*** Official Sager NP9380, NP9390 / Clevo P370SM, P370SM3, P375SM Owner's Lounge ***

ViTos, are you running in 3D? One user said that games would do that in 3D, with sli. But single card 3D was OK. Apparently the Vbios from Prema fixed the issue. There is a thread in the main Sager forum that talks about it.

 

No I wasn't running in 3D mode, I'm gonna test today with one GPU and with SLI but at 60hz

Can you send me the link to the forum, please?

 

This has all the vbios on it. You have to make 5 "quality posts" to download it
Prema's Mod BIOS / Latest stock BIOS

This is a thread to people getting flickering issues if you want to read it. Also this has the vbios is you cannot find it
Sager NP9380-S 120Hz SLI Issues. Fluttering scanlines/flickering.

hope this helps

 

Zyphant kindly posted the links I was talking about.

 

I don't, but I needed Prema's bios to even use SLI properly.

 

As for the user who was asking about 3D gaming, it's a real gem. I love it and do it quite a bit. Even multiplayer isn't really a problem, call of duty and battlefield play like dreams with it on, and some games (like Witcher 2) are just... so much prettier and lovely with 3D enabled. Not every game is going to work in 3D, and 3D does cut fps in half, but only if say... you are using 100% of the power the game will take. Like, Battlefield 3 will NOT use more than 70% of my video cards. PERIOD. So when I run it in 3D, despite it being a 3D-ready title, I get terrible frames unless I lower my settings. It's just that game being unoptimized, CPU-bound trash though. Crysis 2, however, barely impacts my performance with 3D on for some reason. I've noticed that a lot of games will not use 100% of the power you have with SLI, and will top out around say 70% or so of your power... but when using 3D, it pulls the extra power you have out of the cards assuming the game isn't limited in some other fashion, like how Battlefield 3 is limited by the CPU.

Another neat little tidbit I noticed is that if your game does not support SLI, but you try it in 3D, it WILL use your second card for your 3D experience and you get ZERO performance hit. At all. So it depends on the game and the situation. A single card, however, will likely not have the same experience. If you plan on getting this machine with a 120Hz screen/3D model and a single 780M, then go for it. The screen alone will be beautiful, I can attest to that. It feels so smooth when motion heavy games hit over 100 fps... it's like butter. It actually helps in games like call of duty too, enemies have less of a tendency to "duck out" of sight when in very close quarters; the extra displayed frames can simply show you where they're going and you don't see them vanish so easily. If you're getting it with a single 780M and the 120Hz screen, go for it, but I hope you plan to upgrade to SLI at a later date. It'll help depending on what you wanna play, especially if you like things at max settings ^_^.

 

Thank you for the info. I am getting mixed replies. some say that the 3d hurts your eyes after about an hour of gameplay, while others say that it is the best system ever. I just don't know that I would benefit from the 120hz screen. I don't really game that often. Usually it's battlefield 3 every once in a while. I tend to play Modern warfare 3 more often, then Black ops 2, but I don't think they are really that FPS intensive, because I never have any problems playing them in Ultra with detail turned all the way up. Of course, I am also playing that on a desktop with a Radeon HD 7770. I tend to want to stay with AMD because I am a computer hardware engineer and I have yet to see a NVidia card that can run CAD efficiently. The Benchmarks back that statement, but I don't put much stock in benchmarks. According to GPUboss.com when you compare the GTX 780M to the Radeon HD 8970M, the Radeon gets a higher score because it is a more rounded card. But, when you see the real world results, the 780M beats the HD 8970 in almost every game (FPS-wise) by 18-22%. So the 780M would be great if I were a hardcore gamer, but alas I am not, so I need a more rounded machine. That is why I am on here trying to get an idea of what "real life" experience's people have had with the 120hz screen and the 3D, because I don't want them to start out as a great idea ,and then, become novelty after a month or so. I know that was a little long winded to say, but now I hope you see why your experience with the machine is so valuable to me.

 

Remember you can overclock the standard display a little too if it's not all that important to you.

