Samsung Series 7 Lovers - Here's The NP700Z5C Ivy Bridge!

At idle the Sony is noticeably louder -- seems like the HDD and fan are continually humming. But the two machines are more or less equally loud under load (while gaming).

You're right -- the ports on the right seem dumb! At first I thought there was a large difference between the i7 (Samsung) and i5 (Sony) but now that I've spent more time with the Sony, the difference seems smaller. The Sony lacks something like the Express Cache though. I would definitely replace the HDD with a SSD.

-Matt

 

There's a guy selling sandy bridge quad series 7 for around 600. Should i buy sandy bridge or ivy bridge. Is cpu/gpu only thing that's differemt from two version?

 

I think the sandy's are from the Z5A series with AMD graphics. If so I'd suggest an ivy bridge with an NVIDIA card -- better switching.

-Matt

 

quick question, when will the ivy bridge refresh hit the uk??

 

Running furmark/P95 in a sec. Will run for 15-30 mins and report results. Ambient temp kinda low, 21.67 celsius/71 fahrenheit. Computer is elevated to not cover fans. Will edit with results.

First update, 3 min in: Subjectively, max fan with both prime 95 and furmark is realy not that loud. CPU temp jumped up to 91 but after the fan kicked in, it's settled around 80-83.

GPU chilling at 83 degrees and not throttling except for every now and then. (Very briefly)

CPU throttled at ~2ghz after 5 min.

10 min: GPU steady at 88 degrees, I don't think it is throttling... it says core:708 mhz (THROTTLING -573 mhz) but I don't think that means anything, because that 708 mhz has changed before for very brief periods. Maybe someone more familiar with furmark can tell me.
CPU at 1750 mhz roughly at 90 degrees celsius.

15 minutes: GPU steady at 88 degrees still displaying Core:708 mhz (THROTTLING-573mhz). I meant to screenshot but I didn't.

CPU still going (cancelled furmark) Still at 90 degrees, but hopped straight up to 2.8ghz after furmark ended. Only running prime 95 now. The fan is also slightly (noticeably) quieter, but still noticeable.

20 minutes: 90 degrees, 2900-2950 mhz. To be more specific, two cores are around 84 degrees, the other two are at 87-90.

30 minutes: Ending Prime95. Computer has been steady at 2.9ghz which is the maximum 4core turbo immediately after ending furmark for 15 minutes and hovering between 80-90 degrees. I like this result, games will never stress the CPU and GPU to 100%, (or one of them for that matter). Keep in mind my ambient temps were pretty low, so you might be looking at either + a few degrees or a bit more throttling in a maximum load scenario. But for real world gaming, I don't think throttling will be an issue at all. (Or other scenarios).

If anybody has any questions/tests they want me to run, let me know. I have a lot of free time on my hands because of a work injury to my hand, so I can't work or game Only thing I prefer to avoid is furmark, because it's so bad for your GPU.

Last edit: Within seconds of turning P95 off, the fan is off/unnoticeable and CPU temp is in the 50s. (With how I elevate my comp/my ambient temps, I idle around 35-45). End of this paragraph: 49 degrees-53 degrees. The keyboard is warm but not uncomfortable, but I do have a ceiling fan on that eplains my low ambient/could explain my nice keyboard. But I don't think it would be much worse either way.

- other than the temperature (I just started furmark very briefly to get a picture) that is the information that was displayed.

 

That's very cool and very helpful, thanks! (Sorry to hear about the hand, though. Bummer.)

I kind of have a hypothetical request: I've been gaming a bit with the Sony, and I'm impressed with the framerates and temps on the 640m LE -- did I already mention that on this thread, if so sorry! What's particularly standing out is that I can't seem to push the GPU temp much above 65C (and meanwhile CPU 75C, but that's another issue).

Anyway, what I'm wondering is if you're willing to explore underclocking your 640m (maybe with Afterburner) to see if you if you can bring the GPU temp down. I'm not worried about getting that high -- but I'm really curious if the temps I'm seeing are due to my card running slower than yours (it's also DDR3, so who really knows).

Let me know if you're interested in giving it a try...Mr. Free-Time-On-His-Hands.

-Matt

 

Well gaming is a bit hard to run, but i'll try and do some SC2. I'll download MSI afterburner tomorrow and find out.

DDR3 runs cooler than ddr5 afaik though. But it should be considerably slower at 1080P. What drivers are you using?

 

NVIDIA drivers? If so, here's what GPU-Z says: nvlddmkm 8.17.12.9618 (ForceWare 296.18)

Regarding resolutions: I'm running games at 1600x900 to keep comparisons with the Samsung a little more level. The times I've ventured into 1920x1080 I got frame rates in the 20s or lower.

