*** Official Clevo x7200 and Sager NP7280 owners lounge ***

Good man Torment78

 

I wouldn't say that. I've tested both in different scenarios (gaming, file transfer, live video steaming, distances, etc) and came to conclusion that while Intel wins at distances (50+ meters away from access points) the Killer is much better for gaming and live video streaming. I'm sure you can do some tweaking to maximize the 6300's potential but out of the box Killer provides a far more stable connection, greatly reducing lags and average ping in online games. Most of the advantage stems from the Killer Network Manager which acts as a all in one firewall and connection optimizer.

 

Been reading up on this model and considering it over the 8170. Just a couple quick questions if I may.
i7 960, 6 gigs ram, 2x 485m, 1 HDD (possibly add an SSD in the future). Going to need the second PSU? Hesitant after reading http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...-7280-clevo-x7200-power-supply-issues-58.html .
SLI: Does it really boost performance or is it generally not noticeable for gaming?
Thanks.

 

Yes, you'll want the second PSU if you want anything past a moderate CPU and GPU overclock. For me, a single PSU trips after 5-10 minutes of gaming/benching anytime the OC is >3.5ghz CPU and 700mhz/1350mhz GPUs. If you keep it stock or with a slight OC a single PSU should be fine, but who wants to do that with a beast like this ? I'd reckon even with the new 580s you're close to pushing the limit with a single PSU and high OC.

 

Second that! Any configuration w/ CrossFire or SLI you should definitely spring for the second PSU and PSU adapter.

 

We've seen some get away with one PSU with the lower GPUs (the 460s or 560s), but when you run the 485m in SLI you will definitely want that second adapter.

 

Even if you don't overclock anything? I just purchased the 7280 but I don't plan to overclock it. It will mainly just be used for gaming. Now I'm worried that I didn't get the second PSU...

 

I had the 6970m CF and now GTX 485m SLI, I7-970 and overclocked both... so far I didn´t need a second PSU...

 

Whew, that's good to hear. Thanks

 

If you don't overclock anything, a single PSU should be fine with any of the GPU configs.

My x7200 can run all day with a single PSU sans OC.

 

I'd have to go back and check (but too lazy), but for old time posters of this forum, was Speedy **only** tripping the PSU safety circuitry (effectively switching it off) when OC'ed?

Maybe it only occurred when OC'ing the GPU along with the i-980X (or now i-990X)??

Also, does anyone know if the new GTX580m is more or less power hungry than its predecessors?

 

I have tripped the PSU a few times with 980X and 480M SLI. No overclocking. It has not happened for a long time but it has happened in the past. The PSU trip happened during gaming (Battlefield BC2 a few times, dragon age II).

 

480m is easily the worst card offered though when talking about power consumption

the 470, 485, and 580 should all be better about power use

 

I know. I am trying to wait until I have had the machine for a year before I upgrade the video cards.

 

Any new x7200 bios news? Come on sager

 

Still waiting for the update. Hopefully before the end of the day... tomorrow. Sorry.

 

A quick question regarding BIOS's... Maybe it was posted here or perhaps in another forum. But I'll post the question anyway.

Which BIOS is safe (won't brick the BIOS chip) to upgrade? (Sager or Clevo). If you have a CLEVO x7200, should you avoid the Sager based BIOSs? Can you flash to a Sager BIOS that was a little newer, and then to a CLEVO BIOS (newer yet), and finally back to a Sager BIOS (the one scheduled for today) without bricking your machine?

What about if you have a Sager NP7280? Can you switch between these branded BIOSs w/ out worry?

Thanks.

 

I have used both BIOS's at one time or aneother, both Sager and Clevo. I have not, and will not, use the user mod'd ones.

 

So, made a modification to my system, pretty happy now. I removed my dvd player and now have a external one. In its place I have a WD Scorpio black 750GB (I used mountings and such from Xotic), and my boot drive is now a 256GB SSD

So I still have my raid5 + now get to boot off my SSD.

 

So either BIOS probably works fine on an NP7280. Now to find out if the same is true for the x7200.

 

Thanks to babyhemi, I now have latest sager bios for np7280, bottom page of this very usefull thread

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/574822-x7200-bios-drivers.html

 

just got my new bios via email from sager but my net is so slow here at work i cant even upload it to day so kizwan can have a look but i will on thoursday when i get home

 

Regarding this:

•Clevo x7200 - BIOS 1.00.12 - July 8, 2011 (Update RAID ROM to 10.5.0.1034)

on that liink, any thing special needed to install it ?

 

Oh boy, sager one outdated already??

 

I just want it for the updated RAID ROM .....

 

Not that I know of. It should follow pretty much the same guidelines as the other CLEVO BIOS. However, I don't think it contains an update to the KBC/EC portion. Since I have no idea if that is related to the front portion, my suggestion would be to make sure you are first at the 1.00.11 / 1.00.07 (KBC/EC) revision and then flash to 1.00.12.

