Asus N56VZ-DS71 first impressions

Overclocking aside, the guys at the store where I bought this machines said if you want an underclocked machine you buy the Ultrabooks. These are still laptops, and people still want horsepower to last them in a full fledged laptop. The Ultrabooks run insanely long, on little power and little heat, but aren't as capable as this one.

That said, my ROG can be used as a furnace in a Canadian winter, so I understand the heat concerns.

The boys at the store knew why I was upgrading (I think I performed every documented mod to that machine and then some, and still the GPU was overheating), and sold me the extended warranty anyway. I told them I'm not fighting with this one. If it overheats, it's their problem this time. They treat me pretty good though. Between my own personal computers, and ones for clients, I've spent well into 5 figures there.

K,.. that's a versioning nightmare I don't care how good a development team you have. Now if they were all the same MB using the same bios, I could see it, but if they were, we'd see all the versions in the download section. That sort of stuff makes me happy I'm not developing anymore.

 

Just got my N56VZ from xotic after a month of waiting, and the first thing I noticed when taking it out of the box was this bump on the hand rest. That's not normal, is it? Anyone else have any issues with cosmetic flaws like this? How can this even happen? Indentation I would understand, but bulging out?

 

That's definitely not normal... You should send it back for a new one.

Cheers

 

This happens when the HDD is removed and the wrong screw is put back. There are three long screws and one short one, and if you put a long screw in the short hole that's what happens. I know because I did it to mine

Did you get a HDD upgrade from xotic by any chance?

 

Yes, I did order an HDD upgrade! Your explanation makes perfect sense. I guess they hired new people to handle the increased volume. I just hope the replacement will be handled quickly.

 

I didn't quite follow all that. Would you say your N56VZ stays pretty cool while gaming at least on the keyboard you'd use for gaming?

 

Hi all,
a quick update on the "how to open the laptop to replace the wifi adapter" situation. The answer from Asus is that they won't provide the hardware maintenance guide and that opening the bottom cover to access any component would break the warranty ... blabla. Replacing the wifi adapter could cause stability issue ... blabla (if that's the case, why can we find custom config everywhere on the web ...). Anyway, I just wanted to share their answer as per this question. Now, if anyone wants to share their findings as per how to replace this cheap adapter, feel free ;-))
Other than that, great laptop definitely.

 

When you remove the HDD/RAM cover, you can see the WiFi adaptor along with a screw holding it in. I haven't tried removing it, but is it as simple as that?

 

If I were to pick this up and was a little intimidated at doing a fresh install, what would be the best laggy bloatware programs to just uninstall immediately?

 

Just about everything except for the trackpad/keyboard shortcut drivers. Fresh install is the ONLY way to go and get optimal performance. It's really not bad. Format and install Windows - most of your stuff will work out of the box and Windows Update will get the rest. If not - grab your Intel Display drivers from Intel - Videocard from NVIDIA and keyboard/trackpad from the official Asus site. Trust me, fresh install. It's not hard and definitely worth it.

 

I agree, clean install is the way to go. If you only have one PC, download at least the WiFi or LAN drivers before you reinstall so you can get back online to download anything that's missing. It may find them, but by the time you know it's too late

Also I would recommend installing the "ATKACPI driver and hotkey-related utilities" if you want the keyboard function keys to work and the Realtek Audio driver if you want the subwoofer to work.

 

This.
Windows detected my Wi-Fi/LAN automatically without having to download any drivers. Download integrated graphics for the Ivy Bridge from Intel's website. Nvidia drivers from Nvidia - and then the keyboard ATKACPI driver and hotkey-related utilities like bjammin said and the Realtek Audio driver (I don't care about the subwoofer so I just used the default Windows sound drivers that came with the fresh Windows install). It'll be night and day. Do it.

 

You shall need the SHE-related drivers/power4gear and the chipset drivers too. If you want the frequency scaling, boost states, power-saving, and so on, to work.

 

Just wanted to add that xoticPC is bending over backwards to make this right, cross-shipping a new unit express to me with a few goodies thrown in. Definitely a great customer service experience, despite the SNAFU.

 

Thanks, if I'm a dummy and don't want to accidentally work through a fresh install and get rid of something I need I could just go through programs and uninstall? Is there stuff on there that's hard to just remove manually?

 

First serious problems with my 2-month old n56vz today.

I have the exact same symptoms as the guy in this thread except I have NOT touched ANYTHING in BIOS- N56VZ BIOS Update failed, now Black Screen......
- Black screen
- Power LED is on
- Fan is on
- no BIOS POST test or ASUS logo on screen
- I cant get into the BIOS with any key

To turn it off again I need to press the power button for 4+ seconds.

