*** OFFICIAL Sager NP8760 / Clevo W870CU Owners Lounge ***

Share the BIOS please.

 

Hi guys,

My w870 has some fan noise when idling, and i'm not sure which fan that is the problem (or if it is more than one).
At start-up and a couple of minutes of idling the fans are quiet, cant hear a thing.

The fan noise is abit lower pitched, and i think i hear sound from the bearings.

Have you guys noticed this? i know its a hi-spec system and fan noise is expected, but the pitch and bearing/motorical noise is a bit concerning.

Can the stock fans be replaced?

Specs:
i7-820, 4GB ram, Intel 160 gb SSD, nvidia GTS 360m.

Norway

 

^^^
You have a W870 with a GTS 360m?

 

yes. it became avaiable as an option just weeks ago at the webshop i use.

 

^^^
How much of a battery life do you get from a single charge?

 

Haven't testet it.
I'm running Kubuntu 10.04 Beta for testing right now, an haven't put it through some intense use yet.

Any idea on the fans?

 

The W870 has three fans. You can prop the notebook up so that you can see and listen for the fans (to see which one is the culprit). It's possible to order a replacement fan, although if the notebook is new (and under warranty) you may be better off sending it in and let the professionals do it.

Also, while your at it, check your temps to see if they're normal- I don't know what the idle temps are for W870 with GTS 360m, but check with the posts here to get an idea how it's done.

 

I'm sending it to replace the LED panel anyway, it was delivered with a 3mm scratch in it (behind the glass/panel !). And they also forgot to mount a second RAM module (i had ordered 8 GB, 4GB was installed).

Man, i was dissappointed :/

Will do as you suggested to se what fan is the culprit.

 

By the way, the W870 was designed for a V8. Putting a GTS 360m in there is like putting in a 4 cylinder (and no turbo).

Battery wise, you'll probably get 1 1/2 (maybe 2) hours on a charge.

What I'm saying is that unless the ATI 5870 is a huge jump in price, it is maybe at least worth a second look.

 

There will be no release for the OC Bios!

 

Was that a statement or a question? If it was a statement. please can you let us know your source?

 

His source is common sense.

 

look at page 60 - 62

 

no

10char

 

Excuse me. It has three circular vents and two fans.

FANS

Bottom circular vents

 

looking forward to being a part of this club

 

Hi !
can anybody help me with the original VBIOS ?

GTX280M or GTX 285M from a W870CU ?

i flashed my GTX280M with a GTX285M from Clevo X8100 an the HDMI & DVI didn't work after that great idea

can anybody save the original from a card and send me / upload it -> i cant reveice board-pm as newbie

 

Woot gonna join this club soon already ordered 2 days have passed another week and I shud receive it hope no dead pixels

 

Has anyone ever fixed a surface scratch on one of these? I have 2 hairline scratches that are visible and it is driving me nuts. I was thinking of trying to wetsand the scratches with the finest sandpaper i could find, but that little voice in the back of my head is telling me I should probably leave it alone

 

If you were used to that type of work I think you would have done it already.

If it really bothers you sell it and buy another one.

 

I've painted a number of pc cases, I am just worried the material on the notebook is not able to be wet-sanded so I wanted to verify before I made even more of a mess of it

It doesn't bother me that bad.. This thing has been rock solid with anything I can throw at it.

 

if the scratches are very fine try using the cd/dvd scratch repair compound. I've used it on numerous acer/asus/ and hp notebooks in doing prep for resales, that stuff works wonders and is safe for the finish. The brand i specifically used is Memorex, but any reputable brand should do.

 

I will try this out tomorrow if I can find some and report my results, thanks for the tip!

 

Hey all, I found this thread while searching for reviews for this laptop (I attempted to read most of the 160+ pages, but that failed). I'm probably going to put an order in for one this weekend (since it seems the backorder is ending soon) and I'd like some thoughts from those of you who have had this model. I will be upgrading from a Clevo M570 for reference (T2400, 2gb ram, 7900GTX 512 mb) and I'm looking for something to last me another ~4 years.

