An Optimization Guide for the Asus G51

I was looking at your screenshots. You'll notice a difference depending on the mission and situation. If you're playing, say, the first mission, standard 260m clocks should work just fine. If you go to the "Exodus" chapter (where Nomad breaks out of the alien structure to see a frozen landscape), you'll see the difference between stock, standard, and overclocks. The blowing particles will eat up a lot of graphics powers.

 

I just played that part, with OC and had no complains!

Im only using GPU+CPU OC with Crysis, and only CPU OC with GTA IV, with the rest of the games im playing with stock configuration cuz I dont think is needed.

Today I got my highest GPU temp (96C) and I dont like it but maybe it was beacuse today down here (Costa Rica) was veeeeery hot.

 

Honestly, except for games like Crysis the GTX 260m is overpowered. For a lot of other games a 9800m G[T]S is probably more than enough, too.

 

Yea but once the computer hits maybe 2 years, we'll have to get everything overclocked to have them run at nice settings.....coupled with really dusty fans, potentially not a pretty picture....

 

good day! i have a question regarding this laptop. i bought this laptop for about 2 weeks ago and I'm using this mainly for mixing musics and gaming, but it often give's me random jumps " or should i say my music suddenly pause or lag's for a sec " whenever i use numark vdj or gaming. i tried re-installing the audio driver but i still have the same problem. any info or help on how to fix this is greatly appreciated. thnx!

 

So the audio occasionally lags? Well.....the problem is kinda vague so could you be more specific. How often does this occur? Does it occur if you use headphones or speakers? Any more details that you can provide?

Also, its usually better to post a new thread since more people would notice it and its kinda digressing from the point of the guide. Anyways, I'm still happy to help you if I can.

 

Well, in two years the 260m will be be considered getting long in the tooth, so by then it's upgrade time. But even some newer games don't stress my machine much. Bionic Commando and Prototype are no sweat.

 

The thing is, Prototype was running extremely well on my laptop. I had it at native rez (hex editor edit to do this) with everything maxed out and the fans never even went into max mode. The temperatures maxed out at like 78C GPU wise which is pretty awesome.... Did you encounter the same thing?

 

HAHAHA Im doing that right now. Just beat Crysis and only got 89C on the final battle with a small fan kicking out the hot air from the vent + cooling base.

 

I'l try a session when I have a chance.

Right now I'm concentrating on the SUPER-INTENSIVE Onimusha 3: Demon Siege.



What? I'm old-school.



Oh, and outstanding temperature JCHA. What were your clocks and voltages?

 

CPU @2.25, 1.113V
GPU 550/900/1400

 

Very outstanding. I need to find the best voltage for my X9100.

 

Having worked for a computer manufacturer for 11 years (Dell) I can tell you they customize bios to remove those functions to prevent support issues.

 

I would've thought editing your BIOS would count as a warranty-voider, but I guess not.

Oh well, software tweaking isn't bad.


Anyway, I've been wondering about the undervolting. I use the Intel SpeedStep shortcut, moving down to 1.250 volts at a multiplier of 11.5.

I notice on CPU-Z that my clocks hardly fluctuate, and my multiplier never changes. I thought Intel chips lower their multiplier if they're under light load, but apparently it's not happening on my X9100.

By the way 9.0 multiplier @ 1.175 volts is sexy chilly.



EDIT: Oh, you have to check off multiplier management. Cool. Are large max, medium, and min multiplier/voltage differances harmful? For my X9100,

Max is 11.5 @ 1.250
Medium is 10.0 @ 1.212
Min is 9.0 @ 1.175


Since I notice my multipliers tend to go all over the place, will this harm anything?

 

Well, technically the lower the multiplier the lower the voltage should be. That way, your CPU will be cooler due to the lower voltage when it isn't used as much.

Unfortunately, its much harder to test for stability at lower multipliers unless you lock it to that multiplier so lots of people just test the lowest multiplier, the max, and then linearly derive the voltage for the middle one.

