**OFFICIAL W860CU/NP8690 Owners Lounge**

got it off xoticpc, this is the newest 8690 model.

1x Sager NP8690-S1 (Built on Clevo W860CU) Custom Gaming Laptop
- Display: 15.6” FHD 16:9 LED Backlit Wide screen (1920x1080) Super Clear Glare Type Screen
- Dead Pixel Warranty: Standard Dead Pixel Policy
- Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-740QM, 1.73-2.93GHz, (45nm, 6MB L3 cache)
- Thermal Compound: - IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU
- Graphics Video Card: nVidia GeForce GTX 470M 1,536MB PCI-Express GDDR5 DX11
- External Display Video Adapters: No Video Adapter
- Ram: ~ 8,192MB DDR3 1333MHz Dual Channel Memory (2 SODIMMS) (Requires 64-Bit to utilize Full 4GB)
- Exterior Finish: Standard Finish
- Optical Drive: ~ 6X Blue-Ray Read/8X DVDRW Super Multi Combo Drive-
- Primary Hard Drive: ~ 500GB 7200RPM (Serial-ATA II 300 - 16MB Cache)-
- Memory Card Reader: Internal 7-in-1 Card Reader (MS/MS Pro/MS Duo/MS Pro Duo/SD/Mini-SD/MMC/RS)
- Bluetooth: Internal Bluetooth + EDR
- Wireless Network: Intel® Ultimate-N 6300 - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module
- Camera: Built in 2.0 Megapixel Camera
- Sound Card: Sound Blaster Compatible 3D Audio - Included
- Case: Basic Black Business Case - Included
- Battery: 11.1V Smart Li-Polymer battery pack 3800mAh, 42.18Wh
- Car Adapter: No Car Adapter
- Fingerprint Reader: Integrated Fingerprint Reader

 

Should've waited a few months for those little upgrades on the base model.

 

What upgrades are we talking about?

 

1080 resolution as the base instead of an upgrade. i5 460M being the base CPU rather than the i5 450M. 7200RPM as the base HDD rather than a 5000RPM HDD.

I bought mine in August 2010 and most of those options were upgrades which would've added about $200 more to the laptop. Now they're the base options for the same price I paid for my base model.

 

@sagars24: dude when did you made you order and how long did it take until it was in phase 4 ?

@ChronoBodi: dude i ordered the EXACT same as you ^_^ at which phase you laptop is right now ?

 

I ordered mine on Last friday afternoon and it shipped on tuesday evening. I am in no rush to get it so I just went with the ground shipping; will be here on Monday.

 

You know how it goes with these things, I havent even recd mine and I know I should have waited few more weeks and then few more weeks and then couple more years after those few weeks and gotten the latest stuf... wait... no... i should wait 10 more years... Oh god! this waiting and not buying is driving me crazy! I hate computers

 

Yeah I know, that's the damn truth!

 

WOW dude, do you mean last friday like 11/12/2010 ?? and it was shipped by 11/16/2010 ?? its 4 days and sat and sun is in it so its like your laptop as assembled by 2 DAYS ??? please correct me in im wrong but im going crazy here since mine is taking now a week and still counting and there is delay by sager for 12-15 days that im not even sure if im included in it or not, and i really need to get that laptop ASAP T_T

 

Just a note, it is only the ones that order the 470M video card in their systems that have a delay. The 460M's are shipping regularly...
__

 

Yeah dude..... mine is with 460m, may be that explains why mine was shipped. I have an exam coming up so I am not even going to install the OS on it for 10 more days after I get it! Its going to be so hard to not play with it!

 

hey guys , any recommedations for a good NP8690's backpack?

 

a targus backpack like the Targus 17” Spruce EcoSmart™ Backpack
I bought a similar one 4 years ago, have been using it nearly everyday since (even for grocery) and it's still like new
I'm pretty amazed by its build quality

what I like:
best build quality ever
look
rain cover
compartments
features
best comfort ever

what I dislike:
a little bit heavy
quite roomy for the np8690

mine is a mix of the compartments of the Targus 15.4” Groove Laptop and look and size of the Targus 17” Spruce EcoSmart™ Backpack

edit: I was able to easily fit my last laptop a 18.4'' into this 17'' so I guess the Targus 15.6” Spruce EcoSmart™ Backpack could be enough for the np8690

 

GOT IT!

