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

That really comes down to personal preference (and wallet), if you search the forum you can find several threads about whether to go for a full HD screen or not. I went with the full HD screen for my F and haven't regretted it once.

 

No clean install, came with fresh start. Running Malwarebytes, Dropbox, Sandboxie and Bonjour (for Adobe not iTunes) at startup.

 

On their website they have a support page where you can ask them technical questions. Let us know.

 

well i have a VPCF126FM i tried undervolting using that cpugenie thing and it crashed trying to do the wizard check so iv given up undervolting unless somone know a working way for this sony laptop i got blue screen of death when i tried

So i may look to a cooler instead i read that the NZXT is ok will this do a good job am after a cooler i can use with the Laptop on my KNEE. Is the one am thinking about good and will it reduce the temp by much please help. Am looking to get the temp down when am running wow as i play it in the living room and it bothers the mrs when the fan goes thus am trying to make the fan quieter

Here the fan temps running wow for 15 mins and then it idle after running it after 10 mins

 

Anseio,wolverine...thank u i really appreciate your help

 

Guys
i have a vpcf1390x
425m
i was testing the default and the 260.99 driver
on furmark i get the same score and on 3dmark vision the default is 200 points better
i think its not worth the "upgrade" and have all those brightness issues
(can post ss later if you want)

 

UPDATE ON MY NOISY FAN from Sony Tech support !

Yestarday i called support because they were supposed to call me within 3 days after telling me that technician needs to come by and replace the fan (!?) to schedule date. So, as nobody called, i called them, and another tech told me that there is a new note on my "case" stating that no fan replacement is necessery ( as i thought) and that this problem needs to be fixed by upgrading motherboard drivers.

Technician told me that it is known problem, and that upgrade for my F13 exists. It is ( INDOTH-00228052-0042 file ) So he talked me through downloading the upgrade file, and running it. I did it and fan did quiet down. But then after i resterted computer, fan went back to same loud speed changes every 20 seconds. It seems that it might be a bit of improvement, as I think it quiets down if i close all programs and leave computer on. But if i just surf the net with google chrome, it is changing speeds constantly following in step with CPU usage. If it goes over 5% CPU usage up to even 15% it is already too loud.

so no real fix yet. I will work on pushing Tech support to figure this out for me and will post latest news to you.

best regards

 

in my laptop sound change every second not every 20 seconds,,i think the fans sensor is very high,i dont know if thats normal or not,,can i download this file(motherboard upgrade) in my lappy or its just for your model?

 

That driver was already on your computer - it's listed as "originally shipped version of the Intel 5 Series 6 port SATA AHCI Controller driver" for the F13 . Sony techs don't know what they're doing of course.

Edit: And just to make sure, I just verified on my own laptop that the driver, which I have not updated, is the exact version as the one from that file.

 

thanks jpride!

of coarse they don't know what they are saying. The kid (first tech) who was assuring me that fan needs replacement also said that he hasn't heared of this issue before !!! He sounded and spoke like 12 year old kid ( not a year more!)

I will keep trying though.

best regards

 

might be random, its been a long time since i last posted here. but joe still banned?!?! what the hell happened again?!

 

I installed my new 240gb OCZ Vertex 2 SSD that is replacing my stock 5,400 rpm drive. Actually installing the drive was cake and I then used Joebleau's clean install guide. Everything went fine as far as I can tell so far. SSDs really are fast! No more long waits to boot windows and start apps. Here is a screen capture of my Windows startup time within Vaio Care.

 

Congratulations!

If there's one thing that I'd recommend... well two things actually... is to disable prefetch and superfetch (recommended by Intel for Intel SSD's at least) and do some reading through the SSD thread. It's huge and has a good amount of fanboys bantering with some good info.

 

Thanks a lot anseio. I am reading up on the OCZ forums and seeing what is recommended for my exact drive. It seems with the newer SSD's with the Sandforce controller they are treated a bit differently than some of the older SSD controllers so I just want to make sure I am doing the right thing. i will definitely be checking out the SSD thread too.

 

Maybe you are fixated on the smoke & forgetting about the fire.

Try in Safe Mode or disable some crap on startup with msconfig or kill some useless processes for testing with the free Autoruns & then report about the smoke err.. fan.

Then go to notebookcheck.net & compare reviews of different brands of lappies with i7 CPU's et check their sound emission chapters. The F is ballpark average. Or compare side-by-side with an other powerful notebook running the exact same tasks.

Maybe you should get a Macbook or a less powerful model if noise is a major problem for you.

BTW, writing in caps is considered SHOUTING in forums.

