Official Sony SB/SA/SC/SD Series Owners' Thread

[matus201]

So I've just grabbed an SA3 (VPCSA33GX/BI - 128gb SSD and i5 2430M). It comes in tomorrow.
I plan on wiping the thing and installing a clean fresh install to do away with bloatware and crappy hard disk partitioning. I probably need to get a normal windows disk and not use the recovery disks, right?

I've read...too many pages of this thread and I'm sort of unsure what exactly I need to be installing from a clean slate and when? Especially with reguard to which drivers I can go to the manufacturer for and which I need to get from Sony and any non-standard drivers I should use (like the trackpad?)
I'd like to have the minimum of tray icons and the like as is possible.

Download a (legal) copy of windows 7 64bit from here (LEGAL Windows 7 Download Links (Just like Vista before!!!) use the Windows Key that is on the sticker on the bottom of your laptop), then go here Sony eSupport - VPCSA390S - Support and install all drivers that are not updates. Few of them have on the right side written in red what has to be installed before them - make sure you follow it (there is one mistake when it says install A and then B and on another page install B and then A, but i think it does not matter..)

After that Vaio update will update what is needed and you are set to go.

P.S.: I almost missed it for some downloads, here is a screenshot showing where to look for the information on install order:
imgur: the simple image sharer

//edit: if you want 2 finger scrolling, don't install the Sony ALPS driver. (if you already installed it, just uninstall it via Add or Remove Programs). Install this instead by opening DPInst.exe: http://www.multiupload.nl/V09MOO67XQ

[ptrkhh]

1. I would have preferred the i5-2540, but from what I read it won't make that much of a difference because most things will be bottlenecked by the gpu - same idea with the i7? I'm happy spending less (poor student) but don't want to regret it. Not intense gaming here, but want decent framerates on my fav. games.

The difference between i5 & i7 is unnoticeable in games. It is noticeable when you push the processor only to its limit, like video encoding.

2. Warranty question - I'm taking it overseas to the UK on exchange next semester - from what I got from the guys at the store, that voids some warranties? Is this true/do I have any other options?

Some Sony products are shipped with international warranty, make sure the one you buy covered in international warranty, and make sure the warranty applicable in the UK.

3. Anything I should look out for other than the assorted updates/tidbits I've found in this thread?

I recommend to wait for the next S refresh that will come with Ivy Bridge CPU & nVIDIA GT640M LE GPU. If you will to pick another laptop, there will be plenty of thin-but-powerful laptop that are powered by either nVIDIA Kepler GPU or AMD Trinity APU.

[SebastianD]

//edit: if you want 2 finger scrolling, don't install the Sony ALPS driver. (if you already installed it, just uninstall it via Add or Remove Programs). Install this instead by opening DPInst.exe: http://www.multiupload.nl/V09MOO67XQ

I installed it but still no 2 finger scrolling. Can't find the setting in mouse control panel. (Sony SA4 - Win7 x64)
What am I missing?
Thanks

[whiteknight_]

They havent optimized the game yet. It didnt even recognize the GPU which was why the framerate remainded bad no matter if you had high or low settings.

I think the game will be more CPU intensive in the end but it has so far ways to go yet in terms of optimization. We dont even know if it will take advantage of quad-cores yet.

I'm sure you are correct. Let's hope NCsoft takes advantage of multi-core cpus early.

You want to overclock because of how GW2 played in beta?

No, though I have seen news about how the beta went.

My intent is to experience GW2 as best I can, i.e., I want the fancy graphics lol. Also, I want to push my GPU out of curiosity.

[Spiral Man]

I'm sure you are correct. Let's hope NCsoft takes advantage of multi-core cpus early.



No, though I have seen news about how the beta went.

My intent is to experience GW2 as best I can, i.e., I want the fancy graphics lol. Also, I want to push my GPU out of curiosity.

