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

You can test your system with a system monitoring app to see if it is the CPU or GPU that is limiting the games or programs you are using. If the CPU usage is near 100%, then you would not get better performance.

 

I won't let this thread die. I actually have to use my (2nd) k53ta as my primary laptop for a spell, as it's the best of available options. I still have a desktop and a PS4 Pro, so it's not like I'm limited to the games of 2011-13, but I still want to try to do a little gaming on this thing.

The good news is that even if I have zero luck running any current games, it streams from the above mentioned devices just fine. I was playing FFXV on it last night and the quality and responsiveness were excellent. I'll be posting some reports once I finish installing my steam games. I'm hopeful for GTAV, MGSV and Vermintide. Dark Souls 3 I'm betting no way.

 

K53TA December 2016 Update (as all-inclusive as possible):

Since this thread is finally dead besides me, I'm going to drop what will probably be one of the last posts. Just to give anyone looking for info on this laptop the most current info on the last page of the thread.

Windows 10: Although my initial clean install of Windows 10 64 was successful and bug-free, I eventually dumped it to return to Windows 7. I was able to find working drivers for everything and got the 15.7.1 graphics drivers to successfully install with a little effort.
The problem was with those drivers mostly. The 15.7.1 AMD official drivers have great gaming performance in Win10, but terrible performance everywhere else. The general usage is slow, movie playback is choppy, even my boot time was slower. Then to compound this, I started to have issues with unsuccessful Windows updates messing things up. The problem didn't appear to have anything to do with my power or internet connection, it was simply issues with this particular system and Windows 10. Many older systems do, but this became so annoying combined with the slow performance that I gave up on it.
If you can live with glitchy and slow graphics outside of games and botched updates making random parts of Windows stop working until you reboot, this laptop can run Windows 10.
It should also be noted that you are pretty much forced to run the 15.7.1 drivers, as older ones give you black screens at boot and newer ones are even glitchier with this GPU.

Best Graphics Driver: Still 14.4, modded or stock. 15.7.1 actually has slightly better performance for newer games, but freezes on Windows 7/8/8.1 and has the above issues on 10. 15.7 and newer betas seem to be designed to make old laptops work with Win10 and they have varying success with different cards.
The big bummer about this is that the 14.4 drivers are ancient. They still run a lot of games well, but some games newer than the drivers that would run on this laptop (like GTA5), have glitches or will not start. Some people have had luck with putting the .dll files for newer drivers in the game's data directory to create an intercept, this only caused the game to crash mid-benchmark when I tried with GTA.
So the short version is that the 14.4 AMD drivers are the most optimized ever released for this GPU (6650m). The only way you can play GTA5 on this laptop is to install Win10 and put up with the slow performance outside of games. GTA5 will run at 30-45fps at the lowest settings and 720p.

Can you finally get any benefit out of hybrid graphics? No. That is a definitive no. As in I upgraded my APU to an A8 to make the GPUs closer, then downclocked the dedicated card until they were as close to parity as possible. Then I optimized the driver settings for the best frame pacing and used the best profiles for each game. I tested with World of Warcraft, Alien Isolation and Metal Gear Solid V. All games that do actually get frame boosts with Dual Graphics.
There was still micro-stuttering that to me made it unplayable. It was vastly improved over drivers 5 years ago, but it was still not worth using in my opinion and I would imagine that of most gamers used to "normal" frame pacing.

Can it run any newer games (2015-16)? Some. MGSV was very playable at low settings. Overwatch is playable at low settings. Many games that aren't new, but are updated with newer tech, like WoW, LoL or Starcraft II all run well at medium-low settings. GTAV is playable with extreme difficulty (see above).
Doom(2016), Dark Souls 3, The Witcher 3, Battlefield 1 and Rise of the Tomb Raider are all completely unplayable, even at the lowest settings and resolution. Some of them will not even start or will kick you out of the game for bad performance.
So YMMV, but most games that are too much newer than the latest working drivers (14.4) will start to give you issues.

