**OFFICIAL W860CU/NP8690 Owners Lounge**

I will second this. My desktop has a Core 2 Duo E6600 with 2 GB RAM and a GTX260. My firefox was running sluggish and would freeze up until I uninstalled Flash. Then everything ran nice and smooth again. It's worth a try.

 

I am not aware of any mod for the heatsink; most of what I've seen and read used a specific heatsink for the 285 - that much I can tell you. 460m, as reported, is to be sold for around $250.

Unless you have specific applications or games that utilise a quad-core processors' capabilities, at the moment, it's looking like it's best to stay with dual-cores. But if you're like me who plays GTA IV/EFLC a lot, imo you'll benefit a lot with a quad.

Intel Pro wireless card? You mean the Ultimate N right?

Warranty is based on personal preference. Sager laptops are very reliable but if you want that extra peace of mind and extra cash, then go for it.

 

yes the Ultimate N; I'll be getting that one, thank you

I don't plan on playing anything more demanding than Starcraft 2 (and maybe Diablo 3) on this machine; I just thought, well since I'm spending this much money anyways I might as well cough up an extra $100 and go for the i7. Still debating it in my mind though!

After reading through these forums I have no doubt in my mind that Sager/Clevos are the way to go and will happily pay the premium price associated with these for the reliability. I think I'll just go for the 2 year warranty for peace of mind. Thanks mangbhoy.

 

The i5-540M will serve you well for SC2 and Diablo 3. And as I've pointed it out earlier, if you don't need it, then don't get it coz it would be a waste of money to spend on something that you can't maximise its use - you can always upgrade in the future anyways. My two pence. All the best!

 

thanks again mangbhoy. i think it might just be the jealousy that everyone else seems to have an i7; but i will stay with the i5.

 

Lol! Well, I guess if you have the cash, then why not? Again, best of luck with the purchase!

 

With the mySN BIOS, how can I check if the multiplier of my CPU is indeed increased after I ticked "over 1x" in the BIOS settings? I'm trying CPU-Z here and the max multiplier shown is still 24X for my 920XM when it should be 25X after modifying the BIOS setting to over 1x. Or would Intel Turbo Boost Monitor Gadget display the increase?

Also, is it normal if in the BIOS setting the SATA PORT 2, SATA PORT 3, and SATA PORT 4 are always being shown as "NONE" even though I have a Blu-ray drive installed? With the official BIOS, I remember seeing the Blu-ray drive name under SATA PORT 2. But I have no problems in Windows detecting the drive, it sees it.

Lastly, when plugging in the HDMI to the laptop, do you really need to "manually" choose Realtek Digital Output under the Realtek software for the sound to go through the HDMI Interface? Is there any way for the laptop to automatically switch the audio out to HDMI when the HDMI cable is plugged in? When I had the M860TU, that automatic feature was present since there was an "NVIDIA HDMI Driver" installed.

 

One of the best ways to check your multiplier settings is with EVGA's eLeet overclocking utility. Go to the overclocking tab, and it shows the settings. You can also adjust them there. Throttlestop will also current settings.

eLeet: el18.rar - 4shared.com - online file sharing and storage - download

T-stop: ThrottleStop.zip - [email protected]

 

hi guys!

wondering if you guys had faced any issue like the screen flickering even when its not boot on or has anything connected to it? but once i boot it up, it gets normal again.. any help? im worried..

 

Not sure I'm getting this right, but your screen flickers when it's not powered on?

 

I have not and am not experiencing this (and hopefully won't). Could you give more details please? Is it new? When did this start happening? Drivers? etc.

 

the only time my screen flickers is when im go to watch a video (flash) and im not plugged in to the ac power adapter....the driver fails and the screen flickers.....anyone else having this issue>?

 

I did have a flickering malfuntion with my display. Check out this thread I created a while ago. Is your problem similar? I had to replace my GPU in order to fix that problem.

 

Yea, a couple people here have that same problem (including me). I think it's a Flash problem, being that my GPU doesn't have problems in taxing games. But idk why it only happens while on Battery power.

