Samsung Series 7 Gamer NP700G7C with AMD Radeon HD 7970M/Geforce GTX 675M

What is the difference between hard disk drive and differencing virtual hard disk. I accidently deleted hard disk drive D then formatted but now it is a differencing virtual hard disk. did i do something wrong?

 

Hi - have you changed the HDD at all? I note you get 7.9 for HDD transfer rate - whilst mine is 5.9, which I did think was a bit slow - but if yours is 7.9 and you haven't changed anything, I'm concerned that there might be something wrong with mine!?

 

I have a 480GB Mushkin SSD for the primary...............

 

nothing is wrong with you. he probably swapped primary hard drive to a ssd

 

Yeah as in my sig.................

 

im having random freezes. I have to hold power button to turn it off. I had 3 times a day yesterday. Today after 5-10 minutes later i booted.

Kernel-Power ID 41. I had this once in w7.

I also have "Kernel-Processor-Power" issue. Error ID 37. "The speed of processor 0 in group 0 is being limited by system firmware. The processor has been in this reduced performance state for 38800 seconds since the last report.

 

Time to contact Samsung..................
Explanation of error codes generated by Device Manager in Windows XP Professional

Edit; looking at the issue it may be the CPU is overheating. This causes the CPU to save itself and then the OS is no longer throttling the CPU for power. Have you checked the heat?

 

Cpu cooling system is much better than gpu's cooling system. Cpu area never gets hot and i dont think it is cpu overheating. But my main issue is not this. Stupid freezing issue "kerle-power 41" is much more important i dont even get a blue screen. Screen simply freezes. I had this 3 times a row yesterday. It is very annoying.


Edit: I found something. I started to have this issue since i installed the expresscache driver(kernel-power not kernel-processor i always had that one) and my event manager is full with "disk" warnings (event id:153) which is the driver of the expresscache. So my problem may caused because of the EC. So is there a way to check if it is functioning normally?

 

Will it looks like they repaired my laptop, and it's coming back to me! I got an email and stuff. Here is a screenshot (edited for my personal info of course.) Looks like a few major components where replaced from what I can read. Though it's a little cryptic so if anyone else can make it clearer it'll help and may help in the future for others.

 

I just had this freezing issue. It doesnt freeze in a moment. It slows down becomes unresponsive then completely freezes. (You can only move cursor) and there was some strange sound coming while i was having this. It is like a sound of a liquid?? maybe it is because of the battery? I dont know. One thing i know is when i hear this sound i know my comp will freeze in moments

 

Keyboard error? I thought your problem was with the cpu fan?

 

The only thing that would make any sounds in the laptop are the fans or the hard drives. From the symtoms you describe, it sounds like it most likely is a failing hard drive and the primary hard drive at that. I'd run some disk check diagnostics to check out the drive(s) as a first step.

 

I have a bit of advise for all those who are hyper anal about their laptops feeling warm or think it is overheating and such. I would never send in any of my expensive gear whether it be a laptop, stereo component, tv, etc. to repair centers because more times than not, they either goof off and not really repair anything (even though they say so) or worse they do more damage to the unit or scratch and scruff it up. It's hit or miss with these low wage tech repair centers you know. Most times its a miss. You are lucky if you got a conscientious reliable tech that worked on your laptop. Never just send in yo.ur gear unless it is absolutely hard core failed. Same rule applies for cars! The techs usually will make things worse tearing into your car than when you brought it in. So keep that in mind

 

I would have to say keyboard, motherboard, and GPU. The GPU is evident by "MXM"

If you are looking for better than stock cooling, it is always best to seek a qualified person to do it for you, unless you are qualified to do it yourself. The advantage of getting an insured shop to do it is the waranty may stay in effect. Unless you have a high end unit designed for user servicing that is.

The norm is just to add high performance TIM's. Extreme mods could also involve case modifications for air flow or even some added passive heat sinks for some neglected chips. Almost anything above just a TIM is looking at the waranty being voided.............

 

Yeah, but from the looks of it they replaced the motherboard and such.

 

Yeah I have to agree, looks like probably the most expensive items got replaced. lol.