The touchpad rattles a bit in its spot, but everything else looks perfect and really good build quality. Not sure what to do about the tocuh pad though.

 

Does any one know if you can flash a mobility radeon bios with power play on the gpu?

 

Got my 8690! Works well, occasionally I hear a very high-pitched noise that goes off and on occasionally... not too drastic but can be annoying if I really listen for it.

On another note, I've tried searching but cannot find a program recommendation for monitoring/adjusting temps/fan speeds. Any suggestions?

 

I would like to know if the answer to the second question too. Plus, is there a way to change the three default shortcut keys?

 

Just took the plunge. Been lurking these forums like nuts over the past week and building/rebuilding systems online to figure out exactly what I wanted. Came online tonight and I noticed there was a sale going on, ~$200 discount from powernotebook and xoticpc, also the cost to upgrade to a 470m went from dropped $95. Went with powernotebook.

Here's what I got:

$2097 before shipping with an extra year parts and labor. This will be my form of entertainment overseas next year, so I'm hoping I'm happy with it. Thanks for all your posts guys, all the information on this site has been extremely helpful!

 

if the high pitched noise correlates to your usage, it could well be the fans turning off and on

 

Will the high-pitched noise be more loud when running the notebook on battery?


For monitoring temps there are many options - HWMonitor, Everest, HWinfo32 (the later can also control the fans on some systems)

 

The new x.x.18 BIOS for the W860CU fixed the WEI problem of not displaying correctly after every restart. FYI.

 

Thanks for the suggestions.

I can pretty much confirm that the intermittent/occasional high-pitched beeping is almost certainly coming from the hard drive (I use the 500GB hybrid HDD/SSD drive). If I put my ear close enough to the area where the HD is located, I can hear a distinct tone being generated on and off very quickly, and it seems to correlate with the HD activity LED (though not always spot-on). The weird thing is that it doesn't always beep like in a game or something; seems to happen most when just using Windows.

That said, I'll have to email Donald at PNB and see if he's ever heard of this issue... it may just be a known side effect of the drive. It doesn't seem to me like the kind of error that can cause damage like misaligned fans or whatever, it's just really annoying. I've googled around and it seems other 8690 owners have experienced the same thing, but haven't found any solid explanations or fixes. Supposedly it is high-pitched enough that some people can't hear it (not that my hearing is super stellar or anything!).

 

@Lightloch and all those whose systems are affected by the high pitched sound,

Does the sound pattern change when switching to and from the battery mode?

 

@GIJared - nice build, great price!

Just did a test, and from what I can tell it does not seem to be much affected either way. As of this moment tho the beeping isn't loud at all. Will probably start up again sometime at random.

 

Popular laptop, this is

 

yep its a popular one
btw thisisalamp, i noticed in your sig that you are using the NZXT CryoLX, im kind of a cheapo yet i dont accept anything below quality so i need to ask you about your opinion in this cooler ?? is it good for gaming like for hours ?? and if you know the zalman nc3000 cooler which one would you recommend ?? oh one last thing the guys at xoticpc has the Bytecc aluminum notebook cooler which i could get 50% discount, but yet i need a good one and also small one that could fit in the targus 15 inch with the notebook thats why im leaning towards the NZXT cooler, thats why i need a pro's opinions, this isn't directed to thisisalamp only but to anyone with useful info about this.
thanks in advance guys

 

Please Help.

YouTube - NP8680 / CLEVO 860CU / PRO-STAR

Here is a video of how my touch pad behaves, you can clearly hear the rattling sound it makes when I tap on it, and also you can see the gap it creates when I try to tap on it.

I contacted pro-star and they said that clevo 860 is made like this. Can someone of you please confirm. Here is his reponse.

"that tap....i see what you're saying. they are all liked that. that is to make people feel they tap something."

I have never seen this on any laptop! Please help!

 

saw the video. my 8690 doesnt produce that gap when i tap it.

