**M980NU (X1/Commanche SLI/NP9850) Owners Thread**

Does the system come with a diagnostics program you can boot into? You need to test both hard drives individually.

 

The M980NU is 8 gig max according to many web site specs that sell the M980NU. I think the D900 (i7 CPU) supports a larger max memory like 16 gig.

 

Sounds like (no pun intended) a hard drive issue and you need to test each one separately. It also could be a sound issue but I doubt it so try turning off your sound. Also check for something rubbing in the fan as that could be the periodic clicking like a piece of plastic but I doubt that.

 

Does anyone know if Sager is allowing us the option of putting an i7 processor in the NP9850? God I sure hope so.

 

No. different socket. you will either have to get a NP9250 (i7 CPU - non-SLI) or wait for the next generation laptops and hopefully those will be i3/i5/i7 and have the option for SLI.
Someone stated on NBR (don't remember where) that with the next generation laptop, you'd be able to replace the MB / CPU and keep all the other components as they are going to use the same shell. Of course it's all speculation right now.

 

Nope, there is a planned upgrade to the systemin I hear 6 months, probably less that will change the Mobo and allow for the larger i7 to fit. as of now though, nope.

 

Thanks guys Well no big deal. If like you said there is a planned upgrade to the system that will allow it then that's encouraging. The core2duo extremes ARE currently fast enough to run the current and next gen games, right?

Also, i will be playing Modern warfare 2 and RE5 A LOT! Does anyone know if MW2 will take advantage of a quad core cpu? Or would it be better to spring for the C2D Extreme?

 

The Santa Rosa CPUs are still good enough for gaming @ high resolutions....

So montevina is still plenty capable

 

Are these things still not shipping yet? I bought mine from Xotic 3 weeks ago expecting it to start shipping by the time I got back from a 3 week backpacking trip but still no news. I thought they were supposed to come out mid-july, then late, then early august.

 

There is discussion from Xotic and others that they have found a bug in the SLI'd cards that is causing stuttering in some games. Those of us who already have them haven't seen anything yet but it could just be because we haven't hit the games with issues. Right now you can buy the Clevo version, but not the Sager.

 

Page 48 has a link to Grind movie which displays the stuttering. Page 49 has other info from Donald of PNB which is also confirmed on the XoticPC forums as well.

 

the sager version is the Clevo .....

 

See my post at http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5204040&postcount=479

Also, fatpanda's post #614 at http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5233111&postcount=614 where he talks about where it studders.

It only happens when the game requires very fast frame rates, so you won't always see it. However Sager simply will not release a high end gaming model that cannot handle the high frame rate requirement until the issue is properly resolved.

 

Of course and you can buy the Clevo version now everywhere and not the Sager so those who have ordered a Sager are waiting for it to be released which seems that won't happen till Sager figures out the stuttering.

 

i havent heard of an m980nu upgrade allowing an i7 to be fitted, i think thats too hard to be honest regarding of the socket change, the physical location of the cpu means there is not enough room for the i7 that the d900 has.

if we are talking aboyut mobile i7 then i dont care will change gpu by then anyway

 

where do you think sager gets them from

 

I know that. Go reread the comments - I commented about the stuttering issue as YellowBelly was wondering why his Sager hadn't shipped. 99.9% of the people know that a Sager is a Clevo model rebranded. The other .1% think it's an AW....

 

lol i wasn't sure which way you were leaning on the comment

 

Lol...10char

 

i think one of the delays that sager had was they were waiting on the 3mp webcam instead of the 2mp ones the rest of the world has got.

 

Actually, they gave up on the 3MP camera long ago...the only thing holding it up is that they are waiting for Clevo to fix the stutter.

 

It's not just a socket change but a change in the whole architecture. Totally different MB.

 

yup and heat sinks

 

no diagonstic tools that i can see. hd tune shows the drives are fine with no errors, or damage at all though. They are all working fine too.just the loud click every min or 2. sometimes its a double click.

its definately not the sound, i muted the system when i first heard it as i thought it was my imagination. Also its not fan based, as there is no change in fan sound or speed. its very distinct. While accessing data the sound is he same as all hd's - a very quiet noise. i first thought that perhaps one of the drives was going to sleep and clicking off/ then back on as some sort of powersaving feature. its comming from the front of the machine where the hd's are.

i'll probably just make do untill i download and install the final windows 7. i'll then try with raid and without along with each hd to see if any of the changes make a difference.

 

Really curious what the fix is going to be, and if I'm going to have to pay for it on my Clevo

 

Maybe it's the DVD Drive. can they be taken out? You could try to eliminate that. Mouse clicking but the problem with that is it would not make a sound if the sound was off or muted. Gut feeling is still one of the hard drives. I guess loading Win7 RTM with only one drive installed and see. Then swap and do other drive.
I know it would bug / worry me if I heard that type of sound on my machine.

 

@madpoet:

I doubt that you would have to pay for it. Since it will be a Clevo fix, they will PROBABLY make whatever it is available to all of their OEMs at no charge.

The worst case would be if it turns out to be a motherboard modification you may have to send it in to your vendor to have it fixed...but then if it doesn't bother you there is noting to worry about.

 

really.ok,thanks for clearing that up paladin.

 

Dj if u work at kobalt why are u not at reseller status ?

 

He doesn't actually work there, he's just a satisfied customer.

 

O...........

 

An M17x user had the same issue. Hdtune did not detect it but was not scanning the drives individually. Since this is a hardware raid it's presented to the OS as one disk. The click is usually the sign of a failing hdd. You need to find another way to scan them individually.