 

Laptop is on it's way back to me and looks to be delivered by end of day tomorrow! Then I will see if they actually fixed the issue and not just bsing me.

 

Had mine sent back in September, and they didn't even fix the issue. Realized what was causing my over heating was my HDMI port always being vacated to the HDTV. After that the overheating went away. Hopefully, yours is fixed.

 

Anybody using and external keyboard for this laptop? using the DAS keyboard and it's holding up quite well. Barely use the laptop keyboard anymore.

 

Yeah lets hope. If not I'm done with Samsung Products. I'll use what I have until they die, but won't be adding anymore to my collection. (I never had a serious issue with my asus gaming laptops. Yeah a few low quality parts here and there, but overall never had to be sent to be repaired.) I wasn't using the HDMI port or any ports really except for one usb port for my mouse and mine was overheating. I even tried unplugging the mouse and it still overheated. Of course I was using prime 95, but it never overheated before and the room temp hadn't changed. (My girlfriend's dad is very anal about the thermostat. Likes to keep the house a constant temperature and never changed it between the before and after. Not to mention I have 2 different clocks with indoor temps reading the same. So it did narrow it down to the laptop.) The biggest thing that kind of worries me is when I shipped the laptop I think they charged me for like 10lbs. or something like that and the tracking info is showing 6lbs. (Hoping maybe that's a typo.) As that means that either they overcharged me on shipping or my laptop is missing something coming back. (It would suck to receive the laptop and not the power brick.) Will it says it's out for delivery so I'll know for sure today. I'll report things back once it's received. I plan on pulling the bottom panel off to see if anything was messed with (of what I can see) then check the Bios as that will show mostly everything. Then boot windows and run my tests. All in all probably an hour after I get it (when I get it and provided they didn't screw up the delivery any) I will know and will post back once the testing is complete.

 

Every machine will have a few send backs. This is part of then game, there is no way to to have a 0% failure rate. Just so long as the ones fixed have 0% failure rate, at least of the same cause..................

 

I understand every machine can have issues, it's not a perfect world, but I paid good money and more money for this one and have slightly higher expectations. Not to mention Samsung usually has higher quality. For me personally though I have owned exclusively Asus gaming laptops until this samsung one, and now had to spend more money to ship it to get a major repair (from the looks of it) in the same amount of time I would have owned any other computer. I am just saying if the computer comes back like pr0xy89 's where it turns out they didn't repair anything at all, I will not be a happy camper one bit. $1800 does not come easy in my house hold and I bought this laptop so it would LAST a far longer time than any others. Be more future-proof and everything. While it should and will provided it works fine, we don't have the cash to keep sending it in for repairs. I am happy it was still covered by warranty. But I also do wish to state. I originally didn't have the cash to send the laptop in for a repair. I had to sell one of my other electronics just to I could afford to pay for shipping the laptop for a repair. This is why I will be upset if they didn't really repair it when they say they did. I won't have the money for another repair shipping and the laptop will just end up being the most expensive door stop I ever bought. This is my side of the story and why I said what I said. On that note, I do understand things go wrong and nothing is 100% perfect. But when it happens to something that costs $1800 and is within a year and not say 5 years later it isn't quite as forgivable. Now if they really did repair the laptop like they said, all will be forgiven and I will continue to buy Samsung products. I like, heck love their products, but not when they say they are going to do something and don't do it. It would be different if they also paid for shipping to them, after all it is their warranty and stuff, it shouldn't cost us consumers anything extra at all. But it's not a perfect world, which is why we DO have warranties and all that stuff.

Don't get me wrong I have been happy with my laptop while I had it and really feel it'll last me a few years. Meaning I won't be buying a new laptop every year just to keep up with the games. I know one day it won't be good enough, but with it's spec's and my gaming requirements it should last me a far longer time then any of my previous gaming laptops have. I am excited that it will be coming today and can't wait for it. I am just making statements is all really. Heck I probably wouldn't keep to my threat of banning all Samsung stuff if the repair didn't go right. (But don't tell Samsung this. lol) Understand I will be upset and I expect any one of you would be also if you were in my shoes. Since at this point I will be stuck with a brick if it doesn't work right. As we really don't have the money to send it away again. But I have a positive belief that Samsung hasn't wronged me this time around. And I am just covering and blowing steam out even when I don't need to. (I do that from time to time.)

