Qosmio X875 Owners Lounge

I would like to Thank the moderators for allowing me the privilege to start-up the official "Toshiba Qosmio X875 Owners Lounge"! All are welcome and please come in and introduce yourself to the forum. This forum is designed to be used by ALL, not just those who are seeking assistance, but for the owners who just love their Qosmio as well.. Please come here and share your story with us..

Hopefully this will be a well populated forum.. Since the Qosmio X875 is a gaming machine in which there are different versions, we need to hear from everyone! So come on in and spend some time with us!

 

I wish there were some x875 owners, but I have yet to come across one. Not saying the x875 is bad, but most people do not consider Toshiba for "gaming laptops", so owners of Qosmios can be hard to find. Hopefully that changes.

Also, if you can wait, you may want to hold out until July as Intel will be launching their new CPU architecture [Haswell]; 4th generation i-core. Example: i7-4000 etc....
There also may be a new generation of nvidia cards [700m series] to coincide with the Intel release.
Although, when it comes to technology, there will always be a better laptop just around the corner; can't go wrong with anything available now.


Good luck

 

Hey guys.

Yeah I was looking for the X875 Lounge as well. Hopefully more people will chime in and we will get a lounge soon.

I just picked up the X875-Q7190 and it runs beautifully.

Here's to hoping we get a lounge soon.

 

Same here, I think it may be time for a thread for X870/X875 owners so that we can have a place to post tweaks, mods and other tips for future owners to use and learn from.
The sooner we get the thread, the sooner we can compile the data for all to share.

I have an X875-Q7380 that I have multiple upgrades planned for in the near future. Some things I have already done, and have pics for a tutorial, such as SSD drive install, and memory upgrade. A tutorial for memory upgrade will help a lot of people since there are two separate locations for the memory. The under keyboard location takes some work to get too.

I also have lined up 1920 x 1080 3D LED displays for swapping into the unit so that it will have the same display as the top of the line model.
I have located blu-ray burners that will fit into these systems. (Mine should arrive tomorrow.)
Another thing I would be posting in it, is how to install Windows 7 on them. It is not just a simple matter of running the install disc and finding the drivers. You must change several bios settings just to get the laptop to even see a bootable Windows disc, let alone get it to actually install.

To access the memory that is under the keyboard requires a little finesse.
First you need something like a credit card that has enough stiffness to it that you can slip it into the seam along the edge of the keyboard and then carefully twist the tool as you work your way along the edge of the keyboard. The keyboard snaps into place, so you only have to twist to get the clips to release. Once the keyboard is free, carefully flip it out of the way being careful of the ribbon cable attached to the bottom.

You can now access the memory and replace it with the brand of your choice.
I used Corsair Vengeance memory in mine and it works flawlessly..

I just need a dedicated place here to post the how to articles, like we had for the X305's.

 

I would post everything onto this thread and maybe the moderators will "STICKY" it for us and make it the "Owners Lounge" that currently doesn't exist.. Since I am looking into buying the Toshiba Qosmio X875-Q7390, I have some questions.. I have been reading that these units are plagued by heat issues, since they only have a single fan cooling the CPU & GPU, is this a correct assessment? I also read that some, not all, but some are also having throttling issues with the CPU, is that correct?

To be honest, the machine looks awesome, but the single fan I can surely see that as the achilles heel and really don't know why Toshiba has not addressed that by now since the Qosmio line has been around for quite awhile.. The only thing I can think of is they have one huge heat sink installed and the single fan can do the job via the large heat sink, but if that were the case, there wouldn't be so many heat complaints on the web..

So what do you owners think about those issues??

 

This can be the x875 Owners Lounge [hopefully we can get some more posters]; but since the Toshiba forums is usually slow, there's no need to add it as a sticky.

 

Thanks for making this the "Owners Lounge", it is a much needed thread and maybe more people will start to use it now that it is here.. Again, Thanks!

 

Alex, is there any particular reason why the Toshiba forums are slow responding? I come from the HP forums which is usually very active, not so much right now since HP stopped producing the high end Envy series, but when they were producing them it was very busy.. I did a lot of posting over there and still have my two Envy's.. Looking at possibly buying the X875 3D version, but I have been reading about heat issues in other forums while researching it.. Can you offer any insight??

 

It's a little bit of "Toshiba not coming out with anything new" and a lot of "Toshiba members don't frequent forums much". I do not know why owners do not frequent forums, considering Toshiba sells tons of notebooks; so there should be a substantial base of owners.
Maybe Toshiba's do not have problems, or the owners are not knowledgeable with forums, or maybe they do have problems and people do not want to be bothered with anything Toshiba related.

