ASUS M6Va-8025P: noisy GPU fan

Hi guys,

I've recently bought an ASUS M6Va-8025P (Pentium M750 -1.86 GHz/533FSB; 512 DDR2 (533 MHz;15" SXGA+; ATI X700 128MB; etc.) and been very excited at the beginning about its cool look and performance: just have a look at the pictures I've posted (sorry, some are somewhat out of focus). To test its perfomance I've run the following benchmarks: 3DMark 2003 and SuperPI.​

Here are the results:
a) 3DMark03 (Windoze XP) - with ATI's PowerPlay one can ajust the graphic's card and/or CPU's performance. I've run it for the three predefined modes one can find in the graphics card configuration tool (ATI Powerplay):
Maximum performance 5675
Medium performance 3063
Battery optimized 1788

b) SuperPI: (Fedora Core 3 - Linux version of SuperPi)
1M 37.2s
2M 1m 29.8s
Under Windoze SuperPi got similar run times, but I can't find them anymore.

There was a big problem (in my opinion) though with this laptop: The GPU fan is EXTREMELY NOISY. Let me explain my experience: In the "Maximum Performance" mode it starts after a few minutes (already noisy enough )from boot time and speeds up as the time passes. The same happens in "Medium Performance" and "Battery optimized" mode but after 30 min and > 1 hour respectively. In this modes it sometimes switches off, but only if the computer is idle. I think the fan is somehow vibrating or something because the noise isn't due to the air rushing out through the air vent. The CPU ventilator is pretty silent, not disturbing/distracting in any way. The GPU fan can be heard even with some headphones on and listening to some music by medium sound volume. Without any "protection" one can really get fed up after an hour. Forget about trying to work on something like writing a paper/thesis. Unfortunately I had to return it and get a refund.

The shop were I've bought it from tested the piece upon return and assured me that there nothing wrong with it, the GPU fan is behaving normally. They suggested me that one should not use the computer in the "Maximum performance" mode but rather underclock both the CPU and GPU. Well, in that case I would rather stick with my four years old DELL Inspiron 4000 (no noise at all) than spend 1600 euros on a new but noisy laptop,which I was supposed to run at half the speed.

For Linux users that got better luck with this model:I've managed to install Fedora Core 3 in text mode and then installed the linux ATI driver to get it running in video mode. Sound card was not working with the kernel (2.6.9) that ships with Fedora Core 3.I had to upgrade (and compile) to 2.6.13 which has the module needed (snd-hda-intel). Have not tried the wireless card under Linux but should work once one gets the proper software from www. sourceforge.net (see other posts on http://www.linux-laptop.net/). FedoraCore4 and RedHat9 would not install, they would both freeze the computer soon after beginning the processes.

Hope somebody finds this useful.

I'm still looking for a new laptop, so if anybody has any experience with another model of comparable performance which is also pretty quiet let me know (it doesn't have to be ASUS).

 

you should underclock in 2D. if you ran your clock from 350mhz to 100mhz, you wouldn't notice any difference at all, but the temperature would be cooler. in games, of course, you want to run it at maximum speed, but usually you have sound, and that should drownd out the fans.

i also notice the silver screen trim and cover... in north america we only get teh widescreen (15.4" WSXGA+ 1680x1050) screen that's completly black. I like the widescreen better, except i hate the extra 2 speakers (and resulting hump on the back cover)

 

It looks almost just like my M6Ne... heh, no speaker "hump"!

I would have suggested underclocking the GPU as well... after all, if you are worried about sound while you're writing a paper/thesis, then you wouldn't need the X700 to be running at full power.
Sorry to see that you returned it

Perhaps the ASUS V6V would be of good service to you...

 

With current hardware, you're not going to find any laptop with similar CPU and video performance and form factor that'll be quiet at max performance. Laptops don't have the space for large enough heatsinks to passively dissipate the heat and use larger quieter fans.

On my Z70Va idling, even with Powerplay set to optimal battery so the X700 is clocked at 105/120, the GPU temp rose to 74C when i manually turned off the fan using speedfan. I'm sure at the default 350/300 temps would be much higher.

The Pentium M's energy efficient design combined with Speedstep are the reasons the CPU fan doesn't come on because the CPU is already being underclocked and undervolted with processor load. It would be better if ATI had a dynamic setting that would do something similar to Intel's Speedstep so the user wouldn't need to manually change Powerplay settings, but opening Catalyst Control Centre or Control Panel to change the Powerplay settings isn't that inconvenient.

 

I have just the same problem, ictualy I am using SpeedFAN too exept, that I let the CPU fan and GPU fan going even on idle, but on low RPM, the GPU is on 1600rpm almost quiet (no highpithc sounds) and the CPU fan i on 1000rpm, so I can get about 40 to 45 degrees on CPU when idle and maximum of 55 to 60 degrees on GPU when idle, and it is the same quiet sound as when both FANs are off ... woila ...