z81k config help

hey guys, thinking about getting the Asus Z81K Barebone Athlon 64- 15.4inch WSXGA+ w/ATI Radeon 9700 128MB/DVDRW/Reader/Wi-Fi B+G from http://1toppc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=Z81K&Category_Code=Notebook
(they any good? decent ratings on resellerratings but a bunch of those reviews were from people with little feedback and reviews) tell me if theres something better please.

ok. the main question: was just going to get parts off newegg since the barebones site charges about $20 more for each part not including labor yet.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144375
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103470
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820200057R
i think i also need a heatsink fan;i'm not sure cause newegg says it doesn't come with the cooling stuff? is there anything else i would need? install is pretty much just plug and play, right? i built my own desktop but don't have a clue about laptops--is it pretty much the same?

if i build it myself it comes to about 1140 while it costs about 1270 if i order everything from them and they install it. is this price about right for a gaming laptop?

thank you in advance

 

Going the AMD route, wouldn't it be an option for you to look at a Turion laptop, you'd get better battery life (the z81k is rated at 2.5 hours, mine goes to a tough 2 hours), anyway, just a suggestion...
Installing the parts is pretty straighfoward, you really don't need to pay somebody else to do the job if you know your way in computers, Asus sends you a nice sheet giving you all manners of instruction on how to do it.
The heatsink is already in the notebook and is propriatary, so you won't be able to fit something else in there.
By the way, i like the overall performance of this lappy, it gets hot but then again i play a lot of games on it, that might explain the heat ...

Good luck in your shopping ....


Haujobb

 

isn't turion more expensive? oh and, would you happen to know if i needed anything else in terms of parts needed to build that laptop.

 

You have selected 184-pin desktop memory. What you need is 200-pin DDR333 SDRAM SO-DIMM laptop memory. The Z81K does not support DDR400 memory. You may be able to get it to work, but it will only run at 333MHz.

You will also get much cooler operation if you replace the standard thermal pad that comes with the barebones with Arctic Silver 5. This will keep the temperature from 6-25 degrees Celsius cooler, depending on what you are doing. It really pays off when you are pushing your CPU hard.

Edit: My mind was saying Fahrenheit, but my fingers typed Celsius. My humble apologies! 3-12 degrees Celsius (6-22 degrees Fahrenheit) is what my experience shows with AS5.

 

One place I have to agree AS5 works is on a P4 of a64 notebook.... 25 degrees is pushing it even in an actual desktop, but around 10 degrees would be normal.

With that said, the reason we won't use AS5 on the Pentium-M systems is because you won't see 1-2 degrees because the system isn't running hot to begin with....... the P4's and the a64's certainly run hot......... Also, with the Turion's..... they operate at what, 25 watts? ... they run about as warm as the Pentium-M's

 

Donald - standing temps on a p4 or a64 desktop....... that's all I'm saying. If you've seen 25 degrees thats fine, but I'd love to know how you're doing it.

 

Wattage has little to do with heat dissipation.

Regardless of the Thermal Design Power wattage, all processors have a Tjunction (or Tcase) operational temperature range designed into the processor, and if the processor reaches the top of that range it will shut itself off.

Wattage is how much electricity is being used (and therefore low wattage gives better battery life), but 10, 21, 27 or 100 watts will still generate heat in excess of 100 degrees Celsius if there is no thermal system designed into the product that is using the processor.

The Intel Pentium 4 550 - 3.4GHz processor Tcase temperature range is 5-72.8 degrees Celsius (the high temperature is the point at which it will shut itself off) even though the Thermal Design Power is 115 watts. The Intel Pentium M Tcase (or Tjunction) is even higher at 0-100 degrees Celsius with a Thermal Design Power of between 10 and 27 watts, depending on the speed of the processor. See: http://www.intel.com/design/intarch/pentiumm/pentiumm.htm and http://www.intel.com/design/intarch/pentium4/pentium4.htm

Most people find that an operating temperature range of 45-55 degrees Celsius comfortable, and find up to about 65-68 degrees Celsius tolerable. Therefore the purpose of the thermal system is to keep the processor below the top of its Tcase (Tjunction) temperature, and within a comfortable temperature range for the user.

