U30JC discussion thread

Something curious that I posted over at the UL30Jt site:

The Taiwan reviewer's of the UL30Jt GPU-Z info sheet on his 310M:
Taiwan Review of UL30Jt
UL30Jt GPU-Z


shows his 310M VRAM running at 667 MHz.

My U30Jc's 310M VRAM runs at 790 MHz. Why the difference?

U30Jc GPU-Z


So the UL30Vt 210M & U30Jc's 310M run faster VRAM (790 MHz vs 667 MHz), have more bandwidth (12.6 GB/s vs 10.7 GB/s) and more cores in operation (16 vs 8) than the UL30Jt's 310M.

Has ASUS done something to accommodate the increase from 512MB (U30Jc/UL30Vt) to 1GB VRAM (UL30Jt) on the 310M?

Opinions, anyone?

NOTE: As a comparison, here is the UL80Vt's 210M GPU-Z specs:
UL30Vt GPU-Z

 

I don't see more cores in operation...

As with the memory speed, they probably got a nice deal on some slower memory. It's all about moneym so I guess that is the reason why the UL30Jt's 310M is a bit slower.

 

I am probably confusing the BUS Interface line. What does it mean by:
"PCI-E 2.0 x16 @ x8"?
The U30Jc & UL80Vt have:
"PCI-E 2.0 x16 @ x16"

The 310M specs at NVIDIA list 16 CUDA cores. I assumed the x16 related to that.

What does it relate to?

And why the bandwidth difference? I thought (wrongly, it seems) that there were basic speeds & specs that each NVIDIA GPU had to adhere to such as core & memory speed?

Thanks.

 

That figure would be the actual PCI-E bandwidth. Before I got things fixed up, my MSI GX640 would sometimes run with "PCI-E 2.0 x16 @ x1" instead of x16, which resulted in a 3DMark Vantage score of around 5k instead of 7k. However, x8 is easily enough PCI-E bandwidth for the 310M, so as long as it doesn't drop lower it wouldn't affect performance.

The memory bandwidth difference is a direct result of lower memory clock speed. Also, Nvidia's specs are the standard speeds for a given GPU, but it's not necessary to adhere to them. That's why there's factory overclocked and underclocked GPUs around.

 

Very informative. Thank you for the great info.

So would the lowered memory clock & therefore bandwidth affect/lower in-game game play & FPS in more demanding games like Batman: AA?

 

Yes, especially with regard to texture and model detail. It probably not a huge difference, and it will be eclipsed by the massive difference in CPU performance. If I'm reading that site you linked correctly, the Core i5 UM in the UL30Jt runs at 1.06 GHz - there's no way that thing is going to be up to any serious gaming.

 

Since the i5-520UM has Turbo Boost up to 1.6GHz, and up to 2.13GHz factoring in Turbo33, it definitely won't be the bottleneck for gaming.

I'm guessing they're using DDR3-1333 (for the lower cost), which is why it's running at 667MHz.

 

hey, Quatro, do you know if that comfirm only the i3 version in the States?

 

Sorry. I'm not sure what you're asking.

In the US, the ASUS U30Jc comes with the i3-350M running at 2.26GHz on two cores (4 threads), but it has no overclockable Turbo or ASUS' Turbo33 modes.

In the US, the ASUS UL30Jt is supposed to come (not released here yet but has been released in Taiwan) with the i5-520UM processor running at stock mode of 1.06GHz, but with Turbo & ASUS' Turbo33 overclocks enabled, it can be boosted up to 2.14GHz for two cores or 2.4GHz on one core.

Is that what you wanted to know?

 

is there a i5 version for u30jc will release in State in the future?
Taiwan has the i5 version.

 

No, I don't think so.

Though there is one store (and only one store so far) in Canada that is selling the U30Jc with the i5-430M processor (2.26GHz and overclockable.)

 

What store? I'm a canadian .

 

Seen in Portugal, is the i7 possible or is it a typo?

A Fnac disponível 24h

 

No its possible, I remember seeing in the Asus world magazine that the U30JC will come with three different processors, the i3, i5 and i7 so yes its correct.

I am curious to see how the more powerful CPUs affect the battery life.

 

Infonec.com
http://www.infonec.com/site/main.php?module=detail&id=450921

 

And ASUS' online product page itself lists the U30Jc as coming with either the i3-330M/350M, i5-430M/520M/540M or the i7-620M

ASUSTeK Computer Inc.: U30Jc Specifications

 

Considering the 620M eats up 35W, any idea on the battery duration?

