New Samsung Series 7 NP700Z7C-S01US Laptop i7 3615QM 650m Review!

hey guys, what temps do u get when u do a stresstest or play games.

my 650m hits 85C after 15min of furmark, is that good or bad? How do your 700Z7C's perform here?
I read that others only get like 78C gpu-temps with that chip... just wondering.

 

I dont know, just set to one of the graphics and then activate by the top bar something that lets you see on taskbar what graphic its using (I dont remember the specific function name). Then play a movie and find out.

 

You have to remove the entire bottom to get to the battery and it is removeable/replaceable.

Yeah, I've broken one key off and another one has chipped. My friend has 3 chipped keys, we've been looking for replacement keys from all the usual sites but there aren't any in stock yet, so looks like crap until they get some.

 

However, I would not recommend that you use the computer without the battery. It is a built-in UPS. If, as on the Series 9, the battery is under the palm rest, then it stops the computer from tipping over backwards when you push the display back. If you enable the Battery Life Extender in Easy Settings then the charge is limited to 80%, which reduces the wear, and the computer will only top up the battery (to 80%) when the charge level drops a few percent.

John

 

Hey, thanks for answering
What about the viewing angles of the screen?
The change in color/contrast/saturation its a problem when you are editing in photoshop?

Thanks Ryzir !

 

I personally never use any laptop without the battery installed. He just wanted to know if it could be removed and it can. It is also located underneath the the palm rest area, you can see from pictures posted early in the thread for those not willing to void their warranty by removing those screws indicators.

I'm also weary about the that 80% max charge feature, because unless it is some how intelligently switching between the cells, there is no way this will help extend the life of the battery. The cells need to be used often so that they do last, if unused they lose their ability to hold a charge the same as if you were using them, ha. Samsung is either pulling a fast one on people or they are geniuses.

 

I'm an engineer, not a chemist, but I do buy in the battery life extender concept. The wisdom is that the Lithium batteries survive longest if the extremes of charge and discharge are avoided because that is where the chemistry has to work hardest. They are not like the Nickel-based batteries which need to be regularly exercised through their whole range. That said, the Lithium batteries benefit from a full discharge / recharge every few months in order to recalibrate their chip.

John

 

Beyond the science, I don't think Samsung would fool customers into giving up 20% of their battery life (running time) on every charge, if there was a risk that it actually hurt the battery rather than helping it. Can you imagine the number of complaints and possible class action suits a couple of years from now?

 

The arrangement works fine for my NP900X4C. I'm normally using the Battery Life Extender but, if I want maximum time away from a socket, then I temporarily disable it.

Lenovo owners will tell you the charge control is not new technology. The Lenovo Power Manager allows users to define not only the maximum charge level but also the threshold at which recharge starts. So, for example, one can set the 80% maximum charge but also not to start recharging until the battery has dropped to 60% thereby avoiding lots of little top-up charges.

John

 

If the GPU is running at 100% at full clock (835mhz) for extended periods mine will run usually 72-78C depending. Most of the time is around 78C running hard. If I overclock it to 1,000mhz the temps hit highest of 81-82C. I've ran 8+ hour gaming sessions and have overclocked while running burn-in tests overnight and that's what it does.

If it's a game that doesn't run at 100% the whole time it will sometimes jump down to 50C range and back up again as it throttles the GPU speed up and down.

My house is 72 degrees F so not sure if you are using it in a hotter environment.

 

Just to update. I contacted Samsung and they said this was considered normal wear and tear, and not covered under warranty. He even went as far as saying, if it wasn't there when I unpacked the laptop, it's not covered under warranty.

Kinda disappointed in that. As a Samsung user (washer, dryer, series 7 tv, cell phones, tablets, etc...) I must admit I expected at least a little better service than.. and I quote... "I wouldn't worry about it".
what a horrible answer.

 

I have mine setup that way but it does not run the 650m 100% of the time ever. If the program isn't written to be expecting and looking for the 650m the only way I have been able to force a program to use the Nvidia is to set up the program under Program Settings tab in the same section.

 

But if the problem spreads you can start reading up your consumer legislation and requirements for "fitness for purpose" and "latent defects". Maybe the paint on your A key wasn't formulated or baked properly.

Coincidentally, the "A" on my Lenovo T420s lost some paint during its year of use but the other keys haven't noticeably suffered. I suspect A has a hard time due to (i) it is among the most-used letters and (ii) its position means it is likely to be hit by a finger nail rather than finger tip.

John

 

If it is on the auto detect option it will choose whatever the program needs. You have to change it to 650m or hd4000 in that option.

 

Yeah, I have Battery Life Extender on as well, and trust that it will do my battery some good in the long run. And as you say, it's easy to change whenever I want a full charge.

