Florin

Well I got the SLI working using 314.22 from NVidia and setting certain SLI compatibility bits for Dota2.

CS:GO works on SLI also with some issues like if you ALT+TAB the stuttering comes back and you have to go vsync on off each time to fix this. This issue was on Windows8 too.

Ok, please guys not off-topic, the related issues are towards 8.1, we don't need advice for Windows 7 or XP, because as I see it people are attached to dinosaurs

milotait that is an older driver, but you are right, they made it for 8.1 Unfortunately we need the fix from this driver to work on future drivers. Maybe slv7 can take a look into it, if he knows the drill of drives and inf's

Later Edit: I have updated my OS to Windows 8.1 x64, I have installed the driver from Lenovo, SLI is enabled, both GPUs are working BUT [CRITICAL] freeze happens while trying to play Dota2 for example.

In main menu all is fine, as soon as I hit to play, at loading screen it freezes. If I choose to watch a match, exactly after loading screen it freezes the laptop and the only thing left to do is shutdown laptop. WTF Lenovo?!

@Rasmus before saying such a huge statement please say what you have 650M or 750M, driver that you are using, which games are you playing (Steam/non Steam).

Window mode doesn't cut it for me, is not the same fluidity in game. I prefer an older driver with V-Sync enabled and full screen than a newer on with window mode.

Anyway this is an issue with the SLI and Nvidia should fix it eventually (even though there are more than 6 months already for the 650M but hey better late than never).

What games are you playing, steam games or non steam?

Well I received answer on their forum:

"Dear FlorinAnghel,

Welcome to Lenovo Community,

Unfortunately sir, the official release date of windows 8.1 and its support will start on 18-10-2013, so until then we will not be able to provide you with a release date of the Drivers for Windows 8.1.

Best Regards,

Assal

"

Don't know if I should believe him, he is implying that a driver will come.

@bpendz it depends on the game, usually the loading of a game is much faster with SSD. For example Dota2, I am loading ahead of others all the time.

J95 this is not what they are reporting. You can install the drivers, that post that you are saying is a workaround when you can't even boot into OS because it crashes. They know about the UEFI bug and it will be fixed.

However regarding the second GPU they are blaming Lenovo because it doesn't update the vbios of the second GPU.

Hi @svl7, do you think you can make some time investigating why on 8.1 only the primary GPU is recognized? Thus SLI can't be enabled?

NVidia claims is because of the gpu bios from the ultrabay, which I hardly believe.

I have the gpus flashed with the bios found here.

Do you have the second gpu flashed? This is very important, please reply asap.

You can modify the fan temperature thresholds in BIOS. It won't make your laptop cooler under load though.

Some tips:

1. Raising the laptop over the surface of the desk already will improve your temperatures. Do not run it on bed or other soft surfaces covering the bottom of the laptop.

2. Getting a cooling pad will take care of raising the computer, but don't expect miracles from the fans. They don't make much difference. Note, that with cooling pad you can use (under heavy load) your laptop on cushions and your own lap.

3. Removing every possible cover from the bottom of the laptop and running it on the cooling pad does reduce the CPU and GPU temps under load, but not much. On the other hand it did keep other components cooler. In Y580 it's important because of unfortunate placement of HDD, which can get too hot under load.

I would say bottom line, that all effort is not worth it. For example, the nr 3. is more like a down side, you may get lower temperatures, but the dust can easily make his way into your laptop.

You have a process that is keeping Windows busy, it may be related to windows update, some kb that didn't install successfully. Since when do you have this problem?

NVM I found my self the answer for my earlier post. Apparently if anyone wants to install Windows 8.1 from MSDN using the license from UEFI bios, is not possible. Atm the MSDN iso can only be activated with the key from MSDN. So stupid..

@octiceps well you might have stepped on a mine there. Command line is used extensively in Windows server and all unix-like systems. Unless you were referring to normal users only, then I agree.

Also... be careful, because you're slowly lowering to Florin's level of discussion...

@Florin you are aware than for the last few posts the only thing you do is calling others "inexperienced", saying we know nothing compared to you and trying to undermine everybody else's image instead of providing ANY arguments? Even your attempt to provide argument about TRIM and pre-fetch has hit a wall of your lack of knowledge by writing "in win8 it works differently".

Also, you are wrong when you say "Microsoft Software Engineer" means you have a certain knowledge but are not affiliated with M$. There are many certificates from M$, and the only ones related to Software Development are MTA and MCSD. Please do not use this term, as now you're just making every actual M$ software engineer look silly.

Are you familiar with the term "trolling"? I get the feeling that is your sole purpose of posting here. It's not even about being biased about Win8... Anyway, this topic is heading in a wrong direction as it slowly drifts away from the topic of Win8... Any mods here?