* I've never used a chicklet style keyboard but that seems to be all thats offered for the laptops I am looking at (probably since they are all Clevos), any thoughts on this and gaming/programming? I know I already don't like the numpad

* The ports in the back also seem unconventional. I'll be having this thing plugged in probably 99% of the time. Is it possible to remove the back cover without breaking it off (ie could I take it off and be able to put it back on and have it work). I'm also use at least 2USBs and currently the DVI, but might end up using the HDMI out in the future since this has it. From what I understand the AC adapter covers one of these ports. Is there no way to get them all to fit comfortably without buying a different adapter?

* There seemed to be an issue with the laptop shutting down when both CPU and GPU are pushed to the max. If I get the 920XM will this ever happen to me while gaming (it's doubtful I will ever do any overclocking; that said I am a big gamer and typically like to run my games on max settings and play them for hours at a time). I'm also assuming it would be wise to have them put the IC Diamond thermal compound on (not something I feel comfortable doing myself at least); necessary or will stock suffice?

* ATI 5870 or spend more for the NVIDIA GTX 285M? I'm ignorant of which has better driver support/is faster. I've only ever had an ATI once but it was only to replace a dying card in my parents computer (wasnt for gaming or anything)

* Years ago when I got my M570, I tried putting Ubuntu on it. Everything worked ok aside from GRUB nuking the dvd drive. Anyone have experience with dual booting on this machine? This isn't really a big issue, just something I'd like to do if it is compatible.

* With all that said, is the 920XM worth the extra $500+ it costs to upgrade from the 820? Games I play: TF2, L4D, probably crysis since I would now be able to run it, SC2 and D3 when they come out. I typically don't bother turning on AA in any game but I do require them to run at native resolution. My alternative to getting the 920 would probably be 8gb and/or an SSD for a second HD.

* I won't be getting blu ray in it (don't own any discs and don't really plan to start). Getting at least 4gb ram. Win 7 Pro x64

I appreciate any help and advice you guys have for me. Thanks!

 

reply in bold.

 

Regarding the back cover I don't mean the part of the chassis, isn't there some kind of little pullout cover that only goes over the hdmi/usb/power input?

EDIT: I'm referring to the problem (first point) outlined in this post: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5634122&postcount=791

 

I am ordering on April Fool’s Day.

I just don’t see any blockbuster revisions or releases coming for a couple of months or more. I had been waiting for the dual 5870 or Fermi, but realistically gave up.

The front runner is the Sager 8760, ATI HD5870, Intel i7-920XM, Raid 500GB/7200RPM x 2, Blu-Ray Reader, 3 Year warranty w/ADP.

I am leaning towards PC Torque because they are across the river and have ADP. Power and Xotic are good, but don’t offer ADP and are far away.

Is there anything here that I will really regret? Any tips or thoughts are
appreciated!

a) I didn’t go with SSD, although I considered one as a primary. The two 500 7200 in raid can’t be THAT much slower than a primary SSD and secondary 7200RPM?
b) I didn’t get a BLU-RAY burner, not sure that I will use the reader either, but at least I have that flexibility.
c) Went with 4GB RAM. I think that is fine unless under very specific requirements. (My use will be Microsoft Office, MAS 200 (accounting software), viewing patent drawings (not creating them) and gaming (for my kid, yea that’s it). I do photo editing as a hobby.
d) IC DIAMOND?
e) Didn’t get the 30 day pixel guarantee. If it were longer maybe, but if the screen is shot – it is going back within the return period.
f) Although heavy, I would get the M17X if I could get it on the business side with 20% discount.

