**OFFICIAL W860CU/NP8690 Owners Lounge**

Assuming no overclocking, consistent artifacts across multiple games and multiple OS's strongly suggests a defective video card. Check to be sure that the card is properly seated and then call your reseller for a replacement.

 

I love this laptop.

 

LOL. I feel the same way about this 8760. If everything worked as well it does, the world would be a happier place.

 

thx, i sended my note for them and now i wait for the answer.

 

Now I just feel like I want a bigger screen, like 8760. 480M is nice and all, but the price is...

 

and this is why i sometimes loathe supporting nvidia.
i hope this card doesnt sell that well, so they can adjust the pricing way downwards.

 

Well, can't be used in 8690 anyways. I think 8690 must be holding the record for being the most powerful 15" notebook for the longest, from 285M to 5870MR, not yet being surpassed yet, even the upcoming 400M series won't produce any 15" notebooks to outperform it, because only 480M can outperform 5870MR and no 15" will have it.

 

hopefully we can use the 6xxx series ati cards on the 8690 and that blackbomb gpu in 2011

 

We can dream =)

 

yeah, with the 8690 we can

 

well, this thing is bulky already, so i guess i'll just stay with this 15.6"

i hope so

problaly that's true

Lol'd

 

Just a quick message. I recently got my W860CU from Kobaltcomputers (great to deal with).

I was wondering if any of you guys use some kind of protective sheet between the screen and keyboard?
I had a macbook earlier and that was required because the keyboard left scuff marks on the lcd screen. Idiotic design.
I was wondering what i should use if it's necessary? It's mostly when carrying it when i travel.
The scuff marks on the macbook appeared when i was carrying it around and there was pressure on the back.

 

didn't use any. our chiclet keyboard was lower than the macbook one CMIIW, so it didn;t touch the screen

 

Yeah that was the first thing i noticed.
And i guessed it would be fine but i don't want to take the chance (as i did with the macbook, that now have a nice horizontal scuff mark on it's lcd from the space-button).
Also i'm more concerned during travel rather than normal usage.
I suppose people have had clevos long enough so it would've been reported.

Might just put a little bit of some cloth just in case.

 

The keyboard is touching the screen a little, though not strong enough to leave scuff marks if it's just left on the desk closed without further force being applied to it. Though I do notice some marks after carrying it around then opening it, although it's not permanent, but I'm definitely putting in a cloth when travelling to prevent damage to the screen.

 

well, rather than leaving a cloth, i'm using an anti scratch guard

 

I've probably only put the lid down 5 times since getting it.

 

Hmmm, does any other notebooks except for Clevos have a line out? Because I realize that even though the default Clevo SQ isn't that good, but can we connect an external amp to the line out for some extreme SQ?

 

i'm using a 2000 watt 5.1 system with matrix decoder onboard ( well, i'm only using the headphone line but with 5.1 compression turned on). Well, can't head on agains those 5.1 native USB/Expresscard Sound card, but it's clear enough for watching movie

 

Well, I'm using an USB 5.1 sound card but IMO it's average at best, if you are an audiophile, the lineout gives possibilities to use some really expensive and imba amps that is on a totally different level from sound cards.

 

will it make a difference if i choose nvidia scaling over display scaling in the gpu control panel?

 

I use the default plastic cover that came with mine. (ordered from XoticPC)
Plus, I barely close the lid of my laptop anyways.

Apple have good marketing campaigns and that's how they compete - they offer relatively good products though, albeit overpriced.

 

The thin clear plastic sheet? Mine was ordered from kobaltcomputers but i suppose it's essentially packed the same, right?
Might have it there, but it seems to be static (?), and sticks to everything.

Well it's during traveling.

You can say all you want about apple but i'll never buy a product from them again. They would not fix design flaws for me without cost (essentially going against swedish consumer laws) within a year. I had scuff marks on the lcd and had a similar well known issue with the plastic that gets worn out and falls off at the palm rest, only it happened up in the right corner of the screen. It's essentially the same material, but (and this was when i called them) since it wasn't located at the palm rest, i had to pay for it.
Apple is supposedly a nightmare to deal with as a retailer (my friend works for one of the major chains here in Sweden) as well (not following laws and what not).

/Rant.

Got another question. Does anyone experience some 'movement' from the touchpad? It almost feels like it's not properly seated somehow. It doesn't bother me that much and it's not much, but it feels a bit cheap having "moving" parts. CBA sending it in to kobalt after so much time anyhow but wanted to see if anyone else has noticed it.

Oh btw, is there anywhere i can check the manufacturer for the different parts for drivers? I like to get them directly from the manufacturer (i.e going directly to realtek, going to intel for wifi).

 

which parts do you want to know the manufacturer for?

 

I suppose the thin plastic sheets were from XoticPC, hmn...

I haven't bought any Apple product in my life And proud of it! Like I said, they only have good marketing strategies.

My touchpad is solid and I don't have this movement that you've described.

