Asus UL30VT FAQ / Official Owners Lounge redux

I am purchasing a thin and light machine for my wife. This will be used mainly for word processing, powerpoint, photoshop, acrobat reader and most of the time all of these programs running alongside multiple firefox tabs. She does it all at home in my 3.2GHz Phenom II desktop with 4gb ram. I am wondering if UL30VT-A1 can handle that kind of beating everyday? I know I can get a dm4t with i5 processor, after using a HP for the last 2 years, I am reluctant to choose another. Another big concern here is weight. She commutes 3 hr roundtrip in public transport- so a light notebook with enough battery juice is necessary. Any thought from current UL30vt-A1 users?

 

Well, I run all of the above but normally use only one or two applications open at a time. These are LV CPU's so you get the great battery life.

Running everything WFO will shorten battery to 4-5 hours depending on GPU needed. So if she trades a bit of performance, she will love the thin and light part.

 

Welcome! Looks like M$ is shutting down Bing cash back this July so you got it at the right time if you did use Bing.

Waiting is the hard part

 

How were you able to hit 2.1? Everytime I try to go above 1.9 it jumps down to 1.5ghz.

 

I'm not using the free version of SetFSB. The shareware version added support for the ul30a in April and the ul30vt uses the same clock gen. The reason the freeware SetFSB hack is so sloppy is because you're using a random setting for a different ICS clock generator.

 

just got my backlit keyboard installed – was such a pain using wire glue – would have been easier with solder iron cos i wouldnt have had to wait for it to dry. but then again, the soldering points are so tiny that the slightest hiccup could lead to a burn PCB in the laptop! anywhos, it's all working great and so glad to have the backlit keyboard back, since coming from a Dell Studio XPS 13.

Firstly some pics of the carbon fibre skin I applied the other day:
http://users.tpg.com.au/adslkgxu/ul30vt_mod/IMG_20100605_203824.jpg
http://users.tpg.com.au/adslkgxu/ul30vt_mod/IMG_20100605_203745.jpg
http://users.tpg.com.au/adslkgxu/ul30vt_mod/IMG_20100605_203800.jpg
http://users.tpg.com.au/adslkgxu/ul30vt_mod/IMG_20100605_203736.jpg

and the backlit keyboard mod:
http://users.tpg.com.au/adslkgxu/ul30vt_mod/IMG_20100605_203329.jpg
http://users.tpg.com.au/adslkgxu/ul30vt_mod/IMG_20100605_203344.jpg
http://users.tpg.com.au/adslkgxu/ul30vt_mod/IMG_20100605_203253.jpg
http://users.tpg.com.au/adslkgxu/ul30vt_mod/IMG_20100605_203147.jpg

 

Looking good!! Been thinking about the keyboard mod myself. Does it noticeably affect battery life at all? How about the quality of the keyboard, is it the same as the stock board?

 

Haven't noticed anything major in terms of affecting battery life but then again I only just installed it. Will do some more testing of the battery and report back.

The keyboard quality itself is WAY better than the one that is preinstalled on the UL30VT OoTB. It's from the Asus U80 and it's way smoother and the keys aren't as squishy or clicky. A lot more sturdy IMHO.

 

hey all.

i love this computer, so versatile. i was wondering, has anyone gotten DVXA hardware acceleration on the nvidia g210m working (for things like x264/mkv 1080p videos)? if so, what guide did you use?

-Z

 

Just purchased this notebook (ul30vt-a1) two weeks ago and I'm loving it.

But even when I'm on Power Saver mode, my battery life never reaches as high as 8 hours. Right now I'm on P4G Battery Saving, my core speed according to cpu-z is 824 MHz, and my remaining battery is at 6.5 hours (86% left). Is this a bug?

 

Ohhh, alright! Thanks!

 

Where do you get the carbon fiber skin?

