**OFFICIAL W860CU/NP8690 Owners Lounge**

Try the AMD GPU clock tool. I forgot where the thread was for the 5870, should be around here. Search kindly.

 

The SPDIF output is NOT optical, it is Digital Coaxial, that is why you are getting no sound.

 

Thanks theriko, I just looked at the manual, and I see that now. The new question is whether to get a external sound card or a digital coaxial to optical converter.

 

I currently have a fully decked out Alienware M15x ordered and in production. I've been reading a lot about some of its issues and am considering scrapping it for the 8690. Is it a phenomenal machine? How's Sager's tech support? Do they contract out reps to come to your house and replace parts free of charge if they send you a defective part? Is it better to order from xoticpc or sager.com? Do I still get the full sager tech support if I order from xoticpc? Are there any major issues that I should be aware of? Is the clicky keyboard really an issue? I've also heard terrible things about the screen. Is it just as nice as the Wide FHD that alienware ships with? Any details you could give me would be great! Also, is this the most powerful 15.6 laptop there is?

 

^

One thing for sure the screen is very nice, bright and sharp... it was the fastest single VGA laptop, but since fermi came the place has been taken... from what i've heard i think XoticPC is a very reputable reseller.

my keyboard r nice, only the space key doesnt register too well on the edge. i'm very satisfied with the overall performance of this laptop except for its abysmal battery life..

 

if theres one thing thats a disspointment its the touchpad. but then again if something like that should bother you then youre better off getting a macbook.
internal sound is subpar as it is in other notebooks.
the fhd is gorgeous and seems 'comparable' to the rgb screen of the aw according to some of the reviews iirc. you could as charles jeffries as he reviewed both.
afaik non of the resellers will send an on-site tech.
the laptop is great and im hoping it will be able to take the 460m when it comes out

 

Consider scrapping the Alienware for something else.

Phenomenal machine? Hell yeah!

It's best to buy from a reseller. Xoticpc has one of the best customer service around - visit their website if you want more info.

Yes definitely a major issue is that you won't be able to stay away from it!

The screen is top-notch though I can't compare it with the Alienware screen.

There's a lot of stuff to read here in the Owner's Lounge so feel free to browse and read.

 

The FHD screen on the Sager NP8690 is the same as the FHD screen on the Alienware M15x, i've got no keyboard issues, but there is a mod to fix it if you do. No major issues, the laptop has given me 0 problems since i got it in April. The laptop does however have an abysmal battery life that lasts only up to 1 hour.

 

Is there a Canadain Website to purchase from?

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...-should-i-buy-sager-np8690-living-canada.html

 

Well after a looooooong (almost obsessive) research period, I finally pulled the trigger on an 8690 from powernotebooks! I can't wait! I ended up getting specing it out as follows:

i5-520
Ati 5870
IC Diamond Compound
1080 screen
4 gigs of RAM
Blu-Ray reader
intel 6300 wireless card
320 Gb HD

I know I didn't go crazy on the components, but it is very upgradeable and I'd rather upgrade as time goes on. This will be my deployment laptop, so it should provide hours of relaxation time between the hair on fire moments there...
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit

 

congrats Ag, you wont be dissapointed man and the specs look fine for what im guessing will be mostly an entrertaimant lappy with the blueray and 1080p

 

Xotic just shipped out my Sager yesterday

Very fast processing on their part. The only upgrade I chose was the 1080p screen, but I can't wait for this to arrive.
Tracking shows it should arrive on Wednesday, so I'm trying to get as much info on drivers, utilities, etc. before it arrives.

 

Good luck and let's pray to the laptop god that the whole process will be as smooth as silk! Don't forget to tell us about your reaction on its awesomeness

XoticPC are a good reseller and good for you for doing business with them! As far as I'm concerned, use the drivers that come with your package first then make sure that everything is all right before installing any new ones. Thing is, when you have the newest drivers, they won't necessarily work and you might think that you have a defective product but in fact it was just the driver (i.e. my fingerprint sensor doesn't work when updated to the latest drivers).

Best of luck to you as well! Hopefully no hiccups on your purchase!

 

good build especially if your just gonna use it for gaming and most normal stuff. the 520 should help keep the temps lower especially if your deploying to some place warm.

 

has anyone experienced any artifacts? i've been playing starcraft 2 and i've gotten an artifact on my mouse icon. not sure what to do since i haven't overclocked my graphics card even once. all i've done was underclocked my graphics card to i think 200/300 which could be the problem.

 

Maybe I misunderstand your post, but if you're playing SC2 at 200/300, you need to restore your card to stock/default clocks. I would think that artifacts would be the least of your problems.

 

I run starcraft on my low clocks 300/300 and it runs just fine without any artifacts and great frame rates at max settings with the 1600x900 screen.

 

My mistake. I didn't realize how graphically undemanding SC2 is, to the extent that some apparently say that its beauty is in its personality, not its looks.

 

Sorry guys if this has already been posted, but I haven't even gotten through the first 200 pages yet

Is there any guide on underclocking the 5870m for the Sager 8690? Also, is it possible to auto-underclock when not in game, and vice versa?

 

Guide here for changing clocks:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...w-underclock-your-ati-5870-automatically.html

 

Is there any other software to manipulate with the camera, besides BisonCam.

 

I personally have Cyberlink Youcam. A pretty decent one with lots of features built in.

 

Thanks. +Rep

 

I'm still using 10.4. Should I update?

PS. Been a while since I last posted here.

 

Drivers for the 5870 I mean.

 

Just got my 8690 yesterday from XoticPC. So far it's been great. Fans are not loud at all, no dead/stuck pixels, no spacebar problem, Loving it.

