Asus G51Jx Owners Lounge

[rexrzer727]

Originally Posted by nfshp253

@rexrzer727, you've got your 9-cell battery at last! Mine has dropped to 74525MWh after like only 4 or 5 recharges. Damn it. Maybe it's just a glitch in the reporting, at least I hope so! How much did you get the battery for?

Mr Chen is weird, how can it run 3-4 hours more, when the original battery could last like 1 hour. 3 or 4 hours more is like 5 hours! 5 Hours in a G51?

I got the battery for $115US, shipped Express Mail (Priority Mail in the USA/Hong Kong Express over there...), and it only took 6 working days to get to me! Go figure! Crazy fast!! You should have seen the way it was wrapped to beat the band, too! Holy Toledo! It was in a static-pruf box, with nice anti-static foam wrapping it up, and that was inside of a 2nd light box, which was inside the 3rd box! Which was the shipping box, and that was wrapped in 3 layers of special sealing tape, the likes of which I've never seen before and I do a bit of shipping! Holy Cripes!! Mr Chen is a shipping battery phreaky guy!!

The thing that is KUHL about this battery is the 2 year warranty from Mr. Chen's company, a big, big battery company in China, so I am digging that a bunch and then some...

2 years is a few charges in my book, and I can't wait to see how it plays out...I think it will be a great battery, you know? I don't know why I am writing that, but I just have a good feeling about this one...so there you go!

This is going to be a wicked couple of days with the new laptop, this G51 you dig? I get my new SATA BluRay Writer/Reader optical drive in the AM tomorrow, in fact I took the day *off* to handle the install, and the Cyberlink PowerDVD Ultra 10 installation to boot+ got a couple new BluRay movies to go with the deal also, the Avatar special edition BluRay set (2 disks), and another movie too, forget which one but a good one!

Then on Saturday I get a new, wicked-good SSD hard drive to boot! Yup, I had a little trouble with my Agility2 100GB SSD, and sent it back a couple days ago...which the place I bought it from is going to be kind enough to exchange for a new OCZ Vertex2 120GB SSD!!!!!! How about them apples!?

OCZ is having a rebate deal this month, too, so I'll get a small rebate back on the SSD which is nice, cuts a few $$$'s off the price. And I get the extra capacity (20GB) vs. the 100GB SSD I just gave up...which is noice!

The Vertex2 is EVEN FASTER than the Agility is, believe it or not, plus it gives up 50,000 IOPs of data @ 4K write speed, which is just killah usually on SSD HD's, but this build is a special deal, the Vertex2 120GB they told me at OCZ Forum the past day and a half...I've been online there a bunch about the SSD's and how to "fix them" permanently, so that performance stays the same no matter what...and I'm learnin' about it!

So I have my hands full through Saturday, I guess...

I will write up something about the BluRay writer/reader installation I think, if I can get it together to do it! I am sooo tired of posting stuff about my G51, you know I just want to enjoy it for myself for awhile 1st.

The writer/reader is the Sony Optiarc 5730S model if I can remember the nomenclature of the model correctly, anyway I went with the Sony because I did not want the Matsushieta Panasonic thing in the new machine...just didn't want to go that way if I can avoid it.

I have had enough problems with that brand in Apple machines, and I don't want to start here with this one, so here's hoping that the Sony is bulletproof!

OK, I am done with G51 news for the night, Hah-Hah!

I want to just enjoy the machine the next couple of days, so I won't be posting up much about it until Sunday it looks like...later gents...

[xilver]

Hi guys, I'm confused. I run the "view system" of PCMark Vantage to see what's inside of my machine. (I'm not running the benchmark yet).

Based on the data; (or see captured image)
Internal Clock 1.6 GHz
Internal Clock Maximum 1.6 GHz

...I thought Intel Core i7-720QM Processor has 1.6GHz with turbo boost up to 2.8GHz???? Then why I got 1.6GHz max only?

Is there another key/process that should be done for the machine to reach its max capability? Or my machine's turbo boost feature was disabled?

If that's the case I have another work to do

Thanks again.

[paladin44]

PCMark Vantage does not measure the clock speed of TurboBoost.

If you want to see your TurboBoost working just Google for the Intel TurboBoost desktop Gadget and install it.

