2013 Series 7 chronos / Ativ Book 8 15" owner's lounge (NP770Z5E / NP780Z5E / NP870Z5E / NP880Z5E)

I thought I found a laptop for me, but 455 pages!!!!
This is not going to endup well!
So.. off to page 1...

 

The most important posts are gathered in the first one of this thread, although something might be a bit out of date. I'm not asking you to read all 456 pages, but have a look around before asking (as you are already doing, good on ya), I'm pretty sure you will find the answer to most of your quesitons if you still have any doubts, post here and we will try to help

 

anyone else experience fps drop when minimize game and back maximize?

 

What an amazing guide !! .. im sure a lot of people will use it... thank you so much for the hard work you put it .

I would like to ask you:

1. Did you managed to work switchable graphic card with this method?
2. which ones do you consider are the main advantages of doing a clean install like this one instead of using the regular update method?

Once again, Thank you very very much !

 

Wow, this is a fantastic guide. I'll quote this post in post #1 if that's okay. +rep
EDIT: Please let me know whe you update the guide, then I'll update the quote in the OP.

 

If you have low framerates on the newer Leekm drivers, try unplugging your laptop in-game for a second. I don't know why but it helps a ton in some games.
Graphic section updated in the OP.

For those whose drivers are still not working properly after following the guides in post #1, which OS are you on? Please let me know.

 

Guys, what is the best method to test switchable graphics without having to install a game on my laptop? I don't want to add heavy software just to do some testing. Let me know so I can make sure that switchable graphics work fine

And thank you for your comments, I'm glad you appreciate the tutorial

edit: ok, installed a game and it looks like the switchable graphics work!



Is this enough? It should mean that the dedicated card kicks in when required..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Hey Pranktank, so ive tried most drivers, had to go back to samsung driver (9.3 it is i believe). All other drivers gave me low framerates, at like about 20 fps. I was testing them with Diablo 3 ROS.

So i got most of them to work including wql 13.9, leekm 14.1, got switchable graphics to work on them, however with the low fps still, dont know why. Then 14.3 where it wasnt working, and 13.10 which was also slow.

I was testing everything on windows 8, was considering switching ti windows 8 pro, but from what i read it seems to give even more problem with switchable graphics than windows 8 does.

Greez bkkjul

 

Great comunity here around this laptop. I am considering it but don't know is it worth. I realy don't believe there is that amount of fixes and workarounds needed for it to runs ok.
WIFI problems in 2014, get real. Drivers problem...get real again. It's 1200euro laptop. These issues must not exists.

I am deeply into search of a new laptop, and believe me there is no laptop I would place my money on.
ASUS N56 - driver problems
ASUS N550 - driver and heat
DELL - al DELLs have 1.8GHz processor i7 4500U. Ok, but not for me.
HP ENVY - Hot as hell
Lenovo - poor choise. Only Y510p - which looks horible and hot as hell
So I tried with Samsung, which is a bit out of my budget but I'm left without choises
Etc, etc..


Anyway, thanks for welcome, and see you around.

For know, only one question.
Would you guys buy this laptop again? Why yes, or why not?

 

It is totally worth it, i have the ATIV BOOK 8 US SILVER VERSION (lower graphic card tha EU version but way cheaper aswell) ////////////

* i was consider the asus as well back in the time, but the baterry on the ativ is so good that it is insane that such powerful laptop with a real quadcore and touch screen can last that much, the asus is poor in the baterry .........................
* The Dell has a week procesor next the the one on the ativ (unless you are planning t use it to just basic pc stuuf like office, not heavy internet etc etc)
*HP, i said to myself NEVER AGAIN! always get so hotttt ............. this one is sooo cool and quiet, couldnot like it more after my last laptop was HP ........ plus the samsung aluminun desing is just beautifu.
*Lenovo is a great laptop in the specs and price, for me a better ratio than the ativ, but as you say that desing look awful for a 2014 laptop, plus kind of heavier andthe worst baterry of all...... im not sure, but i think it doesnot come with touchscreen
* i even consider the vaio flip but its week processor (for my needs) + no powerful graphic card just mde my mind.... however, their desing and the fact that u can use as a tablet almost made decided for it...

