M50Sv: Review & Owners' Lounge

The optical drive driver is also in your drivers disk under the "CDROM" folder

 

your problem isn't with the dvdrw, its with the disks. memorex makes #1 worst quality for popularly available disks. ESPECIALLY their dual layer dvdrs.
i've scrapped those disks over and over again on multiple burners. try a different brand, particularly, verbatim. i've been extremely well pleased with them. and Taiyo Yuden i think they are.

if you are lucky you MIGHT at some point find a firmware update for the drive, but don't hold your breath.

 

mine has the T9300, and the 9500m GS, and best battery life i get is like 2.2 hours. roughly.

from reading the posts in the m50vm list, the 'P8400" model i think it was sports up to 3 hours. which is awesome considering what its loaded with.

 

man i would love to see that! you sure lucked out! SERIOUSLY!

1.1v @ 2.8ghz is exceptional! i'm suprised tho, that it still reaches 65C! that's so strange.

for me, 1.1375v @ 2.5, wouldn't break 58C no matter how long.

can you please post one of the screens of CPU1 from occt after a test?? i'd really like to see that. or a screen shot with it up and cpu-z verifying the 1.1v.

thanks

 

So I was wondering, with room temperature whats a good idle temp for the cpu? I get idle temps ranging from 44C to 51C (49C-50C being the most common) and this is with no overclock or undervolt, all standard settings.

 

i around the same as you while using aim and the nbr but just sittin there with nothing operating i sit anywhere from 39-42

 

Take a look in your burner software options and see if you can enable write caching or write buffering. If you do a direct-to-drive burn sometimes the data doesn't go to the disc quite smoothly due to CPU hiccups or something, and if you have the data buffered, it eliminates that problem. Also, if you're trying to burn data directly from a networked drive, I'd recommend copying it to the local computer before you try to burn it to a DVD.

 

1. I followed this guide ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=235824) to the T, and I had SuperLFM checked. Then I started lowering my clock voltage on my 12.0x multiplier one step at a time until I got a blue screen. Then, leaving it low, I started increasing it increments at a time until I achieved 100% stability in stress tests and games. I got a BSOD at 1.000 volts, and 100% stability at 1.100 volts. RMClock automatically adjusted the other clock multipliers' voltages accordingly. I used the SetFSB Automatic things in the SetFSB guide (OC 2.8GHz and OC OFF) to OC the CPU, and 1.100 volts is the best setting for both clocks (2.5 and 2.8) which I find kinda weird, but okie dokie!

2. Here's a pic. If you *really* want me to, I'll dl CPU-Z and take a pic with that, but I figured a shot from RMClock's CPU Info thingy would suffice. OCCT didn't show the correct CPU speed because in the time it was idling, my CPU downclocked itself to 1349MHz, and that's what it saved.



P.S: I had to start a stress test to get the clock to go all the way up, because it doesn't just sit there at 2.8GHz when it's not doing anything, which is why you see the high CPU load. It goes all the way down to 700MHz. And, ignore the Core temp. It's a little warmer than that because RMClock doesn't display the accurate temperature. Also, RMClock doesn't undervolt my CPU until I run it, hence the maximal 1.1375v.

P.P.S: Woops, I posted CPU 0, but CPU 1 is identical, so I hope that's enough for you

 

Ditto. My T9300 CPU idles at 39-42 whether it's OC'd and UV'd or not. That should be really close to the same even if the CPU is OC'd (but not UV'd), because this guy downclocks himself when he's not in use using lower multipliers, and with the lower multipliers, the clock speeds from stock clock to overclock wouldn't vary much.

I'm not sure how much the 1.375-1.100v UV would do for the idle temps without the OC though. If you ask nicely I might check it out

BTW, if you can't get those pesky idle temps down, try to make sure your antivirus isn't scanning, indexing service isn't running, etc. Those buggers can do awful things to your CPU if you don't keep em in check. If your CPU is doing much work at all, it'll use a higher clock multiplier than it would if it wasn't doing anything, thereby increasing core temps.