 

if you think it comes from you momentus xt, it could be the drive spinning up and down. this is a known issue of the xt in older firmware, and is still present in some units even with the newer firmware. first, make sure you have the newest fw23. if not update accordingly.
next keep your laptop in high performance mode to keep it from spinning down.

 

sorry to hear about that, it seem to me that its likely that they forgot to tight a screw or even did not put it in there, buts it looks like and seems like it has something wrong, how come they say this is how its made !!!
trying contacting them again and if you didnt show them the video let them see it and see what will they reply, RMA
good luck buddy and sorry to hear that since yours is still new

 

Thanks for your reply, it was really hard for me to beleive "Thats how they are made". That was their comment after they saw the video. I am going to push back and get it taken care of, and like you said its new and I can get 100% of my money back if they dont take care of this minor error.

Anyways, I know you are desperately waiting for yours and let me tell you, its AWESOME! Its so powerful, it lirealy just took 15 mins to instal windows 7 and I tried ship simulator extreme demo on FULL settings (that the only game I had) and it worked flawless.

Screen quality - Best I have ever seen. Tried some 1080p movies.
Battery Life - Worst i have ever seen (wasnt expecting any better)

I also notice a 33% increase in my internet speed. I have a N router and my old laptop did not have a N card. I use to get 1MB download rate, I have been getting 1.4 - 1.7 on this machine.

I wish more application were proagramed to utilize all the threads, it actually makes me upset when I run something and I see the turbo boost kick in.
Temps:
Max CPU w/o Turbo: 65-69
Max CPU Single Thread w/ Turbo: 69-73
Max GPU: 50-60 (Surprised, was expecting higher)
Max HDD: 40-43

My apartment is REALLY quiet and it bothers me when the Fan is chaning speeds all the time (when speakers are not being utilized), however the slient mode works really well and keeps the fan at a steady speed. The machine runs cooler even with the lower fan speed because turbo boost is disabled in silent mode.

 

I bought the CryoLX because of the triple fan placements that seems to be positioned at the right places with the NP8690's GPU and CPU fan intakes. It cools it well, very well infact; a drop of about ~10C at average when playing and idling. But i live in a hot country (Australia), ambient temps are higher, and my temp drops vary alot. I game alot, so this cooler is good for me.

But the Cryo isn't what you call...mobile. It's very heavy because it's all aluminium constructed. I only bring it around when I have LAN parties, as the NP8690 is capable of cooling itself pretty well. You can fold it though, to fit in a backpack...but I'm pretty sure that it'll weight like some 100kg dumbells haha.

If you're looking for a cooler, find something that has fans directed at the back (intakes) rather than the bottom of the NP8690's palmrests. The NC3000, visually, looks like it cools around the middle area of the laptop.

But if you have money to spare or just want to look beasty check out this:
YouTube - CM Storm Cooler Master SF-19 Gaming Laptop Cooler Review

 

Can anyone please help me? I really can't see the temp of my HDD under HWMonitor Pro. I already tried reformatting and all but why can't I see it listed under the devices in HWMonitor Pro? I was seeing it before, I don't know what happened now. Anyone has an idea?

 

Interesting, do you have a link to download the firmware and/or instructions on how to do so? Thanks for the info.

EDIT: Found the site and ran a F/W version checker; I have the latest drive with latest FW already installed. Funny though it hasn't really beeped loudly since I first posted about the problem.

 

THANK YOU for checking! Will def. push back and get it fixed.

Is the momentus XT making a difference?

 

Anybody? 10char

 

WOW DUDE !!!! 50-60 ???!!!! really awesome
i was sure that the gpu would be standing on the doorsteps of 80's, im truly suprised , i guess that what the IC diamond effect does
and damit i cont even sleep sometimes now adays because of the waiting and now you just made sure that no sleeping will happen until this beast arrive
and i was really wondering about he screen quality since its the only thing that you cant know from videos or reviews and you put me one relief in here (i bought shrek: the whole story blue-day) and was just keeping it to watch it on this screen , oh btw im living in the droms of my university so my room mate is a freakin heavy rock fan so i guess the sound is not a problem at allll
again buddy sorry to hear about that, and you should beat the hell out of the fool whose telling you thats how its made, we are paying a premium price for this !!! we dont want you to play games with us, we want it clear !!!, btw i heard the prostar guys were good ones ??

