ASUS G73JH-A1 with ATi Mobility Radeon HD 5870 1GB GDDR5

Yes. It is enabled in Windows 7's registry. To double check that it's not disabled (don't know how this would happen), do the following.

open the Command Prompt (run as administrator)

fsutil behavior query disabledeletenotify

you should see one of the following

DisableDeleteNotify = 1 (Windows TRIM commands are disabled)
DisableDeleteNotify = 0 (Windows TRIM commands are enabled)

 

There's actually a program out there floating around that will tell you also.

What I was referring to was the driver for the controller. Most new systems come preinstalled with the oem driver versus the Microsoft driver. If that is the case then TRIM won't work.

 

Are you talking about the AHCI Storage controller driver? I loaded my own copy of Windows 7 Ultimate, so I have the manufacturer storage drivers installed. I didn't check my G51J with the OEM load to see if it had the Intel Storage driver or the MS one, but I didn't know that would disable TRIM support. Do you have any info on this for other users?

Also, the firmware on the SSD must be updated so that TRIM will be supported. I had to update my FW on my Intel 80gb ssd.

 

Correct, the storage controller driver. It's not that it will disable TRIM it just won't pass the TRIM commands to the drive. You covered the rest. It must be Windows 7, firmware for the SSD must support it and you must use the Microsoft storage controller driver.

 

That's crazy; I've never heard that. Do you know any links with this info? I would like to read about it. I read through Anandtech's 30 page SSD schooling and hadn't seen that.

I don't see why Intel's own storage drivers wouldn't pass TRIM commands, especially to an Intel SSD drive! They need to fix that ASAP if it's true.

I will say that I have not noticed any SSD degradation in the month that I've been using it.

 

Never mind, I found it here...

http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3667&p=3

And here is an auto-trim tool directly from Intel that will work.

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=18455

 

Does anyone know if there is a way to find out how backed up the different companies are? xotic, gentech....
I know some Canadian sites had exact counts of their stock and their preorders, but I was wondering if any US sellers did that?
I was hoping to get one with the group that has the least orders to try to get my second one as fast possible.
if not I will just go with xotic but it would be good to know

 

They don't know yet. They have rough estimates of their initial shipments, but it isn't in stone. If you haven't pre-ordered by now, I can almost guarantee you are not going to get an initial shipment.

This is the hottest thing since Tickle me Elmo, Beany babies, and Cabbage Patch Kids.

 

Look for the new kid on the block

 

Yes, plus we had some M17x users who did experience performance degradation but as soon as they went to the MS driver it healed.

 

A little exageration there I think.....

 

It was said "tongue in cheek", but apparently the humor was lost on you. This thread has over 290 THOUSAND views. I would say it is the most highly anticipated laptop on NBR. NOT an exaggeration.

 

good point,..im glad i already ordered my first one a while back, i just hope this one atleast makes it into the second shipment. if i remeber correctly, there were 3 shipments

 

what?!? you mean views, lol! NBR has plenty of threads that get part 2 & 3 versions because they get too big.

edit: now you fixed it.

 

fixed for ya. anyways, he didn't actually mean it is the "next hottest thing" but he's just trying to say that many people are pre-ordering g73jh-a1.

 

Screw this notebook... I'm getting an iPad!

Er, maybe not.

 

Sounds like a digital feminine product.

 

So I FINALLY ordered my laptop today - G870:

Chassis - :: G870 Black/Silver (built on Clevo W870CU
Screen - :: 17.3" 1920x1080 Full HD+ X-Glass
Processor - :: Intel® Core i7 720QM Quad Core 1.60GHz - 2.80GHz 6MB Cache
Video Card - :: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 280M 1GB GDDR3
Memory 1 - :: 4GB DDR3 PC3-10600 1333Mhz CAS9 2x 2GB DIMMs
Hard Drive 1 - :: 320GB 7,200rpm SATA-II with 16MB Cache

It's not quite up to the specs for the G73JH and cost me a little bit extra as well but it'll be my first gaming rig in over 3 years and I am super excited.

