C90s Faq/kil

Zachfella suggested that we make an FAQ covering all of the common inquiries about the C90S, and a few people agreed with him, in addition, I realise that there are some issues that don't fit into one question or another, but are issues nonetheless, so I am making a KIL. Here we go:

Many questions are already answered in my review.

Also be sure to check out Eddie from BTOTech's review

You can also find the new BIOS here

And the Owner's Lounge is a great place to ask questions.


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How much does the C90S cost?
--From 969-1000 dollars, barebones, parts can be found on newegg.com or from the resellers. You can build one with pretty good parts for about 1500 USD.

What about warranty?
--Since it is not a full system, Asus does not provide a warranty on it. You should be able to buy warranties (though one year usually comes standard) from the reseller you bought from. The individual parts usually also have warranties from their manufacturers (i.e. the Core 2 Duo processor would be warrantied by Intel, etc.).

What kind of video card does the C90 have?
--The C90 usually comes standard with an nVidia GeForce 8600M GT with 512MB of DDR2 RAM clocked at 475 (core) and 400 (memory). There are resellers that are giving the option of an 8500M with 256MB of video memory (thanks to jbizzler). The C90 can accept any MXM-II type video card, though (more information here). Possibly also Arima Specials.

Don't the Conroe processors get awfully hot?
--Yes and No. Compared to mobile processors, they do get a bit hotter. However, compared to other desktop processors they are very cool. The C90 minimises tempratures using the Turbo Engine fan system, which is very effective. Even in overclocking modes, the CPU temperatures have not yet been an issue.

What is the battery life?
--First, if you need to ask this question, maybe the C90, or any notebook in its class, is not for you. It gets about 90 minutes of battery life, give or take maybe 10 minutes. (One member has fully calibrated his battery, but has not had time to do the necessary tests yet to nail down an exact range.) He has done one test which gave this:

Thanks swoley!

What is the Turbo Engine?
--It is a set of four well sized fans, situated at the back of the notebook and connected to an advanced cooling pipe system within the notebook, used to keep the desktop processor and an overclocked GPU cool and stable. So far we have had no problems with it. It does get loud sometimes, but only when doing processor intensive tasks, and then usually only in overclocking mode. When idle, or doing light tasks, like using the internet or word processing, the computer is very quiet.

What is Turbo Gear?
--It is a program included with the C90 that overclocks the system with the touch of a quicklaunch button. It is derived from Asus' other laptops' Power4Gear, which is used to increase battery life by downclocking the processor and decreasing screen brightness (amongst other things). For the Conroe E6700, there is Gaming mode which overclocks the CPU (specifically the FSB) by 10 percent, allowing a max speed of 2.93 GHz. With Conroe E6600 and below, there is the gaming mode, which is a 10 percent boost to the FSB (CPU speed = FSB/4 * multiplier) and also the overclocking mode, which gives a 20 percent increase in FSB speed. The max speed obtained this way (E6600 in overclocking mode) is 2.88 GHz. The Turbo Engine makes sure all of this goes very smoothly.

What are the best scores for 3DMark so far?

--In 3DMark06, with an E6700 overclocked to 2929, and with the GPU overclocked to 500/550 on the latest drivers which allow overclocking (158.45), gets 3735 on the Basic Edition settings (no AA, no AF, 1280x1024).
With the same settings, but on 1024x768 it gets 4715.

How long is the waiting list for the C90?
--Most resellers have already processed the vast majority of the preorders, and Asus sends a new batch of units weekly. If you order now your unit will likely ship in 1-2 weeks (max). It is always better to ask the reseller personally though, as every one has a different situation.

What should I do with my C90 once I get it?
A clean install of Windows (preferably Vista) is recommended, you can then install the drivers automatically from the supplied discs, and choose the utilities you want from the same disc. In addition head over to www.laptopvideo2go.com and install the latest VGA drivers. The latest that allow overclocking (which I recommend) are 158.45. The latest overall are 163.11, however you CAN NOT overclock with those. if you are having problems downloading from them, copy the link location and paste it into the browser, make sure the root address is "download.laptopvideo2go.com" and not "www.laptopvideo2go.com." if it is the latter, simply change it to the former and you should be good to go. I also recommend installing speedfan to check your temperatures and cpu-z to check your other system stats. For overclocking I recommend RivaTuner.


