Sunny's G51VX-RX05 Review

so...i installed an x9100 proc in my g51vx, b/c I want to be like forge While I was at it I cleaned off everything and put a layer of AS5 on the cpu and gpu. I booted up and everything seemed to be fine until I fired-up 3dmark06. I was finish though the first test and I noticed my frame rate going down to single digits. I quit the test and saw the GPU was at 108C. So I cracked it back open and saw that the gpu wasn't mating to the heat since hardly at all, at least that's what it seems like from the pattern on the heat sink. I added a bit more as5, made sure the screws were tight and after running 3dmark again for 15 min the gpu maxes at 100c. Is there something else I can do to try and get everything to "sit" right? I can deal with some heat but 100 degress seem just a bit too high.

 

You're only supposed to add a very thin layer of Arctic 5.

Basically, the dab of the paste that you put on the GPU should be no bigger than a grain of rice. If yours is significantly more, I'd probably clean it off and try again.

Too thick of a layer and it'll act as an insulator instead of transferring heat from the GPU to the heatsink.

 

Well, I get that, and that's what I started with...a very small dab and spread it out with an old credit card. My problem is that I can tell that with a thin layer, it's not hitting the heat sink at all b/c the grease on the cpu is undisturbed and there is hardly and grease on the heat sink. is there something I can "adjust" hardware wise to try and get better contact?

 

I had that problem too. I put a near-transparent layer on the GPU just like I did with the CPU. For the CPU it worked fine. For the GPU, I was only contacting two corners.

What I did was put on a a slightly thicker layer, spread it, and install the heatsink.

A possibly hardware fix would be to put a sheet of copper (cut to proportions, of course) to fix the imbalance.

Or you could try an entirely different paste. MX-3 is wonderful.

 

so um, i'm scared. i was lanning some cod4 with my friends for 4 hours at the most... and when i checked HWMonitor, my max gpu temp was 98c. O.O Way too frickin' hot for cod4... the ambient temp was probably around 83f. last time i went to lan at the same friend's house (for many more hours) my max temp reached 91c. so . i'm afraid my gpu is running hotter and hotter as the days go by.

 

@ TevashSzat & Forge:
Sig has been updated, Sunny's Review has impressed me enough to consider the G51VX. Reason I still haven't jumped totally in love with the G51vx is the CPU is not the best and I'd be sacrificing 2GB of ram (looking at the G71GX-RX05). I guess I can shrug off 6GB for 4GB (enough to game still) but I have this feeling that I would have to break the warranty and buy a better CPU but I'm not willing to spend over $200 for an upgrade. Reason- If I spend over $200 for an upgraded CPU, I'm better off grabbing the G71GX-RX05. I found a P8600 for $160 on ebay and I might be willing to spend that. I don't know....
I'm going apartment shopping (Finally!) and I'll see what my decision is soon...

 

Is that temperature with a laptop cooler or not? Without a cooler was the laptop sitting normally on the table or was it propped up in the back?

 

Why aren't you considering the MSI anymore?

 

@Twistamafoo

That is a bit high.....I guess if you haven't tried, you could try undervolting the CPU and GPU to reduce temps.....or stop overclocking if you are doing so

@da1writer

Well, IMO you'll never use the 6GB since I can't really think of when you'd use up all 4GB on the G51 unless you're doing media editing.

 

I am also looking into getting this laptop. I design and build websites on the side, so as long as I can use an external monitor with a good resolution, the low native resolution will be fine with me.

On that note, those of you that have this laptop, what resolutions have you gotten your external monitors up to?

Sorry if this is already posted, I went through about 40 pages of this, and about halfway through, I was so interested in what I was reading that I forgot what I was searching for!!

 

no cooler, and i wasn't propping it up. though as i've already tested at my house, having it propped up makes no difference on the gpu temp-wise as far as i can tell. but i still do it anyway since it makes it easier to type.

 

The GTX260M had no problems at all running games on my 52" LCD (52A650) at it's native resolution of 1920x1080

 

Cool, I am selling my 24in 1920x1080 monitor with my pc and using the money to pick up MAYBE this laptop. In a few months, I will probably have another 24 in monitor and just want to make sure that the resolution will be there.

Also, is this 260 video card from Best Buy any different than say the 260 on the G51VX-X2A from newegg? I read somewhere that the clocking was different.

Thanks for the prompt response.

 

All the ASUS laptops sporting GTX260s are clocked the same out of the box. You can however increase them as some here have.

 

And the LAST question, since this is a 2.0 ghz, would I see a noticable difference if I played a game on a laptop with the same specs but a 2.66ghz?

