Sony CW i3/i5/i7 Official Owners Thread

stock is low... it comes underclocked from the factory it really shouldn't be hard to get it to 8k

 

that looks like the correct model though I've never personally bought a computer on ebay so I'd check with the seller regarding whether the warranty is still valid.

 

What setting did you use because some of the options from your photo do not show up for me (like bass boost). The choices I have are:

environment
voice cancellation
pitch shift
equalizer
virtual surround
loudness equalization

loudness equalization removed a little of the tinniness and I tried some of the equalizer settings and they were pretty meh (in fact some made the sound a lot worse).

virtual sound had no noticeable effect and environment had a ton of choices but most of them seemed identical to me (living room and underwater were indistinguishable). The other settings had no effect.

 

thats why i want to OC it!!! i hope there are some OC guide for cw26. i mean the 3 figures. cuz i dunwan simply tweak it and suddenly BOOM!!! and it became cococrunch

 

here is a pretty general guide http://www.overclock.net/nvidia/592691-turtles-one-stop-nvidia-overclocking-faq.html

 

The screenshot was just one i had found on the web to show the screen, all I did was tick the loudness equalization and my speakers started to work great. Before that they were really really low on the highest volume settings i could muster. Once I get back on my laptop I will verify if there was something specific but as far as I remember I just ticked it.

 

Hi, I'm having problems with my i5 I purchased from Sony - i got it in the mail Friday. it has been having Internet explorer problems, it freezes multiple times per day which requires me to push ctrl alt dlt. I don't understand - has anyone else had this issue? also, my comp didn't come with any camera software so i tried downloading from Sony's website but the program wont download. thanks.

 

I had the same problems and believe it to be the Internet Explorer's fault. Had this problem with previous versions. I started using Google Chrome that came with it and have had no problems so you maybe want to use either that or Firefox. Also, I got the same Vaio from SonyStyle and it should've came with Corel. That's what I used to get the camera to work to take pics and video, not including stuff like Skype that will also enable it. Others here will know more programs.

 

I was unable to burn recovery DVDs using the verify check box. After 8 hrs on the 1st DVD, aborted and burned 3 recovery DVDs in less then 45m without verification.

Not a great start given that my ability to recover is compromised.

This machine went from fed-ex to recovery disks upon arrival, no W7 x64 updates or Sony Support model updates in between.

Also, the indigo blue seem to magnifiy every bit of dirt, oil, smear, etc. in the limited time I've had my paws on it. Is there any clear-bra (automotive) material around to wrap the cover and palm rest area?

TIA,
grant

 

don't really use IE at all but the few times I did I had no problems. Not sure what might be going on but the Chrome beta is great (has extensions like Firefox but heaps faster)

 

really odd as I had no problems generating my recovery DVDs with verification. As for color, the white has been great with regard to dirt and smudges.

 

Definitely. There is no way it will get anywhere close to the CW27FX.
Adding some pressure shouldn't be any issue because the original paste is always thicker than the TIM you apply so there is a slightly larger gap now that I need to fill. I think a penny right under the clamp should do the trick I recommend unless you know what you are doing to not attempt this because there is always a chance to crack the mechanism/processor core.

Yeh throw it up to my settings right off the bat. I still have a lot of headroom and that OC is pretty conservative. If its too high it will only crash and you will just restart and try again lol...you won't damage anything.

Also stock performance should be 6k. I bet you have a ton of Sony crap running in the background killing your performance.

 

hmm there is no i7 available on CW, at least not in US sonystyle site.

 

Hey ps2cho, have you plugged in a LCD TV with your OC done? When I OCed barely any and tried to dual screen with my 40" 1080P sammy it restarted on me.

 

It shouldn't make any difference. Overclock the gpu then run either rthdribl (google it) or 3dmark2006 to ensure its actually stable.

I found though if I did not overclock the core and shaders in the 1:2.2 ratio I had stability problems. Make sure you are keeping them in that ratio.
ie: if core is 550 shader must be 550*2.2 = 1210

 

indeed psyco. which sony application can be categorized as crap? so i can disable it. i would like to know your GPU setting too. ?/?/?/

 

My screenshot on previous page shows clock speeds on GPUz.

I would run "De-crapifyer" program. I heard good things about it. I personally just wiped everything and started fresh. It got me 6100 with everything functional.

