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

The K53TA will stomp those specs into the ground! Welcome to HiDef gaming!

 

going by that picture, probably not. you'll have to go to the store and check out a K53E and see if the notches at the bottom match up. that pic shows 6.
Ours has 5.

plus you'll need to see the backside of the kb. If it doesn't have screw holes, you could tape it down. But if it has screw holes in different places, you won't be able to fasten it flat.

i typed on the k53e chiclet kb, and it felt cheap. Before you buy just any chiclet kb, you might wanna try it first.

 

I've had the exact same lines as above it only happened 2x. It was after coming out of a game and they were mostly showing up on internet explorer screens and not on the windows background. The first time I noticed it I was oc'd to 2.3 now I've been up to 2.6 while gaming and haven't seen them. A reboot took care of it for me when it happened

 

I noticed a problem last night I was trying to update to the newest 11.8 drivers that were linked here on megaupload and while I can get them to install I am unable to access the catalyst panel to make changes to the graphics settings crossfire etc. It just never opens and the tray icon doesn't show up. What am I doing wrong lol. What sux is that it defaults everything to the intergrated gpu. Wasn't fond of DX running at 15fps lol

 

I recommend you return the notebook if you have the same problem a couple more times. It's what I would do, I commend you on reading the whole thread instead of being lazy and just asking questions already answered. +rep

 

I bought this laptop from bestbuy about a month ago
and it seems to having some problems...

When I play Starcraft 2 at lowest settings
I only get 1 fps ~ 25fps....

Also the laptop can't play 1080 res Blu ray movies / videos well..
Every time I play a high res blu ray video,
the video lags behind and the video and audio goes out of sync...

From what other ppl have been sayin, I shouldn't have this kind of problem right????

Do i have to download some graphic drivers or something?
however, when I went on AMD's site and tried the "detect and install drivers autiomatically" it said there were no available drivers for my laptop.....
or
should I format the harddrive to get rid of all the bloatware that it came with?

 

If I'm looking for a hard drive, what SATA version does the Asus support? Also, what kind of hard drive does it come with (if anyone has the model number so I can check out the specs). Much appreciated.

 

holy crap.

the graphics driver just went bonkers on me.

I was switching users in Windows, not doing anything graphically intensive, then the screen divided into 9 panels and went fuzzy like a TV with no reception, then went blank with a shimmering horizontal line in the middle. The whole screen went bonkers.

somehow, the blank screen after logoff triggered the graphics glitch.

I had to hard reboot.

I'm using default asus ati drivers. damn, this sucks.

 

Make sure you set SC2 to "high performance" in the switchable graphics profile.

For the 1080p make sure you are not in Power Saver mode, set it to balanced. If it still gives you problems try High Performance power profile and see if it helps.

 

The K53TA supports SATA III. The stock hard drive is a Seagate 5400 RPM 500 GB piece of junk.

 

I'm sure its nothing new that most don't already have but Asus posted new chipset drivers on their website as of yesterday.

It most likely installs the 11.8 Cat drivers so it'll probably prevent you from OC'ing the graphics card.

Trying them now.

 

I forgot to mention, when this was happening to me last night, I hooked the laptop up to my LCD tv and the weird line also transferred onto the tv. So I'm pretty sure that rules out a problem with the display itself. This is most likely a driver, or some sort of hardware issue just like you say. Hopefully not the latter.

Thank you for the commendation. I have never seen a thread so packed full of information. This laptop already has a cult following. Yea...I have a guy at my local Best Buy that is aware of my problem and is prepared for me to return it if it keeps happening. I'll do everything I can for an even exchange as I love this laptop (despite its visual glitches) but it may prove a little difficult as they are all sold out nearly everywhere. September 10th is Best Buy's discontinuation date of this model. Maybe they will get one last shipment from Asus before then and those will be up to date units with correct BIOS right off the bat and everything. Now wouldn't that be nice?

Good idea. I think its a good idea to use the most updated, official chipset drivers from Asus's website. I have no idea where those 11.8s came from but I can tell you they are not official.

 

Well all be dammed! Thanks for pointing this out.

 

hmm I already set my thing to high performance mode long time ago
but it still has very bad performance
i don't know what's wrong with it (

I also even set the individual programs to high performance mode as well

 

Another problem I have is that when i turn on Starcraft 2 or Skype
or other games, music won't play on youtube or other music players...
like only the sound on skype and starcraft 2 comes out of the speakers
and other sounds on my computer doesn't come out

 

Is your machine overheating maybe? If you run hwmonitor while gaming what are your max temps?

