**OFFICIAL W860CU/NP8690 Owners Lounge**

Just so you know I only want to lower my "C"PU temps , not my "G"PU temps...hopefully my posts don't mislead users thinking that the 5870s need extra copper stuffed inside.

/sorry

*someone removed my BC2 sig! noooo!!*

 

The problem on the 5870 seems to rest on the fact that in one way or another the heatsink/thermal pads/aluminum can are not allowing good gpu die contact. I wish I would have taken pictures but when I first got my card it was very clear that the heatsink made good contact with the gpu on the edge closest to the connector and angled away from it toward the other end where all the components rest while sitting firmly against the aluminum can the whole way around the edge. It is my belief that the can has been designed to be to deep or has simply been fabricated wrong on at least a number of peoples cards as can be see here in the forum. A shim of about a millimeter would have most likely fixed my problem as well, but I didn't want the extra thermal interface between my gpu and the heatsink.

A few things were immediately clear to me. Some of the thermal pads on the taller components were way thicker than others for no reason as they were making good contact on the other components with thinner pads; secondly the aluminum can around the back was holding the card out from the gpu in such a way that it would never be able to make solid contact with the core even if I had removed all the thermal pads. As a result I made sure all the thermal pads were the same height on similar height components, and tweaked the edges of the can out so the heatsink could seat properly. This resulted in idle temps going from ~70 down to ~50 and load temps in furmark going from 100+ ( I never even saw how high they went as I stopped it when they hit 105 within about 10 seconds of starting) to high 70s.

If anyone on this forum has any good contacts at one of the major resellers of these laptops it may be worth informing them of this issue so the problem can be rectified before it affects to many more people and turns into a warranty headache when people report crashing laptops and overheating gpus.

 

It is very possible you are experiencing the same gpu overheating problem others of us have had only yours seems to be more severe. The 10.3a drivers I noticed made my laptop idle at a higher temp than the old drivers. if your gpu is making very poor heatsink contact then it could just be overheating. Assuming you are comfortable with taking off the heatsink and working with thermal paste I would suggest taking a look. Alternatively you could install a utility to look at your gpu temps and report back here to get some feedback. Is your gpu fan running at a fast speed all the time?

 

any recommendation on nvidia driver that can be install? I dont know why i cant install thier driver. It says path not found. or any method?

 

Try getting drivers directly from Nvidia's website, they always work for me.

 

i went to their website. the point is. I cant install them. No idea. ANy help with that? Even if i reformat still the same

 

and another thing is my fan is quite loud suddenly. is like suddenly getting louder then normal then loud and normal. whats the problem?

 

For those of you that are reading this... have no worries about the MR 5870... Its a great gpu and does not run hot when contact is good between it and the heatsink... I was able to play some of my games this weekend and the temps are fine.... 2 hours of BFBC2 and I topped out at 78c.

 

Try uninstalling the old drivers first.

 

It's back.
Now I can get mine

 

same. Im using the driver that clevo provide. and now sometimes the browser keeps hang a while. Have to restart. I think they change it to 2d. that wat makes it hang

 

I'm a current G73jh-A1 owner and am considering moving to the NP8690. I'll be traveling quite a bit shortly and want something even more portable. Can anyone (possibly with some experience with the G73) comment on the following?

• Does the NP8690's lighter/more compact build make it more portable for heavy travel than, say, a 17" Alienware or Asus?
• Has driver and hardware issues been better/worse than your experience with other gaming lappers?
• Is there a bay and a cage for an extra HDD?
• I've seen issues with GPU heat. Are people actually experiencing overheating or are people just "fiddling" to get the heat to lower levels?

After the survey, please click here to view an exciting new opportunity

 

Yay I got mine back, with new colours too!

1) I find it a bit heavy when carrying it around, but then again it is a desktop replacement laptop. If you intent on travelling a lot, mmm this one may just make you gain some few muscles on your arms.
2) Let others tell you this
3) No extra HDD
4) Let others tell you this too

 

Unless you use this laptop in an oven, or maybe live in India, it will not overheat.

 

A Hummer H2 is lighter and more compact than a Geo Metro.

No.

You can buy an ODD caddy to swap out your ODD with another HDD.

The notebook's cooling itself is the best in the industry. The thermal paste that bridges the components to the cooling and it's application isn't. By spending five minutes, you can replace the thermal paste yourself.

 

1. im not sure about the weight of the g73, but the form factor of an 8690 will make it slightly more portable. it is not light but i dont find it heavy either.
2. the only 'major' issues with the 8690 are poor sound quality of speakers and loud fans in some older units
3. best cooling system in a 15inch.

id say the greatest advantage of the 8690 compared to the g73 is the ease of openning up the machine and swapping parts in and out.

 

Thanks guys. I'm almost convinced.

Reading the specs, it seems the NP8690 is about 1lb lighter than the G73. It's not really less weight I want as much as a smaller unit (...that's what she said...)

I'd never use the internal speakers, so no issue there.

Didn't consider the ease of upgrading. Changing out the G73 CPU is a half-day event I've heard and I wouldn't mind upgrading from the standard once the i7 mobiles are cheaper.

 

and the gpu on the g73 is proprietary...

 

He said the "P" word.

 

Yeah, the G73 is a POS.

