Toshiba X205 on the WAY!!!

That's a vista driver I'm using XP will it work?

 

With mine, I have the 1400x900 res screen, it stretches the image to fit the screen. It's a matter of preference, I personally don't mind this as it doesn't take away from the game experience.

It also depends on your monitor, on my desktop system my middle display (the 37" LCD in my sig) is the main one and the one I run all my games on. Some games like Bioshock, tomb Raider, and Unreal Tournament 3 have resolution selections for 1920 x 1080 (1080p) but others like Fear, NFS:Most Wanted, and Rainbow6:Vegas only go up to 1600x1200. On the resolution limited games I set my 1080p set to full so that it will stretch and fill the screen. If I set it to native i get the black bars.

Usually if you set it to something right under the default for your screen there is very little difference and most games come with widescreen resolution options.

Hope that helps.

Lataz

 

The 2nd link is for an XP driver..

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=15611

 

Yezzer!! So I updated my driver to the 167 version...

All i have to say is 5136 in 3dmark06! Stock!

Gonna, Overclock! and rerun!

 

Stock 167 driver....


...and @ 645 core & 800Mem...


oh it's lookin good real good!!

 

OMG!....8x00m GT all the way!
bye bye go 7950GTX...

 

What resolution are you running this at as the "stock" 3dmark06 resolution is 1280x1024?

 

I have it set to 1280x1024 but after it runs it says 1280x854. I think this is because of the widescreen 16:9 format of the display.

BTW... I just bumped up my overclock to 665 core / 900 mem and i got 5700 i'll put the pic up lata when I get off slave duty. I think this thing can go even higher but I have yet to check the temps so until I can do that I'm gonna fall back off the overclocking. You know saftey first and all that.

But needless to say 4888 to 5700 that's nearly 1000 points of increased performance! which is in and of itself very satisfying, especially when you consider that my real world test in bioshock fear and UT3 were flawless it gives a great sense of longevity in gaming for this GPU.

 

Yea Buddy!! you aint neva lied on that one!!

 

@ 700/950 i get 5869 temps max @ 58 degrees!!

Oh I feel a tear coming.

Pix coming later.

 

5993 @ 725/975

the best part is when running the graphic tests I peeked @ 62 degrees
and the cpu test @ 52 degrees

I gotta keep goin I can't stop I think I named this thing right when I called it "theBeastMini"

 

ok i crashed @ 800/1000 & 800/975 gonna try 750/975

I know I can break 6000 I just know it!!

 

hey man, good to see your numbers, I had a similar increase with these drivers... I'm running a X205-SLi1, at the same 1280x854 that you are... Curious how well the 8600's will overclock compared to the 8700

3DMark06
1280X854 Res

6611 stock speed 163.75 drivers
7055 stock speed 167.26 drivers
7864 625/1250/850 167.26 drivers
7981 650/1300/925 167.26 drivers

good to see some comparisons of the SLI 8600's with the 8700 with and without overclocking.... these drivers are definately faster it appears

 

I think BiGg RiE run it at 1280 x 1024 - which is the default most pp runs at.

 

Wow your scores are really good...

You just made me feel 10 times better. the fact that I can get anywhere near sli 8600GT's on a single card setup is incredible. To bad I can't upgrade my GPU in the future.

NE ways i got 6107 @ 750/975 same temps!

I can only imagine what'll happen when I put a T7700 in here! Through all of these benchies the cpu score has been pretty much consistant (1573-1576) so when the t7700 goes in it sould go up. I don't know how much since from what I've read and experienced the 8700M's do a really good job of dealing with the majority of the calculations in GPU intensive apps.

Still I feel really good about my purchase $1499 shipped and worth every penny. Now I'm gonna go look at what the 4000+ dell xps's are doing.

 

per BiG RiE a couple posts back, "I have it set to 1280x1024 but after it runs it says 1280x854. I think this is because of the widescreen 16:9 format of the display."

He's got the same 1440x900 screen, 3dmark06 runs at 1280x854 i guess cause the stock res is higher than our panels will show, so without hookin up an external monitor it defaults back to 1280x854... so, therefore our numbers should be comparable since running same res.

And yeah, good numbers man, I was impressed too with both X205's... had both for about two weeks trying to compare and decide. I had the Best Buy X205-S7489 with the single 8700, and it ran great too. It's a great chip in my opinion... I just ended up keeping the SLi1 since I had it, but bang for the buck ya can't beat the X205's either S7489 or 9349!