 

i cleared all background programmes and OC GPU to ur previous figures. 3dmarkscore 6360. isit bcuz mine is ddr3? err...mine is cw26fg

owh ya, i enabled phsyx but during GPU test there write phsyx not enabled. how come? i enable it at nvidea control panel

 

ps2cho,

is there a way to enable coolbits and use the nvidia control panel to overclock. Ive tried and cant get it to show up.

Also if we cant do that whats your preferred tool to overclock with. For my nvidia cards I have always used RivaTuner but is there a better one?

 

Is it GDDR3 or DDR3?

Use Nvidia System Tools
http://www.nvidia.com/object/nvidia_system_tools_6.02.html

Works great.

 

Seeing girly's story is scaring me a bit... I recently ordered my CW290 in Canada (I hope they don't have this problem in canada) and they are supposed to ship it by feb 15th... I hope they won't delay it.

 

Where did you order from? Does it have the GT330m as an option from where you bought yours?

 

ps2cho, i OC-ed my gt330m d, 6360 points....with all background apps closed. what made the big difference? and actually i can start feeling the heat coming from the fan. furmark shows a constant 70'C!!!

 

Have you tried using other version driver?
70C is still okay, 95C above then start worrying....

 

Odd. I am getting 59c full load on Furmark overclocked at 600/740/1320. Furmark is utterly brutal on heat!

Can you take a screenshot of GPUz for me? There is a camera icon at the top right corner that will do it. I want to see what it says

6300 is still very low. I'd recommend reformatting and starting a fresh copy of Windows 7 if you want the most performance out of your system. There is a big thread with directions in the Regular Sony forum...it might be on the 2nd page by now, but I'll bump it for you.

 

There's other factor such as room temperature?

 

i just played an hour of l4d OC-ed. awesome.

 

oops....im afraid i can only do the clean version later...DL 3gb is just insane in malaysia. i will do it a 2 weeks later when im in switzerland. should i OC my i5 also? and still...the physX. I maxed out quality at nvidea system tool during game. (16Xq and blah blah blah....). a question here, theres a cooling bar at nvidea tool stating want how many percents of cooling system to direct to our GPU. its 0% as default and i havent tweak it. shud i maxed it to 100%?

 

This may be a dumb question, but do you have the power set to performance? That might be another reason for the difference in 3dmark. Also, make sure you have the latest drivers from nvidia, etc.

 

yeah, I made the mistake of running initial benchmarks on balanced mode. Set to performance I went from about 5300 o a little over 6000 in 3DMark06

 

Nah it didn't have the 1600x900 option either.. I used a friend's mbp today with 1400 x 900 and I thought it was small.. I'm gonna get squeezed in that 1366x768.. that's the price to pay to order now.. I need a laptop asap... and anyway I'll probably produce with a 2nd screen if it works.. or just use my desktop.

So yeah, back on topic, in canada the CW 290 CTO only comes with the small resolution and the low end gpu G210m I think.. at least I do not need fast gpu..

However, we can get the i7-620! (I went with the i5-540 tho, the 620 was another 159$ extra over the i5-540.. to upgrade from 2.53 to 2.66 (with some extra cache) doesn't worth 159$ to me.

I wish we could get the 7200 rpm drives too.. I'll probably upgrade my drive some time..

 

im thinking of upgrading to 7200 too....but not sure whether will void warranty onot.

 

Hi all, received my CW a week ago made up with an i5-520 2.4ghz, gt330m (1600x900 res) 4 gig dd3, and 320gb - the step up to 500gb in the UK is unfortunately an extra £50 ($85 aprx), which for a real world difference of about £10 to Sony is, for me, just annoying.

I'm loving the machine though - I previously had a work-issued levono T61, which is by all accounts a highly thought of machine - I'm preferring the Sony, but it impresses in different ways. The screen is a bit too glossy for my liking - absolutely brilliant at night in a low-lit living room or in bed, but struggles with reflections in natural light - you can use it as a mirror. The t61 was better in this regard. The t61 is thought to have one of the best laptop keyboards going, but here I prefer the Sony - I really appreciate the distinct, firm keys - you can type quickly with fewer mistakes.