What are the best possible speeds out of a quad-core Llano APU? The highest speed a good chip will maintain during benchmarking is just above 3GHz for two of the cores, and any p0 state slightly lower than that for the other two. This is only possible with modified cooling and a chip that overclocks AND undervolts really well. I've tested this across 5 APUs now on 2 K53TAs and one DV6 and this is the final verdict. Some chips can occasionally hit a little bit higher speed on one core, but roughly 3GHz seems to be the hardware limit created by the design. With a solid undervolt I can maintain these speeds in most benchmarks on several different chips.
While gaming you will almost never get a core above 2.4GHz on a lower end chip to 2.6 on the higher A8s and MXs. The A8 3500M I'm using currently is the best overclock/undervolt APU I've used yet and is able to game with one core at 3GHz and the rest at 2.6. None of the other 4 Llanos I have used have ever hit this speed, regardless of cooling. I am using Gelid GC-Extreme thermal compound and a slightly modified heat rail and vents.
The raw output of the APU seems to top out at about 2350MHz per core. Although you can overclock above this, the hyperthread link of the APU appears to be full, so performance is capped. True across all Llano x4 models as they are all basically the same cores.


With that I'm closing the book on this laptop. Please don't send me messages asking how to upgrade CPU or install drivers. There are links and guides for all of that early in the thread and in the owner's lounge. Be sure to read instructions before using k10stat or MSI Afterburner to overclock your CPU and GPU.

 

I'm using this as my primary computer, too, for awhile. Currently stuck on Linux with OK drivers but no hybrid graphics until I figure out how to reinstall Windows without buying a new license. My recovery partition got hosed, lol. I'm able to play World of Warcraft with Wine and Rocket League on the lowest settings.

I've also found an awesome program for OC/UV of AMD CPUs on Linux: TurionPowerControl

For anyone else looking for additional, possibly outdated info, here is atoneapone's info page: https://slickdeals.net/f/3183764-as...win-7-prem-64-bit-450?p=41552600#post41552600

Thank you for your contributions to this thread, Ryan. Good luck and godspeed, remaining K53TAs! Long may you live...

 

You should be able to install windows off an OEM disc image. It has to be an OEM version (best to search this to make sure you get the right version, but OEM doesn't matter which manufacturer, just means for pre-built systems). Then instead of asking you for a key, it just checks the manufacturer database for your serial number and if Asus sold that laptop, you are activated. It's just a different kind of Windows install you need for pre-built laptops.

 

Mine's still chugging along as well after all these years.

Windows 10 works well. I don't really game on it, so I can't talk much to that, but overall performance is as snappy as can be. I don't get video playback issues like you seem to be. Display drivers are those issued by Windows Update. Everything is Windows standard-issue really, except for SMBus and USB Filter drivers as part of the 15.7.1 chipset.
The only thing that's annoying is having to decide whether to disable ULPS or not, as "on" means horrendously long boot and wake times, but "off" means ~20% more power consumption in idle (i. e., more importantly, ~20% less battery life). If only there was a way to at least force the idle memory clock down - it sits at max. clock of 667MHz constantly...

Windows Update is a little bugged in that it will sometimes just not stop searching. Even when triggered from the device manager.

HWMonitor and CPU-Z don't work for some reason. They freeze at launch and can't even be forced shut through the task manager.

What are the average idle temps for yours? I'm kind of tempted to take it apart can clean the fan, but I'm not sure whether it's worth going through with that hassle; I'm idling at around 35-40 or 45-50 °C right now - a few degrees increased idle temp surely due to the not-ULPS'd 6650M.

Edit: Took it apart and cleaned the fan; 5-10 °C improvement.

Strangely, when you wake the laptop from sleep, the GPU does clock down to 100MHz Mem clock. But when you just boot it up, it stays at 667MHz. What's that about?

 

Just for the records, all the "by Bothanspy" [broken] links there, point to this thread.

And fiy every laptop has windows license sticker glued on the bottom.

 

Lol, yes, but I can't use the OEM key with regular Windows 7 installation media.

 

Yes you can. Microsoft issues the code and microsoft checks it. There's nothing else that matters.

 

Hello, If someone need
Fan boost to 100%
Info:
1. install driver in folder launch_common_exe
2. restart pc
3.start fancontroller.exe and press full on

Bios 214 - Sata3 + SG + unlock all bios(all amibcp configs in bios)
Do not modify "PX Dynamic mode switch"
PS. If you still changed something, but the laptop does not turn on, then you will have to disassemble it and remove the bios battery for 60+ seconds.

 

I have windows 10 installed on this, and often, it will fail to shutdown or restart.
It's just stuck on the blue "restarting" screen.

I have to hold the power button down to do a hard shutdown. But there is no "improper shutdown" error upon subsequent startup, so the shutdown/restart process gets stuck on one of the last steps.

