Official Sony VAIO F Series i5/i7 owners thread *Part 5*

So basically it's the program's fault? Either for not being 64bit and giving me access to all 4GB of RAM or for not being written to make use of multi-core processors? (Or potentially having a HDD slows down memory reading?)

=( This is... very sad... Is there any program out there that can run a software within it and force it to use multiple cores? Cuz I'm looking online and it doesn't seem like there's an execution parameter or anything like it that tells Spartan to switch to multi-core use...

(BTW, thank you very much for all your speedy help =] )

EDIT: Would running the program and data files off a USB flash drive eliminate the HDD read speed issue?

 

How would I go about checking GPU usage?
What are these tweaks and what do they do?
(sorry about all the questions)

 

It may be that it can't access all of the RAM, being x86, or that it's not written for multithreaded, but what DeWinte and I are speculating is that the bottleneck is happening during the read/write processes. No matter how fast, or multithreaded, the CPU is, it still has to wait for information to be read from, or written to, the disk/RAM/pagefile...

To monitor things, get these three gadgets:
Intel core series sidebar gadget
GPU observer sidebar gadget
Intel Turbo Boost Technology Monitor

You can also download Everest from Lavalys and use the free trial. Use the OSD (On Screen Display) and you can set it to show a whole bunch of different things.

I prefer the fun graph bars of the gadgets.

The Intel Core gadget will show you all 8 threads (4 real in green, and 4 virtual in blue), as well as temps and % in use. A single threaded program will show heavy load on 1 core and minimal on the rest...

The GPU gadget can be set to show you the temp, usage, clocks and stuff.

The turbo boost gadget will show you, as close to real time as possible, the overclocking that the processor goes through.

Set your program to run and monitor them. You can also use Everest to track usage if you go into the System Stability Test section.

EDIT: Ok, what say that your program requires MORE than what it can access in RAM, or your RAM is not enough, then it will have to write data to the page file (much slower). There's a bottleneck for sure.

 

Part of me is very curious about something. I wish I had enough room on my SSD to install the program and try your calculation. It wants 60GB of space. Hmmm... still want to see if I can try it out. Can I get the program for free/trail? Can I run the same computation as you?

 

Ok well need to know which version you have because in this link here there is a parallels version that uses 2GB of RAM instead of the normal 1GB and also it works on dual or quad core! If that version is not what you have, would it be possible to get it? If you have the normal version then moving to this version should give you a huge boost. It will use more RAM, and as you have 4GB of RAM giving it 2GB is plenty. It'll also be able to run on the 4 cores so maybe you can get a hold of it .

Hopefully that fixes the issue.
The tweaks I mentioned such as disabling core parking will provide possible minor increases. Core parking is a way that the cores are parked to save power etc but it can behave in an odd and aggressive way and actually harm performance at times. There's a lengthy discussion in many threads here on it so google disable core parking and try it at your own risk. Other things include the possibility of running it in a VM as that may help but I'm inexperienced with VMs so wouldn't know where to start!

Other than that I've had a think about it and I think the system shouldn't be bottlenecked by the HDD but I'm not sure it depends how it operates but I'm guessing after the initial loading a lot is done in RAM and the read/write throughput of the HDD should be enough. A good option to find out is to search whether SSDs speed up folding@home work as that has extensive articles written on it! So that's a good place to see if programs like this are bottlenecked by HDDs although folding@home may work differently you should be able to draw a comparison.

Anseio's advice on the CPU and GPU tracking should see you set And a USB flash drive at USB 2.0 is like 30MB/s throughput where as your HDD is like 70-120MB/s throughput . Somewhere around there figures are hazy! If you don't have that parallels version of Spartan I'd suggest asking if you can get a copy from your Uni or wherever it is!

 

Just wondering, what SATA drivers do you use for your VAIO F11,12,13?

Device Manager>IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller>Intel(R) bla bla bla, right click properties.

Mind posting version number?

