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

Thanks, good to know, kinda dig this laptop and wanted to get it and get an ssd to toss in it

 

I went with a 480GB Mushkin, more than enough for Windows 7 and Linux. I also went for a BR R/W and 3820 but at quite a permium overall. Fo my needs the 3820 was overkill from what I've experienced so far. I do hawever have quite a bit of CPU headroom and I guess that is what I wass really paying for..............

 

Hey Guys, I have the NP700G7C-S01US Series 7 Gamer. I replaced the O.S. C: Drive with a Samsung 830 256 Gb SSD. I've botched my user files to the point where I'm going to reinstall using the Samsung recovery disk(the physical cd which came with the notebook). I did not us Samsung recovery solution at all because I like the Windows 7 system backup and I also have Acronis to use once I read the thousand page manual!

My questions are regarding the 8gb SSD and Expresscache. Since I'm re-installing everything, I'd like to do it right and not have to do it again for an Expresscache issue. I've read some of this thread, but not all of it, and another one on another site. I'm just trying to save some time by asking these few simple questions(hopefully):

1- Has a consensus been reached whether to even download and use the expresscache software, keeping in mind that I already have the above mentioned SSD. I know it would be useful if I had no SSD, but I'm not sure since I have one. I see some people here saying to turn it off or uninstall it if you have an SSD.

2- If I don't use the software, is there any use I can get out of the 8Gb SSD? I see it in Disk Management, but not in explorer. Can I store and run programs or games off of it, or store other data on it?

3 - This may sound stupid, but is there an actual physical 8Gb SSD, or is that just a segment of the O.S. drive formatted expressly (pardon the pun!) for Expresscache? When I was installing the SSD, the manual said nothing about where the 8Gb SSD is located.

4 - If your recommendations are to NOT use it for Expresscache, and if I can't use it for anything else, should I uninstall it using Disk Management or Device Manager? If so, should I then physically remove the disk if I find there actually is one?

Thanks in advance for any help. I'd read through all this stuff if I had the time right now, but I've got a lot on the plate for a while!

Thanks,
Ed :thumbsup:

 

As far as the express cache it is an iSSD. Essentially a 8GB chip soldered to the main board. It is much slower than just about any true SATA SSD you can purchase. It would be ok to use for programs or other data you would be primarilly reading from. I would suggest staying away from high writes as I doubt the lifetime of those chips would be very long in that situation, plus writes can get slow.

The iSSD is supposed to be trim enabled, so that shouldn't be a concern. Using it as a swap file would probably be a bad idea. Just the nature of any SSD and internal block management, leveling and garbage collection etc. I just use it as NTFS and placing install files from zips etc. So it rarely gets used.............

 

Thinking about upgrading the capacity of my SSD how is this one?

Amazon.com: Crucial m4 256GB 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive SATA 6Gb/s with Data Transfer Kit CT256M4SSD2CCA: Computers & Accessories

I am also looking at this one as it is backed by pny:

HP v300a 240GB Internal Serial ATA Solid State Drive with Upgrade Kit SSD7SC240GCDA-HPKIT - Best Buy

Both are in my price range and I could pick the second one up now if I wanted to.


Current SSD I have is in my sig.

 

I don't have any experience with the HP unit, but I was considering the m4 before I bought the one I have. I hear m4 is good. It'll give you an extra 16GB as well.

Edit: as TANware said, and it goes for all ssd , always make sure to upgrade to the latest firmware right away and make sure to check for new firmware versions often.

 

Either should be fine. Real world I doubt you would see a difference. The one reviewer mentioned on the M4 to watch the firmware as there was a self heal issue with earlier versions. I have a Mushkin 480GB and can say there is nothing like having a large usefull primary SSD.............

 

Hi TANWare, Forgot to thank you last week for the informative answer. saved me a lot of digging. Thanks again, Eddie

 

My pleasure.................

 

i dony know why but when i turn on the computer speakers doesnt work like first 30 secs after boot. Why? It is strange...

 

It is the latency issue with Samsung's software. It can also hold up other drivers like external mice etc. You should read the thread in this forum addressing the issues.

As a quick hint I only have modeshift prpoerly installed and run easysettings without a proper install. Easysettings is the primay culprit holding driver startup. for detailed info on fixing itn again read the thread.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/samsung/688064-how-reduce-latencies-samsung-laptops.html

 

Thx ^^ i will have a look on that article. Do you know what does gaming mode do when you enable service restriction?

 

Not too sure. I have just easy settings and mode shift installed. With the service restriction enabled I do not see a change when going between gaming mode and otherwise. No difference in the number of services or the number of running and stopped.

 

Does anyone else have problems with the keyboard marking the screen and leaving smudges all over it?

 

I bought one of those 17" shaggymac keyboard covers. Works great.

 

When I am playing a game and moving with the w, a, s and d keys, the touchpad is disabled. This means I can't look around while I move on the game.

Anyone know how to stop the touchpad disabling when using the wasd keys?