 

I completely understand. I wanted a LOT of information about 3D when I first wanted it back in 2011 with a 580M and a P170HM3. As for hurting your head, it doesn't do it more than a proper 3D movie would in cinemas. If you have problems with that, forget 3D. If you don't, then go for it. It is a VERY wonderful bonus for games IF the game supports it well. Some games have texture issues; like Crysis 1 and Warhead glitch out the water and clouds and it looks like crap and makes me want to play in 2D, even though you don't need to be staring at the clouds/water for a lot of the game. Other games like BF3/Crysis 2/Trine 2/Witcher 2/BF:BC2/Sleeping Dogs/Black Ops 1/Black Ops 2/Black Ops 1 & 2 zombies/etc run perfectly fine with them and it looks very natural, so I find it a really nice addition to how I enjoy my games.

In contrast, if you're a user who does not care for graphics very much, 3D will not be that beneficial to you. I don't really mind dropping anti-aliasing etc for some 3D performance boosts (which I have to do in BF3 sometimes... stupid CPU-bound game wanting hexacores at 5GHz just to use 100% of two 780Ms and shiz...), but if I have to say... go from ultra to medium for it, then I have a problem. Maybe ultra to high, if there's little graphical hindrance, sure, but you gotta decide on your own. I doubt ultra to medium is ever a huge necessity though, but you get my idea. If I can do 100% high but for 3D I gotta throw like two things to medium and leave the other 6 at high, maybe I'll do it. Won't kill me, you know?

Anyway, I hope this has been helpful. I test what I've got a little too damn much sometimes, but I hope it helps you make a better decision ^^.

On another note: nVidia cards are weak at OpenCL, which AMD is good at. nVidia cards' current gen's CUDA sucks. If your objective is autoCAD etc I can understand your want for an AMD card, but let's be honest. The CPU in here will rip through that like buttery smooth jam. Yes, I said buttery smooth jam. And the reason AMD is not offered with the 3D model is because AMD's 3D option is different to nVidia's and they don't have a laptop model, I believe. Also they aren't cross-compatible. Even if you had a 8970M with AMD's 3D, if you put a 780M in later, you'd need to reinstall the entire 3D system. And there is a system installed; there's a 3D infared emitter under the monitor, inbetween the laptop's top speakers. This is used to interface with the glasses, so it knows what to do with your games. Which means it's not really swappable with the cards.

Anything else I could shed some light on? XD. Also, if you get this machine, FLASH YOUR 780M WITH svl7 AND johnksss' MODIFIED BIOS BECAUSE HOLY MEOWMIX IT HELPS A LOT LIKE A LOT.

 

I am wanting to flash my GPU for a while, but I'm afraid I will screw it up, because I have never done such thing before.

 

It's really very easy. If you follow the flashing tutorial from techinferno, you'll be fine. All you need to do is use the tool provided to make your flash drive bootable, then drop the required nvflash and bios files into the flash drive.
Restart and boot from your flash drive, then type the commands (should be nvflash -4 -5 whateveryounamedyourbioshere.rom) or something then hit enter. Pretty much. Heck, you can even skip the saving of your old vBIOS in the step by using GPU-Z to take backups of the BIOS in windows before even trying to flash them.

 

WOW...That is the best answer I have received yet. I don't think you can shed anymore light on anything. That is exactly what I was looking for. I think you just made up my mind on what I should get. I want to put the specs up and see if you have any other suggestions...If you wouldn't mind?

Sager NP9380-S from Powernotebooks.com

120Hz Matte screen w/3D ~ i7-4700MQ ~ 16GB DDR3 1600Mhz ~ GTX 780M ~ 750 GB 7200RPM HDD ~ Intel 7260AC WLAN ~

I couldn't afford the SLI setup right now because I have a budget of $2000, but with this machine, I can always upgrade it later when I can afford it.

The other setup I was thinking of would be this:
Sager NP9380
60Hz FHD matte screen ~ i7-4700MQ ~ 16GB DDR3 1600MHz ~ Dual Radeon HD 8970M in Crossfire ~ 250GB Samsung Evo SSD ~ 750GB 7200 RPM HDD ~ Intel 7269AC WLAN ~

D2 Ultima, Thank you again for all the amazing information :thumbsup:

If anyone else on here wants to chime in on these setups, please feel free.

