**OFFICIAL W860CU/NP8690 Owners Lounge**

Is it a decent HDMI cable? There is a huge difference between crappy cables (black liquorice) and decent cables rated for 1080p and HDMI 1.3. Try a different/better cable and report back.

 

Don't worry, it's not just notebookcheck reporting 100W as the going rate for the 285M now. Talk is the 285M thread mainly agrees that it's likely to be this and looking through the search engines with 100W brings up that the general consensus is on the same amount.

P.S - I'm not gonna slam people for using notebookcheck as much as others around here. Besides I've never been oversatisfied with any single source reporting news, whatever it's rep. Or at least without solid proof.

 

That helps ease my mind a bit I guess. My bigger question is if the current GTX 280M's can be flashed with the GTX 285M BIOS. I know theres going to be a bunch of people spamming my inbox for it.

 

So I am a spammer now? Hahahaha

Just post the BIOS of the 285M and that should be enough. Of course if you will be kind enough to do so .

 

Even if I did give you the GTX 285M BIOS, it wouldn't work on an MXM 2.1 GTX 280M. I've tried cross flashing BIOS's across the two MXM standards and it didn't work out so well.

 

I was thinking of testing that as well, but I didn't have an MXM 3.0 BIOS...
Oh well, I guess I will live with my card for now as it is.

what do you mean "work out so well", so it did work... but not as it should? Can you give more details?

 

I'll put it bluntly then: it didn't work period, haha. I had to force flash back since the BIOS was 100% incompatible. MXM 2.1 BIOS's won't work with MXM 3.0 cards and likewise. But flashing within the same MXM standard will work just fine. I've flashed various GTX 260M and GTX 280M BIOS's from the W860CU, M980NU, D900F, M17x and M15x onto my W870CU's GTX 280M and they work just fine.

 

So for people with experience of different brands of high end laptops and have tested or own this one.

if i found this one to loud(my bro didnt think it was that bad)
Which other laptops would you consider as verry quiet?

Should atleast have i7 processor..

Im aware that i probably will have to settle for a less powerfull laptop gaming wise..though it should stil be good for games.

I found a review of Qosmio 505-850 that stated it was really quiet but the graphic card was not that great GeForce GTS 250M so i need to search/wait for a better.

ps. yes i have returned my sager, im picky about sound/noice ds.

 

The Qosmio X505-Q850 is actually a better notebook compared to the previous generation of performance notebooks attempted by Toshiba. But it will still produce a considerable amount of noise pollution, though still quieter than the W860CU. Expect to keep the X505 at home as an 18 inch notebook isn't going anywhere.

 

As much as I am sad to hear that... I need to remember to rep you for saving me a lot of trouble.

Thanx

 

Hey I was looking at picking one of these up and kept seeing the X-Fi Go! USB sound card: http://www.techspot.com/review/151-creative-xfi-go-usb/

I'm wondering what the major differences are between this and the expresscard soundcard? This USB is cheaper, smaller, and doubles as a 1GB flashdrive. I can't find any direct comparisons online between the two though so I'm unsure of the expresscard x-fi advantages, if any.

 

Wow, that Go looks kind of awesome!

Okay, on a different note, I am having a potentially earth-shattering issue.

I talked before about my computer randomly making weird noises. I thought they were coming from the speakers, but when I mute the audio, I still get them intermittently. I wish I could get a reliable recording and may have to try somehow. It totally sounds like a sound effect, and I can figure out no rhyme or reason to it. I just hope nothing is WRONG.

It sounds like... plunk.. kuhTHINK. Or sometimes PUNK... think... (Hurray for onomatopoeia) It doesn't sound like a broken hard drive or any other standard computer noise I've ever heard in my life. I could still swear it's coming from the speakers, but...? I guess not? Sounds like from the top of the computer at least, where the speakers are. I'm not really experiencing any issues (tho there is a bit of lag sometimes when it happens).

ANY ideas what's happening here?

 

Hmm maybe it does function the same, but only difference I could think of is that X-Fi Expresscard takes up an Express card slot, while the Go takes up the USB port where I'll be needing every use of my USB ports without the need of having to remove another to keep the X-Fi Go.

Ah I was looking for Sager resellers in Aussie QLD but the W860CU I saw was $3k AUD. How much did you get the Pioneer for? Bought mine from XoticPc and had it sent somewhere, and that cost me about $2.4k AUD at least.

 

yea let's just say it was expensive - I considered trying to get one from the US but didn't want the hassle should any warranty issues come up - which has worked out to be a prudent decision

 

Could it be your fans? What does it sound like when your laptop is underload and when it is not? There's a possibility you are having a sound driver issue causing the extorted plunking sound. Try reinstalling the driver from sager and see if it does anything.