FULL DETAILS
[-] Sager 8760
Sager 8760 Ultimate Custom Gaming Notebook Computer (Built on Clevo W870CU) $350 OFF SALE! Qty: 1
17.3” Full HD(1920x1080)16:9 LED Backlit Super Clear Glossy Widescreen- Wide Viewing Angle Qty: 1
30 Day No Questions Asked Money Back Guarantee! (Others only give you 15 days) Qty: 1
ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD5870 1024MB PCI-Express GDDR5 DX11 (User Upgradeable!) Qty: 1
Intel® Core™ i7-920XM EXTREME CALPELLA Clarksfield Processor 2.0-3.2GHz(45nm 8MB L3 cache) Qty: 1
IC Diamond Premium Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU Qty: 1
4GB (4096MB) DDR3 1333MHz SDRAM (2 SODIMMs) (2gb + 2gb) Qty: 1
RAID 0 (Data Stripping - Requires 2 Identical Hard Drives) Qty: 1
500GB l 7200RPM I SATA II-300 (16MB Cache Buffer) Qty: 1
Add 2nd 500GB l 7200RPM I SATA II-300 (16MB Cache Buffer) Qty: 1
Panasonic 4X BD-R/8X DVD+-R / 2.4X + DL BLU-RAY Reader 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 - SB Compatible 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 6300 Ultimate-N WiFi Link Qty: 1
Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit Installed (64 and 32 bit CD included with drivers) Qty: 1
Standard 11.1V Smart Li-Polymer Battery Pack 3800mAh, 42.18Wh Qty: 1
Deluxe Black Business Carrying Case (Free!) Qty: 1
Microsoft Office Ready with FREE 60-Day Trial! Qty: 1
Sager 3 Year Warranty (Parts and Labor) + Lifetime Domestic Tech Support (2 Way Shipping!) Qty: 1
Manufacturers 3 Year ADP Policy - Covers All Parts & Labor For Drops, Spills, Etc… Qty: 1

 

It's not the chiclet keyboard that makes the difference, it's the quality of the keyboard. The chiclet keyboard on the W870CU is stiff as a rock and tactile with each press and is a dream to type on. I've tried chiclet keyboards on Asus G51's, the newer HP models, and my own Asus 1201N, and they are all nowhere as near in quality compared to the one in the W870CU.

You can only remove the backdoor by dismantling the notebook further. You will get used to it. It's not like your notebook is moving when it is sitting on your desk.

What fzhfzh said. You will only get shutdown problems when you do things on battery. Only idiots stress a notebook of this caliber on battery. The battery on this notebook serves more as a UPS rather than an extendable power source when you are not plugged in. When plugged in, you don't have anything to worry about. Play your most intense games without worry of power failure.

The MR 5870 at it's current price point is the better card to get.

Older versions of GRUB in Linux had bugs with recognizing SATA drives. I doubt dual booting had anything to do with it.

None of the games you listed need that much CPU power. You can still play those games just fine on a P8400, or a Q9000 for the more CPU demanding games. The 720QM is already more than enough.

 

I recently bought the 8760 from PC Torque and all is well. Since I am in NYC as well, they drove my laptop to me on a weekend. However I think someone was having troubles with them in this thread. Personally all is smooth sailing with me and I believe that you should be good to go with what you have. I believe is was a good choice to just have a Blu-Ray reader instead of the burner. The media is still expensive although winning the format war will help drive the prices down soon.

 

Thanks lilwisper. Did you opt for ADP?

 

Hi lordgiovanni,

First of all I should probably mention that I do not yet own a W870CU, only ordered a few days ago and currently waiting for it to be built and delivered, however I have read all the threads/posts that have been posted here and I will try to answer your questions based on what others have posted.

Heh, can not say I blame ya, it does take time. When I first found this website, a little over a week ago, I was considering a different model and since then I must have read somewhere between 10,000-15,000 posts while I was jumping from one laptop model to the other. I am just glad I found the W870CU before I finished all the main threads on the Asus G73 model, probably saved me reading another 10,000 posts or so.

This will be my first encounter with a chicklet style keyboard as well, so I have no personal experience and can not comment on its feel. However from what I have read, on this model, it seems to at least be among the better ones, more forgiving than the G73 version which requires precise typing/hitting the key dead center or missed keys occurs.

I read one post where it was stated that it was a simple matter of bending it slightly and it was easy to pull of and put back on, however I see others have replied before me stating it requires more disassembly to accomplish, so that might have been wrong. Others will have to confirm/deny.