I do wish to apologize for anything I may have said that offended anyone though. I don't know if I did or not and just wish to say it if I did. I was just speaking my mind. I thank you for reading my rants and ravings and hope everyone has a good day.

I will report my findings once my laptop comes.

 

Will I got my laptop back and ran prime 95 15 min run and furmark to test it. No more overheating! CPU maxes at about 95C but averages at about 85C while running prime 95. Idle about 35-42C. The only issues I had was they had some tape on the power brick and the battery with a number. (Probably a way to id what computer to what work order), That I ended up needing to use one of those utility knives on to remove. No damage to body. Other issue is there is a little gunk that keeps the battery stuck to the laptop a little and makes it hard to remove the battery. I managed to get it off the battery, but I'm gonna need to use a little bit more elbow grease to remove the rest off the laptop. (Not very major to gripe about but just a few observations.) They also did change the keyboard out. I can tell as before the Windows key was the older fashioned Windows Orb and now it's the Windows 8 design. Nothing to complain about though. Otherwise everything is as it was before and I am a very happy camper. My rant earlier was un needed. But I tend to do that, especially when it's something that is important or expensive. Samsung did a good job with this. I also wish to state that they didn't mess around with shipping it back to me as they used 2nd day air with ups. So now it's time to swap my SSD back in it, and get all my games back on it. (I had a pretty stock install when i sent it to them.)

 

What notebook cooler is everyone using for this laptop? Room temps get pretty warm here in Arizona plus the laptop will be quite warm from long gaming sessions on the weekends.

 

just saw the intel widi update on SW update.
installed it.. but cant run it..
it says it needs driver from intel or laptop manufacturer..
but i cant find it on samsung web..
any1 able to run this?

 

Glad to hear all went well with the fix. I would have had to RMA mine with the lower right USB 2.0 port not working but my retailer was pretty good about letting me fix it. Not many will do this, they have no idea what your capabilities are on the other end of a keyboard only.

For a cooler I presently am using a NZXT Cryo. I also had used this on the old Gateway P79xx. It has a powered 4 port USB 2.0 hub that I run of the back right of the laptop. The powered hub has my Wireless mouse, Joystick and Cell Cable. I keep the fans for the cooler on their lowest setting so it is pretty quiet..............

 

Widi won't work on this laptop as it uses the dedicated nvidia gpu and doesn't even touch the intel gpu. You NEED the intel gpu to work for widi to work. It's a bummer about widi, but I'm glad they didn't put in the switchable graphics as I've had bad luck with that, and from what others have said from other manufactures they have too.

On paper the switchable graphics seems nice, but in the real world on a gamer laptop it's not a good thing and I would have passed on this laptop if it had it. I paid for a gaming laptop and if I lose a few features to gain full power of the laptop so be it. At that point i'd rather have the performance. If they went the old way where there was a physical switch to select the gpu and you had to turn the power off to switch (amd did this for a short while) then yeah it would be nice and I would buy it. As I know it's either going to work for battery or for performance mode. With no mistakes on which gpu is going to be used. Will there is your answer and there is my opinion as well. Take it for what it's worth. (About 2 cents, lol.)

 

Yep, I probably could have ordered a new fan and fixed it myself. But they did replace the motherboard, and keyboard at the least. I don't recall my motherboard being blue. I think it was green. lol. Also the keyboard had the old windows style start buttton and now it has the newer win8 style start button. The gpu, while they claim to say they replaced it, hence the MXM in the one screenshot I had I can't verify it, but it's not overheating or anything so yeah.

Also to answer the cooler question: I use a Notepal Cooler U3, It has 3 fans that can be located anywhere you wish. I'm not using it right atm but it usually will drop my temps by 1-5C sometimes a little more depending on ambient temps and such. Not huge, but every little bit helps and counts!

 

Thank you TANWare and dragonwolf8504 for the cooler tips. I'll go look at those next.