 

after opening up the case, I can say definitively that the plastic is very fragile.

I found a lot of the screw holes were cracked from stress straight from the factory. My left hinge makes the upper left corner flex, and low and behold, the 2 screw holes in that area are also cracked.

Treat your laptop delicately. It's very fragile, especially in the left hinge area.

 

I am in a cult?????

 

I don't think it's overheating at all
The rig runs very cool... too cool
it feels like it's not even trying to run the games at max capacity..

 

I overclocked mine to 2.8GHz, GPU @ 715 / 1075...

And my 3DMark11 was only 1301.

The OP did better stock.

I am on preinstalled drivers, no updates. Considering a format with the newest Asus chipset drivers, but worried they won't overclock.

Any ideas why 3DMark is so low?

 

is that crossfire or not ?

with crossfire, it should be ~1400, if i remember correctly.

 

Just watched your video clip; I have the exact same problem as you. I haven't figured out exactly what causes it but it does go away in most circumstances. Because there are multiple people with the problem, I'm assuming that it's just a driver issue of some sort. FWIW, I bought mine in Michigan.

Seems to go away when:
- I switch out of full-screen into a higher resolution
- I enable or disable crossfire
- I change the screen resolution

This is just by ear so I could be wrong on those. I'm also not sure what the conditions are when it appears.

 

For those of you getting the screen tearing/line at the top of the screen...

I noticed this on mine tonight after I downloaded and tried running FusionTweaker overclocking tool for Llano APUs, on top of the k10stat's settings. I'm not sure if it started before that, but that's when I noticed it. I restarted the computer and it went away. Tried opening the same programs again, but didn't get the tearing. I'm kind of thinking it's due to running short on ram memory/bandwidth. With the way I stack tabs in opera, and rarely turning the computer off, my computer eventually runs very low on the "free" ram, considering I only have the stock 4gb in there. The display graphics are mainly (or perhaps solely) controlled by the integrated GPU. The IGPU is greatly affected by ram bandwidth limitations, and I would guess that if you start running very low on free ram memory for the system that it will begin to effect the iGPU and the display. But if anyone with 8gb of ram is still having that issue then perhaps the theory doesn't hold up...

 

Shot in the dark here. I know at least one of you who is experiencing the flickering is running their Windows install as it came from the factory. These machines do not have Service Pack 1 pre-loaded. Right after I turned my system on and removed some of the bloatware, I downloaded the full install of SP1 and performed the update. I would also uninstall Asus Power4Gear software. I tried running a couple games and was getting extreme lag. Uninstalled P4G and everything went back to normal, so that's something else that might be worth looking into.

You can download various installers for SP1, including an .exe and an .iso for burning to disc from here. It also might not hurt to install the latest DirectX, which you can get from here.

 

Well I guess its nice to know others are having this situation happen. Install the latest chipset package from Asus's website. Version 8.863. I installed this about 6 hours ago and just did an intense session of Deus Ex and I haven't experienced it yet. *crosses fingers*

This has happened to me with an 8GB dual channel setup...

Mine came with service pack 1 on it already. I think some may not have it pre loaded while others do. And def +1 on uninstalling Power4Gear. It is totally unnecessary and it seems to be a resource hog. It still leaves behind the animated splash icons though which you cannot remove. Something to so with the all important "ATK package."

+1 on this case being fragile...I don't want to use the word cheap. This def plays a part in what makes this laptop so light. Also, this has to be one of the methods they used to cut costs on this thing to make for that 450 dollar price tag. Also, has anyone noticed the keyboard is not exactly flat all the way across? :/

Even with the fragile plastic case and its other quirks, I still love this thing. Its hard to describe. Haha.

 

I bought my machine last weekend (28 Aug), and mine did the same thing (under a different sequence of events). I only saw this weirdo thing once about four days ago.

 

Should the Best Buy "2-Year Protection Plan" be purchased for the K53TA?

I was wondering for those that bought the K53TA, if you also bought the protection plan from Best Buy...

 

It's not a problem with the laptop, it's a problem with skype. On this laptop, my previous laptop, and my desktop, skype has a tendency to do some funky stuff to your speakers. I'll randomly have sound come out my computer speakers even if I have headphones plugged in. Even changing settings in Skype doesn't fix it completely. Skype is to blame, though.

