13.3" Samsung NP900X3C with Ivy Bridge CPU

[ougrad1]

Hey Everyone,

I got my 13.3" Ivy Bridge series 9 last week after sending the Sandy Bridge version back to Amazon once I found out there was a new version coming out within my first 30 days. I noticed that my fan noise is audible with a clicking sound on the Ivy Bridge where as the Sandy Bridge was dead silent. Upon inspection, when looking at the bottom, only the left fan was coming on while I have yet to observe the right fan ever coming on.

Has anyone experienced this? I'm just wondering if I should send this one back to or if it's common and working as designed.

Thanks in advance for any feedback you guys can provide.

[balto]

I assume you adjusted the scaling to 125-150%? Sometimes it helps.

Ya have it set at 125, still very small. The screen in amazing, wish they offered the older screen on the z3.

[captainrad]

I noticed that my fan noise is audible with a clicking sound on the Ivy Bridge where as the Sandy Bridge was dead silent. Upon inspection, when looking at the bottom, only the left fan was coming on while I have yet to observe the right fan ever coming on.

Has anyone experienced this? I'm just wondering if I should send this one back to or if it's common and working as designed.

This sounds like you got a bad one. There is absolutely no clicking sound on mine (Ivy Bridge) and both fans are whirring pretty silently under low usage.

However, I have already crashed the machine several times due to apparent overheating by playing Bastion under Ubuntu. The game runs very well but at some point the system freezes with repeating audio loop and the bottom of the chassis is so hot that it's uncomfortable to touch, even though both fans are running at what appears to be full speed.

Has anyone experienced anything similar? I'm starting to wonder what the point of the Intel 4000 graphics power is if the cooling can't handle it.

[Thors.Hammer]

These machines are designed for Windows with office productivity applications.

[chrisjan]

Hi there, have my NP900X3C for a couple of days now and I really love it. However, I do have one Problem. I am not able to install Windows in UEFI mode. When I try to do so, Windows starts loading form USB drive or external DVD but the machines freezes once the Windows logo appears. When installing in BIOS legacy mode everything works fine. Anyone out there managed to install Windows in UEFI mode?

Thanks - Chris

Any takers? Anybody that has sucessfully installed Windows in UEFI mode? For me it looks like there is a bug in the UEFI BIOS.

Thanks - Chris

[John Ratsey]

However, I have already crashed the machine several times due to apparent overheating by playing Bastion under Ubuntu. The game runs very well but at some point the system freezes with repeating audio loop and the bottom of the chassis is so hot that it's uncomfortable to touch, even though both fans are running at what appears to be full speed.

Has anyone experienced anything similar? I'm starting to wonder what the point of the Intel 4000 graphics power is if the cooling can't handle it.

Is there any Linux equivalent of HWiNFO that will let you watch both temperatures and power consumption? The CPU / GPU package has a nominal 17W power envelope which includes balancing the speed of one against the other. Perhaps this isn't working properly under Linux.

These machines are designed for Windows with office productivity applications.

Windows probably yes but not exclusively office productivity. Who has some Windows games to try on one of these?

John

[dart22]

Any takers? Anybody that has sucessfully installed Windows in UEFI mode? For me it looks like there is a bug in the UEFI BIOS.

Thanks - Chris

This might help..

UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 7 with - Windows 7 Forums

[alexcriss]

Is there any Linux equivalent of HWiNFO that will let you watch both temperatures and power consumption? The CPU / GPU package has a nominal 17W power envelope which includes balancing the speed of one against the other. Perhaps this isn't working properly under Linux.

John

Running "sensors" in a terminal should at least report the CPU temperature. I do not think that something similar exists for the GPU, however some operational parameters are found in the kernel debug FS, under /sys/kernel/debug/dri/64

Usually Linux works OK with CPU and GPU scaling, specially for the HD 4000 GPU, for which open source drivers from Intel itself are used. Maybe the laptop was just pushed too hard, have you tried using a cooling pad when you game?

I'll try getting into a serious kernel compilation as soon as my 15" version arrives, tough such benchmark won't go heavy on the GPU.

[captainrad]

Is there any Linux equivalent of HWiNFO that will let you watch both temperatures and power consumption? The CPU / GPU package has a nominal 17W power envelope which includes balancing the speed of one against the other. Perhaps this isn't working properly under Linux.

I'm not sure how to monitor GPU temperature but for the CPU, there is e.g. Psensor as an application. I'll let that run in the background next time I play Bastion.

I also noticed that I was able to decrease the chance of a heat-crash by lifting the back of the laptop about 1cm off my desk so that air could more easily reach the fan intakes. Since doing that I haven't had a crash anymore. Furthermore, when the laptop was crashing, ambient room temperature was around 30 degrees C. That probably played a role as well.

[John Ratsey]

I also noticed that I was able to decrease the chance of a heat-crash by lifting the back of the laptop about 1cm off my desk so that air could more easily reach the fan intakes. Since doing that I haven't had a crash anymore. Furthermore, when the laptop was crashing, ambient room temperature was around 30 degrees C. That probably played a role as well.

That's a warm room! The bottom mounted air intakes are vulnerable to restricted airflow which reduces cooling efficiency so raising the back of the notebook improves the airflow. However, the CPU should start to throttle itself (at ~95C).

John