I have searched everywhere on the internet for an answer and if I can't fix this I need to return the laptop =/

Thanks everyone

 

I think it is part of the software. Under palm rejection and ACM. The version I have for the elan the options to control these do not exist.

 

Hello, Everyone! I just bought the Samsung Gamer 700G7C - T02 with ivy bridge and radeon hd7870m 3d ! I teardown it!
and here is what I found inside

motherboard :
videocard: Ati HD7870M - 2gb GDDR5 (128bit) with heatsink TDP - 32W:
videocard and heatsink from Samsung 700g7a- s02 - Ati HD6970m - 2gb (256bit) GDDR5 TDP-75W - other heatsink :
videocard : ati hd7870m with GTX680M - 2Gb top KEPLER
videocard GTX680M in Samusng 700G7C motherboard in standart MXM slot
the heatsink from 7870m suitable for installation on GTX680M but videocard does not work in motherboard, may be bios cant support this card!

 

What is ACM?
Does this mean there is no way to change this ever?
People were talking about drivers, would changing the driver stop this? (Although I have no idea how to do this, I'm an 18 year old girl who knows nothing about laptops really)
I know it's a design feature but I hate it ><
Thanks for replying

 

The vbios is embedded into the main bios on the gamer 7. If you can get someone to create a bios for you that has a 680M vbios embedded, you might have just made lot of friends being the first to make this happen.

You might want to be careful though, you could end up bricking your mobo.

 

Does anyone have any pictures of the Samsung 700g7c with GTX675M?

 

Anyone else know how to stop the touchpad disabling when using the keyboard in gaming mode?

 

is the touchpad driver version "ETDWare PS/2-X64 10.7.17.5_WHQL"?

 

It's practically the same.

 

Hi Please can I have some advice from the owners of the 700G7C.

I am thinking of buying the 700G7C-So2 UK laptop for photo editing and video editing, but no gaming.

I've read reviews saying that the screen is great and is even though it is glossy, it is not particularily reflective, is this the case? This could be sufficient for my purposes.

In one review, the reviewer said that even though the screen is great for gaming, for someone doing photo editing, they should still dfeinetely buy a laptop with an IPS screen.

Do you guys agree with this or do you think this laptop is good for photo editing? Does anyone use it for photo editing?

Many thanks.

 

if you are doing professional photo editing IPS is the way to go. This as you are editing for the photos to eventually be printed. Color representation then is extremely important here. Now if you are doing it as a hobby and do not need the IPS then this laptop is the ticket.

 

Thank you. How reflective is the glossy display? I have heard that is doesn't produce that much glare?

Thanks.

 

I am going to have a look at this laptop tomorrow.

Can anyone please tell me what video editing / rendering is like on the 3630qm, GTX 675M version, in terms of speed?

Thanks.

 

Thanks for the great info. So right now, I have uninstalled the Expresscache software. Actually it's been about a month since I did that.
I can see the 8gb SSD in Disk Mgt and in Device Mgr, but not in Windows Explorer.
I'll post a snip of what I'm seeing in Disk Mgr. Notice Disk 1 (the SSD) has no Volume Name or File System.(Hilited in yellow).
The service manual says that if you want to, you can disable it by removing it in Device Manager with no harmful effects.
"Control & work
Express Cache Driver Control by self, User can only turn on/off/On Easy Setting, can turn on/off /Default setting is
ON.(Game,Balance,Library,Eco)
If it eliminated in device manager, there is no problem on system .But to use Express Cache again, reinstall the
Driver.(included in SW MEDIA DVD)
-Caution
On the BIOS,don’t change the booting sequence.
- ISSD is only cache . It’s not an HDD for OS." - From service manual.

But I'd like to get some use out of it, even if just for storage or a game save folder or something.
I just learned how to do an elevated command prompt to format and partition my HDD. Do I need to do the same for this 8gb SSD? Or do I need to do something else? Hopefullly something easy through Disk Mgmt!
Thanks, Ed

 

I'm going to have to switch to using my HDD instead of SSD, I've filled up the Secondary HDD and have my SSD about 75% full. Sucks but at least these laptops came with 7,200RPM HDD's instead of the 5400rpm drives most do.

 

Does anyone know why do i lose my internet connection whenever i turn the switch to any other mode?

 

So I went into the Samsung store yesterday to check this laptop out, the lighting in the room was very bright and I found the the display was very reflective. I was so disappointed, as I really want it for photo editing.

This differs from the reviews I have read, saying that the laptop lacks glare even though it is glossy.

Am I missing something? What is the glossy display like in your opinions?

Do you find the laptop less reflective than other glossy screens in your home environment with normal lighting?

 

It has the same glare as about any reflective I have seen. The difference is where others I have had will be drowned out by the glare this one is still viewable from the brightness. This will be true of even IPS if the screen is glossy....................

 

Hi Tanware,

Thanks again for the great info. So right now, I have uninstalled the Expresscache software. Actually it's been about a month since I did that.I can see the 8gb SSD in Disk Mgt and in Device Mgr, but not in Windows Explorer.

