Forge's Guinea Pig G51

Reserved Space

 

Probably against my better judgment I purchased the G51 from Best Buy, with the end goal of upgrading it.

The G51 is sitting in the corner still in its box. I'm not going to open it until I have the parts I want to upgrade with.

But that's the catch. If you've read my previous posts, I'm pretty much an incompetent when it comes to picking out hardware that will or will not work.

So I'm asking the people who know about it than me.

First and foremost, would something like this QX9300 work? It's very powerful, but I think I remember reading somewhere that the BIOS might not be compatible with it.

In that case, anyone familiar with Q9000-Q9200 processors, including the ES models?

Are there any suggestions/links people can give me? See, I'm perfectly willing to be a test subject, but I'd rather it not blow up on me after I turn it on.

 

Q9000 should work, in some cases you can manually mod the bios, but i wouldnt see a reason that qx shouldnt work, and i think the processor cooling is sufficient.

Good luck with it by the way, i look forward to how this progresses.

 

I'm rather not try a Q9000, if for no other reason than the A1 variant will come standard with it. I might as well really make this future-roof, you know?

Anyway, I'm looking for a general consensus before I send my money off to eBay. Will the QX9300, specifically the one I linked, work?


And anything that involved "modding" and "bios" in the same sentence is a no-go for me. I'm not that savvy.

 

Going to bump this.

I'm about two clicks away from bidding on QX9300, but I'm still wondering if anyone knows if this will work for the G51.

 

It should, one online retailer offers it as a option on the G51Vx-A1 which is exactly the same as the BB version G51 which has the lower res screen and underpowered CPU as you probably already know all to well.
Let us know how it goes.

 

Don't hold your breaths at the moment, heh.

Still have to wait for the bidding to close and have it shipped to me... which looks to aroundabout seven to eight days from right now.

But thanks for the moral and technical support, people.

 

Uh oh...

I hope he's just unlucky.

 

Most likely a faulty processor or he installed it wrong (somehow lol). The only other thing I can think of is that it is overheating while it is attempting to start up windows which doesn't seem very likely.

 

Seeing as I don't know much about modifying a laptop, I could well install it wrong too. Heh.

But I'm getting pretty much unanimous confirmation that the QX9300 will work for the G51.

Waiting, waiting, waiting.

 

yep

no QX9300 this time.... http://www.xoticpc.com/asus-g51vxa1-p-2595.html?wconfigure=yes

look at the CPU options

 

How odd. Could've sworn it was there yesterday.

GenTech says otherwise.

In any case, GenTech offering it means compatibility. Damn, don'tscare me like that.

 

Moving to main ASUS forum (the precise purpose of this thread is not very clear to me).

 

Lol, watch the laptop be DOA after all of your other parts arrive.

 

Oh, not a cool thought man. I'll probably unbox soon and run some tests to make sure I have normal temperatures.


And the purpose of the thread will be, once I get everything installed, a review of the G51 once it has been modified to carry a better processor. I'll request a move once I get things done and photos taken.

 

Eh question... Won't the comp be burning up? I know that the G51 is not a cool laptop to start with. Now adding a QX9300 I think that is a little to much there.

Also it will be better to buy a new laptop 2 years also. Because nothing is really future proof. Seriously if you are getting it for gaming, the GPU isn't even SLI.

 

I keep laptop cooler on whenever I game--which is probably going to be the hottest and most strenuous thing I use my laptop for--and I'll be sure to use AS5 when I paste it. Honestly, though, the temperatures don't look too frightening.

As for future proofing, well, if I can get my laptop Crysis on very high/high setting with good res and fluid frames, I think I'm set. I'm easy to please. If a game two or three years down the road forces me to medium at the same resolution, I'm cool with it.

Edit: Gah. The bids for the QX9300 jumped from $150 this morning to $302 as of right now. I'm still in the lead though.

 

Well it does support Quad's and they all have the same thermal budget 45W.
So if it can tame a Q9000, Q9100 a QX9300 should not be a problem.
Will it run hotter? Yes
Will the heat effect the already hot running GFX card? More than likely but not too much.
The CPU temps are fine when using a Core 2 Duo so a Quad should run a little warmer but shouldn't pose a problem.
Just speculation of course, we will have to see how it performs once the retail version comes out.
Me i would be more worried about the heat coming from the second HD in the retail version, I wonder if you could option only one with it.

