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

Can someone help clarify? I am thinking about purchasing the VPCF1390X. Does it still have the same "loud fan and high pitch noise" issues? I purchased a older variation of this model back in Oct. 2010 and returned it because it was sooo loud.

Please help, thanks!

 

Just an update to say that I installed this memory tonight with no issues. It's not on sale anymore but still a good price, and I'm really just posting the link again for when people ask for memory recs. I'll let you know of course if I encounter any problems as I use my computer, but it was recognized with no problem, I ran the memory diagnostic with no errors, and the WEI score stayed the same at 7.4 (I know the WEI isn't highly regarded but just letting you know since I don't have any other way of comparing it to the old memory).

 

I saw that naming. If it would be Dell or HP I would say that it is their internal coding, but in case of Sony I don’t know. I searched for these values on the SonyVaioParts site, but came out with nothing. I still consider that it is some kind of internal coding by Sony.

Edit: this site mentions it as Sony coding.

 

Right away from first fire-up here !

But as it seems to DISAPPEAR spontaneously on some laptops, it may well be expected to develop in time. Have a look at the fan pics smwhere here, how cheaply the Panasonic fan is built.

 

After repair touch pad is coming off, omg, why they used very bad glue? Anyway, they ring me back again, and my laptop is going back to them, they changed fan, main board, whistle is still present, may be not that often but it is still there for over 1000 pound laptop excuse me, so my sony is going to repair again, what they going to change this time? I think i will advise them to change fan + heatsink and for all this headacke i got i will ask them to change main board for f13 series with 425m gt graphic card, will update later how it will go..

 

Oh yeah, I'll give it a chance. I guess I'm just confused on what people are referring to when they talk of the "fan noise".

Originally I thought it just meant a high-pitched motorized noise caused by the fan revving high or something like that. I know that my Mac makes a "motory" sound when it gets higher from being too hot.

However, the sound in that video, that intermittent squeaking sound, that's way worse in my opinion and I wouldn't be able to stand that at all. I can tolerate just a loud or noisy fan, but not a fan that squeaks on occasion.

I just hope this is something that is noticeable right away; I don't want to think it's fine only to have the fan start making a horrible noise after I can no longer return it. That's why I'm considering returning it no matter what. But I can't say until I get it, which should be soon!

 

I am ordering a f1390x tomorrow from sonystyle I have decided to install my own ssd and ram. Here are the specs with the links. Can anyone offer me any feedback or suggestions. Also can i reinstall the OS on my new SSD with the recovery disk?

# NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 425M GPU (1GB VRAM)
# No Engraving
# Intel® Core™ i7-840QM quad-core processor (1.86GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 3.20GHz
# 16.4" VAIO Full HD Premium Display (1920x1080)
# 320GB Hard Disk Drive (5400rpm)
# Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
# 4GB (2GBx2) DDR3-SDRAM-1333
# LED Backlit Keyboard
# No Fresh Start
# Adobe Bundle (Free - $448 value)
# Blu-ray Disc™ Read and Write Drive
# Microsoft® Office 2010 Starter (Click More Info for details.)
# Large capacity battery
# Norton Internet Security™ 2010 (30 Day Trial)

Intel 120 GB 2.5-Inch Solid-State Drive 510 Series SATA Version 3 at 6 GB per Second SSDSC2MH120A2K5 Amazon.com: Intel 120 GB 2.5-Inch Solid-State Drive 510 Series SATA Version 3 at 6 GB per Second SSDSC2MH120A2K5: Electronics

Corsair 8 GB DDR3 Laptop Memory Kit CMSO8GX3M2A1333C9
Amazon.com: Corsair 8 GB DDR3 Laptop Memory Kit CMSO8GX3M2A1333C9: Electronics

 

It IS hard to stand I can tell you

Hmmm the fan rotates on average at 3000rpm, thus 50rps all the time, can you imagine what happens to the axle and the bearing after some time

 

What's the best antivirus for the F series. I don't want to pay money.

