Asus C90S Review and OS shootout!

Glad to hear that and hope the game mode works too. I am still waiting on mine

Tomorrow will be a week since I ordered from Gentech and I haven't got a ups tag yet... I know that that is not much time but it's killing me. And I cant check my status cause like a dummy I didn't create an account before ordering... Oh well. :twitcy:

 

Can anyone tell me why my asus c90s have problem having it shutdown sometimes...some time it takes forever to shutdown....and also Why does my pc show "The username or password is incorrect' everytime it load up, even before i type in my user password.?
Please help out... I just got the new vista yesterday...and I not sure how i should reformat my laptop... it running on vista premium...
thank

 

That sounds like a OS issue not a C90S issue krieg.

First off did you store your password in the fingerprint program? maybe you typed your password wrong so that would explane the incorrect password issue.

As for shutdown, it can take awhile there is alot to save, esp on a new system when there are updates and things usually working in the background that need to initate upon startup/shutdown.

@Silentheero, dont worry the wait is worth it Gentech is the best people to deal with, they have ram that works 100% and do little things like add the missing screws that asus left out.

Im placing an order with them for 2gb of ram as we speak.

 

To be fair BTOtech.com (AKA Geared2play) also put the missing screws in and is highly recommended by the rest.

(although I aslo ordered from gentech)

 

As Did I on the same day as Silent...

 

you can always call them too so u can get a better estimate of when it will ship:

1-626-915-8039

 

Thanks. Will do.

Has anyone been able to try the actual overclock mode available to the lesser cpus?

 

looks like everybody so far has e6700's lol.

im supprised too because I think the e6600 is the best to get. I only got the e6700 because I got it off ebay cheap for the price of a e6600. If i was to buy new, there is no way I would have paid the difference in price for only a few mhz more.

game mode with the 10% overclock puts me just short of 600mhz on the ram with a 1:1 fsb/ram divider.

I guess 20% would would you pretty much right at 667mhz on the ram wich is a good thing, thats max performance. So a e6700 @ 2.8x ghz in overclock mode should be just about equal to a e6700 at 2.93ghz in game mode, slightly slower cpu speed but faster ram.

 

I order a e6600 but i wont get my laptop for a couple of weeks ... T.T

 

patience is but a virtue ^^

try not to think about it too much, mine came a day later than it was supposed to, and now I need to wait for more ram to get to me (and then there is tonight, i brought all my music cds and stuff to rip onto my notebook while im work and I forget my power cord :/)

 

wait can u not run the ram at 667mhz in game mode? because i have 667mhz ram.

and i thought you can push the e6700 to 2.93ghz with 1279mhz fsb??

 

the ram in game mode (atleast with the bios im useing not sure about 504) is right at 600mhz.

dont freak out tho its not like there is anything that will have a drop in performance due to the ram running at a slightly slower speed.

even in a desktop to get 667mhz its running a divider, and chances are the divider is taking as much performance away as your gaining with the extra speed so its rather pointless. The 1:1 ratio the C90S uses is the best way to go.

 

which bios are you using? and which mode pushed the e6700 to the 2.93ghz/1279mhz fsb?

and is the difference between game mode and overclock mode?

 

Vicious said hes not using 502 so hes using 704. Gaming mode IS overclock mode. Turbogear (software for overclocking) button says gaming mode so thats why its refered to as gaming mode.

 

ok well my question is, that i have read somewhere the e6700 is limited to overclocing to 2.93ghz and 1279mhz fsb in game mode

but i have also heard that it only will overclock 10%, which is 2.93 but only 1173mhz fsb.

and a final question about overlocking sorry for them all - does game mode overclock the video card?

 

game mode = 10% oc
overclock mode = 20% oc

the e6700 only supports game mode as the 20% of overclock puts it past the 2.93ghz limit.

the cpu fsb is not what important its the system fsb that you want to pay attention too.

266mhz stock is the systems fsb

the cpu quad pumps it and runs at 1066
the memory only doubles it so it would run at 532mhz (in a 1:1 divider)

add that 10% to the fsb and you have a 292.6mhz fsb wich means the ram will run at about 585.2mhz and the cpu at 2.93ghz.

the e6700 has a 10x cpu multi.