 

Tell us how you really feel about the G73.
The only bad thing about it are getting to the components(which is a big turn off) but it performs great from the reviews I've read.
All the owners seem happy.

 

POS- pain of swapping - components

 

Lol..
Perfect description

 

SS is really a closet Asus/G73 lover.

He has like 3 of them under his bed....

 

my exact thoughts
he really likes those asus, but really hates those AW's with a vengeance lol

 

Just got my NP8690, im having a problem, im getting very low bandwidth for my wireless and ethernet connections. Am i in need of a driver update?

 

i dont have a problem myself but a few posters have recommended updating those drivers.

 

i hope im not asking too much but can someone put a link up on where i can download these drivers.

 

I am sure I heard that RJTech was selling the ATI 5870's with a specially built case of some sort to allow it to be installed inside of the W860CU without those problems.

 

nevermind, i found the way

 

1. It's still a fairly heavy & sizable notebook. The 1lb may or may not make much of a difference.
2. I haven't had any issues with mine at all (specs in sig).
3. No
4. Most folks are just trying to maximize their cooling capabilities. As long as you keep the fan vents clear of obstructions and don't live in super hot tropical environments, you'll be fine. The only (extremely simple) user-mod I strongly advise is to remove the plastic panel covering one of the two bottom vents (discussed in greater detail a few pages back).

 

I heard you can remove the ODD and replace it with a HDD, is this true?

 

Yes, although this is generally true of almost any notebook. It will require that you buy aftermarket parts, however, unless your reseller will sell you parts to do so themselves. For more information, take a look at this thread ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=388625).

 

Mine was purchased from RJTech.

 

Hey guys, mine is arriving a week from today. This is my first gaming powerhorse type laptop. I am only currently concerned with the thickness of this beast. Is it really noticable? Or do you just get used to it and think nothing of it? I know its a gaming laptop but thats my only issue.
Thanks

 

Well, my first laptop was a Sony Vaio from 1990 or thereabouts. It was 2.5 inches thick. This laptop reminds me of that one, but since I don't carry it around a lot, it doesn't bother me.

 

Just got my NP8690 today, and I'm already loving it.

Getting the OS and everything installed, and then I'm looking forward to testing out the 5870.

 

Bet your really excited. Could i just ask.
On first impressions, does the thickness bother you and does the plastic look ok?
Does it weigh alot, obviously i know its 7.38lb, but does it feel too heavy to carry around?
Thanks

 

If you're talking about the ocassional moving around with laptop thing, well it ain't that bad. But bringing it everyday you might just feel abit more stronger....


And Shadycakes, rawrrr level 19!

 

First impressions, the size isn't too shocking. Now when it's sitting next to my work laptop, a ProBook, the size difference is obviously a bit more drastic.

The laptop reminds me of my old Inspiron 9100. Both are thick laptops, but this one isn't just a rectangle. There's an angle at the front that makes the laptop look "slimmer."

CPU temps are idling in the 45-55 range, with the GPU idling around 55 while sitting on my lap. The fans are noticable, but quickly overlooked as they're not loud and irritating.


Honestly, the most impressive part of the laptop was the reboot after installing the video drivers. I had almost forgotten how pretty a 1920x1080 screen looked

 

Just a question, is it normal for 8690 to power off when running on battery on intensive applications? I tested running on battery, playing some less demanding games like WoW is fine, but when using some intensive 3D application like furmark, the laptop will shutdown by itself, and it's not overheating because the GPU temp is only 75C when it shutdown, and it won't shutdown when power is plugged in. Not that it's a huge issue since playing intensive game in battery won't last 10min anyways, but just want to know if it's a feature or a problem.

 

There's your problem. Why in god's name would you want to do something stupid like that on battery? Aside from your motive for accomplishing so, I am not familiar with the power saving feature of the MR 5870 on the W8x0CU. My best guess is if it is like the Nvidia cards, the GPU (and CPU) should restrict itself to a slower clockset when on battery as the battery is incapable of outputting the demanded wattage for full speed. It should be doing so anyway. Experiment and see if your card is ramping to it's highest speed on battery or if it is locking itself to a lower clockset. If the latter is true, then the problem lies elsewhere.

 

After nearly 2 months of researching and debating with myself, I've finally ordered the W860CU. It won't get here until May, but the wait will be worth it.

Now I need to browse through this whole topic for all the recommended drivers >.>

 

We should keep a post in the first page with all the recommended drivers for everything. So far I've only come across the Wireless driver.

 

I agree about the frost page. That will make things really handy for all of us. The Sager site also has links for drivers, but I don't know how up-to-date they are.

I might be a little premature to stock up on drivers if you're getting your notebook in May...who knows, maybe there'll be new versions by then.

 

It wouldn't hurt to be ready. I'd check again before getting it anyway.

 

Yes this will happen on this machine. I had it happen once when I didn't realize the plug had pulled out when I moved it forward on my desk. I do not think the current 5870 bios version is correctly down clocking at idle/battery either. Either way doing something this intensive would only move the already short battery life down to 15 minutes or so.

 

I'm curious where you ordered your W860CU. Why won't it arrive until May?

 

I have been carrying mine with me at the university for a few months already and the weight has not been a problem. I have got a particularry good backpack though.

 

It'll only take a while because I live in Asia, and I'll have my aunt (who lives in the US) bring it over in early May. It'll take a while, but it saves me a lot in shipping and taxes.