 

The only thing about the radeon cards is that you are going to have problems with them in CrossfireX, or so the trend has been. Also, please note, unless you are fullscreening your game, you will NOT experience crossfireX, and it will run on one GPU. Borderless windowed does not count either, it NEEDS to be fullscreen locked for both GPUs to work on it. In addition, you may experience a lot of stuttering with games, even at high frames. People claim the newer drivers fix this issue, but I do not know of this. Also, remember not every game likes multi-gpu set ups. The same downside can be said of the 780M SLI setup, but as I pointed out, there is a use for it with 3D, as if your game only works on 1 card, if you 3D it, it'll simply use the dormant card to render the second set of information, and you'll get absolutely 0 hit to performance. AMD won't give you that use you could use due to the lack of 3D.

Now I'm not trying to tell you *not* to buy AMD. I just want you to know everything you should know about it. Also, if you wish, you might want to check out Mythlogic for their P370SM and P370SM3 models; as their prices with that model (and that model alone, for reasons I have yet to figure out) are some of THE most competitive among all the US-priced resellers. Usually you spend more at Mythlogic and in return you get superb customer service and support post-purchase, but for this model they're amazing in every aspect .

Anyway, your objective is to learn more about what you want to get and how to get it. I can't decide for you based on my own preferences, because yours are different. Also, advice for if you get the 250GB SSD for your OS, remember to change your paging file over to your mechanical hard drive, and disable your hibernation file. With 16GB of RAM, that'll save you about 30GB of hard drive space. (again, 1st hand experience here)

 

One day, one day I'll reply without paragraphs. But that day is not today.

 

Hey, I like paragraphs. Thanks again for the great advice. (there ya go...no paragraphs)

 

It seems most people here went nvidia... I can get a crossfire system with ic thermal and upgraded to 1 TB. Does anyone know someone who has that setup, the dual 8970m s I mean? It makes more sense for me to get 2 8970ms than one 780, bang for buck. I just want to talk to someone who actually has this setup. One day I will have the money to burn, years from now, but not at this time...

 

Dual 8970Ms are rebranded 7970Ms with a 50MHz oc to their core if I remember correctly. Anyone with 7970M crossfireX setups will have the same experience. Also, don't get a 1TB 5400RPM.

 

anyone try the new ec yet?
[Sammelthread] Clevo P37xSMx SLI/CFX Gamer Notebook (2013)
strange, the file is ec 2 and version is old 1.00.02(latest is 1.00.05)
when flash it i get "different chip id........continue flash y/n?" and im afraid of bricking so aborted

 

I doubt that you will find many on here with AMD cards, especially with a crossfireX setup. I read this review ( Review One K73-3S (Clevo P370SM) Notebook - NotebookCheck.net Reviews ) by notebookcheck.com and they pretty much said what D2 Ultima said about the 7970M's being clocked higher. They suffer from a micro-stuttering issue at low frame rates in Crossfire. That was because of driver issues ( which AMD has always been lagging behind NVidia in that regards ), but that has been resolved with the newest driver releases since that review came out in August. It won't matter too much if you get them because none of the FPS get anywhere close to low (with the exception of Company of Heros's 2 in Ultra ).
To be honest with you, I am planning on getting a single GPU system because they are not as troublesome to operate, require less power ( because both Optimus and Enduro are turned off on this laptop ), I can always upgrade to Dual GPU's later IF I need to and lastly the number of games out there that actually support dual cards are so few that I couldn't justify the cost...FOR NOW! I think when the support for dual cards becomes more widespread and the cost to benefit ratio is a little more reasonable, I might upgrade. The beauty of this notebook is that it IS upgradeable and that alone is worth every penny.

By the way, D2 Ultima is right about the 5400RPM drive. It's worth the power knock to get the 7200 and lose the 250 gb of storage. I definitely noticed a load time difference between the two but that is just my opinion from personal experience.

I don't know that you can make too many wrong decisions with this laptop. It is so customizable that, as long as you have the base components, you can upgrade any part of it any time you want. I would say that if you are a gamer, go with NVidia (better driver support), but if you want more rounded system graphics go AMD. At the high end of video cards, I don't think it matters to much which you with. The worst case scenario is that you have to turn down the detail in games to high instead of ultra . I may be oversimplifying, but I hope that you get the gist of it.
One thing that I have noticed over that past 3 MONTHS of research I've been doing is, that I can research all I want, but that fact is I will never get my damn notebook delivered until I make a decision! With this notebooks upgradability, at least I can minimize making a bad decision.