 

Ken from GenTech gave a roundabout answer that, yes, a QX9300 will work fine for a Best Buy G51vx.

 

I think an SSD should help lower that heat though( if you choose to go that way)

 

Not necessarily.... depending on the brand and model of the SSD, it can run 10C hotter than a mechanical HDD

 

Yea, SSDs in general don't generate less heat.

 

Really? Wow, I was thinking quite the opposite.

I thought SSD's were substantially lower in heat then regular HDD

 

Now you know

Here's an example:

WD 320GB from my Asus U6V:


G.Skill 256GB SSD from my Dell Precision M2400:

 

Pretty simple to explain, in a harddrive the only part generating heat is the motor.
The PCB generates a small amount of heat.

In a SSD every memory chip gets warm (Think about your USB drive).

Learux

 

Very interesting! DAvid. Thanks learux as well.

I guess i learned something new today.

 

I noticed that the SSD had a much much lower minimum transfer rate than the HDD also the SSD seems to take a lot more CPU usage than the HDD is this normal for an SSD as well?

 

Yes and no. The HDTune tests I did were performed to give a rough estimate of what the drive's performance is like. Note that these tests were performed on different notebooks with different background apps running. Also, these benchmarks were ran in different operating systems.

On a similar note, the G.Skill Titan 256GB i am using is MLC and actually 2x128GB put together in RAID with the infamous JMicron chip. Other SSDs not using JMicron chips and SLC SSDs will tend to perform better.

Here's another HD Tune test I did while typing this post:

 

All right, people, a couple of days from now and I'll be ready to experiment.

Judging from the experiences of other people, it probably will end up as fail, but who knows?

 

Negative CPU usage eh?

 

I look forward to reading your review

Yup, my CPU was chilling with a margarita instead of working hard for me

All joking aside, the -1.0% CPU usage has something to do with the RAID controller on my Dell (not exactly sure what though).

 

Forge did you get your CPU?

 

I won it, for a grand total of $442. I'm waiting for it to be shipped.

 

That's great!
Will be eagerly waiting for updates.
Good Luck!
If you need any help let me know, I'm no computer engineer or anything but I will try and help with my limited knowledge........ It should be pretty straight forward swap.
Don't forget a good thermal compound!

 

"Will usually ship within 1 business day of receiving cleared payment."

Been more then twenty-four hours, and not so much as a peep from him. I swear to God if I have to go through eBay/Paypal to resolve something...

 

Scratch that, it's been shipped.

All right, time to unbox the G51 and stress it a bit.

 

Hehe, yes stress the computer not the opperator.

Good luck, I can't wait to see the fruits of your labors.

When we get a report of a mushroom cloud off the coast of Cali I will know that you pushed that lil G51 too hard.

 

Well, if that happens--God forbid--the G50vt-X6 will be there to comfort me.

Anyway, first-class mail should be coming relatively quickly.

 

All right. Tracking confirms the package a couple of cities over as of this moment. After work tomorrow I'll get cracking. Wish me luck.

 

Good Luck Forge! Looking forward to see this baby with Quad

 

Best of luck.

 

Yes, good luck! I'm specially interested cuz I'm planning on doing the same!!
And I'm no expert modding computers neither.

 

Hope it works dude. Wouldnt mind upgrading the CPU whenever I get one for myself.

 

Well #$^$%&&$^$. It didn't show up today.

Well, tomorrow, then.

 

bump.........................

 

Looking forward to your results forge, I just ordered a t9800 for my g51. I have to wait till the end of the week for my laptop and processor though!!

 

Hey Forge,

Did you get your cpu yet?
Let us know the upgrade result.

Thanks!

 

this this this this

 

hmmm Forge is strangely silent

Were there any sightings of mushroom clouds in So. Cal

 

Haha I do not think so, but perhaps he is in process of swapping them right now!!! and/or melting his new G51