 

Hmm i did tried it before and asked in this thread, and knew that it doesnt work that time..
Kind of a bummer that it still doesnt or wont work here as SW Update put it in one of the update list..
Guess it is time to uninstall again..
Hopefully nvidia can make it work in the future.. (have the device for my previous laptop)

Thanks for those info dw..

 

Yeah it does kind of suck, I keep hoping with each new update, Nvidia will release something that will work, but nothing so far.

 

...And my Notepal U3 Cooler just died. Anyone got any suggestions for a different cooler? I was looking at: Amazon.com: CM Storm SF-19 Gaming Laptop Cooling Pad with Two 140mm Turbine Fans (SGA-4000-KKNF1): Electronics

Am open to other suggestions that aren't too pricey. The biggest thing I didn't like about the Notepal U3 was when I moved it sometimes I would bump something and one of the fans would dislodge. It was a good cooler and I would probably still consider buying another one. But since the time has come I think I want to at least take a look at other coolers and see what's out there.

 

Hope I didn't jinx you by asking about coolers. I almost went with this model but I am curious, how steep is that incline? Would you still be able to type on the keyboard or do you need an external keyboard?

And since I am not much of a gamer (but my son is and this is his first laptop) is the preference for an external/wireless keyboard versus the notebook's keyboard?

 

I don't think you jinxed me, lol. The incline is actually very comfortable for me. Despite the Samsungs slight incline it still feels flat to me. The Notepal U3 had enough of an incline that it made it feel comfortable to type. The preference of keyboard: I love the keyboard on the Samsung compared to most other laptops. Though I love to use my Desktop's Razer Black Widow 2013 Keyboard. It's a mechanical keyboard. Don't go with a cheap keyboard as it would be a downgrade. Unless you like those island style, or chiclet keyboard. They worked for me, but I really love the keyboard on the Samsung to the point that I don't wish to use an external keyboard. (Unless someone gifted me another Black Widow Keyboard, lol.)

 

I have seen the Storm and it looks great but there is 1 deal breaker for me. I use the USB hub and on the cooler that would sit where my right hand is. Since as a DTR I use a mouse and am right handed this would place alot of stuff there to interfere. This is why I stick with the NZXT, the hub is in the rear...........................

 

I'm right handed too, but have gotten used to those kinds of things. They can be a pain so I know what you mean, but I don't really have $80 to spend on a cooler, not really even $50, but I want to make sure I get a really good quality cooler, one that I could even repair or upgrade later, which is why I have been eye balling the storm. If the NZXT was in the $50-$60 range I would buy it, I do like it. Specially the rear usb ports. But beggars can't be choosers and my mom is getting the cooler for me for christmas. Other than the USB port issue on the Storm what do you think of it?

 

I have no personal experience with the Storm but if it were not for the hub placement that is the cooler I would have went for.....................

 

OMG I came here to ask about coolers and discuss, and low and behold you guys are talkin about them! It's like you guys read my mind!
Anyways, I was playing Farcry 3 and my GPU seemed to be throwin a lot of heat. Not too much more than usual, and it did seem to be doing a good job of displacing the heat. But I am interested in a cooler. I just don't want it to raise it up too much, nor do I want too much of an incline to where using it to game still would be uncomfortable. I would be open to using a different keyboard, only problem is my desk is not very deep. It's actually built in to my room, almost like the size of a narrow closet. If I were to have a separate keyboard sitting in front of the laptop, that would mean I would have to push my laptop back, closer to the wall. And then I feel it wouldn't leave much room for heat to dissipate.
Also, how do I check the temps? What is a good free program to check temps of all my components, without installing any bloatware, and hopefully the program does not require a lot of resources.
Thanks for the help guys!

 

Also, anyone else have Farcry 3 yet? It's AWESOME. Problem is, I'm only getting like 20-25 FPS with everything set on High (not even extra high). I'm a noob and I am not familiar with what all the settings mean. Example HDAO and should I have Vsync on or off?
Please weigh in on this guys.

 

waiting new generation of gamer series with mx cards. Will it ever come?!

