ASUS G50VT-X8TW --- Review

Greetings ladies and gentlemen!

Today, I've decided to put together a quick review exploring the Asus G50vt-X8TW which was purchased from newegg

Screen: 15.6-inch WXGA (1366 x 768) LED Backlit
Operating System: Windows 7 64 bit RC build 7100, though it came with Vista Home Premium 64bit
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 (2.4GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 3MB Cache)
Memory: 4GB DDR3 RAM
Storage: 320GB Seagate Momentus HDD (7200rpm)
Optical Drive: CD/DVD+/-RW
Wireless: Intel 5100 802.11AGN, Bluetooth 2.0
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GS 512mb DDR3
Dimensions: 14.6" x 10.3" x 1.3-1.6"
Weight: 7 lbs~
Warranty: 1 year ASUS Accidental Damage Warranty - Drops, Fire, Spill, Surge.
Parts and Labor: 2 years limited
Retail Price: $999.99 (at the time of purchase)

Build and Design
I personally found this particular model to be very robust. I do not feel any flexes on the case nor I felt any weak spots on this notebook. In addition, this particular model includes OLED display which comes in handy for many purposes. For instance, it is customizable to display CPU and RAM usage and much more... The lights on each side of the laptop are decent enough to play around with, though it may be an issue to some.

The product came with the backpack and Razer Copperhead mouse





Display
This model contains LED backlit display which supposed to increase contrast ratio and brightness improvements. When this laptop put next to Dell Vostro 1500 with screen resolution of 1280x800, the screen of G50vt is quite bright and vivid. Vertical and Horizontal viewing angles are decent.


Keyboard and Touchpad
The keyboard on this particular model is very sturdy and it feels very comfortable while typing. In comparison to Vostro 1500, G50vt-X8 has the numpad included and the keys feel decent. Surprisingly, the keyboard has no flex at all, just a bit flex around "Enter" key, but thats if you press it really hard.



RAZER Copperhead mouse which came with the product.



Speakers and Audio
The Altec Lansing Speakers are decent enough to hear music or whatever you intend of doing. In comparison to Vostro 1500, these are quieter and don't sound as loud, but the sound output is very clear and crisp.


Heat and Noise
Asus managed to put a system together which does an incredible job of cooling down the CPU , P45 Chipset and GPU. While not gaming, the laptop's fan is very quiet and will not cause anyone in library to look at you. Unfortunately, while gaming, the fan kicks in and even though it's loud, it's not high pitched but like air flow movement.

While I was writing this review, I've got these results using HWmonitor



Performance
This is the segment probably most of us would like to know when it comes to laptops which are geared towards games. Fortunately, this machine performs really well when it's put to stress.

I've done BIOS flashing to the clocks you see on the SS. GPU Drivers: 186.03


I've decided to Flash the BIOS to 9800m GTS speeds and it ran very stable, but then I've reverted it to 550_1375_800 because I didn't feel comfortable with the temps.
By flashing to GTS speed, I've noticed GPU temp had increased by few degrees under stress mode with Furmark as it was expected.


EDIT: Tried the following clocks: 635|1575|850 [1.11v] and this is what I got:
1280x720 Score: 10241

1280x1024 Score: 9238


Success #1: Clocks: 650/1625/800 @ 1.11v BIOS Flash
Success #2: Clocks: 640/1600/800 @ 1.05v Software level overclocking
Success #3: Clocks: 600/1500/800 @ 0.95v BIOS Flash.

VGA memory can be pushed as far as 950mhz. I just don't feel the need for it.

Res: 1366x768 Settings: [HIGH - CUSTOM] DX9 Average FPS: ~39


Under "Turbo Extreme" mode, the processors works @ 2.64 Ghz





Crysis (Not Warhead) Resolution 1366x768 Settings= HIGH - CUSTOM CPU @ 2.64 - [Turbo Extreme] mode
DX10 32BIT
==============================================================
TimeDemo Play Started , (Total Frames: 2000, Recorded Time: 111.86s)
!TimeDemo Run 0 Finished.
Play Time: 81.43s, Average FPS: 24.56
Min FPS: 17.07 at frame 1945, Max FPS: 31.07 at frame 82
Average Tri/Sec: -23112648, Tri/Frame: -941010
Recorded/Played Tris ratio: -0.97
!TimeDemo Run 1 Finished.
Play Time: 77.31s, Average FPS: 25.87
Min FPS: 17.06 at frame 1945, Max FPS: 34.44 at frame 83
Average Tri/Sec: -23998310, Tri/Frame: -927689
Recorded/Played Tris ratio: -0.99
!TimeDemo Run 2 Finished.
Play Time: 77.78s, Average FPS: 25.71
Min FPS: 14.70 at frame 1515, Max FPS: 34.44 at frame 83
Average Tri/Sec: -23834618, Tri/Frame: -926917
Recorded/Played Tris ratio: -0.99
TimeDemo Play Ended, (3 Runs Performed)
==============================================================
DX9 32BIT
==============================================================
TimeDemo Play Started , (Total Frames: 2000, Recorded Time: 111.86s)
!TimeDemo Run 0 Finished.
Play Time: 60.20s, Average FPS: 33.22
Min FPS: 23.98 at frame 139, Max FPS: 42.35 at frame 1008
Average Tri/Sec: -31266782, Tri/Frame: -941167
Recorded/Played Tris ratio: -0.97
!TimeDemo Run 1 Finished.
Play Time: 56.47s, Average FPS: 35.42
Min FPS: 23.98 at frame 139, Max FPS: 43.42 at frame 63
Average Tri/Sec: -32864430, Tri/Frame: -927947
Recorded/Played Tris ratio: -0.99
!TimeDemo Run 2 Finished.
Play Time: 56.53s, Average FPS: 35.38
Min FPS: 23.98 at frame 139, Max FPS: 44.18 at frame 72
Average Tri/Sec: -32818064, Tri/Frame: -927683
Recorded/Played Tris ratio: -0.99
TimeDemo Play Ended, (3 Runs Performed)