I bought it on the strength of its spec, particularly the screen res and the 330m. Having 1600x900 on a 14" screen is just perfect - I've played with the 13.1" Z series in a shop and whilst I loved the machine I thought the text was too small. On the CW it's just fantastic, especially on the web and, of course, for gaming.

Portable gaming is the real reason I bought this machine, since I travel around a lot, and I'm not disappointed. It's dealt admirably with most everything I've thrown at it. If I'm not on high settings, I'm not far off them. Games like Dragon Age, Empire total war, Civ 4, Fallout 3, The Witcher - all look fantastic, and I've not found anything that doesn't set to 1600x900, and it really brings games to life. The brightness of the screen adds to this, at night the experience can be quite intense... especially at night in bed with your headphones on. Whilst gaming the fan speeds up, and its intensity is governed by how hard it's working. Playing Dragon Age it gets quite warm and, if not loud, certainly more noticable.

Sony fill it up with a fair bit of junk software, which worrys me for people who aren't really hobbyist computer users. I've uninstalled as much as I can and modified my startup programs, but I wish I didn't have to. Anyhow, all in all, I'm very happy.

 

thx everyone. finally got a 7k mark with ease. temp oso under control. ^^

 

quest_5692 I had a question did you overclock your cpu too or just your gpu? I just bought the same model that you have and want to get my computer running faster? Also will the computer still run turbo boost with it oc?

 

There's a CW clean install thread which tells you how to reinstall Win7 HP and all the drivers. I'm a novice and did it and it was particularly painless . Gets the junk out and the CW starting up and shutting down marginally faster.

 

where is this thread at for the clean install? ananth

 

anyone have Vantage numbers of the 330m OC'ed?

 

well, i OC-ed my GPU only. IMO, the i5-520 is already very strong even in its stock performance. maybe i will OC it later...cz for my cw, i think my gpu is the bottleneck istead of the cpu.

same for the m11x, they will feel cpu bottleneck so they will OC their cpu.

 

Here you go..

 

I'm doing the clean install about 1 hour after I'll receive the machine... Just the time to try everything.. I want to see what these softwares/utilities look like first.

 

First post here but have been lurking for months. First bought a UL80VT but the loose battery, terrible display, creaking wrist area and sharp edges made me send it back.. so I purchased a CW which just came two days ago (Best Buy version with blue-ray).

The good:

Display is much better than the UL80VT. I am completely content for this price range. I fail to see what the complaints were about.
Touchpad, very nice.
Royal Indigo, definitely more purple than any pictures but I like it, I am a dude and it doesn't threaten my sexuality at all
Perfomance is great for the price

The bad:

Loose battery, applied a small piece of paper between battery and laptop to stop the wiggle.

This next one is a killer. I need some help from the group. I play a ton of FPS and WoW. When I holding down the 'W' or the 'S' key, I can't get 'SHIFT-1' or 'ALT-Q' to work. I tested by holding down many of the other keys and everything worked as normal. Reinstalled drivers, booted into windows7 in safe mode.. I tried it all. Can you guys please test this and let me know your results? I need to know whether this problem is specific to my laptop of the CW in general.

 

damn that's a weird issue that won't affect many but it gets frustrating when you need it...

 

hey rikjayms, can you post pictures of the royal indigo color? How's the paint look? I'm a dude, but I like the color. I have a purple iPod nano but I like it b/c it goes from purple to blue depending on the lighting =D

 

Sure, I will try to when I get home. I will say it def goes from purple to a blue color. I really do like it.

Now if I can only get someone to confirm the keyboard problem I am having so I can make a move. Only 13 days left until best buy won't take it back.

 

Verified this. Its probably just a not well aliased keyboard. Not much you can do. Odd thing is that it's those specific combination. I tried all sorts of combos around the Q and 1 and they all work fine.

 

Damnit! This was not what I wanted to hear. Thanks anyway mate for checking it out for me. Anyone else confirm?

Sigh, just when I got satisfied with a purchase..

 

I've played wow but Shift + 1 while "W"? really? haha I prefer using Alt+1 or whatever, although I've used shift + q/e while using W but I think 1 is hard. remap keys for wow?

 

What can I say, I am pro!
Ok then, try holding 'w' and hit 'ALT-Q' doesn't work either..

 

welp Jet Black is backordered on Bestbuy.com so I really would love to see user pics of the Royal Indigo please =)