N56vz review and owners lounge - Techno Art

Apart from the entire forced settings in bios catch, you can upgrade anytime you want. The graphics card, you can't upgrade without changing the motherboard (and picking apart the entire laptop). And no, a 630m isn't fast enough to run any newer games comfortably.

Difficult to say. The subwoofer I had.... finally tried it, and it actually is pretty good. Fills in a gap in the frequency spectrum... it had some clacking sounds to begin with, before it normalised again. Same with the speakers in the laptop - just took some time. Not talking about anything amazing, but they stabilized and stopped having the extra sounds after an hour, maybe less.

Laptop coolers only cool down the exterior anyway. But yes, you can cover all the vents underneath the laptop and still get air in through the keyboard (in between the keys, apparently). There's a vent under the leds too, facing towards you - most of the air seems to go in there.

Your temps are right where they should be, by the way. Glad someone got as good results as I did.

It's definitely going to look a bit blurry, since the display will double some of the pixels, etc. Or you would run some anti-aliasing filter, and get blur anyway.. Not really sure if I can recommend doing anything else than take a look and see if you're comfortable with it. I know many people who have good eyesight that preferred a 1600x900 screen on a lenovo over an extremely good 1080 screen, for example. ...Because they're using windows, and rely on using the UI buttons.

If you don't do that, you can actually have a better picture with bigger writing rendered to the actual resolution from a web-browser, for example.. Powerpoint, Office, etc. is hopeless that way.. But when you have windows with larger elements in them that are scaled on a higher resolution screen, the picture is clearer than on a lower resolution screen.. And you have more room for more windows on the screen. It's... about preferences, but also how you use the OS to some degree.

Take a look at notebookcheck, they have pictures of what it looks like in sunlight. If you're wondering how it compares to lcd-screens from a few years back... I'm not really sure how I managed to sit outside and work then.. now I can actually see what I'm writing, at least.

 

Thank you very much, Nipsen!

 

Thanks nipsen! I ordered it today, i dont do much gaming anyway just a bit of trials on my bros xbox, that game is so addictive! Anyway will report any problems here.

 

Hello!
Do any of you own this notebook with silver lid? My local seller told me that they can't bring me a black one. Do you think if this would collect more fingerprints than that?
Thank you!

 

Hello n56vz owners...

I am going to purchase n56vj model of this series.. as the vz is stopped from production and not many places u can find it..

I know the specification differences between these two laptops.. but i have two doubts :

1) the asusparts.de doesnot lists many components for the VJ model but lists almost all parts one can think of for the VZ model.. can anyone confirm if the parts of VZ are compatible with the VJ model? i am much more curious about the asusparts.de because i live in india and ill be purchasing while ill be in the US for a while.. and as asus does not extend the warranty outside US.. so i can only depend on asusparts.de for parts like battery.. so can anyone of you shed some light if ill be able to use the VZ battery sold from the asusparts.de on the VJ model?

2) do i need any special screw driver for opening this notebook?

Thanks.

 

Well there is never any guarantee that parts will always be swappable between two models but physical similarities are a good indication.

 

I know the battery is the same, at least. They have... three variants in the register, I think. Not completely sure why. But it's the same battery.

I still haven't opened the chassis completely, so I don't really know for sure. But Asus has been using phillips screws for everything lately, on zenbooks, u32s, n53, etc.. Heatsink suspension, motherboard - same heads just different lenghts.

There's no real point taking it apart other than for doing a repaste, though. Graphics card will be soldered on the motherboard, contacts that aren't used (even leds) will be physically removed (including the contact points and the pcb path, not sure what's going on here.. do they save 2mg copper on each laptop, or something like that? Send it to recycling..?).

You can get to the hdd/ssd and ram by removing one screw on the back. You don't even have some metal clip anymore nowadays , just an angled slot with some plastic on the side. Same with the optical bay - one screw, a sata connector mounted flat in the back of the bay.

 

Just a quick update from my end.

1) The screen display was resolved earlier.

2) From another post I found on the forum - All of the asus utilities can be found by going to ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support- Drivers and Download then go to select model manually, notebook, and select Apps as the model. In the far right hand pane you will get a list of all available utilities. Win 8 ones are listed under "Apps for Win 8".