[janvandongen]

Originally Posted by xilver

Btw, if things wont work out after the process will system restore (F9) restores my machine back to factory settings? (...I really love hitting that key

No problem to keep the F9 factory restore option with a clean install.
If you insert a windows 7 disk it gives you the choice to do an upgrade or a clean install. If you chose the latter it renames you old windows directory to windows.old, and - clean - installs windows 7 in a new directory called Windows. (Note that not all files from the old Windows directory will be saved in windows.old, it makes a selection, so back-up any settings that are saved in the Windows directory if important to you. And of course backup all your data on an external disk before doing any reinstall...

You do not need to chose a partition where you want to install Windows 7, because only one partition will show up, as the other system restore partition is.. hidden. Only in case you made several partitions yourself in the past you WILL be presented with several choices of partitions, but whichever you chose you will NOT ruin your hidden partition, as it will remain, well, hidden!

When do you lose your hidden partition?
- If you chose to reformat your drive with a low level format (for a normal harddisk) or special reformatting software (for a Solid State Disk, such as 'Sanitary Erase' for OCZ SSD's). What that does is both reformat and repartition your hard disk, including hidden partitions.
- If you delete a partition with Windows Disk manager or specialist partitioning software. Did you never touch these? Then you did not delete your hidden partition.

In brief: If you do not TRY to delete your hidden partition you will not be able to ruin it with a simple clean install of Windows 7.

Last point:
For SSD's (Solid State Disks) there is an argument for low level formatting the disk before starting, as it potentially makes it faster. Having said that, the latest SSD's have system software that overcome this problem.
For normal harddisks I cannot see any benefit for formatting (low level or normal) your hard disk before doing a clean install. You can simply defrag your harddisk after the Windows clean install.

Originally Posted by xilver

Why linking NVIDIA Win7 64 bit driver download to
Verde Notebook Release 197 when there's a newer version
Verde Notebook Release 256? Does this means newer version is not stable yet to support our machines? ..just wondering
Thnx.

The 256 driver is in BETA. I (now) mention the BETA's existence on page 1, but indeed it has given BSOD's to people which disappeared when rolling back to the stable 197 driver. So... try the BETA at your own risk, or not..

[rexrzer727]

I hope that everybody's weekend is going fine, as I sit here typing on my Ul30Vt-X1 and watch as Acronis True Image does a nice, clean and clear Cloning of my boot HD (Hitachi 500GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache platter HD) to the new OCZ Vertex 2 120GB SSD hard drive that arrived here via FedEx just a few minutes ago. I did a quick maintenance on the boot HD to prep it for Cloning, which is always a good thing to do by the way when doing a Cloning operation, and now the machine is in "Boot Time" while the operation takes place.

It's a painless, very quick migration from one HD to another with a good Cloning software, and I am using the Acronis variety for the 1st time today, so here's to a good job happening in the next 20-25 minutes or so!

The new OCZ SSD promises to be a real rocket ship, as the nice OCZ professionals in their Forum have assured me that this is their top performing consumer hard drive, ie not one made for Enterprise with SLC cells, so I am looking forward to the experience of the new SSD in a few minutes from right now...I'll simply remove the bottom of my case on the G51JX-A1, carefully remove the Hitachi HD and install the OCZ Vertex 2 SSD HD, and voila! I'll be good to go in about 40-45 minutes from now.

My retailer was very nice about exchanging the new Vertex 2 for the Agility 2 SSD, which just was a problem child as things went on with usage, but these Vertex 2 HD's are supposedly better in all respects: they are faster, have higher IOPs at 4K by a significant margin (50K IOPs @ 4K file size), and the new firmware that will be coming out in June, along with a new tool kit, which is being released with the cooperation of the nice folks at Sandforce, in Taiwan, CN will put the icing on the cake with the new SSD!

I only mention the new firmware and toolkit because up to now there has been no maintenance kit available for Sandforce-controller SSD's, but this month will see a change in that and I think everyone is looking forward to it! Good stuff, from my viewpoint anyway.