The fact that a processor uses less wattage does not mean that it doesn't need a thermal system to keep it in a comfortable temperature range, and below the top of the Tcase (or Tjunction). Copper, cooler, heatsink, fans whatever...these are all components of various designs of thermal control systems. Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound will help significantly in ALL of them.

My Quanta Z500 (PowerPro C 3:16) runs an Intel 855 chipset and Intel Pentium M 2.0GHz
processor. I have 1,024MB PC2700 and a 60GB 7,200 RPM hard drive.

I ran this computer for 9 months before applying Arctic Silver 5 thermal
compound and recorded the CPU temperature ranges.

It used to run between 54 and 58 degrees Celsius under normal computing and now runs between 46-49 degrees, and when pushed it used to run at 67-69 degrees, sometimes even reaching 73 degrees. Now with Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound I never see 58 degrees even under the heaviest conditions.

 

Guys
I am not here to argue with anyone. Arctic silver has no significant effect on pentium m cpu's. If you get more then a few degrees off the top consider your self extremely lucky. Arctic silver is a great product that relies on the consumers to read the misiformation that many people seem to belive in, Granted some people can have a desired effect. 99% of the time it does absolutely nothing on a percent scale. I am not sure how you got your quanta to do that. Perhaps this is a special case. I have an m5n and a z63a right now. Arctic silver helped nothing. Do you guys really think intel is dumb enough to supply thermal paste that woks worse then after market paste?? I equate arctic silve to the performance mania in this country. Its like buying a 4 cyl civic and getting a flowmaster put on. Sure it sounds louder and more powerfull but the end result in insignificant most of the time. The good thing about the solid grease approved by intel is it does not dry up over time as it is already dry, It just spreads out. Though its true at first arctic silver may have a more desired effect after a while when it dries up it needs to be refilled or replaced. Stick to the stock intel aproved cooling option.

 

wait what?!? so i don't need to buy arctic silver5 for my z81k even though i will be overclocking the amd processor? huh? why are we talking about pentiums here when i'm gonna be using amd?
you guys are confusing me
went way off topic from my original question...i think..

 

Try adamant.com I asked them to test the Z81K w/ 2 x 1GB DDR 400 sticks and it is supported. And I quote: "Our test showed that the Z81K does support up to two 1 GB SO-DIMMS. We are updating our website to reflect this."

 

You know...... AS5 is a great product and it does work as it's supposed to. It's a need for anyone planning on overclocking as the cpu is going to get above anticipated operating temps and this could eventually cause damage. AS5 will help, but it's not an end all in terms of cooling. On a laptop you're limited as far as using the supplied heatsink/heatpipe designed for that unit. Compared to a desktop, you've got a lot less room and a more confined space. I would NEVER suggest using a desktop a64 in something like the Z81k..... if you had to, certainly don't overclock it... it's not worth it.

I've never seen anyone with a product under claim what it could do and Artic Silver's site will even give you a range of 3-12 degrees Celsius drop on a cpu under max load. There are going to be exceptions to every rule, but if they could get a 15-20+ degree drop just by using AS5, it certainly would justify the cost per tube and make it more logical to use strictly for the heat transfer reasons.

 

Wow amazing. This laptop was certified by us back in january/december of last year to use 1gb even have a thread on it on the site. They certified an aging soon to be phased out laptop??? I am pretty sure this is common knowledge if you do a search for it. :centrino:

 

how much arctic silver do i need?

 

The instructions are on their website at Arcticsilver.com

You don't need much, and one of their smallest syringes will satisfy many applications.

 

so this works, right? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820155122R

and i don't need anything else besides the parts i mentioned in the first post +Arctic silver 5

if so, i'm going to order.

oh, and are there any other ways to cool this laptop. a super-mini fan or something?

 

Those are the right specs. You will have to install them to confirm they will work with your machine.