 

Todat I received my i7 Sony Vaio VPC-F

Its the Sony Vaio VPC-F13Z1E/B
With i7 quad core and 8 gb and comes with a 7200 rpm drive from factory.

Nice would you say?

Ok the system is very nice. After 1 week installing all applications and put back data for my work. I thought yes! Almost finished.

But when I began to copying the last data, I saw a problem.

My laptop was lagging, and the copy speed was like 1 mb per sec. And it got even worse. At the end it was copying with 60 kbps.

My pc didnt want do boot in windows anymore. I thougt it frozes. So I waited for 30 minutes and finally it came in windows.

I deleted the last 10 gb I copyd, and the laptop was fast again.

I find it to bad that Sony uses a Seagate momentus 7200 rpm drive that has a very bad reputation. It's the same series that were in de macbooks.

With Hd tune I get a speed of 80 mb max. Thats the same score that my old vaio aw11m/h had, with a 5400 rpm drive.

So I thought I bring the whole laptop back, But when I buy a new one, i have still that bad HD series in it.

So I ordered myself a Hitachi 500 gb 7200 rpm drive and will replace it. Ive had 3 of those laptops in my other laptops. All the laptops have the same score. Like 120 mb/per sec. Thats what it should be.

To bad sony :/

Ive stresstrest the pc. and didnt found any problems.
So I hope its only the hd

But how do you guys setup your powermanagement? I have it on High Performance. And Ive set the CPU to always run at 100 %.

Can that cause problems? I did this to all my laptops in the past .

Im always on power, don't really use the accu

 

I'm thinking of ordering a Sony VAIO VPC-F133FX/B from Amazon. Sony.com states that the laptop has special anti-glare coating etc... I've seen a matte version of the Vaio F in europe.

So... does someone know what is the screen of this laptop? matte, glossy or glossy with somekind of coating which makes the reflections a little bit more barable? And how good is this screen in general?

 

Here in europe we have a matte screen

 

Wheather or not I have a lemon or not I could not say but I have been having several problems with my laptop... I downloaded nTune and I used it to overclock it. I was very careful with it and I think only makxed it out at around 650. I then started playing Medal Of Honor on Max settings then half way through the game the entire game went black and there were red lines and bars all accross the entire screen then the laptop shut off and restarted itself and went back to the stock clock settings. Since then I havent had that problem and its overclocked at about 640 or so.
Next thing that happneded was I was on my desktop then all of a sudden all the icons and everything was gone and all I saw was my wallpaper. Even the pointer was gone. Then about 15 seconds later it jsut shut off. When I turned the computer back on. It was fine for about 30 minutes. Then it went straight to the blue screen. That would've been the second time it had gone to a blue screen. Then when the laptop turned off and I turned it back on I got a black screen after the Vaio logo showed up it said Operating System Not Found. Every time I hit enter it added the same line. I turned of the laptop and turned it back on again and got the same response. On the third t ime I finally got the option to fix the computer and it loaded up in Vista and repaired it and I hadnt lost any imformation. I ran a Full Scan for the 3rd time using MSE and it found absolutely nothing. I torrent pretty much all of my games so idk if I may have gotten a virus from that because I'm very safe when it comes to torrents. But I would assume if it were it would have found something on the full scan...

 

Yeah thanks anseio for that info I will keep that in mind if I have any trouble. Im sure all will go well and if the tech does a good job ill post that as well.

I realize that its only a percentage of folks who had trouble with their techs because im sure most folks arnt going to post a message about how well a service was performed. Most people will already have the expectation is that their laptop will be fixed with proper care of their unit.

 

Sony is the best brand in my opinion for windows notebooks.

My first vaio I bought 3 jaar ago. I have had 7 now.

Had 2 aw11m/h. They still rock 18.4 inch

But I don't get it jetzster, Why do you want to overclock it. Isnt it fast enough?

 

I would certainly begin with a system restore.

 

Hello I have received a customized vaio f black premium european.