3) I swapped out the Atheros card and put in the Intel 6235. Installation was a pain, but finally able to do it. The wireless speeds are stable at 144 Mbps now. Have not tested WiDi with it yet.

Started having an issue with the laptop turning itself off randomly, maybe once in 3-4 days. Changed the min Processor level to 90% in power options, and that seems to have fixed it.

Still mildly irritated with the touchpad - would have much preferred to have separate click buttons. Oh well..
The network port is quite difficult to use - specifically, to take the cable out. I ended up getting a $35 USB 3 Gigabit adapter and use that instead.

Overall, still enjoying the laptop completely and I think it is solid value for its configuration at $1000, though I spent another $70 in wifi and ethernet adapter upgrades.

 

Hi All

Please can you help me with some information regarding the Asus n56vz.

I have been looking at this laptop for some time and through the course of some extensive research this laptop seems to offer what I am looking for at the best price.

I was looking at the n56vz-s4242 which was briefly £799 in Currys/PC World but it seems they are no longer selling this item. The only other retailer I can see it at is with Pixmania for around £892 plus delivery costs which is currently out of stock.

I have had a further browse today and a new model, to me at least, the N56VZ-S4207H, has appeared at John Lewis for £899 with a 2 year warranty -

Buy Asus N56VZ Laptop, Intel Core i7, 2.4GHz, 8GB RAM, 1TB, Blu-ray, 15.6" Screen, Black online at JohnLewis.com

It is also being sold by Amazon -

Asus N56VZ 15.6-inch Laptop - Black (Intel Core i7 3630QM 2.4GHz, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD, Blu-ray, LAN, WLAN, BT, Webcam, Nvidia Graphics, Windows 8): Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

On the John Lewis website it says it has a GT650m GFX card and on Amazon GT635. Also the processor info is different, i7 3630QM v i7 3610.

It is only in stock on the John Lewis website at present.

Does anyone know which info is correct?

Also would this particular model have a back lit keyboard? I think this is a longshot.

Many thanks for your time

Stew

 

I have a few questions about the latest BIOS Updates:

My Asus runs well and has been perfect since day 1. I have BIOS 214 I think.

Should I update to BIOS 216? What are the advantages and disadvantages? Is it even necessary?
- I see that the Nvidia vBios is updated, but they don't go into detail about what that means. Am I missing out on some great performance improvements?

Please help.

 

Good morning

I have in the last few days bought an N56VZ-S4298H out here in Doha, Qatar. The only difference I can see being it comes with 12GB ram. one thing I have noticed is to do with pressing esc to choose to boot from the optical drive. If you have a disc like a windows 8 pro upgrade in your drive then the option comes up to boot from the optical drive. If you have the drive empty then the only boot option is for the hard drive.

I flashed mine from 215 to 216 yesterday. no problems as of yet. According to the Asus website it's to do with the NVidia graphics.

 

I saw that - but do you know exactly what the changes to the"vBios" are?

 

I think the changes have to do with compatibility with some of the functions in the new drivers. And they did something with the "adaptive" mode to make it smoother. Higher average and lower limit, slightly lower peak performance. Better in game, marginally less impressive in benchmarks.

Seems the bios is the same as before other than the vbios.

Notably, still no xmp profiles, variable bus-speeds, or options for ram with different volt and timing. Even though the motherboard supports that. Just like the g-series and the k-series laptops.. which have the same unused feature set, thanks to whoever at asus tweaking bios by a manual from 1991.

 

Hi nipsen. Nice review. I bought the N56VZ in november 2012 when it finally came to the UK.

As I don't ave time to read through 82 pages of comments, I dont know if you've mentioned any problems with your N56. If any, could you repeat them in short? I've had a few problems that I have no idea how to fix. See below, and if you have any solutions, please could you help me out? I hate sending in my computer to technicians when I can just download some new drivers and fix things myself...


- Since the first day I used it, I've experienced that the laptop often freezes for no apparent reason. It just suddenly says F U and goes into a complete freeze for about 2 minutes, then suddenly its fine again. Event-log often shows that explorer.exe stopped working. Other times, it has no message of anything.
- The WIFI-adapter sometimes turns off while im randomly browsing, and I have to reboot the laptop to be able to turn the wifi-adapter on again.
- While on battery, and screen brightness set to 100%, it slowly dims down to about 75% (almost un-noticable) and after a few minutes it pops up to 100%, making a sudden increase in brightness. It does so over and over again. Quite annoying.
- Last but not least, at a few occasions, while plugged into the wall. The laptop just dies. No shut-down procedure or anything. Just a small *click* sound (i'm guessing from the harddrive shutting down) and everything is gone. Very strange...