Does anyone have a workaround for this restart/shutdown hang for the k53ta?

 

Thanks for the bios, working so good. I didn't know tht bios got all this settings it so confusing
But I got USB 3.0 problem, it doesn't work. I ll reinstall usb drivers. In bios USB 3.0 is enabled, its OK but doesnt work.
Edit: I want to flash new bios but I cant find flash settings in bios can u tell me where is it? I dont want to flash it on windows, I did it for the first and last time when I got my pc. it got bricked, than rma gave the new one.
Mi5 cihazımdan Tapatalk kullanılarak gönderildi

 

Black screen after setting "PX Dynamic mode switch" to disabled. I removed CMOS battery, external battery, power connection and waited for several hours but no video.

 

hello fellas. Good to see this machine still doing great for everyone. Not every day we find a community around a machine that strives for 7 years ! Mine running great as a primary desk replacement, hooked up dell 2240L for primary display few years ago and no complain, runs my games quite fine. Last year the fan showed sign of aging (grinding noise), opened up and lubricated the bearing and good to go. Cheers

 

Hello. Probably, it will be need to reflash the BIOS(MX25L1606EM2I-12G), you can reboot it even at home with the help of arduino / or programming device. Also, there is a chance that the controller of the switch of the grafics burned, it costs 1.5 $ (ANX3110) on aliexpress, but it will be repaired only in the service center.

Hello, i think the problem is in the motherboard.
You can flash with "winflash asus" or use Easy Flash in bios.

 

1

 

I needed bluetooth last week, reinstalled bluetooth drivers. Bluetooth and usb3.0 are working now. Its little bit strange but worked.

MI 5 cihazımdan Tapatalk kullanılarak gönderildi

 

Nice, can you share on what's the strange part of it?

 

Usb3.0 started working after installing bluetooth driver.

 

Wow, that's unheard of.

 

Try this drivers. I installed on windows7 and has no prob.
https://forums.guru3d.com/threads/16-101-2901-1001.409002/

 

Hey guys. I've tried to upgrade my a4-3300m processor to a8-3520m, but when i put this processor, nothing happens (i see only black screen, nothing more). I have 214 bios version.

 

Is it a known working processor?

 

Yes. I've bought it a few days ago on ebay for $15. The seller said that processor is working properly.

 

I don't see a problem of using it on the system due to identical architecture and TDP wattage, so without being able to verify the processor you got it's hard to confirm.

 

Not trying to wake this thread, but Since this laptop is nearing its final days for most people or already long gone,
I just made a post about Useful Archival Info about this Old Laptop >> (for those still installing it from the ground up)
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/k53ta-the-best-deal-ever-could-be.601808/page-494

-My laptop is still working almost like new, since I have not been using it much past 3 or 4 years (mostly just using an old Intel 3rd gen i5 Desktop keeping wear & tear off this old laptop; I'm sure others are using more advanced ryzen and Intel 8th gen computers now..lol)
-I thought of changing the CPU to that AMD A8 3520 for under $15, but thought it would be too much trouble. So passed & kept my old orginal tried and true AMD A6 3400.

 

Wow, it's still beating.
Don't upgrade the processor because you won't feel much difference. Perhaps get a SSD instead?

 

Oct 30,2018:
Yes it's alive!! This thread & most of our laptops are definitely like frankenstein..making noise right before Halloween too.
I put a cheap $29 PNY 128GB SSD 3 months ago, and It boots up in 30-45 seconds.
I also kept the original 500gb in the dvd caddy drive bay with the original OS installed on it. So I cloned the OS to the SSD. But also kept the old HDD OS install in case my SSD bites the dust within a year--I can just swop the original hdd back in if that happens.
PNY has bad reviews on this lower end SSD cs900. I probably should have gone with a better SSD/brand, but I was trying to spend as little as possible.
So far so good, but we'll see. I'll probably buy a better SSD if it goes bad.
---------------
Update: 7/28/20
Well, 2yrs later, I have finally upgraded to a better laptop after using this for 9 long memorable years.
I moved on to a Gaming Laptop: MSI 15.6" GE63 Raider SE Intel 9750H, Nvidia RTX 2060, 1.5TB, 32gb ram, purchased on clearance in Mid-July 2020 for around $900 after tax.(So this is My new Budget replacement to our great laptop here. Really huge jump in specs ).