Yes, it will block either the hdmi port or the two usb ports (I am not sure if it covers both the usb ports or just one, depends on how big the plug is and how big an angle you can position it at I suppose). You will either have to get a new adapter with a straight plug or use the two other usb ports on the side (or just on of them and a usb hub).

From what I have read, no. The few cases (2 I think) where someone managed to accomplish this, they were running two extremely demanding stress tests at the same time. From what others have posted this is not something that will occur with normal usage.

Stock might suffice, though personally applying it will usually give better temperatures. It depends on the specific machine, there will usually be some difference even on two identical machines of the same model (dependent on the proficiency of the person who applied the thermal compound and a few other factors).
This next bit might not be correct, see later posts in this thread: That said, you should probably know that there seems to be a flaw in this specific model where the heatsink does not sit properly on the gpu due to the aluminum can around the 5870 card, resulting in poorer contact and higher temperatures. This can apparently easily be fixed by bending the can slightly and re-seating the heatsink. Since you are not comfortable applying the thermal compound yourself, you will probably not be comfortable doing this either, so you might want to ask your supplier to double check that the heatsink sits properly.

The 5870 is faster and apparently cheaper. Historically I believe nVidia has had better/faster (more frequent releases) driver support, at least on laptop GUP's. However in this case the 5870 is ATI's mobile GPU "flagship" and should be well supported.

Personal opinion, get a SSD as your primary (Seems like a waste, to me, to only use it as a secondary. You lose the advantages the boost will give your OS if you run it of the regular HDD.) and stay with 4GB memory (You should only need more than 4GB if you are doing rendering or VM work.). I do not think, for your use, that you will need the 920XM for quite some time and you can always upgrade the CPU and memory later.

Hope I was of some help and best wishes on your laptop purchase. I can not wait until my own arrives.

 

ATI card is faster by ALOT

Ubuntu work pretty good only problem is the GPU driver ... It cannot handle switching from GNOME TO CLI

yes you can take off the back cover

chiclet keyboards are fine

 

Hi,

I should probably introduce myself at this point, seeing as I seem to have managed to delurk myself.

I am new to this website, first came across it a little over a week ago when I was looking for reviews on a laptop I was considering. Posts about that model led me to another model, which led me to another and so on until I finally found the W870CU.

The W870 seems to fit my desires the best, despite a few drawbacks (battery, fan volume and quality of built-in speakers)

I currently own an old Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Pro V3505 which has been struggling for some time now. Deciding to purchase a new one, I wanted something I could use for personal gaming and multiple Virtual Machine sessions for work. The W870 should certainly manage this nicely.

I have ordered this spec:
Multicom Kunshan W870 17.3" Full-HD LED (W870CU-PM1)
INTEL Centrino Ultimate N WiFi halv høyde (633AN.HMWWB)
INTEL Core i7 720QM mobile (i7-720QM)
2 X SAMSUNG 4GB DDR3 PC1060 1333MHz SO-DIMM CL9 (M471B5273BH1-CH9)
INTEL X25-M 160GB SSD SATA 2.5" 9.5mm MLC Gen2 (SSDSA2MH160G2C1)
320GB SATA 7200RPM 2.5" (320GBSATA72002.5)
Multicom ATI Radeon HD5870 for Kunshan W870 (W870CU-HD5870)
BluRay spiller og DVD-brenner bærbar PC (BD-NB-SATA)
Multicom bluetooth til M860 m.fl. (M860-BT)
No Operating System

(Multicom is the only Clevo reseller here in Norway.)

I will probably buy an additional battery at some point as well, so I can have a backup for those time I actually need to be portable.

I ordered it just a few days ago as my signature shows and I am currently waiting for it to be assembled and delivered. Multicom quotes up to two weeks delivery time, I am of course hoping for sooner.

For now I will be haunting these forums, living gregariously through those of you who already own it. So keep those posts coming.

 

Welcome to the want-a-be's in the forum, I agree with your statement. I ordered mine back in early march and just got hit by the backorder. So I wait patiently as I can and try to help out; learn where I can.

I started a thread on SRS sandbox (audio processing software to improve sound quality)you could go check out. The few people who tried it on their 8760's say it helps a lot and like it. I plan on trying it as well when my machine finally comes in (early april is when they say it will ship) If it is as good on the 8760 as it is on my present Asus G1 I will for sure buy it.