Hope you can help.
- Lars

EDIT: It's an N56VZ-H4242S and I updated my BIOS to 216 toady.

AND! I just had a BSOD. what the hell

 

Pc world and Currys have the new N56VZ-S4207V with 3630QM which is 2.4-3.4Ghz.

John Lewis are advertising the N56VZ-S4207H as 2.4Ghz. but listed it as 3610QM.
They've probably got it listed wrong, even I call JL on Friday to see whats what.
But I do know Currys and Pc world have both models.

 

Thanks Steve N56 for this info.

Since my last post I have actually gone out and bought a N56vz-s4207h from Currys. They currently have it on offer for £799 -

Buy ASUS N56VZ-S4207V 15.6" Laptop | Free Delivery | Currys

I didn't know that Currys were selling this laptop as it was not appearing on their website but I did see it in store (Trafford Center) and is now on their website.

I can confirm it does have the i7 3630 processor with the GT650m GFX card.

I hoping to have it delivered by the end of the week.

Please can I have some advice on what bloatware to remove and any basic tweaks that I could make to maximise the laptops performance when I first get it? I have a fairly basic computer knowledge.

I'm looking to get a SSD in the near future.

Also, how do you actually pronounce 'Asus'!?

Thanks in advance for your help

Stew

 

Used to be "Thank Asus". Now it's "God damnit, Asus!"

Other than the usual driver-things and the retarded bios-settings, not really.

This can be anything. But it's probably a 32bit windows-component that requests exclusive access and then fails to resolve the call. So it could literally be anything. Typical culprits are applications that have some sort of integration with windows and don't come with their own libraries. Then when windows updates, something breaks.

The rest very likely comes from the atkacpi package being either damaged, not installed, having part of the program overwritten, etc. Upgrade it with the update thing, or download the latest one here:
ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support- Drivers and Download ATK_package

Reinstall that and the power4gearawesome program, and you should be set. If you install throttlestop you can enable the "power-saver" flag, so you can drop the clock-speed lower - useful for saving battery.

You could update the intel graphics driver (there's a newer one for hd4000 on panther point/hm76.. or something on intel's pages), the nvidia driver package, and the chipset drivers as well.

 

Hi everyone, I just thought I'd join the crowd. After about two weeks of research, and much consternation, I finally chose the N56VZ-RH71. I picked it up yesterday for $1000 at Micro Center. I also got a 256GB Crucial SSD to replace the 750GB drive that came with the computer.

I booted up Windows 8 and played around with it for about 10 minutes before deciding I would rather stick with 7. I popped out the HDD, put the SSD in the cradle, and popped it back in. I spent the next 20-30 minutes doing some research on the forums here about why I wasn't able to boot off the DVD, and then why the Windows install would hang. Once I got that sorted, I partitioned the SSD and installed Windows 7, giving it ~150GB. When I get a chance, I'm going to install Mint on the other partition. I'm only going to be using Windows for the little gaming I do, so I probably could have just stuck with Windows 8, but in the end I decided I would just go with what I know.

Coming from a six year-old Dell Inspiron 1501, I can't stop raving about how amazing this laptop is. Even disregarding my old computer, this is one fantastic machine in its own right. The screen is great, and I love that it's 1080p. I watched a DVD last night and was quite impressed with the picture quality. Even the sound, with the sub woofer attached sounds quite good for laptop speakers. I find the keyboard quite comfortable with pretty much just the right amount of give in the keys. The track pad has taken some getting used to, but after just a day's use, I'm quite enjoying it. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to try out some games soon.

 

Hi Stew,
You say youve bought the N56vz-s4207h from Currys. Currys have the S4207V model=3630QM, but if you say you have the S4207H model and thats 3630QM then thats good. Im in the process of buying one myself, pref from John lewis, they have 2yr warranty, but they only list the S4207H model =3610QM.
I wish there was a full pdf of all models with numbers & specs like Lenovo do.

