Get a V1S with GDDR3: import it from europe??!!

Well, I don't know the reason for this but the US and european versions of the V1S have the same specs excepted that the US version has a Geforce 8600M GT with 512MB of DDR2 and some of the european version are advertised with 256MB of GDDR3...I'm going to ask confirmation on that point with the different resellers. Starting here and here.

Well...and this for the same price. Let's do the math:
For example the french V1S is advertised for 1589Euro comprising the very heavy french taxes (19%). Only local state taxes (about 5%) has to be payed for i mport into the USA. Then we get finally 1366Euros = 1,870$. Ok you have to add the shipping and probably change the keyboard and buy a new electrical cord for the power supply (radioshack for few bucks) but it's just about the price of the V1S in the USA but with a 8600M GDDR3 instead of the cheaper DDR2!

Maybe import and all of that is not worth it but it's so annoying of not having the option in the US.

edit: laptopspirit.fr (first link above) confirmed the V1S w/ 8600M 256MB GDDR3. They got the info straight from Asus France.

 

It could take a long time for you to receive that laptop. Customs and international freight may take weeks.

 

Well, for now the V1S is available in the US just for pre-ordering...
So, In these conditions I can hope to get if for the end of august-early september anyway.
Some european resellers have the V1S(GDDR3) almost right away:
Another one here found by Jabberwocky at notebook.de where the specs are somehow customizable!

Or maybe all of that is just mistyping and V1S+GDDR3 does not exist...

 

It may be a mistyping, no one would know until they've been actually released and people take it apart and clock it.

 

I think that it is weird that nobody knows what that V1S is made of before the average consumer decide to look in it by himself!

Asus doesn't publish any clear detailed specs of at least the different configs to expect with a V1S.
Retailers in general (in charge of the commercial relationship with customers) seem barely know how to spell correctly their F** products...and most of people does not really care anyway of what they have for their bucks...arghhh what a sunday!

For that much money, I don't want a load of DDR2!

 

Notebook.de wrotes 512MB of DDR3, wich is likely DDR3 800 that will perform exactly the same as DDR2 800

 

^I think that makes more sense. They wouldn't want to release a business class notebook that performs better or on par with the G1s. Nobody would be the G1s then

 

I think the G1S hasn't seen an european release though

Yeah the V1S looks su much better.

 

I would've bought a V1s if it came out about a month earlier. For a lot of us college kids, we probably would've bought a V1s, but unfortunately we wouldn't be able to get it in time.

 

i am really disappointed that the US version of V1s cant come with GDDR3. i've been waiting for this, so i didnt have to buy Dell.

 

Never heard about that and I would need more explainations on this.

If it is GDDR3 at 2x400 (800), does it it mean that the card is downclocked a lot and it can be easily clocked higher back to 2x700Mgz. Right?

 

No if it's written DDR3 it's DDR3, if it's written GDDR3, it's GDDR3 1400 (for the 8600 GT)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GDDR3

GDDR3 is DDR2 with a better heat/power consumptions so it can reach very high frequencies (the highest video card stock clock is 2400mhz I think) while DDR2 maximum is arround 1300mhz.

It is in NO way related to DDR3. DDR3 has very high cas latency right now so even if it'd at 1400mhz, it won't perform like GDDR3 at the same speed

GDDR4 is even better, (Quad Data Rate!)

 

It's a very real possibility that all the V1Ses are DD2 VRAM, and that the resellers have got the specs wrong...

 

It is not just possible, it is a fact.

I got the V1S here in Germany and it's definitely DDR2 running at 400MHz.

Check out this thread for more information: http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=14374

Thread can be closed

 

Interesting news about the V1S and MXM! Nice to see that there's a chance that it may be upgradable. Let us know if you find any more info . Do you know if the V1S could take one of the graphics modules ASUS have released for the C90?

 

Unfortunately not, because the C90 uses REAL MXM, the V1S some kind of reverse MXM.

There could be a chance to upgrade with a G1S card, however, but i don't know what the G1S card looks like so this is just a guess.

 

Thanks for the explanations JCMS!
DDR3 instead of GDDR3 is another pitfall for the average consumer that I am.
You mentionned that DDR3 is not as good as GDDR3 but is there any advantage of the DDR3 over the DDR2?

However I'm pushing a little bit further before placing my order for one with a crappy DDR2 or 3 . I've emailed resellers all around about the V1S VRAM. I'll let you know what they say. So far, one replied me DDR2(@667 MHZ), or 8400M (probably with GDDR3)...

 

It's like this:

- 8600M GT in V1S DDR2 VRAM
- 8400M in V1S GDDR3 VRAM

DDR3 has little to do with GDDR3. DDR3 is the new Ram Standard, not VRAM.

