**OFFICIAL W860CU/NP8690 Owners Lounge**

I got my NP8690 yesterday and i just finish testing the Balanced power option and Power Saver. Balanced- 51min and Power Saver- 48min. I thought Power Saver should save more battery? Is my battery something wrong or what? What if i play a movie with Power Saver? I think it shouldn't be that fast draining the battery

 

It is a very high powered laptop that only has a 3 cell battery. 40-50 minutes, depending on your settings and level of screen brightness, is about what you should expect.

 

Well that does not make any sense to me. Chicknoobic report 1 hour and 4x minutes of battery life. Are you having only 1/2 of it?

To the sticker. You guys shoud have try my experiment with M860TU. I did many (I mean a LOT) dots or holes to this plastic cover and it worked. Without it my GPU/CPU temps were lower but HDD temp was around 60C, with sticker HDD was around 45C but CPU/GPU was higher. I did this experiment and a lot of holes in plastic cover was balance between having or not having that cover

 

does anyone know if you can upgrade the battery on this system? or is the only way to get a longer battery life is to have more than one?

 

Well BL depends on what you do with it.

 

Or it will stick out.

 

Hello everybody,

I just bought the NP8690 from Sager today. I just want to know if the processor can be changed in the future, say to the 820 or 920, koz I didn't want to shell out 200 bucks more for now.

Cheers

 

The CPU can by changed but you'll have to break make sure you don't set off the 'flux compacitor' to do so. They cost at least another $100 each...

Seriously, congrats on the buy. Feel free to upgrade without voiding your warranty. Just be sure you know what you need to do to actually change it first.

 

Well. It is the Default setting of the Power Option. I used it but without sleeping it. Constantly using till it drain up. I expect it to reach 1hour 30min.

 

The only battery available at this time is the 3 cell that it comes with, so the only way to get more battery life is to have more batteries.

Sadly, it will only accept one at a time, but you only have to Hibernate it to change batteries, you don't have to shut down, change the battery and reboot.

 

Watching movie uses 55min with lowest brightness. A normal laptop can at least last for at least a movie's time

 

Hmm, it is one of the major reasons why I haven't upgraded from an M860 to W860 yet either. While I probably wouldn't game on the run movies are a good way to pass and hour or so in travelling time, when by yourself.

Goes to show that Sager will always miss a gap in the market that want that extra hours battery life. Too bad we'll unlikely see them implement a smart-bay ala the m15x.

 

Gasp! So he did go through with that -change operation. Shall we call him Jordanette?

 

She's pretty hot from what I hear!

 

LMAO!

10char

 

Haha. I was like who's that sexy girl for a second before I found out it was a transformation of ChinNoobonic (No offense man, it just doesn't look right after the fact).

 

hi guys~ after much stalking, and creeping i've decided to buy the NP8690
just wanted to introduce myself

ps: i'm not a gamer and don't know much about computers (reading through your forums, this has been the most education i've recieved on laptops and such) but i'll be doing some hardcore editing, rendering and stuff for animation shorts in HD i'm doing.

so anyways, thanks for all the info!

cheers!

 

Welcome to NBR spacefish! Contratz on your new purchase, you'll be proud of it.

 

I ordered on 11/07. Waiting to find out if it has been shipped yet, or possibly on backorder.

 

The KGB welcomes you both.

 

woo hoo! thank you! all this research has inspired me to learn more and build my own tower once school's done for the summer!!

 

I cancelled my order through Sager directly and reordered it again with Xotic PC. After reading through the forum it seems like that was the way I should of went in the begining, plus with the money I saved I was able to upgrade my HDD. I am in Phase 1 waiting for parts. Xotic said the order will land sometime this week.

 

Congrats! Those guys will take better care of you for sure

 

You will be corrupted.

 

My replacement from Malibal is out for delivery.. Just hope my wife isn't out running errands so she can sign for it, otherwise if she misses it, I'll have to wait until tomorrow..

Fingers crossed for no BSOD on this one.

 

I hope your replacement is perfect (and the same for mine)!!

 

if that means i'll be computer savvy, then i accept!