Can you def confirm that your getting or have the N56VZ-S4207H =I7 3630QM

Usually the Asus laptops dont come with bloatware, but sometime have the odd utility thats naff. Theres no burning software on these either ie power dvd.

Ive had Asus for last 10 years,Ive just sold an F3SV- which had/still has dreaded palm top plastic that cracks. I had fun with Asus HQ in 2008. I did get a top range laptop out of them though.

Pic below is from Currys..

 

Hi Steve

That's interesting if not a little confusing.

I'm pretty sure that the model advertised in Curry's originally was the N56vz-s4207h. I have my N56vz that I bought from Curry's now and it definitely is a N56vz-s4207h. As you say the model now on the Curry's website and what you have seen in store is N56vz-s4207v. Maybe this is a mistake by Curry's?

I can confirm that the s4207h I have does have the i7 3630 so I would assume that the John Lewis website is incorrect by saying the processor is i7 3610 for this model.

I wonder if different stores have different names for exactly the same product for price matching reasons? I did inquire about John Lewis price matching Curry's , Curry's are currently £100 cheaper, as JL have an extended 2 year warranty as standard. This is why I'm pretty sure they where exactly the same model (s4207h) when I was looking last week. They said they could not price match as the warranty was different between the two stores. I'm sure it would be worth asking again however.

I have been using the laptop for the last couple of days, mainly reading through this entire thread! and it really is excellent. If anyone is browsing through this thread and is pretty confident that this is the laptop for them then I would say go for it. I'm sure a lot of the issues mentioned in this thread that people have experienced with this laptop are, hopefully, fairly isolated. I would guess that most people who by this laptop are more than happy with it and are unlikely to post on a forum just to say so where as people with issues will post trying to solve them.

I'm finding the display and sound, after some minor tweaks to the Maxx audio settings, to be superb especially with the subwoofer attached. I'm quickly getting used to the trackpad, I really like the two finger scrolling, and I find the keyboard to be really comfortable to use.

If there are any issues, the trackpad itself is very slightly raised in the bottom right compared to the other corners but it is very minor and is not noticeable in use. I also have the very faint click/hum from the subwoofer if I hold it close to my ear but I will uninstall McAfee, to use AVG, and see if this removes this issue, but again, this isn't noticeable in use.

Has anyone got on advice on overclocking this machine? I believe most people use Afterburner with 100/100 clock increases. Can some let me know if this is a relatively simply and safe process for someone with a 'middling' amount of IT knowledge?

I'll update again when I have spent more time using the N56.

Many Thanks

Stew

 

Hey everyone, got this laptop a few weeks ago, love it! Just one question.. what should my regular usage temps be at? I'm getting 50C when it just sits there with chrome open and some other background tasks like teamspeak, skype, and steam..

Here are my temps for that: http://puu.sh/23mxT
Task manager screenie: http://puu.sh/23myo

While gaming and playing League of Legends and Civ5 (which are not top of the line graphically intensive games), the temps rise to 90C. Is this normal? Thanks!

 

Hi guys!

I just installed a new OCZ Vector SSD and it's the best upgrade I've ever done to a computer, it's just ridiculous fast now. Anyway, I installed a fresh install of win8 on the SSD, but not all functions seem to work, i.e. the hotkeys to control the background light on the keyboard and to active/deactive the touchpad. I could not either install the Asus Live Update software because it said the computer is not an Asus computer. So I figure I would want to install win7 from the recovery partition on the old HDD to the new SSD and then upgrade to win8 with the upgrade offer from Microsoft. So how can I do this? Is it possible to copy the files from the recovery partition to a memory stick or to a DVD and then install win7 on the new SSD? Thanks!

 

HI stew,

Thats great that yours is as is. Next time i goto Currys I will look underneath the laptop, maybe it is for price rigging etc and Currys maybe added it.

Theres def 2 models though, with the 2 procs, and another thing i forgot to mention was the 3610qm model does not have back lit kb, (the one i see in currys never did have, they had both versions) where as the 3630qm does. F3 &F4 should turn brightness up and down. Hope yours has this.

At time of writing this Currys are very limited in stock so i might just order from JLews on Monday.

I also found this on the net from an aussie site with conflictions of models with advertised backlit kbs not being fitted where as the main Asus. com website states they all have back lit kboards.
------------------------
Following is an official announcement from Asus re the K/b fiasco.

