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

This a great thread that I've checked on and followed over the last 5 months since I picked up one of these machines at Best Buy.

When my old 2007 Dell Vostro, with its defective Nvidia 8400gs gpu finally gave up the ghost after I had babied it for 4 years, it was time to go shopping and luckily this deal came up just in time.

I originally gave around $600 for the old Dell on sale and was amazed to see this asus for the price of $426 brand new otd.

Well after 5 months with this sucker I have to admit that Asus has given us a lot of bang for the buck. This thing games better than machines twice the price, runs super cool, has great battery life. A real jack of all trades laptop.

I'm not a big overclocker or frame counter or anything like that. I don't like to push these machines too hard and always want them to run as cool as possible. Heat kills these machines over the long run and the cooler they run the better. If I want to run a game at ultra settings 60fps I'll use a desktop. Seeming as how an xbox only pushes about 30fps at 720p, this machine stacks up just perfect for a non-demanding gamer. Unbelievable that this thing can game this good at 1080p on a big screen at modest settings through hdmi.

You can google up the info on my old Dell and you'll find that the gpu was defective and Dell paid to replace many many motherboards and Nvidia about went broke on the deal. Some machines went through 4 or 5 in the warranty period. Mine wasn't one of them. I monitored temps in that thing from the start and it always sat on a laptop cooler and had its cpu cooling unit cleaned out religiously. Artic silver and copper mods helped some too, but this was a really badly designed machine. It was a chore to keep that thing under 85 degrees and it never ran below 65... any game or app that pushed it past that just wasn't played. No Civ 4 for me ... .

Now this Asus, its been a joy to own. As I type on it now, its sitting at 37 degrees and has never broken 68, no matter what games I play. After my encounter with Dell, keeping these things cool is the key to longevity and I see this one lasting a long time running this cool.

I still keep this machine on a good laptop cooler when I game but its nowhere near as mandatory as on my old laptop.

Anyway, I just wanted to add to this thread and thank you guys out there that have pushed these laptops and showed the upper limits of what they can do and figured out what works and what doesn't. Asus owes you all a commission. Personally mine has played and done everything I need as is, with the 11.12 drivers, although I did try to underclock it a bit to see if it affected running temps at all. Negligable, so I just put it back to factory.

I feel if you can keep the cpu cooling units clean and these things running as cool as possible, they will last a long time. Monitor you temps carefully and if they go up its time for a cleaning. Cat owners will be cleaning quite often.

Also one last thing... These things are selling on ebay refurbished for more than we gave new... 5 months later... Amazing. Thanks guys and keep up the good work.

 

Indeed, AsusRocks! Great post!

My only concern is when will the tin whiskers short'em out. Hopefully these can last at least a few years!

@NukeTossgirl, just downclock to 2.2 or 2.0 ghz. Performance is not affected much, while temperatures will drop 10 or more degrees. I downclocked from 2.4ghz 1.15 V to 2.0ghz 0.9875 V and discovered my average temperature went from about 74 while gaming to about 62 C. Give it a try!

 

nice praise AsusRocks. Too bad about your Dell; I always thought they made some nice laptops back in the day 10 years ago (I know someone who still has an old WinXP Dell running strong like a tank). I hate seeing any of my computers go bad since I always like using "old" computers like spare tires or lend out to a temporary guest, or if anything goes wrong with my newer computers.

Interesting mention of your care and using habits keeping temperatures down. I've also noticed that room temperature plays a key role at keeping temps down; so if you are in cold environments in the north or air conditioned buildings, then it will idle around 37C. But if you live in warmer places, then you will see a little higher idle temps of 43-53C. I also try not to work this laptop too hard since I hope to see this laptop last atleast 6 to 8 years as a nice spare tire in the future.

 

Yeah, I actually have 2 of those old dells. My wifes is still running although it will probably go any time. She never games on it though is probably why it is still running. I'm not really an anti-Dell guy, I just got some bad luck as all those gpus were bad no matter what they were in. Still got 4 years out of the old blast furnace though.

One more thing I forgot to mention when I posted is that I've noticed several people on here all of the sudden getting bad graphic performance out of the blue. Low framerates on games suddenly etc.

This happened to me also but I was lucky enough to detect my problem rather quickly. In the advanced power settings the setting at the bottom labled ATI Graphics Power Settings was on maximize battery life instead of maximize performance.

