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Sager 9860 review - Page 4

post #61 of 471
11/8/04 at 4:59pm

Paint

I have a few questions, but besides that- awsome review .

1. If I am looking to purchase one about late december early January, do you think they might be in back order then?

2. Do you think the 9860 will accept a paint job(done by pc torque ofcourse)? I noticed the option in the config but I read some time ago you had to test it first, were the tests successful or no?
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post #62 of 471
11/8/04 at 5:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bizkat
I'm interested in the Sager 9860 primarily for video editing using AVID Xpress Pro, After Effects, and Boris Red.

Is this correct information?
How would this affect someone like me who is intent on using the 9860 as a portable video workstation rather than just as a gaming platform?
I've been following this issue and Nvidia had been claiming that this is something that can be fixed with a driver release. However, I'm not sure how high a priority Nvidia has assigned to this issue. I can tell you that a lot of video enthusiasts are disappointed at the apparent false advertising of these features.

That said, previous GPUs have not had this feature and for the applications you mentioned, the CPU will be doing almost all the work. So, it won't really have any effect on your ability to do video work. It might have been a nice feature to have, but if Nvidia doesn't or can't implement a driver fix, it's not going to make this machine and GPU any less capable of a video editing platform. And to be honest, even if the encoding acceleration feature was working, I'm not sure at exactly what level it integrates with various applications and software codecs. As you know, one MPEG2 encoder can different output than another, and I'm not sure if using the Nvidia acceleration would limit you to certain encoders or not.

Anyway, I don't think it's an issue worth worrying about it. And really, there's probably no more capable video editing notebook on the market than the 9860. At worst, you might be missing a feature you may or may not have used. At best, Nvidia may fix it in a driver release.
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post #63 of 471
11/8/04 at 5:22pm
How far does the GPU actually clock. I believe extremetech listed 275/350/450 as core speeds, depending on configuration. At 450 this thing would give most desktops a run for their money.
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post #64 of 471
11/8/04 at 5:30pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by G-Omaha
The tests and the results are as I would expect when unequal drives are compared. A more comprehensive test would be to test dual 60 GB 5,400rpm SATA drives to dual 60 GB 7,200rpms PATA drives. The increased arial density of the 80 GB drives reduces the transfer rate associated with the drive (regardless of the spindle speeds - rpm). So - is the SATA RAID-0 really faster than the PATA RAID-0 WHEN BOTH DRIVE SIZES ARE THE SAME? I still think that the 5,400rpm units would be slower if the test were not biased by using a mismatched configuration.

How about another test on this comparing "Apples to Apples".
G-O, the point of the test was to find the fastest setup possible hard drive setup which we did hands down (80GB 5400rpm SATA RAID 0). I would have liked to also throw some 60Gb 5400rpm SATA drives, but I haven't had the time to yet with all the other benching. I would guess the SATA would still win, but I try to not speculate before I can actually see for sure. We ran many formats and tests including tests we didn't post to make sure it wasn't some fluke.

Comparing the 8790, it tested between the 4780 and the 5680 for temp tests. We ran some of the tests on the 8790 and was planning on adding it to the lineup it just never made it for some reason. I think some of its stats just weren't submitted in time when the graphs were done up.
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post #65 of 471
11/8/04 at 5:32pm
Adam did the Xbox work on it?
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post #66 of 471
11/8/04 at 5:32pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by panzerfuhrer
How far does the GPU actually clock. I believe extremetech listed 275/350/450 as core speeds, depending on configuration. At 450 this thing would give most desktops a run for their money.
Any overclocking past what we did would be possible, but the numbers may start to lower after not much higher settings due to heat if you're in a normal mid-70's cooled room.
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post #67 of 471
11/8/04 at 5:33pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hitman
Adam did the Xbox work on it?
It's on its way We have some here, but not the S-video adapter we need.
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post #68 of 471
11/8/04 at 5:33pm

Yay!

Just ordered my 9860 from PC Torque. Sucks that those damn PayPal eChecks take 4 days to clear though. Gah!
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post #69 of 471
11/8/04 at 5:35pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Iceheart
I have a few questions, but besides that- awsome review .

1. If I am looking to purchase one about late december early January, do you think they might be in back order then?

2. Do you think the 9860 will accept a paint job(done by pc torque ofcourse)? I noticed the option in the config but I read some time ago you had to test it first, were the tests successful or no?
Yes, we didn't OK the option until we verified there were no problems. We don't have any pictures yet. I guess we could photoshop them like others have lol.
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post #70 of 471
11/8/04 at 5:40pm
If we push the GPU's clock settings up to 340/680 like in the review, does this void the warranty if the system is damaged?
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post #71 of 471
11/8/04 at 5:41pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by bloke
I've been following this issue and Nvidia had been claiming that this is something that can be fixed with a driver release. However, I'm not sure how high a priority Nvidia has assigned to this issue. I can tell you that a lot of video enthusiasts are disappointed at the apparent false advertising of these features.