 

I think there something wrong with my M50.
It used to be so quiet (except when I'm playing games).
I can't hardly hear the fan unless I put my ear closer to the keyboard.
Now, the fan runs at full speed (I assume) all the time. even during idle. My cpu idle temp is 32-33 C.I tried all power scheme, even to the lowest cpu setting.
I don't mind the low temp , but I can't help to think that the fan will soon broke down if it keeps running like this.
Anyone can tell me what went wrong?
thank you..

 

Thanks for the fast responses on my dvd burning question! I'm using the Nero OEM suite from asus, and it has buffering on, I'm pretty sure the person who said it's the discs is right. I've been writing from the HDD in the laptop (transferred from my external to internal to improve chances). I'll try to get whatever I can from these dvd's, it's a really pain the ass wasting the $12 or whatever for a 10pack (only brand of dual layered in the store). Online large ordering here I come!

 

Myself and some others have not been able to get your ambient light sensor fix to work as described.


Someone on the Ubuntu forum posted this:

sudo -s
echo 0 > /sys/devices/platform/asus_laptop/ls_switch

But I don't really understand it, or know if it would even work, and if it does, does it have to be done each time the system is started.

 

kaseykrehbiel, thank you for your answer. I live in Ukraine and M50SA is very expensive for me. Its price is about 2400$. The price of M50sv is 1650$. It is suitable for me. Are the displays of this laptops similiar?
Urbanos, thanks. And what can you tell about the display of this laptop?


Please, tell me about the display and it's battery more. I am going to work with photoshop on it.
Did you manage to solve the problem with infared receiver on XP?

 

hey fellow m50sv owners

i cant find the latest update for geforce 9500m gs on laptopvideo2go. i know its in the 170s, but they only have up 169. if anyone would be able to post a link to the proper update, thatd be much appreciated. also i was wondering how to do the update?

thanks in advance

 

Have you checked the fan exhaust isn't all clogged up with dust?

 

I'm not Urbanos, but I can tell you this much: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=229282&page=167, message #1663 and follow-ups.

RMA ticket for this issue has been requested as of today. Hopefully there'll be a pick-up of my laptop before Saturday so it gets fixed during these next two weeks while I'm busy building up my vitamin D reserves in sunny Spain.

(even more hopefully, it will get fixed -- I'm not keeping something that forces me to suppress an impulse to gnash my teeth every time I see it)

 

i don't use the infrared receiver, so i haven't bothered to find a way to install it. i don't know of anyone that has any infrared devices, only twice in 10 years have i ever used it, once with an infrared notebook printer, and once to transfer a very small file from one notebook to another.

the screen has some noticable 'bleed' like has been discussed in this forum. with the white/gray bleeding mostly from the bottom of the screen.

the viewing angles are typical. not great, but not bad. the resolution is nice, but depending on the size of photo's you will be working on, you may consider a notebook with the 1650x1050 resolution.

and scoring up one of the M50VM's is definately worth the money, considering they are better performers all around, and have a much better battery life.

good?

 

sure, are you looking for the 'officially' supported release? the only official is the one on asus download page.

but the latest on lv2go is
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=19699
thats, 177.72 for vista x32

and here,
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=19570
is 177.66 for xp x32.

should be good ya?
its simple, download the 'modded inf' and the driver
unpack both, toss the 'nvdisp.inf' into the driver folder, then open the folder, and run setup. yer done.

 

Like holy cows that's a really low idle temp (89F? that's almost room temperature!)

Your fan running constantly at full speed won't die. It might keep your CPU from dying for longer, but it should be fine. Those fans are rated to live a certain life length at max speed, so you shouldn't have any issues. If you think that's bad you should hear my M675! When that thing gets going you have to turn up the TV!

Anyway, it seems like a driver/software issue to me, since your operating temp is so low. The first thing I would do is try to find an updated video driver, and after that, I might go download the chipset drivers from Asus, and if that doesn't work, if you have an ATI video card, you can manipulate the fan speeds yourself with the latest Beta of ATI Tray Tools (see earlier post for link.)