 

Right here:
sgpstore

 

Battery time, shown in Windows, is always an estimate. Estimate is calculated by taking few consecutive samples of battery charge. Your problem is with sample time, which is not all that short, so it reflects past state as well as present (which is what we all want anyway), so what you saw, was also affected by past few minutes of your handling with laptop.
You have to note that power usage varies greatly depending on what you do with it (as you probably noticed anyway). That shows even more on our machines because of huge battery and many distinct power saving features (CULV, switchable gfx...)

What's best to do, is just work with it at first, paying a bit of attention on time. That's how you'll get feeling about what to expect under specific circumstances.

 

If you want to extend battery life, turn off all non-essential devices and make sure integrated graphics are specifically selected. I save about an hour of battery life over a 10 hour period just by disabling bluetooth.

 

All you need is Media Player Classic, not perfect but works fine since most codecs are included. Free, search with google or look under free software forum under W7 for other players as well.

 

Yes the battery life will be affected. It's around anywhere from half hour to a full hour of less battery life (from 10ish normal hours of runtime for me). But it's well worth it, adds a lot of class to the laptop =D

 

MPC alone works, but it doesnt use hardware acceleration properly. My CPU is used 20% on average when playing 1080p. I would like to see that drop and utilize those CUDA cores!

 

I'm a fan of asus and this seems like a great portable laptop that packs power.
Does anybody know if this computer is good for university?
I'm headed into my first year of engineering, and there will be some designing courses I have to take.
Basically I'd like to know if the cpu on this thing packs enough power for smooth performance when doing anything a uni student would do in an engineering course.(With some gaming!)
If this is not good for me do you have any suggestions on other asus models?
Thanks!

 

The ul30vt is a great system, and certainly an ideal choice for a student under most circumstances. If your courses involve CAD or 3D modeling of any kind, I would look more toward systems that use an i3 or better CPU and a 300 series GPU...

Newegg.com - SONY VAIO CW Series VPCCW22FX/W NoteBook Intel Core i3 330M(2.13GHz) 14" 4GB Memory DDR3 1066 500GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M

Newegg.com - ASUS U30JC-A1 NoteBook Intel Core i3 350M(2.26GHz) 13.3" 4GB Memory DDR3 1066 320GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce 310M

The 310M GPU is just a 210M renamed for Arrandale laptops, but you asked for a comparable Asus. There are a stable of new Asus products that should launch near the end of the summer, so you may want to wait. At they very least, prices will drop on current tech or you might get lucky with some back to school deals and get something new.

 

Ah, then you should have posted that you want sub 20% CPU utilization, how thoughtless of me

Whatever, a free program is just that. I'm more interested in smooth playback and could care less if I use 40%, but of course, YMMV.

Try here; http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu...-ul30vt-x1-owners-lounge-184.html#post5753726

 

Just got my UL30VT - I'm downloading all the drivers so I can do a clean install of Windows 7, but I've got a question about the audio drivers. There's the Realtek Version V6.0.1.5958 and nVidia HD (High Definition) Audio Driver Version V1.0.9.1 (just released 6/2/2010). Would I want one over the other, or both, or what?

 

Hey guys,

i thought i was crazy when i first got my UL30vt-A1. I could swear my screen flickers. when i say flicker i mean more like switching from cool to warm colors and back again. every time i scroll (basically when the screen changes) i see this change in color. it is very noticeable.

note that this does not happen when i switch to the nvidia card. has anyone been having similar issues? I have been trying to figure it out but have yet to solve the issue.

any suggestions or tips would be much appreciated.

thanks in advance

 

Thanks,

What that said, are there any major differences between the P4G settings and the regular, Power Saver, Balanced, and High Performance settings?

 

Yea, about 6 hours depending on settings, try and see!

 

You want them both depending on what GPU is being used for specific tasks..like nvidia being used to drive HDMI sound.

 

Are you using the driver package from the Asus website. If not, that may be your problem. I had a similar issue when using modified 210M drivers, there didn't seem to be proper support of the integrated graphics.