I haven't really tested my 6.0 multiplier's lowest voltage yet due to pure laziness on my behalf so I'm just using 1.113v for all of my multipliers as of right now....which is essentially useless, but I'll get to it eventually (translation: in 3 months to never) ...... I think

 

I dont feel like going with the dox drivers just yet for my g51 so i wuz wondering wuts the best driver to download for my gpu off this site:
http://laptopvideo2go.com/drivers/4
should i just go with the most recent one or what? i have vista 64 bit.

 

Well.....the most recent drivers are not necessarily the best drivers since they are not usually tested to perfection. Newer drivers may even cause performance to decrease on certain games or break some things.

Generally, though, it is agreed upon that stock Nvidia 185.85 drivers are fine (correct me if I'm wrong)

Just remember to replace the modded inf with the one they provide on the website

 

I just did a shortcut, with multiplier at 10.5 @ 1.175 volts. This knocks my clocks down to 2.79 GHz, but it runs super cool. (While surfing, CPU hovers mid-thirtiies and GPU below 50)

If I'm going to play a game, I use another shortcut to bump it up to 11.5 @ 1.250 (which is stable with a thirty-minute Orthos run).

 

thanks man, r u saying that i should or that i shouldnt use the inf? how does it help?

 

this might not be related but just wondering why some of us here has better benchmark scores though my specs are better... nothing personal just wondering what i need to do.. my 3dmark score was 5389...

 

The only spec that's better than a G51 is your processor, and that's just barely.

 

You have to use the inf to have the drivers work.

Nvidia technically doesn't release mobile GPU drivers often. The drivers on laptopvideo2go are just the desktop drivers released by Nvidia that have been modified through the inf file to make them work with laptops.

 

I got a huge difference when I switched to Dox drivers, also Windows 7 increased my score as well believe it or not.

 

ok thanks, i guess ill just sell my g50vt-x5 and get a better one.

 

Do not sell your G50 to get a G51. It simply isn't worth it. Save your money and buy something even better in a year or two.

rarw111, I think you just poorly optimized your computer or you may have alot of bloat on it. Your model is supposed to get 8k on 3DMark06 at base.

 

Hey sorry I got your response in the random thread I posted but I know the cpu unit isnt that great in the rx05 model but which one would you recommend because I'm looking forward to play that new game Aion on max settings that wouldnt overheat it to badly.

 

The RX05 at stock settings should be able to play Aion at max settings without any problems at all

 

Hey tevashszat, i oc'd everything that i can and finally got a higher 3dmark score thanks! btw how did you set the 3dmark06 link in your signature?

 

I took a screenshot, uploaded it to my photobucket account, and linked to it with the hyperlink option in the replied to thread editor thing

 

I'm going to experiment with non-Dox drivers. Updates in a moment.


Edit: I tried 190.56 after reading Exostensa's post here. I am not suggesting using 190.

With Dox 185.85

With Standard 190.56

Hotter and weaker. Time to reinstall Dox.

 

Wow.....500 points is very significant....never thought that drivers would really make that much of a difference

 

Heat was another factor, too. If I had a 100-200 point drop with a significant drop in temperature (2-4 degrees) I'd be happy to stay with the other drivers.

But my CPU exceeded 80C, while the GPU was 5C hotter than my Dox trial.

 

Your GPU was probably choking at that temperature. If you try the 190.56 driver again and keep the temperatures in the low 90's, or ideally out of the 90's completely, you will see a better score. How can you keep your temperatures low? That's up to you to find out.

 

Well, it still stands that I ran both tests under the same conditions, with the 190.56 trials running significantly hotter. If Dox keep me cooler for the same trial and gives me a better score, I see no reason to switch.

 

I have tried the nVidia 190.56 driver before, and DOX still the best IMO =)

I got a bit more than 1K difference between the two in a 3DMark 06 test, with DOX being the better =) And looks likes DOX is working on a new driver, so, i think the best move is to wait for the next Epic DOX ( He Is The Man ) driver..