 

I did not.

 

I got that just after I tried to force the wrong cat drivers, I then installed the
11-8_mobility_vista_win7_64_dd_ccc

I have not seen it again.

 

Actually that could be a sign that it's overheating. If the cooling system is working properly, there'll be a LOT of exhaust heat when it's working. Conversly, if the heat sinks are not working properly, all the heat will stay locked in the CPU or GPU and they will overheat, while the rest of the machine stays pretty cool. Run a program like hwmonitor, don't guess.

 

so i brought this Horizontal Line thing up a few days ago. seen it in flash, video streaming and gaming. thought it was artifacting due to my OCing, but now realize its prob a hardware/driver issue. could be a crossfire thing since this computer seems to have a hard time deciding what settings its in. I don't know if the Power4Gear and AMD Vision are communicating well. BTW I wouldn't recommend uninstalling the Power4Gear, you need to be in High Performance to OC, and after uninstalling it I wasn't able to OC.

I have not had any issues with low frame rates as some have mentioned. It could very well be related to the core temps. I have found this machine to be very inconsistent. Feels like it has a mind of its own sometimes. I would highly recommend keeping CPU core temps below 80C. The CPU seems to slow down with prolonged 80-85C operating temps. This is a big reason I plan on doing a major overhaul on the internal cooling. I have purchased some heatsinks, thermal tape, and mx4 and will be modding things here within the next week or so, just waiting for parts to arrive. My idle temps are around 49C and 31C when I'm undervolting. I hope to lower temps by 10C or more.

Also anyone using the new OFFICIAL ASUS 11.8 drivers, please post your results and if you're able to OC with them PLEASE. Thanks

 

Have any of you guys tried to enable max fan like on the G series laptops?

also does hwinfo display the fan rpm or fan % correctly?

 

I did a fresh install on a ssd with win7 and did not install power4gear. Also, installed the latest 11.8 drivers from asus after installing the 11.8 drivers from guru3d.

In my power plans, I have balanced, performance, amd performance, and battery. I switch between balanced when undervolting and amd performance when gaming. I believe amd performance is tied to the catalyst profile "gaming".

My temp goes from balanced, 39C, to performance, 68C.

I've OC to 2.3 P0 with 2.4 B0. Been playing crysis 2, dead space 2, fallout: new vegas, cod:bo, and mass effect 2 with no issues. Watched Hmonitor and CPU-z consistently to make sure I'm within temp and voltage.

 

That is with crossover off and all vision settings to performance...

Tried to boot off usb to reinstall windows but I cant find a key to choose boot device and bios has no usb option either?

 

So there's the AMD Vision thingy that will ask me to associate a card with a game. Now, Red Alert 3 was a little sluggish until afterwards the AMD program asks prompted me. After that, the game ran on ultra perfectly.

Is there a way to get this machine to automatically use high performance for games? Am I just doing something wrong? Bad Company 2 runs perfectly so I didn't want to touch anything.

 

just installed the latest 11.8 Official Chipset Drivers and it looks like the Horizontal line thing might be fixed.

 

Ya know...a friend of mine told me the reason why crossfire may not be working correctly on this thing is because its a crossfire between the iGPU on the APU and a dedicated card. He said crossfire has best, stable performance when you are doing it with another dedicated card of the exact same type...like on a desktop...and I believe crossfire can use up to four GPU's. So its probably best on this laptop to just disable crossfire altogether and use switchable graphics only. That's what I'm gonna do...just use high performance (dedicated) really only on games and stuff. I don't think crossfire was meant to be used in combination with a dedicated and an iGPU...ESPECIALLY one contained on an APU like the A-series processors.

On a side note, I don't overclock so I really don't need Power4Gear. I cant imagine why you would need that to overclock. It just seems like a glorified windows power management. Is there more to this program than meets the eye?

I switch between Windows "balanced" when I am not playing a game and AMD's "gaming" when I am. It seems to work for me. I think the biggest change "gaming" really makes is that it sets the CPU to run at maximum all the time (min: 1400MHz, max: 1400MHz).

Yea I hear ya...I installed mine yesterday, early evening and it hasn't popped up..............yet.

 

If money isn't a problem and you feel like you need to peace of mind then no one will stop you. But no one here recommends you buy best buy's "protection plan".

This is the second time I'm hearing that. I'm buying this notebook next Thursday (the 8th) and I want to know what this 'discontinuation' means. Does it mean all stores will divest their stock before then or ship them back or they'll take them off shelves or they won't get new shipments or what?