 

what do you mean i have to install them to see if they work. if i've got the right part, shouldn't it automatically work?

 

No, you cannot count on it automatically working. Some memory will work in some machines and some does not. You are looking at refurbished memory at the link you gave. Who knows whether it will work until you put it in and test it. How many times in these forums have you read about OEMs testing and burning in?

There is more to building a laptop than just installing the parts. Sheesh, if it were that easy you wouldn't need us.

 

LOL...theoretically it should, assuming you've gotten all the right parts, and that they're all compatible.

Unfortunately, it doesn't always "work" in practice. There are certain RAM which doesn't run well with certain motherboards (Corsair on DFI comes to mind). Eventhough the specs are "right" the RAM still might not post. It's a very small chance, but it does exist.

The main concern isn't so much that you have the right parts, but each part you buy has a chance of being DOA. In that case, unless you have another machine handy to test the individual parts, how would you figure out which part was defective to RMA?

For instance, if you put the machine together, and it fails to post. What's wrong? Motherboard defective? CPU DOA? RAM DOA? Or, RAM compatability issues? Or, just the gpu? RMA an item that isn't defective, and the dealer will merely send it back while you're incurring mulitiple shipping costs for non-defective RMAs. Trouble shooting would be problematic unless you have another computer handy on which to test each part to isolate the culprit.

Usually, you won't receive any defective or DOA parts and everything works out perfectly. After that, your only other risk is "infant mortality" during the burn in process.

Best of luck to you!

 

Lol
Ye "infant mortality" though it sounds awfully painfull it is a very excellent analogy. Worst problem is working but not quite 100%. Building your self is a cool way to save 100$. In the long run how much is your time/effort worth? Becuase if everything is not 100% your loose eventually.

 

z80k is a very picky laptop. z81k is somewhat also but overall an excellent build.

 

hmm. i didn't get any defects when i built my own computer 4 yrs ago. i didn't even know about the 'burn in' you're talking about. i just built it, powered it, and used it. nothing went/has gone wrong, ever.
is the defect % greater for laptops or something? i'm basically buying the same parts that the company is using. its just that they charge an extra $20 per part for some reason. then theres the assembly charge on top of that.
btw, $100 is a lot to college students who aren't well off. how would you feel if i asked your company to give me a $100 discount if a z81k were priced at $1250? im just thinking that since i already know how to build computers, laptops can't be that much harder and save myself some money.
does kingston ram work with the crush k8m chipset? thats the only i can imagine defecting.

 

LMAO...Ah, I think it's called making a living!

 

um, they already get parts at a discounted rate...how much profit do they want?

 

We work on about 8-13% for laptops. How much profit did you think we make?

 

proportable's z81k costs 1502.43 compared to around 1170 for me. same specs. thats around 330 profit for proportable. thats more than 8-13%. isn't it? so you're saying it costs you 1250-1370 to make the laptop itself? no wonder you guys aren't making enough money. i can build it for less and i don't even get wholesale prices on parts. seriously, how much profit you guys make? cause i know it's not 8-13%.
these forums seem so hostile...i was only asking to double check that i didn't mess up before ordering...

 

Since when does my sign have "Justins name or proportable in it".? I dont work With Justin we just happen to be in the same forum and are on good terms. Our prices are different and so is our business model. Again. Dealers do not charge for parts we charge for service. If your laptop never breaks then you will not understand what i just said. Take this analogy. Buying your car on the street vs. buying from a dealer with a warranty. Sure you can save a ching but ultimately most people buy their cars from reputable dealers. Reason? They can be sure its nto a lemon and that the car will be serviced and warranted.

 

Has anyone figured out what 1GB sticks work in the Z81k? I just bout a Z81ka and the Mushkin 991304 1GB stick doesn't work in it. It freezes up after it tries to boot in. I have Infineon 256MB sticks that work just fine it it, but I wanted to put 2GB of memory in it. If anyone can guide me to the perfect memory for the latptop, I'd be ever so grateful!