To get the speed of the cpu take the system fsb and muliply it by the cpu multi.

so the stock 266mhz fsb x10 = 2660mhz or 2.66ghz
game mode + 10% 293mhz fsb x10 = 2.93hz.

now the e6600 has a x9 multi tho.

so at stock 266 x 9 = 2.4ghz
+10% game mode = 293 x 9 = 2.64ghz

now with overclock mode you get 20% more...

that means

319mhz fsb is the new fsb in overclock mode

319 x 9 = 2.87ghz cpu speed

and that means

319 x2 = ddr2 638mhz speed. thats just a hair shy of the full ddr2 667 and just a hair shy of the 2.93ghz you get with the e6700.

really those of us who got the e6700 waisted our money the benfit of course is a faster cpu speed in normal mode.

The 1:1 ratio is used just for the reason of the math I did above at 1:1 with the 20% overclock you wont be taking any ram past its rated spec wich can cause a system crash.

For the lower fsbs putting a divider on the ram to raise its speed takes it out of sync with the cpu cycles and that results in a performance hit, that is just as large as the slight gain in fsb speeds so they made a good choice to have it the way it is.

Give or take a few points here and there.

Defintly in any of the overcloking modes 1:1 is best, in normal mode maybe just maybe a divider for a higher ram speed could pay off, and I think thats what the 504 bios does, Id have to check tho.

edit for kickace:

all that above means the e6700 @ 10% overclock is using the 1173 cpu fsb

266 + 10% = 293 x4 (cpu is quad pumped) = 1172 (1173 because its rounded)

 

Correct. It runs at 2.93ghz with a fsb of 1173. No, it does not overclock the video card.

 

Oh yes, thats right. Scratch what I said.

 

you both have been repped, thanx

 

Your welcome, infact I just edited the main review to include all that overclocking math and explanation and also stated that my battery power issue has been solved with the new ram, and will test the game mode tomarrow when I get my power cord back.

 

great idea to add it - and it wil help solve alot of people's questions about the overclocking.

is it possible to get the e6700 to overclock 20% with another program? or is that too dangerous?

or even anything past 2.93ghz, doesnt ahve to be a full 20%

 

I looked into that yesterday actually, and looks like no is the answer. programs like clockgen are not compatible with the c90, as the intel 945g chipset is not part of any software based overclocking utillity.

Maybe sombody can modify the asus program down the road, but I really dont recomend going past 2.93ghz anyways, and cant see any reason to do so except to grab the top spot on the wprime benchmarks page

benchmarks can get addicting so be carefull before you know it you may break your hardware.

I cant seem to find the PLL the C90 uses if I knew that I would be alot closer to finding a way to overclock it manually, when I looked at the mobo I couldnt see it (or I did see it and its a type im not familar with, it should be close to the crystal) it also may be the chip right under the heatpipe to the gpu cooler, but I cant read it.

 

SUPERRRRR NOOOB QUESTION how do i get into bios while the ASUS screen appear!?!?!?

 

hold F2 key.

 

THANKYOU LIFESAVER!! how about bootmenu? cuz i put in xp cd that dosent recogonize at boot so i gotta choose a boot

 

press ESC key at Asus logo and it'll take you to boot menu.

 

esc key vince

 

Ken, can you resond to my PM please

 

also you might need this: http://downloadmirror.intel.com/11342/eng/V11.1.0.5_XP_DRIVERS.zip

the 4965 wireless driver for XP, Asus put the wrong driver in the CD.

 

Hi all

I´m new around here, so far I want to thank C90S´s owners for the reviews and analyses...

I´m from Portugal, and I am thinking to buy an C90S. I have a few litle doubts to solve...


I´m planing to buy an C90S with an E6600 and 800mhz memory modules. So when I overclock the C90 what timings the memory adopt? The default ones in the JEDEC(By SPD)? Or another ones? There is any option to give control to change them?

And the bus ratios, we can select witch one we want? Example: Select 533 for FSB/Mem 1:1(synchronous ratio), or 667 for an asynchronous ratio.

I´m planing to chose an 250GB 5400RPM disk, but how much is the diference in performance to an 160GB 7200RPM?

Only one thing more, I´ve already read all the reviews in this forum about the C90S but can you tell me if the chassi is rigid and stiff? Can you gab one side of it and noted any twist? What about the quality of the plastics? They feel to cheap?

Thank to all for the help!(sry my bad english...)

 

thank youu

 

The overclocking maintains a 1:1 ratio through out. The 20 percent overclocking mode will run the ram about 640 MHz. Even if you could do it manually, the most you could overclock to is a RAM speed of 667, since that is the highest the board supports. The difference in performance between the two drives you mentioned is fairly negligible if size and heat are important to you, if not the 7200 does offer a bit closer to Desktop performance.