 

Very curious as to CPU upgrades as well... was thinking about a 7700 when they get a bit cheaper, or was also wondering, will the next generation of cpus be compatible with our mobo's?

 

Who knows about processor support especially for a lappy mobo. But in anycase i figure in about 3-6 months that t7700 price should drop preety nicely for guys like us to snatch them up and get even more performance out of this beast of a lappy model.

As far as the resolution debocle yes 3dmark defaults back to 1280x854 when it's set to 1280x1024 on this lappy

 

Anyone know of anyway to upgrade thie gpu I know you're not supposed to beable to do it, and that it would be a chore finding a mobile gpu without a lappy attached to it. But is seems at least theoretically possible I mean the mobo's across the different x205 models are the same aren't they? It would be a good marketing strategy for Toshiba even if you have to send it in or take it to a certified dealer to get the upgrade. I'D be willing to pay a couple'o hundred ducketts to get some 8700GT sli perfrmance.

 

Ok, it looks like I'm maxin out with 6158 @750core/1020mem @ 64 degrees Max temp.

I tested FEAR and got:

Min:46fps
Avg:95fps
Max: 217fps

Yes I'm extremely Impressed and satisfied with those numbers I could probly get higher if I try and find a balance between the mem and core. as it is I found the max mem and then bumped up the core without changing the memory. I'll test out the reverse soon enough though.

 

The gpu is definitively upgradeable if someone would sell us the card as it it is a separate card with the cooling assembly on it and plugs into a pci-e slot, so all we need is a sli card assy, look at the last few pages of my disassembly guide that you can download here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=179789

and you can clearly see that the card is upgradeable if Toshiba would make available to us.

 

Ahh and therein lies the problem, who knows maybe one of us will get lucky

 

Yeah I hope we do get lucky and maybe find the sli version of the 8700M GT, that would be sweet!!!!!!

 

Let's write to toshiba

 

Maybe if do a mass mailing to them they may decide to sell us the sli cards, even though we would have no warranty since I would not want them to install the card, I rather install it myself. But we know the chances of this happening are far to none or 1 in a trillion. LOL!!!!!

 

Maybe asus may come up one for their C90s....

 

Technically it can be done via paid service.
Service centers easely can order the needed part from factory and install it, for example they are doing it right now if the current video chip is busted for some reason.

They may refuse it though. Not because they can not do it, just because So it will depend on how much they will be interested in it (in particulary how much will it cost ya )

 

655/900 ~ 700/900 ~ 725/975


750/975 ~ 725/1020 ~ 750/1020

tHERE ARE THE PIX AS PROMISED,

Lataz!

 

Those are some sweet scores!!!, maybe I should install 3dMark06 and test mine with the T7700 and a bit od oc'ng on the gpu and see what I get, hhmmm!!! maybe if I have time I will do that.

 

yeah man! you should it'd be nice to see what kind of performance gain i'll be looking at once i upgrade.

Please o please, just do it ya know like nike

BTW, i was checkin out pc magazine 2day they had some $4000+ dell with a 3dmark06 score of 6041 or something. needless 2 say that put a smile on my face

 

But how's the battery life??

 

You dont seriously consider gaming on the battery, dont you?

 

In power save mode the x205 has very nice battery life for a 17" with this much oomph... almost 3 hours.

Keep in mind that's not gaming...

Basically, if you are gaming, you are going to want to plug it in.

 

Do you think a SLi3 with one of dual 8600m GT disabled in power save mode will beat 3 hours?

 

It is possible. It really depends on what you are doing. Like if you have the wireless card off, you will have a giant decrease in battery life.

 

A while back (about a year ago) someone at Nvidia told me that you can't disable one of the gpus in an sli system in an effort to try to get more battery life on a notebook. Unless Nvidia has found a way to do it now (or Vista is able to do it) your stuck with it drawing power from both graphics cards while running on battery. Right now the question is how much of a difference is there in battery life between the the x205 sli 8600 systems and the x205 8700 systems (to my knowledge none of the x205 sli owners have posted their findings on battery life. )

 

so i've read this whole forum tonight, and you guys seem to know your stuff, im new to the laptop world again being as i just got back from iraq, and currently have an acer aspire 9500 which the x700 has impressed me. What i am planning on doing is buying either the x205-s9349 or the x205-sli1, i will be displaying it on my 1080p 42" toshiba, and i am wondering if everyones happy with the x205-s93? and will this puppy play Crysis or would the sli1 be better? thanks guys

 

I really like my X205-9349 it runs Bioshock just fine, I had some much fun that I have even disassembled it 4 times just for fun and to upgrade the cpu. Yesterday I installed XP on it (second time I do this) instead of Vista like a lot of people have done on this forum and the games run much faster and smoother so that is something I really recommend if you get it, But I am not gong back to Vista for a long time.