Try to remember if there was some kind of tweaking program you were running around the time the fan started doing that, too. There might be some hidden gem in it that does something to our fan speeds... which might be good for the rest of us to know.

 

Ah! i see, my problem was i've been using the 13x multiplier in RMclock, its goofy because at 13x or 12x the cpu seems to jump from 13x down to the proper 12.5, and from 12x jumps up to 12.5. i'm wondering if the 'paid for version' of rmclock supports half multipliers.
i'll bet thats what my problem is, i'll try to mess around with it again at the 12x and see if i can get it to run stable at 1.1v. that would be sweet... i mean not that 1.1.375 is so much different at all. truly negligible on such a small psu. and thanks so much for posting that pic! great! hats off mate!


For everyone else paying attention, i haven't noticed any differences in idle temps after undervolting, perhaps 1C, but it still idles at 42C just about constantly.
however, MAX temps have dropped dramatically, if i stay at stock speeds, and undervolt @ 1.1375v, 2.5ghz, my max is 58C, compared to the old 65+C
that's quite a difference.


dammit i am so jealous of that m50sa guy, he can use ati tool to adjust his fan speed... hearing from that one guy thats fan is going nuts, and his temps are like 33 idle... i wish i could up my fan speed a bit. piss me off!
right now my notebook cooling pad is louder than the notebook fans itself, so i'd at least match them, and perhaps reap some better temps. i'm such a geek it hertz

 

I don't think the displays are similar. The backlight bleed issues I have heard about with the M50Sv are absent on my M50Sa, as far as I've seen. I haven't run any specific tests, but I play a lot of games and watch a lot of movies so I would have noticed it by now if it were an issue. The M50Sv has a 1440x900 screen, and as stated before the M50Sa has 1680x1050. It's starting to seem overall from the posts I'm seeing that the M50Sa just has a higher quality screen, but I don't really know about that.

As for battery life, you'll probably typically get around 2 hours out of either of these flavors, unless you buy the 9-cell LiIon battery, in which case you'd typically get around 3 hours. Obviously there are ways to drain the battery faster (play games or do CPU-intensive things) and ways to make it drain slower (turn off WiFi and Bluetooth, close unnecessary programs, dim the display) so those are just kinda average figures.

By the way, the difference between the M50Sv and M50Sa in price in these parts is almost negligible, so it might not hurt to take another quick gander around at different places to see if you can get a more respectable price. I don't know anything about economics in your country, but it doesn't hurt to do a little extra digging.

 

My CPU's stock voltage is 1.1375

 

kasey,

Ahem, I'll step up then. Screen resolution on the m50sv is 1440x900 (although the portion of the screen that is watchable without getting all annoyed may very well be the size you said)

 

Thank you, sir. I appreciate the correction.

 

The display is like on the photoes that JohnnyBosc introduced? Is it so appreciable in real life, i mean the image on the bottom is much lighter? Because the photoes are deceptive.

 

In real life it looks about like the pictures taken from films in my post. I simulated that by underexposing the film photos since I noticed --as you point out-- that photos of the screen are deceptive, and I wanted a "fair" comparison. I underexposed the photos until the bottom light area looked --on the photo-- about the same as in reality. On the first photos I took, at normal exposure, the bleed extends for fully the bottom third of the screen...

...as in the "all black" photo which is at normal full auto exposure. The reality doesn't look/feel at all that bad although it probably is that bad -- I mean, how many gradations can the camera invent on its own?

Edit: Just remember that the ASUS techs, based on the same photos you've seen, consider that an exchange of the screen is quite possibly called for -- so mine is probably faulty or not up to snuff. I hope to everything that is sacred in the church of Kernighan & Ritchie (Urbanos ain't the only terminal geek 'round these parts) that it improves after servicing. I'll keep the board posted (whether it wants it or not.)

