Asus N550JV - user review and owners lounge

Hey guys what temperatures are you getting in games with medium-high settings?

 

Lock your cpu multiplier on 2,5 or 2,6 ghz on four cores with -100mV on cpu voltage offset in XTU and your temps will be contained and no throttling will occur. These frequencies are enough for a 750M ddr3. The gpu will struggle before the cpu.

My cpu temps top at 69-70°C max in games with these settings, but i have adhesive pads to rise the lap and additionnal copper heatsinks on pipes so it's not a reference. A regular N550JV should stay below 80°C pretty easily with such settings in XTU.

 

I noticed that my new laptop has two deep scratches on the center metal bezel (see image below for scratch locations). Additionally, the enter key has chipped paint.



Are these quality issues common on this laptop, or did i just get a bad one. It is not bothering me that much as the laptop is great to use.

 

nope, no such scratches here hmm. and my enter key looks perfect haha

 

I haven't read anything that shows anyone ever having their temperatures lowered with those copper heat sinks on the pipes. I wished people had even a 3C change and I would go for it, but t doesn't even yield that. The adhesive pads are a good idea. I personally just have a lap pad that the laptop rests on at all times that creates a large enough gap to allow proper circulation and shield me from any heat.

 

Yeah, mini copper heatsinks seem to just slow down the temp rising a bit, the max temp is pretty much the same in the long run.

Best way to have an awesome airflow is by removing the dvd drive If you can live with a big hole that impacts esthetic.

 

Would it be advisable to go directly at -100mV? Or should i start with -50mV? How long do normal stress tests take place for stability? Much thanks

@unclewebb thanks for the program


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

 

I've got a problem with my n550jv, if I have an external hdd plugged in (those 2,5 usb powered ones) and I plug the charger (or unplug) the external hard drive powers off an on again!

Has anybody experienced this?

Btw: The hard disk is an usb 2.0 regular one without any power management stuff.

 

Ramsinks can actually raise long term temperatures :/

 

I haven't actually tried bluetooth, not something I'm a big fan of. I'll give it a go and report back.

 

Did anyone try installing Linux Mint or Ubuntu? Did the subwoofer and 750M work?

 

I guess I was unlucky then...

 

One USB port is behaving as you have just described - the one that should power devices even when the laptop is turned off. It is located on the left side, the one closer to you (has an extra power icon next to it). The other USB port on the left side does not behave the same, you can test and use that instead.

The is also an utility that configures how the "powered" USB port behaves, but i have yet to download and check it out.

PS: don't bother with the Asus Charger utility in this case, it only sets a limit for how low the battery can get before it stops charging via the USB port when the laptop is off. Default is 40%.

 

Hey,

can anybody tell me how I can remove the faceplate of the ODD?
I don't find any clip or anything that would help removing it and I don't want to pull it off like a berserker and possibly destroy it without knowing that it is the only way
As always, if it isn't too much to ask for, a photo would be nice to show the spot if there is any.
Opening the case was really easy btw, it even opened by itself at the front after removing the front screws...

 

Yep that fixed it. On reboot it would also power off and on. Thanks for testing

 

Gently pull from the indicated corner. Once the hook in that vicinity separates, it will come off easily.

 

Ah thanks, I just thought I had read something about this here.
Will try this.

Edit: Lol, that was really easy, just picking the left indicated end, holding the opened drive and pull the faceplate and *blop* it was removed. Thanks!

 

Curiously, Autodesk 2014 (and sometimes 2013) software hates my Nvidia non-certified cards (Have tested 2014 on a GT 540M, a GTX 765M, and now this 750M with 320.xx) . I found that 2014 glitches a lot when using the 750M at all & must use default 311.xx graphics drivers since updating to a 320.xx will crash the program on startup.
The workaround I have is using the integrated since the 750M is not hardware accelerated by professional software anyway (it would be as good as any integrated since everything goes to the CPU for processing and rendering). Problem is, that Nvidia pretty much gets used even if I set it to use integrated in Nvidia control panel, so I found that it's possible to directly disable the 750M in device manager with no ill effects on the rest of the system while working. Then just re-enabling the 750M when gaming.
This also leads me to think that when disabling in device manager, the GPU is completely shut off according to GPU-Z with 0mhz rather than the typical ~135mhz idle.