 

Specs look good. Seems like you got the top line of everything. Memory should be good. I'll let someone with SSD experience comment on that part. You can install from the recovery disks. Here is a guide. Sony Vaio-F Series Windows 7 64-bit Clean Install Using OEM Recovery Discs

 

Just to Clarify I can make my recovery disk, install my ssd and ram, and then reinstall the OS with my recovery disk with out making a clone of my original HDD.

 

Yes, I did exactly that with my corsair F120 (fresh install, not cloning, of course). Follow the guide in the link that jpride gave you.

I have an issue that I think you will *not* have (different controller on the Intel): Sometimes getting "Operating System Not Found" with F120 in a Vaio F12 - The Corsair Support Forums

Let us know how it goes for you

 

Yes. I'm assuming you wanted to install Windows without all the extra software by the way you phrased it so that's why I posted the clean install link. But in case you mean install everything like from the factory on your SSD, you should be able to do that too. Some people have on occasion reported difficulty with this, in which case you would need to clone because Sony will say they can only support this working on the original drive. I think you are likelier to have this issue going from a larger to a smaller size drive, so you may encounter this. The clean install will work on any drive and so should cloning (assuming you're using the right software).

 

Do you know if the f13 is has sata 2 or 3 onboard? I was wondering if I would benefit by buying the sata 3 SSD or if I would get the same performance with a sata 2 SSD

 

SATA II

(10 characters)

 

But you still will have benefit of sata3 on sata2 as SATA 3 SSDrives usually better than the same branded sata2 SSDs. Like Intel 500 series. You will get full read speed sata2 can offer you and write speed in that SSD is much better than on other G2 Intel products.
Also you can buy SATA3 and in future just replace this SSD to new laptop. so you won't need to buy new ssd. However perhaps in future this ssd will be as cheap as difference in prices between nowadays Sata2 and Sata3 SSDs (I doubt)

 

people choose Avast and Avira

 

I just ordered 3 F13s, one configured like yours, but without BluRay and with 8GB memory.

I see a few things I would do differently. First, the SSD. The F13 has a SATA II controller which will not be able to use the Intel 510 SSD to its full potential. While SATA III drives are backwards compatible, it would be more cost-effective to look at a fast SATA II SSD. Also, This drive is brand new and is Intels first SSD to have a 3rd party controller (Marvell). I would expect that there may be some issues, even though Intel has been excellent in the past. In the past, it was always their own controller.

I understand that memory is very inexpensive at this time and that it is cheaper to purchase the 4GB machine and then purchase 8GB of aftermarket memory and install it yourself. I seriously though about it with the machines that I just ordered (all were ordered with 8GB RAM). The reason I did not decide to save the money and do it myself is that the memory tests that I have done on our current F11s show that the Samsung memory that is in each of the F11s performs well above average. I don't know why, but the Samsung memory that Sony installed in the F11s seems to be a great match for the rest of the system.

As far as the Corsair memory is concerned, perhaps this might change your mind: Google Translate OOPS!!! This is page 6 (SSDs). Read the rest of the article and you will find RAM. What is interesting is that the most reliable part of a computer is the processor, which seems to have an incredibly good failure rate.

Go to the page on memory. Corsair does not do well. With SSDs, Intel is by far the most reliable.

Just my opinion.

 

The best is probably Norton Internet Security. the best FREE AV??? Avast and Avira are generally well received. I use Microsoft Security Essentials on over 2 dozen machines and have great success over the last 14 months.

Just my opinion.

 

@willscary
What do you use to test the RAM?
My F13 came with Elpida. Don't know if Sony changed brands or they use different for 4GB.
Edit: Are the Samsung you have 1333 and 9-9-9-24? What were the test results? Thanks.

 

Mine F12 has 4Gb stick Samsung and 2GB stick Elpida. Elpida is well known brand of memory for RAM

 

Ok, then they probably always use Samsung for the 4GB and Elpida for the 2GB. Yeah, I know it's a well known brand. I was just stating it was different. I wasn't sure if his new F13s were going to have different memory, but they will probably still have Samsung.