BTW, Battery Life Extender can be set in BIOS as well. Easy Settings merely reflect what's set in there.

 

I just received my $800 NP7007C-S01US from cowboom and this thing is flawless. Now that I have Windows installed, I have a few questions?

1- Is there anyway to control the fans? I was hoping I could run them at 100% while gaming, but I see no option to control this in MSI Afterburner or with Speedfan. My guess is it can't be done, and while it's not that big of a deal, it sure would have been nice.

2- I have a few questions about Optimus. I installed HD4000 drivers straight from Intel along with the newest Nvidia Beta drivers. Is there anyway to tell which GPU is being used? I checked out GPU-Z and MSI afterburner and it would seem they're both running at all times. The 650m will typically downclock to 135Mhz, but every so often I'll see it go up to 3d speeds (rated 745Mhz) even when in 2d mode. My question is, if I installed the older Samsung drivers instead, would the 650m turn off or would I still see it downclocked to 135Mhz like it's currently doing?

3 - Lastly, and I've seen this referenced throughout the thread, is there an actual Optimus tray tool when one installs the original drivers from Samsung. I've heard people mention this, but I kinda thought they might have just been referring to the Nvidia control panel icon. Thanks in advance!!!

 

That's a great deal on great a machine. Congrats!

 

Thank you. I just uninstalled the newer drivers (mentioned above, ran driver fusion in safe mode, and installed the Intel/Nvidia combo from Samsung. I figured out to make the Optimus tray icon show up, but I'm still seeing 745Mhz clocks even when its running on the HD4000. I'm was idling on the desktop with nothing running, there were no apps listed in GPU activity box, and it's still doing this. I also ran WEI, thinking maybe it needed to be run once and it actually downclocked the 650m a little bit?

This all could be cause its from cowboom, but I have a feeling its related to Optimus and something I have not done right.

Edit: BTW the 650m GPU load is always 0%, but it's still running at 745/1000 all the time.

 

Nevermind.

 

i bought one of these from compusa yesterday and so far i have been very happy with it. i have been able to run realight g4.5 at 200fps with the hd4000 and at 150fps with the 650m. does this make any sense i should be able to run it at like 300 or better with the 650m? i think its a driver related problem im using the stock nvidia 295.55 driver what is the best stable driver out for the 650m? also is there anything i should know about this machine i tried looking through the 160+pages here but there is so much it would take me 2-3 days solid reading to find anything.

 

I think I read somewhere that the monitoring programs (afterburner, gpu-z, etc.) might keep the frequency high, but I'm not sure. If this is true I guess there wouldn't really be a way to know if it's downclocking properly right now.

 

even when the nvidia gpu activity icon in the tray tells me the 650m is off gpuz tells me its at 745mhz but if it was off would gpuz still see it . i wonder if the card is not fully powering down

 

I "think" the problem was that I may have installed the Nvidia driver right after installing the Intel one, instead of rebooting first. After installing the newest Intel HD4000 driver, rebooting, then installing Nvidia's newest 306.02 beta driver, everything seems to be working fine. Needless to say, I ran driver fusion in safe mode as well.

My gpu activity icon is now black in 2d mode, whereas before it was always the rainbow color. Also, HWMonitor no longer shows the 650m status when I open it unless something is using the 650m. The only thing that sucks is that I can only run GPUZ and MSI afterburner when I want to be in 3d mode, because they enable the 650m. I can't auto start MSI AB because of this, so I'll have to only launch it when I play games. That totally makes sense in a way, but I could run either of those programs without turning on the 6750m in my last laptop.

Yes. They will run the 650m at 0%, but core/memory will be 745/1000. The problem is that it still makes the laptop heat up. I typically have MSI AB setup to auto run, but I'll have to stick with manually opening from now on. The other thing I'm a little sad about, is the fact that you can't control the fan. I was hoping I could crank them up to 100% while gaming, but there doesn't seem to be any way to do this. I've tried MSI AB, Evga Precision, and Speedfan, none of which give you any kind of fan control. Perhaps this is Optimus related.

Well before I fixed everything, my keyboard was warm and my cpu temps were in the 60s. Now that it's fixed, the keyboard is cool and temps are in the 40s. Problem with GPUZ is that it enables the 650m upon opening it (same with MSI AB). Anyway, I'm almost 100% sure the 650m is either off or running at 145Mhz, though I have not yet concluded on which. Lastly, if you want to be 100% sure the 650m is off, all you have to do is disable it in device manager and voila.


Edit: As I already mentioned above, HWMonitor will not show the 650m when it's started with nothing 3d running. Well after opening CPUZ and seeing only the HD4000 under the graphics tab, I'm now 100% convinced that the 650m is off and not running.