 

Will for starters I use EVGA Precision X to check for gpu temps. (Mainly because I used to have a EVGA GTX 550 ti in my desktop.) I use coretemp for watching cpu temps. when you do the setting right and don't mind having 5 temperature readouts in the clock area of the taskbar it's a great program. Coretemp also has a windows vista/7 gadget. You can even set up overheat protection on coretemp to prevent serious damage to your cpu. (I enable this when doing prime 95, but disable it doing anything else.)

EVGA | Software | EVGA Precision

Core Temp

As for coolers. I've actually found that adding an incline helps make it more comfortable. (And helps prevent carpal tunnel, think I spelled that right.) The cooler I have now is a Cooler Master Notepal U3. It has 3x 80MM fans with multispeed dial that can be moved around. It has worked great, but is getting long in the tooth. (Shorts in the wiring, the usb plug has a short somewhere in it, and the fans just don't seem to be as powerful as they used to be despite me cleaning it.) Now this may be just my model or the fact that I got it when it came out. (2009 I think.) I know it's been a good couple years. Not to mention I let a friend borrow the U3. His laptop's, (an old Dell 1501) fan died in it and he used this cooler to exclusively cool his cpu, no cpu fan. It worked for him. He finally was able to buy a new laptop and I got the cooler back. Anyhow here is the link (On amazon) for that cooler: Amazon.com: Cooler Master NotePal U3 Laptop Cooling Pad with Three Configurable 80mm Fans (R9-NBC-8PCK-GP): Electronics

I am also looking at:

Amazon.com: CM Storm SF-19 Gaming Laptop Cooling Pad with Two 140mm Turbine Fans (SGA-4000-KKNF1): Electronics

and

Amazon.com: NZXT CRYO LX Aluminum Notebook Cooler 15-Inch to 19-Inch with 120MM Adjustable Fans - Black-CRYO LX BLACK: Computers & Accessories

I use Amazon as I have Prime and can get 2 day shipping for free and Next day shipping for $3 extra should I choose.

I saw Newegg has the NZXT for sale for like $58 but none in stock. I may try to wait and see, but since this is a Christmas gift from my mom she wants to get the shopping done soon. Not to mention (for me) it's $5 shipping at newegg, free 2 day at Amazon. So the price difference is starting to loss it's favor at newegg. So if I go with the NZXT It'll probably be Amazon. Anyhow, I am also still thinking about just getting another U3, but since it's time for a new one I wouldn't mind trying something new. As mentioned further up the NZXT and SF19 both seem to be good coolers. With TANWare vouching for the NZXT and stating that if it wasn't for the Side USB ports on the SF19, would've gone for that one. So it's a balancing thing.

As for your issues with FPS on Farcry 3. I don't have it yet, but it looks to be good. Anyhow, I would set anything that has AA, AF, HDAO? to 2x or the lowest setting before off and see if that helps your fps. IF those are already at the lowest, I would turn them off and go from there. Experimenting is the key to finding a good balance between details and fps. Vsynce IMO should be always On, though if you've set the Refresh Rate at 120Hz, (Which this laptop can do) Vsync probably won't do much, of which case you can leave the 120Hz setting and turn Vsynce off. (From what I was told and understand from before.) If you can't change the Refresh rate to 120Hz, and it is stuck at 60 or 75 (which it does sometimes) then just make sure Vsync is On. You may need to turn your detail settings down a little more though with Vsync turned off as Vsync can push the gpu a little more. Vsync pretty much helps prevent Vertical Tearing in FPS and such. (This is where your mainly moving around real quick.)

Screen tearing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

That was just in case you wanted to know more or such.

Hope this helps and if it does rep me! Naw you don't need to rep me regardless, I just like helping people and try what I can when I can. Seriously though, hope it helps.

 

Hey all, I was looking at cooling pads and one of the ones I was watching had dropped in price making it seem more reasonable so here is a link:

Amazon.com: Blue LED 10-Inch to 17-Inch Laptop Notebook Cooling Cooler Stand Pad: Computers & Accessories

Thinking of getting it to replace my old Notepal U3, tell me what you think.


From what I read it uses Hydro Bearing fans. A little bit about Hydro Bearing fans:

Fluid Bearings

As the name suggests, these bearings tend to be the lowest noise level as a result of the fluid cycling technology used. There are a lot of names for fluid-based fans and the bearings are manufactured by a number of providers, so as a blanket term for this article, we'll simply refer to them as "fluid dynamic" or "fluid fans," but may use "hydro" as well.




