Harkonnen's G51Vx-A1 Review

Basics
15.6" 1080p LED backlit Screen
Q9000 2.0 Quad Core Processor
4GB 800mhz DDR2 Ram
Nvidia GTX260M 1GB GDRR3
2x 320gb 7200rpm HDD's
Backlit ciclet full-size keyboard with numpad


Introduction
My G51Vx-A1 arrived on Thursday the 6th, in Australia from Red Barn Computers, New York. Just going to mention how great customer service at RBC was, they were very patient with my questions, got the product out asap and helped me get it through customs without hassle. I've read this is going for AUD$3000 when it is released, but USD$1650+$120S&H brings it to a total of only AUD$2200 when imported, so great savings there.



Case + Build
I had a bit of regret that I didn't go the Sager-route when I first witnessed the change in lid from white to black with blue abstract designs, as I am buying this gaming notebook for the military, and I would feel a little conspicuous bringing out a plastic lightning bolt-streaked toy in a room full of trained killers.
Luckily, the blue pattern is not as obnoxious as I thought, and the lights on the side are almost tastefully done, and definately very cool, although you can’t see during gaming. Still, I digress - the G51Vx-A1 has great build quality, although I would have liked to see a little more aluminium, and there is some dissapointing flex in the keyboard near the top F6-F10 keys, although this is the only downpoint I could find. The keyboard wrist rest has a rubber coating with is comfortable and the chiclet keyboard is very easy to type on, with keys that are even larger than my Reclusa gaming keyboard and intelligent placed and organised. The backlight lighting is fantastic in a darkroom, and can be controlled from off, to dim or bright via Fn shortkeys.



Addons
You get a Razor Copperhead mouse, a pair of Eee controllers, and an Asus backpack. Nice value, but not really a deal breaker for me, or I think for other people.



Screen
This is where the G51Vx-A1 shines. The screen is gorgeous, ans easily one of the best I have ever seen on a laptop. Bright with no discernible leakage or bright spots, crisp 1080p resolution on a 15”, and excellent colour contrast/reproduction. Thumbs up all around. Although, you’ll definately want to increase font and cursor size in Windows if you want to avoid squinting.



Raid
I’ve always wanted a laptop with RAID 0 ability, as I find myself moving a lot of large files (100gb) around & video editing, and I have a seperate backup so data loss has never been a critical issue for me. I had people telling me RAID0 in a laptop only generates more heat, wear, noise and error possibility for virtually no performance gain – but I’ve found it great. A 75% speed increase for sequential reads, one nice big 600gb logical drive, and no temperature increase. I would recommended this for anyone who uses a laptop with an external hard drive.

Benchmarks
STOCK CONFIGURATION
Asus-Installed Vista 64bit with bloatware
Stock Thermal Paste

Benchmarks
CPU Stats - 2ghz @ 1.388v
GPU Stats - 500/900/1250
Vista Score - 5.8
3D Mark Score - 9606

CPU Temps
CPU Max Temp Under Load - 72 degrees
CPU Average Temp Under Load – 66 degrees
CPU Idle Temp - 42 degrees

GPU Temps
GPU Max Temp Under Load - 94 degrees
GPU Average Temp Under Load - 86 degrees
GPU Idle Temp -52 degrees

HDTune Pro Results (Sequential Read)
2x320GB 7200RPM Independent
Peak Read Speed – 82mb/s
Average Read Speed – 74mb/s
CPU Overhead – 1%

EXPERIMENTAL CONFIGURATION
(Overclock/Undervolt, ARTIC MX-2 Thermal Paste, Cooling Paste, Optimised DOX Drivers, Fresh OS)
Fresh Vista 64bit running Dox Optimised Drivers 185.85
Artic MX-2 Thermal Paste (CPU-only)
+ Antec Notebook Cooler 200

Benchmark
CPU Stats - 2.4ghz @ 1.275v
GPU Stats - 550/1375/950
Vista Score - 5.9
3D Mark Score - 10404

CPU Temperatures
CPU Peak Temp Under Load – 75 degrees
CPU Average Temp Under Load – 72 degrees
CPU Idle Temp – 44 degrees

GPU Temperatures
GPU Peak Temp Under Load (OCCT Benchmark) – 102 degrees
GPU Peak Temp Under Load (Crysis) – 92 degrees
GPU Average Temp Under Load – 88 degrees
GPU Idle Temp – 55 degrees

HDTune Pro Results (Sequential Read)
2x320GB 7200RPM RAID 0
Peak Read Speed – 149 mb/s
Average Read Speed – 131mb/s
Cpu Overhead – 3%

Gaming Performance
At native 1920x1080 res, Crysis is just playable on all Medium/Mainstream, no AA, at beteen 24-30fps.
Every other game I have been able to run at HIGH, 1920x1080, 2xAA at playable framerates.
I would venture to say that the GTX260M will pack enough punch to keep up this performance with upcoming games for another 18 months.