Basically what I am asking, is it worth the money to get laptop with a better CPU but the same GPU for the gaming?

 

Need a computer next week or the following week after, MSI has pushed the date AGAIN to mid-September now and I'm pretty sure it's going to be pushed back again. Plus after ordering the laptop whenever it finally comes out, I would have to wait a week or two after to receive it in the mail, which means I wouldn't see the laptop until the beginning of October. I thought I had time on my hands but not anymore, I can just walk into Best Buy and grab a ASUS laptop with no problems right there. Despite the price range going up on the G71GX-RX05, I'll shrug it off due to my wife allowing me to spend a bit more on my [original] laptop budget. Only problem is I'm kinda on the fence between the G71GX-RX05 and G51VX-RX05, I need to mosey to Best Buy again to do another evaluation !
So now I'm back on the Asus wagon...

 

It depends what games u play. The P7350 is good enough to play most of the games at the higher settings. Games requiring more CPU power like GTA 4 (which btw works better on quads) should work faster with a higher clocked CPU. Talking about a noticable difference I assume u mean a border between lagging and smooth gameplay. A 2.66 will give u maybe.. up to 15 more FPS in GTA 4 (which would give you a noticble difference). However in games which are more GPU intensive the difference will be smaller and therefore les or not visible at all.
A better CPU is always faster, so better for gaming. But you can get the one with a slightly worse CPU and spend te money later to ugrade to an even better CPU than if you would have bought the other model.
As I said the 2.0 GHz is a good enough processor, plus you have the option to OC it, and the P7350's have good OC potentials.

 

Yeah, I'll probably just be playing the Call of Duty series out of the box, and maybe a WoW - type game down the road. By that time, I probably will have upgraded the CPU anyway.

Thanks

 

The P7350 + 260M GTX can play Call of Duty on max settings no problem, so IMO the laptop with the slower CPU is a better choice in your case.

 

The P7350 works great for WOW from what I've seen. Only certain areas drop down to about 40fps and during huge raids probably about 30fps, which are the absolute lowest numbers I have heard of, which will look exactly the same visually. You wont have a single problem, and if you ever want to upgrade to a higher-clocked dual core you can. But I'd say you shouldn't have to worry for a good year.

 

Good stuff. I'm meeting the guy in the BB parking lot to sell my custom built quad core PC, and then walking into BB and getting this laptop. I'll post my thoughts in a few days.

 

What are the specs on your PC?

 

Intel DG35EC
XFX NVidia 9600 GSO
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 2.67Ghz Socket 775
8 Gig 800mhz RAM
Mirrored 500GB Hard Drives
Power Up Standard 550w ATX Power Supply
Windows Vista Ultimate 64
ASUS 24in Widescreen, 1900 x 1080

 

@DirtyPosse

Well.....a downgrade CPU wise but a pretty big upgrade GPU wise.




Also regarding propping the laptop's behind up:

I don't think that should do anything since the vent on the underside isn't a vent. Most laptops only get better temps since propping it up increases air flow to that bottom vent.

 

Yeah, I built that desktop knowing it was going to be overkill on the RAM/CPU side. I am getting rid of the desk that it was on and just decided to go with a laptop. I travel a little for work and having a laptop that could play the games I wanted would definitely be worth it.

On a side note, what software do use to monitor temps?

P.S. I am typing this on the new ASUS, I love it so far, but haven't played any games on it yet.

 

HWmonitor, Everest, and Speedfan all measure temps. Most of the screenshots of temps you see here (that I've seen at least) are done with HWmonitor http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php

 

are there any temperature recording programs that allow me to see the change in temps over time? or maybe like.. average temps? just because i reached a certain max temp, doesn't necessarily mean it was running that hot most of the time.

also, 90c after 45 minutes of left 4 dead. all max 4x AA. sound a bit hot? no cooler, but propped up a bit. ~73 ambient temperature.

 

Sounds a bit hot, yes. Then again I remember my stock paste hitting 90 after a long L4D run.

GPU-Z has a good logging program. I also recommend EVGA Precision, which is customizable to allow in-game readouts for fps, temperature, core, shader, and memory clocks.

 

Thanks to everyone in this thread for the tips and advice on this laptop. This is the main reason I bought this laptop.

I unpacked mine yesterday and love everything about it. All I have done so far is pretty much uninstalled the extra software, installed my adobe suite for web design and installed Call of Duty 4. I played this morning for a little while before work and even playing online with about 15 other people around this laptop doesn't skip a beat!