Hope that helps.

 

Damn, paragraphs again!! ARGH!

 

Thanks for the info... Now a question about warranties.... Most electronic stuff I have bought breaks in the first year of it is going to fail... I've built three different machines over the years and one I built in 2003 still works fine... I am pretty handy and just assume I will be fine with a one year reseller warranty... Aren't most of these components a few years of warranty for RMA service? Yeah it would be a pain to remove a motherboard and to reinstall it but, I feel with proper documentation that I could do it. I've soldered my lg tone headphones that broke on each earbud and that was pretty easy.


I guess what I'm asking is in the mobile world, are manufactured components the same warranty wise as in desktop. I assume so and that warranties are for people who don't want to take apart their computers.

Again, thanks for the write up man

Also, I am definitely getting the 7200rpm hard drive... I will also order an ssd from a man amazon and keep my more demanding/most played games installed on it.

 

Warranties will apply the the system as a set piece of hardware and components you buy would have their own and you would need to keep the originals so you could return the system to the stock configuration and send it in if there was an issue.

 

I mean the warranties of the manufactured components of the notebook. Meaning, say I am out of the period of the reseller's warranty after a year. If my harddrive dies, can't I just do an RMA with the hard drive manufacturer?

 

Typically they will not cover the warranty since the computer manufacturer covers it. OEM parts can have a different warranty length then Retail parts.
I have heard of people getting parts fixed thouhg if the OEM warranty is still longer then the computer warranty is. You may run into issues when they ask for a receipt for that individual part though. In the end it will be up to the parts manufacturer.

 

I placed my order with Abe at Powernotebooks.com (who was very helpful and informative.) for the Sager NP9390-S.
NBR user wraven tracked XoticPC's start to finish time on here and I thought it would be helpful for others to see how the whole process works using PowerNotebooks.com. Keep in mind that this is a stock system with very few upgrades/alterations/embellishments. So, if you plan on skinning the system, or laser etching or custom paint, this is probably going to add a few days to the overall build time. I will update the post as new information comes in. These are the specs on the laptop build:
1 Sager NP9380 - GTX 780 - 3D Special - Gaming Laptop
17.3" Full HD (1920x1080) 120Hz 3D 72% NTSC Color Gamut Matte Display (Model LP173WF2 (TP)(B1)) w/ 1 pair nVIDIA 3D Glasses
30 Day "No Dead Pixel" Guarantee
nVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M 256bit w/4.0GB GDDR5
Intel Core i7-4700MQ (2.4~3.4GHz) w/6M L3 Cache - 4 Cores - 8 Threads
Sager Thermal Compound
16GB (2x8GB) DDR3/1600 Dual Channel Memory
750GB SATA II 3GB/s 7,200 RPM Hard Drive
RAID Disabled
6x Blu-Ray Reader/8x Super Multi Combo Drive
9-in-1 Memory Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/MS/MS Pro/MS Duo/SD/Mini‐SD/SDHC/SDXC)
Built-in Intel Wireless-AC 7260 802.11 ac/a/b/g/n + Bluetooth 4.0 (Dual Band)
8 Cell Smart Lithium-Ion Battery 89.21Wh
Full Range 330W Auto Switching AC Adapter
No Sager Logo
1-Year Parts and Shipping plus Lifetime Labor and 24/7 DOMESTIC Toll Free Support (Labor & Support paid by PNB)

So let's see what the process is like....shall we.

10/21/2013 - Placed order at 10:35am pst. and received confirmation of order specs at 10:36am pst
10/21/2013 - 11:12am Received call from Charlotte to confirm order and give instructions on how to pay with cash to expedite the processing. (which I requested) I also got a email with all specs and written instructions as well.
10/21/2013 - 1:01 pm. Made deposit for laptop in company account and received receipt of Deposit. At 1:23pm I called to confirm payment was received and confirmation was given.
10/21/2013 - 5:40 pm. Received email confirmation stating that, "Your order has been given to the SAGER Production Department and can usually ship within 5-7 business days." This is a fast start for PowerNotepooks.com. I want you to notice that only 4 hours passed from payment confirmation to order placement...WOW!

will update as soon as info becomes available.