 

did you open and clean your lappy recently?
could be some grit got stuck in your fan blades and make this sound?

 

Thanks guys--

Nope, I haven't been inside my computer at all yet since I got it, tho I do intend to open it up and repaste things (doesn't need it, but I think it would drop temps slightly).

Just to make sure it wasn't my fan, I ran Furmark (which hammers GPU) and a King Arthur game (which oddly hammers CPU) at the same time and got the whole schebang hotter than Vegas. Fans worked without issue. If it's the fan, it's only at low-load (but I find this unlikely).

I seem to only hear the noise after my computer's been on for a few hours. It really sounds like a manufactured sound coming from the speakers, but it's totally unaffected by volume level. Even if I have headphones in, it comes from the "speakers" (or that area). Muted, I still hear it. This makes no sense to me.

I'll try installing the new sound drivers and see if that does anything.

Again, there also seems to be a processor/loading spike during the noise, because the system lags slightly and accesses the HDD.

 

Crap. Now I as well suffer from the GPU fan whine that as affected some others.

Took just a few weeks for it to begin. It is clearly the fan making the noise and it is not loud, but quite annoying nevertheless.

I'll see if cleaning it will help.

 

Well, as I already said. It is the Fan. Its very hard to find one that doenst make that noise, definitely an issue, see here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=452053

 

I am no longer expecting to buy the 8690 but i would like to know how thick it is when the laptop is closed.

 

ss mentioned something about audio device grounding, a couple of pages back, that could cause sounds such as that and is unaffected by volume level.
maybe you should pm him to find out if it is indeed the same

 

maybe around 1.75 inches at its fattest point

 

The thing about Clevo notebooks is that Clevo measures very conservatively from table to the highest point, essentially the "true" thickness. The rubber feet in the back are ~6.5mm (~0.25in) thick. So the actual "girth" of the notebook is minus that.

 

Thanks guys. I just wanted too check so I can guess how thick my laptop is going to be.

 

Hi,

I am new here, and i just got my np8690.

i am having a few problems with it, i downloaded crysis and borderlands from steam and they keep freezing on me. After loading up the games will freeze after a few moments of gameplay. borderlands actually studders a little bit then completely freezes up and kicks me off. Has anyone else have similar issues or know how to fix them? All my drivers should be up to date.
specs:
sager np8690
i7 720qm
4gb ram
win7x64

help is greatly appreciated.
thanks.

 

So you did update your video drivers from Nvidia.com? Installing Intel's newest chipset drivers might not be a bad idea either.

 

what nvidia driver are you using? if your using the 19x.xx i suggest you roll back to 186.81. those are the most stable for our cards.

 

i have 186.81

on a lighter note, im loving the rest of this laptop. i just want it to run everything properly.

 

Temperatures?

 

maybe your problem is similar to this?
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=444953

 

my temps are between 44-55 and as high as 58 at one point.
i also just ran crysis without doing anything whatsoever and it just crashed on its own. this is the problem report from windows.

Faulting Application Path: c:\program files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\crysis\Bin32\Crysis.exe
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Fault Module Name: KERNELBASE.dll
Fault Module Version: 6.1.7600.16385
,
Description
A problem with your video hardware caused Windows to stop working correctly.
Problem signature
Problem Event Name: LiveKernelEvent
OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.768.3
Locale ID: 1033
,
Description
The program Borderlands.exe version 1.2.0.0 stopped interacting with Windows and was closed. To see if more information about the problem is available, check the problem history in the Action Center control panel.
Process ID: 18c
Start Time: 01ca9a399f22680c
Termination Time: 30
Application Path: c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\borderlands\Binaries\Borderlands.exe
Report Id:

^^ those are three reports i keep getting trying to run those games.

and when i just rebooted the comp, it took longer than normal to boot up(~5 mins).

thanks for the help so far

 

Just out of curiosity, is the wall outlet that your PSU is plugged into properly grounded and delivering clean current? LiveKernelEvent is usually correlated with a hardware error. In this case, either with your GPU or your PSU. Your GPU may be faulty or your PSU may not be delivering enough amperage to your motherboard. At this point, it's too hard to tell since I haven't drawn enough details from you yet. But I'm starting to fall asleep so I'll try to diagnose with you tomorrow.

 

thanks for your time so far,

its been plugged into a wall outlet and a surge protector, neither have shown any difference.

