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

@disgustipated - It's not Prime95, it's the CPU's themselves.

Set up your P0 so it errors on Prime95. Download and run OCCT CPU test ( http://www.ocbase.com/perestroika_en/index.php). It will also crash. IntelBurnTest just does not stress the system as much or the same way. That's not to say your system will fail when running other apps or games, but it may. Bad Company 2 would crash on me every time I would get a fail in Prime95. I thought I was stable until I ran Prime95 for 30 minutes and it eventually failed. I bumped up the voltage and no longer any crashes. I also had Cinebench crash on me when Prime95 had as well.

Depending on what the game processes it may run fine. Deus Ex does not stress the CPU all that much, and probably doesn't execute one of the bits that causes the crash.

I don't think it will corrupt data, it will just lead to instability with random crashes, lock ups, reboots, and BSOD's. Which can be frustrating if you're trying to overclock your GPU when you thought your CPU was stable. Worse yet having it crash when you're actually doing something critical. Bumping up an additional +0.0125V won't affect temperatures much, and whatever is stable, it is what it is.

 

Looks like this item is running out of stock or they are removing it, I can't order this online and have it shipped to any stores that already don't have some in stock.

 

I tell you what. If I end up keeping my HP DV6z, I'd be willing to ship mine out to anyone for $480 + shipping. With tax it cost me $480. I have until Tuesday to return it, so let me know if interested. I may end up keeping it, but have to spend some time with my HP.

 

HTWingNut: Did you get a chance to make the single profile for k10stat?

 

K53TA Pilots:
Question re: Clean Install of Win7: Is the Media/DVD included in the box with the K machine?
I'm guessing not, so by what means are you doing a clean install of Windows 7 on the system?

 

Downloaded one of the multi Win7 OEM DVD's someone threw together on demonoid. It's one of the ones that reads the key from BIOS and activates using that.

 

that's sorta what I expected. it appears to be pretty straightforward to make one of those - found a tutorial at sevenforums...

 

Gang: what REAL world battery life are you getting in real use with mixed purposes, some intense, other not so...??

 

About 3.5 hours avg web use, about 2.5 hours or less with netflix. That's with my revised K10stat profile.

I did a clean install off a regular Win 7 DVD, no issues. Just had to call Microsoft to activate.

 

you're right. looks like a limited run.

one of the other k53e's was also removed from BB's website recently.

maybe they'll come out with an updated version of this laptop soon.

or you may just have to wait for Trinity next year.


if you really want the laptop, you can go to your nearest store and request a transfer from a farther store that still has it. The other store will ship to your store, but it will take a week.

 

how do your temps stay under 75-80c?!

 

Tried searching. Just got the K53TA, but how do I get the memory cover off to upgrade memory (Upping to 2 sticks of 4GB 1333 DDR3). I undid the screw, but it is still sealed on and I don't want to break the plastic panel on my new laptop.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

use a credit card to pry the sides. there are claws along the sides too.

 

Pry open sides of memory panel or the entire enclosure? Also where are the claws located?

Edit: Nevermind, that worked fine. Just a note to anyone else looking at upgrading memory, you have to be very firm with it until the first latches unlock. After that it unlocks with a bit of steady pressure.

 

- U in Alaska or something LOL... this seems ridiculously low... please post your K10Stat for me

Mine fluctuates between 75-85C during heavy CIV V game play at 2.2GHz, I have posted my K10Stat settings in the attachment. Ambient air is 85F, may be adding to my high temps ???

 

I've been playing motogp, deus ex, dead space 2, and ninja blade on max settings for at least an hour each time, and my temps never break 78 with a 2.4Ghz/2.6Ghz turbo setting. I think once it broke 80 when I had it on 2.4Ghz/2.9 turbo, so I brought down the turbo to 2.6 from then on and it stayed at 78 or below. Come winter time I'll probably crank the thing back up to 2.9 turbo for games .

On another note, I am VERY interested to try out the more expensive kingston hyper x ram with the 7-7-7 timings, maybe buy a 4gb stick somewhere to test any potential performance difference in single channel vs. the stock memory. It's about $10/gig on Amazon.

 

Western Washington, so yeah, cooler than most places. My K10Stat is based on Disgustipated's. I can take a screen when I get home, but if you go back a couple of pages, the same settings are there. The only thing I see besides your GPU overclock that is much different is your b0 is higher at 1.275. Still way lower than the stock of 1.4 though, so should still be pretty cool.

