K53TA.. The best deal ever... could be!

ok guys so i went to best buy the other day after returning my DV6z-qe to HP and this gem caught my eye.. i couldn't believe it when it was priced at only $449.99. so i snagged one up.

SPECS

AMD A6-3400M
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium
AMD M780G Chipset
4GB DDR3 1333 MHz
15.6" 16:9 HD (1366x768) LED Backlight
AMD Radeon® HD 6720G2 1GB DDR3
500GB
Super-Multi DVD
4 -in-1 card reader
0.3 Mega Pixel web camera
Integrated 802.11 b/g/n
Battery 6Cells : 5200 mAh 56 Whrs

here is a link to the specs
ASUSTeK Computer Inc. - Notebooks- ASUS K53TA

and a link to best buy
ASUS - Laptop / AMD A-Series Processor / 15.6" Display / 4GB Memory / 500GB Hard Drive - Brown Suit - K53TA-BBR6


BANDING ISSUE FIXED

here are the new bios that fix the banding issue
thanks to Link626 for the following link

ftp://ftp.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/K43TA/K43TA206.zip

Download new bios, unzip file, use flashing tool from Start menu

Start > all programs > asus utility > winflash

and load the new k43ta.206 and reboot.

OVERCLOCKING

GPU
you have to download a program called Sapphire TRIXX and then go into the settings and disable ULPS and restart the computer. then you should be able to use the sliders to overclock on any program including MSI afterburner which i like to use as it has temp read outs and everything.

CPU
you have to use K10stat.. use this as a basic guide on how to.
Aspire Gemstone: K10STAT AMD Griffin Processor UnderVolting Guide
AMD has been very kind with the voltages its given its cpus so you can def undervolt it while overclocking at the same time

basic starting point.. your results may vary but this is what works for me.



UPGRADING

here are the 2 ports on the bottom opened up. one is for the HD and the other is for the ram and network card.
the HD is a Seagate Momentus 5400RPM Drive
the Ram is 1x4GB Samsung PC3 10600 9-9-9 Cas ram



so there you have it the HD is easily upgradable and the Ram consists of only 1 stick so you can pop in another 4GB stick for $25


BENCHMARKS

3DMark

3D Mark 06 - CF off
Stock = 6530
8GB ram stock = 6692
2.4ghz/ 670/990 = 7995
2.6ghz/ 670/990 = 8235
2.6ghz/ 670/1040 = 8388
3ghz/ 670/1040 = 8532

3D Mark Vantage
2.3ghz / 8gb ram / stock GPU = P5465 / gpu=4977/ cpu=7745

3D Mark 11
Stock = P1372
8GB Stock = P1606
2.4ghz / 700/950 = P1560
2.3ghz w/8gb stock GPU = P1665
2.6ghz w/8GB/ 670/1040 = P1752

Heaven Dx11@1366x768 Stock = 17.1fps
Heaven Dx11@1366x768 2.4ghz / 700/950 OC = 19.2fps
Heaven Dx11@1366x768 2.3ghz + 8GB /GPU stock =19.8 fps


Passmark
CPU Mark
Stock = 3573
2.4ghz = 5560
2.7ghz = 6517
3ghz =7043

Cinebench 11.5
@ 2.4ghz
Open GL 13.16fps
CPU = 2.77
Single core = .77

@2.6ghz
CPU = 3.12

@3ghz
CPU =3.45

Mafia II Benchmark - this one doesn't like crossfire

1600 x 900 / High / CF off
2.4ghz = 27.8fps

1366 x 768 / High / CF off
2.4ghz = 34.8fps

if you guys have would like me to run some other tests or have any questions feel free to ask
i will also update this post with different results as i benchmark stuff

 

Greetings..

Out of curiosity..what are you using to OC the GPU/CPU?

Also, are you seeing the same banding in your display mentioned in another thread? Basically looks like this LCD won't go beyond 16bit color depth.

 

So you can overclock even the CPU on this? My brother just got one, so I will have to look into that. How is the cooling system with these. Anything in regards to max temp and voltage for the CPU? The crossfire wasn't working on the game he plays mostly either (global agenda), so I disabled that. The 6650 kicks in as default when it is enabled right?

 

Are you using Overdrive, or the bios ?

 

ok guys to answer some questions.

first yes i have the banding issues as you do but im just trying not to pay attention to it atm lol.

secondly you can over clock the GPU and CPU on this machine by doing the following.

GPU
you have to download a program called Sapphire TRIXX and then go into the settings and disable ULPS and restart the computer. then you should be able to use the sliders to overclock on any program including MSI afterburner which i like to use as it has temp read outs and everything.

