Official Sony VAIO F Series Owners lounge *PART 2*

Still sounds a little risky. Any issues on these drivers?

 

What about the .inf install file. Are there any modifications that are required for the F11 before an installation is attempted? Browsing the NVIDIA forum, there seems to be some discussion as to using a particular .inf file or modifying it yourself.

Thanx!

 

@Melodymaster

Bluetooth issues after windows update?
I wonder if that is what's happened. I not to sure if it was before or after I updated but my Vaio bluetooth mouse cuts off from time to time. I end up having to reconnect by flipping the wifi switch off and then on again after waiting for a few seconds.

Any fixes?

 

Same here, except it's the Razer mouse I turn off and on. After doing this a few times it no longer works, and when I go into Bluetooth management it just freezes. On both the Grey machine and this one the Razer worked consistently before Windows was updated (46 patches in Win7 already!) I'm using the Logitech MX1000 for now, but its long USB stick sticking out of the port worries me.

 

@mangosango

I have just tried your overclock at 775/948/1705. I ended up getting display driver error and recover messages one after the other before it crashed completely. No BSOD though and this started to happen with no other applications running.

I'll try your 650/800/1625. Hopefully that will be stable. If not, I think i'll just leave the GPU alone.
Has anyone tried overclocking with the i7-820QM model?

 

Okay that's it. I cannot tolerate someone who asks the same question five postings ago. How to I ignore a poster? I went to 'quick links' but cannot find. Someone on this thread is driving me crazy.

 

Well at the very least I can somewhat console myself that I was not the one who accidentally screwed up (other than blindly updating windows). I hope microsoft comes with a patch as soon as possible.

 

Heh yeah, the 775/948/1705 are extreme clocks. I would not recommend that people try them - I was trying to see how far the card would go!.

The 650/800/1625 is working fine for me though. You could probably turn up the memory clock as well to about 850 or 900 as well. I'm seeing a 5-10 fps boost in all games, which usually means it makes an unplayable game playable.

 

Can someone please advise as to whether this laptop comes with a Multi Touch trackpad? Not a dealbreaker, by any means, in terms of whether or not I'll buy an F Series laptop but something I ask out of curiosity.

 

Thanks for correcting me. I may have misinterpreted the info sheet on processorfinder.

There may still be hope though - Intel tends to be conservative on these datasheets and doesn't publish information that isn't tested. Since 8GB SO-DIMMS aren't really available yet, they may change this once they are well tested. The best way to tell would be to see if the extra address pin(s) are wired out from the CPU to the SO-DIMM slots.

A simple example of this would be how these CPUs are only advertised to support 2 DIMM slots, but laptops such as the HP Envy 15, Dell Precision M6500, and Lenovo ThinkPad W510 all have 4 DIMM slots ( link).

Your "slang" is sh*tting up the thread and is rather disrespectful to everyone else that is attempting to communicate in a civil manner. Save it for youtube comments.

 

I've just downloaded the Nividia control panel, however, under performance there is no device setting option. I've uninstalled and reinstalled with no luck. Any advise please.
http://www.nvidia.com/object/nvidia_system_tools_6.05.html

 

So how do we ignore someone on this thread? I really need this ASAP! Is it under the quick links option?

 

Sorry, I didn't check the agreement.

 

Hi,

I just thought I would add my bit to this thread. I brought a VPCF11S1e/b UK Spec a few weeks ago. Almost straight away I noticed a whine from the fan at certain rpm's as discussed in this thread (not the mic issue).

I left it until now to see if I could cope with it but I'm going to contact Sony UK tomorrow to arrange a repair. The laptop is perfect in everyway for me apart from this high pitched whine so I'm going get it sorted...i hope.

I'll post up any updates for those that are interested who have the same fault.

Ps - The screen on this laptop is fantastic

Cheers

 

I have the 720QM core i7 with 4gb of ram and the gt 330m. To be honest, there are probably some minute differences like power draw, but most of these are small enough that you really won't notice the difference.

Ostensibly, there is no difference other than the memory capacity in terms of the 6gb and 8gb. I don't have the specifics of the memory in front of me, so I can't tell you for sure, but it seems like the memory speed (ddr3 1333) is the same across all capacities, so the memory should perform equally in terms of data transfer read/write, etc.

With more memory, your computer would be noticeably faster in some applications that use large amounts of memory (photo and video editing) while other applications (games, internet surfing) may not see any benefit at all.