Summary
This is a solidly built notebook with a gorgeous, bright and contrasting 1080p screen with features aimed directly at gamers and enthusiasts. It is a great mobile performer, but its powerful components have some serious heat byproduct issues - it remains for time to see whether these components can take the heat they generate, or if the G51Vx will be dropping like flies within a year from now. If you are interested in something to overclock, it has great potential, but beware - I’m running a gpu 10% faster and a quad core cpu 25% faster without much additional heat, but any serious gamer worth his or her salt will definately be investing in a cooling pad for this beast and be very wary of high ambient temps and the dangers of overvolting.
I bought this notebook because I want to be able to continue gaming in my spare time and a desktop was out of the question due to space/travel. I can safely say that after a week of putting the G51VX-A1 through its paces, I am happy with my purchase for its intended purpose.

 

nice. it is much lower if compare with au market. (AUD 3000)

what about DUTY/TAX??????

 

nice review, im getting one of these imported to NZ myself lol. btw was the cpu overclock with the asus software?

 

QUOTE: "Although, you’ll definately want to increase font and cursor size in Windows if you want to avoid squinting. "

Yes, I am in two minds about screen size. Full HD 1080P is great, but in 15.6 inch...... windows text is so small.

 

I am in New Zealand too. Do you know how much should I pay DUTY or TAX??

 

Should be just 12.5% for electronics.

I remember when i first got my G1s, it was 2400 nzd then customs decided to eat up 350 or so dollars and it ended up becoming 2800 ;_;

 

Great review! Being up in the states, I also bought this for the military.

Those are some good scores with the Q9000, and I would say that you could even OC the GPU to 600/1000/1500 if you wanted to. I run those settings 24/7 and no problems. That is only if you wanted to see small performance gains.

Have you run the Crysis Benchmark Tool?

 

I could have run the 260M up to 620 core clock if I wanted to overvolt it from 1 to 1.05v. However, I think after a point the lifespan/performance factor takes a sharp dip and doesn't become worth it if you plan on having this laptop for the next year or two.

Also, in Australia you must pay 10% of value + $50 customs fee. Red Barn Computers are a little flexible in how much they claim their exports to be worth though

 

Do you have a P7350 in it? I thought that the A1 came with a P8700.

If it is a P7350, the stock voltage is high since us Best Buy people have it start off at 1.250V

 

Great review.

Really considering grabbing this machine. Just still a tad worried about heat. In one of the resellers sites they listed under cooling "AS5 optional" for the A1 model. I'm wondering if you can get this with AS5.

Very glad to hear about the screen! I'd like to use this for graphics as well as gaming.

The A1 has the Q9000 btw.

 

The A1 comes with the Q9000 processor stock. The X1A has the P8700, and the X2A has the T9600.

Good review!!!!

 

I know GenTechPC offers to put AS5 on the CPU and GPU for you.

 

Same with xoticpc

 

That's great thanks. I'm worried about breaking the warranty.
I don't suppose Asus themselves sells these with AS5 if you wished?

Hows the sound quality on those speakers? Can you hook up a surround system to this unit? I know there's a line out or SPDIF out. Still unsure.

 

Yes, a Q9000 processor.
Apparently the G51 can output surround sound as a digital signal in SPDIF format through the headphone port. I am going to get a 3.5mm to coax cable tommorow, will plug it into my Logitech Z5550-D surround speaker system and see if I can get some 5.1 notebook gaming going.

 

I am thinking of getting the Logitech G35 7.1 headset, should be interesting to hear surround in headphones.

 

It is likely that the output you want will be optical, not coax. I have the G1s and it uses the headphone jack for both analog electrical stereo output and optical s/pdif. The easiest way to test this is to select s/pdif digital output and then look into the headphone jack. You should see a flashing light.

Ira

 

Nope, no light while I was playing things through digital output, thanks for the suggestion though.

 

I JUST bought them yesterday, when I get Windows 7 and Battlefield set up on my G51, I'll let you know how they sound!

 

Sweet! they look like a great pair of headphones. my mom doesnt like the BOSE speakers i have blasting away in the dining room lol. i live with my parents until i leave for basic training for the marine corps....parents just dont understand that in order to properly play L4D, MAX volume is necessary lol.

 

Same here, I'm going back to the dorms in a few days, but even my little Logitech x-530s get knocks on the door from RA's, so I'll save those for the weekend and I bought the G35 for regular daily use.

And yeah, with a surround sound system, L4D is freaking godly...I had the set-up with the x-530s on my 360, and it is ridiculous how immersive it was...easily one of the best games around if you want an awesome gaming experience...sound makes ALL the difference!