The gfx and hdd are still lacking..for the price tag of 1000€

 

Less.

When my U30Jc with its i3-350M is running at 25W, my battery life is about 3 hrs. But it rarely runs at 25W unless I am watching a HD video or game, etc. (and even then, in graphic-intensive mode, it switches power off of the CPU and lets the discrete GPU eat the watts.) Under Office apps, it scales back to 1.2-1.5GHz max and its wattage scales down to 5.5-9.7W. Then, using integrated graphics, I get 8+ hrs., esp if I put it in "Quiet Office" or "Battery Saving" mode wherein it scales down to 913MHz and draws only 5.5W.

So I suppose it depends on how low the i7-620M can scale down as to how much battery life you can achieve.

I'm grateful I could buy my notebook in the US. When I lived in the UK for 3 yrs, I often found I could take an item sold in the UK & US and remove the £ symbol and put in a $ symbol and have the US price. And at that time, the £1 UK was worth $1.60 US!

 

double-post.

 

So I've been receiving this error whenever I would turn on my laptop. I tried updating drivers, reverting to old drivers and it still gives this error. Any help?

 

Oh, so you're running your U30Jc on XP? Mine is Win 7 64-bit. It sees all 4GB of RAM and is very fast & smooth. XP cannot see & use more than 3GB of RAM.

So not sure what your problem is except wrong or corrupted video drivers.

A few questions first.

Since the U30Jc has two GPU's running under Optimus, do you:
1) have the correct Optimus drivers for BOTH the Intel HD & NVIDIA 310M GPU?
2) Does ASUS even provide XP drivers for the U30Jc, especially for Optimus and the graphics chips?

Due to having Optimus, you can't just put in regular NVIDIA drivers for the 310M and the default XP drivers for this Intel (9500?) GPU.

3) Where did you get your XP graphics drivers from and
4) What version drivers are they?

 

I'm running the Win 7 x64 that came with the laptop and the drivers I'm using are the ones from the Asus website. The Optimus driver I'm using is the latest one that came out a few days ago.

 

so is this laptop capeable of a user cpu upgrade ? (even though it voids warrenty?)

 

Then why is your error reading, "Display driver Intel Graphics Accelerator Driver for Windows XP"??

That would indicate that the driver you've installed for the Intel GPU is for XP, not Windows 7.

"Optimus" driver? Do you mean the latest NVIDIA Optimus 189.79 driver for 310M available here?:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/optimus-win7-x64-notebook-189.79.html

I have NOT tried the latest 189.79 NVIDIA "Optimus" driver for the 310M. And with two GPU's, you need to be sure that the two drivers you're using work well together.

With this Intel GPU driver problem you're having, why not first try the latest Intel GPU driver V8.15.10.2102 & the NVIDIA GPU driver V8.16.11.8964 (189.64) (both dated April 13th) available on the ASUS site? The Optimus NVIDIA latest one may not be playing nicely with your Intel GPU driver.
http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us

What are the version numbers of the two GPU drivers you are presently using?

 

This might be of some interest to those who are still waiting on their machine and ordered from Amazon: I just had my order changed to "order shipping soon" and it would appear my card was billed. Shipping estimate is the 11th.

 

If you don't mind my asking, what date did you place your order on?

 

Same here though my delivery estimate is still vague (between May 5-12).

 

Does anyone know, because I am obviously too lazy to take the screws out, if there is room for expansion of RAM without having to replace one of the existing DIMMS? I presume not but wondered if anyone had looked.

 

Any idea if one can replace the i3-350m by the i7-620m in the us u30jc easily?

 

as long as its not an integrated chip

 

Okay, Tech Friends, I have a problem.

I use Windows 7 64-bit HP on my U30Jc. My two GPU drivers are:
Intel GPU driver V8.15.10.2102 &
NVIDIA GPU driver V8.16.11.8979 (189.79)
working under Optimus.

I also have an external slim USB Blu-ray drive.

I've installed PowerDVD 9.0.2320 ULTRA, but I cannot get Optimus to run it using the NVIDIA GPU at all. With blu-ray, playback is choppy. While playing a DVD or Blu-ray, GPU-Z tells me it is using the Intel GPU, NOT the NVIDIA GPU.

This did this last night even under NVIDIA driver 189.64.