Wishing all of you guys who pre-ordered the Asus the best of luck with your orders! I'll be following this thread eagerly to see just what I missed out on.

 

LOL! Hope it's water proofed.

 

And iPad? That is just misguiding marketing....

 

Great laptop! You won't be disappointed. We'll let ya know how good or bad the G73 turns out.

 

Yeah, I think I'll wait until they release one with a larger screen... The iMaxiPad.

 

Nice system congrats!

 

lol, nice.

 

Congrats!
3years? wow. When you play games like Resident Evil 5, Batman Akhram Asylum you won't be disappointed.
you ordered from Ken @ GentechPC right?

 

Yea, I know my spelling is horrible....thanks

 

Well, thanks guys. I've been following this thread for a week now, and I'm still on the fence about replacing my current latop with the G73. I'd love to, wife gave her blessing, but her job is in question and I'm trying to be responsible and not get anything 'extravagant'. I don't know how much longer I can hold out!

But I did see the 3Dmark score, and for grins and giggles I ran it on my laptop. I got a whopping 650!!!! Even my gaming machine in the basement only got a 13,622 score. To think the laptop would be damn near as fast as my game machine is pretty hard to pass on. Then I could get some missions done in Borderlands at work (yes, I have down time at work to goof off...)

One question I do have... I used to have an ATI card long long ago. I got tired of crappy updates, poor drivers and super long times between driver updates and switched to nVidia. Have they gotten any better at drivers? I really would hate to have a smokin' card with crappy drivers and gaming problems as a result.

Justin, if you read this any special pricing for Gov't or public service? Might push me over the edge and preorder... :laugh:

 

First off, welcome!

On the ATI question, sadly ATI's drivers haven't really been improved much over the past few years. It's getting better, but still no where as near as nvidia. Also, aside from the 10.1 beta drivers, there aren't any official Catalyst drivers that support mobile cards (unless you use mobility modder..which kinda makes it unofficial). Th 10.1 drivers don't fully support mobile cards either, just that its a first step in what we would all hope to be full support.

 

G73jh could be slower or quicker than your desktop machine actually, depends on the CPU in question, as 3dmark06 is quite CPU reliant.

 

Desktop is an overclocked E8500 3.16 (clocked to 3.6) with a 9800GTX+, 8gb OCZ reaper mem and Win7 64bit.

But that thing plays everything I have, and want, with max settings for everything... AA, resolution, etc. So even if the G73 is some slower, it'll be MORE than good enough for me

just have to stop resisting... being a responsible adult really sucks sometimes

 

Cat 9.12 with the 4870s are VERY impressive. Better than anything nVidia has put out. The question is will they work with these proprietary cards?

 

If you decide to buy now you aren't permanently "stuck" with the system. If something happens to you financially you could always sell it and assuming this systems doesn't have any major issues resale value should be high.

 

Oh that's good to hear. Didn't know that they worked that well with the 4870s in xfire

 

Look at the 2 4870 scores in my sig. That is with the system fully stock

The Cat 9.12's are awesome with the 4870s

 

Awesome! I hope they work well with the 5870's. If not, I'm hoping someone can mod them to work with it.

 

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate all the input you guys on the forum gave me over the past few weeks - I likely wouldn't have been able to find as good a model as I did without it.

As for ordering from Gentech - I was going to but found a reseller here in the UK, Kobalt Computers, which had a 2 year European warranty and 2 day shipping for about £200 extra making £1380 in total (and now I'm getting a 17.3" instead of 15.6" and extra HHD as I' was previously going for the NP8690 from them so the extra amount put into it wasn't just 'it sucks to live in Europe when you want to buy electronics' tax) and the Sager from Gentech would only have had a NA 1 year warranty plan - this extra expense may well save me future headaches down the line. My experience with Ken from Gentech was excellent though so I'd still be more than comfortable in recommending them to other potential buyers even if the deal I had with them didn't go through in the end.