If you do want to re-install drivers, make sure you uninstall all video drivers first, and then use a registry cleaner like ccleaner or something similar. Uninstalling alone will leave a ton of crap behind.

 

Obviously, no one else is seeing this or there would be multiple complaints? Anyone else?

Since you have asked this question before I have to ask, as vig1lant3, are you using stock drivers? Have you adjusted any settings, added any software and has this happened from day 1? Are you using normal screen resolution?

There was an Intel video driver update, found after clean install, but I don't recall any problems on the stock as built system.

 

I knew that I saw exact same question few days ago. You actually got answer back then:

Try this first and then we can move on with troubleshooting. If you can't access intel's control you'll have to install drivers first -.-

 

Has anyone tried undervolting the processor with CPUgenie? There's an option to bypass the voltage lock so you can undervolt it further. How low can you go?

 

Good one Wisse..I missed that post.

So, I switched to the battery saving mode and.. nope, all works fine. No color changes or flashing when scrolling.

I was curious as I normally run in planet killing performance mode

 

Well, when I run in Slo-mo using the Power4Gear, the 7300 drops to 823 Mhz @.875v.

Me big chicken but would love to see this thing run at 1900Mhz or higher at or near the same iceberg temps and voltages.

I'm going to be doing clean install on new Momentus X drive so will be tied up for a while.

Anyone else?

 

Has anyone tried one of these ?

SGP Wristrest for ASUS UL30A

are they any good? or even useful ?

 

The long CPUgenie test found my cpu stable at the idle voltage even with a 50% overclock to 1950mhz! I'll do more demanding cpu +gpu full load tests later, but for now my system has run flawless all day at those settings.

The speeds aren't showing up correctly in CPUgenie because of Turbo33. 600 = 900, 1200 = 1800, and 1300 = 1950


Undervolting the cpu at that speed removed 6.8w DC at full load. Going from 1733mhz to 1950mhz used 2.1w DC under load. 1733mh @ .900 volts saved 5.2w DC over 1733mhz @ 1.038v, which amounts to a 19.5% entire system load savings. ThrottleStop can be used to set lower voltages for free btw.

Unfortunately, the memory's tight CL7 timings has limited me from pushing the cpu to 2ghz. MemSet won't change the CAS timing so I don't know what to do aside from finding 1333mhz ram with higher latency JDEC 533 timings. That seems doubtful though.

I'm very pleased overall with this laptops versatility and capabilities.

 

I am quite impressed by the power savings from under-volting the CPU, it seems to make a greater difference than I had assumed. I wonder, does it make any appreciable difference in battery life though?

Also, thanks for posting your results here Romir.

 

Not so much in Batt Saver mode but at 1950mHz this looks awesome at .900V.

This will increase the performance setting runtime and not strain your Air conditioner.

+1

 

I thought I'd let anyone interested in the Momentus XT drive that mine came in. I ran some quick noise vs vibration checks and a quick smart check. I'm busy tonight so thought I would just clone my recent clean install.

While I expect nowhere near the all around SSD goodness, I could care less unless I get a big raise I do not want to use two drives on my flights so just want the space for all my junk in the trunk.

The clone should be around 7-9 hours so I'll get to check thing tomorrow.

 

I doubt that the RAM is the limiting factor, more than likely any stability issues could be attributed to the low voltage. The reason I say this is because I had this system over 2Ghz with a 4GB matched set of 1333 that ran 6-6-6-18. Using the stock RAM, I've had the system up to 2170Mhz before I run into errors. Even if you get a set of 1333 CL9, the timings will drop because it will run @ 1066.

Either way, you shouldn't be running into any issues getting to 2Ghz. I understand that all systems OC to different degrees, but 200Mhz is a large gap to explain away unless you attribute it to the voltage.

 

Do you have any read/write stats? Is it 7200 RPM?

 

Can you try unlocking the lower voltages in cpugenie as well? There's an option in cpugenie to let cpu operate below 0.9v.