However, I can say Toshiba is not considered an "enthusiast" brand; and hence forums like this usually attract users who who own such brands [Alienware, CLEVO, etc..]. There's also the fact that some brands are considered to be more popular [HP, Dell, ASUS] and they tend to attract a mass following. For me, I'm perfectly happy with my Toshiba [I've had other brands] and I do not have any plans to deviate from them [my next notebook will probably be the Toshiba Portege Z series; my sister has one and it is awesome!].


With all that said, I do however expect the Toshiba forums to pickup some traction once the new models come out [I am assuming new models will come out once Intel/nvidia launch Haswell and the 700 geforce series in the summer]. Until then, it will probably remain pretty slow here.


*EDIT*
As for the heating issues with the x875, it wouldn't surprise me considering Toshiba went with the single fan design [I do not know why; my x505 has 2 fans]. However, I am only assuming this based off the track record of the x775; the x875 could have resolved these issues. But as you pointed out, there are few x875 owners here, so it's going to be tough to find a absolute answer to that question. Because of this, it is why I am of the mindset to wait and see what comes out in June/July. Perhaps Toshiba will have a brand new Qosmio line, or maybe it will be a "refresh" of the x875 with a new CPU and a better GPU.

 

Woohoo, we got ourselves a Lounge!!!

 

If any here gets one and intends to install windows 7 on it, there are a couple of things that you need to do first.
First, DOWNLOAD AT LEAST THE NETWORK DRIVERS FOR WINDOWS 7 FIRST< Do that before you wipe out windows 8. Windows 7 does not have either the wifi driver, or the lan driver, so download both from the download page of one of the earlier model X875/X870's driver download page.

Now another thing to do before trying to install windows 7.
3 bios settings will interfere with the systems ability to even see the windows 7 install disc boot loader, let alone allow you to install it, so those settings must be changed before you attempt to install windows.
Disable the fast boot option using the Toshiba hardware setup tool, so that getting into the bios from a cold boot won't be a nightmare, and it will also allow you to boot from a boot-able DVD/CD.


Here is the procedure and the settings that need to be changed.

Before you begin, make sure there are adequate Windows 7 drivers and utilities for your model. I used driver genius pro to get all of the other drivers for the system.

In order to boot using UEFI from the Windows 7 installation media, follow this procedure.

-Shut down Windows 8 while pressing the Shift key to completely power off.

-Power on and press F2 while the Toshiba logo is displayed to enter the UEFI Setup Menu.

-Go to the Security tab and set the "Secure Boot" setting to "Disabled".

-Go to the Advanced tab, enter "System Configuration" and set the Boot Mode to "CSM Boot."


-Press F10 to save and exit.

In order to successfully install Windows 7, you need to remove the existing GPT partitions during Setup and create new (MBR) partitions.

To get a decent Windows Experience Index score in Windows 7 and better game performance, make sure that you install DirectX 11. .

 

Many of the spec sheets for the X875 series of laptops list the max ram as less than 32 gb's. That is not really accurate from a hardware point of view.
The 875's all use the same chipset, so the max for the ram is the same for all of them. The Toshiba spec sheets only show the installed max for that specific subtype of X875. All of them hardware wise can accept 32 gb's of ram.
The only real limit below 32gb's would be the operating system.
If they did not post the specs the way that they do, no one would buy the higher priced versions. It's so much cheaper to buy the lower priced models and then do the upgrades to it yourself.

Max memory for Windows 7
Starter: 8GB
Home Basic: 8GB
Home Premium: 16GB
Professional: 192GB
Enterprise: 192GB
Ultimate: 192GB

Max for Windows 8
Windows 8 - 128GB
Windows 8 Professional - 512GB
Windows 8 Enterprise - 512GB



This is what I installed in mine.
Vengeance®
Shop around and you will find much cheaper prices at different online vendors.

 

I'm rarely able to max 8 Gigs of ram with Photoshop. Are you using any sort ram disk? Curious if you use cache software or other to take advantage of any extra ram not being used.

Thx

 

With 32 gb's of actual ram, I disabled virtual memory because there is simply no need for it anymore.
The X875's have four memory slots, each capable of handling 8 gigs of ram.