As for the games mentioned - I may have spent the last 2 months binging on steam sales and ebay deals in preparation for this so have Batman, Borderlands, Crysis, The Witcher, Mass Effect 2, Dirt 2 and a whole bunch of others waiting for me

 

Gezus!!!!!! I hope you've scheduled 2 straight months of Holiday to plow through that epic mountain of games!!!

 

No problem buddy. That's what we're here for.
Have you tried The Witcher before? I heard the game is overhyped. I would like to try it but there are people who like it and who don't, it's like 50 50.

 

The witcher is on my list to play. Have some friends here at work that said it was solid. Have you played Dragon Age yet? I highly recommend that if you haven't!

 

I actually tried it, but then after ~2hours of playing I got a BSoD on my g51j haha.
Before then it was great! At first it was kinda boring I gotta say, it was getting interesting (even though there were lack of items.. maybe it's because I was at the beginning, I got up to the part where this girl joins me)
Are there a lot of items in Dragon Age like WOW?

 

Not as much as WoW, but there is a lot for you to customize all your characters in the middle-late part of the game. Like you guessed, there isn't much items in the beginning and even buying from vendors is pricey.

 

Total War....seriously...probably 90% of the reason I'm buying the G73....Oh, it's going to be a blissful.

 

TONS! There are also some mods already out for it that add armor and weapon sets to the game. The high tier sets are on the scarce side, but there are lots of different trinkets if that's what you're talking about.

The main draw is the story and character interaction. Once you get about 10-15 hours in, you actually care about what happens in the game world. That doesn't happen very often for me. The combat system comes into it's own during those hours as well. You better pick it back up after you get the G73! I'm about to finish my second play-through...

 

VERY pricey. ugh.

Maybe I should get the mods. I like games with tons of items (diablo 2, wow.. etc)
I definitely am finishing the game after g73! though I gotta start from the beginning again... I've been hearing nothing but good things about Dragon Age.

 

im actually looking forward to playing WoW on my the G73, huge upgrade from my current system, I have to have everything on low and the res at the lowest possible to get decent FrameRates to beable to play.

 

Anyone have any idea how the base model would stand up against my current desktop?

Intel Xeon 3110 (E8400 identical) at 3.6GHz.
EVGA GTX260 216
6GB DDR2 PC2-8000 RAM

 

You won't be disappointed with Kobalt. Neil is active on these forums and really knows his stuff, and they provide the best customer service you will find anywhere in Europe.

 

I would say pretty close. The 5870m is close to a 5750d, which is close to a 4870d, which is close to a 260gtx d.

An I7 turbo boosts to 2.8 ghz, but can run 8 threads. Your 3110 will probably be SLIGHTLY faster in gaming.

Ram is a wash. 8 gigs of ddr3 will perform slightly better than what you have there.

 

Agreed, Medieval 2 and Rome. All in full HD with full settings. I will be going from integrated GMA 950 tech to a pimped out machine, I literally can't wait.

 

I'll let you know what I think once I've finally got my laptop - I do know that its been on the top of my 'to play' list for a while though, I always really liked the look of it.

Oh you have No idea - here's the full list: Empire: Total War, Borderlands, Batman, Assassin's Creed, GTA4, Crysis, Crysis Warhead, Bioshock, Burnout Paradise, Dirt 2, Darwinia, Dead Space, Left 4 Dead, Mass Effect 1 + 2, Mirror's Edge, Psychonauts, Stalker, Unreal Tournmant 3, Zeno Clash, The Witcher, Medieval 2: Total War, FEAR, Beyond Good and Evil, Company of Heroes and The Orange Box.

I may need to take the next 6 months off from uni... I got a lot of multiplatform stuff as I hear the 280m can pretty much max that all out for my new 17.3" 1080 screen