 

jesse do you have a dual boot or did you get an oem copy and format?

 

I just installed the Crysis SP Demo on my s9349 and it runs smoothly except for really intense shooting matches and even then there is just a hickup at the initial start of the fight but after that first 2 seconds it runs smoothly. And that's a Maxed out settings @ 1280x720 If you set somethings to medium I'm sure it will run without a hitch. Heck it runs smoother on my lappy than it does on my Gaming rig, though this is probanly due to the drivers on my gaming rig. But it is what it is. So that said, I'm not sure about the SLi1 doesn't it have dual 8600gt's?

 

If you could spring for the extra $$$ I'd go for the SLi1, as the dual 8600's have proven to be faster than the single 8700 (I went round and round tryin to decide, finally bought both and set em side by side to compare and kept the SLI). Check some other posts for comparisons, but, either are great pc's. The SLI rig does run benchmarks and everything I've thrown at it better though. Look around and you can find some good deals on either model.

 

thanks guys i appreciate the input, its so tough deciding, i guess another question i have is will the 8600gt sli's be good for awhile, like my x700 its just been beautiful for so long first with fear then oblivion and im looking for a lasting relationship ya know.

 

I only have XP running, I just formatted the hard drive and installed my own copy of XP since I do not really like Vista as it has too many bugs that need to be worked out, I left Vista on as long as I could and this weekend I finally gave up and I am very happy I did it the laptop runs much better on XP.

 

The salesman that I bought my x205-SLi3 from was a former Computer Engineer and he said that he can garantee that this will be able to run the latest programs for at least 3 years, if not more.

 

Yeah, I'd agree... you should have better luck with the SLI setup lasting "longer" than the single 8700. The drivers will only get better, and it does overclock pretty dang good when the time arrises and ya need to. If your only choice is a Toshiba and you want to buy right now I'd say definately get the SLI setup, as you can always upgrade the CPU, Hard drive, ram, etc later, but are for the most part gonna be stuck with the video card that you've got... that's why I went with the SLi1.... when I need I can throw whatever the fastest CPU available that'll fit in it (much cheaper than what it'd cost now!) and still have the SLI cards instead of just the 8700... how long that'll last? Who knows, but, I'd say get the fastest you can afford and want to spend, and enjoy it.

As a side note, there is ALWAYS gonna be the next best thing coming, and there are stories about the new Nvidia high end mobile chip coming soon, so if you'll be disappointed if you buy the SLI and Toshiba announces a X205 w/ the latest and greatest this november (WHO knows if they actually will, but will at some point), I'd say wait, otherwise, go with the one you can afford and have a ball with it.... I had to get one because to me, it's a GREAT bargain, as you'd spend almost twice the money on a Dell to actually beat it!

 

can anyone tell me how many slots are available for memory, whats it come with an if it comes with any available slots for upgrades

 

to the best of my knowledge, it'll come with 2GB of ram, using two 1GB sticks, one in each slot, total of two slots... so, to upgrade you'd have to replace what you've already got. Haven't takin mine apart yet, but believe that's what the spec sheet said.

 

Got 4gb in mine(has only 2 slots) and I can't really see much of a difference in speed...Also have a Hitachi 200gb 7200rpm drive, not a huge improvement there either.

 

alright well im buying tonight, im still on the fence about either the x205-s9359 or sli, being as ive read sli has problems, so i guess here are my final questions:
is there a huge difference in the two (above a 30-40% increase from s9359 to sli1)
will the hd-dvd drive work out of the box or will i have to update drivers?
whats the best drivers to get for the s9359 and sli
and will the sli be more future proof?
thanks guys

 

As a former X205 owner, I can answer that.

The 9359 has a stronger single card, but the SLI will have more horsepower available to it upon further driver revisions once the kinks are smoothed out. It will not be bad experience with either choice. I was running my 9359 with 163.44 drivers and it was decent over all.

The HD-DVD works right out of the box, and works fine. However, it will only work with proper Toshiba drivers short of doing some moderate hacking to it. Aka, if you use new drivers from www.laptopdrivers2go.com you won't be able to watch HD.

I sold my X205-s9359 recently. If I could have, I'd have gotten the SLI-3system were it available at the time. It's definitely a decent laptop overall.