 

Well, just to clarify this, I think all this started when I was saying putting a shim in between the GPU core and heatsink reduces the temperature, but for my case, it was because during reapplication of thermal compound I took out those thermal pads, and when putting them back in they weren't as exactly placed as before, leaving a space between the heatsink and the GPU core, therefore the shim helps. However, by right, the heatsink sits nicely on the core to start with and further modifications are not exactly needed.

 

I am kinda hoping the backorder wont be an issue, that the reseller will have it in stock. Not sure how well known Clevo is in this country.

Aye, I read that thread yesterday and I will be trying it when I get the laptop.
However, although I listed the audio as one of the drawbacks, to me personally it is only a minor one. Most of the time I will be using external speakers.

So, hopefully on Thursday then (can not get any earlier April than that). 'though, April 1st might not be the best day for it, might be better off hoping for Friday.

 

Yeah your situation should be totally different, being in Norway. From what I understand the displays are what we are waiting for here in the states, they are supposed to get them on April 1, if customs doesn't stop the shipment for inspection. Mine should ship no later than April 7, hopefully sooner.

 

Was there not others who had problems as well, who had not touched the pads?

To refresh my memory I went back to reread some of the posts I had first seen about it. Found them in the "Clevo W870CU Review With ATI 5870m" thread.

One of the first posts mentioning it was post 442 and Quadzilla had an image in post 486

I notice now that sp-1 mentions the discussion starting in the w860 thread, which I have not read, Was a different conclusion gotten to there?

 

I would say just wait till you get the machine and put it through the paces to worry about what has to be done next.... Maybe youll be happy with the temps and wont have to do anything at all ...

If you end up having to do it there will be plenty of help/info for you...

 

Nice, early April it is. I am going to give my reseller a call tomorrow and see if they have any kind of timeline for me.

 

I would agree with that and it is what I intend to do myself. The only reason I included the suggestion was that if he is uncomfortable changing the TIM himself, he is probably going to be even more uncomfortable bending things in his new expensive laptop.

 

The key word being wait and worry. I have had almost a month to wait and worry. It's unbelievable but I have a two page word document that is a complete procedure of what I am going to do when I get the laptop, from installing my SSD and memory to every detail of installing windows 7. That's what happens when a technical person has way to much time on their hands

 

Hey thanks for all of the input guys. I have another question for all of you now: exactly how much faster would an SSD be for boot times and loading various programs over a regular hdd (7200rpm)?

 

Watch this.

 

Yep, that's what it's like. Another measure.

[/URL][/IMG]​

 

Nice, my boot time is 23.9 sec.

 

Could you guys with intel x25-m 80gb g2 post your benhcmark?

My 4k read/write seems a bit low compared to others I've seen.

AS SSD Benchmark 1.4.3704.27281
------------------------------
Name: INTEL SSDSA2M080G2GC
Firmware: 2CV1
Controller: iaStor
Offset: 1024 K - OK
Size: 74.53 GB
Date: 4/1/2010 8:54:01 AM
------------------------------
Sequential:
------------------------------
Read: 256.34 MB/s
Write: 79.70 MB/s
------------------------------
4K:
------------------------------
Read: 12.66 MB/s
Write: 18.89 MB/s
------------------------------
4K-64Threads:
------------------------------
Read: 146.17 MB/s
Write: 57.44 MB/s
------------------------------
Access Times:
------------------------------
Read: 0.203 ms
Write: 0.215 ms
------------------------------
Score:
------------------------------
Read: 184
Write: 84
Total: 358
------------------------------

 

About the same.

[/URL][/IMG]​

 

ADP is always good. I think the question should be what level of protection you feel comfortable paying for. I opted for two years if I remember correctly.

 

Hi Everyone
The thing is i have oily fingertips and my keyboards always have to replaced every once in a while. I wonder where i can find the keyboard parts etc.. from Sager? Where is the best place and cheapest to get the Sager NP8760? RJ tech seems to be the cheapest though.