Quote "Official Announcement 17/12/2012

Incorrect Specs on N56 and N76 models

Please be advised that some Asus N56 and N76 models have been advertised to include a backlit keyboard. This is incorrect.

For consumers who have already purchased one of these models, they can return the unit to an Asus Service Centre and have the keyboard replaced with the correct backlit keyboard.

We will honour this for all units purchased on or before the 31st of December 2012.

Asus acknowledges this error and apologises for any inconvenience caused.

Queries can be directed through your local Asus Service Centre, who can be contacted on 1300 278 788.

Operating hours: Monday to Friday: 9am – 6pm (Sydney Time) (Excludes NSW public holidays)

Best regards,

Asus Australia"


--------------------------
eivsemb

With regards to your function keys etc, there is an ATKACPI driver and hotkey-related utilities on the Asus site. ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support- Drivers and Download N56VZ

Hope the above helps.

Hopefully I will get my Asus N56 soon!!

 

Tagging on to my previous question, these are my temps playing Civ5: http://puu.sh/23CLJ

 

So in your opinion, the update is worth it? Will I see an improved average performance in everyday tasks such as browsing and also in high-resource tasks such as video editing and photo editing?

 

Hey guys!
I'm new to this forum, but I read this whole thread from page 1 to 83 post by post (I really like knowing everything about something before buying it). Then, I went ahead and bought an ASUS N76VJ: i7 3630, nvidia 650 etc.
I'm also pretty new to overclocking and underclocking and things like that, but I tried that safe overclock nipsen talked about. However, I think something does no work right here:

When I load the GPU with a game of a benchmark, it's temperature rises pretty quickly (~ 10 mins) to about 80 degrees. Then, the frequency of the GPU clock drops a bit, and the temperature remains constant at 80-82 degrees.
The weird thing is that, this happens no matter whether I overclock, underclock or nothing. Normally, when it starts, it starts with 950 MHz. When it stabilize at 80, the frequency drops at 835 MHz. But if I set it to start with 810 MHz, it will reach 80 degrees about as fast, but to stabilize at 80 degrees it will drop to 700-something.

My questions:
1. is 80 degrees C on the GPU really that high? I read in previous posts that 70 should be good temperature. Is 80 risky? Should I contact ASUS?
2. Is this behaviour I described natural? Or did I do something wrong?

Thank you .

 

Hi Steve

I can confirm that my n56vz-s4207h does NOT have a backlit keyboard even though it does have the i7 3630.

Cheers

Stew

 

Hwmon uses the sensor on the cooling block for gpu, while hwinfo64 has a different sensor on the actual module. So it shouldn't be a problem as long as it flats out on that temp. That one of the cores hit 95 degrees (this is where the passive throttle begins on the cpu) is completely normal, and it's also why the block temp is so high.

If it's unstable, if it keeps going up and down - then something is not right. But if it's hovering around that point, not a problem.

Honestly not sure. It could be that you're going to see better response on editing tasks, since the average loads are distributed better... possible. But my guess would be that you would see literally no difference on the response or performance output. What you might see is lower use% on the browser tasks (note - have to run the browser specifically on the nvidia card, it defaults to intel graphics).

*nods* You're right it's not supposed to get to the point where the panic drops the clock-speed. I thought that temp was 85 degrees, or even higher, so this seems a bit strange to me. As I've been harping on through the entire thread, my gpu temps are lower than 75 with a 135/100 overclock.. so I'm not happy about misleading you into buying a version of this kit that I suppose could have another setup. Very sorry about that.

But generally - yes, the temp should go up very fast (use hwinfo64, and double-click the value you want, put up a graph in the background. Or use the graph in MSI Afterburner), and then stay more or less stable at some 65-70 degrees on standard timing. The reason I said it was a safe overclock was that it was impossible for me to get to a point where I could reach a temp that the heatsink couldn't compensate for. So if that isn't the case on some newer version of the n56vz, and it hits 80 degrees and then croaks - this isn't good news. It shouldn't go that high.

But before trading it in, I would
-update the bios (the prochot value is 85, might be it's not set or handled correctly by whatever software is used, namely...)
-update the ATK package
And the vbios update for the nvidia card comes with the last bios.