 

According to all the benchmarks posted by Vaio F owners on this site so far it's one of the coolest i7 laptop on the market so I guess that Sony's thermal paste is not crap even if it looks like it when the cooling unit is removed.

 

How is the VPCF116FG considered compared with other F's?

 

Got one of these on hold at PC world, gonna pop by after 3pm and take a look at it and probs buy it. Excited.

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/sony-vaio-vpcf13m0e-b-07580317-pdt.html

Its a pretty good deal to start with but the company im working for is buying it and claiming the VAT back for me so it will only cost like £800.
l]

 

that's a pretty sweet deal! i'm rather jealous i paid a good deal more for an earlier model less than 2 months ago from pc world. ah well, such is life and technology

 

UPDATE from SONY
Tech called me today and said that there is nothing they can do at this point for the fan. He said they are aware of changing speed and level of noise on this particular model, but that it was designed as such with purpose!

Reply to NBR Bug_or_Feature:

I tried adjusting power management and fan. I might try yo reduce background processes further, but i already have "fresh start" machine.

No I shouldn't get macbook. I did a lot of research before getting F13, and i knew about noisy fan before paying.

However, I don't have this problem when i'm at work, even though its quiet environment, noise floor at work is generally higher and it doesn't become an issue. It does however when i am at home talking low and listening to low volume TV. then this laptop fan becomes totally dominant and too loud. Not to mention speed changing precisely in step with CPU usage which i monitor.

CPU usage 5% is when fan i low, but any higher than that, specifically 6% - %20 CPU usage make the fan vary speed between %50 and %100, even though i am only surfing internet with Google chrome.

thats too much. So i unplug PS and it quiets down. Thats my solution for now. I think it can be better and more reasonable, so you could actually take it to library and not get kicked out. (no exaggeration)

peace

 

Just got my new VAIO F home, uninstalling alll the bloatware off it as we speak. Even with the bloat its fast mind you.

 

What power profile are you using? When you unplug the PS, the power profile switches to its "on battery" settings. You can change your "plugged in" settings to match.

You'll probably want more access to CPU functions, so check this out:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...-intel-series-4-5-965-chipsets-jjb-tweak.html
Though the user intended these tweaks to optimize SSD performance, you can use some of them to lower CPU performance perhaps? Regardless, it's pretty failsafe, as you can always click to restore to default settings.

Good luck

 

I did this right away with great hopes, but nothing changed. By that i mean three settings for how many minutes till screen dims, how many minutes till HD turns off, etc. Is there deeper settings?
Still when plugged with AC the fan is on steroids!

 

CPU Settings. The tweaks mentioned above allow you access to other CPU Settings. I dunno if they'll help, but you might just try to make plugged in matched on battery and see what happens.

 

Is there a list of programs that are bloatware? Im not sure what to get rid of or what to keep!

I looked in the unification post but cant find it, im sure ive seen one somewhere before!

 

Otra vez, Wieder, Nouveau, hear it is again...

 

thanks man. I'll try when i get home. Still new to Win 7.

cheers

 

Thanks, repped.

Is this laptop meant to come with a restore dvd?

 

Sony should, I mean how much would it really cost? Most manufacturers are getting away from providing and no this laptop does not come with one. No biggie, but always I small concern I didn't burn it right. Just make sure you use the slower option for better quality assurance. I do an image appox twice a month. I'm sure you know it has the recovery partition.

 

Doesn't come with Restore DVD's, but you can/should make them from VAIO Care.

ASSIST > Recovery & Restore > Recovery > Create Recovery Media

 

96 processes running.

Whats a normalish number to have?

So am I correct in understanding the recovery media is on the partition? Is that something I can boot from or do I have to burn a disk?

 

yes, i'd like to know this too, after turning computer on, and connecting to Wifi, without any manually started apps, how many processes do you guys have?

thanks

 

60 for me and anseio shows 47.

 

now your problem is not that fan change its speed constantly coz it change when cpu change and thats completely normal...your problem is the fan noise..when u r in the library try this...

press S1 button..pwer management..power option..silent mode...no more fan noise...but watch the cpu temperature and see if its in range or not

 

Apparently, one of the so-called matte screens in the EU notebooks is the same as one from the FW490 series: http://forum.notebookreview.com/6760967-post109.html The glossy FW490 screens (and the FW190 HiColor) were not as glossy as the usual glossy screen, leading some people to think they were matte.

However, as I noted in my detailed researched posts in earlier threads, there are two EU premium screens, only one of which is RGB LED. The ones discussed in my earlier posting and at the link above is not RGB LED. It is, however, FAR superior to the American so-called "premium" Full HD screen in the early F's which may not even have been dual-lamped, if memory serves correctly. (Someone who posted about his third-party screen order and changing out his American F screen for the one discussed above had to get additional parts because of the second lamp.)