 

Maybe this has already been answered, but what forceware is best for ocing the gpu on xp? I know that 158.45 is the one used for vista, but laptopvideo2go doesn't have it listed for xp.

 

the latest drivers that allow overclocking in XP are the 101.19 drivers. Its best to get the ones from the Asus download page for the G1s. FYI, the drivers that come with the c90 are 101.17. In other words, you are screwed with game performance and performance glithces if you want to overclock. But those drivers display the correct image with the HDMI and dont overscan.....a bonus.

 

I look forward to ear superPi score from you guys

Thanks in advance

 

been out all day since I got home from work, had to go the the baby doctor, then to walmart, then to lunch, ect and just got home. Now I need to get some sleep before I go back to work. however I promise you super pi scores tonight when I get to work.

 

the drivers you guys are talking about is for the gpu correct?

what is the best driver out there - that has no overscan with hdmi and i don't care if it can overclock or not?

i will have mine soon (out for delivery at 8am but a tstorm, so hopefully soon)

 

the best non-overclocking drivers are 163.11

 

ViciousXUSMC thank you friend

 

yeah...thnkz for the tips..I still have the 2 screws that came with the asus...I not sure what to do with those..... thankz..

 

hey wahts that site again for the drivers for gfx lap2somthing? i cant find it sorry for bothering

 

laptopvideo2go.com

 

thank you very much also which one is recommended? using xp pro w/ sp2

 

I did enroll my finger prints, buti m not sure what you mean by store your password in the fingerprint program, is it the windows's password for your log in to the computer...? if then i think i did, because it asked for it...if then how should i solve this problem.. and start over again...? and
I have another questions..
why does my pc create two account after i reformat my laptop...it have a administrator account that i didn't create, and my account with my user name that i created when my windows run for the first time...
and what should i do with the 2 screwsss!? that came with the asus c90s.. `;\
thanks for the helps......

 

JUST GOT MINE!! ON IT NOW!!

But before i give real feedback and stuff: let me say a few quick things:

one, its not that hot at all on your lap because the vent goes inbetween your legs, atleast it does for me when im sitting normally and my legs are the skinniest

2nd: i just popped in my hard drive that is not from this laptop and it booted up windows fine BUT: this hard drive is using a 64bit ALPS touchpad driver, and this isn't a alps touchpad (got it from dell originally) - but i dont know if its the driver or just me but the touchpad is FANTASTIC, responding tro lightest touch, etc. RIGHT out of the box.

update: i just checked the device manager it didn't install a generic driver over the alps, its still using the alps and i suggest that to anyone who doesnt like the touchpad or just wants a good one

3rd:

i am using a 7200rpm drive and it does indeed get hot on the left palm, but not as much underneath, like i said the lap is fine. and the palm isnt too hot, but hotter than ive had in past laptops.


i am about to do a clean install with a 32 bit vista ultimate. but i will tell you this - i am definitely using the same dell alps driver. dont know why ti works but with this, the touchpad is fantastic!

 

if you typed your password in wrong when you did the fingerscan, it is an easy fix, just log in normally with the password then go back into the fingerscan program (little red icon on the taskbar) and you can easily edit any of the stored passwords. The two accounts is a windows thinks you are an idiot and need to have someone else handle your computer for you, and the two screws are for the TV Tuner, if you ever get one.

 

Those are quite old arnt they :/
Probably better to go with the latest drivers and forget oc'ing then I suppose.

 

it doesn't seems to be working.... everything i create a password for my login(administrator) , and after opening or restarting the computer the message keeps appearing "the user name or password is incorrect"...even before i typed anything...so for now i removed my login passwords... what should i do..?...maybe i didn't fixed it correctly....but plz help out...

 

if you open the command window (go to the search thing in the start menu and type "cmd") then type "user (your username) (desired password)" it will set your password to whatever you would like it to be. then go into the fingerprint thing and change it to whatever you typed in the command prompt. Remember that it is case sensitive and make sure caps lock and numlock are off.

 

Ok xenupy I have superpi results in.

I guess you want the 1M numbers as thats what most people test.

In normal mode with no tweaks for performance I got 20.82 seconds.

In game mode I got 18.93 seconds.

If I was shooting for performance and tweaked my system for max results I should be able to get close to 17 seconds.

So there you go! SuperPi is up.

(used superpi mode v1.5 btw the newest one)