*** Official X8100 (Sager 8120) Owners Thread ***

Is there another Sager/Clevo that has hdmi in? I really can't find one

 

There are no current Sager models which have an HDMI in, the last one was the NP8120 which is no longer available. You can try a USB TV tuner with an Input on it.

 

Can you place two 6970 in this?
And where to get two.

 

I got mine own now.

 

Anyone can upload the VBIOS 6990M , master and slave ?

(I want to Upgrade my Crossfire 5870 by Crossfire 6990M in my M17x R2 , but it's necessary to have this VBIOS for compatibility)

 

Hi guys,

I have a x8100 with one 5870m. I want to buy another 5870m to upgrade my laptop.
where can i download slave bios for 5870m ?

Can i upgrate x8100 to 2x6970m?

thanks

 

I am trying to put a 560m 3.0 on this laptop. would it need a bios flash or will it work just fine?

 

What are the upgrade options for this laptop?
CPU : Am I Stuck with only clerkfield cpus?
MOBO : Could I change out the mothboard? The new models still look like the same case.
RAM : 8GB The Max?
DVD : Can I upgrade to Blu Ray? Can I use as HDD Bay?
HDD : RAID 0+1?
VIDEO : How easy would it be to upgrade to 6990M or Switch to Nvidia graphics?
Network : Can I upgrade to killer N nic?
PSU : Any aftermarket power supply for this laptop with active cooling?
Cooling: I'm use to artic Silver (desktop) what with this IC Diamond? Any Suggest Coolers or is a homemade Idea thing.(Have a couple.)

TV mini pci where can I purchase one?

I'm currently having trouble with the crossfire. I just can't figure out if truely working.

Also How do you get the ps3 to work with gamemate media player.

(SOmepeople if see this thread/post I'm not ungrateful for the laptop. I Just curious for future-proof or if I run to issue later down the road I get right into the information.

Thank you all in advance.

 

I could answer some of your questions if it helps.

According to the specs you would be stuck with the CPUs offered for that mainboard. I can't tell you if you can upgrade your mainboard but I would lean towards telling you that you can not. It may look the same externally or similar but internally it could be a whole different beast.

You are limited to 8GB of RAM, and honestly if you aren't doing much aside from gaming on it 8GB should be fine. If you plan on running Adobe photoshop CS 5 or some 3D rendering programs then the higher RAM may be needed.

You can upgrade to Blu-Ray using your existing optical drive bay. The majority of CD-ROM drives for laptops will fit any other laptop.

You may be able to upgrade your Wireless NIC to the Bigfoot Killer N.

Regarding Crossfire- there are certain games that will support crossfire and those that will not. From my understanding, World of Warcraft does not have support for multiple GPU in SLI or crossfire. All you have to do is go into your CCC and check the box to enable crossfire, it should work....at least that is how it is on desktop rigs, I haven't messed with it on a laptop as I have never had multiple GPU on a laptop. Best I could recommend is to disable crossfire and run games that are known to support crossfire and check your frame rate with and without crossfire. Alternatively you could try running Furmark and if your temps run up on both cards then it should be working with crossfire enabled.

IC Diamond is a great thermal paste. Some consider it better than Arctic Silver 5. I haven't had trouble with either one but IC Diamond is supposed to be better than Arctic Silver 5. IC Diamond Thermal Compound Review - Hardware Canucks These guys did a decent review of it. Also, this has been debated in our own forums http://forum.notebookreview.com/hardware-components-aftermarket-upgrades/587618-ic-diamond-vs-arctic-silver.html
Really, I honestly can't tell you the difference I have ran both on my machines and either one is fine.

 

I have many of the same questions as well. In fact, before I start buying upgrades, I was hoping to try overclocking the CPU and GPU's (5870's) myself. However, this has proven more difficult than on my desktops. Any advice on overclocking this beast?

Thusfar, the bios has been impenetrable. So I can't seem to touch the cpu.

The Radeons don't seem to be responding to the AMD GPU Clock tool. Or, they simply don't take much of an OC. Any advice???? I'm kinda stumped.

Also, if I do spring for some hardware upgrades, do I need to go back to Sager or any third party vendor?

 

Hi guys, lately I'm having occasion BSOD. I never have a BSOD while playing games, in fact what triggers it is usually browsing around a flash enabled websites or simple browsing. The BSOD is something about secondary clock is not received or power state error. Does any of you have a solution to this?

I'm currently using:
NVIDIA 301.42 driver
BIOS V 1.00.14
EC/KBC V 1.00.08

Nvidia control panel power setting: prefer maximum performance

 

As always, I recommend running this utility WhoCrashed - CNET Download.com
It should be able to check for the crash dump files and it provides a very comprehensive read out of what likely caused the crash. It will sometimes provide a google search term as well to make it easier to diagnose and repair.