Could someone who has a good watt meter to measure if there is a possible, but unlikely drop in power usage (even 0.5 or 1W) when disabling the 750M in device manager? Might be of slight use when on battery and not gaming.

Edit Note: the GPU must be enabled before logging in, otherwise enabling in device manager will not automatically restart the GPU. (must then sign out of account then back in to get it to work with optimus properly)

 

Disabling the Nvidia GPU actually increased idle power usage from 10-11W to 17-18W. This should have quite an impact on battery life.

PS: the Nvidia GPU is probably left in a state of "limbo", but isolated from system/drivers. The system will not shut it down like an ordinary SATA, PCIe or USB device.

 

Well then, I'll just keep in mind not to disable it while on battery and simply do CAD work while plugged in.

 

Yes you are never going to get full 3d performance from any sort of machine on battery.

 

Hey guys do you know how to put all the 537gbs from DATA into OS. I don't really see a reason for DATA, everything can go in OS. Thanks.

 

I don`t know why, but after finishing the first Windows 8 update the temperature went down (or it`s just a coincidence).

Let me ask you a question: I like to use the Instant Key to execute a Windows 8 app (like the Calendar). Do you know how? I don`t know where the app is saved.

 

Hey everyone. I'm going to replace my HDD with an SSD, and do a clean install of Windows 8 over it. My question is, after I insert the SSD and boot for the first time, how can I select to boot from DVD?

Another thing, i'm planning on dual boot with linux. Has anyone done this before?How does it work?

Thanks

 

Regarding linux, see this post earlier in the thread. That same user, iserlohn, also made a blog post here that goes in more depth about this machine and Fedora. Fedora happens to also be my distro of choice so it's what I've used as well. Dual booting works for me, but it's a bit of a hassle with the "security" new BIOS' have for Windows 8. What I have found myself doing the most often is just running a linux VM in Windows 8. It runs just as well as native for all that I use it for, though I do have an SSD and 16GB of RAM in my machine.

As for booting from DVD, if you enter the BIOS (F2 during startup) and go over to the far right tab at the bottom of that page there should be an option to directly boot from any of the available boot options/devices without messing with boot order settings. If you don't see your optical device you might have to add a boot option manually in one of the middle tabs (but you shouldn't have to). I was able to clone my HDD to a SSD without too much trouble - you might want to look at that option if you haven't considered it (or thought it would be too much hassle). It has the two-fold advantage of keeping the Asus recovery partitions intact as well as already having all the drivers and machine-specific software ready to go. There really isn't too much bloatware on this machine.

 

Does this option become available if you remove the system HDD?

For me, with Windows 8 installed, I can't use F2 to access BIOS.

 

Wonder if there's a way to make the Fn-actions the default? IE F3-F13, if pressing it can activate the Fn versions of those buttons.
I'll probably never use F4-F12 for the life of the laptop. F5 occasionally to refresh.

 

I spent weeks searching for a new laptop and found this to be perfect for me. Finally pulled the trigger and ordered it from Xotic PC (because it was the only reseller that didn't have it listed as out of stock). The next day, Xotic PC emails me to tell me that they don't have the N550 and have no estimated time of arrival. GenTech says it they will receive their next shipment in three weeks. *Sigh* Any experiences buying this model from Xotic PC here? I'd really appreciate it!

 

Wow... Three weeks? They already had it out of stock for around a month before this too

 

Hey guys have a few build quality issues with my laptop could you please check out this thread I made and let me know if I should get a replacement?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/732562-asus-n550jv-build-quality-pics.html

Cheers

 

In my previous post (quoted above), I attributed graphics anomalies I was seeing to my not having installed the proper drivers in a certain sequence.