I wanted to post a little bit about the install of my new BluRay optical drive also, which went down last night without a hitch. It was a straightforward plug and play replacement of the OEM DVD+/-RW optical drive with the new Sony BD-5730S writer/reader optical drive. The only caveat to the install was *removing the OEM bracket off the old drive and installing it on the Sony drive* and BAM! Done deal! There are two (2) key location screws in the body of the notebook that must be removed to take out the optical drive, and also to secure the new drive in place once the bracket is replaced on the drive, and that's about it. Simple in, and simple out!

As for the Sony drive itself, it's a dream! Worked straight out of the box and I watched the newest version of Avatar on my notebook's LCD HD display afterward, in HD of course, and it was just a stunning viewing, simply beautiful and all but 3D in appearance. The new software that I installed for the BluRay playback is called Cyberlink PowerDVD 10 Ultra, which I got from Amazon.com for a nice discount from retail, and it's a great program, too! I can't fault it, does what it says it will do, and it also supports the new 3D media which is just now coming out on BluRay, too!

I have not tested the BluRay burning of the new optical drive as yet, but will later today and report back then, but it should work without a doubt just as nicely as burning a regular DVD+/-R disc, at least I sure hope so. I did remove the faceplate off the old optical drive, also, with a little "coaxing" anyway I did, and replaced it on the Sony drive, swapped them in fact, so that the notebook looks like it has an optical drive that matches the case...came out purrrfect! The button for 'eject' works 100%, and the light does too (the LED activity light), so it's all good with the Sony BluRay writer/reader optical drive!

I prefer the Sony brand to the Panasonic/Matshshieta Drive because of quality concerns, just a personal preference, and I am sure that the other drive that I posted up about before is fine also, just wanted to make certain that everyone knows that the Optiarc BD-5730S works, looks, and performs 100% in my G51 and I highly recommend it, being virtually just plug and play with the new software installed.

That's about it for now, so I hope that everyone is having a good weekend, and that your G51's are performing great too! I really cannot complain about my notebook, it's just been a STUD for me in all respects, never getting any BSOD's or other problems, even when overclocked on the GPU to 1620/2100 on the high clocks, it's simply been a stellar-performing notebook in all respects. And I've just made it faster, and better with the new optical drive transplant and the new SSD!

I love the G51, it's a winner!!

[daemon33]

Hello all, I just noticed that after I uninstalled the Intel Management Engine the BSOD stopped its been 3 weeks now and no BSODs for me. Well that's the only thing I did. Playing Dragon Age or Bad Company 2 or even Batman does not give me BSOD.

Though one thing I noticed, even if i set P4G to dim my monitor in 1 min or 2 min , it does not dim it anymore. PReviously when laptop is left idle the lcd screen would dim itself. Now nothing.

What happened?

[ginnipig]

rexrzer727 i suddenly have the need to buy:
1: more ram
2: bluray
3 ocz ssd

weird

[rexrzer727]

Originally Posted by ginnipig

rexrzer727 i suddenly have the need to buy:
1: more ram
2: bluray
3 ocz ssd

weird

I must apologize for my raves about the new equipment that I've added to an otherwise *perfect* performing G51JX-A1, and lest you forget I've also upgraded the US-spec battery from 6-cells to the 9-cell 7200mAh/76,890mWh battery which is standard on the Asian-market G51's...so the notebook as equipped now is just about the top of the heap as far as adds and extras.

None of this is necessary, I must emphasize once and for all, it's simply my preference to do these adds and upgrades, and the notebook was performing 100% without them, well, except for the SSD that is...I never even ran the OEM HD once, simply removed it when I got the notebook and put it in "storage" here in my "garage studio", where it will most likely sit unless I have a catastrophic failure (knock on wood that it doesn't EVER happen!) and am forced to use it, that is.

Please don't think that I mean anything by posting what happens when you do change out the stock components for better items, it's being posted just to tell other G51 owners that it's easy to do, it does improve performance and enhance the ownership experience somewhat dramatically, and these are options that virtually anyone can do, ie you don't have to take the notebook to a shop or professional and pay professional installation prices, the items are easily installed, even a novice can do this type of thing without any prior experience at it.

I have a history of doing upgrades to *all* my notebooks, as you can see in my signature I've done similar things to my Sony VAIO and my 2nd Asus notebook, the UL30Vt-X1 that is my daily companion for work, so I consider a nice notebook, any new notebook, a candidate for upgrading because I already know what upgrades can do for such an item.

