**OFFICIAL W860CU/NP8690 Owners Lounge**

Congrats.

 

May I ask for a screenshot of your score?

 

If you didn't use an external monitor, are you sure you didn't run it at 1280x900?

 

@Earl.Grey
A screen shot would clear up any doubts that some people have.
Either that or you got the best 5870 on the planet.
Edit:
I see you have the 1600x900 screen so without a external monitor it's impossible to run the test at your stated res.
Still great score and congrats on yout new laptop.

 

erg. sorry i misposted. i meant whatever the 1280x720 i think...i assumed that was the default res for 3dmark? ill go run it again right now and take a screenshot.

 

Default res for 3DM06 is 1280x1024, so to get a score that can be compared to others, you would need to attach an external monitor with the required resolution capabilities.

 

i have dishonored myself and my family and my ancestors and my cow.

thank you for clearing that up.

 

Ive read thru most of this thread, and im just interested: the only problems people are having w/ this laptop is battery life? I heard the keyboard is slightly non-user friendly, what do people think? also is the 5870 working smooth? any other negative tidbits I should be aware of before my package arrives?

 

I haven't tested the battery life yet on this laptop, but I am really liking the keyboard. I don't see why people think it isn't user friendly. The 5870 seems to be working great, but I can't see any GPU temps in HWmonitor so I can't comment on the temps of the GPU.

 

The only thing I don't like is the trackpad. It's usable, just not my favorite.

 

I love the keyboard on this one but I didn't buy such a powerful laptop to worry about battery power. The only way we will ever get decent battery power in any laptop as powerful as this is with a switcheable graphics solution similar to the M11x. Having said that, I am sure disabling BT / Wifi, turning down screen brightness, spinning down the HDD and modifying the power profiles and GPU clocks using Rivatuner could help. It is a shame that CPU undervolting is not possible (yet) though.

 

That's good to know.

 

so is there ANYONE that does have the 5870 that can see their GPU temps?
cause i cant see them either.

 

Hey guys, mine is on order just had a few small questions if you could help
What is the best thermal paste for the np8690? I decided to get stock from Xotic PC and upgrade it myself, costs alot from them, so i was wondering if there is a better version of the IC Diamond 24 karot i can use?
I will have the Ati HD5870m looking to do a little overclocking, maybe 20-25%
Also are there any good tutorials on applying it? Thanks
Help appreciated. Sounds an awesome machine! Cant wait.

 

Download Hwinfo32, that will show your 5870 temps.
http://www.hwinfo.com/

Let me know what your temps are like (in idle) as well please.

 

Nice to hear about your new notebook mate.

The thermal paste issue has been disscussed on sonther thread , the top and bottom of it was that it doesnt matter what thermal paste you get as long as you apply it correctly. Some pastes like Shin-Etsu and IC iamond may get you that extra 5*C if you so require. Alot of people seem to like MX-3 and myself and some others like Shin-Etsu X23 (hard to findand quite expensive).

Do you want tutorials for applying paste or the OC ?

 

Interested in getting the NP8690 from XoticPC.
however I would like to know TWO things:
- First how long is battery life while just surfing on the internert, with the ATI5870?
-Second, is the sound so bad on this computer? If so , what is the cause? speakers, or sound card, or...

Thanks.

 

The battery life while surfing at full brightness will be about 45min - 1 hour im guessing ? the battery life isnt the best but from a laptop with this power theres no other option.

I never thought the sound was bad probably because I dont know any better but its not god awful. For on the go its fine but if you going to be gaming stationary you might want to invest in some speakers or a nice soundcard + headset ?

Hope this helps,

 

Does using headsets help in getting better sound? If so I guess the speakers are the limiting factor.

Otherwise will a new sound card help for getting bettersound? In that case it would be the sound card being the limiting factor...

Just do not want to buy a sound card if not needed...

 

Well how good do you want the sound if its just for listening to songs then its fine, if for gaming and movie watching then getting a set of speakers without a sound card will improve it, however getting a soundcard and speakers will improve it even more. The sound card isnt the limiting facotr on this notebook 'I dont think'.

 

the only 'issues' with the 8690(280 version) are:

poor sound quality (mainly due to some internal wiring). you will get subpar sound from the speakers and to some extent from the audio out. some have confirmed excellent output from bt headphone and spdif(?).

subpar trackpad

some users reporting loud fans

subpar battery life. around 45-1hr of surfing for the 280m. could ba a little longer for the 5870

 

@ydaf great suggestion. it worked!

my computer has been on for several hours downloading and web surfing.

the CPU temps are 48-52c
the GPU temps are 53-57c

this is with no overclocking, stock sager thermal paste...and with the little plastic sticker thing still on fan vent for the cpu.

i didnt even realize that the sticker was there actually...its black so it just sort of blends in with the case...of course it does block you from seeing the fan. did you guys definitively decide that the sticker SHOULD be removed? i know its been discussed a ton.