 

It's like this:

- 8600M GT in V1S DDR2 VRAM
- 8400M in V1S GDDR3 VRAM

DDR3 has little to do with GDDR3. DDR3 is the new Ram Standard, not VRAM.

 

disappointed, come on asus give american customers GDDR3 please

 

NO customers will get the V1S with GDDR3. Sorry for saying this.

 

shoot, thx maati, does DDR2 overclock well?

 

Overclocks from 400MHz to 500MHz. The GPU overclocks from 475MHz to about 640MHz.

This means you can nearly reach the performance of the 8700M GT.

 

More and more interesting! And there's still some hope left!

I've asked laptopspirit.fr where they got this info of the V1S coming with GDDR3 and they replied me that they got that straight from Asus France. They told me that each country is free to make whatever configuration they like but as a disclaimer laptopspirit told me also that they did not check the config by themselves.

 

hey,

I just called notebook.de
because they also listed the C90 with DDR3, however the made a mistake and it's definitley DDR2...like all the other "DDR3 listed notebooks" from Asus expect the G1s.

EDIT: now they corrected it...

 

Except that the 8700M GT has 512MB of GDDR3 1600,

 

you can... but can the notebook-cooling handle this? i assume that the temperature is going to increase when you overclock...

 

I never saw a notebook that could not handle high overclock speeds. There is no problem at all. Of course, it will get warmer.

 

Does anyone knows the difference between DDR2 and GDDR2 as mentionned to be in the V1S german version here: http://www.forumdeluxx.de/forum/showthread.php?t=387290

 

It's a typing error.

I think GDDR2 does exist but it's based on DDR1 so it sucks greatly

 

I overclocked my Dell 1520 to the max it could handle without artifacts, It just reached the levels the G1s was doing at stock.

 

Yesterday or today nexus.com has just corrected its GDDR3 into a DDR3...one more V1S without GDDR3!

 

You got the memory from 400 to 700 mhz?

 

I corrected the typing error. It was copied from a Zepto datasheet, sorry.

 

Nexus still don't state the type of 8600 (i.e. GS or GT). They also still say there's 256mb VRAM (which isn't consistent with the DDR2 version).

 

No I got the memory to 550mhz and the core to 680mhz, I got the same scores as the G1s in 3dMark06, I returned it in the end because I hated the machine in general, I was still very happy with the GPU's performance though.

 

okay, but if you add AA/high res the 1400mhz will proves itself victorious though.

But it might not be that big, the desktop 8600GT takes AA/Res better than the 7800GTX 256 (clocked way lover than the GTX 512btw) while the GTX has 1200mhz @256bit versus 1400mhz@128bit

 

@matt_h1 Your overclocking capabilities are AMAZING!

I got 640/500 GPU/Ram with Zepto 6625WD and 585/475 with the V1S. Pretty low....

 

the Dell 1520 is Huge, it disapates alot of heat.

 

This is probably its advantage...

 

The 1520 has DDR3 800 though so it can be clocked higher than DDR2 800

 

No it has not.

 

I don't know about the 1520, but those guys seem to sell a V1S with DDR3.
http://www.notebook.de/index.php?section=shop&group=522&productid=7889

 

Dell advertised DDR3 and when you go with Rivaturner it says DDR3 800, wich is not GDDR3 1400 anyway

 

Dells advertise was false (they changed it already) and RivaTuner is not able to read the right memory type.

EDIT: There is NO Asus V1S with GDDR3 in this world. Even if some German shops say so.

 

So they got 256MB DDR2 for $200 more?

What a bunch of thiefs lol

 

Yeah, notebook.de also advertised their C90 with GDDR3, which was also a mistake !...they corrected it after I talked with them, but they still haven't corrected the V1s. If you want GDDR3 get a G1s and stop naggin'.

 

Notebook.de probably did the correction on the V1S since now they advertise DDR3 and not GDDR3 anymore.
http://www.notebook.de/index.php?section=shop&group=522&productid=7889

 

I was under the impression that 8600s only come in either DDR2 or GDDR3 forms. Not DDR3, although some resellers mistakenly refer to DDR3 when they mean GDDR3.

For the time being, I wouldn't trust reseller specs (the laptop hasn't even shipped from ASUS yet!) unless:
a) You contact the reseller directly, and they confirm the type of RAM is DDR2 or GDDR3 (and still then resellers can make mistakes or have incorrect information).
b) Someone gets the laptop and checks what VRAM it has.

In fact, I would put more faith in the size of the VRAM (256 versus 512) as an indicator of the type of memory, since DDR2, DDR3 and GDDR3 are so often confused.

 

DDR3 doesn't exist on video cards. Just DDR2 or GDDR3, nothing else.