For games, faster memory will show more of a performance boost than memory capacity. The amount and bandwidth of the dedicated video ram will have much more of a performance impact. For instance, ddr3-1066 is slower than ddr3-1333, which is slower than ddr3-1888, etc. Crysis, for instance, rarely uses over 1gb of ram (for me, it usually hovers around 700-900mb of ram). More optimized games (that don't have memory leaks) should use less - usually in the 300-800mb range.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but more memory allows for your computer to store more of its data in physical memory, instead of constantly moving data between the memory and the harddrive as virtual memory.

So basically, condensing the above - get the 6/8gb of ram if you feel that the extra cost is worth it to you (most commonly, this would be if you do a large amount of photo/video editing, or are dealing with large files that need to be processed). If not, then investing that same cash into a faster hard drive or processor may be more useful. As soon as prices on SSD's come down, I know I will be upgrading.

For everybody purchasing a laptop, if you are unsure of what you want, I would recommend upgrading things that are very difficult to upgrade/replace later on. The screen, processor, keyboard, and graphics card are good examples here. The memory, hard drive, and optical drive (to a lesser extent) are much, much easier to replace.

 

For comic relief:

 

Trouble is ignoring a primary poster, if it were possible, still does not hide the quoted responses.

 

your right mate i want to upgrade this laptop in the future, the screen and keyboard are brilliant in the UK model, i dont think u can upgrade the processor and GPU can u, as there are solded in. Well i got told the 6gb ram version has not blu ray writer which im not too fussed about, i hope there are not that many more things different between the two. Mango, your luky u can have a 4gb version, been looking here in the UK, 6gb is the max i think, i could be wrong.

Like someone sed 8gb or more would be needed for virtual machines and i dont do that, so 6gb would be great if 4gb is not avialable in the uk models

 

Battery life difference between 4/6/8GB will be tiny to non-existent. Actual difference in performance will also be non-existent at this point as you'll rarely if ever get near using 4GB of RAM.

4GB IS available on the UK models.

 

Yes - they usually are in laptops (except for some, which may have them in slots, although I think this is becoming less common as companies are trying to thin down the size of laptops).

Sounds like 6gb is a good fit for you then. It really can't hurt to have more ram, and if you need more, you can always buy sticks and put them in at a later time. It isn't difficult at all - just pull a few screws on the bottom and stick the new ram in.

Hope this helps.

 

cheers mango, like u sed other parts of the laptop i will upgrade if need be like ram, but i dont need 8gb like others. Also im hoping to get an SSD drive when prcies go down. The uk price for those drives are ridiculous.

Enverex, i looked on the sony uk sites but cant find any option to change to a 4gb size. I looked everywhere 6gb is the minimum

 

A good example is my old IBM T23, every piece of documentation and FAQ you could find on this machine says the max was 500 Megs, using two double-sided 256 meg rams. Yet I put in two single sided 512 Meg sticks and the thing works like a charm, with the full 1 gig. Believe it or not, some chipsets such as the desktop BX, while they could accept 1 gig of memory, only CACHED 64 megs or some such. In other words stored registers from the CPU cache could only be written to the first 62 megs above the DOS cutoff. So any applications using large memory blocks would slow down tremendously. I wonder if the suggested 8 gigs max for the F11 is a Caching limit, rather than a limit on the amount of Ram that can be addressed by the CPU?

 

Yeh, it is interesting that the HP supports 16GB for both the i5 and i7 processors in the Envy 15 line. Both processor tech spec documents on the Intel site indicate that the memory management function on the chips only support 2 channels of memory, 1 SODIMM per channel. Unless HP and the other vendors are using their own memory management outside the CPU. That is beyond my knowledge base and skill set.

But then again, reading some of the comments on the forum, what are you going to do with 16GB of memory? I could see that amount of memory in a server running virtual machines, cloud computing or heavy database functions. Except for development environments (such as mine) or as someone pointed out earlier having multiple large graphics files open, I think the extra 8GB will go to waste.

Of course, years ago, we were saying the same thing about systems with 64 KB of memory - or 640K with the IBM PC - or the... you get the picture

 

I'm looking to buy an F11 in the near future w/ the 820qm, SSD, GT330m. The only specs I haven't decided on are 4, 6, or 8 GB DDR3 and whether or not the large capacity battery is worth it.

There has been much discussion here on the RAM issue. I'll probably go with 4GB and maybe throw another 4GB chip in later.

Any opinions on the battery? Anyone have any empirical data on how much time the large capacity battery adds to use?

Also, can anyone tell me what brand/model SSD they're using in the F series? For a $600 upgrade, it's something I'd like to know. I'm toying with the idea of getting the SSD aftermarket and putting the HDD in an enclosure to clone to as backup.

 

Yup, it is possible. Go to USERCP>MISCELLANEOUS>BUDDY/IGNORE LIST. It works well.