 

Has anyone with the new xxx.15 BIOS had problems with WEI? It keeps saying "New Hardware Found. Your WEI score needs to be refreshed" every after reboot of the laptop. This is a newly reformatted system with no bloatwares and all updated drivers. I'm not sure if the BIOS update caused this weird problem or NVIDIA 259.47 (from Station-Drivers: le site de drivers, bios, firmwares avec un forum d'aide) caused this. Anybody have a clue?

 

sorry for the late reply..

yes. my screen flickers when its not powered on. flashing white screens. but it goes back normal after i boot it up.

and its not the same as the flickers while watching youtube.. i had that issue too.

anw, i jus bought it like 2 weeks back. considered new. removed the vent stickers and had not mod any bios. 5870 graphic.

thanks

 

Hi,

Its been 2 weeks for me since I got my Sager NP8690. I play Dragon Age : Origins on Full settings with 4X AA. The game starts okay, but after 20 minutes of gameplay, it starts stuttering and choking..

Is it just my PC or am I expecting too much out of the HD 5870

I am using MySN bios latest and I have disabled HT. I also have removed the vent cover from the fan.

My Catalyst driver version is 10.8

Please help

Thanks

 

Thank you for explaining the RAM to me.

What vent cover are you talking about?

Edit: Is this the black cover over the CPU?

 

Wow, that is strange. Hmn, I would love to help but unfortunately, this is out of my knowledge.

I've played and finished Dragon Age: Origins (Steam) using the same settings on 10.6 and didn't have any problems. I've managed to install and play it again for an hour using 10.8 and have no problems at all. I'm using the original bios by the way. Have you observed your temps? If so, what are your temps on idle and during gameplay?

 

I have 4 Gigs of RAM. The black round sticky cover that covers one of the left side Vent fans as mentioned here

Thanks in advance.

 

I will observe the temps and get back with details

 

Sorry, the RAM comment was for an earlier question I had and someone had answered.

Yeah, that's the thing I was thinking of. I noticed it when I was looking at my RAM (hence the earlier question).

Good luck with a solution... this thread is jammed full of information and helpful individuals.

 

Why is this vent cover even on the notebook? It seems that everyone is removing it.

 

This dilemma is way old. I covered, debunked, and buried this months ago last year. http://forum.notebookreview.com/6201132-post36.html

 

As you are new, also learn to use the search function There's 4k++ posts here to read about.

 

So I observed the temps and the 4 CPU cores run at 58 - 61 Degrees C

My GPU runs at around 71 to 81 Degrees C.

That's the temperature shown by Everest Ultimate tool.

You would be godsend to provide any help to get these temps in control

Thanks.

 

Hi

I bought my sager np8690 in dec 09 and so far, I have had sent my battery for RMA twice due to the battery being bloated.


Has anyone encountered this issue?

Could it be due to me leaving the laptop on for hours at a shot?

thanks for reading!

 

Those temps are perfectly normal, if those are load temps that is.

One post about this should be enough:

 

Yes, Those are gaming temps.

So now where do I go from here.. I am still having stuttering issues after 10-15 minutes of game play

Thanks

 

Check your system for instabilities, i.e. adware/malware... conflicting drivers, conflicting codecs, stuff like that.

 

Many have quoted that Setting CPU affinity on the DA:Origins .exe file ( the process ) to single CPU solves the memory leak.. gonna try that and post the outcome

 

Im having problems with my display driver crashing I have tried 10.5 and 10.8 both of which caused crashing during battery ue watching youtube videos. or anything of the like. I have windows 7 hp 64 bit. I on 10.5 right now. Anyone know how to resolve this issue

 

i've uploaded a vid of the issue on youtube..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESHcjV38FPY

pls help

 

you know what that is very" strange... do u have any friends/colleagues with same psu? try using another psu if the problem persist than its a hardware failure since its not even powered on... if its a hardware failure i think the best way is tu RMA it before the failure spread to other hardware due to power instability.

btw do that happens when u r not plugged?