 

Incorrect. The way warranties work in laptops is that whatever you purchase with the machine is covered by how many years for that laptop's warranty, excepting the power supply and battery (which are considered consumables). So each device's warranty is ONLY enforced by the manufacturer you bought it from, so 1 year means ONLY one year, regardless of whatever it is you do. If you buy a separate part somewhere, that part and that part's warranty alone is enforced. So if you buy a new part from say ebay or something, you aren't really getting any warranty there. You can swap out the parts in your machine, sure, but you won't get warranty on THAT part from your manufacturer, only on your original parts.

If you buy a new part from the reseller it has 1 year warranty by default, separate from the time you purchased your machine. If you send your machine to them, it can be adopted into the REMAINING time for your current warranty if they install it, but this varies by reseller. If your machine has a warranty replacement for anything, it adopts the remaining time. I.E. if you replace something after 2 years 10 months on a 3 year warranty, it only has 2 months remaining.

 

I have a dual 8970 setup and was pretty happy with until I had to RMA the laptop ...I did not notice any stuterring at all. 8970M are still the #2 video cards for 400 CDN$ less than dual 780M. I am not the only one with this setup and loved it until the RMA part...

 

I know they are great cards. That is why I left the review for him to read. Even in the review it states that they experienced micro stuttering at low frame rates. But the only game that was low enough was Company of Heros 2. I hope I didn't sound like I was blasting AMD. Both AMD and NVidia have their strong points. For what I do on my Desktop, AMD is still my favorite choice. You can't beat the cost benefit ratio.
I just bought one of these notebooks with the NVidia card in it, because I wanted to try it out, to see if it would handle CAD and video encoding like my AMD did before it was retired . With the speed of the CPU being what it is, I don't think it will be a problem. But don't get me wrong. If this NVidia card can't keep up with what I need it for, it's gone, and I WILL end up getting the AMD.

 

how long did it run before you had to RMA it?

 

So long as your CAD does not need 64bit FPU performance the nvidia will be good.

 

Finished a quick review of Carbon Edge! Check it out.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...ravens-brief-review-np9380-s.html#post9418664

 

I had it (9380) for a big month and a half without any problems but after that ,,, I am still waiting for it to come back. If I had not passed the 30 days I would for sure have ask for refund ...

 

Ahh, yea, you had the 8970m Crossfire problems and dead video card? I feel your pain, been there and done that. Hopefully it's more stable once it's returned to you.

 

About to order a crossfire system.... That's not what I wanted to hear... Question is, can't I just take the card out and send it and keep using my machine? Makes no sense to miss it for a month...

 

You can only do that if you keep at least one card in there because Enduro and SLI are disabled on this machine. So you would have to have some kind of video card running. I would imagine that the reseller you bought it from would have to agree to it also. That would be a good question ask for the reseller that you want to buy it from. Or, you could just email Sager directly and ask them, since I believe the warranty goes through them anyway.

 

Hey folks. I've been a lurker for a while but finally decided to order an NP9380-S, so I thought I'd make an account and interact in this thread a bit. I ended up purchasing it through xoticpc. Didn't configure it with any fancy cosmetic tweaks, but I threw my wallet to the wind and went all out with the specs. 4930MX, SLI 780M's, 120Hz screen, and I have some of my own SSD's I'll be throwing in it. I paid for the Rush Build option and quick shipping, so hopefully I'll be able to get my hands on it sometime next week. Can't wait!

 

Yeah I am unluncky I guess, I have read similar problems with ATI and Nvidia cards on other machines. Boerderline/Faulty components still exists on both sides. For the removing of the card, my reseller was ok with it but since i live near them I decided to give them the laptop so they could try on their own. Because a laptop video card is not like a PC (need to add thermal paste on chip). They tried to fix it without succes so they send it back to Sager for RMA. I dont know what they tried but I trust them. Maybe I have a Motherboard problem. Oh well...Will see later ...