I have seen that now there is only dark black in the rubber not in the cover,the cover is now dark grey (in f11,f12 dark black) or is only the mine?how do you have it?

I have seen also a little bug with nvidia drivers in the new 425m,the aeropeek function sometimes doesnt work. Maybe we have to wait the new drivers(vaio update) or are you using the nvidia one without problem?

 

Hi All, been lurking for awhile and thoroughly enjoy the deep knowledge many members here have about this great laptop. I have a VPC-F1290S that I got several months ago and have had no problems. Yesterday my wife dropped it with a USB stick in one of the right hand USB ports. My question is, is there any economical way to fix the USB port? It seems like the black plastic guide piece snapped off so now the USB port is useless. Any advice is appreciated!

 

Hello,

Does Sony underclock the GT 425m in the F13's or do they keep it at stock? (560 core / 1120 shader / 800 memory) What is the speed if it is underclocked?

 

Those are the settings mine is at by default.

 

Mine has always worked. I have a US version but I don't think that should make a difference. Maybe your software got corrupted somehow. Have you tried re-installing?

 

I dont try reinstalling,i mean that aeropeek works but not correctly like is reported here

ALT+TAB Aero Peek Bug - Windows 7 Taskforce

wich is your nvidia preinstalled version? mine 259.03

 

I left home right after posting, On my phone now. I'll have to take a look at that video later.

 

I did like BatteryCare more than the other one too.
It has some nice features like disabling
the aero (I have it disabled anyway) and heavy-HDD-usage services
(thinking about disabling them permanently)
when on battery. the disadvantage is that it does not plot the graphs.

well, still a keeper...

what I'm still looking for is a proggy to undervolt the processor, which
is a major energy hog in this laptop, I think.

 

spartan'08 is supposed to be multi-threaded, at least for some types of the calculations. Did you use 08 or earlier? also what exactly did you calculate? it is possible that due to either reason, u used only one thread.

I've already tried some of similar proggies in multi-threaded variants on my Vaio F , and they happily occupied all the 8 threads.

 

I recently got a customized F12 i5 and I'm dissappointed by the amount of noise it makes. It's not the general noise that is a problem. It is a droning noise, with a 'musical' tone that constantly varies - going up and down in pitch by several semitones that is really annoying. This noise is with just light usage, just internet broswing. I can still hear it whilst listening to (admittedly quiet) music on headphones. I could never imaging watching a blu-ray on it without headphones.

The noise doesn't seem to be coming from the underside of the laptop - when I put my ear close to the underside I just hear the normal fan noise. The droning noise seems loudest when putting my ear to the keyboard - but is still highly noticeable at normal distance.

Is there any way to alter how the fans operate? I just use the laptop for light usage so I would not be worried about overheating. Is is worth using an external cooler?

 

Ok, guys I need some help. I've been waiting on a the grey F13 to come out so that I can pull the trigger. I realize this IS the Sony forum so you all are a bit biased, but I just saw this deal. According to the specs it looks very interesting. I have not begun to research it yet. How does the HP Envy compare the a similarly equipped F13? Whatever I get will be primarily used for Photoshop and Lightroom. I'm not a gamer.

HP Envy 17 3D customizable Notebook PC
HP Envy 17 3D customizable Notebook PC

XG554AV


* Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
* Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-740QM Quad Core processor (1.73GHz, 6MB L3 Cache) w/Turbo Boost up to 2.93GHz
* 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 5850 Graphics [HDMI]
* 6GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
* 1TB 7200RPM Dual Hard Drive (500GB x 2) with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
* No Additional Office Software
* 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (standard) - Up to 2.25 hours of battery life +++
* 17.3" diagonal Full HD HP 3D Ultra BrightView Infinity LED Display (1920x1080)
* Blu-ray ROM with SuperMulti DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support (Slot Load)
* HP TrueVision HD Webcam
* Intel Wireless-N Card with Bluetooth
* Backlit Keyboard
* Adobe(R) Photoshop(R) Elements 8 & Adobe Premiere(R) Elements 8
* HP 3D Active Shutter Glasses
* HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

