Barebones Building- Asus C90s! | NotebookReview

ziggo0 Notebook Consultant

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Well, since I've moved out I had to sell my rig to afford a deductible for a car accident and I was left with an old Athlon XP/512mb RAM/Ti 4200 rig. I haven't been able to game or do much since then - until now.

I decided to go with the Asus C90s barebone setup for a few reasons. It provides a great screen for gaming, 15.4" WSXGA+ (1680x1050), good CPU choice options such as the e6600! (Yes, a desktop CPU), a MXM II Module for future GPU upgradablity - I know a 8800 won't fit in there unless Asus pulls a rabbit out of their hat for this one but I'm banking on the 9600 series in the future, superior cooling compared to other laptops - it has a row of 4x60mm fans in the back that are actually quite quiet, and last but not least, overclocking - It has 2 modes, 10% OC & 20% OC - 2.93Ghz sounds nice.... This is all automatic however BUT! Stablity testing is still possible. Oh...one last thing. Due to the space I've moved into...the size is very delightful. No more big bad desktop chillin on a dresser...plus lanning will be a wonder.

The final specs I have worked out for this laptop are the following:

Barebones: Asus C90s (duh!)
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo e6600
RAM: 2x1gb Super Talent PC5400 DDR2 667
GPU: nVidia 8600m GT 256mb GDDR3 MXM II
HDD: Western Digital 5400rpm 160gb (I plan on using the eSata port or network storage as well)

All in all, all parts but the CPU are currently ordered. I purchased most from eWiz.com, the 8600 from eBay (eWiz stopped carrying the GDDR3 verision when I went to order...) and the CPU from here! This call came out to be less than $1,300. I think that is pretty good for a performance laptop that will kick in gaming.

Something else I just read - in the production version of the notebooks, manual overclocking will be available through the BIOS. I can't wait!