 

thats good. maybe you inadvertently set the power settings to high performance or changed the disk setting never to power down?
well whatever it is the good thing is its gone

 

Re the XT

it really depends on your usage patterns. last month when i was using relatively few programs like my video editor, photoshop and chrome and 1 game i could feel the speed difference for sure. this month, when ive been playing more games the speed difference is less pronounced. but my boot time are definitely faster. i get 20-24 secs with bootimer and thats with 55 processes running at startup.

 

LOL, thats just a showoff cooler xDDD, oh i live in dubai (at least for now xDD) and the temp here reach 50's (thats not the GPU temp xDD) so as much as i can reduce i will do, but your comment about the fans that seems to be positioned at the right places with the NP8690's GPU and CPU fan intakes really made it the number 1 on my list for now, as to the heavniess i was just thinking about the size since i dont want to take two bags (that will make me looks like a nerd, and i already wear the goggles xDD) but i wont be moving around with it a lot sooo i guess bye bye zalman, come inside cryo
thanks a lot thisislamp for the info and truly appreciated

 

I guess I have to make a new thread regarding the HDD temps, no one here seems to know about the issue.

 

hey kevindd992002
sorry i dont know how to help you since i never used one of those hdd temp monitors, but it would be better if you made a seperate thread about it since not most user come to the 8690 lounge and your problem might be solved by users who dont use the 8690, also did you try another software to monitor the temp ??

 

Thats what I hear. On a weekly basis I will just be using windows and browser, weekends might add a few games. But it definately sounds like a great investment. I just ordered one from Newegg now. 500GB for $99. We will find out on monday

Thanks for your reply.

 

Yeah, I hear you, Its hard for me wait around for things after i order them too. I dont think you need to worry about the screen quality at all. That is actually one of the big factors that made me get the 860 vs. G53. If you like gaming get the logitech G500. Newegg has it on sale for $35.

About those GPU temps, I am really surprised too, I have tired a few other benchmarks now and it always comes in under the CPU. On my last gaming laptop (A8JS) GPU was easily 15-30 above CPU. I cant wait to try COD-BO and Bad Company 2.
I dint get the IC diamond though, sorry to burst your bubble but that dosent make a big difference and its a waste of money. You look at videos posted by BTO Tech and they will tell you the same. I am not saying thermal compund is not imp. But the difference over the Clevo OEM vs. Ic diamond is zero, or any other "premium" thermal paste for that matter.

Pro-Star has definately been very responsive and I think there has been a mis communication about the problem, I now feel they think I was talking about the left click button. Will try to talk to them today or monday. And you are right, this is a pretty big purchase for me too and I sure as hell what it to be perfect

When are you getting your shippment? Do you have tracking number yet?

 

i think this drive will work well for your usage style.
be sure to check this thread for some optimizations on the xt:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...e-momentus-xt-hybrid-hdd-w-built-4gb-ssd.html

 

as of now i dont know when i will recieve it but it will be within 7 working days, and still didn't receive the tracking number yet T_T, i dont know WTH is wrong with them, i tried to call them but the number is not working and tried to email service at xoticpc dot com and yet no respond and that was 2 days ago, i understand its thanksgiving and they might be out but what the hell is 24/7 mean then !!! so still waiting for the tracking or respond from them but at least it got marked sent in the site so as long as it walking to me i dont mind to wait a bit to know where is it atm ^_^
oh btw my friend bought me CoD:MW and i was thinking that i should finish it first before trying the new one but just to be safe i bought the new one too xDD with more than dozen games )))

 

Have anyone of you guys tried the new 860 Bios? 1.8?

It can be directly downloaded from the Clevo Website, let me know if you need a link. What brand splash screen does it show during power on?

 

don't want to flash any bios coz haven't seen any problems except Nvidia driver. I'm just curious about 260.99 , they're not gonna fix it ,aren't they? Has anyone tried it with 460m?(pls give some thoughts , bendmark score , results compared to the newest one from Sager). Also If you've found a way to make it work , pls help me and other people

 

Give 262.99 WHQL a spin. It's a very stable set for me.

 

So do you also have 460m?