There is one part of my upgrade this time that is *not* perfect, I must confess, as somehow during the Cloning process with Acronis True Image Home my Alignment got messed up at the 4K level, while 16K on up *is* Aligned correctly, so go figure that one out! I have a Tech Support Case at Acronis at this time about the anomaly happening, in addition to having one at Paragon Software also, as I have tried to remedy the situation by using PAT (Paragon Alignment Tool) on the SSD to get it aligned 100% without any good results, so there you go, sometimes things can go slightly "off" when doing upgrades, and things have to be "worked through" to get them 100% right...so that's where I am with respect to my SSD upgrade today.

Parity and Alignment are two things that are necessary for 100% performance with an SSD, people must not forget these facts, and at times the Cloning process is imperfect, to wit my experience with the Vertex 2 SSD. We don't know if there's a defect in the SSD, or if Acronis True Image Home made a mistake or two during the Cloning process at this time, but we are working on it...we being me and the companies involved with the process. I am in a bit "over my head" right now and am basically just feeding the companies logs and records made during the Cloning process by Acronis and the PAT software both, so I can't comment one way or the other right now about how to fix such a situation.

I may end up having to Clean Install the SSD to get things right, and then that encompasses yet another group of variables, because I will have to weigh out the possibility of wiping the SSD clean for starters, and I've never worked with an OCZ in that regard before. If it was an Intel SSD I'd know what to do, but with the OCZ devices there are other things to consider, namely the firmware used and the Sandforce controller and how it works, so I wouldn't want to mess any of that up further by leveling the SSD "my way", ie I'll have to do what is necessary for an OCZ SSD not an Intel SSD.

In addition there is new firmware and an OCZ Toolkit for the Sandforce-equipped SSD's that are from OCZ due out any day now, so that further complicates matters! As you might gather, there are things to consider when doing upgrades that people just don't have to even think about who leave their computers OEM, box stock...just like the situation at hand with my notebook right now.

Now I could just simply leave things alone and not worry about Parity and Alignment with the new SSD and most people would never even notice the difference, but I am not that sort of user/consumer, it turns out! If the process has left a problem I am not one to forget about it, and I will deal with it straight away rather than wait for something else to go haywire because of the Alignment being off, and there is also performance itself to think about as it is slightly "off" because of the 4K alignment issue...not by much, but a small amount of speed and efficiency is lacking with the new SSD in place the way it is now.

I have to do another Alignment attempt with the PAT tool and gather some statistical data from the program (various files are generated internally in the OS, deep inside of it in fact, when doing such a thing and the nice people at Paragon Tech Support need those files to work through to a conclusion about the problem at hand) at this point because I uninstalled all Paragon software when I did the Cloning operation with Acronis True Image Home, not wanting to have a bad reaction or problem happen because of having two conflicting software programs, so I don't have any records to give the Paragon tech support team right now...that is where I am with that aspect of this problem.

OTOH I have given the necessary files and support reports to the tech support people at Acronis software, and they are actively working on my case right now, so I may have an answer from that side of the case sooner than later, at least I sure hope so. I have an incredible array of software that would have to be reinstalled on the notebook if push comes to shove and I am forced to Clean Install the whole array of programs, something I really do *not* want to get into if I can avoid it. I have some 48.9GB of software installed presently, with support files for some of my imaging work and photo work, along with some proprietary company business that requires a key code and password entries from my IT department at work, so these are things that I would just as soon not get into all over again, hence my reluctance to just say "scew it, I'll fix it myself"!

That's the whole unexpurgated situation I am dealing with presently, so there's a small hill to climb but I have some good help so I am looking forward to a simple resolve of the problem rather than a Clean Install from scratch. This is the sort of thing that can happen out of the blue with upgrades, and I am the 1st one admit that it *can happen* even with the best of care and techniques at one's disposal, so I caution people about doing such an upgrade in this respect. OTOH when things are right it's all worth it and the enjoyment and advantages of having upgrades like I have done is huge, so YMMV with any sort of upgrade to the components of your notebook, and care is as care does...and sometimes just a little bad thing can turn into quite a big deal as it has with my SSD Cloning operation.