 

Seems to be a fair number of issues with delivered product. I ended up sending mine back for BSOD and pixel issues too.

However, I will say that both Sager support and Xotic sales and service have been phenomenal through the process.

 

Good luck man, hopefully this one comes out perfect.

 

What are yours peoples opinions about the 720QM. I ordered that processor with my unit but am thinking about asking to change it to a 820QM. The way I look at it this computer will be more then enough for me already but if I can get it to last alittle longer because I went with the 820QM then I am all for it. It mostly will be used for media work with video editing and Photoshop with some gaming. And of course just surfing the Internet and Microsoft works LOL. I am looking for it to last 3+ years.

 

The performance of the slightly faster processor (about 10% faster clock speed) will be hard to notice, and won't make your laptop last any longer.

It usually takes about 15-20% faster clock speed to really notice a real world performance difference.

 

If you were comparing a 720QM with an 820QM I would bet you would notice a difference for CPU intensive tasks, such as video editing and photoshop work. However, since you're coming from a different CPU/laptop all together, the performance jump to the Core i7 (regardless of 720/820) will probably be enough by itself to make you happy.

I'm upgrading to the 820QM now, simply so I can get a better deal upgrading to the 920XM further down the line. I think the resale market for the 820QM is going to be much better (less 820's for sale, versus plenty of 720's for sale) and thus offset my cost for the 920XM. I don't *need* the 820QM, but for $200 it's worth it to get a year or so usage out of it, and then re-sell it to upgrade to the 920XM when the prices are lower.

 

So I hit 89 degrees (C) last night on my gpu playing 2 hours of L4D2 (max settings mind you)... cpu maxed out at 79 (C). I have left my plastic vent cover on so far. will remove it tonight; check the thermal paste and do some more serious gaming to see if it goes up as high again. Just to confirm, 90 degrees is nearing component damaging range is it not?

 

Yes, anything above 90*C for the CPU or GPU is in the danger zone. Remove the sticker.

 

Still putting the replacement W860CU through its paces, but I did run the stability test on FurMark, and it maxed out at 78C, much more on par with Chin's temps.

 

79 is fine and safe on the CPU, and removing the vent sticker will do nothing for the GPU. Tmax for the CPU is 100 c according to Intel. Not sure what it is for the GPU.

 

haha funny how ppl bashed asus when in reality this sager is doing basically the same thing as asus-4C (in L4D2 that is, in demo i max out @ 93). both laptops are benefited by modding there plastic cover parts tho.

 

What is a safe temperature for the CPU?

Refer to this document : http://download.intel.com/design/processor/datashts/320765.pdf

The TjMax for all of the mobile I7 processors is 100 c. When this temperature is reached PROCHOT# is asserted, and the Thermal Control circuit (TCC) is activated, reducing core power consumption until TCC is deactivated. The TCC will remain active as long as any core exceeds its thermal limit (TjMax) 100c.
Additionally Intel recommend that full cooling is initated within 10C of TjMax, i.e. 90C.

If the TCC is activated and the temperature remains above TjMax, Critical Temperature Detection is triggered and the processor will perform a 'graceful' shutdown (Intel's words!).

In the event of a total failure of the cooling THERMTRIP# is activated and the processor will instantly shut down.

The bottom line of all this is if your temperature is up at around 90c at full load, it is not a cause for concern as you are within the operating limits of the i7 processor.

And a thought: by removing the sticker and reducing the temperature of your CPU by 5C unneccesarily you are stopping airflow across the RAM and motherboard. That 5C is the heat that is taken away from the RAM by diverting the airflow with the sticker.

 

So last night I removed the sticker from my vent, and played some more L4d2, went through dark carnival (about an hour and a half playtime) and ended up with much more respectable temperatures.
For the record it was my GPU that prompted the alteration in my case, not CPU temps.
Final GPU temps ended up at 81 (C) and CPU at 76 (C). quite the improvement

Tobe_ornot_Tobe: What references do you have that supports that the RAM is being cooled by the sticker blocking airflow? I have heard this stated several times, but have never heard any more information except that the manufacturer intended the sticker to be there.

