G73JW-A1 arrived

Quick first impressions:

1) GPU runs very cool. Idle clock drops to 51/150, and usually hovers at 38C. 3.5hr reported on Battery Saving mode.

2) Cosmetically the same as JW, except loss of a USB 2.0 port for a 3.0 one.

3) Keyboard and trackpad are rock solid performers. I tried getting it to mess up. Will not comply. Keyboard Filter 1.03 + Synaptics 15.2.7

4) Same Hannstar panel, same blue shift, same working color .icc as JH.

5) installed 266.58, and ran Batman AA benchmark with 4xMSAA no vsync and no Physx (trying to compare to 5870M) @ stock speeds - 21 min / 75 max / 59 avg

6) The THX TruStudio NB is mostly meh. Adds ALchemy and Speaker enhancement that would be just one feature of the Pro package. (I got an X-Fi USB HD for better music pleasure with laptops, more on that later)

7) Updated to 203 BIOS just for the hell of it.

 

Congratulations for the new beast, but i have to ask, way haven't you waited for the new sandy brige in a few months the mess with the chipset will be in the past, and maybe by than a new gpu will be available........

 

Chastity, so you swapped your JH for the JW?

 

No, I have both. There are other humans in the household.

 

Welcome to the JW club, Chastity.

 

I'm thinking about picking up a G53 or G73 now as well.... Is Sandy Bridge really going to speed things up that much? There's always going to be a faster cpu and gpu a few months down the road. Why do you think this worth waiting for? (I hope that doesn't sound sarcastic... I'm truly interested if folks are expecting a massive jump in performance for your dollar)

 

Sandy bridge + a 6970 (or a 485m) is in theory 40% faster than an i7-740 + 5870. I'd only be interested in a SB laptop when they are equipped with said 6970/485...

 

The 2630qm that comes with the G73SW according to most benchmarks is clock for clock 10 - 15% faster than the previous generation clarksdale cpus. That having been said, the 2630qm is clock at 2.0ghz and turbos up to 2.8ghz. The 740qm is at 1.77ghz and turbos up to 2.9ghz. All performace numbers show that the 2630qm benches similar to the 920qm.

Also, given the fact that the SB architecture is 32nm makes it more efficient

It's still pure speculation as to if Asus will use the 6970 or if they'll go for something else instead.

If you're willing to wait until the recall is over and everything is fixed and back on shelves (approx mid to late March) then you're better off waiting for the sandy cpu.

 

Asus is sponsoring her b/c she has done so much for this forum and is now a moderator at ROG.

At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

Here's a quick comparison with Batman AA Benchmark:

Settings: 4xMSAA, No VSync, Max settings, no Physx, 1080p, stock clocks

5870M (11.01a Hotfix): 36 min / 77 max / 58 avg

GTX460M (266.58 WHQL): 41 min / 76 max / 59 avg

And enabling Physx on the GTX460m:

w/ Physx Normal: 21 min / 55 max / 38 avg
w/ Physx High: 17 min / 54 max / 33 avg

With an 815/1500 Overclock:

No Physx: 49 min / 90 max / 71 avg
High Physx: 21 min / 66 max / 39 avg

Temps: 67C

 

My G73JW-3DE just got delivered today, unfortunately I am in Aruba on a cruise ship (not that thats a horrible place to be ) I am amazed that the real world performance of the GTX460M is that much better then the 5870 when the 5870 bencmarks are always shown to be better.

Can you post up some more comparisons on other games test demos.

I am glad I got the JW and not wait on the SW I basically got the 3DE model for what the A1 is selling for. I will be home on Sunday to play with my new toy.

 

There are 2 things to note in this:

1) The JW has a bumped up CPU, which could be a slight factor
2) Maturity of the NVIDIA drivers as of late are helping out
3) I feel that the nvidia chip scales a bit better with overclocking as a general rule

So far I am glad to see how well she is performing vs the AMD card. Gaming so far has shown to be on par, so anyone agonizing over which is the faster solution is going to find that they are about equal. I am sure some game engines will prefer one over the other. Graphic workers will like having the CUDA if their apps do not support DirectCompute.

 

I was among the other group of folks likely in shock over this initial revelation.

 

Yeah....it's the "other" part that shocked me...

 

Dragon Age: Origins
1080p, 4xMSAA, Max settings, no VSync

GTX460M @ 815/1500 HD5870M @ 820/1070

The G73JW is outperforming the G73JH by roughly 10% consistently

JH min : 47
JW min: 53

Mafia II Benchmark

1080p, Antialiasing Off, Aniso 8x, Shadows Medium, Ambient Occlusion Off, No Physx

GTX460M: 45.8 fps HD5870M: 50.4 fps

 

Dam glad you have same model as me G73JW
As I really respect your input on laptops it is great that now you will compare oranges with oranges.

Can't wait until you list what needs to stay on my G73JW and what I do not need as far as bloat ware goes.

And a list of software I need if I wipe and remove the backup on laptops hard drive and put on my own copy of Windows 7 and other software laptop needs after doing this.

 

That depends on your tastes. I myself, I keep P4G Hybrid, and Wireless Control 3. Everything else I've tossed, and I made my own icc profile for the panel. None of the Splendid ones were to my taste. I use Acronis TI Home 2011 + USB HDD 880G for my backups. I've also nabbed a $40 copy of PowerDVD 10 Ultra from an Amazon dealer, tho I also use MPC HC.

I also upgraded the audio system with an X-Fi HD USB ($90) paired with a Sony MDR-SA5000 headphones ($320), a Sony iPod Portable Speaker Dock ($199) for open listening / sharing, and use the Logitech Performance MX Darkfield mouse ($40) for gaming.

 

Wow, very interesting. The fact that the jw has a slightly better cpu, perhaps drivers are playing a role, and temperatures being low is making the jw and jh kinda equal.

But the JW seems to have a working touchpad according to what u said. And the fact that nvidia is a better OCer makes the jw better imo.

 

I would say equal, but as noted, you can see that in Mafia II, the AMD solution is a better performer. So it will depend on drivers + game title.

Then again, the upcoming HD6970M will blow all this away.

 

Yeah after having owned both the JH and JW it really was title dependent .. Some better, some worse, some equal..

 

Dam don't you go talking over my head , just remember simple guy no experience with laptops or any big words

 

out of the new single new amd cards and the newer nvidia cards, which one takes the least amount of juice (from GTX 470M and stronger)?

while I'm at it, I heard sandy bridge can last double time for batter life. How?

 

Integrated onboard GPU with switchable graphics via Optimus.

Not available on the Sandy G73SW's iirc.

 

Can anyone comment on the stability of the G73JW? I still see a lot of posts here about problems with it (less than the G73JH though). I'm really not to keen on reflashing BIOS since I bricked the last PC I flashed, and I'm tempted to go G53 just because it has less issues.

 

Gaming / Desktop Replacement notebooks require a certain level of maintenance, seeing how quickly hardware gets upgraded through a series, plus drivers and such. If you are skiddish about doing a BIOS flash, then perhaps one should stick to consoles. Either that, or have someone do them for you.

As for this JW, I've had zero issues with it thus far.

 

My last console was a NES, I've been exclusively PC gaming since 1990 so going back to the NES will be a big performance hit.

Thanks for the feedback! I'll continue to watch this thread for your experiences with the JW

Cheers!