 

JohnnyBosc, thanks.
2ALL, can anyone else make a photo of his screen? It would be grate. Previously, thanks.

 

google 177.41's

 

Actually just go to www.laptopvideo2go.com and read the nvision forums...click on 177.41's, and do the whole modded inf shinanigans

 

Strange,i don't have PC Access installed on my m50sv so what can produce this error?

 

well well well, what do we have here?

its a good thing you are on here Kasey! you provoke me to dig deeper and mess around and waste ample amounts of time! lol

what i've found is!.....RMclock/Coretemp, both report the hypothetical voltage amount. and CPU-Z reports ACTUAL voltage draw. which on my unit specifically is +0.1125v over what RMClock/Coretemp report.

i also noticed some goofy things...

in RMClock, advanced cpu settings you can enable/disable Intel IDA.

Enabled, RMClock reports cpu VID as 1.250v
Disabled, RMClock reports cpu VID as 1.1375v

However, CPU-Z reports

Enabled, 1.250v
Disabled, 1.250v
really strange..

THEN i noticed,

using RMClock 12x multiplier, PST 7, limits the cpu from 2.5ghz/12.5x to, 2.4ghz/12x
using RMClock 13x multiplier (IDA on or off) PST 8, causes the CPU to jump what seems to be randomly from 2.5ghz/12.5 to 2.6ghz/13x.

so
With IDA Disabled, using PST 7@ 12x/2.4ghz@ 1.0375~1.150vAcutal
i can run OCCT stably for over 20mins max temps 59-60C back and forth.

With IDA Disabled, using PST 8@ 12.5/2.8ghz(224FSB-OC) @1.1125~1.225v ACTUAL

I can run OCCT stably for over 20mins Max Temps 64-65C back and forth.
see the screens... ( i emailed the rmclock guy, see if this requires a new version for half multipliers, or if there is some setting i missed.)

*Edit* i've been able to get the cpu to run at 10x multiplier at the lowest available volts 0.925~1.038v Actual in occt for 15 mins...leaving it for a longer stress now. pretty sweet tho, [email protected]?? so essentially no point throttling down to 6x-9x, just use 10x!***

screens
t9300 at stock settings across the board, notice rmclock/coretemps VID vs. CPU-z
T9300 undervolted to 1.0375~1.150v actual
and T9300 overclocked FSB 224, 13x/2.8+ @ 1.225 actual.

 

*sigh* When I get a little bit to dink around with it, I'll get myself some CPU-Z action and test my voltages with that. Huge surprise RMClock doesn't report accurate stuff.

 

Here are my 3dMark06 scores! first try!
gpu 635-523

CORRECTION! woops!
score: 5310!! @1280x854 stock

Score: 4895 @ 1440x900 stock
sorry about that, see new image.

and btw, the latest ATItool .27b2 works fine on this system, and allows you to change the 2d/3dlow power/3d performance clock settings, but no fan management. eff sharp.

i was through that that i settled on 635/523. i let it roast my gpu for a while no artifacts at all. 1mhz higher on either, started gettin little yellow artifacts on the 3d scan.

see the screen

 

That's a pretty serious OC. I haven't ventured beyond 600/500 due to the heat but it was stable at those settings. I keep it at around 555/465 for gaming.

Your screen shot is blurry so I can't tell if your CPU is OCed or not.

 

I definitely agree with that eff sharp.
as far as the oc, if 1 more mhz makes it artifact I would lower it a couple of mhz more just to create a sort of safe zone, to account for small voltage fluctuations and such...

 

I didn't follow all the discussion, but I would also like to caution that RMClock is kinky with Penryn notebooks. Voltage readings are unreliable, so I don't trust it for setting voltages, either. I have removed it on my Penryn notebook, pending updates that enable reliable support.

 

yeah i know
i used to have it runing at 686-550

but then i noticed the odd crash here or there.

now its 100% stable, worry free for me.
and those scores are with cpu at stock. well, undervolted to actual 1.150v @2.5ghz

yeah the gpu temps get up there, look at my pic ther in that post, max gpu 87C!!!!crykey!
cpu tho, happily at 57 max! woot

so whats that? better performance than the 96/9700M GT !!! even 9650 rofl.

thank goodness for geeks and their free tweaking software.