Right now im writting from my ativ book 8, an i couldnot be more sure that it was the best choice !! ... just the same as you, i had to make an extra effort with the budget, but TOTALLY WORTH IT ! ......


this keep in mind this possible issues with the laptop:

*My laptop came with intel 6235 wireless card, and as you my research that card is a pain ***** ......... it drops constantly ! even a 5$ internet stick is more stable that an INTEL .... in the last months intel has udated drivers , right now it is way more stable that back in december when i got it, but STILL has drops !!! ................ so it is not a problem of the laptop itself but of this HORRIBLE wifi card, seems to be the only true solution is change it to a INTEL 7260 , i have everything i have read but dropd are there every single day (it takes like 8 seconds to go back to stable)

**Updating form w 8 to w8.1 seems to be now ok, but it has been report that sometimes get crazy because a driver issue with the intel and amd devices ............. i havenot updated yet, you can check here aswell about this issue http://forum.notebookreview.com/samsung/734915-win-8-1-dont-upgrade-until-samsung-has-updated-drivers-44.html , but do not take my word, maybe other people that have upgraded could give you a more accurate opinion about the update itself ! ............................ pplus im not sure if it is true, but it seems that in w8.1 you have less battery , i hope someone could give an opinion about....................... in the mean time still have w8 and works perfectly for me, theres nothing extra special that makes me go for w8.1 and maybe risk stability and battery...

Hope my opinion could have help you !
YES I WOULD BUY THIS LAPTOP AGAIN, keep in mind that new version is about to come, but seems to be acording to leaked version that new graphic will be less powerfull, however it will have 4generation INTEL 4700 (this one has 3635 wich is about 5% more energy consuming) + INTEL 7260 Wireless card !

 

Thank you alot. I apreciate it!
Wifi card can change. It's embaresing, but it can be swaped. My main problem is gpu, because the main job of laptop is 3d modeling in 3D max.

I was trying to see on samsung support are there win 8.1 drivers for this laptop, and all I could find is some Update tool or something, and now reading your post I'm wondering.. The main problem is that there are no official Samsung win 8.1 drivers right? Thats the problem, not fault drivers?

And you've mentioned new version. Are you thinking of one with 4700hq cpu and gtx750 gpu revieved here
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Samsung-ATIV-Book-8-870Z5G-Notebook.114298.0.html

 

Anyone tried the 14.4 RC1 driver from AMD - previous ones have given me errors on start up hoping its fixed now.

 

Samsung software update has every win 8.1 driver you need, i have win 8.1 on mij ativ book 8 and no problems at al evereything works well

 

Since you arein europe, that version has the 8870 which is a really powerful card !! ............ for your porpuse, the lenovo would be the best, but it has it desing tradeoff + baterry .................. Im sure the new version will come with windows 8.1 as default so new version u wouldnot be worried for drivers ............ im not sure if by now samsung drivers are up to date with windows 8.1, some people has been able to do succesul updates, so maybe somebody in the forum could help u with that .... of the other hand if u are in a hurry and do not need any feture from w8.1 then this sounds like a great chocie + hopefully samsung eventully will made this version works flawless with 8.1 ....... keep in mind that the 2014 version most likely will have a weaker gpc !!

yes the one that its mention in the link is the new one !!

 

Have you tried unplugging it in-game and plugging it back in a few seconds later? That should fix the performance issues. If not, check if you are on performance mode with silence mode turned off.

Win8 pro, as far as I know, should not have an influence.

 

How do you mean unplugg? you mean take out battery and plugg out of the electricity?

 

Just plug the AC charger out of the laptop and then plug it back in

 

Sorry i mean windows 8.1 ofc. I have silent mode off ofc and i am on performance mode, been using laptop for a while now . Still though dont understand how i have to remove the powercable every 2 min to play a game properly. If you ask me this is the best laptop ever made, but these tiny flaws like graphics driver and on top of that my wifi even after switching to ac 7260 is still disconnecting consistently.

 

I'm not on 8.1 at the moment so I'm not sure what influence it may have. I just do it once everytime I start up a game with the newest drivers and it fixes it until I start another game. I should ask LeekM, maybe he knows about it or he can maybe fix it.

 

You upgraded wifi card and it's loosing connection again?
Fuuuuuu

 

I will try 14.3 leekm now havent tried that yet, i dont quite understand, is the 14.4 also alredy there, as it says it on his blog, never know if its for us or not.

Yeah, the last driver made it bettter, but i still get like 1-3 per hour.

 

Is that just with one router or does the problem occur with other routers?

