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

Um model #? I also dont know what GPU even means so i dont know what GPU i have, but here is screenshot
http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/6004/screenshotgpu.png

 

And my Everest expired btw

 

Ok, in AIDA, go to:

Computer > Summary > Motherboard > Motherboard name (this is the model number for your VAIO. VPC-F...)

Computer > Summary > Display > Video Adaptor (this is the model number of your GPU)

A GPU is Graphics Processing Unit (Unit?). It's like a CPU (processor), but is dedicated solely to the processing and rendering of graphics so that you're CPU does not have to do it. Once we know what your model numbers are, it'd be nice to have someone pull the same info from their machine using AIDA and match them to yours.

You should also try this windows gadget:
OrbLog Blog Archive GPU Observer – Sidebar Gadget

Install it and click on the wrench (settings). Select:
Show Fan Speed
Show GPU Load
Show Memory Load
Show Clocks

My particular GPU (GeForce 310M) does not have a Fan, so I can't help you directly. This is why I'm trying to gather very specific information from you so someone else can easily help.

 

Ok thanks man you're a great help ill get to it

 

So anseio, do you think the LED backlit screen is the best, im kinda of suprised sony never done that with the full HD. The EU full HD screen is great nonetheless.

 

I don't have an educated opinion of any real value. From what I've read from other posters, in the past, is that the full HD, dual CCFL display is like 95% RGB (better color reproduction), whereas the LED backlit is like 70% or something

 

Okay much appreicated for your reply. To be honest I love this laptop screen is great. Flaws are whining noise, fan noise for me is okay. But the thing that im concerned with is the leather palm rest. Im not sure if anyone understands what I mean.

 

VPCF116FGI nvidia gt 330 m, also on this GPU observer thing it says GPU at 0% when im not doing anything, so i guess theres something wrong with everst/aida. Also this gadget isnt showing my fan speed properly, it says its "-1%" and doesnt change

 

I always find that the picture on laptops with LED screens look better than CCFL. Maybe this dual CCFL is something special then?

How do you know that all the Sony F's with 1600x900 res use an LED backlight? Its not listed that way on Sonystyle.ca or bestbuy.ca so just wondering how you know this.

Also, any idea how i can get the extended battery for this? It would be real helpful when taking this thing to school...

My model is the VPCF136FXB.

 

Does it appear as if it's coming up? I remember one person having that problem. He tried to glue it back down. Yeah, that was a hot mess. If it's coming up, contact Sony, but that may mean you'll have to send it in. What do I know about this though? Nothing, so don't take my word for it.

My guess is that nothing is wrong and that the programs do not know how to read your GPU. That's ok, so long as it functions correctly. Would be nice for someone else with the 330M to check. Most of the people here have that one, so I'm sure someone can look.

 

I tend to disagree but we might know more in just a few days. The F-Series is ideally suited for the initial runs of Sandy Bridge (i7-2820QM, i7-2720QM. etc). Architecturally it is well aligned as it uses Nvidia GPUs already.

GeForce GPU Will be Inside 200 Sandy Bridge PCs

More pertinent info here:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2374911,00.asp

 

If i run sc2 for about 10 minutes it starts to do this thing where the fan really revs up for about 5 seconds , and then goes back to what it was (which is still extremely loud) and then about 10 seconds later it will rev up again and keep doing this. Are there any videos of people showing their f11's under stress or something

 

Anseio, its hard for me to tell, it just seems like there are gaps between the leather and chrome. I cant really describe it. The laptop is in pretty awesome shape, but im not sure if im paranoid or whether something is indeed wrong.

In regards to the screen, I never knew the F series had LED backlit screen. The EU screen is LCD but its still great imo, as the colours really come through as well as the picture quality.

 

hi everyone
Just wanted to share that i have installed a US backlit keyboard purchased from ebay ( SONY VAIO VPC F11 F12 Keyboard US Black Frame Backit on eBay (end time 27-Jan-11 07:35:08 GMT) ) on my europe model f13 vaio. i works like a charm.
-Color is perfect ( was worried about the color difference)
-Seems like the keyboard is original
-smooth keys unlike the kinda rough europe ones
-backlight works very well with sensor

Anyone who wants to replace it i say go ahead.
I used this guide ( http://www..org/images/Sony_Vaio_F11/Vaio_F_Series_Keyboard_Replacement_Guide.htm )

p.s. sorry if it has been shared before.