What is the deal with the BIOS?

Thanks to Tin_Zero


Known Issues:

--Some C90s have been getting blue screens, heat has been ruled out. It could be any of the following:
::Incompatible RAM (notebook RAM with a desktop proc, possibly asking for trouble)

::BIOS glitch (seems to not have been alleviated even with two BIOS updates)

::Operating System error (I have noticed a lot of these are with Windows XP)

::While heat has been ruled out, proper air circulation has not. It is possible that the Turbo Engine controllers do not interact well with some setups.


--There is an issue with freezing or equipment malfunction when switching from AC to battery mode. (This is likely a problem with the BIOS or TurboGear, some users get blue screens, I personally have problems with my wireless card)

::Wireless card issues only occur (for me), if I switch while transmitting data. The only way to fix it is to restart (however, I believe it is possible to enable it using the BIOS hotkeys as well, I have yet to test this.)

 

nice work friend

 

This is a great idea and will help a lot of people.

 

Ive said numerous times, it could be heat. My reasoning is that every test I do with a fan blowing keeping everything cool it works fine in overclock mode. EVERY test ive done without it locks up in overclock mode.

I have already tried:

512mb ddr 667 stick
1gb ddr 533 stick
1gb ddr 667 stick
2gb ddr 667 stick
1gb ddr 667 stick (different from the first)

A different HDD (5400rpm 120gb vs 7200rpm 160gb)

I have also tried many many other things, all of which are listed in other threads.

The ONLY, I repeat, the ONLY thing I can get to consistently work is to cool everything with a fan...even with the fan on LOW.

 

updated with setup Q

updated again with respect to swoley's comments.

I do believe that your issue and Vicious' issue may not be the same, so I put all of the reasons, even though each of you eliminated some of them in your specific case.

 

OH CRAP! SORRY ALEX! THE BATTERY LASTED 1 HOUR 24 MINUTES just sitting at the desktop with screen saver turned off and ALL POWER SAVING FUNCTIONS turned off. I mean ALL of them included brightness all the way up, no turning off components and all that. It was in Vista Ultimate x64. It was left open also. Remember, this was with the e6700 but running at 1.6ghz due to speedstep. 3gb Ram, 160gb 7200.2 seagate. Also, this was with the battery calibrated as such:

I never used the battery before and it was still in plastic wrap. I unplugged laptop, let it cool all the way down, put in battery, plugged power into back of laptop, placed laptop on flat surface, then plugged in power to wall. I allowed it to charge with laptop off (I dont know how full or empty the battery was from factory because i didn turn laptop on to check). I didnt touch the laptop until the orange charge light went off. I then unplugged power adapter from wall, removed battery, let it cool all the way down. Then I installed battery into unplugged laptop, plugged in power cord to back of laptop, then plugged power into wall. I turned on the laptop, went straight into bios and started battery calibration. When it got to point when it asked to unplug ac power, I pulled power chord from back of laptop and it started drain. I let it drain UNTOUCHED with laptop lid open. I watched a movie on my tv while it drained so i would know AS SOON as it finished draining and turned off. As soon as it turned off, i removed battery and sat it upright on its side vertically on a jar and aimed a small house fan on it and waited for it to cool completely down. I then pulled the still plugged in ac adapter from the wall, put the battery into the unplugged laptop, plugged the ac power into back of laptop, then plugged ac into wall. I allowed it to charge overnight untouched and off. this mroning when i got up i unplugged ac from wall, ac from laptop, then removed battery. The battery has been sitting on my wodden desk untouched sense. I explained all this to show that I calibrated the battery the best way possible.