In my experience routers tend to die gradually after a couple of years but sometimes problems can be fixed by a reboot and/or firmware upgrade.

If the router is quite new then use InSSIDer to check for congestion on the WiFi channel that the router uses (which you move to somewhere less congested).

John

 

Thats a good question to be honest, it does behave differently on differnt routers, however it will always disconnect here and then. The router is a new one, and ive already altered it with InSSIDer.
I guess i can only hope for the next driver, or maybe i gotta try just wiping everything and installing win 8 again. Really stupid this problem. thanks anyway

By the way, driver 14.3 from leekm has the same 20 fps problem, still stuck on 9.3.

 

1.What do you think about page file? with 8gb i dont think i need any with this slow hdd, i think it slows hdd down even more. I have it disabled for some times now and i dont see any problems

2.Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. - Graphics Adapter WDDM1.3 - AMD Radeon HD 8800M Series
in windows update, install or not install???

 

I cant believe it !!! ... i was thinking in putting on my ativ book 8 the intel 7269, because 6235 is horrible !!! ............... i wonder what is going on with a huge company like intel than cant make work a simple wifi card and make stable, i am just amazed on how a 5$ wifi stick is way more stable + in old hp (overheated) laptop can get more stable than a 4 months ols ativ book 8 !! ....

 

My 6235 WiFi has worked fine since Intel finally released a decent driver over a year after the card was released.

Go to Intel and get the latest driver.

John

 

1. I've used Custom size page files for years, with a small Initial size to allow dormant code and secondary page tables to be paged and their memory freed up. I use Initial size of 256MB with 4GB RAM and 512MB with 8GB RAM. The larger Initial size is to accommodate the larger page tables. If you see the actual page file size grow beyond the Initial size during normal use (including Idle) increase the Initial size. I set Maximum size to the size of RAM, essentially doubling the addressable memory space. I might disable page file (or use a very small one) with 16GB RAM, since I wouldn't mind dormant code and page tables taking up 512-1024MB of RAM with that much to spare.

2. Having seen that Microsoft picked up AMD driver support for my older AMD PowerXpress, including switchable graphics, long after Samsung quit supporting it, I would probably give the Microsoft drivers a try as well if I had one of these newer models. But I would definitely make a backup and/or restore point first, so I knew I could roll back. And I would uninstall current AMD drivers first using programs and Features control panel. See here. Obviously YMMV.

 

which driver did u end up using John? just the newest one?
bkkjul

 

i cant realy unistall amd drivers, this update shows in windows updates only when i install any amd driver
Thanks for the page file information

 

Device Manager says I'm on 15.9.2.1. That's with Windows 7. It might no longer be the latest but anything within the past 6 months should be OK.

There is more discussion of WiFi problems in this thread (which has now gone very quiet).

John

 

Yeah i know, i gave up on it aswell a while ago, just nothing one can do in the end, thanks anyway john

 

That's puzzling. On mine Windows Update offered the AMD driver, I then uninstalled using Catalyst Uninstaller, rebooted, and went back to Windows Update -- which still offered the AMD driver, that I then accepted. Before that I had followed the same procedure to update my Intel HD driver from Windows Update as well. I'll try another Win8.1 install sometime and test various combinations.

But again, mine is an older model with AMD PowerXpress. It sounds like the AMD Enduro in the NP770/780/870/880 models is invisible and not seen by Windows Update, unless an existing AMD driver has already made it visible.

You could try and run the update over the existing AMD driver. Backup first.

 

I have tried almost every drivers there is for 8870, but in the end the one mentiones as "most stable" in first post is realy most stable, no more fps problems, so i wont even isntall the windows update driver for now. Strange are they ways of windows realy. Thanks for advices guys

 

I can definitely understand that. And in that situation, that would be my priority as well. I had been using an old Samsung provided AMD driver myself for over a year, for exactly that reason.

 

Thanks John.. unfortunately even with the newest version (mine apear 15.12.06 FEB 25 / 2014) still drops 3-4 times per hour ! ........... i even install intel proset but that just doesnot help, and when i uninstall that sotware i lost WIDI (which i use a lot) ... maybe is because im in windows 8 ! such a shame !

 

Also adjust the WiFi power setting in the Power Profile to best performance.

John

 

Had it last that since almost frist days ! i even have Bluethoot Off.... i guess there is something between INTEL- Wndows8 - Samsung that doesnot allow this card be stable !!


