**OFFICIAL W860CU/NP8690 Owners Lounge**

What does Fritz Chess Benchmark do?

And what processor is the most practical to get with the 8690?

 

Fritz Benchmarks measures the strength of the CPU to evaluate chess positions. It's basically a raw power benchmark for the CPU, and is largely dependent on speed and number of cores. You can see the current list that I have going here.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=421863

As far as the 8690, the most practical is the 820QM.

 

Ah. What value in the Fritz Chess Benchmark is made as the basis of the overall strength of the CPU?

What would be the disadvantage if you get the 720QM?

 

The greater the relative speed, the more raw power the CPU has.

The disadvantage of 720:

>Slightly gimmicky turbo boost - capable of 2.4 Ghz for dual core, much less than 820's 2.8 Ghz.

>Relatively high TDP for its clock speed.

>Less cache

>Doesn't save battery as much as you'd expect

 

Do you think there will ever be a price drop on CPU's for the 8690 soon? +200 is just too expensive.

 

I doubt it.

To be frank, the CPU isn't necessarily the bottleneck in most tasks - even the slowest i7 packs quite the punch for most ppl.

If I get a laptop, I'd much rather spending $200 on SSD, or other stuff that give decent performance difference to justify the cost. To me, 5-10% is not really worth $200.

 

Ah.

But the 720QM would definitely give a great boost over the C2D P9500 (my old M860TU CPU) right?

 

I wonder if resellers here can clarify something. It seems to me that the high interest in this notebook didn't actually translate into massive sales like it did with the M860TU. This is of course concluded through my extremely non-scientific method of observation so any clarification would be great.

 

I've actually read somwhere that they shipped less notebooks in Sep 2009 than in August 2009. In August they've shipped 140.000 units, in sep 120.000 units, or slightly less than that. So there might be some truth in what you are saying.

 

yes significant.

 

It's very likely because of the M86's success, that there isn't the explosion of sales. At the time, the M86 was only challenged by the M15x, so the need for a great 15" was much higher than it is now.

I doubt Clevo expected blockbuster sales. The W87/W86 are a stop gap I think.

I know I'll have mine ASAP, or I'll wait to see what manufacturer takes advantage of the Mobility 5000 series.

 

I bought it!!!!!

 

@spybenj
Congrats man! Welcome to the family.

Updated 1st post with the Intel Turbo Boost Monitor Gadget. Works with Windows Sidebar. Vista 32b/64b & Win7 32b/64b compatible.

 

You guys think a NP8690 with a i7-820QM would be an overall better performer or an ASUS G51J with a 720QM with a 80GB SSD and 320GB secondary?

I'm trying to figure out if CPU/GPU is going to be the bottleneck or the HDD. The Sager only has one HDD slot, so SSD isn't a great option there...

 

Yes the NP8690 would be a better performer. Why? Faster processor and better GPU. HDD is relative.

The GPU would be more of a bottleneck than the HDD. Remember that the GPU in the Asus is also underclocked.

 

Depending on the SSD you get you'd be surprised at the performance increase you get from upgrading to an SSD. I upgraded my 8690 with 120GB OCZ Agility SSD and virtually all my apps start up in an instant. I still have the 250GB drive that my machine came with my machine and I can definitely see a huge improvement swaping them out. It won't improve your fps in games but you also won't spend any time waiting for them to load

 

Keep in mind I'm talking OVERALL performance, not gaming. If the CPU's were the same, you'd still go for a better GPU than SSD?

 

I seriously doubt that anyone buys this laptop without having a big need/wish for a good GPU. A big majority would go for a better GPU than SSD.

 

As a follow up to my earlier post regarding the thermal paste. I checked the CPU and it appeared to have a decent amount on that. I cleaned it off and reapplied AS5 anyways I ran wprime 32M and 1024M each twice in succession before and after applying the new paste. Temps only dropped a few degrees which reaffirmed my initial findings that they did a decent job on the CPU.

wprime 32M (x2) + wprime 1024 (x2)
Max CPU Temps - 84 C (before AS5)
Max CPU Temps - 81 C (after AS5)

Recap of GPU Temps running crysis benchmark 3x3 (med,high,veryhigh)
Max GPU Temps - 94 C (before AS5)
Max GPU Temps - 70 C (after AS5)

I also played 45 minutes of Crysis and 2 hours of TF2/DOD:Source yesterday.
Max CPU Temps - 78 C (before AS5)
Max GPU Temps - 76 C (after AS5)

 

There is, maybe it is in a different location than I remember because we used it when we did the 2.85 Ghz Core2Duo Vs 2.0 Ghz Q9000 Core2Quad benchmarks (in my sig). The full version doesn't have a benchmark but the Demo definitely has one. Maybe it is slightly hidden.

 

Your GPU looks much better. 94 C was scaring me for a second there.

 

Hmmm...I will check again.

