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

Up to the user. I personally like a blu-ray in my machine only because it works for me. But if you rarely use your blu-ray for movies, or at home primarily, then then I'd say go SSD + HDD in the bay and external Blu-ray.

 

I'd say replace the optical for a ssd, and get an external bluray player, especially if you have an HD TV.

 

In case you guys didn't know. Portal is free until Sept. 20 | Joystiq

 

Not sure what is going on but my son runs CPUID and comes up with this

It gives me
CL
tRCD
tRP
tRAS
tRC

numbers respectively are
5.0
5
5
15
16


Does that make sense? Much faster timings, right?

 

Whoa CL5 is like FAST. Something doesn't seem right. Post a screenshot of it if you can. Open CPU-Z and press alt+prt scrn and paste it in paint, save it and upload it.

 

That's what I thought also. I may have to wait unitl next week when I see him on a visit as he's not into PC geekdom.

 

FYI, 16x AF runs about 3-5 FPS slower than 4x AF on Deus Ex HR and barely looks any better. From my testing.

 

It's wrong. A glitch. Mine said the same thing.

 

So CPU-Z has a problem? Have you tried SIW?

SIW | System Information for Windows by Gabriel Topala

Does it provide correct info?

 

hey guys, I did a clean install using a legit digital river copy. I managed to grab my OEM key which was shown in the system information window but I wasn't aware that I needed a serial key also. I learnt this the hard when the thing prompted me in the end of installation asking for a damn serial key. Now I'm stuck with an unregistered machine and it's telling me that I have 3 days to activate windows. Any help on this is deeply appreciated cuz I'm down on my pell grant therefore cannot afford to buy new OS keys right now.

Also I tried installing Asus bios utilities from k53TA website and it's telling me that mine isn't a Asus. ?
no luck with the touchpad drivers either....

 

Try HWInfo32 or HWInfo64 seems to be the most accurate.

 

If you have a valid Digital River key you should be able to do a repair install and use the key. I had an XP key for a recent laptop install (bought w/o OS) and didn't want to do a XP install ( too many SP). So I used an Win7 upgrade, it wouldn't take any of my keys ( I had legit Win 7 DR). So I used the upgrade and then did a repair and it took my DR Upgrade key when it owuldn't before. Hope this works for you

 

Good point. Also you can call Microsoft and they can activate it over the phone, and next time OP can use ABR to save his activation setup and then he can restore it after install.

 

So I was wondering about the bios updates. I saw on ASUS website that the BIOS is now at 207 and that the one fixing the banding issue was 206. I also ran ASUS live update and was wondering if it would automatically dl the new bios. I don't see much issue with the screen or banding.

 

If the banding doesn't bug you then don't worry too much about it. BIOS will never automagically download. You have to download it and use Asus' BIOS updater to do it. Seems stable enough to run from windows to me, but that's just one data point. It was the first thing I ran when I got my brother's K53TA home.

 

When installing a Digital River or retail copy of Windows with an OEM key, you need to call to activate. It takes less than 5 minutes.

The Windows BIOS flasher probably looks for hooks in the operating system to determine if the machine is an Asus. If you checked your system properties before you formatted (right click on Computer, select properties), you would have noticed that there was an Asus logo there. It's not present after you do the clean install. You can still update from Asus' flash utility in the BIOS itself. All you need to do is copy the actual BIOS ROM file to a USB stick formatted with the FAT or FAT32 file system. However, if your system is not giving you any issues, updating the BIOS is not necessary.

Because you probably downloaded the wrong version. For the BBR6 model, you need the second file on Asus' support site - the one marked version 8.0.5.1.

 

How do you include those Asus files in a windows backup?

 

Just wanted to add:

Got mine running at 2.8Ghz the ONLY thing I have trouble with is that 3dmark11 crashes. Intel burn test runs complete every time with five runs, should I increase the runs?

I set BO and P1 to the exact same settings, in cpuz there is no speed fluctuation, am I walking in the danger zone?

Temps are good at 1.225v

 

mine is set at:

p0 2600 @ 1.150
b0 2800 @ 1.200

dead island max @ 77c
deus ex max @ 81c
mass effect 2 max @ 78c

 

Nice results!

I am investigating building a desktop apu configuration newegg is out of stock on the A8-3850 at the moment

 

So I went through the flashing program and it said that the bios 206 was older then my current version?

 

that means you have bios 207.

why are you down flashing ? each bios update includes the fixes from the previous bios update.

if you need to downflash, you need to enter the bios and use the "easy flash" feature to flash from usb drive.

yes, run IBT for an hour, and watch temps.
but if you don't care about programs crashing, then you don't need to do any further tests at all.
now you just have to determine if you're actually getting any practical performance gains with that 2.8g

the asus winflash program is pretty crappy, since it doesn't do anything better than the easy flash util in the bios.

however, if you get an "asus computer only" error, all you need to do is install the ATK drivers. That's what the other asus-only programs look for.

if you want to include asus drivers in the windows disc, you'll have to edit it with an iso program like ultraIso. It will let you make a new folder on the iso image where you can dump all the necessary drivers into.

 

Called Microsoft and got it fixed.

Touchpad and bios are working too. Turn out Win Flash needed ATK drivers to properly function.

Thanks a ton for the help guys.

 

That is a great point! At the moment I can see no reason to push the machine past 2.3 GHz for my own personal use.