I'm going to run some Passmark and Sandra benchmarks on my G.Skill memory just because I'm curious but I'm not sure how well benchmarks compare from one config to another. Like will an F11 with better CPU compared to my F13 produce comparable memory benchmarks. And the motherboard should be different between the F11 and F13.

 

Samsung memory



I can't do passmark anymore, but if you look for 820QM and GT330M you should find my F11 near the top of the charts way back in May 2010, back before we got all of these great graphics driver updates. Mine was the second fastest 820QM back then. It should still be quite highly ranked. I think my Passmark was around 2047 or so.

 

Do you have a link where I can purchase intel ram from amazon or newegg I cant seem to find any

 

Intel doesn't make RAM. I would look at Crucial standard RAM or Kingston RAM. the 4GB sticks of RAM that Sony installs are Samsung and they are quite good.

Be sure to purchase in matched pairs. If you purchase a set of two 4GB sticks as a single 8GB package, they will be matched.

 

My mistake I thought you were referring to intel branded ram not SSDs

 

The Crucial and Kingston ram I've found is 1066 and the Corsair is 1333. Will this make that much of a difference?

 

Well, you guys were right about the fan noise. The computer came today, high-pitched squeaking noise was noticeable right away. I will be returning this computer ASAP!

 

Too bad for you. It's a great machine. What will you buy as replacement? Or are you going to buy another F13 and give it another try?

 

I'll probably get the new HP dv6 when it comes out (not sure when that's going to be, though!)

I was thinking about the new Dell L502x as well, but I think the HP is a better option for me.

 

Well I know what you wrote before, but I suggest you to do that famous tweak with microphone setting and see if it help. If it will then you had 1 type of noise and you could let this F stay but if it won't than it's another type of noise and you should send away.

What did you mean about matching RAM? If I understand you right you can buy different RAM as neither brand or memory capacity won't stop double channel mode. Timings usually the same but even they can't stop dual channel mode. It will work on the lowest RAM timings (the worst one of 2 sticks) if they will be different. I know that there is one or two conditions why they won't work in dual mode but it is rare difference in laptop's RAM

 

Well folks! Its been a while since I have been on here but disaster has struck with the VAIO. My Windows Security Centre is broken due to a virus that took over. Apparently. Luckily AVAST overtook MSE and found 12 infected files. Off to do another clean install. Greatttt! Wish me luck!

 

Too late. Already returned it.

Besides, the sound I heard was not the microphone noise, it was an actual squeaking sound that appeared when the fan got to a certain RPM and it would go away when it slowed down. It was the exact noise found in that German video that people kept linking to.

Oh well.

 

Nvidia Verde Driver v267.24 BETA. March 1st release date.

Installed today and so far no issues.

 

Have reinstalled everything (Clean install) but I keep getting a "Vaio messenger: unable to connect to database error" every now and then, in Vaio Care update. Is there anyway I can get rid of this error message? I assume it's b/c I canceled the bloatware update when it was installing. I also ended up restoring most of the drivers listed, including things like WinDVD and bluetooth drivers. I know I didnt need to b/c I had forgotten not to....hope it wasn't a mistake.

Any ideas on the error message?

 

Vaio messenger is useless, to the best of our knowledge. No need to worry about it, or even keep it for that matter.

 

Aha! I didnt realize it had partially installed; I just uninstalled it which should remove the error message. HUGE THANKS!

 

Dual channel memory has two seperate channels. If you use only 1 stick of RAM, your memory will only work 1/2 as quickly as the computer is capable of because there will only be half of the available pipelines being used.

If two sticks of equal density are installed, what normally happens is that the computer will recognize both sticks and will tame the RAM with the better performance so that it "matches" the lesser one. What this means is that it will lessen the timings on the better one and the computer will work with memory performance equal to the lesser RAM.

If two sticks of unequal density are installed, the computer will revert to single channel mode and it will "see" a single 64 bit pipeline instead of two 64 bit pipelines.

Theoretically, you do not NEED to use matched pairs of memory. You can use a single stick of Samsung RAM and a single stick of Kingston RAM together as long as they have the same specifications. Timings, density and size must all be the same. (remember that you can purchase a pair of 1GB modules with the same timings, but one may have 16 modules of 64MB on the card while another brand may have 8 modules of 128MB on the card..these would NOT be the same!)