 

I am using the latest intel driver and nvidia driver not the ones from samsung's website. I just have a gpu widget and this is what it shows. Left is just with web browser open, right is with gw2 running about medium settings.



edit: I downloaded the gadgets from here : Most Wanted Windows Desktop Gadgets - Downloads

 

Thanks for this and I'm also running the same drivers as you. Btw, in the left photo, something is running 3d (my guess is some kind of monitor with 0% usage and 745/1000 core/mem) and that is why your cpu temps are in the 60s. Mine currently shows 0Mhz for core/memory and well everything. If you're running msi AB, gpuz, speedfan, anything else that uses the 650m, or do not have Optimus setup right, it's going to put your cpu temps into the 60s while doing light stuff. If you disable all of that stuff, your gpu meter will show all 0s like mine and it will turn off the 650m, thus giving you cpu temps around 42-47C.


Edit: PCMeter, which is required to run the above, does indeed turn on the 650m. It's not being used, but it is being turned on from that. If you don't mind idling in the 60s, then feel free to use it, but if you disabled/unistalled it, the 650m would be off and your idle CPU temps would in the low to mid 40s.




Instructions to confirm 650m is turned off (Thanks partly to gadgetrants)

Go into the Nvidia control panel and check Display GPU activity Icon in Notification Area


When the 650m is totally off, the tray icon will be black like this -


When the 650m is on even when it's running at 0%, it will still produce heat and you can tell by the icon changing to the following rainbow icon.

 

I bought this laptop today and I love it except 1 thing... Heat everywhere I feel everything getting warm even around the keyboard sometimes while gaming gw2... Gpu reaches 85C cpu 90-93c I went to compusa and replaced it and got a 2nd one and it is exactly the same.. Am I missing something or are these the normal temps of this machine.. other than that I love this.. disabled hyper threading trying for better temps but meh same My temps while browsing and watching videos varies from 47c to 72c

 

First, do what I listed above and the laptop will be 100% cool while doing light stuff. If I had to guess, you're 650m is probably running at 0%, but still turned on and therefore dding heat. You need to make sure the icon (shown above) is black or something is turning on your 650m. Programs that only do things like monitor (MSI AB, Speedfan, GPUZ, etc), will force your 650m to turn on.

For GW2, even with the temps you listed (mine are similar), I personally don't think the laptop gets that hot externally compared to others I've used. If you want to get them even lower, disable turbo boost by going into power management and change cpu maximum to 99%. From what I've read, this should drop the CPU temps 5-10C and have little impact on frames.

 

The icon is black and says there is no gpu activity

so.. I shouldn't be concerned of 90's Celsius on the cpu then? i've seen it up to 95c while gaming I use HW monitor for it

 

Thanks for that. The graph was flashing between grey and color with PCMeter and solid grey with it turned off.

edit: The GPU meter does need PCMeter to run. AllCPU still works without PCMeter. It just won't show temps.

I have another issue I've been trying to figure out. Every time I turn on the computer from being inactive (cold) for 8+ hours. It does the same thing whether it's turning on from sleep, resuming from hibernation or from a fresh boot. The computer freezes and the screen goes all crazy and has green blocks. This only happens when the computer has been sitting for awhile.

I will get a picturet next time it happens. Holding down the power button and rebooting fixes the problem.

 

Well going up to 72C even with video seems higher than what I'm experiencing. What's your ambient temp? Mine is 75C.

Edit: I think you're fine in the 90s (TJMax 105C), but I'd still set your CPU max to 99% in power options. It'll disable turbo, your laptop will run cooler, and it shouldn't have too much of an impact on your frames.

The only time I've experienced anything like that, was immediately after uninstalling intel/nvidia drivers (prior to rebooting for a restart to run driver fusion in a safe mode). It only happened once, was different than what you're explaining, and it didn't seem overly abnormal to me due to the vga drivers just being uninstalled. As for your issue, I have had nothing like that happen to me. Does it eventually settle and go back to normal and if not, what do you do to resolve the issue? Reboot?

 

Doing a hard re-boot fixes the problem. The problem also happened with the vga drivers from Samsung's website. I have even used a driver cleaner in-between installs.

 

Someone told me there is a bug where gw2 uses 99% gpu when it shouldnt and also throttles the cpu more than its needed and causes higher temps

 

Did you use driver fusion and uninstall original drivers, then boot into safe mode before running it?

Which drivers are you using? I'd suggest the latest Intel/Nvidia if you're not already. Also, I'm sure ArenaNet will tweak it some more over the next few weeks/months. Like I said, the temps might be a little high, but the laptop itself doesn't feel incredibly hot externally.

 

Using latest nvidia and stock intel I havn't messed with those

 

What's your ambient temperature?