 

First of all people NEED TO UNDERSTAND that LED backlit IS NOT BETTER than ccfl in most of the consumers lcd panels. Everyone has wet pants if they just hear LED backlit. Go to the notebookcheck website and read reviews with different brand laptops and their LED backlit screens. Most of them are just avereage and thats because LED backlit doesnt mean every single pixel on the panel is backlit. Its normal array of led cells behind the panel. The more advanced array the better the backlit but still, LED backlit doesnt mean the panel will be having better colors, wider gamut or so. Same like the "uber cool and fancy" LED backlit tv's. FOr example Sony Bravia has quite fresh EX tv series, where base tv model performs better than higher priced edge-led next EX model. Only last EX and far the most expensive model is better than two lower models.


Want good LED panel ? Go for RGBLED. Other than that, you must understand that LED backlit in notebooks isnt any superior than ccfl. There are better screens with ccfl than a most of the led backlit crap. Oh I forgot, that "LED" word is something that makes you excited wheater it is well implemented or not. -_-'

Reason I said that earlier is that I think Sony will present new series rather than revise motherboard layout, cooling system and other things in F. We could say we have 3 generations of F series and whats the difference ? USB3.0 and slightly more clocked processors and thats all. Oh and F13 has worse premium screens in S and Z variants than they were in F12S and F12Z. Sandy bridge in F is not bo avaiable soon if ever IMO.

 

It's my understanding that sc2 can be quite taxing. Look at this video from another user here. He does many gameplay vids and testing on his VAIO F11 with the 330M GPU.

YouTube - Starcraft 2 Beta on Sony Vaio F - Part 2

His comments beneath the video show his settings and his fps. This game is going to definitely make your cooling fan work.

Jacol,

I've got to point out that in American English the phrase "first of all" is never taken nicely. We perceive it to be standoff-ish. What you were reading in the posts about LED backlighting and CCFL was one poster who didn't know that the VAIO has both, depending on the model, and me who knows enough to know that they are used on the different models. Nothing about my post directly indicated that the CCFL backlighting itself gave better color reproduction, but that the DISPLAY (backlit by CCFL) was better quality in the VAIO F's from what I've read from the users here over the past 6 months.

I'm glad that you offered better information and could clear up the tech a bit for ReD.

 

Sorry for my bad english and I wasnt exactly reffering to your post - I planned to quote all posts regarding LCD display just to make point but I cant properly qutoe too much here - board engine is quite different than IPB or phpBB and not that smart.


It was just a loose talk about all the LED hype, because there are moments here, in this topic, and on any other topic on any other forum when suddenly people are trying to find a model with lcd panel with LED backlit like it was a Golden Ark or other treasure. They need to understand that LED backlit doesnt mean nothing in 80% lcd screen across all brands in notebooks. Theres only a dozen good screens which are indeed LED backlit but this is only making a point that LED indeed isnt any better in consumer screen as long as companies wont include a good LED backlit screen in their products.

Its quite funny, cause you could go to the big electronic retail store, check out some hardware and notice: "omg this screen in Vaio EB series is real crappy - OMG the sticker says its a LED backlit screen! It looks like Acer or Lenovo with standard TN panel and ccfl! ? So wheres that all LED magic ? Has it gone away or what ? Im outta here."

I think it points quite good the reality behind all the "LED panels" in notebooks.


Again, you must review my posts at least 2 times to try understand my "polish-english" but you could be sure that Im trying very hard to be as simple and straight in my words and points as I can

 

Hi ,

I have a Sony vaio vpcf13me/h notebook , How to install latest nvidia display drivers ? my graphics card is 425m ...

 

It's best to visit www.nvidia.com and select your region. From there, you can click "download drivers" from the Download Drivers menu. Then, select your GPU and OS options and you'll be taken to the latest display drivers.

 

)))))) ! I know that, but it's not installed , I got an error " no supporting hardware "

 

wow we have the exact same processor and graphics card, and he says he gets a constant 60fps with most settings on ULTRA and some on high....i was getting about 35 on average on medium settings so now im on low i should give sony a call srsly..