The other thing is there is just plain variation in processors and paste jobs from the factory. If you look at the OP, UnexpectedError is running at way higher clocks and lower voltages than most people and getting good temps and performance. The fact that others have reported crashes with even slight overclocks and undervolts means that there is a huge range in quality of assembly in this notebook.

 

Thanks ryanlecocq

No way around it, I spike at 85C and hover around 80C during heavy CIV V gameplay. Can be in either 1.4GHz or 2.2Ghz mode, same core cpu temps. Consensus is that my high temps are due to high intake temps and my elevation, Denver 5280ft, probably not helping. Not going to chance exchanging it as there might be a chance of getting something worse. Have had NO issues with BSOD since updating drivers and bios.

When CPU is not under any load, and at stock speeds, CPU temps run around 50C. I would be curious to hear what you guys run...

As far as how intensive CIV V is on this machine, not exactly sure... Here's my settings...DX10/11, AA 2x, VSync, 1366x768, High Settings for Every option.

 

ok so i got around to running 3dmark 11 again today with my new hardware.

2.3ghz with 8GB ram and 128SSD
i got P1665 with out overclocking the GPU

 

I'm in Denver as well and my temps run 80 to 85 same as yours. Doesn't crash and both CPU and GPU are rated for well over that.

 

OMG... do you guys realize your lowly $450 laptop is now is faster than a (stock) M14x?

My HP G4 doesn't have the dGPU, so will never reach those heights. But at least it runs extremely cool.

 

$450 Laptop
$150 SSD
$25 Ram
Total = $625
Completely Owning Laptops 2X the cost = priceless

EDIT: also just got 19.8fps in Heaven DX11 @2.3Ghz with everything else stock.. crazy stuff

 

I read somewhere that all of the Llano desktop boards support SATA III. Is that the case with the mobile processors too? I've got a K53TA on the way, and I'm looking to get a nearly identical setup to yours, UnXpectedError. Basically, I'm after a SATA III SSD and trying to make sure it'll be compatible with this laptop.

 

After another few hours of tweaking finally found something that is stable and at low cpu temps. Thanks to HTWingNut

 

Congrats. Looking good. As much as I love the screen and build of the DV6z, that sucker is running HOT. I think I may keep the Asus and look for a screen replacement.

 

If you're replacing for a 1080p screen that's legit, but if it's because of the black contrast issue, the thread over at slickdeals says something about a fix for that in the OP. Apparently you need to email Asus.

Asus K53TA-BBR6 Laptop: AMD Quad-Core A6-3400M 1.4GHz APU, 4GB DDR3, 500GB HDD, 15.6" 1366x68 LED, 1GB Radeon HD 6550, WiFi N, 6-cell Battery, Win 7 Prem $450 + Free Store Pickup - Best Buy Deals, Coupons and Promos

 

No, i just want a better screen period. The viewing angles and contrast and colors and resolution all just suck period. Otherwise the laptop is great. I want a 1080p too.

 

Does anyone know if the K53TA has a dual channel LVDS screen connector / cable? You need one for 1080p.

 

i would have to agree the screen blows , have you tried messing with the color vibrance, contrast and gamma correction. helped my eyes some...

okay I stepped it up to 2.3GHz, feels like this is the sweet spot. this thing is running extremely well. here's one last snap shot of my settings. Again, from ambient conditions to mid gaming in CIV V, tried to include some of the rendering in the background. And yes CIV V is awesome in these settings. Stock it feels very turdish at this level in the game. thanks again HTWingNut

2.3GHz
45 - 79C

faster, and better yet... cooler than stock settings.

 

i can't imagine how much better the hp screen can be. They're all crappy TN panels. and by nature, TN viewing angles suck.

Every laptop on notebookreview.com has crappy viewing angles.

 

hmm something wierd just happened..
I was installing a game "from dust" and just looking at the cpu freq/temps in core temp.. and I noticed core #1 was running at 5ghz for 10 seconds or so.. then 4ghz, 5ghz etc etc then went back down to normal ranges...
The other cores were in the 1.5ghz range while this was happening.

Ive done alot of testing with prime95/3dmark and never seen the cpu go P0 (2.2 for me) and occasionaly it goes to B0 when im just doing normal stuff.
I dont think its an bug with 'core temp' as its been so reliable in the past..
I often watch the freq/temps while stuff is happening so it was abit wierd..

I ran prime95 again just now and all the cores stayed at P0...
anyone have any ideas what might be happening.. or is core temp just going abit retarded.. ?