I'll post a snip of what I'm seeing in Disk Mgr. Notice Disk 1 (the SSD) has no Volume Name or File System.(Hilited in yellow). I've tried to insert a pix twice now and my screen just goes grey and never comes back??

The service manual(In broken English) says that if you want to, you can disable it by removing it in Device Manager with no harmful effects. "Control & work
Express Cache Driver Control by self, User can only turn on/off/On Easy Setting, can turn on/off /Default setting is ON.(Game,Balance,Library,Eco)
If it eliminated in device manager, there is no problem on system .But to use Express Cache again, reinstall the Driver.(included in SW MEDIA DVD)
-Caution On the BIOS,don’t change the booting sequence.
- ISSD is only cache . It’s not an HDD for OS." - From service manual.

But I'd like to get some use out of it, even if just for storage or a game save folder or something. I just learned how to do an elevated command prompt to format and partition my HDD. Do I need to do the same for this 8gb SSD? Or do I need to do something else? Hopefullly something easy through Disk Mgmt! So did you just format it NTFS and create a partition or just format it?

Thanks for your time. I tried posting a reply a few days ago, but it wound up on the very end of the thread instead of as a reply??

Regards,
Eddie

Hopefully the pic will upload now.

I can't get an image to upload. All I wanted to show was that the 8gb ISSD had no volume name or file system.

 

Mine is disabled and then using disk management I made into a NTFS and gave it a name. While my download files are saved to the primary SSD all zip files get expanded to the issd before activation. In fact I'll copy any install file there first.

 

Does anyone have issues with the boot menu? I have tried to get the boot menu quite a few times and can't seem to do so. I have a Bootable USB Windows drive (that works, I just tried it on another computer to install windows.) My laptop won't recognize the usb drive. Only boot from hard drive and hdd.

 

Remember to first turn off the Samsung Fast Boot in either (Easy) Settings or the BIOS. Otherwise it won't check for bootable USB devices. Then F10 at the BIOS screen should bring up a boot device menu.

John

 

Great info - Thanks again!

 

Interesting.

Does anyone know if the T01/2 id upgradable with 675m or 7970m? Or BIOS conflicts is beyond the corner? I love the Series 7 but they packed the new version with that atrocity called 7870m...

 

Hello everybody. I just received this laptop (S02US-Windows 8 version) and so far so good. I'm just wondering there are any updates (like bios) I should stay away from for stability reasons for the time being. Also is everyone using the latest drivers from Nvidia? From what I can find the ones one the Samsung site are a bit older. Thanks in advance!

 

I usually use the latest NVidia driver but again I am not a gamer so there have been no compatibility issues here. As far as bios I have not seen an issue either. However I am not a windows 8 user so there can be issues specific to the OS most users here that are still under windows 7 may never see.

 

What is the battery life like?

 

I get about 3 hours when in low power profile mode. If your looking at long battery life while gaming, not many or probably even none will do that. It's a gaming computer first and a laptop second.

Also, I want to state that unlike older laptops, users don't really need to take their batteries out. You can if you want, but manufacturers have worked on the charging circuitry since then so you don't have to. I have never had an issue of battery wear happening on any of my more current laptops That and the fact that it's nice when the power goes out and I can keep on working on my laptop for a little while. With that being said, has anyone noticed that whenever you push the laptop gaming and such that the battery charge indicator switches from green to amber indicating it's charging? I've had that happen a few times to me and am wondering why this is. Does the laptop drain power from the battery every so often when it's being pushed to condition the battery or boost the power output to the laptop? Or what is happening? It seems to be happening whenever I play hardcore games that actually make the gpu and cpu work some. (Not all my games do this. Just some.) Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

 

Hey, I just got this computer, I had to factory rest because windows updates messsed with the computer. I has 16gb ram but it says 12.8 is available and my ram usage is at a constant 20-25 percent does that seem right? I am on windows 8. Really dont think i should be using 4gb when i am doing nothing.

 

Maybe that is IntelliMemory at work (although it usually consumes more RAM than you are observing).

John

 

thanks for the reply...could i ask what some of your ram usages are for the comp. does windows 8 normally do this? more information would be appreciated

 

IntelliMemory is installed by Samsung on some notebooks. Many people uninstall it due to the RAM is consumes.

Check if it is installed and, if you want, uninstall it and see what difference (RAM usage and performance) occurs. Should you decide that it helps you can reinstall it using SW Update.

John

 

Microsoft store online is selling this at a $500 discount right now for anybody considering buying it.

Buy Samsung Series 7 Gamer Notebook NP700G7C-S02US - Microsoft Store Online

 

That's a good price..

 

I bought the NP700G7C-S02US about a month ago, and pretty much since installing some games on it, i cant get "modeshift" to work. It pops up saying Samsung modeshift has stopped working. I have uninstalled it, re installed it, but to no avail. After talking to a Samsung tech rep, they said that Samsung hasn't come out with drivers for some of their products for windows 8. Anyone have any work arounds for "modeshift"? I mean it still kicks the processor into turbo, etc, its just annoying to see it pop up every time i switch it into gamer mode...