I'll report more on this as things resolve, and the results are in, and finally when it's all 100% on the $$$ I'll post some performance data for the new SSD and give you all an indication of just how fast, really fast IS!

[ninedragon]

rexrzer727:

I want to replace my HDD with an SSD for my G51JX-A1 but I have 2 choices:

1. Intel X25-M Mainstream 2.5" 80GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

2. Kingston SSDNow V Series 2.5" 128GB SATA II Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

OCZ is out of question for me, because my budget is only under 300$, and these 2 cost about 230-260$.

Between these two, which one do you think is better? I'm also not sure the Kingston one is MLC or SLC.

[rexrzer727]

Originally Posted by ninedragon

rexrzer727:

I want to replace my HDD with an SSD for my G51JX-A1 but I have 2 choices:

1. Intel X25-M Mainstream 2.5" 80GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

2. Kingston SSDNow V Series 2.5" 128GB SATA II Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

OCZ is out of question for me, because my budget is only under 300$, and these 2 cost about 230-260$.

Between these two, which one do you think is better? I'm also not sure the Kingston one is MLC or SLC.

Your quest is a good one, and virtually any SSD has better, faster read characteristics than virtually any platter/mechanical HD, so the only penalty we really pay for swapping for an SSD is in available contiguous space, ie the extra capacity over and above that which is necessary for the operating system (OS). If you have an external mechanical HD to use for backup/extra files, photos, media, games etc, either USB or the faster eSATA standard, you're home free though, so there is redemption for SSD users.

I suggest simply removing the OEM platter HD and placing that HD inside of a good external case made specifically for backup, one with eSATA preferably, and you can then kill two birds with one stone, that is upgrade to the SSD and use the OEM drive for a good purpose, solving the storage problem outright.

You pose an interesting question, and I have had occasion to test both of those SSD's you are choosing for your internal HD replacement. I found the Intel X25-M to be a fast reader, and a miserably slow writer in almost all file sizes, but especially *slow* in the critically important small file sizes 32Kb and smaller, right down to 4K files...in fact the performance was downright unnaceptable at the small file writes...down to 10-15MB/sec and worse to be specific, very disturbing for the premium $$ price Intel wants for that 80GB SSD.

The Kingston was better, albeit marginally so, but enough to make a difference in the small files <32Kb and smaller, and depending on the "kit" you are purchasing, it is, to me, a better choice for two reasons: it's physically 50% larger than the Intel X25-M is, so you benefit from sheer size; its write performance across the spectrum is significantly higher than the Intel X25-M's performance in writes is, again at the small files sizes is particularly and most importantly, better.

Contrary to many opinions and options available I'd choose the Kingston 128GB SSD and take home the savings vs the OCZ Vertex 2 or Agility 2 SSD's and smile about it! I hesitate to recommend the Kingston normally when there are other choices in or about that price and performance range, but in the case of your question specifically I have no problems recommending it over the Intel X25-M.

The Intel is very popular, don't get me wrong, and it does have benefits in terms of advanced firmware being available for it, and the Intel v1.3 SSD Toolkit which can help it maintain performance over time, but still, when the thing won't write at higher than 60MB/sec at best, and in the small file sizes less than 10-15MB/sec, its benefits are at best marginal to poor.

Have you looked at the option of the OCZ Agility 60GB SSD, by chance? If you're in the USA those can be on sale at various vendors. It tends to be in the middle of the spectrum with performance, which is better than the Kingston but less than the premium Sandforce-controller-equipped SSD's, the Vertex 2 and Agility 2. Let's take a look at today's prices:

Amazon.com: OCZ Technology 60 GB Agility Series SATA II 2.5 Inch Solid State Drive (SSD)…

I found it today at Amazon.com for $170 shipped, so if you could live with a slightly smaller size for the boot HD and concentrate on keeping most everything other than the OS and your programs on the SSD this is a way to save even more $$$ and come up smiling with performance that exceeds the Kingston and the Intel by a large margin.

Read those specs for the Agility and see what you think!

Hope this helps you decide which way to go, and most of all you are on the right track by thinking outside the box and going with an SSD, albeit smaller for the OS and programs, vs sticking with any mechanical HD. The benefits are just huge in terms of performance, as you could imagine...now it's time to try one out and see what you think about it...you'll be pleasantly surprised!