 

Jesus Christ. Are you sure they didn't just put toothpaste instead of TIM?

 

So that's why those Chinese guys at Sager have nasty teeth.

 

What does the Intel Monitoring Gadget do?

 

Basically shows the CPU speed when being used. Take a look at this video. Skip to 6:16 and you will see it in action.

 

Found it. Did it on high and normal and adjusted the resolution. ...everything else I left alone.

1920x1080

Normal- 34fps
High- 32fps

1600x900

Normal- 38fps
High- 36fps

So thats the reason why.

 

Yay Im on the list
Sorry about that again.

 

You made my day.


+rep

 

Take that, you sweet thing!

 

Ok, quick question.

I'm about to order the W860CU (from Eurocom) but I noticed that, unlike the Xoticpc version, the Eurocom does not come with Built-in Intel® PRO/Wireless 5300 802.11 a/g/n Wi-Fi Link.

Does that mean that I have to pay Eurocom an extra $95 dollars to have a wireless reciever on my laptop?

 

I'm still waiting for shipping notification

 

Looks like that's their upgrade option. AFAIK, the mobo chipset has no wireless card onboard. You can buy the same wifi card for ~$30USD brand new.

 

That sucks...I'd just rather get it all on board. Are there any Canadians (preferably from Ontario) on here I can PM about buying the laptop from a U.S. reseller? All the fees (from using a credit card) plus brokerage fees is hard to figure out...so if any Canadians have gone through it I'd really appreciate some help..thanks.

 

spybenj, How did you get your estimated arrival date?

I ordered the evening of Fri 10/9, there was payment issues so my order wasn't processed until morning of Tue 10/13, and as of Tue 10/20 I am still at "Phase 2 (Sent for Custom Building / Testing / Burn In & Final QA) 3-7 Business Days". I talked to Justin last Fri and he estimated my order to ship middle to late this week. After that I am still looking at "U.S. UPS Ground (3-6 Day Delivery Service)". Hopefully I'll get mine week of 10/26.

 

SON OF A GUN!

Date Ordered: Friday 09 October, 2009

Dear Valued Customer,
We wanted to inform you that your order has been updated with the following status & additional information:

New status: Phase 1 (Pending Parts or Item Arrival)
Some additional notes placed on your order:

Thank you for your order with Xotic PC!

We wanted to update you that Sager has experienced an unfortunate delay from Clevo on the NP8690. Sager has estimated the arrival of their shipment for the 1st week of November from Clevo. We apologize Sager has encountered this delay. We can assure you once this display arrives back into stock from Clevo we will immediately built and test your notebook and ship it as soon as possible.

We again apologize for the inconvenience.

 

Tough break man.. That sucks!

 

That's what he gets for being a Seminoles fan.

 

Aww man, that was cruel! (but made me laugh)

I got excited because I thought it was my tracking number

For anyone about to pull the trigger, their website is now says "BACK ORDER - Until 1st week of November"

 

I wonder if that's just for the larger display screen?

 

Sager isn't the only one selling this notebook, you know. I suggest trying other Clevo resellers such as AVAdirect, Eurocom, Prostar, RJtech, etc.

 

Malibal as well!

 

Benchmarks page with Q820M and 260M GTX (3DMark06 at 1280x800 res.):
http://www.notebookjournal.de/tests/notebook-review-mysn-xmg6--clevo-w860cu-nkmo-1008/7

 

Retail sales for everything is down.
People are just not spending a lot of money these days on non-essential items.
(W860CU non-essential, I know blasphemy! )
Remember the holidays are right around the corner(poop! ) and we are in a recession so add it all up and you get slower sales. People are just budgeting there hard earned money just a little more than usual.
That does not mean I am not getting one soon.Cause I will. Just gotta save some money....*sigh* and the cycle begins anew.

 

Yes I considered this, but out of those - AVAdirect, Eurocom, RJtech - are much more expensive. I am not familiar with Prostar. Malibal is a reseller as is Powernotebooks. Xotic says that Sager is back ordered from Clevo. Who has them in stock??

 

Thanks, interesting results. I wonder how the CPU load and dynamic clock rates were.

 

If you consider paying with cash, yes, they are indeed about 100$ more expensive... but if not, the difference is only around 30$, and then again you can always try to price match. Some resellers like rjtech also offer free shipping. Then again, maybe every Clevo reseller is having the shortage problem, but you can always ask if they have some in stock.

 

Has anyone ordering a W860CU from Xoticpc into Canada know the Brokerage costs?

 

I just ordered one, its still in stage 1(backorder 1st week november) But, basically you pay the conversion(was 6% when i ordered, just went up) and the $130 express shipping is brokerage-free(I got justin to nock off $30 from that) then you pay sales tax, and if you are doiung a bank transfer you pay $40 in fees.

 

Is the back order just for the 1080 screens?