 

hey i was really interested now that a A1 only costs 1211 usd from zipzoomfly so i was wondering, how far can the Q9000 oc to? Like srsly 2.4GHz is stable and all?

you will greatly help me in my purchase!!!!

ps. btw i just moved from melbourne to charleston, SC. lol

 

i would venture to say that 2.4 would be a safe OC on the Q9000, but i do not have one to ACTUALLY know.

 

wow really?? ARE U SRS? cuz that srsly makes me reconsider the A1 and especially since its so goddam cheap now.

2.4GHz C2Q vs a 2.8GHz (P8700 oced)...which one to choose now? any help (btw i dont care about the A1 accesories, strictly speaking, the battery life/cpu power are my main concerns although linuxguy told me that the A1 can still get 2hrs battery when web browsing).

any thoughts, thankyou guys for all your help!!!

 

ahhh the age old question! quad or duo? well good sir, a lot of games like dual core. BUTTT most likey they will use 4 in the future. who knows! i love my T9800, but a Q9000 is a nice option too. I would pull the trigger on the A1 at that price, IMO

 

Quad, hands down. Quads have more threads, which will improve performance. As for worrying that such a low clock will hurt performance, don't. Standard 2.0 GHz clocks can run almost all games-- Crysis included--just fine. You might want to overclock a bit to get the maximum out of it, but a lower-clocked quad will beat a higher-clocked duo every time.

 

Forge, you just had to rain on my parade! i agree, but since i only have a dual core, i have to say that i still like them.

if i could have my way, id be running a QX9300.

 

You and me both, brother. I've got like three threads to prove it.

Duos aren't bad, mind you, but they are aging.

 

p9700 is $439 in ebay, x9100 is $310 in ebay. I will choose x9100 as cheaper. Maybe next couple of mothes, it will release new Bios to support Q9100 and QX9300. who knows

 

Extremely doubtful, but we can hope.

What P9700 and what X9100 were you looking at, specifically? IF they're ES versions, ask Soviet Sunrise about them. He knows what ES versions are the best.

 

I have GOT to try surround headphones! This apartment is just too quiet and the walls too thin for a nice surround system (especially the sub woofer).

I'll be going with a quad since I need to work with multiple Adobe progs at the same time. Duo would be better for games right now but I need this machine to work great for both .... oh yea

 

OK GUYS thanks so much, after lurking around NBR i decide that the moment that Zipzoomfly gets A1 in stock i will buy it.

2.4GHz C2Q is definitely enough for me. Hopefully Crysis at high on a decent resolution will be manageable with this beast.

Also just to make sure, sponsi said there is a 200USD limit on single purchases. that then means zipzoomfly is giving false advertising???

look: 1639 and it says save 20% so i save 328 USD, but i will only be able to redeem 200USD so basically the end price is 1339 with 100 rebate as opposed to 1211USD? plz can someone clarify if there is a 200USD limit?

all i could find is this

^seems as though there is no 200USD limit, but just to be sure...anyone?

 

it is X9100 ebay link: http://cgi.ebay.com/Intel-Core-2-Extreme-Mobile-Processor-X9100-QS-QHBQ_W0QQitemZ180385770666QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item29ffd46caa&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14 QHBQ version

it is p9700 link: http://cgi.ebay.com/Intel-Core-2-Mobile-Processor-P9700-2-8G-6M-SLGQS_W0QQitemZ170366846013QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item27aaa7c43d&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14 SLGQS version,

it looks like p9700 close to final version. but more expensive. I know this guy, and may get some discount on both CPU.

 

I have read on the notebook deal forum that 200USD is the limit...However, I have never read that anywhere except on that forum.

 

are you sure your g51vx support Quad? I post a thread two days ago and asked about this question.

 

soooo many review. You should build a Real Owner's lounge and everybody post heir review there.

 

Sure, I haven't pushed it beyond 2.4ghz, but my Q9000 can knocked out a half hour round with Orthos torture test without crazy temps.

 

The G51vx A1 model comes with a Q9000 quad. Whether the G51vx rx05 BB version, I'm still really not sure. Its been brought up in other threads too. I've seen it mentioned in Sunny's review of the G51vx rx05. I'm sure that answer will turn up sooner or later once and for all.

 

S'up

 

Didn't see a flashing light, but I apologize, you were right about it being optical and not coax output.
Got this running an spdif feed to my Logitech Z550D surround system, without any of the hiss and crackle of a direct analog 2.0 connection. Can watch dvd's, blu ray mkv rips etc in 5.1 surround, but just remember that if you want to game in 5.1 surround, you'll need something like this, as you can only transfer 5.1 over optical/coax if its pre-encoded.
Zalman External 5.1 Surround

 

I'd like to put together a set-up like this eventually, thanks for the info.