 

What Resolution are you playing on? Mango is not playing on FullHD, but only 1280x720.
I play SC2 at 1920x1080 with Ultra and High settings and I get about 20-30 fps.

 

ahh yeah im 1920 1080

 

does your fan get so loud that everyone in the room will like start freaking out and its louder than the tv too?

 

Here's your problem (from the driver support notes)...

1. Sony has joined the Verde program by supporting the following VAIO notebooks: Sony F Series with NVIDIA GeForce 310M and Sony F Series with NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M. Other Sony VAIO notebooks are not supported at this time (please contact Sony for driver support).

 

The unofficial solution is to go to NVIDIA & Laptop News | Latest NVIDIA drivers and related news | laptopvideo2go.com
I got my drivers there before the 330M was officially supported

 

You need to wait for nVidia to officialy include 425M on Sony notebooks into their driver package. Without it you need either download driver from Sony or use a trick posted by Gandalf.

 

LED Display may be thiner and use less energy. BUT if you want to know that your display has really the best contrast and looks as it should be - buy AMOLED TV

 

Theoretically yes but there isnt major battery life gain by switching display to LED backlit. We could see that with ease by reading different reviews and tests with exact or similar hardware. Still, Apple notebooks achieve flawless bateryy life with tn panels thanks to power managment in OSX and rest of the components. LED tv ? Slim yes, but if they are better ? Especially edge led aka edge backlit - this is state of the crap technology. Ultra slim panels with inferior backlit and developing real nice edge led backlit need more money = higher price for the consumer.


About AMOLED - as for nice quality and the best black among other technologies it has one huge disadvantage - graines which came from diffrent size of color subpixels. Everybody who has Samsung Galaxy S can notice graines or "dots" effect.

 

Hi guys,
Quick question: can this laptop run external monitors on both the HDMI and VGA port at the same time?

 

Some more fairly recent games are up:

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

Black ops is up (even though I disapprove of activision): YouTube - Call of Duty: Black Ops on Sony_Vaio_F

Assassin's Creed 2: YouTube - Assassin's Creed 2 on Sony_Vaio_F

Need For Speed Hot Pursuit: YouTube - Need For Speed Hot Pursuit (2010) on Sony_Vaio_F11

 

So, I'm running into some trouble doing my Clean Install using the recovery partition on the F13. I have read through the guide but after a second try, and interrupting the install after the second reboot, when I restarted the computer, it said that I could not start Windows due to an incomplete recovery. it said I'd have to reinstall windows. Rebooted twice, same message. So I ended up opening the Vaio recovery center again from shutdown. Right now, I'm in the process of restoring, complete with bloatware...

The screens for the F13 are different, and using the Recovery Partition is different too. I don't want to erase that Recovery Partition so I'm afraid I'll screw up the restore if I do it from the Recovery Discs. I want the Value added software...

Can anyone help? Thanks!

 

You should wait for an official release. I modded the 260.99 driver for the 425M so that it would pass the compatibility check and a few people used it. They had screen brightness issues that were a pain to work around.

 

Use recovery partition to recover (F10 while reboot or Assist button when shut downed)
Using OEM Recovery Disks will refill recovery partition if you will choose to restore all hard drive (not just drive C)

Just curious if I give someone 1 rep point will mine amount of points get lower or it will be the same?

 

Best way is to use Win7 dvd - borrow it from your friends or download iso (MSDNAA preferably). Then burn it to the dvd or the better way - copy iso contents on bootable usb pendrive like I did. The install it normally, enter serial key from the Vaio sticker. Install all drivers from Vaio website then insert Recovery Disk 1, start Vaio Care and you could recover any value software you want - Office Starter, Vaio PMB or other software. Its easy! Also installing Win7 from usb pendrive is much more faster than from dvd - big speedup!

 

That's what I did, but can't seem to do a clean install, using the recovery partition...

 

Should increase your rep points, i.e. your karma.

" Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality. "

Dalai Lama

 

I disagree
When doing a clean install (the Joe way) you end up with a Windows already activated and customized for your Vaio and with even less processes running.
You can get there with a generic Win7 DVD or usb pendtive, but it requires more effort.
And please don't advocate the use of the key of the sticker on the back, because there is a tool ABR (Activation Backup and Restore) that restores the already activated OEM key (that differs from the one on the back): ABR Beta With Windows 7 Support | directedge.us

 

I activated serial key from the sticker about 6 times on automated Microsoft phone line. Im not supporting any installation where you need to eject a dvd during installation - lol man is it ? And Win7 installed from dvd or usb runs smooth and fast and it doesnt matter if after Joe's way it had 60 processes in the background or 70 after my way - system is brand new, clean and swift. And thats the purpose of clean install.

 

That sucks that it's not working out easily. If you restore from the discs it won't remove your recovery partition. The discs contain the info to create a recovery partition as well. Might as well give them a try.

 

hi guys i have a vpcf126fm/b, upgraded from an asus g51 and i love this laptop.. only thing that kills me is how i still get a little lag from some games and i dont even have settings maxed out. im playing on high performance mode also.

im playing nba with stuff set to medium/high and even the crowd on low and only on 4x and i still get a little lag..

i have to play gta liberty city on medium graphic settings also and it still lags a bit. i dont have anything running in the background also..

do i need to overclock my video card ?
is it because im using win 32 bit with the pae enabled??

thanks for anyone that can help, i still have a warranty on the laptop and can return it because i just dont understand why i cant max out settings and play game normally.. also because the little plastic piece in the charger port fell off too.

 

With ABR you don't have to call Microsoft.

I have tested the 3 methods of removing bloathware:
1) Joe's clean install with recovery discs
2) Full clean install with generic Win7 disc
3) Just uninstall all the stuff you don't need

And on my system method 1 resorted in the fastest boot times.
That's why I chose method 1
If you don't want or get it to work option 2 is also good.
Option 3 is a waste of time, if you want your F to be as fast as possible.

Just be happy and enjoy your F

 

Yeah, I think this is my third install. Ugh. I suppose I could format the C drive as you suggested. I just wonder how much it differs from all the previous versions (F11/F12). I wish there were screenshots for the F13!

 

Think of it this way... you get to be the tester and the one who gives info on the clean install for the F13. Many people would worship you.

 

Haha! If I can get it right! I think I'm onto something though. So cross your fingers. I just have to wait till this finished reinstalling for the umpteenth time!

 

Ok I've successfully done the Clean Install by using the Recovery Partition! Hurray! But I have no idea how to add the Value added software back? Ideas?

ETA: I downloaded VAIO Care and am now in Applications and Drivers to Reinstall. I think this is it!

 

Well of course the fan gets loud on this machine, but it's not THAT terrible (at least for me).
I keeps the laptop very cool, so I don't mind. The fan noise has never bothered me, even when playing without headphones. You just get used to it!

 

YAY! Congratulations!

Ok, you've installed VAIO Care. Here are the programs that I install as a minimum. There are a few others that Sony claims are required, yet I have no problems without them.

VAIO Event Service
Settings Utility Series
VAIO Control Center
VAIO Power Management
VAIO Help & Support (is this on the F13?)

Also, make sure that your Realtek audio drivers and ALPS touchpad drivers have been installed. If not, you can install those from VAIO Care as well.

When this has been completed, go into Windows Backup & Restore and create a system image of your clean install. You can use this to reference whenever you want to "start over".

When you make a system image it creates a folder on your target drive (cannot be the drive being imaged) called WindowsImageBackup. As you make future images, they'll look to this folder and write over previous saves. To preserve your clean instal, you should keep it on a different drive than what would be your backup OR rename it to something else. Mine is called... CleanInstalBackup (original, I know!).

When you go to restore from an image, Windows Repair looks to the WindowsImageBackup folder and nothing else. So, to restore from the clean install image, you'll need to rename WindowsImageBackup to something else, then rename CleanInstallBackup -> WindowsImageBackup, allowing the proper image to be read upon starting over. Once done, rename the folders back to how they were, so backup images will not write over your clean install.

 

You're so awesome! Couldn't have done it without your help

I'm still in VAIO care, trying to figure out what to check on and off! Ha!

 

hey mango i was just wondering if you could do a benchmark/gameplay review on batman arkham asylum