 

livekernelevent used to be a quite uncommon problem with the desktop 9800gtx's not having a powerful enough psu.
as ss said, it could be that.
maybe you should test using another wall socket first.
or using it without your surge protector

 

out of curiosity, my set-up should be able to run these games relatively smoothly correct? i didnt even max everything out on crysis, just med and high settings, i have been running both crysis and borderlands in 1080 res.
i can understand crysis not working at 100% but i would think there should be nothing wrong with borderlands.

has everyone else here tried these games and they worked fine?

setup:
sager np8690
i7 720qm
4 gb ram
win7x64

 

Read anything about it and you'll be told that Crysis is possibly the most demanding, mainstream game out. Yes, despite that it's well over the year mark in age. There still isn't a laptop that can run the thing full-pelt at top re/settings etc, and only the top desktops are now starting to utilise it's full settings. So relax, what you're experiencing is normal for anyone who owns this notebook.

As for games like Borderlands, you may also have to tick off some of the boxes (anti-aliasing, etc.) too but you should be scoring high points.

 

Here's are a few things you can do to try and deduce which component is giving you beef. Like I said before, it can either be the GPU or the PSU, but I think it may be a RAM issue too. If you have time, reseat your GPU. Blw out the socket while you're at it. If that doesn't work, then reseat both your RAM sticks and error test them in Memtest, P95, or the native memory diagnostic tool in Windows. If you get an error in any of the tests, remove one of your sticks and run the test again. If it passes, try that same stick in the other slot. Then rotate with the other stick and try again.

 

i just set the settings to the lowest on borderlands and it still freezes, it doesnt completely crashes but it will freeze me to the desktop then reload back in a few moments.

i think im going to try to reformat the comp first to make sure i didnt do anything stupid to cause this, if not i think its a hardware problem and im gonna send it to get fixed.

thanks for all the help and advice from everyone.

 

if you have the time and the technical knowledge try to do what soviet sunrise has suggested first before sending it in.
also i read that borderlands has had stuttering problems and such since the last patch. im not sure if its similar to the issues you are facing. but maybe you should look into the borderlands official forums too.

 

Sorry I can't read the entire thread (I already spent the whole day reading the Sony F thread).

Are there any known issues with this model? Especially regarding throttling?

 

the main issues are poor audio, and some users are reporting loud fans.
ive never heard anyone complaining about throttling in the 8690. probably also because our temps never get that high.

 

I have had my np8690 for about a week now and I love it! The audio can be fixed by using bluetooth or usb headsets. I bought a $40 logitech laser-tuned usb headset and the sound is great.

One question though...I am getting about 12,500 in 3dmark06. Is that normal for this model? I heard of one guy that was getting 13,500, but I don't know if that was OC'ed or not.

 

what cpu do you have?

 

I have the i7-820qm.

 

i think your scores are the norm. maybe the 13.5k was an o/c, or with a 920qm , or a different resolution

 

Cool. Thanks. Btw, I can finally play ETW on ultra everything in 1080p! I love it!

 

yeah i play that game too, love it.
waiting on napoleon:tw

 

So I got my Father to order me this laptop earlier today as my 21st birthday present -intel core i7 720qm, 4 gig DDR3 full HD 1980x1080 LED, Nvidia 280m gtx and 320GB 7400RPM HDD.

I've looked at a fair few of the threads regarding this unit and while it took me a while to find some benchmarks, I have to say I'm looking forward to having it arrive.

I'm a heavy gamer and haven't had a decent PC in about 3 years so am looking forward to playing the dozens of PC games I bought off ebay/the steam holiday sale.

I was just looking to hear your impressions on this as a gaming machine? I bought Crysis naturally and have seen a few guides mentioning 'cheap' very high settings tweaks and was wondering if this machine could run those at a low res (full 1080 is out of the question of course but maybe 1280x800 wouldn't be?).

I also bought Assassin's Creed, Borderlands, The Witcher, Dirt 2, Stalker, Burnout, GTA IV, Dead Space, Mirror's Edge and Batman and was wondering if any of you guys had tried out those games and how they performed?

I have a 360/PS3 already and sold the versions of those games I had on console in order to pay for the PC versions in the hope of vastly improved visuals and the convenience of having them on steam. Am hoping that I wasn't too rash in doing so?

 

Assassins Creed at least worked flawlessly on high, but not quite maximum, settings. However, I play my games on Wine under Linux so my experiences are usually not comparable.

I also have a GTX260 instead of the 280.

 

Would that be full 1920x1080 res? If so, I could probably max it out on the 280m if I overclock it a little - and I hear this unit's cooling is really good so getting an extra 10% or 15% out of the GPU shouldn't be too much of an issue I hope