 

Thank you for your reply! After I run the tool, I soon see a pattern on the cause of the crash. There are 2 causes that appears frequently:

crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\021612-27019-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: xntkrnl.exe (nt+0x71F00)
Bugcheck code: 0x9F (0x3, 0xFFFFFA8008300440, 0xFFFFF80000B98518, 0xFFFFFA8009E80AF0)
Error: DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE
file path: C:\Windows\system32\xntkrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that the driver is in an inconsistent or invalid power state.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Your system configuration may be incorrect. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver on your system which cannot be identified at this time.

This was probably caused by the following module: nvlddmkm.sys (nvlddmkm+0x1759C8)
Bugcheck code: 0x117 (0xFFFFFA800737E250, 0xFFFFF880104729C8, 0x0, 0x0)
Error: VIDEO_TDR_TIMEOUT_DETECTED
file path: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\nvlddmkm.sys
product: NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version 301.42
company: NVIDIA Corporation
description: NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version 301.42
Bug check description: This indicates that the display driver failed to respond in a timely fashion.
A third party driver was identified as the probable root cause of this system error. It is suggested you look for an update for the following driver: nvlddmkm.sys (NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version 301.42 , NVIDIA Corporation).
Google query: nvlddmkm.sys NVIDIA Corporation VIDEO_TDR_TIMEOUT_DETECTED

I tried googling those error with no luck . And sometimes the computer crash, then freeze, it doesn't show any bluescreen. Any suggestion on those error?

EDIT: Another thing, has anyone with intel 6300N have boot IRQ issue? Since my intel 6300N placed in the last IRQ, whenever my desktop is ready to go from fresh boot, I have to wait for another minute for the wireless card to start connecting to the saved wireless network. Anyone have this issue also?

 

How long have you had the BSOD and freezing issues?

I would suggest rolling back your driver back to the stock one that came with your system.

When you do the nVidia driver installation, please be sure to select the Custom option for installation which will allow you to check the box to "Perform a Clean Installation".

It may help to enter Windows Safe Mode (tap the F8 key repeatedly until the menu comes up, you shouldn't reach the Windows loading screen if you did it right). Once there, remove the drivers manually, then run Driver Sweeper Driver Sweeper - CNET Download.com be sure it only targets the nvidia stuff.

re-install the stock drivers afterward.

If you are still having issues, post back here and we can see if there are any other suggestions or solutions.

Concerning your 6300 IRQ question, I don't think there is a way to change that but I could be wrong.

 

Yea, I always perform clean install every time I install new driver, I also run driver sweeper to clean the leftover files. Well, the reason I can't use the stock driver is that the driver is way too old, some new games flicker when I play with that driver e.g. Dota2. The only driver that solve the flicker is the 301.42 unless I play it on borderless window.

I've been having this BSOD from first couple of week owning this laptop, but the thing is, the BSOD is totally random. When I get a BSOD, it is more likely to have another one sometime during the next boot, and so on. However, when the system is stable, it won't have any BSOD till say couple of weeks.

About the wifi card, does all laptop with ssd will suffer from this? Everything loads up, then have to wait for wifi to kick in...? Or another card have more priority than this intel card?

 

With your random BSOD errors, have you tried running memtest on it?
Memtest86 - Download Page

I also noticed you have the Intel X25m drive and a Western Digital drive. Have you performed any diagnostic tests on those?
For Intel, they should have a toolbox for your SSD http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=18455
your WD drive tools can be found here WD Support / Downloads / WD Scorpio & AV-25

These suggestions are a long shot.

One thing I just thought of, what are you power settings in Windows 7? Try setting it to high performance settings if it is not already.

Regarding your wifi connectivity issue, I have a desktop with an SSD. Everything loads right away, but I do have to wait a moment for my LAN connection to kick in. It may be the nature of the wifi card to take some time to warm up before it can be used.

 

Yap, I have everything installed, just that ssd toolbox is v2, ive intalled the v3 now and see if it makes any difference, firmware is updated as well.

Wow, in that case, intel 6300 is pretty bad...

 

ANyone know if there are more than 3 plugs for fans inside sager 8120? I have a double graphic card setup, and computer started shutting down. I checked the temeratures and one of the graphic cards was overheating, and opening the computer confirmed that one of the graphic adapter fans was not working. After testing the problem it seemed that both fans were working, but the power plug for one of them was broken. There seems to be 3 power plugs inside, 2 for the graphic cards and 1 for additional fan. Anyone know if there is 1 more power plug found hidden somewhere inside, or if it would be possible to unplug that additional fan and insert the graphic adapters fan on that one?

 

Give Sager a call. They are very helpful on these types of questions. They will help you I believe.

 

I'm thinking about upgrading the graphics cards in my x8100, but I'm having a hard time finding out what would work. Is there a resource anyone could point me to that would tell me up to what model cards would be compatible?

 

Any chance for HotKey drivers on Windows 8 for this laptop?
Windows 7's drivers don't seem to work.