There is some synergy between intel drivers (..find the panther point hm76 intel hd 4000 drivers), and the nvidia drivers as well. It could be you're seeing some quirk from having for example the latest nvidia drivers, but the old bios and the old intel drivers. Sounds strange, but values one package uses for power profile choices can affect other settings. Such as dumping the clock-frequency on the nvidia card, because the passive throttle is hit for the value the intel graphics obeys. I've seen less logical things happen as well...

 

does anyone have issues with usb charge while the laptop is asleep? for some reason it doesnt charge my phone.
also, should i update my bios?

 

I updated the BIOS to the last version on the site: version 213 (I have the 17' version, not the 15'). I have the latest ATK package.... I will soon test it over and over again.
I did noticed that the bios on the 15' versions are wayyy ahead... but, obviously, they wouldn't be of any help to me, would they?

 

I've found that I have a problem on one of the four USB ports of my N56VZ (with Windows 8 Pro).
The port is the closest to the optical drive, on the right side.

Since a few days ago I can connect to it just USB 2.0 peripherals, not USB 3.0 ones.
No USB 3.0 device (external drives, USB keys) is now recognized by Windows 8 on that port (and just on that, since all other USB ports recognize them). It's not just that drive letter is not assigned, it doesn't start the green USB devices icon in taskbar.
The same devices worked fine on that same port until a couple of days ago.
On the contrary, any USB 2.0 device works fine on that port (and on any other).

Drives seems to be powered on that port, although not recognized.
I have an external USB HDD whose light is blue on 3.0 and green on 2.0: it starts blue and after one second it turns to green.

No bad treatment has been done on that port and I think it's not very likely its hardware has been damaged (although it could be possible), also considering that 2.0 devices work without problem.
Some months ago, talking on forums about that port it was said that it seems the "most compatible with 2.0 devices" (easier to boot USB 2.0 keys on it than on the other three), so it could have some differences from the others.

So I'm wondering about some recently changed/damaged software configuration (Windows Update?), although Device Manager says no problem on USB hubs and drivers are up-to-date.

Any ideas or similar experience?
Do you know how could I reinstall drivers? Are them the Intel USB3.0 Driver from Asus support site or other Windows drivers?
And how could identify software configuration just for that particular port?


UPDATE:

I don't know why but the problem seems solved, after uninstalling Asus USB Charger Plus (since I've already heard stories about that software annoying USB 3.0).
BUT I have to say that yesterday, after removing that software, I rebooted immediately and the bad behaviour on that port was still present.
Only today I've found that port works again on both 2.0 and 3.0 devices, in a stable way.
I don't know if more than a simple reboot is needed to get rid of Asus Charger and I can't be sure that removal is the fact that solved the issue.

Anyway yesterday I also tried a bootable Ubuntu USB key and I found that from Ubuntu any USB 3.0 device connected to that port was immediately detected and working, so it was already clear that it wasn't a hardware fault but a Windows fault.

Hope that could be useful to others: removing Asus USB Charger could help (maybe ...) when having similar troubles.

 

Hi Stew,

It would seem that after all the pictures on websites ie laptops direct, save on laptops, and John Lewis, they have all got it wrong. They have used pics which dictate that the N56vz-s4207H, and non existent Currys V model has back lit keyboard. Then there was the misinformations on the 3630qm.

I have travelled tonight 130 miles in total to a Currys to get a N56VZ-s4207H, got back home, then saw your post without checking earlier in the day.

Im now cheesed off because i presumed due to their misinformation, because this model doesnt have a backlit kb, which would have been nice whilst dj-ing in the dark.

I give up with Asus changing specs for different countrys.

I also see this company is still going if anyone needs Asus spares.
http://www.asusparts.eu/partfinder/Asus/Notebook/N Series/N56VZ#Keyboard

Cheers for now,

Steve.

 

Thank you Nipsen! I may give it a try and see how it goes.

 

So, just as a follow-up to my heating problems: The BIOS update solved nothing.
I also contacted ASUS online support. They said that temperatures of 85-90 degrees is "normal" under heavy load, and that I should contact them again if the notebook starts crashing while being under heavy-load or if I start smelling burnt plastic or aluminium.

That's.... not what I wanted to hear.