Weird thing is, I have the thing set on the high performance main setting yet somehow this little setting switched itself to maximize battery life. Its done it only twice in 5 months and is a minor nuisance as you simply open it up and switch it back to maximize performance. Probably first thing to check if perfomance takes a sudden dive.

Out of curiosity I ran 3dmark06 with this on maximize battery life and maximize perfomance and the results are pretty drastic.

Score on maximize battery 3431marks
Score on maximize performance 7004marks

Anyway hope that helps and sorry if its already been mentioned.

 

i wonder why the big box stores aren't offering more mid $400 laptops with discrete graphics.

all i see are stripped A6's for $399, and stripped intels for $400-500. and then you have to shell out $600+ for intel+ discrete.
There is no Goldilocks laptop anymore.

The A8's priced above $500 are just not worth it.

 

I tried playing BF3 with crossfire to get the huge boost in FPS but couldn't get rid of the micro-stutter. But before I could do anything I got BSOD. Apparently battlefield 3 LOVES to blue screen me every time I attempt to use crossfire....

btw how are some of you using crossfire with Skyrim? I don't see that possible since this pc only picks up dual GPU when there is dx10 or dx11 involved which skyrim has neither.
[Edit] Nvm found this one out by my own

 

Hey guys,

I had to format my K53TA and it turns out my fiancee liked the old ASUS-provided wallpapers like this one. As far as I remember, there were two of these, somewhere in "C:\Windows\Asus" or similar folder.

It'll be really helpful if any of you on the stock Win7 install can upload those wallpapers somewhere and provide a link.

 

What driver are you guys using?
A tried the very latest from guru3d.com, but the fps dropped in every game. Still the 11.12 mobility is the best?

 

Barkaipe go into the AMD Vision Control Center. Click on the Power setting on the left side.

Theres a section called PowerPlay. Click on that.

On that page if Enable Power Play is checked then confirm that Maximize perfomance is selected and not maximize battery.

Otherwise performance takes a bad hit.

You can also confirm this in the advanced power settings for whatever profile you have set.

I think sometimes this might possibly get changed when upgrading the drivers.

Also if you hate your screen going bright and dim as your scrolling pages uncheck that frickin Enable Vari-Bright on the same page. I hate that thing.

 

Wow, this is really good advice. Tried it and it works great. I thought this machine was running cool before but wow. Don't like much messing with overclocking, undervolting etc. But for this dramtic a temp decrease, Its gotta be good for longevity. Thanks for the tip.

 

I've been doing that myself, and it's made a big difference.

I was wondering if there's variance for voltage given a speed. My intelburntest told me 1.0125 V was the minimum for 2.0 ghz, where you have 0.9875 V. Do you know what might be causing the difference?

 

Every processor Die is unique with different voltage and frequence tolerance
like mine is only stable at 2Ghz with 1.0250
thats why you have to manual find the sweet spot yourself

 

Ok I just did my cooling mods on my k53 today. Here are some results.

Prime test:
2.0Ghz @ 0.9875v - 61C
2.0Ghz @ 0.9875v with stand - 59C
before mods: 67C w/o stand so 6C improvement

2.3Ghz @ 1.0750v - 74C
2.3Ghz @ 1.0750v with stand 66C
before mods: 79C w/o stand so 5C improvement

I have some pictures if you guys want them just ask

 

Hey I'd like to sea them Fore sure. Would u mind posting them up on the Blog?

Thx!


And also Does anyone know where I can buy one of those Metal Screens that people use to Cover the hole they cut on the bottomm of their Case?

Thx Thx! Reply soon ^.^

 

Thanks, man.

 

Buy a small patch of screen from your local home improvement store, cut to size with tin snips or similar tool, and secure with tape or hot glue. Simple, cheap, and effective.

 

I bought a metal pencil holder from dollar store and cut the 'screen'. I hold it with hot glue. I'll add pictures during the day, probably this afternoon.

 

I just create a thread about my mods there http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/648533-my-k53ta-cooling-mod.html

 

I cut a Hole on the Botton of my Case and a Metal Screen.
Everything seemed to work fine But now my PC doesn't read a @nd
Graphics Card any more!!!

only one 6520! I really don't know what the problem is...I tried updating
the chipset drivers but no dice!


Im like .....Dam did I just u this pc up??

 

Hmmm it's very strange. Maybe you should dissasemble it again and make sure you don't forget any connector and make sure all connector are well plug. I've got to unmount/remount it because there was 1 wire (the one written mb on it) that wasn't far enough in the connector and my fan wasn't working. I do cut an hole under my case.. well.. it's 4 hole that i cut. 1 under the fan, 1 under the cpu, 1 under the gpu and 1 on the ram cover.. so there's a lot of air running through it.