Lifespan & Noise: Fluid-dynamic fan bearings have the greatest lifespan -- ranging anywhere from 100,000 hours on the low end (40-70C) to upwards of 300,000 hours, depending on the fan selected. These hours are all projections from tests performed in reliability labs, of course, which simulate the stress a fan would receive by using varied test methodologies -- but that's an entirely different article.

Fans using fluid-dynamic setups remain very quiet throughout the entirety of their life. As a quick comparison, two fans that we used in our noise level test rig are spec'd like this:

Bearing Spec Sleeve Fluid/Hydro
Operating RPM (Controlled) 1200RPM 1200RPM
Noise Level (Variable) ~22dBA ~18.7dBA
Operating Temperature (Controlled) 50C 50C


Mounting: Fluid fans can be mounted in any direction without hiccup.

Performance: Fluid-dynamic bearings are made for high-performance rigs; they are generally preferential for sustainability and relative silence, while pushing the same or more air (measured in CFM) as other fans of their range. These fans tend to run a bit more expensive - a couple bucks on the consumer level - but are worth it for anyone wanting an ultra-quiet system.

From what I can read even though it wasn't a name brand it would have been worth the $50, let alone being dropped in price.

 

There is one thing strange about this laptop: keyboard area gets warmer than the bottom of the laptop.

 

With the NZXT mine seems cool all over..................

 

Dragonwolf, thank you for your help.
I know you don't yet have Farcry 3 (I highly recommend it) but what games do you have?
Also, do you have FRAPS?
I'd like to compare some of your results with mine if you don't mind.
Also, I remember getting like 50-60 FPS on Battlefield 3 with everything set on high or ultra (It's been a while since I've played that game). It's strange that I'm not getting good results with FC3. :-(
Today, I'm gonna go ahead and boot up BF3 again and see what results I'm getting. With that game, I was using it's built in FPS tracker. But I will also run FRAPS and compare the results. Maybe FRAPS just isn't giving me accurate readings. But the framerate on FC3 certainly looks bad. I don't know. But anyways, I repped you because you've been extremely helpful on here. Us Series 7 owners gotta stick together!
Later bro

 

Well, looks like I'm not the only one having issues with this game. Seems to be a problem of the game's optimization (or lack thereof).
Take a look here https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/525060/pc-games/far-cry-3-performance-issues-/
While disappointed, I'm relieved it's not the fault of my $1900.00 laptop.
One guy says he has dual 680 in SLI and he's having issues with frame rate. I breath a sigh of relief. But Ubisoft needs to patch this game, and FAST.

 

same issue in sc2. Before 1.5.3 update everything was amazing. After 1.5.3 fps is halved.

 

Will it is a sigh of relief it isn't our nice laptops, but yeah that sucks. They need to optimize it better. GTA4 Sucked a lot and still from what I read can suck on pc due to the optimizations, or lack thereof. I can install fraps and stuff to my Sammy and see what fps I get on games such as Starcraft 2, and such and list them that way we have another user to base fps off of. Though it will take a little time as I barely have any games installed due to receiving my laptop back from the repair shop. Yeah I agree with your post before about us Series 7 gamers sticking together. I do love my Sammy a lot. And was glad to see it repaired and back in my hands. I will post some fraps stuff as soon as I got stuff installed and have the time to run the tests.

 

Will I finally decided, err will my mom decided for me. lol

Amazon.com: CM Storm SF-19 Gaming Laptop Cooling Pad with Two 140mm Turbine Fans (SGA-4000-KKNF1): Electronics

This will be the cooler to replace my trustful notepal u3. Cooler Master will still keep my laptop cool. Which is Ironic as I have a fully stocked Cooler Master HAF XM Mid-Tower Case for the Desktop. I never really gave it any thought until I started looking up a replacement then thought to myself "huh, i've been using cooler master stuff for awhile now, lol."

 

Should get my cooler today, I'll come back with a little review, then I can also get to checking fps on games.