 

urbanos, is that a windows theme or is it a seperate program?

 

Thanks for the heads up... and you're darn right it's quirky... its temp and voltage readings are way off!!!

Got any alternatives?

 

Does rm clock detect what kind of processor you guys are using with the penryns, if so what version are you using

 

T9300. CPU-Z thinks it's it's a Socket P (478), 45nm tech, Family 6, Model 7, Stepping 6, Ext. Family 6, Ext. Model 17, Revision C0. That enough for ya?

 

haha yea I was just hoping rmclock would give me the same info.... its not doesnt like my processor

 

ah, thank you

 

its a visual style theme called Recall 6.6 Basic
i have it integrated into my nlite custom xp iso's. among many many other things... not sure where you can download it, look around, try deviantart.com

 

Thanks for your concern, i wonder if you would share some of the issues or concerns you had, or what flaky issues were happening with yours? see if there is something we can stay away from or perhaps a good explanation for?

 

i'm using RMClock 2.35, it detects my intel T9300 just fine.

speaking of which, the 'quirkiness' that we've been experiencing with the 'penryn's' on rmclock 2.35 seem to be the differences added to the penryn line of cpu's. along with the santa rosa.

the only real 'issue' i've had, is that it doesn't incorporate 'half' multipliers.
other than that, there are expected issues with IDA, enabling or disabling it, its a performance/power saving feature that is hardcoded into the cpu. where the cpu makes its own decisions on when to alternate turning cores on and off and alternating multipliers.

worst case scenario, don't sure the PST 8 13x setting, and avoid any issues related to IDA.

the other one that people are having problems with isn't exclusive to RMclock, its the temperatures and voltages.
its nothing new in the industry, now with so many choices in temp readings, some will do it one way and others will another.

Coretemp displays the same voltage problem as rmclock, but its a great reliable program for temps.

and cpu-z will give you accurate draw on volts along with accurate multipliers and cpu speeds, so whats the worry?

for me its been doin everything its supposed to do just fine, just some problems, albeit after thinking about it, expected problems.

when overclocking on a desktop system, the same problems with hypothetical and actual volt settings are on every motherboard there is,
the bios says one thing, the actual draw is another, and on desktops there's a third integer, vDroop.

so your bios may say, 1.475v, but the draw may only be, 1.405v, and on load vdroop may kick it down to 1.365v.

so to see the program acting like it is supposed to, i'm hard pressed to find a reason to 'avoid it' with penryn cpu's.

 

which cpu do you have?

 

the t9300 maybe i don't have the most updated version of rm clock 2.30 and maybe thats why it doesn't pull up all the info

 

does rm clock work with vista 64bit? cant get the program to run.

 

the varying voltage readings are a function of a few things from space constraints imposed when writing bios code and rounding issues, on up through physical issues like a non linear progression of voltage sensitivity or even voltage output. further considering component tolerances being individually +/- 1% at best for discrete components and it gets even more hairy. bleh don't mind me just a computer & electrical engineering student atm and that commentary on the varying readings earlier tossed sand in my eye so to speak.

anywho popped back to catch up on any new news and look for any updated links for the xp drivers some of use missed.

oh and to inquire as to my grand high holy pet peeve with this model- the mode button on the touchpad is insanely easy to hit by accident, but much more difficult to hit on purpose, and worse turning off tap to click makes the media buttons not work(including the mode button). for brevities sake i'll leave the gripe at that incomplete explanation and simply ask - has anyone got any ideas on how to disable the mode button on the touchpad itself, set up the direct media button above the keyboard to enable/disable the touchpads media key mode, AND keep the media keys themselves on the media mode of the touchpad working when its enabled? this includes disabling the mode button on the touchpad when in media key mode as well mind.
(still in vista btw)
t.i.a.