 

Hellos. I've been eyeing this thread for a while and I've been wanting to buy this laptop as my first real gaming rig. Seems the only place selling it is on eBay for $456.24. I've also been checking other laptops in the same price range and would like some input on where they stand compared to the K53TA. All prices from eBay, all standard 5400rpm, all 15.6" screen.

HP dv6-6145dx
AMD A8-3500M
8GB DDR3
640GB
AMD Radeon HD 6620G
Price: $480

ASUS K53SV-XR2
Intel i5 2410M
6GB DDR3
750GB
NVIDIA GeForce GT 540
Price: $468

 

I've owned both the K53TA and SV. Both are solid machines.

Overall, the SV has a better build (Mocha Brushed Aluminium) quality than the TA.

I'd get the SV over the TA if they're nearly the same price. During high loads, both run excellent and the cooling/venting is superb (even when the TA is OC'd).

As for the 5400rpm (which they both have), it's something you'll want to upgrade immediately. I installed some games (SWTOR, BF3, etc.) on it and the load speeds are so slow you'll want to pull your hair out. Everyone loads before you! I'd finish a Warzone in SWTOR and auto-queue for another game - By the time my screen loads, I'd miss the queue (that's how bad gaming on the 5400rpm drive is). Throw a nice 120-8GB SSD in there and you got yourself an excellent budget gaming laptop that you will love.

I'd avoid the HP. Compared to the K53, it's hideous looking and low priced HP's generally have a terrible screen and heat issues.

 

If you ever see any "Intel" laptops with true dedicated graphics (Gt540, GT 555, 6650m 6750m, etc) <$500 then jump on it (think later) & especially that "Asus" i5 and GT540 under $500. You should always jump on it over any AMD machine, since it can do anything that any A6 and A8 can do for gaming and nongaming and possibly better without any overclocking. The HP you sited only has "integrated 6620g gpu" so gaming won't be nearly as good as "dedicated graphics." The lowest I see the Asus i5+gt540 now is $642--so that was pretty darn rare & slick. I agree Asus is a little more reliable than HP, but many HP laptop owners have still had good experiences.

 

I just Unmounted the Mobo. Removed the Heatsink and Looked at the CPU and Gpu. nothing seemed to be wrong with Ether.
I then remounted everything checked the cables Twice and Double checked the Screws.

Reinstalled the Drivers

Downloaded K10stat Intel burn Test
Everything is running pretty Good....

But still no 2nd CPU......IDK What the problem is....

Sigh....Doesn't detect 2nd GPU the 6650m...
only the 6520m....

no Crossfire settings on amd cata.....

 

What program do I use to use the webcam? I think I accidentally deleted it when I first got this laptop.

Edit: Never mind I got it , but is there any way to make the quality better?

 

Maybe his room is cooler than yours, you are talkign about 1/40 a volt.

Try that intel burn test in a cooler room . . .

 

I doubt it. I just picked up a Logitech HD C310 (with a coupon a couple of years ago) for $20 and using that. Now I never look back at that cheapo laptop webcam. So you might find one similar for around $30 (or $24 refurb on ebay).

 

Can you fit the K53 in the U1 as pictured above?

The U1, U2, and U3 are all different sizes, I'm trying to decide which 1 to buy.

If any1 has any of these can you please post pics of it next to to your K53. and/or with your k53 inside it, if it fits.

 

the seagate hdd that comes with this sucks.
I just got a random corrupted boot sector error while i was watching a movie.
screen turned to static, and pc shut down and wouldn't boot windows.

scared the crap out of me. I thought I lost all my data.
Ran a scandisc, Turns out there were 62 bad sectors on the hdd.

 

I found some more wallpapers and altered a few with brownish tint. The only thing missing in these pics is our non-chicklet keyboard.

Code:

http://campuslife.asus.com/index/2145/get-em-while-theyre-hot-asus-k-series-wallpapers-are-here/

and a few more I altered with brownish-orange tint to match our laptop color.
[url]http://postimage.org/image/z33pblfdp/[/url]
[url]http://postimage.org/image/56zydogtt/[/url]
[url]http://postimage.org/image/d2xgp79dx/[/url]       ---mocha brown splash

update: added my favorite wallpaper mocha brown splash.

 

Thanks for the wallpaper.