 

Cool, thanks. I may still have to pay since I bought it from RJTech as a barebones We'll see though. All in all I love the machine, except that it is so darn big and I have Win7 driver issues.

 

ah suck.

I'm going to need a main computer real soon. I just got back to school and I'm using my tiny N10 but it sucks as an every day computer, as I would prefer just to take it to class and road and such. It sucks doing normal tasks and I can't do any real music stuff on it. Any idea on how long it's supposed to take to fix the studdering issue or should I cancel and get an Alienware m17x? It'll cost $200 extra but if it gets here 2 months earlier it'll be worth it.

I'm a little queasy about getting an AW because I heard they used bad hardware in the past but I don't know if it got better. I'm not a big fan of the flashy stuff and I rather root for the underdog but at least it might be a computer to get to me quickly. And I really don't want win7 driver issues.

 

It's usually not a good idea to "settle". You'll regret it in the long run.

 

I don't think it's necessarily settling though. 95%+ of the reason I ordered the sager was for price, bang for the buck anyway.

 

Then I would say go with your gut instinct. The two machines are very similar so performance won't be an issue.

 

Has Sager themselves acknowledged the stuttering issue and released an official statement?

 

I don't know if they released and "official" statement but it's all over the forums and most of the resellers know (that's how I originally found out). Sager is working with Clevo and Nvidia on the issue. My suspicion is it's a hardware issue but that's just speculation. It could be a driver issue or even a BIOS issue. Just don't know and keep waiting to hear good news that they figured it out.

 

True, Drake talked me out of that too. Settling... So I got a desktop. gonna be here in 2 business days. Ordered it last Sunday

 

Most likely driver issue. On the other hand there is a beta bios going around though isn't there?

 

Yes, see my post on page 48 of this thread http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5204040&postcount=479

 

Moo, if you work for Alienware, why are you not listed as reseller status?

 

god knows what sager have done to the machine, i havent heard of any Kobalt owners who have these problems and i speak to at least 6/7 of them who have a commanche

and when i last spoke to the guys in charge there they had not had anyone mention it

 

(off topic alert)

hmmm, let me think about that one.

oh yeh, i dont work at kobalt,that might be why.
i actually work in one of londons bussiest hospitals.

i must admit ive been asked this before and my reply is:

after my total 19 day nightmare at alienware (i would NOT recommend them to my worst enemy anymore) i got a refund and it was thanks to Gophn's thread that i read about kobalt. i was a bit dubious at first but after talking to both andrew and neil they totally put me at ease in trusting a small family run company.
i was soooo happy with my nexus/m860tu and the proffesional service that i received and as a loyal customer i offered to help out as a moderator on their forum as they were being hit by spammers at the time. as an admin on 7 other forums i thought this was a good way of showing my respect as a customer and give a little bit back.

the way i was brought up was to respect those that respect you and from kobalts point of view i was classed as a person and not a number like at AW.

hope this clears it up
jim

 

Well, I think that you should have wait 3 more weeks and than buy DX11 GPUs (5870 or 5870x2) with core i7. I find it as a money waisting tu spend so much money before such an important GPU release Huh?

Mobile DX 11 GPU are comming later, but you decided for desktop...

 

they might be coming, but you wont see them available in laptops for at least 6 months, prob alot longer then that

we knew the 280's were coming end of 2008 and they didnt appear in laptops until June/July

 

Pman,
This stuff about stuttering's has cast some doubts on my decision. I mean, aren't the Comanche SLi units the same Sager/Clevo models distributed world-wide, the same ones that they announced have issues?

You'd be right though, because I haven't read any complaints from Comanche users about their machines. It's just worrying.

Now the M17x (I can only aim for the Q9000 because that's how f'd the prices are in UK), has its own issues with quad-cores. The other better option of the Comanche now carries with it, a risk of stuttering for entirely different reasons. I wonder whether the so-called 'Quad-Core-Stuttering' in the M17xs might be related to the same GPU issue. I don't know, man. This is all way too technical, and ironically, vague, for me to comprehend.

Maybe I should just hold off purchasing a laptop until all these issues are resolved.

 

Like many of us have said though... we don't see it

 

Yeah, I know.

This is why this situation's even more frustrating, because it puts the potential buyer in a state of ambivalence. You hear all these radical and powerful praises about the machine, but then this little announcement pops out of nowhere and leaves people guessing. Why? Because there's no firm conclusion on the matter. Hell, Clevo hasn't even fully disclosed the nature of the problem. Saying they're working with nVidia to fix the problem can lead one to draw a dozen entirely different kinds of conlcusions.

"Is it hardware?"

"Is it software?"

"Is it bios?"

"Is it drivers?"

"Is it SLi?"

"Is it a bit from all of the above?"

Not to mention, quite a few users aren't experiencing these 'problems'. The issue has not been duplicated enough times to make a strong statistical statement.

Now, I am really eager to try out either one of the machines, although the Comanche's clearly more interesting with that 16:9 ratio and that 18.4 inch screen. Furthermore, for the price, I can get a maxed out CPU/GPU Comanche SLi, which only makes the deal a hell of a lot more sweeter than the M17x. Not to mention, I am sold on Kobalt's overall company image and approach - much more hands on and direct.

However, I cannot help but find myself put off by this 'uncertain state' about stutters and what not else, and this isn't just a Sager thing, even the Alienware's aren't perfect in this regard. Some people are enjoying 'em, while some people are having issues. I can buy one of these machines, but then the stability of this purchase is contingent on the luck of the draw, which is a bit too 'lotto' a concept for me to grasp.