CPU
you have to use K10stat.. use this as a basic guide on how to.
Aspire Gemstone: K10STAT AMD Griffin Processor UnderVolting Guide
AMD has been very kind with the voltages its given its cpus so you can def undervolt it while overclocking at the same time

 

Was the 3D Mark score you posted with everything at stock or overclocked? I would like to see the difference in the scores with the CPU stock vs Overclock. Specifically the CPU score to see the major difference. Thats a 70% overclock you have going there. Any chance for a CPU-Z screen shot? Like to see the voltage and such.

A guy @ another forum was clocking this at 3.0 GHz with 1.275 volts. I think he was gaming with BC2 for an hour and had no issues. This laptop is indeed a little gem.

 

with the stock cpu and gpu the laptop scores P1372 in 3dmark 11

im not sure what 3ghz on all four cores would be stable at but im sure its possible. but i noticed some sorta throttling going on after 2.4ghz so im trying to figure it out now

ill keep ya all updated.

again if you guys have any more questions or requests let me know.

 

Any idea on the CPU score between stock vs overclock on 3DMark11?

 

i didnt keep track of that but i think stock was like 2000ish and 2.4ghz was about 3000.. i could be wrong .. but ill check next time i run some tests.

also just ran some passmark cpu benches

CPU Mark
Stock = 3573
2.4ghz = 5560
2.7ghz = 6517

though i think i found out whats going on with the throttling thats happening after 2.4ghz.. i believe it has to do with the integrated GPU not liking it past that. im gonna see what happens if i just use the discreet GPU. maybe that will solve some issues.

 

Have you uninstalled the Asus Power4Gear utility? When I was trying to overclock mine it wouldn't go past a certain p-state (p3 iirc) even when the power plan was set to go to 100%, it was set to 100% in CCC and I was plugged in. Even when I switched back to the stock clocks and voltages it wouldn't go past p3. I figured there had to be some program doing it so I uninstalled Power4Gear and it runs at 2.4GHz @1.085V through 5 runs of IntelBurn fine now.

 

Ridiculous. Nice results you two...

 

Would you mind sharing how you got it to use the discrete GPU only? I don't see an option for that though I know it's possible.

 

Just got this computer today. Haven't had time to mess with any of OCing but got 6634 in 3dmark 06. I always use this version to compare with other laptops I've had.

I tried doing furmark but something isn't right even when I set the application to high performance. It's only getting about 4 fps and the highest I've seen the GPU hit is maybe 60 C. It would be a shocker to me if that's the highest the vid card would ever hit.

Will see what I can get with OCing the cpu and gfx card later on.


Also, can we actually find the drivers for the video cards on ati's website or do we just have to keep using the ones that Asus posts on their website? Asus doesn't really keep their driver pages up to date.

 

Hey guys, new to the site, and wanted to chime in on some feedback for what I've seen with this laptop.

I got this laptop because my other one recently died and when I saw the specs on this thing it was a no brainer for the price.

Yeah, there is banding, but I hope that Asus will do the right thing and send out a BIOS update to address this problem.

I have been able to run BFBC2 on high settings with 25-30 FPS average, on Medium settings it stays right about 40-45 FPS. Crysis was running at about 27 FPS on high settings, got really choppy when a lot of dynamic lighting came into the scene. And also there was a lot of random background flicker in the environments. However, I ran crysis in Medium settings and was averaging about 34 FPS. Also for giggles i threw in my old copy of Ghost Recon 2 and that was running at 60+ FPS on the highest settings.

Honestly, playing BFBC2 on this thing in Multiplayer is unbelievable for the price. Huge destructive environments and this thing plows threw them without hardly any slowdown (albeit if something HUGE blows up around you then it goes into 10-15 FPS). And this is all on stock settings. I am not confident about OC'ing. But if you guys find a stable setting I would love to give it a shot. Any recommendation on a program for OC'ing and temperature readings?

 

we need to keep begging asus for a bios update-
1 to fix the screen banding
2 to add true switchable graphics.

HP already has their bios update which enables manual selection of dedicated graphics-only mode in their llanos.

asus needs to do the same.

keep emailing them.

 

I can't seem to overclock the GPU...

 

Yes come on ASUS!...I really like this laptop - it does everything i want and pretty well..It is such a graphical joy....It runs some of my 3d desktop aps like Modo , and Houdini and with 4 gb ram stock is a little laggy --but these are not so easy to run . It runs Carrara 8 well . It runs genetica 3.5 (texture making ap ) very well. It renders decently at stock speeds. For web , videos etc --is pretty nice machine-----so please ASUS --I want to keep this thing. Fix the banding and making switchable a choice would make this a dream.