As it turns out, it seems something else may be going on, because I continue to occasionally experience this problem. Sometimes when I boot into the OS desktop, the screen flickers and shimmers constantly, in such a way that you can only get a glimpse of what the desktop is supposed to look like for a few fractions of a second -- not long enough to actually be able to read anything or type any entries. After one or two reboots, everything is back to normal (meaning, you can see the desktop properly).
I have been using Windows 7 Pro 64 SP1 and various Linux distros. I haven't seen the flickering occur anytime that I have tried to boot into Windows. I have seen it with the Linuxes. First noted when I was running a disk imaging program to make a backup (Terabyte, which boots into Linux to backup Windows drives). Have also noted it booting into a partition editor (Parted Magic, which runs in Linux), and with an Ubuntu I installed.
It always corrects after one or two reboots. But what worries me is the unpredictability of it. That has me wondering whether there might be some kind of hardware fault somewhere that may progress to a point at which the system becomes unusable.

Anybody else seen anything like this?

 

No one knows how?

 

The easiest way to achieve this is to go there -> MetroLaunchers ItsJustWhatever.com and download the MetroLauncher2 v1.2.
Then you go into the Modern UI start menu, show All Apps and search for the name of your calendar app.
You take this name and rename one of the binaries to the name you just saw.
So, if your app is named "Calendar" you rename the "MetroLauncher2" to "Calendar".
Then you open Instant Key and tell the program the renamed binary so it launches this.
Works for me, though you have to press the Instant Key button twice when you launched the app once, closed it and want to relaunch it.

Apart from that I haven't found any working solution, everything I found is not working (anymore?).

 

I know. It seems like nobody has this laptop, which is frustrating. I would buy the Best Buy model if I didn't want the matte screen so badly haha. Plus I think the silver-on-silver keyboard design looks much sleeker than the silver-on-black keyboard design.

On topic, though, I've seen some people posting about issues with Fedora. Has anybody run into problems installing Ubuntu?

 

I ordered mine from Xotic around Aug 20 and got it around 2 weeks ago. Everything went fine. I got mine Rush-Built though, seems like they're pretty busy over there, told me regular would add 1-3 weeks.

Anyone have the answer to Hotblood's post about changing the function key settings so that you don't need to press fn to change the volume/brightness? I went through the BIOS and couldn't find the setting. There's some code floating around that can do this but I'd rather look for more official solutions first. There seems to have been an Asus Hotkey Utility that used to do this? Can't find anything for new Asus models with Windows 8 though

 

Yep. Same thing happened to me from xotic. Ordered this yesterday before I saw this post and I got the unavailability email today. Why don't they do what most other online merchants do which is to put an out-of-stock notice and allow customers to pre-order?
Funny thing is I've emailed most of all the other resellers and they all have none in stock. ETA for new stock is early october. I really need this laptop now but the tax at places like amazon and adorama kill it for me (NJ). Might just settle for the Acer V7 from ncix us. Its currently $875. Anyone know a good place to buy this now?

 

I really need help!!!!

I just received my Asus N550
Intel i7 4700
Nvidia GT750M 4GB DDR3
16 GB Ram
750 GB 7200 rpm drive

When i play League of legends, Black Ops 2, Battlefield 3, Grid 2, it drop frames every 30-60 sec. from 60-70 to 20-30

For two weeks i bought this but i returned it because i thoud that this was a problem with the individual machine so i bought the same pc again =Same problem...

Please someone help. (i am noob to computers)

 

2 questions??

1. did you update all your graphic card drivers??

2. Are you playing with your computer plug id??

 

This is the throttling of this notebook, neither the first nor the second of your devices was or is defect.
To work around this, download ThrottleStop from here, look at unclewebbs signature in first post, version 6.00 b1: http://forum.notebookreview.com/hardware-components-aftermarket-upgrades/531329-throttlestop-guide.html
Unzip it, start it, uncheck BD PROCHOT if it is checked and hit Turn On.
See the pictures in the link for reference.

After this, go and game without throttling(it still goes down to 2,5-2,6 GHz if it gets really hot, but not below 2,4 GHz, your base frequency).

 

Hey will this damage my laptop? What is this program doing?

 

What will this program do? Will it damage my pc in any ways?

 

That's the cpu throttling once it reaches around the late 70s to early 80ish celcius. When both gpu and cpu are used simultaenously when gaming, your cpu clocks goes from 3.2ghz all the way down to 800mhz and that causes your frames per sec to drop severely low. To fix this issue, you can turn off the intel turbo boost by setting your min and max cpu speed to 99 via windows power options.

Now your 4700 haswell cpu will still run very fast even at 2.4ghz speed and that is better than the cpu throttling all the way down to 800mhz if you have the turbo on.