Luckyly I took the two way shipping option since Sager ask you to pay for the shipping to send the laptop and the shipping need to be insured for the value of the machine which is not cheap. I know warranty's are extra on the pricing but those machines are not covered by a huge service areas for tech support like Dell and a few others. No one will come to your house to attemp to fix the machine. Dont hesitate to take this option

I just hope I wont have to ship it after I receive it again . For now I just use my old crappy XPS but it still manage me to play a little on LOW/Medium but the games on the 9380 was so much better looking and enjoyable

 

Congrats on the order and making your first post! Once you get it any feedback is always appreciated.

 

Welcome. You will have to let us know how you like the machine when you get it. I personally would like to know how that i7-4930MX performs.

 

Unless you OC it (most likely using a dual PSU option) the 4930MX will perform just like the 4900MQ. The 4800MQ will perform SLIGHTLY worse in very few instances than the two higher end ones due to only 6MB L3 cache whereas the others have 8MB. But that's really it. I wish my CPU ran as cool as my video cards did so I could throttlestop it at a decent frequency and let it be used up.

 

In fact, I really want to find out. What are you guys' average CPU temperatures? I know my room is quite hot usually (34-36 degrees celcius during the day) but even at night with 28 degrees celcius or so my CPU can easily hit 90 degrees with fans on max while playing say... Crysis 2, or a similar temp with BF:BC2. Don't even get me started with BF4's beta, that thing's LOW temperatures were about 93-94 degrees celcius and would hit up to 98 degrees celcius during the day at said 34-36 degrees celcius of ambient temps while playing BF4.

Anyone else seeing a similar trend? Or should I attempt to buy some IC Diamond and repaste my CPU?
Please note that with SLI enabled and running at 950/6000 clocks on each 780M (up from 850/5000 with svl7 and johnksss' bios) I have *NEVER* seen the cards, in any condition, crack 86 degrees celcius. I really believe I could OC my cards more with a safe thermal level if I overvolted them; I simply don't have any games that require a boost in performance. So it actually really really amazes me that my CPU gets that hot.

Also, I listed my MAX temps with my video cards. Usually they don't even crack 80 degrees even in the daytime. Slave is usually 4-6 degrees cooler than master. The highest temp I have for that card is 82 degrees celcius, and that's an all-time high I got while playing Crysis 2 in 3D in the middle of the day with everything set to ultra.

 

My ambient room temperature is about 26c and my 4900mq never gets above 80c. It usually hovers around 72-76c on load.

 

Try to repaste CPU. 95*c+ temps are very dangerous. It's not normal anyway.

Does anyone tried to OC i7 4900mq to ~~4GHz on all four cores? If yes, can you share with some info about temps / 3DMark11 Score?

 

For what it's worth, I ended up ditching the 4930MX for the 4900MQ at the last moment. As much as I wanted it, I decided to use the extra cash I saved to upgrade some of my other components. Blu-Ray reader to Blu-Ray writer, new SSD, etc.

 

Hi guys!! is anyone having problems with the catalyst 13.11v1 ??

When i try to install it CCC just don't appear, only drivers and hdmi

Any workaround to solve this issue?!?!

 

I think you made a good choice switching to the 4900mq, and using the money for other upgrades. The price for performance of the 4930mq takes a big jump, in the wrong way.

 

Good call on the cpu. The ssd will do more for speeding up the overall feel of the system than the 4930MX would. I don't think there is really anything out there that needs that much speed. (in regards to software) I think the 4930MX is more for people who have to have the latest and greatest of everything. That is why I wanted to find out about the CPU when you got it. I don't know anyone who owns one yet and was curious about it.

 

That is a good question, is there anyone on here that owns the 4930MX?
If so, how is it running for you?
I'm curious because I have a co-worker who is one of those people who has to have the latest model of everything. You can read benchmarks till your eyes bleed, but in my opinion, they don't tell you much. I would love to tell him how the "REAL WORLD" feel of the chip is.

 

My 4800MQ @ 3.9GHz never runs hotter than 78C (under load). My GPU also never runs hotter than 85C. Ultima, you should definitely repaste. Those CPU temps are outright insane and way too high!

 

Sup, again guys... man Windows 8.1 is only bringing problems for me... i have this weird driver that don't install.

Tried various drivers etc etc etc... but nothing works. Does anyone knows about this??

ACPI\PNPC000\1

It's the air plane mode (or something), and jesus i just disabled it but still is there someone with the same problem?