 

I'm planning on buying a external monitor for my N56VZ. I'm using my laptop a lot for CAD, so I could really benefit from a high resolution monitor. But how high resolution does the HDMI output support @60Hz? I've seen many people saying 1080p@60Hz is the max you can get via HDMI. But I suppose it depends on the HDMI version? What version of HDMI does N56VZ's port have?

 

v1.4. The plug/version can support 4k+. But it apparently depends on the intel drivers if you clone the display. And somehow the nvidia drivers if you extend the device, or run it in an exclusive mode. I'm not completely sure about the max resolution. But my 16:10 screen works perfectly fine in 1920x1200, so it's not limited to 1920x1080. But I'm worried it might depend on the size of some memory area the intel driver pre-allocates for a frontbuffer.. If so, it will likely be set to something "sensible" (like 640kb "sensible"). I've no idea what it is, or what will happen if you go over budget. It could even be dependent on the monitor inf explicitly supporting a particular resolution - that it's really dynamic.

If anyone has tried with a 2560×1440 monitor, let us know?

..Well, what can you say to that?

"Hey support guy! See the letter-opener on your boss' desk? You do! That's awesome! I'm so stoked and happy for you?!?! Now stab it really fk'n hard into your stomach - and call me back when you stop bleeding".

I really can't tell since I'm not sitting with your laptop right here. But it sounds to me like the actual element isn't too hot, but the components are. Meaning, bad application of goop/cooling tape. He's right, though -- 85 degrees isn't a huge problem. It's normal to have 85-90 on the cpu (and hit 95 degrees while running stress-tests that reuse level 3 cache hits). But it is too high on the gpu. So if you really see 85 degrees in MSI Afterburner - and can observe that the frequency drops, then that the temp drops, then the frequency goes up, the temp rises to 85 again, etc. If you see that, get a replacement. (If you see 85 degrees in HWMON - it might not be a problem, depending on what sensor that number comes from.)

Not for that. The usb charging depends on having one of the settings in the bios enabled (it's open on all the bios versions, says.. usb charging something or other). And having the usb+ utility installed. If the atk-package is installed, and some reasonably standard usb driver is there - it should work. Might not work all the time, and might only work on the first two ports depending on what other devices are plugged in(this is the same on all laptops with a shared power-supply on the usb ports). But yes, should work.

 

I'm not talking about the CPU, but the GPU.
Using MSI Afterburner I noticed that when it gets to ~ 80-81 degrees, it shows that behaviour you described.

BTW, what's the un-overclocked core frequency on the 650m? Cause notebookcheck says 850, but mine always was 950

 

I called ASUS UK and they confirmed my theory and said that all UK N56 models do not have a back lit keyboard. Everywhere else in the world does have this feature.

I went on to express frustration that Asus could have advertised this fact in their main N56 video and not just state selected models only.

Many websites in the UK have been using fake international pictures with F3 & F4 which dictate that the N56vz does have a back lit KB.

At time of my purchase I wasn't able to see if the above keys had B/L KB as they never had the VZ-s4207H model on display, only the previous model with the 3610QM installed.

It just goes to show that the UK residents have been ripped off as usual in regards to features on a so called £900 laptop compared to all other countrys.

The Asus rep then said what you need is the new Zen book with backlit keys, Nvidia Gpu, etc. however this is useless for dj-ing with as it uses an ultra I7 and has no optical drive. It does have touchscreen though but again has a reduced size hard drive of 750gb all for £1000.

Oh well Ive learn by all the advertising mistakes made for the N56, Lol, maybe I should have looked through all theses past posts but that's just to time consuming. Search doesn't however confirm a backlit kb in this thread. Maybe it will now.
Its good to have these threads though so we can all share our different questions and answers. Rant over, lesson learnt. Ive still not powered my N56 up yet as im not sure wether im keeping it. Apparently theres a new model around the corner ready to replace the N56 some time soon.

 

It's 850Mhz. Memory is 900Mhz. 950 on the core is a 100Mhz overclock, but shouldn't increase the temp that high alone. If the memory is higher than 1000Mhz, things start to happen, though..

Still - so you're throttling on 80 degrees? That's a bit strange. It should easily go to 85 before anything happens. It's like the memory is overclocked too high, or it becomes too hot (there's no sensor there, but the ram has errors, and then stops feeding info - clock-speed drops, logic tries again, etc.), and you get the panic button behaviour.