As for the drivers, you could check the original configuration that you have to get the brand names of the components. But, wouldn't this be too much of a hassle? Plus, I think the drivers from Sager/Clevo website are most likely tested by them anyways - to save you time from finding the drivers yourself. Just curious as to why

 

nope, i got mine too. and looks like it's came from clevo, since my reseller didn't put it, and the design is the same with the others ( thick plastic with stripes on it's cellotapes)

 

Bluetooth and touchpad. I think i've covered most drivers already (realtek for sound, intel for wifi + chipset and controllers, ati for gpu).
I'm hesitant in downloading and installing drivers that haven't been updated
in a year and therefore goes directly to the manufacturer.

It's probably the same.

Well true, it's "more of a hassle", but i save all drivers for all the computers i work with (or own) on my desktop, and like to have them regulary updated.
Even though sager/clevos site has tested them, they're not always up to date. IIRC, sager's site still has drivers for the 5870 that's from march.
Also, downloading the drivers directly from sager was a pain as i only get about 15kb/s (meaning the 250mb intel wifi driver took a long time).
Probably because i'm located in Sweden though.

On another note, i seem to have some cooling issues. I topped out @ 94C on gpu core when playing C&C4: Tiberian Twilight last night and this seems too much. I checked the thermal paste on the gpu (as well as cpu) and the one on the gpu looked like a solid square (almost as if it was a thermal pad).
According to kobalt they repaste their laptops before shipping but the thermal paste on the cpu looks different than the one on gpu, so i'm wondering if they forgot to do the gpu. Might have to send it in.
Updating with pics in a sec. Going to contact kobalt with pictures as well.

This is running Furmark (regular settings, no full screen @ 1080p.) for about 2-3 minutes before i decided to stop it.
See the Max Temperatures.



Note that i've downclocked the Gpu to 200/300 AFTER running the tests, so Idle (Min) temp is not during stock clock.
During stock clock the GPU idles at around 60C-63C.
Stock clock @ Idle:
64 core
59 dispIO
64 memIO
60 shader

Also it's hotter than hell here in Sweden at the moment without any AC.
A friend reports it to be 28C indoors which i suppose would be the same for me.
Don't own a thermometer, though.

I'm hesitant to change the thermal paste or send it in to kobalt because my high temperatures might only be because of the high ambient temp.
Still a little worried about using my laptop at all though.

Opened.


GPU Heatsink.


Does the thermal paste look alright/similar to yours? What bothers me is the different colours and textures between the cpu and gpu thermal paste.
I only have a really old (like 4 years old) AS5 that i'm sceptical if it's any good that i can repaste at the moment.

 

94C is rather hot, imo. The most I've got at an ambient temp of 28C is 74C and I've had this playing GTA 4 & EFLC, Dirt 2, Mass Effect 2 and COD:MW. Would be nice to hear what the other owners think about your temps. My thermal paste is AS5 by the way.

It would be good to consult with your reseller first as they should resolve this issue with you. Perhaps ask around for NP8690 owners who also bought from kobalt.

 

After reading this thread;
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/483543-w860cu-hd5870-overheating-problem.html
I decided to re-paste with the only paste i had (the AS5 is going in the bin because it did not work at all). I used some that came with my desktop heatsink (a thermalright paste) and also decided to check some of the thermal pads. The three thermal pads that's in the hollow places was indeed two 2mm pads stuck together. Removed one on all of them and applied all the thermal pads onto the different chipsets.

At stock clock it now idles at around 53C-55C all across the temperature monitors and at 200/300 it seems to be idling steady at 48C.
Ambient temp should be around 28C-30C so it looks like normal temps (when comparing to others).
Will do some 3d Mark benchmarking later and when i can afford it i'll buy a better paste. As of now i don't see any worries about my temps but would be happy to get some input/reassurance!

Oh btw, is it normal to have a ~10C temperature difference @ load (Running furmark atm)?
After 5 minutes it tops out at;
94C core
86C dispIO
94C memIO
85.5C shader
After running furmark i'm a little hesitant to call my 'issues' fixed, seeing as i have such a big difference between the different sensors.

 

Furmark is pointless and silly. I have no idea why it's become an "essential" testing tool when all it does is breed paranoia. Test your games in normal use and during gaming. Those are the only temps that matter.

 

I wouldn't go as far as calling it pointless but i agree with you. I'm a bit OCD about temperatures and perhaps furmark isn't very ideal.

Anyways, i fiddled around with different thermal pads and reseating the heatsink.
Ran 3dmark 06 @ 1920*1080 with standard settings with the "loop each test 3 times" setting.
I topped out at around 88C. It's still higher than most reports but then again, it's hotter than hell here (ambient somewhere between 28C-35C).
I turned it off to cool it down and ran another 3d mark 06 @ 1028*1024 with no looping and seemed to be around 78C. With better TIM i'm sure i can get the same results as everyone else.
I'm not seeing the same decrease in idle temp @ stock clock though after trying out different thermal pads. Seems to idle at around 57C-60C which still seems a bit hot.

 

57C-60C idle temps are not unreasonable with ambient temperatures in the 28C-35C range, assuming you are at full stock clocks (700/1000). Idle temps with the 5870's are typically in the mid-50's, but that is with ambient temps around 23C-24C. Do your card a favor and downclock to 200/300 when not gaming. It will reduce idle temps by 7C-8C almost instantly.

