aussie's 8890 review

Now with a Table of Contents:
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How to plug and unplug AC power adaptor
AC power cord wiring
Adding extra disks
Audio noise - IR receiver
Audio noise - ground loop hum thru TV aerial
Australian power cords
BIOS settings including passwords
BIOS setting boot disk order
BSOD disable auto restart (thanks FriedToast)
Carry case
Circuit diagrams (in service manual)
Disk drive - cable select setting
Driver installation
Driver versions
Fan noise fix part 1
Fan noise fix part 2
Fan reset
FAQ - benchmarks, hardware specs
Formatting RAID disks (thanks phubar)
Hotkey programming
Hotkey programming - the 3rd key
Hyper Threading (HT) comparison (thanks Bratag)
Metastock installation
Microphone connection (thanks HolyKami)
Microsoft Outlook setup
On screen display volume, caps lock etc in green
Ordering process (overseas wire transfer)
RAID array setup
RAID array disappearing fix
RAID controller specifications
RAID 0 vs RAID 1 disk failure
Service manual (thanks infinity)
Temperature monitoring (thanks krobotkin)
TV tuner setup (PAL system)
TV driver installation
TV image resizing
TV image on external display
Virtual desktops
Windows Powerpro
Windows XP installation
Windows XP Recovery Console
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Well since everybody else has done a review I thought an extra one might help.

My 8890 is the -V 3.2 GHz model with a 7200 RPM disk, XP pro, Bluetooth, BG+DK TV tuner and a 2nd power brick.
I did order a second 4200 RPM disk which I will remove and put into one of Besons usb/fw disk enclosures (see myrkat's review for pics) to do disk to disk backups. I also ordered the mounting bracket for the 3rd disk drive if I ever decide to fit extra storage there.

Eventually I will buy another 7200 RPM disk to put into bay 2 for video editing once the prices come down.

First reaction: it's big. I can safely say I still feel overwhelmed by the system.
The screen is awesome. So far no dead pixels that I can see - thanks bananas .

XP's default theme sux big time. Compared to the clarity of Win98 icons the XP icons are really bad. I have switched to classic but you still get XP icons. Sigh.

Worst letdown: the sound.
I have a Toshiba 2710XDVD with built in Harmon Kardon speakers. The 8890 speakers are really tinny in comparison to the Toshiba. It looks like I have to fork out for some Logitec Z-680 5.1 speakers when I can find some more $ (They are priced at $A680 at the moment).

Most important thing for Australian users: Rewiring the power lead.
NOTE THIS IS ONLY APPLICABLE TO AUSTRALIA.
EDIT: UPDATE 12th Sept 2003. Thanks to forsaken we have located a source of moulded Australian power leads suitable for the Sagers. No need to cut off any connectors.

Dick Smith Electronics has the lead here Part # W1350.

You will also find Jaycar Electronics has the same thing for a lot less $$ as well - their part number: PS4120

---- Old info follows:
For anyone in Oz that is going to cut the end off the US power lead,
be careful when you wire in our 3 prong plug because our wire colour codes are different to the US.
The US wires are:
White = NEUTRAL (normally blue in Oz)
Black = ACTIVE (normally brown in Oz)
Green is GROUND/EARTH
If you have an Australian plug with the prongs facing you:
Earth is the bottom prong (green wire)
Neutral is the top left prong (white wire)
Active is the top right prong (black wire)
If you are unsure, check with someone licenced to work on electrical equipment.
Worst case PM/email me and I will help you out (after working on 11kV and 3.3kV equipment you gain respect even for 240V).

Well I can say the power adaptors work well here for anyone wondering about their compatibility with our higher AC voltage.

Oh yes I can now see what people were referring to as blotchyness (I am still on the old driver). The blotchyness on the screen is caused by the video driver software not blending colour ramps properly. You end up with blocks of one colour rather than a smooth colour transition across the area. I will have to see how the new drivers go. For those who were wondering it is not an LCD fault, it is only the driver software.

The Sharp LCD is superb btw. Really good viewing angles (who needs the 5680 with its nancy boy WVA screen ) and exceptional contrast with great clarity/sharpness.