Oh.. and, I tried the drivers using Windows7..

 

Hey all,
Please welcome a newbie to this thread lol
I tried Dox 185.85 without any oc.
Although my 3dmark06 gives me around 1000 more pts (+ power4gear high
performance mode),
I experience "choppiness" on the games I play.
Also when I turned on the AA for Street Fighters IV, the screen
turned black (but the game was still playing w/ music).
Tried it again, same thing happened..
Also when I quit the game, crystal-dust-looking things left on my screen,
had to reboot to get rid of them..
Other ones were ok, but it would frequently break up.
For now, stock driver worked out the best for me....
Has anyone experienced this at all?
I guess everyone oc'd so no one really had this kinda problems?

 

@seanox

Are you talking about the G51VX? SF4 should be able to run everything maxed out without a problem... And you should not encounter any problem while gaming, because I could play Crysis: Warhead at highest option ( AA 2x ) and no "choppiness"...

Maybe something wrong with your drivers? Have you tried the Forge Driver Sweeper method? I did that and its working perfectly =P

 

Check your GPU temps with HWMonitor. Give us the temps with both Dox and stock drivers. That may be indicative of overheating

 

Did you remove the previous drivers before installing DOX?

 

Oh...I forgot, but I finally managed to figure out how to edit the vBIOS with the help of SovietSunrise.

If I have time or if I'm not too lazy, I'll try some undervolting of the GPU via vBIOS flashing and I'll report the results. If things go well, I'll add a vBIOS flashing section to the guide.

 

Yea, the g51vx from BB.
With stock driver, SF4 runs fine with max settings.
With AA x2, gives me about 25-30 fps.
With 185.85, there is no differece, but as I said, screen turned
black with AA, and crystal-dust looking things after that..
Oh, and I did use the driver sweeper.
As TevashSzat said, GPU temp could be an issue..
But I'm also using a laptop cooler
Another thing, I tried the updated driver provided by Asus @ their homepage.
No blackouts, but still choppier than the stock driver, but higher 3dmark06 score (by 100pts) !!! Weird..
BTW, games I've playing are

Pro evolution soccer 2010
Pure
SF IV
NBA 2k9

It's not even one of those games that require extreme specs..

 

hey seanox, i hope you can figure out whats happening with your machine... its one awesome laptop =)

heres what you should be getting:

75Fps.. more than double what you getting right now with AA2X

Ps.: Its says i can get higher quality, i have no idea how, i maxed out everything, even AA 16XQAA...

 

So, as TevashSzat said check your temps with HwMonitor when idling and after playing (it will record the highest temp).

Thats good. Could you also make a guide how to overclock pernamently the 260M GTX to its normal clocks.

 

Like I said before, use HWMonitor and give us your temps with stock drivers and then Dox drivers. Do that for idle and under stress (ie while playing games)

 

How the hell did you get 75fps with 16xQAA???
I'm barely getting a 70fps on highest setting with no AA.
As soon as I turned the AA on even on 2x, fps goes down to 30-40ish.
I guess it is the power of OCing???

 

Guys, I have just finished flashing my GPU from .95v/.85v/.85v/.80v at stock for Extra/3d/Throttle/2D to .90v/.80v/.80v/.75v and it has worked. My previous overclock, though, seem to be unstable at those voltages but look fine at stock GPU settings.

I will be going out in a little bit but I'll update as I do more stress tests and let you know whether there is any improvement in GPU temps.

Edit:

MAXIMUM 3DMARK06 GPU TEMP IS 80C!!!!!!!

At stock clocks that is.

 

Sounds good, TevashSzat.

 

What did you lose off your score? Just curious.

 

Undervolting does not affect performance at the same clocks.

 

Any chance you can write up another brilliant guilde for the rest of us idiots?