Well, I have played the game a lot now and I can tell you that it's extremely bad right now. But ArenaNet balance their games differently (NCsoft merely publish it. They don't interfere with the gameplay). ArenaNet go backwards. In fact they had to go on ebay and buy graphics cards from four years ago that can not be bought anymore, to test the game on those systems. So they optimize backwards. Trying to make the game playable on the oldest hardware possible. Which right now is 2.0 Core 2 Duo (first gen) and a HD 3000. The people who got best performance during beta had overclocked their CPUs to 5 GHz. thats the only thing GW2 recognizes.

The first game also ran heavily on CPU. Because they render everything in geometry. the way the engine works is that everything gets added as skins on top of the base game. This is to reduce lag partially.


The problem is that GW2 might run very stable just running around fighting, but suddenly (and this is why GW2 is so fun and amazing) 30 other players join an event, and the game consequently spawn 100s of new enemies, increasing the action hundredfold, and that just kills the performance. so it runs fine while questing with 5-10 others, but when 50-70 more character models get rendered with all their spell effects you need a lot of CPU power and ram to process it. That's really the thing. Particularly for WvW as it can hold many hundreds of players.

that is why I am unsure if even after optimization that it will run well with full settings. I mean.. enabling shadows and AA and particle lighting is fine for base game, but in big battles your going to see much more uneven FPS because the game is so dynamic.

btw, GW2 is probably the most fun online game I have played in the last ten years or so.

[cargen]

1) the sticky 2D clocks are a "feature" of the new Catalyst drivers. you can use Catalyst 12.1 to get rid of them.
2) run TRiXX, and a you will have access to three sliders (core clock/memory clock/voltage) which you can change.

Sorry to bother you again but I've just installed the catalyst 12.1 and i can't find the menu to disable 2d clock. can you elaborate, under which menu i can disable the 2d clock? thanks!

[darxide_sorcerer]

^ oh no. you don't need to disable 2D clocks. what it means is that when you're not doing graphics-intensive tasks with your laptop, the GPU core and memory clocks will be brought down to a low level so as not to waste precious electricity just to generate heat. in fact, you can check to see if the clocks are working properly by running GPU-Z and selecting the Sensors tab on top. if your core/memory clocks drop down to 100MHz/150MHz (or around these numbers) while you're not doing much with your laptop, then it's working properly. the problem arises if you want to game or run a 3D application and the clocks stay at their 2D values instead of being pumped up to 485MHz/800MHz (or whatever your overclock values are).

[Rbstr]

Alright, I'm up and running...without putting vaio care or update or any of that except the one that does the stamina/speed switch.

I'd rather just check the website for new driver than install more background programs and the like...unless I'm missing some kind of important functionality?

Also: It seems like the chipset and CPU should support lucidlogix virtu. Does anyone have any experience with that?

[jeremyshaw]

Alright, I'm up and running...without putting vaio care or update or any of that except the one that does the stamina/speed switch.

I'd rather just check the website for new driver than install more background programs and the like...unless I'm missing some kind of important functionality?

Also: It seems like the chipset and CPU should support lucidlogix virtu. Does anyone have any experience with that?

Only works if Mobo manuf registered for it. Cannot be bought post sale. Not only that, the GPU is disabled when in IGP mode, and muxes switch the outputs to the GPU when in GPU mode. So Lucid Virtu would do nothing of use, here.


Actually, it would work for Intel Quick Sync, while in GPU mode. But that's one fringe benefit, as we do have a GPU switch... (this all becomes MOOT with Optimus, which is why I hate the current driver model Sony and AMD used for this laptop).

[oahsen]

Did anyone ordered HDD caddy from newmodeus? I am curious how well it matches to the laptop. If I still need to order a faceplate then I am not sure whether it is worth giving 40+ $.

2nd HDD / SSD caddy for Sony VAIO SA, SA3, SB Series (Black) [SONY-2BAY-SB-BLACK] - $44.55 : NewmodeUS, Hard Drive Caddys for Notebooks