But this ASUS laptop still works perfectly fine after putting the SSD in. The build quality of this laptop still seems fairly ok compared to the more modern newer Gaming laptops. "Definitely a Cult Classic" to all of us here.... Only the plastic binding at the top right corner near the hinge, holding the top & bottom together has come loose. So it's now being held by Black electric tape. A bottom piece on ebay costs between $16 and $25, if I want to repair it. But it's not too bad. I'll continue using this for Win 7 Tasks and old 2010-2014 games, while my newer laptop&PCs will be used for newer Win 10 tasks and more modern PC games 2015-2020+.

 

my K53TA lives just fine, with latest W10 and Ubuntu 18-10 dual boot. I've installed Intel 256Gb SSD and left old HDD in Optidrive caddy. Ofcourse I've upgraded latest 214 bios with 6Gb SATA-3 enabled. Everything except battery life is ok. Even screen still brighter than many... Though viewing angels I'd want to be better. The CPU A6-3400m is overclocked and undervolted under W10 with k10stat. In Ububntu I've managed to install k10ctl (finding it in archived internet as its source site is offline).
So I would appreciate any help with k10ctl settings for this particulare CPU. Thnx in advance

 

Haha. I decided to check this thread, randomly, after some years of not being around. This is a die-hard thread. I bought the K53 back when i was in grad school to do work and gaming. I gave the laptop to my brother and it's still chugging along. The keyboard and mouse areas don't really work anymore, but he just uses a wireless kb/mouse and uses it for low end gaming on the go.

I ended up upgrading to an MSI GT60 2QD Dominator, around 2014, as a holy (word of your choice) I finally finished grad school gift to myself. Slapped in 8 GB ram (still have 2 slots free), 2 solid state drives, and it's plenty for my needs (for now). Though, it's already a bit dated with its Nvidia GTX970m.

Cheers to all those that made the early days of the K53 the "good ol' days". Lots of good times getting issues ironed out, OC'ing it to heck, and lots of etc.

 

I still use this laptop every day. Last year I had to transplant it into a new case (ordered from China), and the replacement keyboard is a little flaky, but I have no reason to replace it yet. Hopefully nothing major fails now that I've said that. Running latest Windows 10, and other than having to disable ULPS to fix boot times, its been quite good. Using patched BIOS, so only problem there is USB3 port doesn't work.

I have noticed that with new Ubuntu installs it has a VERY long boot time. Have you found this also. I'm pretty sure it's dual graphics related, but haven't found a solution.

 

My USB3 port works great with patched BIOS
Linux is my on HDD so I understand boot time correlates to HDD speed but haven't tried it on main SDD yet. And haven't had any special patches despite described in ARCHLINUX DOCs concerning RADEON and kernel:
add line below without quotes to grep at boot or in /etc/modprobe.d/radeon.conf

"options radeon modeset=1"

 

Hmmm. It was a BIOS file that I got pages ago from this thread. I might look into it more if the port becomes more of a necessity. Thanks for the Linux boot pointer.

 

Hello my friends. After a long time I found my k53ta, with problems, but now I can recover. I have an EPROM recorder. I am looking for a dump of the k53ta BIOS but I can not find it.

 

Hello fellas, Its still alive and running alike but the sign of wear is there, the Dedicated GPU 6650M (Whistler XT) is EOL. It showed artifacts few months back and freezes the system, I just switched everything to iGpu 6520G. That worked until a Windows 7 Update failed to update and crashed, After which it randomly BSOD during startup. I just keep hibernated this thing now a days.

There is a possibility of powering down the 6650M Physically severing the circuit but A modified bios with 6650M disabled would save a lot of hassle.

 

Hello guys I'm new to this thread. I would need some help with the bios flash to enable SATA3 speed.

When checking the current bios installed I can see version 216 but that was never released by ASUS.... and I cannot flash it to the modded bios 214. It will always freeze on the Force to update BIOS?

I certainly have the k53ta version. Is there someone who is able to explain what is wrong with my laptot?

CPUZ: https://imgur.com/a/qYU06RY
Bios Freeze: https://imgur.com/a/aexOTcS

 

I got tell you one thing,
do not update the BIOS File, if you dont face any prbl. like the slogan: Never touch a running system.

But yes, I got the ASUS X53SV and must say, it´s running in dual boot mode with WIn7 and Win10 for years, stable like hell.

 

I actually went ahead and managed to install the Sata3 speed bios afterall. The problem was that the flash drive I was booting the new bios from was not FAT32 formatted. After I formatted it, it updated with no problem.