Estimated build date: November 15, 2010

This ships free Free standard shipping on this item

The HP Home & Home Office Store will accept returns or exchanges for this product up to 21 days after delivery

« Save for re-order

Remove »
Qty. Update »
Price: $1,859.99
Coupon: –$400.00
Price after savings: $1,459.99

 

You're right. We're definitely a little :wink: biased here. I think you could find some good info on the HP in the HP Envy forum. One thing to seriously consider is its heat management. I've read posts about it getting up well over 70-80c when the processor is under load. The VAIO manages heat very well, despite what can be a noise fan at time. Even under full load during stability tests, I can't get my VAIO to go over 66c.

 

Well, I looked at the video referred to on the link and mine is not behaving like that. Although the person who submitted that bug issue says the problem is erratic so I can't know whether it is just behaving properly now or always is. The reason I don't know that is because I almost always use the mouse over taskbar for aeropeek - I've only used ALT+Tab once since getting this computer (until just now when I tried it out again). But I'll keep trying it out occasionally and if I experience that behavior I'll let you know.

So, I did update my driver recently. You can look back a little bit in this thread to follow that discussion between anseio, wolverine, and myself. I, however, would not recommend that to you because there are a couple issues with the unsupported new driver and if the ALT+Tab thing bothers you, I think these issues would bother you much more. However, you can always try and then revert back if you really want to see if it fixes that issue. Hopefully, a supported driver update won't be too far off but I have no idea.

 

Along with heat I'd consider that even though the ATI card is more powerful than the 425m, nvidia cards tend to work very nicely in Adobe apps. Also the 3D bandwagon is annoyingly strong, as 3D will only be annoying when the frame rates slow down which is likely. Granted you're not gaming . This is without bias because looks as if both the Sony F and the alienware m17x are jumping on the 3D train next year lol woo for screen quality. I agree with Anseio check out how the heat is on the current model and build quality/screen quality with the recent changes. If it's good news and you like it then ofc pull the trigger if it's a better deal and be happy!

 

Is the normal version multi threaded too? From what I could tell only the parallels version was properly multi threaded for dual and quad cores. Anyway great to have someone with experience here!

 

Hey Guys. New to the Sony community. What would you guys consider to be the "must have" Sony applications on a clean install of windows 7?

So far, other than drivers, I have only installed the Sony control panel.

Model: VPCF136FM/B.

Thanks in advance.

rek

 

Hi all,

I just received a new F13 with a 1600x900 display and i5 processor, and for the most part am loving it so far. I do have one annoying problem though, which is that the web camera picture is very, very dark. I have to ramp the gamma all the way to the top and put low light compensation on to be able to even see my face, and the brightness setting doesn't seem to make a difference.

I did a google search for this but came up with nothing, so I am wondering here if I am alone with this problem or has anyone else had a similar issue?

Thanks in advance

 

Here are the absolute minimum that I recommend. You can try any others that you want and just uninstall if you don't like them. It's non-committal that way.

VAIO Event Service - makes Fn, ASSIST, S1, and VAIO keys work. It also make an annoying beep whenever you use the Fn keys. It's easily removeable though in its program file folder (c:\programfilesx86\Sony\VaioEventService pi.wav is the file that makes that sound.
VAIO Care - Accessed via ASSIST button. Is your troubleshooting, backup, and cleanup tool.
VAIO Hardware Diagnostic - Added diagnostics to VAIO Care.
VAIO Control Center - S1 key, accesses many settings all in one location. Automatic brightness can be adjusted in VCC.
VAIO Settings Utility Series - fills VAIO Control Center with its options/settings.
VAIO Help and Support - if it's still an option.

I'm sure there are other "must have's", but those are my minimums.