I'm prone to super multitasking. I'll have two dozen firefox windows open, Photoshop CS6, imvu messenger, Acrobat Pro, Skype, and a random audio book or movies being converted at the same time. The really nice thing is, that with all of that running, this computer doesn't even seem to notice it.

I found out recently that these laptops use the same drives as the X505's and X775's, so I have upgraded the CD/DVD burner it came with to a Blu-ray burner for $66.00 off of ebay.

 

Wow, I did not know that. I may need to do some research myself, but that would be awesome if I could get a BluRay Writer from a x775 !!!
Thanks for the info Priest!

 

I sort of had the same idea last year with an 8Gig machine. According to this MSMVP it's a bad idea as he explains it; Virtual Memory - Best Strategy Set-up?

I would like to try, before buy, caching software that mimics/stores most used drive calls to free up SSD overhead. With the new cheaper ram, we may see more of this.

 

32 gb's is far more than the 8gb's mentioned in the article, and far more than my old X305 had running Windows 7 Ultimate, and that is if you total the physical memory and virtual memory combined. With me running the same operating system, but with far more ram than the previous systems combined total, I cannot see how that article can still be relevant.
That leaves plenty of space in the physical memory for temporary application data to be stored.

Doing this, spares my SSD drive from having to process and store so much temporary data, and that is a very good thing for an SSD drive

 

So with all of this multi tasking have you noticed any heat issues at all??

 

None at all

 

WOW, that has got me thinking.. Can you provide some bench-marking scores by chance? How about a video detailing your complete system to include the underbelly and the doors that open opened? That would be really beneficial....

Thanks!

 

Hey guys, has anyone thought about replacing the wireless card? Not really a fan of Atheros and was wondering if there were any other compatible Wi-Fi cards out there. I am expecting Toshiba to have a whitelisted BIOS, so not really getting my hopes up.

 

Owners of the x505 and I also believe the x775 were able to replace the Atheros with an Intel Wifi card without any problems; Hopefully the x875 will also allow this.


Actually, at the ToshibaDirect website [Toshiba's official web store]; you can customize the x875 [to some degree] and one of the options is an Intel Wifi card

Qosmio X870-BT3G23 Laptop

I believe all the x875's use the same BIOS, so any x875 should be able to use that Intel wifi card [if not other Intel wifi cards].

 

My current project laptop is a Toshiba X875-Q7380

I have already replaced and upgraded the ram to its max of 32gb's (ignore the spec sheets) with Corsair Vengeance memory that is self overclocking. $190.00 for all 32 gb's

The hard drive was upgraded to an Intel 160gb SSD, with the secondary drive being left stock at 500 gb's

DVD burner has been upgraded to a blu-ray burner I bought on ebay. $70.00 The Drives from the X505's, and X775 work perfectly in the X875's.

Will soon be replacing the stock lcd for a 3d 1920x1080 screen when they are in stock again. $145.00

 

How many of you are watching iTunes movies and TV shows with no playback problems on your x870?

My iTunes is choppy no matter what fixes I've tried. I've changed the audio bit and frequency and that helped some. Also, I noticed when I watch Hulu, Netflix or iTunes that the screen will dim for a brief moment then go back to normal light. Also, I've noticed some random electrostatic sounding pops coming from the speakers, when playing back videos or just running some apps/programs. I've tried different Nvidia and Realtek drivers and updated Windows 8, and I've also reloaded everything back to factory and still have the problems. FYI, Quicktime will play Apple videos fine, no choppiness, not totally sure about the dimming though. That's just strange!

Today I reset it back to factory and I didn't install iTunes and so far I don't notice the dimming on Hulu or Netflix. However, I'm paranoid about doing a Windows update at this point since it seems to be working better.

Anyone have any of these issues? Thanks.

 

Priest-King, how hard was it to add the RAM under the keyboard? Was it easy to get the clear plastic cover over the RAM back in place, still sticky enough?

I'm thinking of doing this because I just got 4GB originally, figuring it would be cheaper to add more RAM myself. I was thinking of just doing away with the 4GB(2x2) and put in 16GB under the keyboard so there are no RAM incompatibility issues. I was looking at adding G.SKILL 16GB (2 x 8G) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Laptop Memory Model F3-1600C10D-16GSQ for about $108 From Newegg, which should be and I hope is compatible! Any thoughts or advice regarding this installation? Thanks.

 

It's fairly easy to replace the ram under the keyboard. You just pry upwards along the edge of the keyboard to release the clips that hold the keyboard in place. It does require some effort to get the clips to release.
The clear plastic piece also easily goes back into place.