 

My only input concerning the added capacity battery is that is raises the back to the laptop. This is something I did not want since I use a laptop cooler, that elevates the computer as well. My choice is get a backup battery, hibernate and restart. Does this laptop have hot swappable capability?

 

Thanks for the input. I didn't realize it raised the back. Definitely something to take into consideration.

 

Unless people stop quoting the "primary poster" and just ignore his/her posts entirely.

 

Spend more time searching instead of being a repetitive annoyinging arse.

UK VAIO F Models

Click on Customise it now (top right)



Configure the VAIO F (X) Series because you wouldn't be able repeat yourself fast enough with the i5 V Series



And there's the elusive 4GB




Instead of spending £220 on the 8GB upgrade spend £240 on the 128GB SSD if you want to see a greater increase in performance.

However, I'd take advice from others and chose the base options until RAM and SSD prices become more affordable.

 

But unfortunately, it is necessary to correct the "shoot from the hip and ask questions later" inaccurate posters that can misrepresent the facts.

What to do. What to do.

 

Raising the back of the laptop generally improves airflow and cooling, but it's a pain because its not portable. If you don't have a cooler and you're going to be using this at a desk, then the raised back would actually be beneficial. Then again, you're getting the extra-capacity battery, so you probably want to used this thing untethered . The sony site says 4.5 hours, and considering that the standard battery with regular use gets around 3 hours for me, I'm guessing the sony estimate is accurate. I wish I could help with some empirical data, but I don't have the extra capacity batt. Sorry

 

If the extended battery were the same size/shape as the standard battery, then I would have considered it. As it stands, the extended battery is significantly larger and raises up the laptop, decreasing portability.

Also, I believe the extended battery is 9-cell, while the standard battery is 6-cell, which means that in theory, one should be able to get 50% more usage out of it, when compared to the standard battery - under identical conditions.

 

Allright Mangosango!! the 650/800/1625 works and is stable.!!!

 

Noticed your setup in your sig.. what kind of life do you get out of your battery? Anywhere near the three hours they claim?

I'm in the Air Force and travel constantly. On average I'm gone for 2 week spans and I recently bought a decent Toshiba netbook to take with me on those trips. I was sick and tired of lugging around my brick of a system... an XPS M1730. The new system is going to spend most of its life on my desk or hooked up to my TV. So portability isn't a huge concern for me with the new laptop since I've got the netbook for travel. But there are times when I leave for months at a time and would like to bring the laptop with me. Then portability does become a bit of an issue. Something I'll have to sleep on I guess.

Thanks for the reply.

 

Me too. Seems to be working well.

 

Yes, I don't have the extra capacity bettery, but I'm guessing that sony would just give you the extra capacity one and not both the standard and extra capacity batteries if you ordered it during the CTO-process. I'm really not sure of this though, so you would want to ask someone who bought an extra capacity battery about that. And yes, it would totally be possible to upgrade at a later time. No question about it All you would have to do is slide the battery out of the back of the computer and slide the new one in.

 

Yes, I don't have the extra capacity bettery, but I'm guessing that sony would just give you the extra capacity one and not both the standard and extra capacity batteries if you ordered it during the CTO-process. I'm really not sure of this though, so you would want to ask someone who bought an extra capacity battery about that. And yes, it would totally be possible to upgrade at a later time. No question about it All you would have to do is slide the battery out of the back of the computer and slide the new one in.

 

Slrosenfeld posted pictures of his large capacity battery earlier on.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=5808888#post5808888

I did not get it because I have this plugged in most of the time.
It actually looks nice though.

 

I cleaned up this thread, taking out a lot of the redundant posts and otherwise.

omaroo - You need to use proper English on these forums. This is not an instant messaging chatroom - members and myself are getting very annoyed with your slang and txt msg-like posts.

Also, stop asking the same question ten times in a row - do some research yourself and be patient.

If I have to delete any more of your posts for the above reasons, you will get an infraction.

FYI guys - the Ignore list is here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/profile.php?do=editlist

 

Thank You Mr. Jefferies!

 

well i will assume that the 6gb version wont have a blu ray burner. Does anyone have a backlit keyboard in the UK models.

 

Why? You don't seem to read the replies.

Only a troll or a person who does not read this thread can post this:

So you write slang & we must all do the effort to decode what you are trying to say?

English is not my native language but that's the language in use in this thread so I try to use it as best as I can.

I think you are just baiting us and guys STOP REPLYING!

Click on the user's name > Public Profile, careful don't "Add X to Your Buddy List" , just right on that green line: "Add X to Your Ignore List". Et voilà!