Happened first this morning when it failed to resume from sleep. Got it working a couple of tries and half an hour later. Happened again later when I restarted to make a clean Windows install (not related to this issue, just hadn't time to do it before, but the laptop has been awfully laggy for a new PC). Again after several tries later I managed to finish installing Windows. It boots normally about 5% of the times and can't be a Windows issue.
Any ideas what this might be?

 

Good news is it's not a bad bios flash. Bad news is that you're probably hibernating, running to s3/s4, and the setup is somehow unable to recover again. Then when you shut down, boot, it will fail at the resume (resume from disk) and you will have that unresponsive black screen.

Difficult to say what's caused it. But if you're not using the Power4Awesomegear software, the SuperHybridAwesomeEngine chipset drivers, or the InstaL33t2disk thing.. Then it could be as simple as that the laptop is hibernating, and being sent to s3 or s4, or both in the wrong order, etc., without the scripts for disabling/enabling devices being run first. That will cause problems.

 

Might be something as simple as a bad HDD. Had similar symptoms a while ago with a desktop, changed the HDD and everything was fine.

 

What's your minimum fan speed? My idle temps are around 52C and 1787RPM.

 

Mine usually sits at 1800 idle/low load. So, it's basically the same as you.

 

I returned my previous N56VZ because the screen was not pressed together properly. My new one is actually older, having been built in May instead of June, however the overall build quality seems better. My one concern is that after updating to BIOS 211 my wei scores are 7.6, 7.8, 7.0, 7.0, and 5.9. My previous computer built in June had 7.1 for both graphics scores on BIOS 204. I neglected to check what the scores on my new machine were with the previous BIOS. Does anyone else have the same score on BIOS 211?

 

The bios settings for ram, graphics, processor states are the same.

But the test will jump up and down depending on which intel graphics driver and nvidia profile settings are installed. And the WEI index really doesn't tell you anything useful about the actual performance of the system.. You could, for example, set -- like ASUS has actually done -- the memory in permanent high performance state, along with having the internal gpu set to max clocks (even with a dedicated card present), in order to accelerate the animated buttons on the taskbar, etc. Along with decreasing the threshold for switching to higher cpu-states, even when in battery-performance.

And that will give you a higher WEI index at the cost of battery. Or, it will make the temperatures higher during normal operation, without actually giving you any useful performance increase.

But it will remove the significant differences in the WEI index when running the computer in battery-saving mode and high performance mode. And that.. creates more happy customers, I guess?

 

Everything else being equal though, why does my new N56VZ have a lower graphics score by 0.1 and a higher RAM score by the same margin? Is there something wrong with my video card? Seems odd to me.

 

..a scale that goes from 0.1 to 7.9 is what's odd.

The scale also becomes steeper towards the end for some reason, and sub-scores appear to affect each other to a small degree. Besides, it runs a DirectShow test, so the performance of the test will vary depending on codecs and system updates installed. Never mind the location and size of the page-file. And it will depend on any activity on the desktop, even just a button being gloriously animated in Aero (or any amount of the invisible preview-controls for the taskbar - those will draw resources).

Look here:

PHP:

<Metrics>
<CPUMetrics>
<CompressionMetric units="MB/s">
534.76574
</CompressionMetric>
<EncryptionMetric units="MB/s">
260.13605
</EncryptionMetric>
<CPUCompression2Metric units="MB/s">
1446.57366
</CPUCompression2Metric>
<Encryption2Metric units="MB/s">
1782.63475
</Encryption2Metric>
<CompressionMetricUP units="MB/s">
101.96746
</CompressionMetricUP>
<EncryptionMetricUP units="MB/s">
65.68876
</EncryptionMetricUP>
<CPUCompression2MetricUP units="MB/s">
262.40222
</CPUCompression2MetricUP>
<Encryption2MetricUP units="MB/s">
420.61669
</Encryption2MetricUP>
<DshowEncodeTime units="s">
1.28656
</DshowEncodeTime>
</CPUMetrics>
</Metrics>

This is from the xml-fields in the winsat test for the cpu. I.e., a lot of the values depend on peak speeds (even if they say average - they're probably the average speed through the run of the test, from max to min).

And the encode part is 1.28 seconds long. This is so short it can vary from run to run if you have a reboot in between, etc. It also is different depending on the power-saving functions. And like I said, if the affinity for increasing the processor states is changed, tests that are set up like this - specially short tests that then count an average value between 0 and 100% - are going to be slightly different. And who knows how they're rounding up or down, right..?

Point is that the test is an indication of how things are running. It's not an accurate reflection of the performance of the system, or if the setup is set up the best way. When they designed it, I'm sure laptops weren't the first thing they thought of, for example.

