RainMotorsports (Clutch's) ASUS G50Vt-X5 (Best Buy) Review

[motok]

you replied very awkwardly.. My question just asked you for a yes or no answer on if you are using an external monitor or not because you did not state it on your previous post...I'm well aware it has a vga and hdmi port...I'm pretty far from being tech def....

[RainMotorsports]

Originally Posted by motok

you replied very awkwardly.. My question just asked you for a yes or no answer on if you are using an external monitor or not because you did not state it on your previous post...I'm well aware it has a vga and hdmi port...I'm pretty far from being tech def....

Yes its on an external monitor, as it couldn't be any other way on an X5. Vista doesn't support screen scrolling and the display doesnt accept higher than native res like some monitors do.

Done some more benches, bios flash is good on my 1280x720 Medium in Crysis. High hasnt really seen any change though.... WIll be reformatting the review in a few minutes to accomodate new results under the flash.

[Wingsbr]

Nice review. I'm looking at this lappy from BB to as I need one with a dedicated video for ggpo, 2df and mame.

Were you able to secure workable drivers and dual boot vista/xp?
How easy is this to OC?
What are you overall impressions after owning it for little bit?

[RainMotorsports]

Yeah if you need i can link you but check the G50 Owners thread has three threads of interest for that. Real easy to get setup. Overclocking is easy using the built in or using set fsb to get a higher clock speed. GPU overclocking in x64 is a different story but easy on XP using ATI Tool or just trying the gts bios. DOX 182.05 is the best drivers ive tested all the 182.xx and 185.xx. RMclock, ati tool and everest need signed 64 bit drivers and i dont believe that exists on ati tool. RMclock sells theirs but u can get a free copy from an evga driver disk or the web.

I just completed a battery test 1 of 3. Played Crysis for 1 Hour and 25 Seconds with 2 hard drives and the video card running the GTS Bios and in high performance max brightness. I will be doing a movie and a light usage test, expect 2:30 on the movie and 3:00 on the light usage.

I love myne, assuming you get a good one you should be pretty happy with it. Don't expect for this to run next years games on high though, it should play all last gen games on ultra and current games on medium to high. I see your sig and you should know i actually prayed about this purchase and got exactly what i wanted.

[Wingsbr]

First, rep up for the good review and timely response.

Second, it looks like it's a great machine and I may bite the bullet on this one. I am currently comparing this one 899.00 and the gateway fx for 1149.00 to determine if there is really a 300.00 (incl tax) difference.

I convinced the wifey to let me have the 899.00, but it might be a hard sell for the 1149.00.

My only concern that I am hoping you can speak to is that some of the reviews on the bb website are saying that they had HDD, BDOD's and other errors during the first week of ownership. Have you experienced any of these?

[IKAS V]

Did the CPU downclock when playing CRYSIS on battery alone?
I know some laptops do this when running on battery power.
You prayed about getting this laptop!
I am glad you are satisfied with your purchase.
Is this your first "gaming" laptop? You sure are stoked!

[RainMotorsports]

Originally Posted by IKAS V

Did the CPU downclock when playing CRYSIS on battery alone?
I know some laptops do this when running on battery power.
You prayed about getting this laptop!
I am glad you are satisfied with your purchase.
Is this your first "gaming" laptop? You sure are stoked!

@Wingsbr - As i said myne was perfect. Once in awhile you get a dud though the most common issue is a dead hard drive. Its a seagate if you didnt know. I read every single review on BB's website. Seem's everyone eventually got a working one except for the one woman who got 2 duds and quit. Not sure about the particular FX your looking at but their sometimes a stepup. The G50 only gets better processor and screenwise, bluetooth bluray those sorta things. They all have the same gpu and end performance is gonna be close.

@IKAS - Yeah i prayed lol, can't really afford to have been wrong on this one. Yeah its my first gaming laptop but my second new laptop and probably my 5th laptop overall. I wont be able to replace this for 3 years so hopefully it lasts me, if it makes it 2 i am building a desktop/arcade box that i could use as a pc but what a pain. My last gaming rig was a P4 2.6 HT with a Radeon x700 that i played doom 3 and fear combat on in 1280x1024.

I put the laptop in high performance mode to force the screen brightness and processor speed to stay up. Im trying really hard to remember if i had it overclocked or not, i think i did but im not so sure. 2 more battery tests plus a recharge test todo. Don't worry as i told david its gonna take me a week to finish my review.

[R3v4n]

Hey clutch have you tested the 185.81 beta drivers from nvidia? Just curious as to whether DOX is better or not hehe. I know you said you tested 185.xx's but I didn't see anything in your review so just wanted to check ^^.

[motok]

I started using them last night. fps went up by about 5-10% in world at war but I haven't done any 3dmark benches or crysis.

[motok]

and clutch, many people game on the x5 monitor...Its not as bad as we make it seem..plus if your constantly hooked up to a monitor why not dish out the 900 you payed for an x-5 for a desktop? Or spend 700 on a descent desktop and grab an Eee for portability?..We buy laptops too combine them not leave it on a desk growing webs