for 3Dmark, 3Dmark11, Cinebench and Unigine Valley.
I'm currently looking on the list of drivers from Sager and can't seem to find a Win8 USB3.0 driver - is that really the case? There's two listed for Win7 though?

Also - thanks for the review and all the posts in this thread. Gave me a good deal of knowledge and research basis on the laptop before I got it

 

Awesome, congrats. I should have mine Tuesday; it is in the mail as we speak. Did you get the i7-4700 or i7-4800?

 

Went with the 4700, seems there's no reason to go any further with this small form factor. 8GB of 1600MHz RAM and 120GB Kingston mSata + 750GB WD Black

 

I agree, from what I've read here, and I went with the 4700, too. I look forward to your benchmarks. Could you include temps, too? ;D

I've been wondering if we can get similar performance boosts with UC and OC'ing like HTWingNut with his 4800.

Mine is all stock, except the HD, which is a 256GB Samsung 840 Pro SDD. I'll be running windblows 7.

 

is there a way to show BT and WIFI icons on control center?

 

Yes, I'll be sure to include temps as well.

 

I ordered my NP7330 yesterday, sounds like I should get it in about 2 weeks. Sigh the waiting is the hardest part.... I'll be sure to benchmark it and give some feedback once it arrives.

 

Here's my short write-up including benchmarks and what settings I'm running. I will be modifying my Coolermaster U2 to take 2 Corsair SP120 Silent running from a seperate 12V power source at some point, I'll let you know when it's done and share some (hopefully) better temperatures.

Clevo W230ST Write-up

 

Awesome write up, thanks. Looks like I'll be doing the same.

 

Interesting... I just ran 3DMark Basic on my desktop to see how things compare. I have a GTX 560, non TI version, running at 900mhz and a i7 2600k which I've OC'd to 4.4ghz.

My scores
Icestorm 129348
Cloudgate 17098
Firestrike 3162

Your scores
- Ice Storm: 76605 -41%
- Cloudgate: 12515 -27%
- Firestrike: 2351 -26%

I was surprised by this since my GTX 560 is a couple years old now and the 765M is much newer. I didn't expect the 765M to beat the GTX 560 but I did think it would be a lot closer... Was I wrong in making that assumption?

 

My desktop sporting a FX4100 and a HD7850 scored following:

Icestorm 83327
Cloudgate 9172
Firestrike 3918

But I think you should be looking closer at physics and graphics scores - what do you have in the benchmarks? Your CPU might very well be the reason that you're beating the laptop by so much.

 

Isn't the resolution taken into account ?
I believe the 765M should actually beat the GTX560 by a nice margin, it's newer and higher in range.

 

When you're running the basic benchmark you don't get to change the resolution (or any other settings for that matter). But a combined score still doesn't give off whether or not the GTX765m beats the GTX560 - and since I don't have a link for his scores, I can't check that myself.

 

On a side-note, my Clevo seems to boot up fine, remembering the settings I last put into Intel XTU, not having to reload them.

 

Here are all the numbers, comparing graphics, physics or combined all yield about the same difference. Sorry I did it in excel so it doesn't look the prettiest pasted in here.

Desktop PC on 9/1/13 GTX 560 at 900mhz Intel I7 2600k
3D Mark Basic Combined Graphics Physics Combined
Ice Storm 129313 213859 54250
Cloud Gate 17104 25288 8020
Fire Strike 3163 3305 11075 1323

Brinkers NP7330
3D Mark Basic Combined Graphics Physics Combined
Ice Storm 76605 100496 41814
Cloud Gate 12515 18069 6029
Fire Strike 2351 2497 8863 926


Differnce Combined Differnce Graphics Differnce Physics Combined 2
41% 53% 23%
27% 29% 25%
26% 24% 20% 30%

 

Now, just do the same thing by comparing card size, energy consumption, and heat production. We've come a long way in the last 2 years with the new architecture. Or, compare it to the 780m and see what you get. ;D

 

The gtx560 has greater bandwidth, try benchmarking at a lower res such as 900p, also oc the 765m, then we`ll see....

 

The 765 is already OC'ed as it says in my write-up posted on the previous page