That said, previous GPUs have not had this feature and for the applications you mentioned, the CPU will be doing almost all the work. So, it won't really have any effect on your ability to do video work. It might have been a nice feature to have, but if Nvidia doesn't or can't implement a driver fix, it's not going to make this machine and GPU any less capable of a video editing platform. And to be honest, even if the encoding acceleration feature was working, I'm not sure at exactly what level it integrates with various applications and software codecs. As you know, one MPEG2 encoder can different output than another, and I'm not sure if using the Nvidia acceleration would limit you to certain encoders or not.

Anyway, I don't think it's an issue worth worrying about it. And really, there's probably no more capable video editing notebook on the market than the 9860. At worst, you might be missing a feature you may or may not have used. At best, Nvidia may fix it in a driver release.
Thanks for the post bloke, I've been trying to dig as well and I can't get past it being something they're planning on working in future drivers. With that said, I can't find anything showing a handicap in the performance or something it's can't do, so if someone has a bench they're wanting to see that would show any weakness due to this feature I'd be glad to try it out.
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post #72 of 471
11/8/04 at 5:42pm
Nice review, you put a lot of work into it. Gaming fans will appreciate those benchmarks. Sager just Owned Dell, and perfect timing with Black Friday (the 26th) coming up. I'd have to say, this is the notebook gaming fans wanted when the 8790 came out. This is definately a home run.
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post #73 of 471
11/8/04 at 5:43pm
GREAT notebook, but I think I will wait for the AMD64 version of it (and maybe non-widescreen 17" display, am I dreaming ? )

So here is the question... Is the AMD64 version really planned, and when for ?

Beside of that, I would immediately but the 9860.

Thx
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post #74 of 471
11/8/04 at 5:46pm
Edited by poster...
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post #75 of 471
11/8/04 at 5:46pm
I'd have to join the resounding chorus on this one- brilliant, brilliant review.

I notice that the 6800 Go is clocked conservatively at 250/300 by default. That's odd, because the 9860 is undoubtedly a high end machine, and Nvidia's recommended clocking is 300/300. Also, the Sager unit that Tomshardware reviewed was clocked at 275/300. My question is this: is the 6800 Go in the 9860 capable of running safely at Nvidia's designated high performance clocking- 450/300?

To be honest, I find the 6800 Go's performance at 250/300 rather lacking. I understand that the review featured a 6800 Go that overclocked nicely to 340/340, but I'd rather base my buying decisions on stock settings. The overclocking potential of a GPU is a variable far too capricious to stake thousands of dollars on. Of course, there's always the satisfaction guarantee, so it might be fairer to say that the wager is really $30 and some free time.

One more thing: how does the 9860 perform in Far Cry at its native resolution without antialising or anisotropic filtering? Does it maintain framerates above 30 fps for most gunfights?
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post #76 of 471
11/8/04 at 5:47pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zoober
If we push the GPU's clock settings up to 340/680 like in the review, does this void the warranty if the system is damaged?
The stance Sager has always taken with any tweeks or mods is if there's reason to believe damage was caused by the work the user did they are not going to cover it. So, it's an at your own risk thing, but not an instant warranty void from what I've always seen. I'm not recommending anyone overclock because the perfromance is sweet without having to do that, but I know people will. We ran hours of loops overclocked before and after we ran those benches to verify stability, but we were on a solid flat desk with proper cooling and a mid 70 deg room. So, if you find my answer very political and dodgy then I've done my job here.
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post #77 of 471
11/8/04 at 5:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by XClaude
Nice review.

No one seem to ask this question as much as they asked on the NP3790: How does the battery performs?

Now, I know these kinda beasts are meant for DTR, where it sits at an AC port most of the time. But just for reference, how long does the battery actually hold its ground before dieing?
It's in the review.
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post #78 of 471
11/8/04 at 5:52pm
Does it come with both the SATA interface and the PATA interface brackets?
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post #79 of 471
11/8/04 at 5:56pm
sorry, i'm not a flooder, but Adam, is it reasonnable to wait for the AMD64 version of this notebook in terms of time ? Is it a matter of weeks, months ?

Thx in advance
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post #80 of 471
11/8/04 at 5:58pm
Just curious...can we pay by bank wire / fund transfer? If we do, do we pay the "cash price"? If so the price difference pretty much covers the bank costs and its faster than paypal...

Yeah, and great review! So's Tom's hardware's which compares the 6800 to the ATI 9800 (performs about 40% better...to think that most people kept repeating that the first PCI-E cards would'nt outperform it...) Now if I can just find a way to not pay canadian taxes on the buy...hmmm...
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