-Matt

 

hey guys, quick question

crucial M4 vs samsung 830?
also, 128gb vs 256gb? (I'll be moving original HDD to optical drive)

 

Both are very good so i would say it depends on price. I purchased my M4 256GB for $155 at newegg last month, just wait for a sale IMO. Also, if you get the m4, make sure you get the 7MM version, as the 9.5mm version will not fit in the Z5C-S01US and i doubt the "UB" variant, either.

 

I am having some trouble getting the back cover off my S01US. Has anyone had success taking the back cover off? I can get the back hinge snaps off but the sides are just..impossible. Maybe i need longer nails but i am afraid of scratching the metal along the back hinge anymore...only do this once or twice max otherwise you may have some ugly scars on your laptop.

 

Sorry, really feeling sick today so didn't mess with gpu gadget. As a warning/info tto others though, here is a question I posted on a teamliquid tech support forum: (I consider them more knowledgeable than most/all forums I've seen, no offense to the wonderful people on here )

 

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but my gut feeling is there are more reliable ways to test your network than with speedtest. In particular, you really want to know how your LAN is performing. Of course it stands to reason if speedtest says you're getting 20Mbps throughput, that is at least the BEST your LAN is capable of -- still, I'm not 100% sure that's what speedtest is actually measuring (the problem is it's a "black box" and the algorithm within is unknown -- e.g., is it really measuring "speed to your PC" or "speed to your router"? All signs indicate the former but without opening "the box" we can't be sure.).

At a minimum, why not pull up a command shell and try pinging your router a bit? I'd trust those number a bit more.

-Matt

 

That's worth a try. The point that I took from it isn't so much the numbers, but the fact that my brother can get a pretty reliable signal from anywhere whereas I can't. I get numbers all over the place, his is consistently 24ish (I was getting 24 this morning - now its around 14. So strange.)

Edit: Anandtech reviewed the xps 15. Gaming performance here: AnandTech - Dell XPS 15 L521X: A Detailed First Look

Regarding DDR3 vs DDR5:

So DDR5 makes a difference in gaming performance, even it seems at lower resolutions. There was one exception but Anandtech showed the reason for that. Gadget, I think that at 1600x900, you would be seeing a difference of roughly equal to the clock speed + some. There isn't really much use in us comparing though, because we will never benchmark exactly the same way, or w/ the same games. I might try testing out the 640M both downclocked and @ normal, to see the difference though.

 

Yeah, you're right the variability is not a good sign. Does your router have a 5GHz radio you can try?

-Matt

 

I seem to be fairly stable around 18, which is enough for 1080p and all, but I'd still like to be able to get full bandwidth.

I'm not sure. I'm not very familiar with networking, how do I figure that out?

Edit: There's an option to "maximize power savings" on the wifi adapter on battery. I wonder if that made a difference. Its in advanced power savings.

Edit: I turned bluetooth off and IMMEDIATELY on my first try got 24 dld. I'll test again multiple times to see if that was the standard inconsistency, or if bluetooth really did make a difference, since I never use bluetooth

 

Ah, that's interesting about bluetooth. Definitely worth investigating.

As far as the 5GHz band, that's easy to set on the Samsung -- but your router, that I probably can't help much with! In my experience most people don't have dual-band routers.

-Matt

 

The ExpressCache and the i7 is turning me away from this laptop. I just want to be clear, I don't need an i7 so I would be over buying and the i7 version is expensive enough as it is.

And the problems with the ExpressCache + installing my own SSD are really troubling.

Does anyone have other suggestions for maybe a 13.3" that's not a Series 9?

 

what's the problem with installing your own SSD?

 

And Express Cache is just a bit of memory soldered to the mobo -- if you don't install the utility it just sits there like an extra tiny internal drive.

-Matt

 

how much gpu do you need?

Edit: It's definitely bluetooth. After resuming from sleep bluetooth was back on, and I got 14 down, but disabling it shot it straight up to 24.

Also, Asus ux32vd is a good choice. And the MBA is actually a competitively priced product nowadays (like the iphone).

 

This is going to sound so stupid, but how do I buy this!??!?!?

Series 7 15.6

When I click shop it won't show me any retailers, can you not buy direct from Samsung???

If not, are there any other 15" Series 7's with the ivy bridge i7 and the 640m for around that price somewhere else?