EDIT to add::

 

Why wait for Microsoft? It would not be the first time that a Microsoft update messes up a piece of hardware.

Just roll back the Bluetooth driver or uninstall & go to Sony_Support to download the OEM certified driver for your F.

 

guys i know i can write informaly thats because im writing really quickly. If people dont want me to ask questions, then i won't. I will read peoples comments before i say something

 

It seems that you can select any combination of these in the configure-to-order option on the U.K. website. If you don't wish to use the online CTO, then I guess not. It has been established some time ago that the UK vaios do not come with a backlit keyboard. I hope this is all useful to you, because I'm trying my best to answer your questions.

 

Thanks mango for your help mate, ye backlit would have been a great feature over here in the UK, but doesnt really concern me. I am actually buying it from a business so i cant really configure the ram or the blu ray writer. So looks like i will go with the 6gb version and see what the company can do for me for the price. Anyway thanks for the help guys.

 

Generally speaking, the only edits made to the .INF files on laptopvideo2go are to allow the drivers to be used on all manufacturer's laptops. By adding a more complete range of hardware IDs, it's possible to use the drivers on - in this case - non-Dell laptops. NVidia provides manufacturers with driver code, and some manufacturers have more recent drivers available than others.

I used the stock .INF file from the link in my original post, and have had no issues today. While I don't have benchmarks yet, I didn't experience any odd behavior in the games I tried (Trine, Torchlight and GTA IV). Also, it's nice to have fixed-aspect-ratio scaling back.

 

For legal reasons, NVidia has that check built in first, in case crazy people want to push their core clocks to 775 Mhz.

 

btw, if anybody has game requests, let me know so I can get them up.

Here's a list of those that I've put up. Unless stated otherwise, all settings at highest, no antialiasing, 720p.

This is with the Core i7 720QM, gt 330m vid card and 4gb of ram.

Green denotes a cpu-heavy game (less taxing on the gpu). Purple (indigo) for games that are both cpu/gpu heavy.

For the specific links, without FRAPS RECORDING SeaGreen denotes fluid (consistently high 30+ fps), blue denotes playable (mostly fluid at 24-30 fps with some dips), and orange denotes unplayable

**NEWLY ADDED** (THESE ARE WITH THE 197.16 DRIVERS - MORE INFO ON THAT HERE)

• Dragon Age: Origins 1280x720
  
  
• Splinter Cell: Conviction Deniable OPS

• The Last Remnant: 720p HD
  
• Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Benchmark, Gameplay

--------------------------------------------------------------------

• Arma 2: Medium, High, Real Gameplay (on normal settings)
  
  
  [*]Bad Company 2: Singleplayer, With 197.16 Drivers Multiplayer Part 1, Multiplayer Part 2, Multiplayer in 1080p
  
  
  [*]Crysis: Playlist with all Videos
  
  
  [*]Dirt 2 Demo: Ultra Settings, Automatic (medium/high) Settings *Note: I can't notice a visual difference between medium/ultra. Anybody spot the differences?
  
  
  [*]Gears of War: Part 1, Part 2
  
  
  [*]Grid: 720p/No AA (fluid with level 1-3 multisampling, or playable at 1080p w/no AA)
  
  
  [*]Just Cause 2 - High/Med Settings Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
  
  
  [*]Mass Effect 2: 720p, No AA; 1080p, no AA, 720p 4xMSAA (no overclock), 720p 4xMSAA with 197.16 Drivers A playthrough on the F with 4xMSAA at 720p with overclock].
  
  
  [*]Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Ultra-High, AF On, AA Off Mixed Settings - 1.1 Patch
  
  
  [*]Modern Warfare 2: 4xAA
  
  
  [*]Need For Speed Shift: 720/All High
  
  
  [*]Sim City Societies: 1080p
  
  
  [*]Sims 3: 1080p (although the game stutters, proven to be a design fault w/ the game, as it stutters on very high-end desktop machines as well).
  
  
  [*]Supreme Commander 2: Part 1: 1080p/All High/2xAA (playable with 4xAA) Part 2
  
  
  [*]Test Drive Unlimited Part 1 Part 2
  
  

I will get GTA4 up as well. I have had a request for STALKER Call of Pripyrat (sp?), and Alien vs Predator, but I don't have these games and I can't find demos/free versions. Again, if you have requests, ask. I will try my best to get them up (lol, no I won't pirate them either )

 

Yep, I don't see the " primary poster" but I still see your replies to the "primary poster" & no way will I add you to the 'ignore list".

So please, keep on quoting the "primary poster" as when I see his name in your reply, I just skip it.