Once again thx for your help !

 

Yeah i had this problem and did the same as you for the driver, then it worked and the switchable graphics which had disappeared reappeared

 

Thank you for that. Which Samsung model do you have? If it's NP770/780/870/880 that would mean the AMD isn't consistently hidden from Windows Update on these models (even when lacking an AMD driver). And hence it may not be the difference between AMD Enduro and my older PowerXpress that makes for the difference in device visibility.

 

one question: is it posible to use SD card class 10 as substitue for that express cache ssd thingy some of you have?

 

I don't know if the ExpressCache software would recognize it. Also, it may try to verify that your model is licensed for it. I know that attempts by some users to install newer versions of ExpressCache directly from the provider (Condusiv Technologies) failed because it wasn't licensed.

But you can try it: Lookup my model NP700Z3A-S03US (or any NP700xxx) in SW Update and find ExpressCache version 1.0.94 under Win8 drivers.

The big question is whether an SD card is fast enough to speed up HDD access, rather than slow it down.

Other than the ideal solution of replacing the HDD with an SSD, a more affordable solution is to replace it with a hybrid drive that has onboard flash cache. I've been using a 512GB Momentus XT in another laptop for a couple years, and in most scenarios it is even a bit faster than the 7200RPM 750GB Hitachi in my Sammy, despite its ExpressCache.

Other members reported good results with hybrid drives earlier in this thread. Googling site:notebookreview.com/samsung NP770Z5E hybrid drive should yield some results.

 

Who can beat my 3Dmark11 8870m worldwide record of 4103?

AMD Radeon HD 8870M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3635QM,SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD. NP770Z5E-S01FR

3DMark - test your graphics card with the gamer's benchmark Radeon HD 8870M

 

what settings did you use for test?

 

What settings do you mean?
I OC'd to 925/1330 MHz

 

i mean settings in 3dmark, the fulllhd one?

 

I just used the performance preset, which runs at 720p. The one at 1080p is extreme I believe

 

ty. What would run fast enough to help speed up startup? usb 3.0 ?

 

What I do myself, is first make sure to optimize startup time as much as possible before I enable ExpressCache. This includes uninstalling anything unnecessary, and disabling unnecessary startup tasks (it seems all software nowadays wants to load on startup og login, and keep running in the background, even when it's not needed). Taskbar notification icons are a sign that a program loads and runs in the background, see if you can find checkboxes to disable it and minimize its footprint.

As discussed in the WiFi Remedies thread you definitely want to uninstall anything Intel PROset, it is a massive bloatfest. Re-install the driver-only packages from Intel or use Windows' built-in drivers. Uninstall Samsung/Intel Bluetooth drivers and leave it to Windows' built-in drivers (unless you need to toggle Bluetooth on/off all the time).

I have often found that re-installing Settings (uninstall, reboot, re-install) helps if startup becomes crazy slow. Also, if you use one of the new Settings versions that have System Optimization, I would disable that. We want as little Samsung footprint as possible while still maintaining key functionality (Fn-keys, keyboard backlight, power management etc). But do this after all the other cleanup and re-installs.

Finally, run CCleaner and Disk Cleanup and, as the last step, defrag the Windows drive (Tools-Optimize on Properties for that drive). For those who have ExpressCache (again, only older models) after defrag is the time to enable it, reboot, then run BOOTOPT.BAT in the ExpressCache folder.

Still, there is a lot of unavoidable churn happening at startup: Catalyst Control Center and Antimalware Service always have a lot of work to do; and Win8.1 seems generally more busy after startup than Win8. Google Chrome and Drive run heavy at startup (I use them both, but they're some of the least well behaved on my computer).

Honestly, I would forget ExpressCache if it doesn't come with your computer. We don't know if it will even work, and it has complexity and downsides too. Many users had problems with it (see here or just search for it) and can even cause excessive background churn on its own. I think that's why Samsung stopped delivering it with newer models.

You could try Windows ReadyBoost in combination with a fast USB flash drive or memory card. I've never used it myself, but it is Microsoft's own implementation of an ExpressCache-like feature.

 

may i ask what program did you use to OC?

well i got score
3093
what did you do to get this high score? i overcloacked everything and its still this low

 

thank you, vey usefull information about the intell and bluetooth things. I guess a super fast expensive 3.0 usb flash would do the trick on readyboost, ill try