 

With or without the sticker, my problem is still there: over 57°C, my computer beeps, caps lock and shift lock are blinking then the computer shuts down. Is Critical Temperature Detection defective? Or this problem can be solved by a BIOS and KBC/EC firmware update?

In slow mode, temperature doesn't rise above 45°C and the computer is stable but games are slow.

 

Im back, was busy with setting up the laptop but I'll start checking the forums regularly again
Also, its amazing I've been using it for nearly 2 weeks and I love it.
One problem is the fans are loud while using it,but not a huge problem.
Havnt tried it on my lap yet.

 

I cannot see how the vent sticker affects the GPU in any way. The GPU vent has got an internal foam seal so that the air is only drawn through the GPU intake grill. Removing the sticker on the CPU intake will have no effect at all on air flow to the GPU cooler.

I don't have any references about the sticker, apart from Kobalt (the main UK distributor of Clevo) advising that it is left on. I tried an experiment with the sticker off, sure enough CPU temps were lower by 5 deg. I then put the sticker back on. It probably took about 5 minutes shutting it down and taking the back plate off ready to fit the sticker. The RAM was still too hot to touch. The sticker went back on, and has stayed on.

I think the key to the issue is good application of a quality thermal conductive compound. Kobalt must have done a good job, as with both prime95 and Furmark running simultaneously I have GPU 74c and CPU 83C

 

I don't know the answer. If it was my machine I would RMA it immediately.

 

Welcome back, if you start doing all your surfing off your lap you can save on central heating! and have some toasty thighs while your at it. Seriously I tried to do a little surfing in bed on the weekend and after 20 minutes I was breaking a sweat lol...

Also just wondering; you didn't happen to receive an answer about the plastic vent cover from your retailer did you? I think i read you had emailed them about it..

 

Me too, sounds like a serious issue.

Thanks for the reply Tobe, think I will just have to keep experimenting, run some more stress tests and see what kind of average temps I get. Will have to manually check the ram temps as well to see if i also get the heating issue you have observed.

I personally have the suspicion that the sticker being removed allows the case to blow the hot air from the cpu directly out. instead of having it be distributed back through the case to the gpu output and other vents. However I am a newbie when it comes to notebooks, so any bit of info helps!

 

The sticker blocks the inlet for the CPU fan, therefore the inlet now becomes the three small oblong grills (one of which is directly over the RAM). The exhaust is the same for both fans, directly out through the heat pipe heat exchangers and then out through the back grills.

 

This is what it reminded me of, from ChinNoobonic's Review, "While running the system, the highest HDD temperature noticed was 56*C. This was due to a virus scan and installation simultaneously. The most contributing factor to my HDD temperatures is the ambient temperature. Further testing shows that system has a HDD failsafe. This is triggered when HDD temperatures get above 55*C. At this point, the system beeps and the CAPS Lock and NUM Lock keys flashes and finally the system immediately shuts off. This gives you no chance to save information you had up. This can be a good and bad thing at the same time. It has happened several times while testing and installing applications. There was also no mention of this in the user manual."

I didn't know how to quote from another thread. So, once again this is Jordan/ChinNoobonic's review.

 

After a week of research, deliberating, and many emails between myself and a local reseller, I have finally confirmed an order for the NP8690. It was a close fight between this and the NP8662, but finally the NP8690 won out despite its higher price tag, reason being that I plan for this to be a long term (more then 3 yrs hopefully) investment.

I upgraded the screen and ram to 4gig, and upgraded the warranty to 3 years official sager warranty. Bought a zalman nc2000 cooler as well. Really looking forward to it! Anything else I should know before it arrives?

 

You should know that the cooler will be pretty useless...

My W860CU (or NP8690) is always below 70/78 degrees (GPU/CPU) with the plastic sticker on.

I'm very happy with it, and the only problem are fans quite loud (like a desktop) mousepad buttons not very good (not a big deal) and short battery life (extremely short )

I plan to upgrade mine in 1 year, but until now I'm playing FEAR, Prince of Persia and Fallout 3 at 1080p, AA4X and all maxed out!!! I love it