The SuperFetch argument was taken out from an Intel help file regarding their SSD (I suppose they hit the wall, right?). Software Engineer doesn't mean Software Development, you are making a confusion. Virtualization it's not exactly software development, more like converting or reverse engineering, in Windows 8 virtualized apps are increasing in number. That's all there is to say. Anyway it would be good for the two of you to read more instead of bash everything people say, your lack of knowledge makes your posts a little childish, to say the least.

@octiceps it seems you are too young for IT industry, when you say Microsoft Software Engineer, it doesn't mean you work for the corporation, it means you have a degree of knowledge on their products. Same goes for VMware or Cisco. I think you are just too inexperienced to understand how Windows works, for you it's only the GUI. Anyway I understand what is your level of understanding so I will refrain to post on this thread.

Yes, it was implemented long time before, and on that statement I was referring to Windows 7. Don't know what is not clearly in what I wrote. I bought an ssd of 64 GB when the costs were higher, like 300$. I know through what Windows 7 went to optimize SSD and it still needs now additional configurations. You want more details, okay.. in Windows 7, Superfetch tracks and copies your most frequently used applications to system memory to reduce load times. Superfetch is based on the similar Prefetch feature available in Windows XP. Superfetch/Prefetch is not needed on an SSD under Windows 7, and should be disabled for optimal performance. In Windows 8, Superfetch functions differently than in previous versions of Windows, and should not be disabled. How about that? And this is not the only thing. I'm not MS affiliated, I just know what to use and how to use it, and if I don't know I try to learn it not bash it.

@sergioosh @octiceps I read the articles, I know what I am talking about. I'm a Microsoft software engineer on virtualization, repackaging and migration data. Regarding the structure of Windows 8 in comparison to Windows 7 I think I know better. From what I see you are affected by the UI, which is more related to taste than functionality (and again this is the normal behavior of the mediocre user, at first he does not accept the change then after 2 years he embrace it and calls it the best). On the resource managing part (RAM, SSD usage) or services, Windows 8 is far ahead. When I said SSD configuration, I wasn't referring to TRIM, that's by default, it was implemented long time before, I was more pointing out other things like power consumption or read write values (are higher on Windows 8). Anyway I won't write anymore on this subject since is hard to convince normal users on how the Windows 8 structure is different from Windows 7 and what it does best, when all they see is the UI. No further comments.

I was not sure about win8, but decided to give it a try. It took me about three weeks with enoyance disabling features and trying to bring it back to win7, I used classicshell for this.

For my use business/work, 3D and light gaming win8 was pretty useless. I switched to a 120gb SSD with a fresh win7 install. Much better.

As of the learning curve theory I don't see the value in getting used to the metro GUI as it seems less efficient than the classic windows desktop. I prefer to have direct access to as much options and tools in the OS and software as possible.

In the end it comes down to how you use your computer...I will probably try the new version, hope they give users ability to change the hole menu layout.

The computer itself seems good in build quality and offer decent access to internal components say if you need to switch something or remove some dust. I did not like the touchpad much, and the wificard was absolutely useless. I am therefore currently stuck with the BIOS whitelist issue. Hope to resolve that soon to do some further testing.

You haven't used Windows 8 enough to pinpoint the real issues. What you described is just your inability to adapt For 3D rendering and Photoshop, also video editing and other work that include high number of calculations, Windows 8 is better at handling resources and providing an output result much faster. You are used with Windows 7 (which btw it doesn't have the ability to automatically configure windows for your ssd, most probably now it does stupid things that ruins the solid state drive), therefore you reject windows 8 based on metro GUI, which in fact is called Windows Modern UI. After you'll get past the new UI, and really see the differences you will see it makes your life much easier. Anyway this happens for every product in the world, and after 2 years everybody adapts and calls it the best...sigh..

octocore i7? and btw Windows 8 is so far ahead of Windows 7 in managing resources. It doesn't have problems, maybe you have because you don't know how to use it, and it seems for you that the whole world is at issue for this.

You have a SanDisk mSATA SSD? o_O Mine is a Samsung 16GB SSD

Okay then, maybe that is your reason the booting took 5-10 min, the BIOS checks each device and the SSD was causing problems. You can send the notebook to service, I know it's a pain but the alternative is to buy a new msata ssd.

But you can use the hard drive as an external, like I said. Just plugged in on an USB port.

I don't know why you guys think of the mSATA as a big factor, maybe because you want to keep the 1TB hard drive? What I did is: took out the 1TB drive; replaced it with 256GB Samsung PRO 840Series; left the 16GB SSD intact, and using the 1TB as an external hard drive.

Thanks for the suggestions but still it shows the 17 April one, ver 307.64. Anyway I managed to find a fix using 314.22 from Nvidia for my games. So I'm happy now.