 

^ I bought s01us for 999 @ pc richard & son

 

Amazon.com: Samsung Series 7 NP700Z5C-S01US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Silver): Computers & Accessories

s01us for $929.99. Only one left. There were 5 this morning. Snagged one myself =D

Ace Wholesale is also selling it for 959.99
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0083S3OWW?ie=UTF8&seller=A23BZAUCJOT8YM&sn=Ace77

Price might come down again since they're both price matching eachother

 

Does it have the 640m card? I thought that one only has a 630m?

 

As George predicted, Wallet Pleasers has relisted the S01US, at $930 + $8 shipping. There is also another merchant listing $960 + $8. Not sure how many they have:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-list...id=&me=&qid=&sr=&seller=&colid=&condition=new

-Matt

 

The S01US has a 640m gddr5 which isn't bad at all. The bestbuy version which I think is the s01ub model (something with a B) has a 630m which is quite slower.

 

Missed out on the Wallet Pleasers one but I was able to snag the $970 one. Got expedited shipping so it should be here between July 30th and August 6th, I'm so excited!

 

Cool! You're gonna really enjoy it.

-Matt

 

Thanks! I can't wait to get it. The only laptop I've ever owned is my current 3 year old Toshiba Satellite with a first gen i3 and an intel HD graphics 3000 card. So i can't wait to actually PLAY games hahahaha.

 

Hey all - I'm loving my NP700Z5C-S01US! I threw a Crucial M4 256GB in and this machine really flies. As for the graphics performance - I'm pleasantly surprised. Games run excellently on it, but one thing about nVidia's Optimus technology that irks me a lot is the inability for me to force the 640m to be used for the Windows Experience Index test. I know the numbers mean next to nothing, but it's just so annoying to see the 6.7 for "Desktop" and "Gaming" performance because of that damn Intel 4000 chip :-/. I've tried changing power plans, the default card in the nVidia control panel, etc. but cannot effect any result. Does anyone have any recommendations? I didn't see a means to change the default chip in the Bios, so I'm stumped. Again - I know it doesn't matter but it is irksome.

I have the latest 304.79 drivers installed and as for my subjective input regarding game performance: So far I've tested L.A. Noire, Civ V, Assassin's Creed: Revelations, and Fallout: New Vegas. All run SUPERBLY. Native resolution was used for each game, and while I didn't have a FPS program running in the background for a test, I can say that they all appeared to remain about 30fps (except Civ: V at full zoom distance, but even then I was impressed). All were run with the highest Direct X version available for each (LA: 11, Civ: 11, ACR: No choice but I believe it's DX10, Fallout NV: No choice but it's a DX9 game). I'm downloading Max Payne 3 and have Deus Ex Human Revolution downloaded and will try both later.

The only issue I encountered during game play was a crash after about 5 minutes of play in L.A. Noire during the first "newspaper" flashback. The game was running at full resolution and settings (minus AA and AF because I knew this card would only be able to take so much torture ) and while the game remained above 30 fps to my eyes and the laptop remained cool to the touch, it simply locked up and required a Ctrl+Alt+Del to exit the game. I saw, after doing a search, that some dude on the steam forums had the same issue with a 580 or 680 SLi setup, so I'll just attribute this to bad code and optimization for the PC on Rockstar's part (go figure!).

I've just installed Fraps and will report back with FPS later if anyone is curious.

 

I've looked at the VD, but there are SO many issues with that laptop. And I can't use a mac for my school. The programs I need require Windows.

GPU .. if that means graphics card, then it doesn't have to be very powerful. I don't game a lot at all, and even then it's nothing intense like BF3 or what not.

 

Umm.. then XPS 14. You can get the base model or the GT630M model for 100$ more.

IMO. Although it's a 14". You could wait for an ivy bridge refresh of the XPS13.

 

The Lenovo U410 at $899 looks like another option but I'm not too thrilled with the 1366x768 resolution or the 610m graphics card:

Ben's Bargains - Lenovo IdeaPad U410 3rd Gen Core i7 SSD 14" ...

-Matt

 

Just purchased this laptop up today. Coming from a mac the screen is dull and the palmrest has that sharp edge. im stunned with the gaming performance. around 250 fps on half life 2 High res according to FRAPS

 

So...it's a keeper?

-Matt

 

Is it that if someone is coming from Mac will feel screen is dull or even if someone is coming from some other windows based laptop will also feel the same ?
Like, is it inherent quality of this very laptop that screen is dull.
Sorry but i am not really able to understand what DULL means in this case and isn't it possible to increase brightness of screen 1-2 steps up to get more brighter (less duller??) screen ?

 

IMHO brightness and clarity are fine. The problem is it's a low-contrast display which means (in my words) the colors are muted. "Dull" in the sense that they don't have much intensity to them.