 

remove it
10char

 

5*C at WCS load or idle is an overstatement. X23 or ICD7 are not miracle pastes.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=6002304&postcount=461

 

I was able to drop my overall temps by more than 5*C over teh stock paste.

 

The stock paste was poorly applied. That's like saying that I got better temps with AS5 where I very poorly applied X23 and properly applied AS5. In any comparison, you must change only one factor at a time.

 

oh ight kk got ya..there must be some variation in pastes though ?

 

Anyone know why i cant install the GTX280M driver from the Nvidia website????

 

When both pastes are applied correctly, the deviation is not as big as 5*C.

 

Any comments on the temps? The max values, I got after playing BFBC2 for about an hour and a half. The min values, from a cold start.

Nvidia driver version: 196.86

 

Your temps are fine although It depends what your ambient temperatures were really. Most of my temps idle lower than yours but my room is currently 23C. My CPU temps used to be similar to yours (when I had the sticker on), but now after hours of GTA IV gaming, they max out at 72C as opposed to 84C.

 

I received my 8690 with Nvidia drivers 188.30 installed (GTX285M). The Sager download site says the latest they have on offer is 187.71, so what shipped on my machine is actually newer.

The problem is I'm trying to run a CUDA app (BOINC) that calls for a version higher than 190 (refuses to run because the version isn't new enough). Nvidia's website has 195.62 (Win7 x64 OS). But it won't install because the GTX285M isn't in the list of supported hardware (they must have left it out of the .inf file, but the GTX280M is listed).

Does anybody have a fix for updating to the latest Nvidia driver for the GTX285M?

Thanks, S.

 

Does anyone know of a good notebook cooler? Im looking at this one sold thru amazon http://www.amazon.com/Zalman-ZM-NC2000Black-Notebook-Cooler-Black/dp/B0012WXFO8
Is there a brand or model that is the standard? A creme de la creme of the notebook cooling world?

 

Why the need for a cooler?

 

I tend to have laptops sit on my lap, and so i'd enjoy a bit of a buffer zone w/ the added cooling (however negligible)

 

I removed my stupid plastic thing, it dropped my temps by about 4-6C at idle

 

Where is this stupid plastic thing (I sent my 8690 for a GPU swap to Sager almost as soon as I received it)?

 

@k9
when you flip your notebook over, notice the vent on the right is all black and you cant see the fan, as apposed to the vent on the left (GPU) where you can see into the chassis and see the fan blades. the vent on the right has a black plastic sticker thing on the inside obstructing the vent.

 

You can either do a mobility modder on the driver, or just manually installing the driver using device manager.

 

Ok, thanks!

 

I wonder why they wouldnt simply take it off if they have already taken the one off the GPU I dont get it. :S

 

I've posted this too many times already. The best place to start is on post #1,004. But if you wish to TL;DR, proceed from post #1,156 to #1,162.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=6002304&postcount=461
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=423878&page=116

 

Ye I have read that thanks mate, im not trying to start this all over again.

 

yeah i know its been talked about over and over again in this thread. i guess i was really just looking for a short yes or no answer, instead of actual reasoning, quotations, arguments etc. I saw it posted earlier but was too lazy to read everything. but here is a new question, so hopefully this wont upset anyone.

lets play devils advocate and say that the sticker is there on purpose to help cool other parts of the computer (ram, hdd, etc). How would blocking off a fan and sealing vent hole possibly help cool anything off?

I know it was an argument before that it may be deliberate in order to help cool other parts instead of the CPU....but I just dont understand how anything inside the computer could possibly be cooler by inhibiting ventilation like this. If it was redirecting it that would be one thing....but its not, its just straight up blocking it.

 

thats why almost everyone took them out

 

The basic idea (which I think is posted somewhere) is that since the fan over that vent can no longer pull air from that vent, it has to pull air from "somewhere else", that "somewhere else" being the other vents in the chassis from much further away. Thus, the air being pulled from "way over there" flows past other components and cools them on its path to the fan, before being expelled through the usual out vent. The thing is, this results in the air essentially being "pre-heated" by the time it gets to the CPU, and thus you'll have higher CPU temperatures. Also, the fan will probably be less efficient, since the airflow pull path is probably not as designed...

 

Thanks- made this into a sig!

 

I use my Sager exclusively on my lap, on the couch, so am in a similar situation as you. Instead of an active cooler, I would suggest you get a simple lap desk. Here's the one I use.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Lapdesk...ci_sku=9267633&ref=06&loc=01&id=1218071903397

You can find less expensive variations at local office supply stores and what not. I think I paid $20 for mine but forgot from where (not BB).

I also got some rubber foam sticky pads for $3 at the hardware store and stuck those on underneath to add in another few cm of clearance. Combination of those two work beautifully!

 

Install one of the Drivers from this site along with the modified .inf. Replace the original .inf with the modified one and install. I couldn't get the 195.62 with the modified .inf to install from this site but I am using 196.86 instead. However, some got crashes with that one and you need to do other things to get it to work so I suggest you use a different one, something other than 195.62 / 196.86.