Here are my temps out of the box after playing some Just Cause 2, and after a Vantage run.
I haven't removed the CPU sticker, or reapplied MX-2 yet. How do the temps and my vantage score look?:


Also, which driver is the best to use with the touchpad?

 

Does anyone know if the W860CU/NP8690 supports eSATA port multipliers? I HATE my WD eSata MyBook with the crappy green drives and wanted to get something with 2 or 4 disks in it. Thanks in advance.

 

i think your GPU temp r quite high, whats your ambience temp?
i usually maxed out at 80C after 2hours of COD MW2.

 

Latest touchpad drivers are here. Other useful stuff is also here.

 

Congrats on receiving your sager! I'm also using my sager and it has been about a month or so since i got it and everything works great. Your CPU temps look good, but your GPU temp maxing at 92 is kind of high. I'm not sure if my gpu maxed that high after playing a video game. I think I only maxed at about 80-84 degrees. I do have IC diamond applied though. Do you have any thermal paste applied like IC diamond? Also, you will get much better temps after you remove the back sticker as I have already done so. Not sure what touchpad drivers are best.. I just use the stock drivers that sager provided as I use a mouse .

 

I can't recall anyone asking and i'm sorry if the issue's i have has already been dealt with in this thread but, how do i get the fingerprint sensor to work and also the card reader?
Drivers are all installed and showing up in device manager.

The issue with the fingerprint sensor might be because i used an updated version and therefore did not get the required application installed, but just the driver. Downloading the original file from sager/clevo's site atm.
The card reader however is installed from their site but nothing happens when adding the card (SD in this case) in the reader.

EDIT:
Nevermind, got the card reader to work. Had to install an updated driver directly from the JMicron site.
ftp://driver.jmicron.com.tw/jmb38x/XP_Vista_Win7/ for those having troubles.

EDIT 2:
Got the fingerprint sensor working as well. It needs the personal safe suite (or whatever it was called) that's embedded in the file that can be located on the sager/clevo site.
It works fine and one nice addition is that you can map different fingers to different applications, essentially giving you 10 extra "hotkeys".
My first initial thought was that it was just a gimmick, but mapping your fingers to apps you normally use is actually pretty cool.

Would be awesome if anyone knew how to create hdd shortcuts as .exe's, since the fingerprint application only allows that.

 

Thanks for the input guys. I was thinking along the same lines, GPU temps are too high. Keep in mind these are just the temps out of the box. After I install MX-2 on the GPU and CPU and remove the black sticker I'm sure they'll drop. (I'm currently using the stock thermal compound on both)

I know removing the black sticker will drop my CPU temps a ton, but will it raise the GPU temps? I'm more concerned about the GPU than the CPU at the moment.

Thanks for that

Rep+ to you guys

 

It shouldn't raise the GPU temps. While doing my initial testing with the sticker on and off, GPU temps were more less the same. My verdict, keep the sticker off as it keeps the CPU running cooler in the long run. You'll also have turbo boost running longer as it turns off when the CPU reaches about 85*C.

 

Quick Question:

Anybody know if i should go with the 4GB DDR3 1333MHz or the 4GB DDR3 1066MHz for my RAM? Keep in mind that i will have the i7-740QM processor, thanks.

 

Go with the 4GB 1333 Mhz. Because you have the 740Qm you can utilize the extra speed. Although the difference is hardly noticeable unless benchmarking, you might as well have it. Unless your reseller charges you for it, go with it =P

 

yap, u should go with 1333MHz, because if someday u want to upgrade the RAM and will sell your old ones, it will be sold at a higher price...CMIIW

 

Ok, here are my temps after removing the sticker and applying MX-2:



I usually look at the min temps as being the idle temps, and the max temps as load temps. Anyway, the CPU dropped a good ~10C and the GPU dropped a decent amount also. Although the GPU temps still seem a tad high.

I've noticed that one CPU core is always ~4-5C higher than the other. Is this normal?

 

Updated my link to the MySn XM7C BIOS. It contains the W860's latest EC update as well. This is for the W860CU only (not tested on 3D version).

Features of this update:
* Option to disable/enable HT
* Overclocking option for extreme cpus only
* RAID support (Works best with HDD caddy)
* Supports Arrandale & Clarksfield processors
* Supports GTX 280M, GTX 285M, MR5870

Need help updating your bios? Follow zfactor's guide on how to flash your bios with a usb stick.

 

I just want to confirm, what does XM7C mean? Is it the same BIOS for the W860CU or is it a hacked unofficial version?

 

It's the name MySn uses, XMG - Xtreme Mobile Gaming, 7 for the 870. It is the original W870 bios with the W860 EC update. That's why it should only be used on the W860 only.

 

Guys, Is the 10.7 ati driver stable for 5870? If not whats the current most stable driver for that card?

 

Ahh. But it's working flawlessly with the 860 right?

 

Flawless and display driver are rarely used together; however, the 10.7 reference drivers work well for most people and are reasonably stable.

 

When I said flawless I was referring to the mySN BIOS, not the display drivers. Sorry.

 

It's working great. I'm using it on mine at the moment. It's possibly the best bios out for the W8x0 series.

 

This is the complete latest version? It's just a matter of creating a bootable cd/usb, then running step1.bat first and then step2.bat?
Just making sure since i'm thinking on updating.

 

I'm also using the mySN bios (on a W870cu) with a +1x o/c. It's been great.

 

That's good to hear. I'm planning on using it on mine because I have a 920XM but am I at the safe side if my CPU reaches around 90C when I stress test with OCCT (Linpack)? I'm already using Shin Etsu X23. It's the ambient temp here in our country that's the problem, it's around 33C-35C.

If I OC the CPU, am I still on the safe side?

 

how can you say that? are there any worth advantages?