 

Whoa, there must be some serious electromagnetic disturbance going on at your place, your sure your not sitting on some island?

But serious, this is very strange, do as hendrixing said and try out another PSU, also try to go to another power plug / building (to any place with another power circuit) and check out if the same problem happens there.

 

also how do I allow programs to become full screen, when my res is set to 1080p and the program runs in 1280x1024. It runs now with black bordering. I am using 10.8. I fixed it on other versions prior, but I cannot find the option to do so now.

 

GPU-68: Unable to set GPU Scaling option in ATI Catalyst? Control Center

 

I play DA:O same settings for HOURS without any problems. The 5870 tears that game to shreds, I don't know why you are getting stuttering, are you playing on battery?

 

I was just able to confirm that upgrading to the xx.xx.15 BIOS WILL make your WEI have a status of "New Hardware Found. Your WEI needs to be refreshed" every single time you restart your computer. Downgrading back to xx.xx.14 solved this problem.

 

Today my ethernet port stopped working, out of the blue
I was at location A, packed up as I always do, drove to location B and set my notebook up there. When i plugged in the ethernet cable nothing happened. I've tried several ethernet cables(that work on other machines) and none of them worked. I've tried it under Ubuntu(10.04) and Windows 7, didn't help.
The ethernet adapter is still recognized in both OSs but nothing happens when I plug a cable in.

Is this a known issue for the W860CU?

Also, I probably won't be able to fix this myself if it's a hardware failure. Does anyone know how they(kobaltcomputers in my case) will repair it? Does it need a new motherboard or can it just be repaired? Did anyone on NBR send their notebook back to kobalt for repairs, how long did you have to wait?(might be better of asking on the kobalt forums but I taught I'd check here first)

 

Tried that but as soon as I go back to native then run a program in a different res it still borders it. This shouldnt be this difficult anyway to do. ATI is failing as they move forward. I shouldnt have to work my way around an issue. Oh well it is what it is. Moving on

 

I've never had an issue like that and I've tried leaving mine on for at least 30 hours on three occassions.

It's easy to blame ATI but to be honest, I've never had an issue like that with my MR 5870 (10.6 or 10.8). My best guess is that you improperly uninstalled your graphic drivers and then reinstalled new ones. By the way, which program are you trying to run? If it's a game that I have, I'll try it on mine.

This isn't a known issue for the W860CU. Check device manager and see if there's anything wrong (conflict, unlisted hardware, etc.). Unfortunately, I'm not a customer of kobalt and have no experience with them hence no comment.

 

does anyone have any problems with the CPU fan? The fan starts off at low then turns off then turns back on at medium once the temp hits 50c, then back to low. This is really annoying when im surfing the web.

I wish ATI would of used powerplay, so the fan would be silent when i am browsing the web

Edit: erig007 helped me with that problem i had to go into power management settings go into system cooling policy and turn it on passive.

 

Interesting... I'll toss in my experience (which does not match yours unfortunately) with the black border which is only a minor annoyance. The laptop blows my old Dell XPS M1530 out of the water so I don't really mind.

I am very mobile and connect to different external monitors throughout the day. Whenever I get home and connect to my 24" (largest of the externals I connect to in size and resolution, surpassing my laptop native resolution 1600x900 to 1920x1080) I have that black border. All I have to do is open Catalyst Control Center - Advanced and then tell it to go into Basic mode and it fixes it instantly. This is slightly faster than going into the scaling slider and tapping it to recognize the new monitor.

 

will this work with our 8690?


Newegg.com - OCZ 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Laptop Memory Model OCZ3M13338GK

 

it should work

 

thanks. i thought so too just wanted to make sure

 

If you're hunting for good RAM, I suggest you buy this: Newegg.com - Kingston HyperX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 Laptop Memory Model KHX1333C7S3K2/4G if you're just looking for 4GB that is.

 

thanks kevin but im looking for 8gig

 

where can i buy w860cu fans???i leave in europe(greece).tnx!