The result is that the read and write speeds literally doubled and now Win10 boots in 8seconds.

Incredible speed for such old machine

 

If you can't flash it then that probably means something's wrong with that modded BIOS, or the flasher can recognize that the digital signature mismatch its checksum after the binary had been altered.

 

Wow. This thread is still going and that's pretty awesome. I last checked-in about a year ago (10 posts back).

My K53TA is still running under its new owner (my brother). Keyboard and mouse are pretty shot and due to the age of the case I am too afraid to open it up to even attempt to fix it anymore ... just because it may end up breaking loose the little metal pieces that are glued in place that you unscrew/screw things to. Its main use now is for FFXIV (an mmorpg) when traveling and occasional other things.

That laptop is actually right next to me at the moment, as I was having some issues getting Win 10 updated to 1903 on it, but success! I am doing an SSD upgrade on my newer (2014) laptop, and after the upgrade will be using the existing SSD for the K53TA. The old K53TA is actually not a bad performer at all with an SSD in it for general stuff. For such an old laptop, it was way ahead of the curve for its time.

For shiz and giggles we tried using K10STAT to OC it this week (K10STAT hadn't really been used after the laptop left me around 2014). It worked for a short while then BSOD, lol. The performance was pretty awesome though with the OC though but couldn't run stable with FFXIV.

If anyone was ever successful in overriding the fan speed to manually control it via software, please chime in (not with recommendations of things to try, because I have tried software... but please respond to the thread if you've actually successfully controlled or forced the fan to be max speed, and what you specifically did... it'd be much appreciated!). On my newer laptop I can override the auto fan speed by just taping a special switch on the laptop and it goes into loud turbine mode to keep the laptop really cool.

Cheers!

 

anyone still using this laptop with the latest Windows?

Does it shut down properly?

The old version of Windows 10 I have installed would sometimes hang at shutdown.
The screen would turn black, and just stay that way, requiring a hard shut down by holding the power button.

This usually happens after using the laptop for a whole day, and then something prevents full shutdown.


If I turn on the laptop and shutdown shortly after, it has no problem.

weird.

 

i have kind o the same model Asus x54h i upgraded the ram to 8gb and CPU from i3 to i5 and now i am wondering if i can upgrade the screen to FHD
my opinion is if you have around 300-350 $ u can get HP Elitebook 8770w
that PC u can upgrade CPU GPU RAM and screen (and it is 17 inch)

 

Hum most of us are losing our dgpu to its age (atleast those machines still alive .
we need a fix : to bypass the dead Dgpu. Otherwise It either bsod during startup or blackscreen during shutdown randomly. This thing is still very much capable machine to our young ones.
Bios version 214 with enabled fixed mode Flashed.
But every version of Catalyst driver starting from OEM Asus one to our modified ones by leeKM 14.4 doesn't swich to manual fixed mode in Catalyst control center. Its will BSOD as soon as you select manual fixed mode but the settings doesn't change to fixed mode.

So even flashing fixed mode bios we are stuck on dynamic switching.
We need Manual Fixed mode switching to Power saving graphics permanently. than we can disable the dgpu from safemode.
Catalyst driver with fixed mode Power saving graphics set as default would do the trick. Just the opposite what we tried before to fixed mode to High performance graphics.
I am looking in to catalyst driver ini settings but there is just too litle info on editing them.

 

i gave this laptop to my mom, and the dgpu died and bsod, just like you guys

i temporarily fixed it by taking a heat gun to the dgpu, and it works again now so far.

you need to disassemble the whole thing and use foil to cover everything except the gpu, and then get it nice and hot without burning the mobo.
it's most likely a bad solder joint.

dunno how long this heat gun fix will last. some people have good luck, some people's gpu's fail again

 

A safer and probably longer-lasting fix would be to remove the motherboard entirely and bake it in the oven at 375F for seven minutes.

 

Really cool story keeping this thread alive....good to see this old clunker is still alive 10years later. I never needed to fix a bad dGpu with a heat gun yet.... I have 2 of these old legacy laptops still working as spare laptops around the house. I took care of mine with little usage...just one hinge on both are cracked, & now leaving them open all the time. Didn't play PC games much between 2015-2021, just old games & currently using occasional for web browsing/youtube, minor work, and emulation games. I moved on to 9th gen i7 RTX 2060 last year...probably stick with that for 5 years. Wouldn't be surprised if this ole ASUS clunker is still alive by then. LoL.