 

i left the laptop on battery overnight, and it lasted just shy of 6 hours, with 10% battery left at shutdown. Hard drive never shut down, always spinning.
I could probably get another 25 minutes out of that 10% juice.

So this should probably get over 5 hours with light usage.

not bad for a 56wh battery with amd. Amd laptops used to get terrible battery life

 

I know Link ------battery use seems decent indeed.....i have lots of pro's for this laptop. only a couple of cons.
Webcam should have been left off its so poor. I don't use em anyhow
A tad bunch of bloatware.
The screen banding --more serious than a con

The rest is either good or great.

 

This is probably the worst webcam i've ever seen. It's worse quality than a cell phone. It's only good for casual usage.

fortunately, i have a logitech quickcam pro 9000, which is collecting dust right now.

The other thing i'm worried about is the cheap hinges. The plastic chunk attached to the screen feels flimsy.
luckily the screen opens to a wide angle, so you'll never stress the hinge to the max under normal viewing situations.
But still, i predict these hinges will crack in under 3 years.
Gotta be delicate with this.

I'm gonna call asus and see if the plastic hinge can be ordered. always good to have spares.

 

There don't seem to be many problems with it after a couple of days of use but the screen banding, hinges and webcam are all pretty big ones. I fired up the webcam today for the first time and I was shocked by how bad it is. I thought that I must have a piece protective tape covering it still or something. Sadly I can't deal with this banding and I am not going to risk it not getting fixed so I am gonna bring it back to BB tomorrow.

 

these plastic hinges are used on the entire K53 line, even the slightly more expensive intel ones with the aluminum trim.

I just bought and returned an HP probook, and that too had a plastic hinge, covered with aluminum trim. It's still a plastic hinge, but it looks bulkier.

Lenovo consumer grade Y series also has cheap plastic hinges that are prone to cracking.
Some people even had them crack within a year.

 

How is the screen quality on this?

Average for a 1366? Is the brightness good?

My brother might be getting this, hence why I ask

 

I just bought this today and threw in an 80GB Intel SSD leaving the original 500GB HDD in the anti-static bag that the SSD came in. So far, this is a rather nice system, though the screen banding is quite annoying. However, I will try and live with that. If this computer does what I want it to and more, then I will ignore that. Besides, I'm probably going to order a Sager in the winter anyway.

 

it's a chimei lcd panel. 220 nits. glossy.

 

Is it bad that the laptop ran IntelBurnTest many times and hitting high temperature? Or will it be fine? I've been trying to test the best settings I can get but now I'm a bit concerned that it might damage the computer. Should I take it back to Best Buy and try to get an exchange?

 

Just letting everyone know.. banding issue has been fixed with a bios update! so now this really is an amazing deal

runtohell121... what would you consider a high temp? my cpu would hit around 84C with all four cores set to 2.4ghz while running prime95 and doing a bunch of stuff in the background. from what i know the silicon on these chips are ok up to 100C though i wouldn't even wanna push it up to 90C

 

I'm not too sure, but probably around 85*C or so was my highest (guessing) since I didn't pay attention to temp when gaming w/ slight OC.

edit: actually.. it was at 88*C... uhhh?

 

what voltage and oc?

 

2.6 GHz at around 1.2v I believe.

 

So far I've only pushed mine to the 2.0 Ghz mark. Plan on going higher today. Right now I've just been messing with UV and OCing the graphics card. The processor undervolts really well for a quad. .975v at 2.0 Ghz and only at .7125v at 800Mhz. Should get up to at least 5 hours with light surfing.

I was hitting about 6500 in 3dmark 06 and got it up to 7.8-7.9k after getting the cpu to 2.0 Ghz and the video card to 700/1020.

Was hiting mid 60*C on the CPU after about 20 min in prime 95. I'm not sure the thermal differences between intel and amd and didn't feel comfortable getting the cpu into the 70*C.

I also wanted to ask Error. Where did you find a new bios update to fix the banding?

Edit: never mind about the bios update. Just saw it was posted in the screen banding thread. This is a good deal of a laptop indeed.

 

I'm really tempted on getting this. Is $450 the regular price? It doesn't say "On Sale" on the site like the other laptops. This would probably replace my Dell I currently have. Not sure what I'll do with the Netbook now that I don't goto school and I have an Acer Iconia Tablet.