 

ok, im having my first issue with this laptop (driver issue). It happens whenever I stream videos (usually on youtube or hulu). First the entire screen will turn grey for a second then the video will turn green. The show will continue with audio, but the video is just green. Anyone have this issue, I already tried updating the driver...

HELP!

edit: just googled it and this seems to be a common and very difficult issue to deal with

 

It happens to me too but only when im on battery power im on cat ver 1.5

 

Kindly include more details about your drivers, your browser, and OS so we can help out. Thanks!

 

update: you're right! it only happens when I'm on battery power...which sucks but I guess I'll just have to plug it in more, oh well.
I'd still like this to get fixed though..
Im on windows 7 64bit, chrome and the newest 10.6 driver suite.
It started happening right after I installed moviemaker btw..

 

Hi guys, i have finally configured my Sager 8690 after months of browsing around and shopping for notebooks.

NP8690 - Customise It!
Display:15.6" Full HD LED Display with Super Glossy Surface #1920 x 1080# (add)
Processor:Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-840QM Processor ( 45nm 8MB L3 Cache 1.83GHz ) (add)
Thermal Compound:IC Diamond 7 Thermal Compound - CPU GPU (add)
Video & Graphics Card:ATI MOBILITY RADEON HD 5870 Graphics with 1GB GDDR5 Memory
Operating System:No OS added in
Memory:4GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz - 2 X 2GB (For i7-720QM and above only)
Primary Hard Disk Drive:320GB 7200rpm SATA 300 Hard Drive
Optical Drive:8X DVD±R/RW/4X DL Super-Multi Drive & Software
Wireless Network Card:Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module (add)
Bluetooth:Internal Bluetooth V2.1 Module
Primary Battery:Smart Li-Polymer Battery Pack
TV-Tuner:None - Select from the options below
MCE Remote Control:None - Select from the options below

Does it look okay to you guys? I upgraded the Wifi just to be safe and I went with the 320GB because I want to change to a SSD in a few months.

 

^ Nice set up. Having a blu-ray player is great, I noticed you didn't get one.

 

Hmn, do you have any codec packs installed? And does it still occur when you uninstall moviemaker? If it doesn't, you'd be better of with another program.

The set-up is nice and I agree with Reveers to get a blu-ray to maximise having the Full HD display. The Ultimate N is also a really good choice.

 

guys which is the better upgrade.

currently using 820qm, should i upgrade to 840qm or the 940xm(es) or should i jsut the save for the rainy days ?

 

820 is a great CPU, I wish I had just paid the extra for it, as it has the extra L2. Honestly wait until Sandybridge comes out, it will drive prices down, and then you should jump on a 940.

Our bottleneck is with video/ram anyway, the CPU is easily the strongest component in the 8690.

 

it depends on what you will be using it for. if its for games and such your 820 is more than enough horsepower. if you are rendering or encoding video or doing sound editing a 940xm may be called for. also i doubt if you will be satisfied jumping from an 820 to an 840.
but i agree with brianvp, if you can wait for sandybridge, the prices of the current crop of mobile core i7 MAY drop.
however the way i see it sandybridge seems geared more towards power savings and graphical chip enhancements rather than pure performance. thus prices of performance cpus may drop only slightly and not by as big an amount as some people are hoping for.

 

for my case, the ram already upgraded to the current fullest, 8gb 1333mhz cl9, so i guess just save up for the new gen of ssd.

been aiming the c300 256gb for some time, keep on seeing the price going down at newegg

 

As brianvp and trvlbug have mentioned, the upgrade would depend on what you need so it may not be necessary to get an upgrade - however, if you have tons of cash, then why not?

Yep, that's exactly what I'm dong The SSD will be the next performance upgrade imo. I'm still torn between waiting and buying now. If I'll wait I'm again torn on how long I'd have to wait as I'll be choosing between having two drives (SSD 60GB + HDD 500GB) or a single high capacity SSD (320GB) in the future. If I buy a HDD upgrade now (in the next three months), then I'll be going for the Momentus XT. So yeah, three choices for me.

 

Yah, I'd like to get a vid card at some point, whatever comes out after the 480m as I'm not entirely impressed with it's performance. 352 cores and it's at most 30% in games faster than our 128 core 280m. Drivers need some time, but we'll see.

 

Question...is it me or does everyone else not have the classic Clevo Fn+1 fan control on this laptop? I was really bummed to find I couldn't control fan speed myself. Just wondering if I forgot to install a driver or something.

 

that's right, you can't. the only thing you can do is activate "silent" mode, which is not silent at all. afaik, it just blocks the fan speed to the current one. but it's a bit faulty because sometimes it makes more noise when it's active rather than when it's inactive.

 

I also don't have the fan speed control. Would be nice I think, but it doesn't bother me

 

hey guys need help. I live in Toronto. Is this laptop a good idea?

So is it a good idea. Also is the GTX 280M a good idea? because since its not soldered in, I can upgrade to a newer ATi or the fermi GPU, maybe even go for a workstation card. Also is the CPU upgradable? I hope Sager/Clevo support tesla gpu's

 

There's no tesla notebook GPUs.