 

The "8500" has 256mb of RAM. Google the "90-C1CJ90-HXBN00Z". I believe it's really just the 8600M GS. The source of that name is a doc for the C90S I found dated before the 8M release, so the names are a little off. The same document lists the 8600M GT we know about simply as 8600.

http://www.rjtech.com/manual/c90s.pdf

 

Perfectly done

 

thanks, I did see that the reseller had it listed as an 8500 though...maybe they were basing that off of the QVL as well.

 

Thanks Alex, this is going to be very useful; hopefully it can be added to over time. I could see a great C90 community growing over time

 

And the 165.01 driver does not allow gpu overclocking?

 

Not to my knowledge.

 

where can i find vista for cheap?

 

omg another c90 thread :/ this really should have just been tied into one of the exsisting ones.

 

newegg oem version is cheapest with media

 

This is a thread to consolidate the other ones. Basically there are two reviews, which I believe everyone can agree on having a thread, then there is the Owner's Lounge, which is always good, and then there is this thread, which consolidates the information from those threads for potential buyers.

 

There's about a dozen + G1 threads, I don't see why we can't have a few also

 

okay thanksss

 

I may have an answer to the lockup problem in a moment...

 

I am able to overclock with the 163.11 drivers.. wich are supposed to be the best ones.

 

vista or did you find soem for xp somewhere? make sure the gpu clocks "stick" cause if you close the page in riva tuner youll notice them change back as the window closes.

 

I dunno I saw that I have the option, let me test it and see if they actually stick. Im running 3dmark 05 right now @ stock for my review. After that tho I'll try a run with an overclock and see what happens.

Vista x64 btw.

 

Some info I didn't see listed in the faq:

Included driver disc has both Vista and XP drivers, minus wireless

C90S comes with BIOS V401 currently, which reads memory speed at DDR2 533/PC4300

CPU recreaves much less cooling then GPU

Right hand rest gets very hot if using a HDD with more then 5200rpm

 

its the left actually and ddr2-667 does show at ddr2-533 pc2-4300 AND ddr2-533 as pc2-3200

 

Yeah looks like your right, the options to change them is there but when you hit apply it resets to stock. Thats ok tho, id not want to run it in an overclocked state and would prefer the better performance at the same settings.

However so far my test show 3dmark05 went up a good amount, but 3dmark06 has not changed from the stock drivers.

 

just now I was able to get HALF way through 3dmark06 without any extra cooling. What I did was disable vanderpool tech under the cpu tab in the bios as well as the c1e option and the one right under that (i forgot the name). when it got to the first cpu test the orange bars were filling up and it was loading but man it was loading....slow. I waited for five minutes and it didnt go. i pressed escape and the windows keys a thousand times and eventually got back to the desktop. disabling these features seems to make the fans work right. when i go into gaming mode the fans speed up as soon as the cpu gets load but the fans now slow down and speed up while running 3dmark instead of just staying up like before.....the cpu temp stayed under 80 degrees and was mostly at 77 and 78.....disabling these features makes the cpu report 2.66 instead of the downclocked 1.6....maybe it has somethng to do with the jump from 1.6 to 2.93...or the turbo gear software, or the cpu options in bios....or a combination of them all....

 

UGH...i just restarted and tried it a few times....now its acting just like before....im almost 100% certain its something overheating now....

 

Ah, I didn't know about the issue with ddr2-533 being read at pc2-3200. Good thing bios v502 fixes the issue

Also was wondering why "preferably Vista" should be used? Is their some major issue running XP I havn't heard of yet?


More info missing from the faq:

If ordering from Gentech (one of the most popular C90S suppliers) they use Nanya brand RAM by default, as it is one of the types approved by ASUS.

Firmware V502 fixes the incorrect RAM speed, V704 supposedly fixes some memory compatibility issues but clocks the memory speed back to 533 and as a result has been reported to load the OS slower.

Unit will not post if 2x2gb sticks are used. Use 1x3gb and 1x2gb if you wish to max out the systems memory.

 

Well, three things Tin, thanks for the input:

--The information about the drivers is in the reviews, the CPU temp actually controls the Turbo Engine, so technically it is getting more cooling, even though it is farther from the fans and has fewer heatpipes. Lastly, the left palm rest is where the HDD is.