In reality, while the memory does not need to be purchased matched pairs from the same manufacturer, it is best to do so. Purchasing a single 4GB stick of Kingston to install along side the original single 4GB stick of Samsung may work just fine and allow dual channel mode. then again, it might not. There are sometimes incompatabilities between RAM modules, even if specs are identical. I have seen two modules that work by themselves (or with other modules) not work together. they just don't sync, for some reason. Also, while specs may be the same, performance can vary, causing minor or major problems.

Yes James, you are correct that it is possible to use different brands of RAM without losing dual channel mode IF both sticks are of the exact same timings, density and size. What I am saying is that your way could still cause issues and it is nearly universally accepted that the BEST configuration of memory modules is to use matched pairs from a single manufacturer. These pairs will give the best chance of being identical because they will not only have the same specs, but will be from the same run in the production process and are usually sequentially numbered meaning that they were produced "back to back" on the manufacturing line. This SHOULD assure the best compatibility and the least chance for variation between the two sticks.

 

well you have just said that they can work with different timings. different size will not affect much as there is flex mode for that and also we are talking about 2x4GB.
of course buying 2 same sticks gives you insurance that they will work together but paying 40$ more if you already have 4GB stick in laptop as for me is overreacted. laptop's memory is not as different as desktop's. About minor difference... as I said and as you confirmed both modules will work on the slowest module characteristic and as they will be minor they won't have a difference however you won't even feel a difference if they will work and become compatible. density is easy to check before buying.

Still if you or someone still staying on contrary thought I will be always happy to buy 4GB module from U. I will be happy to help you get back at least some money so you will spend not additional 40$ but let's say 19$ because I can buy unnecessary stick for 21$ It was hypothetically

 

Purchasing a 4GB Samsung stick from me does not guarantee you a perfect match. It should give you a better chance of a match than buying a Kingston or Crucial or Corsair stick, but it does not guarantee you a perfect match. Mine is probably older and from a different manufacturing lot than yours, which could make them slightly different.

These slight differences may not matter, but on the other hand, they might.

You say that I said that different timings will work. Yes, it is possible for them to work, but at the cost of losing the dual channel capabilities, virtually rendering the memory semi-crippled.

You say that I overreact. That is your opinion. Using a factory matched pair may only improve memory benchmarks by 2 or 3%. Then again, in very memory intensive day-to-day situations, it may make a large difference. For $40, I would rather do what I can to keep incompatibility issues to a minimum.

 

I did not say that you overreact because I don't even know if you bought 2x4 when you had 1x4 or not. I said As for me I would not do that and I would buy (somewhen) 1 module. As you were talking about difference in samsung brand I assume you have unnecessary one (or you ordered 2x4 laptop at start and you don't have one). If you have you can sell it on eBay for 40$ at least or sell me or anyone else from this forum (I would appreciate and happily if you offer lesser price ). About timings and other I got in past from different sources and 1 of them I've just found is here on trusted link Desktop Boards — Single, dual, triple and flex memory modes
and I was talking about this before here on this forum where some people even did not believe me about existing flex mode http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/518591-how-much-ram-do-you-have.html

Guys! I installed Halo: Evolved and it makes my computer heating even more than AvP! I even see sometimes little bugs when I see special effects (they are beautiful no matter that it's old game and models as texture are looking very bad nowadays). Any idea why is that?

Also I have drive C which size is 31GB and it has 18GB free space. However when I go into drive C and check all folders their size is about 16GB! Windows folder itself shows 13.9 GB! And Acronis true image home made a reserve copy of My system drive without my documents and image took 23Gb!!! What a heck is going on?!?!