 

Yep, it throttles on 80 degrees. But it goes from 950 MHz to 835 MHz, and if 850 is the normal frequency on the core, basically, it just cancels whatever overclocked it to 950 MHz. Tho, I have no idea why it starts with 950 MHz in the first place?

So, I guess it's all good, right?

 

Well, if you get irregular performance drops on load.. kind of makes it useless in games. What about the memory speed - is it set at something specific? (Have you tried resetting the settings in MSI Afterburner? Used another OC program? Unless you've flashed your bios, manually, that should be the only cause for behaviour like that..).

 

Hi all, I also have some kind of an issue.
When I play Dirt 3, GTA 4 or Crysis 1 for 30-45 minutes my CPU cores go to 98-99 Degrees Celsius!
I know that the tjmax is 105, but 99 seems to much.
My room temps are 25-26 C.
I did clean the thermal paste and applied new one - Arctic Ceramique 2 - both on CPU and GPU. First days it was perfect - no more than 82-85 C, after few days - again 95-99.

Any ideas?
Asus N56VZ S4044D - i7 3610QM

 

The memory clock is going at a constant 900 MHz. Never dropped.
I only used MSI Afterburner, but I mostly used it to try and downclock the GPU. Even with -100 on core and -200 on memory, the GPU still easily gets to 80 degrees and has the exact same behaviour: the core frequency drops a bit.
For BIOS upgrade I used ASUS software, but the the GPU behaved exactly the same before and after the upgrade.

 

I have a couple of concerns with the Asus N56VZ-RH71 which I have just purchased!

First, the Optical Drive Tray outer cover is very crooked in that the upper left top is actually touching/rubbing the opening and has no gap at all and the bottom right side has a very large gap. Also, there is no gap on the left side of the opening but a large gap on the right side as in not being centered. This issue, to me anyway, makes this otherwise beautiful laptop look cheapened! Is this issue normal for this notebook and can I fix it somehow?

Next, the laser etched hole pattern area around both the power and hot key buttons have a shallow concave depression in those areas as if the thin top deck is pulled down to meet the buttons. In other words the deck in these two areas is not flat but sunk in a bit. Is this normal?

I know I am picky, but are these two issues normal for this notebook or should I be swapping out the notebook for another example?

Thanks!


...Glenn

 

Ah. Incredibly bad news. Could be misplaced contact points at the cooling ribs, at the cpu or gpu, goop not having contact any more..

It also kind of sounds like the ram on it's own might be hot. Sorry to say, but this one's going back to the eternal chip-making fields.

 

So you are saying I should send it to warranty?

 

Probably would be the best idea. :/

 

Hi guys, I've had my N65vz for a few days now as it replaced my N53, which had a failing HDD twice and then a motherboard failure of some kind, it couldn't recharge anymore.
I got all my money back (after 2 years!!) and bought this one and I love it, there is only one thing:
The speakers + subwoofer are quite nice, though I find one thing very annoying. They seem to somehow compress/limit the sound and therefore mess up song dynamics.
I couldn't really search through 80 pages in this thread so I hope someone knows what I speak of and knows a solution (or can point me to the page in this thread where the answer lies!)

 

Hello! Check out your "Maxxx Audio" settings. This is some kind of built in audio manager that Asus installs - it has equalizers set by default. This may be limiting your sound range, but not sure. What is it like through high quality headphones? It could also be that you're expecting too much from the laptop speakers.

 

Thanks for your quick response! I've checked that and everything is off now. The thing is: Whenever bass frequencies increase in a song, they seem to squash away high frequencies. An example (pardon me for the song-choise) is Welcome to the Black Parade from My Chemical Romance (guilty pleasures anyone?) It is very noticible after the 1 minute mark and after 1.56, in that verse. It's very annoying as it makes the guitars vary in volume ALOT for example. It sounds as if someone is constantly hitting the volume control for a split second. It just messes up dynamics. (also very noticable right after 3:40, when a low bass note kicks in)

I've also listened through our stereo ssystem downstairs and through a pair of sennheisers, nor problems there.
If I had to point out the problem in 1 sentence: When bass frequencies are intense, they squash away the higher frequencies)