 

hi guys i just bought an external usb 3.0 hdd and i copied some files into it but the maximum speed it had was 30mb/s. I think this speed is bad for usb 3.0,right?Do i need to install drivers for the usb 3 port?

 

Guys guess what I found in CCC after 12.2 mobile Catalyst installation... CPU OverDrive page (under the "Performance" group) with "Auto-Tune" button.

xenon47 From AMD web site you can download newest chipset driver bundle (version 12.2)

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/Pages/raid_windows.aspx

 

those chipset drivers i thought they are for the graphic card....are you sure man?

oh now i see,usb 3 drivers,my bad,u are right,thx

 

Someone mentioned overclocking gpu is no longer working again in 12.2 drivers (in thread below). Did anyone try these to confirm that or see if it improved anything? I'm still on the old 11.12 drivers. I'm playing Mass Effect 3 and older games just fine... So I might hold off & wait for 12.3 drivers later in the month.

Code:

[url=http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=359696&page=2]AMD Catalyst 12.2/3 (8.950.0 February 14) AMD Official WHQL - Page 2 - Guru3D.com Forums[/url]

 

Ok it sounds Silly but any help how to pullout this Disk, just ordered a ADATA S510 SSD. There is no visible pin to unscrew must be pulled from back side. Its different from the K series User guide Manual. So any help

 

SATA socket on the right, so you gently pull disk to the left until socket releases. After that you need unwrap foil, wrap ssd with it, and push disk back to socket


atoneapone Set registry values 'EnableUlps' to zero and OC (after reboot)

 

There is no screw at all. Just 4 rubber pads. slide the disk away from the SATA conenctor and it's free.

 

I literally just received my 3.0 yesterday, had the same problem and wondered the same thing, except mine never got farther than 10 megs a sec.

 

I don't have a USB 3.0 drive yet but may I ask what kind of HDD do you have in the laptop?

If it's the 5400rpm that came with the laptop, it could be that the read speed was the bottleneck?

Also, did you copy one large file or multiple small ones? I usually see that it tends to go slower when copying multiple small files.

10 per second is way too slow for USB 3.0, probably need to check the driver.

 

Okay, I bought this laptop on December 31, 2011. I really want to know if I upgraded the CPU to an A8-3550MX (then the GPU would turn into a 6740G2) if DDR3-1600 Memory would be compatible. Cause the reason we can't do it now is because of the limit of the A6 processor. And would I also be able to have the laptop read 16gb like the HP version can? Also, does anybody know a REALLY good thermal paste for laptops? I used Arctic Silver 5 but it's not very great.. And what is the best way to clean a CPU/GPU/NB? One last question now, is there a true CHICLET style keyboard that can be swapped into our laptops? I don't care if it's backlit or not. I just would like a different keyboard.. And if you guys have any questions about a 1080p screen PM me. I bought one and a dual channel LVDS cable and it runs GREAT!!

 

If you want better gaming performance , I doubt upgrading to a8 would be any help as crossfire had not working positively in most HPs.

 

Drivers have matured. It's not really for gaming so to speak. But I can bog my processor down really bad recoding and decoding music. The most I play is COD.. Other than that, really all I do is browse and stuff.

 

the a6 had seem to perform on par with a8 on cpu task though.

 

Yep,the internal hdd is 5400 rpm but i dont think that the rpm make a big difference whether they are 5400 or 7200.The port is the most important,the internal hdd is connected via SATA(instead of usb),that means the speed could be faster.I copied all kind of files (many small 10 kb each and many big as 13gb each) but the maximum speed is 30-40 mb.

10mb per sec is slow even for usb 2.0....

 

Yeah, I guess. But for the price. Who could go wrong with an extra 600mhz. Plus, you get a bit better graphics.

 

Do tell. Current screen is getting a bit cramped.

 

600mhz? not sure how well the 3550mx OC.

 

Hi guys im new around here.I recently purchased an x53ta sx096d,which i believe is the asian cousin of the k53ta series.It comes with a6 3400m,6720G2 gfx,2gb ddr3 and [email protected] lappy also has a poor screen,chi mei panel,suffers from poor viewing angles.Ive seen that with current bios asus had provided k53ta users ability to chose between IGP/discrete/crossfire GFX.However in x53ta,we canot switch to discrete only mode.AMD vision center either supports power saving/high performance graphics.And i cannot even see if CFX is working.I get very poor fps in NFS run.10-14fps.Is there any way to enable discret grfx only mode?will loading the k53ta bios help?