I'd also say this: looking at the Samsung on it's own, it's fine...maybe even more than "fine." Placed next to a superior display (or in one's minds eye) it becomes a lot less satisfying. The solution here (e.g., kDrum) is to either use it with an external display, or to not use it next to a Mac! LOL

-Matt

 

So i see it finally boils down to personal preference. If i am someone who is not much into the contrast ratio and viewing angles stuff i will be overlooking these things. Most important thing for me personally is that the screen should look acceptable in the angle i am going to use it most of the time.

 

Is there any way to calibrate screen?coming from antiglare high res mbp this is gonna be annoying.

 

If I made partitions on my hard disk (partitions for like documents, music, etc.) and I used the recovery disc, am I fine or do I need to delete the partitions to form the full C drive again? Also, how do I check which video card is being used when I'm in a game or something? Thanks!

Edit: Does the backlit F12 key (Wifi Key for Fn Function) stay lit up even if you turn off the backlight?

 

I believe Optimus has something in that little arrow/box in the bottom right. That said, I've never had or heard of anybody having issues with optimus.

Yes. I don't really notice it though.

I seem to be having wifi issues again. I'm not sure why/how, but its annoying, haha.

 

Where can i have a look at the NP700Z5C laptop ? Fry's ? Microcenter ?

 

I don't know if this anecdote helps but: I've been into Best Buy 3 or 4 times to "recalibrate" my feelings about the Samsung, and EVERY time I walk out thinking "Sheesh it's not a bad display." In the short time I owned it, I had no problem finding a good position/angle -- OK it took a day or two to adjust, but once I found it I had it!

I don't think you can calibrate away the low-contrast issues, but there is a related thread that suggests "improved" color profiles (esp. for earlier displays which may have been worse).

-Matt

 

I've looked at the XPS 14. But I personally think it's overpriced and it's really quite heavy for a 14' that's supposed to be an ultrabook.

 

You're running out of good options then haha. The Samsung series 9 is also overpriced, but nice. And yes, it's heavy for an ultrabook, but imo 4 pounds really isn't all that heavy. My opinion of course.

You have the XPS 13 with ivy bridge update (hopefully soon, no idea when though) would be my best idea, and then I guess the HP Folio/Spectre... but I still don't like HP. Probably silly reasons, but I always stay away from HP haha. The one time I recently recommended HP to a friend to get a trinity laptop because he wanted to play games on a budget, it blew up so badly that they shipped it off to an HP lab to figure out why, and gave him 300$ in upgrades.

 

Hey guys let's try and keep the discussion on topic a bit. There are other threads to recommend laptops for whatever purposes.

My question: I'll be ordering a 256gb Crucial M4 soon (I don't have the Samsung Series 7 but will in the future) and I read a comment a few pages back stating it required a 7mm drive but I've been under the impression this whole time that it fits a 9.5mm drive. Will someone clear this up for me? (can't figure out the search)

 

I just replaced the HDD in my s01us with a 256GB M4 aswell, however crucial sent me a 7mm version to replace my 9.5mm drive, they even threw in free 1 day shipping to and from them. I wish i had remembered to measure the exact height of the drive, but i believe i saw somewhere that a 9.5mm drive will cause a bulge in the right wrist rest. With that being said, i would recommend putting an extra 5-10$ into the 7mm version, or go with the samsung 830, which are 7mm by default.

(i think the 750gb drive is a non-standard 9.3mm and the 1TB version is 9.5mm.)

If you have to order the 9.5 version, or if it's a really good price, just call up crucial in advance and ask if they can swap out your 9.5 drive for a 7mm drive because "it cant fit in my laptop and its useless to me now as i cant return" (thats what i said). i bet they will offer you the same solution.

good luck. remember to get a hard drive caddy on ebay for $10 and put that HDD in there! (don't spend $50 for something that costs $5 to make aka the modeus caddy)

whole process took me 1 hour to replace HDD with SSD and dvd drive with caddy/hdd.

you could also baller it up and do 2 SSDs if you are feeling wealthy.

good luck!

 

Best buy has the NP700Z5C-S01UB which is the i7-3615QM/GTX 630M (512MB ram) version. It's basically the same thing as the S01US except the US version has the 1GB GTX 640M. I am not sure other retailers stock many of the series 7, i went to Microcenter in NJ and they didn't even carry the series 7.

 

Alright that's perfect thank you. Just to clarify (as I've been seeing sales on the m4 a lot) it does actually fit though? But causes a bulge near the keyboard on the palmrest. Hmm that probably won't bother me. I'll spring for the 7mm if I can, but it depends on sales and whatnot. The 830 and the m4 are the only drive's I've been considering anyhow. Thanks!