Got my new Saaaager!

Heya guy/gals of the Sager Notebook forums...

I just got my hot (Cold? I live in Alaska) hands on my new 5680, and MAN this thing is a beauty! After my Inspiron 8200 suffered an untimely death due to Dell sending me a lemon (long story), a frantic search began for a replacement - I found it here in the Sager Forums. You guys are the greatest bunch of tech people, supporters/flamers, and honest folks I've seen on almost any message board. You seriously did help me choose to get this box.
These forums are an unbelievalbe wealth of knowledge, and I salute every one of you.

And! Even without dancing bananas, I have a 100% dead-pixel-free UXGA. I did have the chriping fan issue, but the firmware update Sager sent out did the trick perfectly - she's quiet as a baby. I am complely, utterly, and totally satisfied with what is most definately a very superior product. Any CPU/GPU temperature problems I'm pretty sure I've solved with a dab of my good friend, Arctic Silver 5. The fans hardly ever come on to a real degree - even when busting out the FPS in 1600x1200 Homeworld 2! Unbelievable!

In short, thank you guys and gals so much - especially Divine_Madcat, Henrik, and Adam&Laura over at PCTorque - is there ANYTHING you guys don't know about these things between you?

And finally, the system specs:

SAGER NP5680 (Ordered 10/17, shipped 10/27, at my house 10/30. Now THAT's some shipping!)

2.8GHz P4 HT
800MHz FSB
60GB 5400RPM hard disk
128MB ATi M10
15" Wide-angle viewing UXGA display
802.11b/g wireless
8xDVD / 24/10/24x CDRW combo optical drive
Windows XP Professional Corporate w/ Service Pack 1

Thank you again, everyone. I know that if I ever have any problems (that I can't solve by my lonesome), I'll know exactly where to turn.

Another VERY satisfied Sager owner,

- Aeon
Juneau, Alaska

Wow, didn't think that would be such a request. Yes, sure, I'll throw together a How-To for Arctic Silver in the next couple of days - complete with pictures! They'll be of a 5680, though perhaps not mine.

Arctic Silver is a very, very powerful thermal compound and you don't need hardly any of it. For an Intel P4 with the heat spreader, you need a blob about the size of half a pea smack in the middle of the spreader. Do not spread it around beforehand. Then just stick the heatsink back on - the pressure of the sink sitting flush will create an air-free medium between the CPU and the sink.

Oh yes. That half-pea sized blob is a very, very small fraction of even the smallest tube of AS5. You could easily do fifteen or twenty systems with the smallest tube before you worry about it. The best supplier I found was NewEgg.com - but then again, I have no local outlets for thermal grease. There is a fake "Arctic Silver" compound going around - make sure you get the real McCoy.

One thing about AS5 is that it is INCREDIBLY thick - almost like plumber's putty or tile caulk. Not only that, but it gets thicker the more you use it - apparently after full burn-in, AS5 will really stick. Basically the moral of that story is that you'll have a tough time getting the sink off after you Arctic Silver it up.

My fans never get loud, even when I'm blasting games full-strength. I'm going to a LAN party later today for some high-end UT2K3 LANning, so we'll see how the fans get then. But for normal everyday sitting-on-your desk use...I seem to have significantly less fan-turning than many other forum goers.

Cheers,

- Aeon

I want to try the GPU, but I can't seem to find the service manual for this on Clevo's site so that I can get to it. As soon as I do, I'm going to AS that one up and try overclocking by about 5-10%.

As for how long it took, to get here - it was a total of three days. I ordered it on 10/17, it was shipped 10/27, and showed up at my door late afternoon on 10/30.

- Aeon