 

Ok I have figured out my final configuration for my 1390x. Heres the specs. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Also any recommendation for a usb 3.0 HDD enclosure for the factory HDD

# LED Backlit Keyboard
# No Fresh Start
# Adobe Bundle (Free - $448 value)
# Blu-ray Disc™ Read and Write Drive
# Microsoft® Office 2010 Starter (Click More Info for details.)
# Standard capacity battery
# Norton Internet Security™ 2010 (30 Day Trial)
# NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 425M GPU (1GB VRAM)
# No Engraving
# Intel® Core™ i7-840QM quad-core processor (1.86GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 3.20GHz
# 16.4" VAIO Full HD Premium Display (1920x1080)
# 640GB Hard Drive (7200rpm)
# Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
# 4GB (2GBx2) DDR3-SDRAM-1333

Intel 120 GB 2.5-Inch Solid-State Drive 510 Series SATA Version 3 at 6 GB per Second SSDSC2MH120A2K5
Amazon.com: Intel 120 GB 2.5-Inch Solid-State Drive 510 Series SATA Version 3 at 6 GB per Second SSDSC2MH120A2K5: Electronics

Kingston HyperX 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Laptop Memory Model KHX1600C9S3K2/8GX
Newegg.com - Kingston HyperX 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Laptop Memory Model KHX1600C9S3K2/8GX

 

The Kingston memory may not work. I beleive that the memory needs to be either 1066 or 1333. I am quite sure that 1600 is too fast and is not supported.

For external hard drives, I use a Power Over eSATA drive enclosure from geeks.com. It costs $10-14 depending on the sale. These drives are plenty fast enough for any spinning hard drive and eliminate the need to convert the data stream from SATA to USB 3.0. I have heard of a few enclosures that are both eSATA and USB 3.0, but none that hoave Power Oer eSATA.

The SSD is new so I can not comment on its reliability.

Just my opinion.

 

LSUtigers you are darn Nostardamus. I wanted to advise you that RAM but than I thought that you won't choose newegg and will still buy in amazon as you planned. As you saw reviews or official site this RAM will work automatically on 1333. Also you may put it in future in new laptop and put that old ram back. Good choice, I would do that.

 

If I was Nostardamus I would definitely predict if my f will have the dreaded fan noise (lets hope not) What order do I need to install the new hardware? Ram, then make recovery disk, then install SSD, then run recovery and follow clean install guide?

BTW I would normally never be able to build such a laptop thanks uncle sam for my financial aid for school.

 

Does the MB on the f13 support intel XPM?

 

Is XPM XP mode? If so, yes. If not, ignore this post.

 

Yes, the Sandforce controllers have had problems resuming from certain sleep states. I have OCZ Vertex 2 drives in both my F and Y. In the F I've had no trouble, but in the Y I had 2 instances of "unable to find OS" and both times the drive had to be reset (and then all my data restored).

Agreed. I swore off Sandforce and last time around I went for an Intel also.

When considering which OS features you want to disable, keep in mind that random small block writes will disproportionally wear the drive. Writing a single 4kB NTFS cluster erases a whole 512kB block on your SSD, so random 4k writes amplify 128x while large sequential writes amplify ~1x. That means just 12MB of random small writes will wear the drive as much as saving 1.5GB of hibernation data.

If you pop open the task manager and look at the number of I/O writes and I/O bytes written for various processes, you'll see huge numbers coming from the core Windows processes and most anti-virus software, and big numbers coming from IE/Firefox. You mentioned before that you moved your documents off to an external drive to avoid saving to your SSD. But if you look at the relative number of writes from Winword.exe or whatever your using to edit them, it's like a drop of water in a swimming pool.

I think the Indilinx controller reports erase counts in SMART attributes, so you can check how fast your drive is wearing and see whether or not you have any real cause for concern.

 

Make the recovery disks FIRST, before you open it up. Then install the memory and make sure it works, then the SSD. Once you have gone through the install and set the computer up to your liking, make sure you do a system image using the built-in Windows functionality or Clonezilla, Acronis, etc. Since you're buying an SSD with no track record, be prepared for early firmware teething problems.

 

Ok have to decide now to give-in my F13x with the infamous #1 fan whistle. Cust. service can change it for a brandnew one, or tech.service can "repair" it, hopefully change thermal cooling unit inc. fan.

What do you all think will give most chance to get rid of the noise? Somebody here experienced with services of European vaiolink repaircentre (in Prague)?