 

It was outdated 3 days before Babyhemi was able to get something. Although as you noted in the post, it is the latest BIOS from Sager.

 

Why doesnt Clevo's bios work with XTU? Overclocking was part of their advertising for x7200 wasn't it, oh well, I wait for sagers version

 

I'm not certain what in the CLEVO BIOS causes problems with XTU. In regards to OC'ing, I don't think I've ever seen any materials on behalf of CLEVO regarding any kind of CPU overclocking.

 

Look at this page, under key features, their OC statement is clear, that to me is saying it can OC cpu, gpu, yet you cant do it with their bios to the cpu via xtu

CLEVO - Products

 

Any special instructions for flashing that BIOS ? I assume boot to DOS and just run that batch. I know, been a while for me and I just got off from a 14hr work shift.....

 

Dunno. Didn't have a flash drive handy, and Nero's boot image doesn't find the optical drive. Can't flash the BIOS here at work.

Will try later tonight. Going to do 1.00.11/1.00.7 1st and then 1.00.12 later.

Torment, do you have the link handy to your instructions on creating a boot flash drive and flashing the BIOS? If not, I'll start digging in the forum, as I know you've written one.

 

great! both my 580m sli kit and sanyo capacitor arrived and just waiting this bios for duel oc!!!

btw clevo is just an odm company......i think they normally provide none oc bios, but resellers can request a oc unlocked bios

 

Anyone knows if hyperx 1866 will work on sager np7282??? Or only hyperx 1600???

 

Modded SAGER BIOS (.11): Clevo x7200 SagerBIOS_728BV111S MOD.rar

Credits to Kizwan

 

Found my win98/dos boot usb files and flashed. I used the same order you did above, all went well. I did it more for the new raid rom than anything.... I do wish there was a change log though.

 

its here ill put in a link

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/564407-x7200-benchmark-thread-10.html#post7566412

 

All it says is "Over-clocking." Pretty vague.

FWIW, I wasn't expecting much in regards to OC'ing with XTU as only the Sager vendors offer this option. None of the CLEVO resellers I came across even mentioned XTU for OC'ing purposes.

So, while I agree what we have for OC'ing directly from CLEVO is not much, OC is possible for the enthusiast who doesn't mind tinkering with other tools. For example, I wish the BIOS was unlocked rather than having someone bother Kizwan all the time.

 

So you did it again...
Can´t wait to see some Benches...

 

@wwoods & torment,

It took longer for me to figure out I needed to have USB Legacy *Enabled* in the BIOS to create a bootable USB flash drive than it did to flash to 1.00.11 and then update to 1.00.12.

However, it is all done now, and seems to be running just fine.

I'm a bit behind "driver-wise" as there have been some new releases for RAID, Ethernet, Audio, etc. Off to drive update land.

 

Been running since this morning.

About the only difference I can notice is the case fans seem to be running a bit more than normal.

The other oddity, I updated the Intel Centrino 6300 driver, and my IM keeps losing the connection. Don't know if the there is a problem on the server end, or if it is related to the new driver.

 

This is probably a stupid question, but I'll ask it anyway. Do you have to use two identical PSUs if you go the dual PSU route? Basically I want to know if I can use the one it comes with, as well as a smaller one. Having two of those beasts will just take up too much room and seems like overkill.

 

MY POST IS JUST A GUESS!!!

You just don't use two PSUs, there is also a "Y-connector" power converter involved. I don't know its electrical rating, but most likely it is expecting two of the exact same types of power supplies of an x7200/NP7280.

Perhaps someone w/ the converter box can examine it for any markings.

 

Clevo and Sager does not recommend this. Others have asked this. What you are saying may or may not work... it may be risky.

 

Looks like Sager no longer lists the 485 as back ordered. Hopefully my 7280 ships soon...

 

Does anyone knows if the kingston hyperX 1866hz will work on np7280??? And wich is the diferece between np7280 and 7282???

 

Anyone noticed anything funny with the new RST drivers ? I had 3 reported disk failures with the new drivers, the disks were fine, no data loss, but I rolled them back and everything has been fine...odd.

 

Upgraded to the Intel RST 10.6.0.1002 drivers along with the BIOS update on the Momentus XTs in RAID-1 from that post. No oddities to report in my configuration.

While on those newer drivers, were you seeing the same behavior you had a while back (with the XTs), or did this look different w/ the Scorps?

 

This was definately different behavior, the RST would report a drive bad (red) but I could still access it, was running fine etc......this happened several times.......I would see red alert, I would reboot, all was fine, but was still showing red.

I even went as far as to pop in a gparted CD and test the SMART of the drives, there fine. But, I have changed my config a bit also, I pulled the DVD player out (have one external now) and am running a boot drive of a 256G SSD and 3 Scorps in raid5.

After about the 4th fasle alert, I said screw this and rolled back the driver and its been fine. I also have the new BIOS so...donno

 

What are you guys carrying this beast around in?