I don't want to say you're alone on this, but you just might be. I haven't read a single comment about that aspect of the webcam in threads 3, 4, and 5. I don't even have my webcam software installed, as I don't ever plan to use it.

Someone around here might be able to help you figure out if your problem is unique, I'm sure.

 

This happened to me when my hard drive failed. Your hard drive may be faulty or your partition table/master boot record may have become corrupted (that's most likely why it said "No Operating System Found."

The next time you boot up, go into your bios (either delete or F2 while the computer is booting up) and check to see if the hard drive is visible in the bios.

As Fishon said, I would begin by backing up your data. You should call sony and be like " my comp... its broken " and they should be able to help you fix it.

Best of luck

(and no, I doubt that a virus caused it. "Legit" torrents are usually clean ). I think you overclock may have caused the errors though (sounds very much like a video problem if you saw red lines go across the screen the first time it crashed). Do you have the 425m? It might not overclock as well as the 330m...

 

*EDIT* Just saw Tichi's post about the program being multi-threaded. Maybe the specific test you were running was only for one core, or you were using an earlier version of the program?

=====

The program is most likely not coded for parallel cores. Basically, the program only ran on 1 out of your 8 threads.

Here's why you can't just run at 100% and finish 8 times faster. You can only process things on separate cores if the data processed on one core is mutually independent of the data being processed on the other cores, that is, no process on one core needs to be dependent on the results of another core.

A (somewhat) simple example:

Say you have a list of integers: [1,2,3,4]

If you wanted to add 2 to all of the elements of this list, you would do [1+2,2+2,3+2,4+2] and end up with [3,4,5,6]. In this case, each operation is independent. 1+2 will always equal 3 regardless of what 2+2, 3+3, or any of the other elements of the list may be. This is an example where you can do parallel processing - stick each addition operation on each core and run the program at 4 times the speed it would run on one core.

Now, take that same list [1,2,3,4]. Say we want to perform a folding function (we want to calculate a summation of all the elements in the list: 1+2+3+4). To do this, the computer first needs to figure out what 1+2 is. Then, it takes this value (3) and adds it to the next item in the list 3. Then it takes this value (6) and adds it to the next item (4) and returns the answer (10). Notice that the computer cannot perform the 2nd operation until 1+2 is finished, meaning that even if you put each separate addition on a discrete core, it would have no speed benefit, because you would have to wait for one core to finish processing before you could continue. In this example, you can do a clever trick and do the operation 1+2 on one core and 3+4 on another core at the same time and then sum these two parts together, but ultimately there will be cases where you absolutely must wait for the solution of one operation before continuing on. In these cases, having multiple cores will present no benefit at all.

Essentially, working with and optimizing for multiple cores is a programmer's worst nightmare, because there is just so much to keep track of (is this data dependent on other cores? How much time is spent waiting for this instruction to finish? On which cores do we need to place each calculation in order to have the fastest run time? How do we have the program decompose nicely when only 1 or 2 cores are available? How do we code it so that all available cores are used?). For higher-level programming this isn't too bad, because your compiler should take care of all of the nitty-gritty details, but if you're the guy stuck writing the compiler, or if you want to write in assembly code (one layer of code right above machine language) then yeah things start to suck a bit

 

As said mangosango there's a multicore version of the program so if that's not what he's running then that's the issue. If it is what he's running then lol. The normal Spartan '08 seems to be single core and parallels version multicore and more expensive hence me doubting where he got it from having that edition.
Nicely explained how it works .

 

Yeah, same here. It works with my new F13. What have u changed ? Have no time for the diff.

Thx!

 

Alright so if I wanna do a System Restore do I need a disk for that?

 

hello, sorry for bringing this monster thread up again.