 

*edit*

hmmmm.. now when i run prime95 i get some wierd results..............

 

Maybe you guys need to stop using prime95, lol. Intelburn seems much more reliable for testing real world stability, without the many weird anomalies I've seen from people using prime95.

 

Yup, both the A60M and A70M controllers support 6Gb/s SATA. Anandtech has a good review here and the bit that mentions the SATA is here at the bottom of the page.

What I am more interested in though is if the K53TA has mSATA so I could buy a small boot drive and keep the orignal HDD for storage.

 

^^
Nah i think the problem was with "core temp". It seemed to be reading double the values all of a sudden for some reason.... I was getting the same values using prime95 or doing other intensive things..

its back to normal now....

 

have you guys been emailing asus about the grainy noise on screen ?

 

Hey guys... has anyone used CPUZ to check the memory timings on the stock ram? Mine is supposedly telling me the timings are at 5-5-5-15 ddr3 (but doesn't display the ram speed). Is that actually accurate?

 

No, it's not accurate. Click on SPD next to it and you'll get the real timings.

 

Just a little update... got 2.8 Ghz working stably in stress testing and games @ 1.235v.

Really happy about this as I've DOUBLED the stock frequency rating for this laptop. And YES, it flies now. It's faster than my Core i5-520m was, and feels almost as fast as the i7-720qm from my G73JX. Not quite i7-2630QM speed, but for $450, this thing is a beast.

Now I just have to wait for drivers that'll allow me to overclock the GPU, either that or go back to 11.6. I'm curious to see how well this performs with the 6650m @ 700/1000.

Also, still waiting for the 1600 Mhz DDR3 RAM to arrive... screw Newegg's 'Egg Saver' free shipping, I live 35 minutes away from them and with the normal UPS shipping it always arrives next day. I'll be lucky if the RAM arrives today. Extremely disappointed by this.

 

I thought the A6-3400 only supported up to 1333Mhz.

 

I know everyones system is differant and you cant just copy settings... but can you post up your K10 settings please Disgustipated ?

 

Going to find out myself. If that's true, I'll just sell the RAM to my friend and buy some 7-7-7 1333Mhz.

For...? My general usage undervolt profile or my gaming only profile?

My gaming profile only is 2.8 Ghz @ 1.235v in P0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

 

Can you guys please help me remove the hotkey animations, I don't want any. Atk package uninstall? Then error pops up when I restart. Help please!

 

Disgustipated, could you test if there is a benefit to running P0 @ 2.8 GHz vs. B0 @ 2.8 (w/ lower P0)?

Off the top of my head, I can't think of a game that would really fully-utilize 4 cores.

 

thanks mr. nut

 

G4-1117dx does.
it is the little stepbrother to the K53TA, until they make a 14 lightweight

 

i had actually gone to best buy to buy the G4 when i had seen the K53TA and bought that instead.

i had also downloaded k10stat and prime 95 on to one of the G4's in the store and it overclocked both the cores just fine up to 2.8ghz on stock volts in p0. i probably could have gone much higher too with some volt increases. i however wasnt able to benchmark anything.

does anyone know how the HP G4 benchmarks? im quite curious to see how these notebooks do in gaming ..

 

I can't get that one in Canada (G4-1164CA), but my objective was to get something to replace my netbook, not beat the pants off $1000+ gaming laptop or $2000 MBP (I read that Macs have turbo disabled to prevent overheating... LOL).

Can't say I'm not envious, but if I could get a tool to OC the A6's iGPU, I'd be happy as a pig in sh*t.

BTW guys, I got 2 x 4 GB G.Skill DDR3-1600 from Newegg, and they run 8-8-8 @ 1333 MHz.

 

well that's faster timings then the stuff thats in there now so i guess its not all bad.. hey at least they worked right lol

i bought the 4GB 1333mhz they have the same 9-9-9 timings as the stock stuff so they matched up nicely. btw you can snatch them for $18 bucks right now too i think.

 

IMHO, faster memory timings won't have much of an effect for the K53TA, since it has a dGPU (probably <5% speed boost). Memory contention with the iGPU is much worse, so that's why I got it.

The memory I really wanted was the A-Data DDR3L memory (which the A6/A8 is suppose to support), but it was a bit too pricey for two of 'em.

Amazon.com: A-Data USA Gaming Series 4 GB DDR3 1600MHz PC-12800 SO-DIMM Memory Module 4 Not a kit (Single) AXDS1600GC4G9-1G: Electronics