**Official Clevo W110ER / Sager NP6110 Owner's Lounge**

[HTWingNut]

I honestly doubt they will put DDR5 in the Gigabyte. It is very thin for having a full quad core i7 and a Kepler GPU. As seen with the Acer TimelineX Ultra, it is very hard to cool and absolutely murders battery life. DDR5 kicks out significantly more heat than DDR3 so taking into account how much smaller the U2442N is than say a m14x then much will have to be sacrificed in the way of cooling, much more so than on the W110ER.

Also, DDR5 doesn't make sense for the 640m. Sure it's compatable but for what is supposed to be a midrange consumer card, the added cost would not make financial sense. Look at the 540m, no laptops were ever made with DDR5 and a 540m, even if it was compatable. Even DDR5 on a 550m was rare.

I would LOVE to see Gigabyte pull that off (and to be proven wrong)! I look forward to seeing what they do with it and it's future revisions but as its their first go-round with such a laptop i won't get my hopes up.

I'll see if I can find the couple articles again, but GDDR5 didn't seem to put off more heat, just more power draw, which is likely the reason for limiting its use in the W110ER. With the 35W CPU and 45W GPU the total system load puts it near the 90W design threshold so that was the likely consideration.

[R3d]

I have a feeling that Clevo screwed up somewhere in the design process, which was why the gddr3 version was used.

I bet they originally wanted to keep everything under 90W with the 90W PSU but then they had to offer the 3610qm due to supply issues and they had to raise the envelope to 120W anyway.

Either that or they wanted to keep the price as low as possible which is why they went with gddr3 and a low end display.

[robomasterxp]

I'll see if I can find the couple articles again, but GDDR5 didn't seem to put off more heat, just more power draw, which is likely the reason for limiting its use in the W110ER. With the 35W CPU and 45W GPU the total system load puts it near the 90W design threshold so that was the likely consideration.

wait, so if we use a 35W CPU instead of the 3610QM now, shouldn't the laptop be able to use GDDR5?

[R3d]

I'm not sure GDDR5 would even use that much more power. The gddr5 version of the 650m is underclocked, so that probably compensates for some of the extra power usage. I doubt the difference in power consumption is very big.

Now that I think about it, gddr3 is probably just a way to save money because the performance difference is minimal at 768p.

[HTWingNut]

wait, so if we use a 35W CPU instead of the 3610QM now, shouldn't the laptop be able to use GDDR5?

Wait, what? Erm, if it's designed for a 35W CPU + 45W GPU and total power draw is near 90W (which it is), then adding an additional 5W+ load to the system would be too much. I'm sure the original design consideration was for a 90W system, it's just that the cooling and power system seem to manage the 45W CPU's just fine.

I'm not sure GDDR5 would even use that much more power. The gddr5 version of the 650m is underclocked, so that probably compensates for some of the extra power usage. I doubt the difference in power consumption is very big.

Now that I think about it, gddr3 is probably just a way to save money because the performance difference is minimal at 768p.

And that is probably the real answer right there.

But here is an example from desktop DDR3 vs GDDR5... (only one I can find short notice): http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...5,2704-14.html

5550 DDR3 vs GDDR5 had 15W more power draw and 5570 DDR3 vs GDDR5 had 19W more power draw. That's pretty significant considering these cards don't require a power connector, meaning they draw less than 75W total. But temperature-wise was only a few deg C, granted that's GPU and not vRAM, but still something to consider.

[plancy]

But I think that's because the GDDR5 versions are able to process more, contributing to the power draw...

[HTWingNut]

But I think that's because the GDDR5 versions are able to process more, contributing to the power draw...

At peak load it's at peak load whether it's crunching 1 calculation per second or a million. It may be doing more, but it's still drawing that much power. Notice GDDR5 is also half the memory size of the DDR3 as well.

Regardless, it is what it is. I'm sure it was a matter of cost, performance, power, and heat consideration of the total system design.

I have a feeling that Clevo screwed up somewhere in the design process, which was why the gddr3 version was used.

I bet they originally wanted to keep everything under 90W with the 90W PSU but then they had to offer the 3610qm due to supply issues and they had to raise the envelope to 120W anyway.

Either that or they wanted to keep the price as low as possible which is why they went with gddr3 and a low end display.

Well in all honesty, Clevo spec'ed it for a 35W CPU, Sager (and most Clevo builders) is the one that chose the 3610QM, heck you can even get a 3720QM.

[macuill]

Well in all honesty, Clevo spec'ed it for a 35W CPU, Sager (and most Clevo builders) is the one that chose the 3610QM, heck you can even get a 3720QM.

Sum it up.
Its designed as an 11" Gaming Subnotebook.
Designed for 35W CPU. Designed for 1366x768 resolution. Designed for portability.

If one takes that in consideration, there's no need for DDR3 as there is no real benefit of DDR5 at this resolution.
And the possibility to put in a 45W CPU is a plus, but originally not intended.

[Prema]

At peak load it's at peak load whether it's crunching 1 calculation per second or a million. It may be doing more, but it's still drawing that much power. Notice GDDR5 is also half the memory size of the DDR3 as well.

Regardless, it is what it is. I'm sure it was a matter of cost, performance, power, and heat consideration of the total system design.



Well in all honesty, Clevo spec'ed it for a 35W CPU, Sager (and most Clevo builders) is the one that chose the 3610QM, heck you can even get a 3720QM.

LBO offers them with 3820QM...

[jaug1337]

Actually..

GT650M DDR3 vs GDDR5 difference tested! hehe