 

Ok thanks will this damage my PC? Laptop and are you a owner of a N550 with the same problem/issue?

 

It very very likely will not damage your laptop at all. Throttlestop just stops your laptop from throttling too much, which is the graphics card or processor slowing down under certain temperatures
Setting min max cpu speed to 99% just turns off the turbo which makes the processor run faster than it needs to for your purposes.

If you set the min max cpu speed to 99% though, you probably don't even need Throttlestop.

 

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Asus-N550JV-CN201H-Notebook.98311.0.html

The review posted on NotebookCheck confirms that the Asus N550JV has a problem with throttling down to 800 MHz when pushed hard. It's impossible to say what games will cause this problem since all games work the CPU and GPU differently and the room temperature where you use your laptop is also a factor. It suggests that this will not be a big deal during normal use.

Without doing a lot of long term testing and without knowing what the Asus engineers were up to; no one can guarantee you that your laptop will be 100% safe if you decide to use ThrottleStop and disable this throttling. ThrottleStop can not be used to force your CPU to run outside of the Intel specifications. Keep in mind that there might be some other component on your motherboard or perhaps your power adapter that will fail over time due to more heat or more power consumption if you choose to disable throttling and run your CPU at its Intel rated speed.

 

Why max 99? What will those configurations effect my pc and why is those problems here? Is it all n550 that has this problem?

 

Max 99 because if you put max 100%, the processor will use turbo. For playing games, you really don't need the turbo and 99% is probably more than enough, all the turbo will do is make your laptop hotter, causing the throttling. All N550JV's have the throttling, and it's most likely intentional and it'd be there to prevent temperatures from getting too high.

So all that happens when you set max to 99% is that you disable turbo, which you probably don't need, so it'd be better to disable it

 

As a gamer I have to respectfully disagree with this post.

It depends on the game - some are CPU bound, some are GPU bound. In some games, you definitely do want turbo kicking in to get the most out of the CPU. In others, it won't matter much. But suggesting that turbo is never needed is misleading IMHO.

 

Looking at the games he listed, like League of Legends, I didn't think he needed the turbo
Also why I said probably a lot

 

This is not a direct answer to unclewebb's post, but it is related. I'll try to bring more info to the table so people understand this better.

The Asus N550JV definitely has a throttling problem. Not some, not one, all of them. However, the problem does not lie where we'd expect, the cooling assembly is more than capable of handling the heat (at least in normal usage conditions). The real culprit is the software, or better yet the way the fans behave when temperatures rise. After a first throttling cycle when high GPU temps force the CPU to enter a low frequency state, the fans "inexplicably" lower their speed. This leads to a temperature rise, since the system is under load, and the throttling is bound to happen again in a short time. It is a loop. The frequency of the loop, the time between two throttles, is related to system load. If you're playing League of Legends it may happen once a minute, if you're stress testing with Furmark it will happen every few seconds.

Now, when using ThrottleStop to disable this throttling, two things will happen:
1. As expected, stuttering while playing games will disappear, since there's no more throttling.
2. Both GPU and CPU temperature will rise, but the fans will finally spin up and work as intended so temperatures should be kept in check.

The drawback when disabling this bidirectional throttling is the notebook can overheat. If that happens there are two more safety mechanisms put in place to protect the hardware. The first is still software, and it throttles the CPU when it reaches 95C (we learned this by looking into the BIOS settings). The second is hardware: if the CPU exceeds a certain temperature, the system will shut down. The GPU also has it's own safety mechanism: while i don't have exact data for the 750M, boards based on the same GK107 chipsets indicate maximum temperatures of 98-101C before forced shutdown.

So far, while using the laptop with throttling disabled, i've had only one strange event happen: while playing a game the notebook unexpectedly shut down. However, I cannot speculate what caused this since my CPU was heavily undervolted at the time and i also did not have a temperature log to examine. This being a one time event... i left it at that.

Bottom line:

• The easy route out of the throttling problem is disabling CPU turbo in Windows. You should also seek to limit FPS while playing games. League of Legends and WoW offer this option for example.
• If you want the most out of this unit, disable throttling. You should monitor your system temps though.