 

Anything below 80*C should be fine... I pushed mine to 88*C :/ I've been noticing that once the temperature reaches above 77*C, the core speed drops to P6 (800 MHz or 950 MHz or whatever you set it at) and then when temperature is at 75*C, the core speed will bump back up to the P0 speed (2.0 or higher or whatever you set at). Is anyone experiencing this problem besides me? I ran like 10+ IntelBurnTest, result is when it reaches 77*C, the task will complete much slower.


I'm not sure if you're allow to link to other sites, but my post in SD for undervolt while OCing.
http://slickdeals.net/forums/showpost.php?p=41660379&postcount=879
I have other settings in the thread but those were.. really high temp and core speed drops.

 

the "sale" will continue.

this is the regular price.

when the store runs out, you have the option of ship2store for free from bb.com

so that 'no rainchecks' thing was just BS

 

yes this is the normal price

also i UPDATED the first post with some of the important info thats been in the rest of the thread and will continue updating to help new comers out

 

i exchanged my asus because there was a dead pixel near the top.

then i got another asus with a dead pixel near the middle.

how unlucky am i....

but this time, i got one of their useless geek squad 'preinstalled' crap.
didn't have to pay for it, but there was a useless norton antivirus disc included. it's the bestbuy version.

What geek squad really does is remove the factory antivirus software, and install their own norton AV so that they can earn a commission from Symantec.
how lame is that?



on my first k53, i could run the cpu at 1.35v. This new one can only run up to 1.2875v. Won't let me go past that.
weird.

What are your highest possible voltages that can be set in k10stat?

 

I would return it again if i was you .. idk maybe its just me but i cant stand any dead pixels no matter where they are.

 

I just ordered another for store pickup at another store.

i hope 3rd time's the charm


I really am a glutton for punishment.

this 2nd unit has cpu squeal too. it's pretty annoying.
and it seems to eat up battery life faster than my first one, which got 6 hours idle, with 10% juice left.
This only gets 4.5 hours with 10% juice left.

 

Hey guys, I'm thinking of getting this computer for some semi-hardcore gaming (Starcraft II, Witcher 2, source engine games). I know the 6650m should do fine with those games, but I was wondering: How much performance is gained when asymmetrical crossfire is used?

The price is fantastic but I'd like to see how well it performs. Looks like it's a good overclocker!

 

I was under the impression that the crossfire reference was just a way of saying that the laptop had 2 GPU's in the system, but I didn't think that they could be used at the same time.

Crossfire is enabled automatically but I think that's just saying that GPU switching is enabled. Whenever I've tried to monitor the GPU's, only one operates at a time. Can't get Furmark to operate on the 6650, only the low power processor.

 

they do work at the same time.. however atm from what i experienced its completely broken and causes wicked studering in games due to unbalanced rendering by one of the gpu's... you can see this in the gpu usage charts in MSI afterburner. its best to just disable crossfire right now. hopefully one day they can get it to work right though.

also im updating the main post with ram and HD upgrade info

 

Thanks for the reply! I may be purchasing this computer in the next few days. As you can probably tell from the system in my signature, this will be a huge upgrade in performance.

 

Im getting the stuttering with Crossfire on and off Playing WoW

 

my friends and i chipped in some change and picked one of these up for my poor gamer friend the other day who was still running on a pentium 4 with 1 gig of ram and a nvidia 6600 to run source games.

he cried

 

turn off crossfire, and set game to high performance in catalyst. It will use just the 6650 discrete card.

crossfire does not add any performance at laptop screen size.

 

For the K53 owners, how do you guys feel about the build quality on these? I'm almost sold on this but build quality is something that will affect my decision to buy this.

 

How does the K53TA compare to the K53E (I3 Sandy Bridge)? I'm on the fence between the two since K53TA has better graphics but I really like the keyboard on K53E. I'm gonna use this computer for schoolwork, watching movies and very light photoshopping. I'm most likely not gonna be using this laptop by sophomore year since we're required to get a school-specified laptop (I'm in for design).

 

For some reason, after disabling the ULPS in Sapphire and in the registry, I still can't seem to overclock the GPU. Also, I cant get K10Stat to boot up as a task still

 

Does this come with a 1 year or 2 year standard warranty?

 

have you tried using MSI Afterburner.. i cant get Trixx to work to overclock the gpu even with the ULPS disabled but MSI Afterburner does work for some reason. also for anyone looking do to this i would recommend actually changing it in the registry rather then using Trixx as its kinds spotty for it working.

this computer comes with a 2 year Global warranty and a 1 year battery warranty.