 

Oh I see thanks. So I guess I shouldn't be concerned then? I really don't want to have to exchange this thing again. The only "fault" I can find so far is that the LCD is not centered in the bezel. I can see more black on the left side than the right side but I am willing to let that go. As long as I didn't get a lemon video card then I'll be happy.

 

I just realized that when I click on "view and print detailed information..." it lists the Intel chipset as the graphics processor. Is this why it says 7.0 instead of 7.1? How do I change this to the Nvidia chipset? Thanks!

 

Right click your desktop > Nvidia Control Panel > Manage 3D settings on the left > change Preferred graphics processor to the Nvidia card and apply. I'd change this back after the test though to re-enable smart switching. That may do it.

 

..you shouldn't "not be concerned", you shouldn't care at all

But I'm sure there's an application/exe in the windows/system32 folder that's called winsat, or something like that. If you right-click on it, you can set up a rule to have it run on the nvidia card instead of the integrated card. I think if you update the "profiles" from nvidia as well, it's actually set that way by default..

 

I got my N56 the last week and so far I'm loving it except for a few issues

1) Does anyone have issues with the Instant Key? It opens up without me pressing the button and it is really annoying. I restarted the PC a couple of times and it didn't work so I removed it completely. Now, Windows Media Centre is popping up without me pressing any buttons. Any idea how to solve this?

2) Gaming on this laptop is a breeze. But the Windows Index shows a comparatively lower figure for the graphics than those showed in the review. Do I need to update the drivers?

Overall this is a very solid laptop and I'm glad I got it

 

Well that's the default behaviour without any software installed, so to me that points to a hardware issue - some faulty connection in the button itself. Probably return or warranty repair is your only option here.

See up just a few posts for info on how to lock into using the nVidia card ... although I'm only getting 5.9 desktop, 6.7 3D I'm not too worried as I know the gaming performance is good.

 

I think I am the only one here who has a serious problem. A few days ago I started getting a kernel-power 41 error without a Stop error BugcheckCode. In other words, hard shutdown of the computer at completely random times. It's happened 3 days in a row at different hours of the day. I couldn't make head or tails of it. Microsoft says that your power supply must have enough wattage to handle installed devices. At the time of those 3 hard shutdowns, I had 2 external hard drives and one external optical drive connected. All of those devices have an internal power supply so I don't think that could be the problem. From my research, the primary cause of this kernel power error is bad drivers. I have the latest drives but to make sure, I restored the laptop to the original factory settings. Personally, I think the cause of this is my second external hard drive, which is enclosed in a Hornettek case. I skimmed through some forums and someone said that cheap usb devices can cause these problems.

Anyone has any thoughts on this?

 

I just got my laptop yesterday, but I have a question I haven't seen answered anywhere yet. I'm thinking about replacing the optical drive with a hard drive caddy, but what size of caddy do I need? 12.7mm or 9.5mm?

 

12.7mm ... I have used and recommend this:
SilverStone Technology Co., Ltd.- TS06

 

Thanks Bjammin

I was thinking of just getting this one 2nd SATA HDD SSD Hard Drive Bay Caddy for Laptops (12.7mm)|eBay

It's pretty cheap, but I guess it will do the job then?

 

Should be ok. The reason I like the silverstone kit is you get a working USB optical drive too.

 

Hey Nipsen - just FYI, I tried this way back when, several months ago, when we were first discussing the WEI graphics score issue (post clean install). It doesn't fix it.

I stupidly devoted hours and hours to tweaking settings and trying to get WEI to give the same graphics score that it reported out of the box but on my new SSD. Never did figure it out. WEI seems determined to run off integrated on a clean install (score 6.7). If I put the original drive back in, it reports 7.1.

The good news is that there is no actual 3d performance difference when you use *legit* benchmarks. 3dmark scores are exactly the same when running off either of my two drives. Even though it is annoying, I would advise you all to simply ignore WEI following a clean install.

Other than that, and the gaming lag when running off battery, this continues to be an excellent notebook.

 

how is this with Windows 8....i have been using Windows 8 RTM for some time now and I can't go back to Windows 7

 

I've been looking everywhere and I can't seem to find a place that sells the Silverstone kit that delivers to Denmark. The resellers Silverstone lists on their website doesn't even have it (looked through them all).

It would be nice to be able to use the optical drive after removing it, but meh

 

Works fine. Automatically detected Audio/WiFi/LAN/Webcam. Grab the Nvidia drivers from Nvidia, chipset drivers from Asus site, Intel display drivers from Intel, and keyboard/fn key program from Asus and you're good to go.

 

Well, that would work if the plastic cover (part of the bottom of the laptop) was not covering the screw. I can't undo the screw all the way out. I didn't want to break anything here unless you found a way to work around the plastic piece, I believe the entire cover needs to be removed. I just couldn't remove it either.

 

Nope, I said nothing of the sort. I'm not a gamer. I use the machine for photo and video processing, and as my business machine (IT).