 

it will work .but need to mod driver and update the inf. file

REPLY to 1057# x8100 with 560M

 

Hi guys, I'm wondering if any of you have actually upgraded the graphics card on this laptop? I'm thinking of upgrading to GTX 485M, do you think the graphics card will just plug and play? Or I need a modified BIOS? THANKS in advance!

 

Has anybody upgraded to 802.11AC on this Laptop?

I really don't want another Laptop, this one is still Awesome! So I would like to juice it up a little more with 802.11AC.

 

Any standard wireless card should be fine, the type will not matter.

 

I have a Sager NP8120 (ClevoX8100) with i7-820, 6GB 1066 Ram, dual GTX-285 display cards, 128GB SSD and 750GB hard drive.
My problem is, with Windows 8.1 one of the display cards will not work. It has a Code 12 "not enough resources for card to start". Therefore I can't run SLI.
Under Windows 7 it was fine. I have disabled other devices, loaded original drivers, loaded the newest drivers including Intel chipset and Nvidia display, installed/uninstalled each display card with Device Manager, still the laptop will not load the second card under Windows 8.1. Everything else works fine . Any ideas? Help would be appreciated

 

Have you tried a different version of the nvidia drivers?

 

Seems the X8100 enthusiasts are a dying breed. But I guess "all good things come to an end" at some point, no?

I bought my Sager 8120 from Xotic back in 2010, and looking back, can't believe how much I spent on it (north of $3K for sure). Expensive, yes, but a hell of a machine in its time. And still a perfectly usable gaming laptop, if one keeps expectations realistic.

With the new 800M cards out, the temptation to buy a new lappy is growing. I guess I could just retire my 8120, but I'm also wondering if it has any resale value at this point. I've kept mine up in tip-top condition. Features 285M SLI and other bells and whistles. (Realize I couldn't resell here owing to lack of posts) -- but just in general -- does the 8120 have *any* value in 2014? Or would I be better off just mothballing it?

 

Maybe selling some of the parts by themselves but with something like the 860M able to provide performance not far off in a 13.3" package for not a lot it's hard to justify an older machine like that.

 

Thanks Meaker -- that's what I figured. Not worth the effort to cannibalize the thing for parts, and I'd rather just keep my Sager than sell it for a couple hundred dollars, assuming I could get even that.

A little depressing to think a $3,200 laptop has almost no resale value 4 years on, but I guess not too surprising considering how fast the industry is evolving these days. Next time I'll know better than to drop that much cash on a laptop...

 

Most computers have little value after 4 years which is why they are not an investment lol.

 

I don't game so I actually removed one of the Video Cards and am keeping it for a spare. So for a desktop replacement computer doing 2D stuff this Laptop is still awesome in my book.

So what is the top end processor I could put in it? I have an i7 720 in it.

Max memory?

EDIT: Never mind, the price of a 940XM is still sky high!

 

That or the 920XM.

 

I looked at it as well, but mainly Find ES chips.

Anybody used an ES chip?

 

You need to look up each stepping.

 

I'm referring to ES for engineering sample.

 

Yes and as engineering samples are used for testing they go through multiple steppings before release to test the chip.

 

Steppings doesn't mean Bumpkus to me, I was just asking about experiences related to bugs or stability.

 

I'm always sure to give people the right keywords so what they need to know will pop up really quickly.

 

I have Nvidia 285M cards.

I don't game, just 2D desktop stuff

I just reinstalled Windows 7 after upgrading hard drives.

I used the Nvidia driver for 200 series mobile cards off their site.

I'm having some artifacts, some display driver resets and now just had a BSOD from the dispaly driver.

What Driver are you guys using that is fairly up to date and stable?

Mine is 9.18.13.3788

 

Whats the XXX.XX version number of that driver?

 

Here it is: 337.88

 

I've built 2 x8100's using the ES versions of the 920XM. No issues to date. Picked them up from ebay.

 

Sorry did you mean to reply to my post?

 

Hi guys, I'm in a little bit of trouble here...
So ,my laptop has decided to shut down forcefully (just like when you hold the power button). I have tried clean install of windows 8, doesn't seem to help either.
It does that really often, especially on the windows loading logo. This is not a blue screen, I have confirm it with whocrashed software.
Funny thin is, when I successfully enter windows and play any game, the computer will run ok, but as soon as I do other stuff like browsing, basic explorer copy paste computer could shut off itself.
I have tested the RAM using the windows utility and the result shows that my RAMs are ok.
When I run some live linux distro (clonezilla, gparted, etc) it runs fine.
I can assure you that this has nothing to do with overheat.
Please enlighten me.

 

That could be the power circuitry on the board. It's under most stress going from load to idle.

 

IF that is the problem, do I have to replace the motherboard? However, the problem is when the system goes form idle-> load

 

Hey guys,

Is the 780m gtx compatabile with x8100 laptop?

 

I'm only aware of the 680M and 7970M being tested.

 

Thanks Meaker