Asus G1S: Upgrades before buying?

I was thinking about locking on the Asus G1S. Before going forward and making the purchase i was wondering if certain upgrades was gonna impact performance.

1. Does upgrading from 2GB to 3GB result in a performance boost? Is this because the 8600M GT is sharing memory from the main memory resulting in less then 2GB for normal configs?

2. This may be asked a ton of times, but is getting the 160GB 7200 rpm HDD worth the performance upgrade? I am thinking of the skipping the HDD upgrade as a 7200rpm would result in a heat increase too i guess..

Thanks in advance.

 

1. 2-3 about doubles game performance in memory intensive games (i.e. FEAR)
2. The 7200 RPM drive will cut most load times by 2/3 (about) and will make many games run at a faster clip in between actual gameplay. (If you ever have skipping in an in-game movie, or if load times take really long, that is why).

 

first off, i recently put my order in for the g1s from xoticpc.com (which i wholly recommend) and am anticipating its arrival sometime next week. i spent a long time thinking about the two questions you asked, along with a bevy of others, and came to the conclusion the g1s is definitely a machine easily worth the cost.

anyway, i honestly don't think you're going to be getting a performance boost worth the money from the added GB of RAM. for current games, and next-gen for that matter, i honestly think it would be overkill. the only reason i can see it worth the extra money is if you plan on using a 64-bit OS, like Vista Ultimate. but, i have heard of performance boosts in games like FEAR with the added GB, but i hardly think it's worth the money. it all comes down to your own personal preference, but yea.

as for the 7200 RPM hdd, i would say definitely go for it, which is what i did. my friend as an alienware with a 5400 RPM hdd and is always ranting about how it's horrible. granted, you're going to be getting a heat increase with the faster hdd, but in any gaming notebook, that is going to be evident as the time progresses. which is why i also suggest you pick up a notebook cooler for your investment. check out this article from hitachi about the worth of 7200 RPM hdds.

http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/techdocs/33C6A76DF9338B0A86256D34007054C0/$file/Why7200MobileHDDs.pdf

although it applies directly to a hitachi hdd, it raises some valid points in the 7200 RMP hdd's defense. as for coolers, i suggest you pick up the antec notebook cooler from circuitcity.com for $25; i use it for my 360 and it makes a world of difference.

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Ante...89840/catOid/-15021/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

i hope that helps some!

 

The 8600GT is 256mb dedicated memory, there is no sharing.

 

256 Mb dedicated + turbocache upto 512 MB for the Asus G1s..

 

Well, you don't have to have Turbocache...

 

I dont still understand how going from 2 to 3 GB doubles game performance coz in desktop systems, it doesnt seem to make a difference as per benchmarks..

Thanks for the inputs!

 

Desktop systems don't use turbocaching, not like notebooks do. FEAR FPS with 2GB is about 16-22. With 3 GB is like 30-42. That is going from choppy to smooth. I would say the extra gig is worth it for sure. 4 Gigs is overkill unless you are going to have a 64bit system.

As a matter of fact if you had to pick just one, I would go with the RAM, it will increase your performance way more in a noticable way than the HDD will. This isn't speculation, you can see the results in Ken's G1S benchmarking thread.

 

Hmm, yeah i agree.. But if can get a performance increase like the benchmarks show then turbocache seems a good thing to have enabled!

Yeah, u got a point there.. So i assume the performance increases kicks in when u enable turbocache?

Hmm, first of all it has to be checked out whether turbocache decreases performance in the first place when enabled as 512 mb shared is a fair chunk of RAM and may lower ur benchmark scores.. Then when u add to make it 3gb , with the compensation of RAM scores may be normalising.. Not sure here, just wild guessing..

 

That is basically what is happening, but essentially 3GB allows you to do that, whereas you will be bottlenecked (with Turbocache enabled) with 2GB, running on Vista. Running on XP it shouldn't really matter I don't think.

 

Ok, that kinda solves the RAM dilemna..

Now, a warranty doubt.

Since the warranty is provided by Asus, does it make a difference where you buy the laptop from if got with stock specification?

Does Asus honour the warranty, if i modify the RAM or HDD and later take the laptop to another country??

 

You can modify RAM and HDD and the warranty is international, (however support is known to be lackluster outside of NA and Asia). Neither of those should be a problem, though.

 

1. My fren has an Asus F3JP so i got to see the Asus build quality of the F series first hand.. Now, how is the G1S build quality compared to the F series?

Better or the same as both are plastic?

2. Does it matter where you get the Asus G1s from? I mean is it the same if i buy from a reseller or from a site like lagoom? I was thinking since Asus is providing the warranty is there any advantage being choosy about where you get it from taking a stock build in mind?

 

1. Better, but they are both plastic, G1 has some parts of different materials.
2. It matters:
-Prices are different
-Some will upgrade the system for you
-Some are sketchy as hell
-Some have better customer service
-Some may be located nearer to you, so you could get lower shipping or even pick it up yourself.

Those are just a few of the things.