Burnout Paradise
Settings = High
Resolution 1366x768
AA = 8x
SSAO = OFF
Using Fraps FPS benchmark, this is what I got in 5 mins
Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
14955, 300000, 0, 61, 49.850

Temps after I exited Burnout Paradise


WoW should run smooth on this particular GPU and with the power of the CPU.

Unfortunately, I didn't have the time to test any other games, as I don't have them. Though I did test COD 4 and it performs really good even at the highest settings w/o AA. With AA, you'll have few slowdowns here and there. Older games, such as Warcraft III, Quake III, 4, Doom III, Unreal Tournament 2003, 2004, etc... should play with NO issues what so ever.


Conclustion
I like this laptop and its unique design which attracts people's attention and makes them question about it. That's it for now... Hope you guys found this thread to be useful and helpful.


Best Regards, Leonid

 

Is this eligible for a free Windows 7 upgrade?

I think so, since the purchase date is within the required days and it is new.

Anyone know for sure?

I am very interested in this too. Stick a SSD drive in there along side the 320GB and BAM!

~snake

 

I am certainly sure that this laptop is eligible for free Windows 7 upgrade. I'll confirm that with Asus.

I'd like to buy one SSD now and perhaps one more later on. In raid 0, they'd fly.


Regards, Leonid M

 

Very good review, only improvement would be to thumbnail the images to make it easier to read.

I agree with you on how robust the Asus G50VT series feels, solid as a rock

I am wondering whether it is worth it to flash to GTS or just OC the GS, is there much gain to flashing it?

 

Flashing is sort of a more stable and permanent overclock.

Personally, I never flashed. I just various software programs to overclock. I personally recommend nTools.

 

Great review, +1 rep!!

A question about your comment here. I am new the the Asus realm but short of winning the lottery or something I'm expecting to get an Asus gaming notebook of some flavor in the very near future. The procedure you have outlined here - do you have a link for or a description of how to do this GPU BIOS flashing?

Thanks again for your info!

 

I've never flashed, so I can't tell you there. I will say my personal choice is software overclocking, so you can tune your system when you're not doing intense work.


Anyway, the big three contenders right now for a low-priced, beefy gaming laptop are the G51vx-RX05, G71gx-RX05, and the G50vt-X8TW.

Raw power wise, the G71gx (which can be bought at BEst Buy) has the most potential out of these three. It's a heavy 17-incher, with a P8700 and a GTX 260m GeForce card. Very powerful machine.

The G51vx (also from Best Buy) is like the the G71's kid brother. Same Geforce GTX 260m card, but with a weakish P7350 2.0 GHz CPU. It's a smaller 15-inch machine, and while it's more portable, it tends to run a bit hotter. The G51 has an absolutely sexy keykoard, by the way.

The G50vt-X8WT has the "weakest" graphics card (9800m GS or 9800m GTS if you flash it) but the processor isn't a bad one: P8600 at 2.4GHz. It's a 15-incher, so it nominally more portable than the G71. What you get in return for the weaker video card is a lot of goodies: backpack and mouse, internal bluetooth, and Asus' awesome warranty. The biggest problem with this particular computer is it's hard to find.

 

Asus G50VT is an awesome laptop!

Well, by flashing the BIOS to GTS speeds, you do get quite of gain in games especially Crysis. Don't forget that temps might be bit higher due to 0.06 voltage increase and 70mhz of core and 175mhz of SP increase as well.

Well, nTools doesn't work, nor does Rivatuner or AtiTools in Windows 7 x64. Maybe I don't how to make it work?

Thanks! Sorry for the late response. I was in Washington state for about 4 days so, I didn't have a computer there to use, but here is the link: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=357807

Well, I would have done software overclocking too, but as I mentioned that software OC'ing having been successful in Win 7 x64.

I think for me 9800m GS is quite enough and I'll need the CPU power more than GPU. I do video editing and compositing on my free time for fun, so the CPU is needed more.

You're right though... G51 does have a decent nice keyboard, but I like the features of G50VT-X8TW as you've mentioned them.


Thanks for your comments guys! if there is anything, don't hesitate to ask.
Best Regards, Leonid

 

Thanks for the review, it was added to the ASUS Info Booth and to the ASUS Reviews and Owners' Lounges Index!

 

What bios version do you have? Im just trying to find out why some people can get higher overclocks.. i know the cards can be different but maybe there's something else..
thank you