It's gotten a little warm when I've been seriously multitasking, but nothing uncomfortable. Nothing like the AMD CoreDuo, or the ROG laptops I've come from.

I haven't had it long enough yet though to have completely run it through its paces. As of today, it's now got its SSD in it and set up with all the required software (incl Win7Pro) and imaged, so it will get run harder here soon. I did get copies of Dirt Showdown and Sleeping Dogs though with the machine, so I may load those and see how they do.

I can say there's definitely lag in FF at this point, but that could be the new update and the built in pdf reader with version 15 that's slowing me down. Other places I've noticed it is when accessing "External resources", network, or external drives, but it's intermittent, so I can't say I've found a cause yet, but I suspect AV.

 

Hey,... I discovered something last night. The Atheros WLAN is only connecting at 54Mbit.
I dropped back to the driver that it shipped with, because I didn't see any "N" options in the Device Properties, other than Adhoc 11n mode.
This is using driver 9.2.0.458

Is everyone else getting N capabilities on this card? Which driver version are you using?
Yes, my router is N capable (dual band in fact) and the ROG connects with its upgraded WLAN card (Intel 6300 if memory serves)

 

Sleeping Dogs runs great.
Skyrim runs well, BF3 is okay but not great for online MP, Arma 2 OA & DayZ are running well after lots of tweaking, The Walking Dead and MTGDOTP 2013 is perfect.

These are really the only games I've played on it and very happy so far. PS 135MHz core OC on the GPU makes all the difference and is 100% stable.

Here's a vid of me running Arma 2 OA on the machine with FRAPS recording (which slows the FPS)
Calling In Support - Blastcore, JSRS and ACE mods in Arma 2 Operation Arrowhead - YouTube

 

What settings do you use in Walking Dead? And what fps?

 

Tried the search option but nothing turned up. Has anyone tried playing Guild Wars 2 on this laptop? If so how's the performance? Heat? What kind of Fps are you getting? Thanks in advance!

 

Hello, I got my N56VZ 2 weeks ago, I also have a Asus Transformer Pad TF300T and I don't know how to use the USB Charger Plus ... Can someone explain to me how to use it ?

Also I have problem with USB 3.0 I have some external HDD which suppose to work faster with USB 3.0 and slower with 2.0(the speed is not very good) and I can't really understand nor find is it really using 3.0 or its sticking with 2.0 ?

Can someone help me ?

Thanks in advance.


Martin

 

It Auto-Detects, seems to be awesome quality and really smooth FPS. Looks incredible with great AA.

 

Holy Cow! As a non-gamer, you lost me after "Sleeping Dogs runs great. Skyrim runs well"

I'll just assume you mean it dun works good

In other news, I fixed my wireless problem.

I removed the atheros card (reserved in case it needs to be sent in for warranty) and installed the Intel 6300 agn dual band Nic that I'd upgraded my G51J with. Works almost as well, the biggest problem is that there's no grey antenna cable, so range isn't what it could be.

Yes, I said it. I changed the WLAN card. You can do it without disassembling the whole laptop, no extra screw removal at all in fact.

It takes intestinal fortitude and a gentle steady hand, but you can undo the screw that's partially covered by plastic. If you use the smallest Philips screwdriver you can get a grip on the head of the screw with, you can set it almost upright while you're loosening it. (The smaller the screwdriver head, usually the thinner the shank)

The screw is short enough that you can undo it, then gently lift the plastic blocking it from coming out while gently holding the WLAN card down, and it (the screw) will fall out. Then take that same tiny screwdriver, put it into the hole that didn't have a screw in it and pull the card straight down (towards you horizontally - assumes the HDD is on the left of card, and the ram is on the right.).

I threw a plastic guitar pick under where I was working to protect the board, in case I slipped.

Installation is the reverse of removal.

The reason it takes the intestinal fortitude is that it will put a small groove in the top plastic above the WLAN card, the shape of the screwdriver shank. It's barely noticeable, but you need to be able to commit to it. Keep in mind it's covered by the base cover anyway when the laptop is reassembled.

The reason for the gentle steady hand is that you have to make sure that you don't flex the thin plastic enough to crack it. Just enough is lots.

 

Oh man! You're insane ;-)) Insanely good! I wasn't bold enough to get this far but I never thought that using smaller screwdriver would work.
Awesome dude! I'm gonna do it right away ....!
Thanks so much for sharing!

 

Yo!
So, I just tried and was able to replace the adapter. Now, drivers version did you find? I have an intel N6205. It install properly but in device manager, it won't start (code 10). driver is 15.2.0 from intel. grrr. I used this adapter in a different laptop and it was working at that time. maybe it's not supported on this laptop yet?! thoughts?