 

I noticed no benefit, at least from a performance gain versus temperature increase standpoint going past 2.2 GHz. At that speed, this notebook runs everything I need, and I can quickly downclock via K10STAT if I want to run at lower power/performance for any reason.

 

I only play one game that needs a little hmmpf from the processor and that is theHunter and the very reason I purchased this laptop. So now I have a little hunter profile and a default surfin profile

 

after more testing last night, I would have to agree, at least in my gaming experience, I do not really see any performance gains past 2.3GHz. Just increase in temps as noted above. I still feel disabling crossfire and not assigning a power profile give me the best performance, all the while keeping around 70C in core temps. Again this was only tested on DX which has stuttering issues to begin with.

Now I do notice a performance increase at 2.8/3.0GHz when I'm web browsing and using programs like Adobe CS5...

 

gumba213. Did you set Deus Ex to DirectX 11. I found if I don't select DirectX 11 it uses my integrated GPU only. If I choose DirectX 11 is uses my dedicated. I don't see crossfire working at all except giving stuttering performance. I also had to set Deus Ex as high performance.

I know we have different machines, but essentially the same. I also ended up doing a full driver removal and fresh driver install. 11.8 WHQL works best for me followed by installing OEM Fusion drivers for the rest of the drivers like USB, etc.

 

Could you install the 11.8 drivers on top of the OEM set, or is it best to uninstall the OEM drivers, install the 11.8s, then the OEMs?

 

yes I have been running dx11 on DX, tried setting it to dx9 but performance took a huge hit for some reason. So does that mean it's running off the dedicated only on mine? would make sense considering I don't see much of any performance gains while playing OC'd.... hmm now you got me thinking...

 

The key is on the sticker under your notebook. I used the digital river win7+sp1 iso and it activated online, didn't have to call.

 

Okay, question. Has anyone replaced the screen in this? If not, how plausible would it be to replace the screen with a 1080p panel like the 95% Clevo screen.

 

double post see below

 

I didn't mean to. I figured I needed to update the bios because of the suppose banding issue (I never noticed it, might know now why lol). I guess I automatically dl'ed the newest bios or it came with the computer as I haven't updated it manually since buying the computer

 

Has anyone noticed banding sometimes comes back? I get it if my windows aero thing isn't working right, usually after hitting low (10% or less) power at some point during the day. Goes away if you restart the computer.

 

if you can reuse the lcd panel lvds cable connector, then it's easy. You just remove the bezel and swap out.

if the 1080p panel uses a different, or longer, lcd cable, then you'll have to take the palmrest cover off, and disconnect the whole cable connector in the upper left corner of the mobo, and put a new one in.

either way, it's pretty much plug and play. even in worst case, there isn't a lot of disassembly required.

the HP folks can pitch in about what cable connector is required, if different.

it goes away after restart, even with only 5% battery left ?

sounds like software glitch, maybe has something to do with power saving ?

 

It goes back to normal after going to the switch user screen too. Some sort of glitch...

Also, what kind of battery life are you guys getting with the computer on the entire time? I cant seem to get past 2.5 hours with wifi on, and maybe not much more with it off lately...

 

Thanks it's nice to see so many people that take the time to answer questions and offer advice. I'll be going with the external blu ray and get a ssd.

Thanks again

 

I actually got over 5 hours of web surfing on my undervolt profile (almost identical to ones on first page). I also was using the P4G power saving.

 

updated bios to 207 seems like it removed some dithering I was seeing on my monitor...also played about an hour of DX and only got temps to 64C WOW and in High Performance Mode, which seemed to work better??? only 68C

 

i don't see any difference at all compared to 206.

that's some crappy battery life.

what does HWMonitor show your battery wear as ?

an A6 with 56whr battery should be getting around 5 hours with net surfing

 

. .del

 

With my K53TA, I was lucky to get 4 hours, realistically 3.5 hours with web surfing. With Netflix, it would run maybe 2.5 hours at best.

One thing to try though is cap your CPU speed while on battery. Turn off K10stat control (although leave it running, it will still benefit from the voltage), go into power options, and set max CPU speed to 90%. It should limit it to your P2 state at max.

 

First post. Thanks everyone for having me as I am usually in the android forums. I installed A8-3530MX in K53TA and am still figuring it out. I just got 3Dmark11 = P1556 and I am at 3ghz overclock and have not been over 78 degrees yet in prime95 and intelburntest. Am I going in the right direction or not. Crisys 2 and Deus Ex seem to be fine and very playable but I can't seem to figure out if crossfire is working properly or not. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

@offplanet

i don't see any wrong direction.

78c after how long ? at least an hour ?

 

3 hours on prime95 with hwmonitor running. Just cant seem to get video right. I don't know if the a8 will crossfire correctly with dedicated gpu.

 

My son used HWinfo64 and got this

1T
4T
4T
11T
15T


I am going to see him next week, will check it out. Something is skewing the results

 

HWiNFO64 now being used. Bumped up to 3133 @1.1125V jumping between 2.8 and 3133 HWiNFO64. Third run and haven't gone over 76.6 degrees yet.

 

Offplanet, those are some AMAZING numbers!

 

Seems no matter how high I go it just won't go over 80 degrees. Something has got to be wrong but it just doesn't seem like a whole lot of hot air coming from the cpu exhaust. I will see if I can post some screen shots and maybe someone can tell me what is happening. Maybe I just don't have a clue to what I am doing.