Initially I could not hear the fan as I had too many other fans in other computers running at the same time. You do notice the variable fan speed but it is certainly rather quiet for the amount of heat it has to get rid of.
The heat is not too bad at all. I was expecting much hotter but it is just warm (maybe I am not pushing it far enough yet ).

The keyboard is really really stable. No issues like some early shipments. Sager did well. The new layout is very usable (I still have my Fn and Ctrl keys in their original places). Compared to other keyboards this is a definite winner.

Case build quality is exceptional. I like its default colour (although ultra black would be so cool...).

The bluetooth module works well with my Nokia 6310 phone. Picked it up first go. I have yet to test it fully though.

Anyone considering the 8890 or any other Sager model:
Buy it thru PC Torque - you will be glad you did.

I know what you mean about waiting the final hours. I was thinking of writing a perl script to hit ups.com for any update change .

As to pics I have to borrow a friends cam as I spent all my $ on the 8890.

I will have some more review material shortly after I load up some apps like vmware/linux and Metastock (for the stock market types amoungst us).

The shipping process was as follows:

Ordered system on PC Torque's website.
Selected International shipping - require quote
PC Torque emailed back two options for UPS shipping
- normal and express
The difference was only about $US10 so I figured I don't want my baby sitting around any old dirty warehouse I will get express.
Return email from PC Torque had all the relevant wire transfer details for $.
Got to my Commbank branch ordered wire transfer for $A28 - took about an hour to complete all the paperwork.
PC Torque emailed confirmation of wire transfer.
Wait, wait, wait, scarifice some bananas, wait...
Email from Adam containing the all important tracking number.
Shipping from the US -> Oz took two days of actual transit.
UPS rang Monday to sort out payment of GST (@10% of total invoice including freight) and customs clearance fee of ~$50.
(There is no duty btw on computer parts into Oz, only the GST).
Paid by ccard. Released by customs on Tuesday.
It actually go into the UPS van on Tuesday but the driver had a busy day and I had to wait one more day.
Arrived Wednesday morning, and I had other things I had to do for the day so I had to wait until later that day to check it all out.

Funny thing was, when I did get it up and running I was like a stunned mullet sitting in front of it. I just stared in awe at it for a couple of hours not knowing what to do next . I am only just starting to get my brain into gear to work out what to do next - besides stare at it that is.

No go yet. I have to test it on a better coax connection to the roof. Fuzz right now .

What was the delivery time from wo to go, website to your desk?
I ordered 9th Sept, Wired 10th Sept, Tracking 19th, Delivery 24th Sept. As Sager ramps up production delivery times are dropping. Check with PC Torque.

how much was the freight charge? (Im a bit worried about that)
Freight to Sydney was ~$US200. Tassie will cost a bit more I expect.

and i suppose you went with the TV card, im not sure i could want the extra two weeks if i went 8890 with PAL card
Mine was the PAL BG+DK version (although I still have to get it to work properly). The PAL versions are in stock I think.

From the looks of your figures it looks like i will be up for about $450 on top of my order sans freight charge.
GST can be a killer - although if you are registered for it you can get it back .

May need your help with the electrical stuff if i go through with it, playing with fire/electricity there...
More than willing to help. I will see if I can get a friends cam to post some pics. Just remember to be careful.

Re: EZTrust(Armor)

Hi Hokie Time,
I normally have ZoneAlarm and AVG for my personal use. For my less computer literate friends I suggest they get the CA EZ-trust package because they seem to mistrust free software. I don't like them wasting money on Norton's over priced product so hence my recommendation about CA. You will find their products work really well and install easily (When are my friends going to learn to do it themselves?).

ZoneAlarm has one feature that few other firewall products has and that is the ability to stop outgoing programs as well (along with MD5 checksumming of the executables). I am so paranoid I don't even allow IE to access the internet without my explicit permission. There is a firewall tester that came up with a great exploit that kills most firewalls (except ZoneAlarm) which loads an email attachment then spawns IE and starts uploading all sorts of stuff. My preference is ZoneAlarm for a firewall.