I have not seen the recent F screens nor have I researched the screen differences between the F models -- nor do I intend to. Having been criticized after spending hours in research at links to official Sony parts pages, etc. and lining up all part numbers across models, etc., it is a thankless job.

And look at Joe Bleau's now mythical departure (I say mythical because I missed the exchanges). A thankless forum, indeed. Permanent (as opposed to temporary) banning should only occur if legal exposure is involved -- and no one has stated that that was the case, as far as I can tell. Anyway....

Good luck!

 

Yeah, I get 47 right after a clean install. I have to have a few extras running in order for my phone to connect on boot up and get me internet access via bluetooth. My boots, after getting everything set up, are around 69 processes, then it goes up after delayed programs start to launch.

96 is more than I have even under heavy load.

 

Hi everyone.

I just received my new Sony Vaio F13. It looks like a real beauty. I was just wondering where should I start with trying to best optimize my new system, what programs are useful, which should I delete, etc?
If you could direct me to a link that has this all this info possibly or help otherwise I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks!

 

By no means complete but I'll share a few thoughts. You up for a clean install? Certainly consider. For optimization let Windows install the latest updates. Use Vaio care to update drivers etc- I assume you do not have the latest Realtek and Nividia drivers. Get the latest Intel driver http://www.station-drivers.com/page/intel raid.htm. Install autoruns http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx and eliminate what you do not need at startup. Change from balanced to high performance mode. Consider a monitor calibration. Of course there will be a lot of software optimization for you based on your personal usage. Ninite is a good place to start. Ninite Easy PC Setup - Silent Unattended Install Multiple Programs At Once Oh, and check and make sure no defects i.e. check for bad pixels, check all ports, optical bay, keyboard etc. so you do not waste your time on a defective machine. Run some benchmarks and keep them for future reference. Recovery discs. It's a start anyway...Edit: Service configurations, change to manual what you do not need http://www.blackviper.com/Windows_7/servicecfg.htm

 

After doing a clean install my processes are right in line with anseio's. Right after the clean install I was in the mid 40's and now at startup I am at about 70.

 

Iv'e got 57 processes running, that includes Norton 360, firefox, 8gb file transfering over the network, GTAIV downloading through steam and a few torrents downloading in uTorrent.

Pretty chuffed at that result, may put off doing the clean install until next year.

 

Are there somebody with US HD (1920x1080) glossy screen and gf425m who can share some good color profile ? Because i`m so disappointed by the color reproduction of the screen. Sorry for my bad English

 

Here you go.

And more offerings post #1099: http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...vaio-f-series-owners-lounge-part-2-a-110.html

http://alturl.com/zv2he

 

Thank you very very much

 

OK, the fan never bothered me that much, but it was "always there"...

Laptop was running on Balanced.

Then received BIOS update for VPCF127HG and now the fan is definitely quiter

BIOS Update: R1120Y6

Fan is definitely still working, but much less noisy on normal web surfing etc (on default Windows Balanced).

Not gaming that much - but will check noise levels with some Video Encoding later

i740QM, 330m, 8GB RAM, Full HD Premium Screen.

 

I have a VPC-F12KFX/B, and I'm trying to find out if I have a USB 3.0 port, or if they are just 2.0. Can anyone let me know if they know this exact model, or if not, how can I check to see. Thanks in advance.

 

The F11 and F12's come with USB 2.0 and the F13 with 3.0

 

wow, thats a real bummer. I jsut got a WD 1TB drive and its going to take forever to transfer crap

 

Use the eSATA port and get a eSATAp enclosure which uses only one cable. I have this one. Element EN-2200-BK 2.5" USB 2.0 Aluminum External SATA HDD Enclosure (Black) - Supports up to 500GB! Element EN-2200-BK

 

Forgetting about eSATA at the moment I would like to utilize the expresscard slot for USB usage. Since my F11 has only USB 2.0 would I want to get an expresscard USB 3.0 adapter so I can at least get expresscard speed and I assume getting a expresscard USB 2.0 adapter would only give me 2.0 speed. Am I correct in my thinking?

 

Yeah, I would get a USB 3.0 adapter. Both USB 3.0 and 2.0 devices can be used with it. An expresscard USB 2.0 adapter would only provide 2.0 speed like you said.

Edit: I was assuming you would actually be using some USB3.0 devices with it, either now or in the future. Otherwise, it wouldn't make sense to get it because USB 3.0 takes more power.