I really like the illuminated keyboard! Some people said they have had problems with it, but to me its just right. I actually worked on it last night in the dark. I got a call from work and had to log in, but I didn't have to turn on the light and wake up the wife.

I've only had it for a day, but its rockin so far.

Thanks for the suggestions on the monitoring software. I'll install when I get home.

 

I just bought the Asus G51vx-X1A from newegg.com It has a 2.53 ghz processor and a 1920 by 1080 resolution and bluetooth. I think thats the only extra commodities. it was $1299. Did i make a good purchase. Does anyone else already have this version? And could tell me what they think. Also would Tev's opt guide work on this version like the bb version.

 

Thats what i run at. i max at 90c but average 82 or so. Ambient about the same. No cooler, no prop. propping it up doesnt help mine anyways.

HWmoniter lets you see a max, min, and average temp.

 

Just one question: does the onboard sound card support analogue 5.1 output or not? A screenshot with the driver settings will be great.

 

unless i'm mistaken there's only a min, max, and current temp display.

 

Whoops, that's what i meant to say. No, it doesn't have an average value. '_'

 

I have the G71, but the G51 should have the same sound card.

 

Can anyone help with installing FEAR 2. Stupid STEAM program has to be installed first. And that thing is a joke. I install it and get some stupid library something and its missing steam.dll blah blah. I download missing dll put it in place supposed to be and nothing has anyone had success getting this game to work

 

I have a question concerning this. I will be purchasing an Asus G51Vx-RX05 from Best Buy soon, and I have a Razer Megalodon (7.1 surround sound; can also do 5.1) headset. Will I have to buy something like Creative's Sound Blaster X-Fi, or will I able to just plug it in and it will be set to go (after selecting "Dolby Digital Live")? Sorry about the n00b question; I'm new to the whole PC gaming thing (been a console gamer for years).

 

I'm sure sumbody has already asked this before but i couldn't find it in the pages that I've read.....Does the best buy g51vx-rx05 have the direct console application so the lights on the outer shell can be turned off if the user desires it to be needed

 

No G51 models have that option. As of right now, the lights cannot be turned off (except the keyboard backlight) through software means

 

Hey.. so I've got a little problem, I think. While playing Left 4 Dead (and maybe one other game, I forget), I've had the screen go black with repeating sounds. I would minimize the game and see the following pop-up in the taskbar "driver has stopped responding but has recovered". Also says it's the nvlddmkm nVidia Driver. I still have the stock drivers. Maybe this is a good excuse to get off my butt and get the dox drivers?

this has only happened twice so far... one time the game was playable after switching back to the game. the other time... well, i minimized, got the error, tried to switch back to l4d, still black, minimized kinda.. maybe... etc. then got bsod. :X loaded up normally and have been playing games fine since. i dont think this is a l4d thing because i'm like 83% positive that the first time this happened was with a different game.. just don't remember exactly which one

any help greatly appreciated!

 

Is anyone trying to develop a program to make this possible.....I only ask this because that would cut down on power consumption which would battery life longer

 

@Ninjaguyzx7

Someone is working on it. I think ClutchX2.

Anyways, the LED requires very minimal power consumption. Shutting them down is for purely aesthetic purposes and is not for improving battery life.

 

Alright thanx for the info.....something else I was wondering......did anyone actually figure out if ASUS actually planned for the g51vx to run as hot as it does and is there any way to help it run cooler without using a cooling pad that i already have

 

Anyone know how the BB version on stock settings fares in ArmA 2 (fps)?

 

I played the demo of ArmA 2 and uh... it was kinda disappointing. Don't think it was very well optimized. I wouldn't call it playable on ~max settings. The recommended settings it played fine on, but obviously didn't look as good. It doesn't even look that good on max anyway... so yeah =\

 

Asus engineers have apparently found no problems with its GPU running at 90C

 

ok i was just wondering because i ran two furmark tests lasting 5 minutes each one right after another and the gpu temp only reached about 85C so i figured that was about normal temps for the gpu

 

Hi everyone ! i just saw this video on youtube :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWcn2TBQTwU

this guy is using a G51VX-A1 , same as our beloved G51VX-RX05 but with a Q9000 Processor. I want to know if using 1280 x 720 @ high (not very high), with shaders and Shadows @ medium, AA OFF and Asus Power4Gear @ Extreme Turbo can i get the same FPS that this guy (near 35-40) ... I just ordered this notebook cause i'm from Argentina and it takes 14 more days to arrive !

Thanks for your help !

 

Most likely

 

where is the main difference ? the processor ? i heard that crysis doesn't demand to much from it and the C2D that the RX05 have is enough.