Sent from my Samsung Epic 4G Touch using Tapatalk

 

just finished updating to nvidia 306.02. i think that 306.02 gives better graphics switching and i gained a few fps. i ran realflight g4.5 for around an hour at max settings. my highest temp was 69c and it averaged 40fps and it reached a boost clock of 835mhz plugged in and 745mhz on battery. but one thing i still dont get is that it seems that the hd4000 runs it better on low settings at 300fps vs around 200fps for the 650m. but the 650m scores much better on max settings at around 40fps when the hd4000 only gets around 15fps. Does anybody have the slightest idea why this is happening?

i just ran the wei and my graphics and gaming graphics score dropped from 7.1 to 6.5.

 

pretty hot actually... it can get to 85F-92F Damn Puerto Rico

 

BTW I have read people saying the trackpad is bad abd unresponsive ... I could say there is near to no difference to a 2010 macbook wich I had.. I like it so far.

 

coming from a samsung rv511 i really like the macbook style trackpad on this laptop although i havent tried multi touch yet

 

I am constantly using 2 finger scrolling, zoom , zoom out etc I use all of the trackpad features and Can't complain about it at all.

BTW for those of you playing guild wars 2 setting the cpu to 70% will decrease temps and will not affect fps. I called arenanet and they told me there seems to be some issues where the game fools the pc into using more cpu than it should. probably has to do with optimus drivers

 

Here are some pics of the issue I am having.

This one is after waking up the computer from sleep after about 3hrs.


This one is from a cold boot after being off all night.


Since it only happens when the computer is cold it makes it really annoying to troubleshoot. I have an SSD arriving soon and I'll be doing a clean install. Hopefully it's just the way the drivers are installed and not a hardware issue. I haven't tried booting into Safe Mode I'll try that next time I start the computer.

 

hopefully thats not a hardware issue that could affect us all maybe its just a driver issue but if it is a hardware issue it should be covered under samsungs 1 year limited warranty against defects.

if it only happens when its cold its probably a hardware issue my ps3 did the same thing when it was cold it would get artifacts and ylods but then i had the gpu reballed and i havent had any problems with it yet but im not an expert by any means so maybe someone who knows more on the issue could help u more.

 

Well after an hour or so of GW2 CPU reached 95C and started throtleling the speeds down of gpu and cpu and gaming was getting bad they keyboard felt hot ... I was playing at 1366x768 on medium settings... I am very disappointed and will be replacing this awesome machine with a piece of crap cooling system..

 

It's a hardware issue since it happens on boot.

 

well the question is how long have you had your system and what were u running on it because if this any indication of what will happen to my system after running it hard im gonna return mine in the 30 day return period.

 

Just because it happens on boot doesn't means it's hardware. Boot also loads drivers and I never tested cold boot in Safe Mode.

I uninstalled both display drivers, ran Driver Fusion.
Rebooted in Safe Mode and ran Driver Fusion.
Rebooted in Safe Mode and installed intel HD 4000.
Rebooted normally, ran Driver Fusion on nVidia drivers.
Rebooted in Safe Mode and installed nVidia Drivers.
Rebooted normally.

I put it to sleep for 3 hours and just woke it up and it worked perfectly. I'll test cold boot tomorrow morning.

 

I agree with what you said about the hardware above and I hope it goes away, but if it doesn't I'd re-install using the standard/preferred safe mode way. I say this because there are Nvidia related things inside the HD4000 and I've never seen anyone recommend using any other method than this.

Uninstall physx under programs
Uninstall Intel HD4000 and Nividia drivers in device manager (Make sure to check delete driver software with this device).
Reboot into safe mode, run Driver fusion and wipe HD4000/Nvidia stuff.
Reboot normally, install HD4000 drivers, reboot, install Nvidia drivers.

 

The cpu shouldn't go any higher than about 15 to 20 degrees below the max temp which is 105C or 221F, but will still be fine even at those temps, only worry if it goes over the max.

 

I am so impressed with this laptop, that I'm thinking about getting rid of my desktop. Has anyone tried a Sata III caddy in this thing? I'm tempted to buy one of these JEYI H123 9.5mm SATA 2.5"Hard Drive SSD Optical Drive Bay Caddy Notebook Laptop | eBay but wish I knew if the laptop connector actually supported Sata III. Everest says the board supports 6 Gbps, but does anyone know if the board connector does?

 

I think I read that both SATA connectors are 3 but I'd have to do some digging to find where I read that. There is a cheaper caddy that someone successfully installed linked earlier in this thread ( Post #1082) edit: Looks like the are the same caddy. I ordered the $12 one and it says Jeyi on it (the auction shows picture without the Jeyi label) and looks identical to the one you linked.

Bad news on my end. I started up the computer in safe mode on Sun and had the problem. Did a completely clean install and still have the problem. Looks like a hardware issue I haven't decided if I'm going to return or get it fixed through Samsung.