 

I find it weird, that theToshibadirect website doesn't tell us the CAS Latency, timings or voltage of the RAM. After a lot of time searching, I found out that the RAM that came on my X870(X870-BT3G23) has timings of 11-11-11-28, Cas Latency(CL) 11, 3.5 volts. For those that want to know, I found this out by using CPUID's CPU-Z program I downloaded. It even shows the RAM model number, cool program!

Regarding the SSD upgrades(mine came with 1TB hard drive), I called Toshiba two times and got two different answers regarding warranty. One representative said it voids the warranty, and another rep said it limits the warranty in ways that he could not explain, hmmm. Anyone have a clear understanding about how these RAM & SSD upgrades affect warranty? Thanks!

Also, after a lot of time searching, I found the part number for the chassis/caddy that holds the hard drive in the hard drive bays. nationalparts.com has it and it’s product number is V000947140, cost is $15USD plus $10 shipping. I had to call them with the part number I found on an Australian part supplier’s site, lol, as I couldn’t find it on their website(even after searching their site for the part number) or Toshibadirect’s site(I called Toshiba and they were going to send me a caddy that fits in the DVD bay, which he wrongly said would fit in the hard drive bay). I ordered the chassis to hold the SSD more securely(hopefully it will work fine) and will use the 1TB HDD with original chassis in the 2nd drive bay. I’ve read that some people were just putting the SSD in without the chassis, but after examining the bay I felt the chassis would reduce the movement of the SSD within the bay. When the chassis arrives I will post if it’s indeed the correct one, and how it fits the SSD.

@Priest King Thanks for the reply! I 'll probably upgrade the RAM under the keyboard when my warranty expires, and it's good to know it's not that difficult to do. From the web reading I've done it seems that replacing the RAM under the keyboard will void the warranty, do you know if this is true?

 

To keep the system under warranty, save the old memory and put it back in if you have to send the system back for repairs.
The same goes for the hard drive upgrade.

 

I would think that Toshiba would put a "void warranty" sticker on the user drive/ram access panel? If you damage or kill the laptop changing out components, then, yes.

The big question is why does Toshiba not have a large removable bottom plate, CLEVO, to allow users easy access for re-paste and cleaning?

I had to dig and order my second drive connector for my x775. I was with second level tech support asking why this was not even a BTO option. Well it is, you don't order the second drive, no connector for you

 

The main reason that you want to send the laptop back for repair with "ALL" of its original hardware is because if you leave the memory that you installed in it, and it turns out that your new memory is causing the problem. Then you will be held responsible for the cost of the repair.
If you put all of the original hardware back in, it won't be an issue.

If Toshiba supplied the second drive connector in all systems, whether it came with two drives or not, then they would lose a lot of potential sales for higher end systems. They are a business, so obviously it is all about sales and profit, and no one can realistically fault them for wanting to make a profit on what they sell.
Why bother paying for a higher priced system if a person can just buy the cheapest version and add their own stuff to it later.
Each series of Qosmios has had some systems that were capable of having two hard drives, while others were missing the second connector. The reason is that not all of them had the same motherboard installed, which is where researching comes into play.

I'm not saying that it is impossible to upgrade a Toshiba's hardware, but I am saying that researching a system before buying it is crucial to getting what you truly want in a system.

 

Yea, research the, x775 in my case, all you want. The sales people and 1st level tech had not a clue. I was clueless as my previous non Toshiba 17" laptops did come with the missing connector. My local B&M stores did not carry any Qosmio for hands on.

It's all water under the bridge. My point about not listing as a BTO 'check off" is Toshiba missed out on direct sales. If you look at the Toshiba forums, I see people still looking for the connector with links back to this forum.

You got any links where you researched your connector? Well heck, yours comes with two drives, right? The surprise comes to those who ordered a single drive due to SSD down the road..so no connector for me.

 

The simplest way is to ask in a place like this before purchasing. I've seen quite a few cases where users who already had the systems have taken the time to look for other members.

 

Is there an easy way to reinstall Windows 8 and the Qosmio drivers when upgrading the hard drive to a smaller SSD? I thought the Windows Reset or Toshiba Recovery disc would do this, but after trying it and googling, I don't think it will.

Suggestions?

 

For W7, I use the MS USB clean install, then add the Toshiba drivers. I would guess you could do the same with W8? Sorry, no interest in W8 at this time.