I have:
1) Updated the NVIDIA Optimus driver from 189.64 to 189.79
2) Set the default GPU in NVIDIA Control Panel (NCP) to be the NVIVDIA discrete graphics.
3) Added PowerDVD9.exe to play using the NVIVDIA discrete graphics under the NCP.
4) LAUNCHED the PowerDVD9 app by right-mouse clicking the shortcut and, in the context menu, select "Run with graphics processor"> "High Performance NVIDIA processor"

Yet it still insists on running it in integrated graphics mode.

This happens even if I play a regular DVD under PowerDVD 9 Ultra using the internal DVD drive.

Weird. As if Optimus has a mind of its own. ... or might this be a PowerDVD 9 Ultra issue under Windows 7 64-bit or with Optimus?

Any suggestions?

 

I really wanted to buy this notebook....but the deal breaker is there is NO way to use an eSATA device (my choice for backup) - no Express Card slot, no combo eSATA/USB port. I instead ordered a Toshiba U500 with all the bells & whistles ... waiting for its arrival.

 

I can't imagine ASUS shipping the U30Jc with different MB's, so if it's offered worldwide with different processors, I would have thought the MB can take the i7 too.

BUT, I don't know if the CPU is clipped in or secured more permanently.

 

Can anyone else who owns a U30Jc and PowerDVD 9 Ultra test it with a DVD and see what GPU-Z says as to which GPU is being utilized? Thanks.

 

@Quatro:
I see two possible issues that could cause this kind of problem:
1) Optimus might not like it if an application isn't properly fullscreen
2) Optimus' profiling might not recognise the actual PowerDVD process properly

I think you should try viewing your movie with MPC-HC to see if you can get that to work with the discrete GPU. However, from AnandTech,

 

I have MPC 64-bit installed, but it can't read my BD.

I tried PDVD 9 Ultra in full-screen, but the stutter continues.

Optimus DID use the NVIDIA GPU under WinDVD 9 Plus (for BD) ... but WinDVD 9 also repeatedly crashes! So that's not working well either. Too bad, as the blu-ray discs play perfectly with no stutter under WinDVD 9 Plus.

 

BTW, garz. I've installed the NVIDIA Optimus 189.79 driver and it's NOT causing me any problems I can see. So that shouldn't be your problem.

Which Intel GPU driver (version # found in Device Manager) are you using?

 

I would've thought that GMA HD would be powerful enough to handle Blu-ray too, considering that even the GMA 4500MHD is supposed to be good enough. Quite strange.

 

In a way, yes, but, at least on my machine & the (2x or 4x) USB blu-ray drive, it is not smooth.

When WinDVD 9 does it & uses the discrete GPU, it plays smoothly.

Funny thing is, it plays HULU (flash doing it?) with the NVIDIA GPU, no matter what I tell it to do.

 

I placed my order on April 17th. It changed to "shipped" today, with an estimated delivery of May 11th, so apparently Amazon is starting to fill orders.

 

It changed to shipped already? The hell... mine's still shipping soon and I placed it on April 13th.

 

Are you sure your purchase was from Amazon itself and not a 3rd party seller (like J&R) through Amazon?

 

No it's definitely Amazon. They even bumped my shipping speed to 2 day when I emailed and complained about two weeks ago.

 

Frustrating and really strange.

I wonder how they are deciding who to ship to? I just went over to Amazon's site. They don't even offer the U30Jc for sale now (from my bookmarked link) and if I do a search, the U30Jc doesn't even come up.

 

If your system came with 4GB, it's likely both sodimm slots are filled. If it came with only 2GB, you will have an empty slot, accessible through a panel from the bottom.

 

I know I thought it would be as obvious as first come first serve, but they're following some strange logic that no one seems to understand. I wonder how they've managed to scrape enough U30JCs to even ship out since it doesn't even exist in their search anymore.

 

Thanks for the help but I fixed the problem. What I had to do was uninstall the Intel driver and reinstall using the drivers disk that was included.

Drivers I'm using now are:
Intel 8.15.10.2102
NVIDIA 310M 8.16.11.8964
NVIDIA Optimus 189.79

 

strange,, cant even search for a U30jc from amazon,
what is that usually mean? will be OOS for a long time ?

 

Actually, the last two are the same driver, the second one being 189.64 (last 5 digits) and the third is 189.79 (the update of your second in the list). If you look in Device Manager, you'll only see the Intel & the NVIDIA under display. The 198.79 would have overwritten the 189.64.

 

Thanks! I placed my order on April 21st, so I'm hopeful that it'll ship out in the next batch after hearing that your order on the 17th shipped.

Although, at the rate Asus has been delivering these to resellers, the "next batch" will probably be sometime in June.