G50V-A1 Exposed!

So I finally got around to doing something I did not have time to do for my review. Take the unit apart and share some high res photo's of the inside of the unit and show how it all works.

In doing this I was able to answer some questions that have been floating around, and also prevent some questions from being asked.

So here it is for your enjoyment Asus G50V-A1 Pronz!



Hard Drives

Q: What kind/brand of Hard Drive(s) does the A1 come with?
A: Western Digital 250gb Scorpio 5400rpm, Two of them.



Q: Do you need to change the jumpers for full speed?
A: I guess the A2 has some jumpers on the drives it uses that will tell the HDD to run at 1.5mb/s or 3.0mb/s (AKA SATA I or SATAII) these drives had no jumpers that I could see, so do not trouble yourself to remove the drives to make this change.

Q: How do I remove the hard drives?
A: Four screws hold down the cage, you slide it back and away from the notebooks interface connections first and then lift it up and out of the space. From there you can unscrew the cage that holds the drive in place.


RAM

Q: Does the A1 support DDR3 RAM?
A: No, the slots for DDR3 are different than DDR2, the A1 does not have more than 2 slots for ram and they are both occupied with 2gb So-Dimm DDR2 800mhz modules.




GPU




Wireless

Q: Can I upgrade the stock Wifi Link 5100 to the 5300?
A: Yes! The size is the same I have been told the only difference is you need 3 wires to use it for antenna hook up rather than 2, the A1 has the 3rd wire already there for you to use its taped onto the card and on stand by.




The what the heck does that do vent

Q: What is that big orange vent/grill under the notebook? Is it a speaker? A vent? Should I open it up by removing the sticker over it?
A: Ahh the big question and the main reason I took the time to make this thread and take these pictures for you.

I did the detective work and have drawn my professional opinion on what this vent is and what it does. It looks like it was at one time designed to be a main system intake vent. Right under it is the system fan that cools the entire notebook. If that vent was open it would probably dramatically increase the amount of cool air the vent can pull in and thus better cooling to the gpu, cpu & southbridge.

However my answer is Do Not Uncover the Vent
Why? Well if you take the time to analyze the entire unit and its layout you will see all the smaller sub vents on the bottom and notice that they are all located above some important components. Having the main intake vent blocked means that all of the fresh cool air will be drawn in over these places instead keeping the rest of the system cooler and in better operating conditions. Even with this setup the GPU & CPU stay very cool, so I see no reason to unblock this vent it would only raise the temps of the rest of the system for no reason. If you want to test it by all means feel free but I consider it totally un-necessary.

To make this easier for you to see I took the time to make a very informative picture to visually display what I mean.



Hope that helps clear up some of the confusion and give you a better look of whats under the hood of this killer machine.

 

great exposition (for the lack of a better word )

repped.

Edit: Not that you need it.

 

Nice post, First pic seems to be dead, I click it, and it takes me to a page, but no enlarged pic, only a little square box with an X

EDIT, Actually having problems with all the pics except the 2nd one.

I would try www.Imageshack.com

 

You maybe got in there right when I had to go change them, I forgot to blur out my windows license

this server is great because it lets me post full 2600x1600 res images and auto creates thumbnails and links, but the last few weeks it has been slower and sometimes down.

 

Vicious: most excellent post, dude!

or should that be: "sir, i salute you, sir!"

 

What kind of difference is there between the 5100 and 5300 anyway? Would it even be worth changing the card?

 

Hmm that system actually makes more sense now. Instead of rushing air into one area, it pulls air from several different places on the laptop. That explains it not sounding like a jet engine despite having a 9700M GT in it... but that also means gaming from your lap without a laptop cooler would be a baaaad idea =P So in a way, you have two ways of cooling. Passive intake of air for cooling and the heatsink with fan taking in smaller yet significant enough amount of air to cool the sink and move air out through the exhaust.

 

5300
* supports up to 450mbps bandwidth
* 3 antennas

5100
* supports up to 300mbps bandwidth
* 2 antennas


source: http://www.intel.com/network/connectivity/products/wireless/adapters/5000/index.htm

 

Can intel turbo memory 2.0 be added later?

 

Not that I know of, you can use a usb flash drive or something if you want.

However your question is like asking "Can I make my oatmeal with motor oil?" because the real answer is it doesn't matter why would you?

4gb of system ram makes turbo memory useless and it may actually slow you down.

 

Good point. I was just wondering whether it does. Every laptop seems to accommodate it for whatever reason.

 

The reason is mostly hype, I expect.

 

Yes, it makes Turbo Memory 1.0 useless.

TURBO MEMORY 2.0, on the other hand, a big difference.

Take a read

http://www.powernotebooks.com/articles/index.php?action=fullnews&id=74

 

Well... allow me to be skeptical until I see real-life reviews with a significant performance boost due to the 2.0 version.

 

There have been a few guys claiming it cuts start times for some big programs like photoshop in half and that it is a major improvement over 1.0 . Anyway great post Vicious.

 

Oh those nudie shots are pretty hawt.

 

Very informative, and nice illustrations. This is definitely rep worthy. I appreciate all your hard work you've been doing for NBR on your G50V. I have a sad feeling deep down inside I may have to use your pictures for reference one day, but thank god I have one!

 

I appreciate all the feedback guys, I hope everybody is really enjoying the new notebooks.

@Hi2u - I have Photoshop CS3 and it opens in a matter of seconds, so even if the claim is true that it cuts the time in half thats a different way of saying it really doesnt do anything

 

Great post, very informative!

I have one question though, at my retailer I can get a version of the G50 (model AS019K) which has only one HDD. Do you think the RAID controller is still on the motherboard so I could install a second HDD later on? If I end up choosing that model that is.

 

Thanks a bunch Vicious, great thread. Nice to know what it looks like inside and incase I ever need to open her up I will know what to expect.

 

I would expect the controller to be there, it would be more expensive for them to manufacture two types of motherboards for the same computer. But I am certainly not sure, so you should wait for confirmation. Search around in the forums, I think some people with the 1-HDD G50 did try putting in another HDD. I don't remember now whether they succeeded.

 

One of the reasons why I was hesitant about removing that piece.

Another reason is dust... more openings means more ways of dust to get in. (Not that we can completely stop it from getting in.)

 

So all the fans on the bottom are intake? Is it reasonable to buy that Antec Cooler that blows air to the bottom of the laptop? I currently bought a G50v-X1 and I was worried about it heating up.

 

Its a cool running notebook in my opinion but I do always use my cooling pad with it to keep it even cooler and to tilt it up so its easier to type on.

I have the Zalman NC1000.

Id say any high end notebook with gaming in mind naturally makes good friends with a cooler.

 

Fantastic! Thank you!

 

dude vicious, u are the sh!t

lol do u like fairy oddparent? (watevr they are called???) cuz my younger bro watches that all day and i remember that guy who like arnold schwazeernniigerr

 

I like Arnold, and I have 4 young kids so I have to watch kids cartoons all day. When this one comes on and he is in it, it just brightens my day. Plus as a former Marine I used to wear a uniform similar to how he is dressed so its very fitting

Now stop typing and do 200 wand-ups now!

 

Thanks for the tip on the vents and im looking at getting the Zalman NC2000 when my tax rebate gets here thanks to your 1000. Ive never seen anything like it.