This link will give you an idea on needed steps for USB install unless you bought a disk; How To Clean Install Windows 8 (Part 1 of 2)

 

I just ordered an upgraded screen for my X875-7380.
120Hz 3D
Resolution:
WUXGA (1920x1080) Full HD:
Matte
Backlight type:
LED

Will post the results after it is installed, probably this weekend some time.

 

^^^
Wow, sounds like one heck of an upgrade [3D, 120 hz].
Let us know how the upgrade turns out.

 

Priest-King what model LCD did you find to replace the LCD in your computer? I have the X875-Q7380 working on upgrading the screen. I replaced the DVD drive with a blue-ray drive off Ebay. Also replaced one of the 500GB drives for a 120GB SSD. All that is left is RAM and screen.

 

I'll post the specs and where I got the display from after I have had a chance to install and test it, hopefully this weekend.
I'm very reluctant to give to much information about where the LCD came from until after I have verified that it will work as advertised.
Meaning, I'm a guinea pig.

 

I will give you a heads up then. I got the LTN173HT02 it is the 3D 120hz, it was said to work on the X875 series. I am having problems getting it to work. It won't turn on not sure if it is bad or what.

 

OTMH, can you plug in old screen to see if it boots? Do you have an external monitor? I do not think this could be a bios problem but you should know for sure when P-K gets his installed.

 

When I connect the original screen back up the computer works. With the new screen the computer turns on and boots, but the screen does not come on. That is why I wanted to know what screen p-k got, to see if I may have just got a bad screen.

 

Well, you could tell your screen vendor exactly what happened. I'm betting you got a bad screen..what ever you got don't work if the vendor says it will for your model. You can wait on PK but you may run out of your time to return?

 

I'd like to see if anyone has the balls to buy one of the new GTX 765M GPUs and swap out their GTX 670M with it. Just to see if it works. ^_^

It'd be a nice upgrade and run cooler too.

 

Hello guys! <3

Tbh, I'm really not surprised there are no contributions to the Qosmio threads in general ( tho x500 was another story ). The thing is people started with the X500 as it was the bomb at that time, but it just proved itself as a bad gaming / designing machine with all the errors and problems ( hanging, rebooting etc ), let alone the bad engineering design ( Cooling, air circulation, etc ) and the lack of dual gpus, HDD bays and other stuff.

I wouldn't put my money in upgrading such a machine ( that's if it is up-gradable ), that's for sure. AW, MSI and other brands do way way way better than Toshiba from a personal EXP, with the upgradability and engineering, seeing that I own an AW and an MSI.

I personally own an X500 and it saddens me to say this, but that's the truth.

 

I'm having the same issue. There may be something that we are missing.

I have owned many Qosmio's over the years, and have successfully performed many upgrades in the past that were very much worth the effort. Most laptop manufacturers do not design their systems to be easily upgraded or maintained, so I have no issues with the effort it can take to upgrade or modify these systems, because the rewards for the effort are very much worth it.
If I wanted a cookie cutter system that was designed for easy modding, I would have saved up a lot more money and bought a sager, which starts at about 2000+ bucks for a base model, but that is not what I wanted. I wanted a reasonably low cost gaming system, that I could then have the fun of figuring out what I could make it do.

You claim that the Qosmio threads are dead, you should check out the X305 owners lounge some time, as it has hundreds of pages of posts from users who have done many interesting things to personalize their systems.

Anyone can buy a system that is already fast, but it takes a special breed to take a system that was not designed for such upgrades, and make it even faster.

 

Does anyone know where to find the video signal connector pin out and detailed specs on the original screen LTN173KT02-T01 and the new screen LTN173HT02? When I connected the new screen up the video data cable got very warm to the touch. I wonder if the voltage/amp requirements are different. The new screen may require more amps to run.

 

I was thinking of waiting till my normal parts supplier starts listing parts for the x875's. It may require a different cable, and I will be able to see if that is the case by the part numbers for the cables.

 

There are schematics for $10-12. I would be curious if the LVDS(?) MB connector is different from 900p to 1080p.

Here is another site that offers schematic but did not read fine print. Schemat Toshiba Qosmio X875 Inventec GL10FH 6050A2493501 &bull; Forum ELVIKOM

 

Here's the repair manual for anyone that wants a copy.
I suggest saving it to your hard drive as Toshiba does not allow them to be posted in this way.
http://tech.nexicore.com/downloads/P870-P875_X870-X875_T572-T772.PDF

 

Your point of view and I respect it.