 

Yes, 7200rpm. I'll get to play and run test tomorrow cloning on USB is S-L-O-W. One guy just suggested I run it over eSata

 

yes. much more comfortable than resting on plastic.

 

i have had my ul30vt since december and the lack of asus support for this laptop has been disheartening
right now, the bios has bugs where the screen brightness cannot be changed after a sleep and the battery percentage numbers are all over the place (sometimes 0% when i know its around 70% and sometimes 100% when i have been using it for hours)
i am running the latest bios (210), but its a joke that bugs like these exist

also, i can understand asus not updating the graphics drivers as fast as nvidia makes them, but they should at least get some drivers out that enable cuda/opencl and flash 10.1 video acceleration. not having a single graphics update since september of last year is ridiculous.

ok, enough venting. i am just frustrated that a company like asus would allow what seems like a very popular product to be so poorly supported.

 

Andrew,
Not knowing what state your system is in leaves all guessing where to start to help you.

Yep, there are a few bugs but your welcome to spend a whole lot more for the perfect machine.

Let me guess, you have completed a fresh install? Were these problems the same before the install?

Now, Asus will help you. Do a full restore back to as built. This is to rule out any user install errors and what Asus will have you do. BTW, which version of the driver DVD do you have?

Make a list of problems you find after re-install. If any driver updates do not help, then it's time to RMA laptop back to Asus for repair or exchange. Lots of patience help in these cases so don't give up.

 

i definitely plan on getting these wrist rests as well, not just for comfort, but so that there is a clear distinction between the rest area and the touchpad; i'm thinking it will help to reduce the accidental touches, have you noticed that yourself?

 

2ghz @ 1.038v errors in Prime95 large in under a minute and Linx in 7m. Prime95 small ffts lasts even longer, maybe because it only uses 15mb or memory instead of 1.6gb and 3gb respectively.

The errors happen at the same time with .9v too, which is why I suspect the memory or the chipset. The cpu seems capable of more considering it can handle a 50% overclock at 87% of the stock voltage.

Someday when I'm bored enough I'll test each ram stick individually. Right now I'm just happy to approach the performance of my last laptop with three times the battery life. Plus while having the option to run it with netbook idle power levels for even more battery life.

Nope, no luck. Still locked at the low .9v VID.

I do like the manual clock modulation in ThrottleStop. Running with the .5x multiplier is hilarious. The DC power draw (measured by the Performance Monitor power counter) doesn't change much for those ultra low speeds though.

It could be worse, USB 1.1 worse @ 1.5 MB/s!

 

yep I have.. which is also a +1

I got them mainly for my backlit keyboard mod so it would add a little thickness so the slightly thicker keyboard wouldn't scratch up against the screen.

 

So how bad is it, would you say that you shouldn't change to this keyboard unless you get something like these pads, or else your screen WILL get scratched?

 

Sorry if this has been asked before, but I am incredibly lazy.

I just got my UL30VT-A1 today (and I love it to death). I was wondering what programs, if any, I should keep? I can still reformat or whatever, but seeing as how this has no optical drive, I don't really want to go through and get an installation copy of Windows 7. Any help would be appreciated!

 

Momentus XT, 2.5" 7200 RPM with 4GB of SLC NAND

OK, 8 hours of USB cloning complete, she’s up and fast. Some apps open twice as fast.
So I’m going to keep it, ymmv.

The bench was performed on a cloned drive @70% full. 1st run. Note that the 4G cache may or may not affect synthetic bench marks..

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0 x64 (C) 2007-2010 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : Crystal Dew World
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 94.339 MB/s
Sequential Write : 89.775 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 28.394 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 35.042 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 0.298 MB/s [ 72.7 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 0.724 MB/s [ 176.9 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 0.733 MB/s [ 178.8 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 0.676 MB/s [ 165.0 IOPS]

Test : 1000 MB [C: 67.5% (314.2/465.7 GB)] (x1)
Date : 2010/06/08 10:36:05
OS : Windows 7 Home Premium Edition [6.1 Build 7600] (x64)