Currently i have the F11 with i7 Q720 with 45 watts, as i develop 3d graphics software, its the perfect laptop for me. but now, after 3 months i am annoyed by the irregular fan noise.. its such a big pity, the laptop is great despite this noise. and i don't mean the loudness, its this constantly changing speed of the fan..

now my question is, has the F13 still the same problem?
i would sell my F11 and get a F13 if its any better concerning the fan speed.
also i would buy the F13 with a i7 Q640 with 35 watts, as i hope it makes much less heat. good thing is that i can have the nvidia 425m, which is more important then the cpu for me.

i read many replies here, but the statements where controversal regarding the fan of the F13.

could someone clear this up for me?
my other option would be the Z13 but its much more expensive and the 13,1" disply with full HD is quite small...

thanks a lot!

 

Yup, same thing here with F13. I installed the webcam software just for fun. It is pretty dark. You need a lamp to illuminate your face if you want to use it. Kids love it though.

 

So far I have still not noticed any strange fan noise. I measured the fan sound level with my iphone by placing it near the vent and it is around 50db when I can hear it working during a HD mkv movie playback. Other times it is quieter during normal desktop use. I have not run any load test software to drive the fan to max or monitored the speed of the fan yet.

 

Thanks for the reply anseio!

rek

 

I think you can either do it with the hidden restore partition on the HD or using the restore DVD you created. I did my clean install using the restore partition.

 

Have tried this fix? YouTube - Vaio_F Series Fan Noise, Whining, High Pitch, Morse Code Fix - VPCF115FM F11_F12_F13

 

Alright thanks xingreen. I might try that. I don't have access to make any disks any time soon so I might clean the partition although I read around and saw that when you do the partition, it will clean everything but still loads up with aL the Sony Bloatware..

 

I got a new Sony Vaio VPCF134FX laptop. It makes weird strange noise when trying to talk through Skype and makes impossible to talk. I don't have problem with old Lenovo laptop which has same version of Skype and uses the same wireless internet connection. I am sorry if it has been already discussed. Could you please help me? Is it related to hardware problem.

 

Did you do the obvious and uninstall and reinstall Skype? What kind of noise is being omitted from the laptop? Since I have no problem I will share my mic set up. In microphone enhancements check the immediate mode. I have no mic boost- it's at zero. Default playback device. Allow application to take control of this device is checked as well. Also, if you changed any Skype audio setting certainly go back to default settings. Good luck and maybe someone else can add to this.

 

i would love to hear more technical facts.. anyone knows if sony has reworked the fan (-control) for the F13?

 

Thank you a lot for your answer.
The problem is in aero peek itself,I also use the mouse (center button) and it has the same behaviour.To use alt +tab is not relevant.
Could you tell me your preinstalled nvidia drivers,its also 159.03 like me?

I hope an officialy update,now in europe vaio update for f13 models is empty.

 

What Xingren instructed was for a complete system recovery. Fishon actually advised on System Restore, which just takes you back to a recent point in time w/o needing to completely reinstall the OS.

Start Menu > type "restore" > select "system restore"

 

I just received my Vaio F13s (European model) and I have to say the fan makes a lot of noise, even when the laptop isnt really doing that much. Now ive read in several places this is not unheard of regarding this model, but I wonder if there is anything I can do about it. It seems it randomly changes its speed, plus the air it is blowing isnt even that warm. Maybe a bios update? I have searched for this, but have not been able to find anything.

 

No one has been able to alter fan speed. This is a laptop that can do some serious heavy lifting and always stays cool. A robust cooling system is required to achieve this. Maybe Sony went a bit too far insuring the lappy stays cool, but it is what it is. Others with comparable systems often complain of overheating and F owners often complain of fan noise. The info is here for all to see. For me it was easy to 'pick my poison' and side with some fan noise. I use a laptop cooler and this keeps the fan from kicking in so much but with the obvious noise from the cooler. Do all you guys live in a monastery? For me, the HVAC system at work or the fan I may keep on at the house easily drowns out the sound, or just play some music. Frankly, I have no issue with the fan noise and maybe one out of a hundred times I use the laptop I kind of 'raise an eyebrow' to it. Buyers beware. This laptop makes some noise but for me I would 'hands down' purchase once again.