 

I can't find any anywhere within hundreds of miles of my house.

 

Hello guys, im a newcomer to the forum community but i'm always at notebookreview checking laptops and notebooks...

few days ago i have got a DELL N5110 with i7 and GT525 6gigs of ram so on..

and i noticed it gets unpleasently hot on left palm rest... so i decided i want to return it, local store where i bought it also offers this Asus model..
only for some reason it is named A53TA
it has amd A6 procesor and gpu and all of that that u have mentioned in here

my current dell system scores 960 points in 3d mark 11 and it scores 8600 in 3dmark06
games run fluently on moderate settings but hot palm bothers me...

so i decided to switch for this laptop, i was reading thorught like half of 70 pages of posts and i have heard a lot, positive and negatives sides...

should i take this ASUS or go for 17inch Dell with same spec as named upper, im haveing a big time dillema here..

so im wondering if all the problems with drivers and screen are fixed,

do you guys(owners) recomend me buying this model and what are the cons of this model beside bad vga web camera and plastic hinges? any other important problems, thanks in advance! ;-)

 

When I was at BB picking up my K53TA, which was a demo model (there were none anywhere left anywhere near), on several occasions other employees tried to lookup new units and all they kept coming up with was A) None anywhere near us and B) Than Sept. 10th was when they were going to stop selling the model. I don't know what to make of it either. Maybe there's a new model with A8's that they're going to be rolling out.

In the mean time, I've got about 12 more days to determine if I keep the thing and I've been running burnin (like multicore Prime95) and graphical stressers like FurMark to see if I can break the thing or uncover any sort of weakness. I haven't come across anything yet. Seems to top out at 66C using multicore prime when ambient temp is about 18/19C. Idle it runs at 48C, I think. I have another computer in the room, which is passive cooled (sounds like a jet) and that's idling about 33C. But the heatsink is HUGE.

 

Thanks for answering my question, what do they mean by stop selling it though. There are a ton of these notebooks near me and I don't think they can get rid of them all before next week Saturday.

 

Probably means they will exhaust inventory. No sense in sending them back unless there's some contractual agreement for whatever reason with Asus.

Where do you live by the way? They seemed to be sold out everywhere else.

I'm hoping they offer the K43TA soon. Then I can return my DV6z and go with that. I'd like the higher res screen and blu-ray but more I consider it not completely necessary. Of course anything else they offer will probably cost $100 more because they sold so quickly.

 

i would not recommend installing the new 11.8 official drivers. its slowed down my gpu and now seeing bad texturing in DX, whats a good driver sweeper these days?

 

This thread is amazing...

I've been following for a few weeks and ended up purchasing two K52TA's, one for me and one for my son.

Loaded Win7 Ultimate, installed only the basic Asus drivers (still using Asus-packaged 11.6 Cat drivers until we can OC 11.8), set up K10STAT and Afterburner. Clocking P0 at 2.3GHz and the video at 700/1000. Swapped RAM for 2x4GB Kingston sticks and swapped in a Crucial M4 128GB SSD.

The only game I've play tested is Rift. I can keep settings on med/high in warfronts w/ no major lag. General questing, etc. I can keep at high/ultra settings. I'm totally happy w/ the performance and have no issues with the laptops; I've never experienced banding. Unfortunately, battery life is ~1 hour 20 min. w/ the overclocking.

Next step is to re-paste and add heatsinks. Arctic MX-4 is on the way from the 'Egg. Game temps range from the 70's to low 80's. Hope to drop that by 5-8C w/ a re-paste.

Thanks all for a great thread. And yes, this is a cult.

 

@gumba213 - DriverSweeper from Guru3d.

1. uninstall drivers through Add/Remove Programs
2. run DS
3. reboot
4. run CCleaner (2-3 times against registry to remove orphaned keys)
5. reboot
6. re-install 11.6 and enjoy OC'ing

 

tap the escape key while booting

 

I live in Florida. If they exhaust inventory then I wonder if they'll replace it with something else like the K53Z ASUSTeK Computer Inc. - Notebooks- ASUS K53Z which has similar specs but has a weaker GPU and a different chipset, also seems to come with built in blu-ray.

 

that's because there are 2 screws anchoring down the kb behind F4 and F12.

so you'll see a slight dip in those areas. I don't really mind though, as there is less flex that way