F3SA-A1 ATI Mobility HD2600 Game and Benchmark

It can't be overclock with ATITool or RivaTuner.
I haven't run 3DMark06 with 7.10, will test it tonight.

 

Wait, You download 7.10 from ATI gaming right? it worked for you? isn't that one for the desktop? Right when i installed it, it made me reboot, but version was stil 8.401 which is the one i got from the asus download center 10/31 latest update for our VGA drivers.

 

Yes that's the desktop driver and it worked, you just need to use Mobility Mod Tool to modify the driver:

http://www.driverheaven.net/modtool/

 

Hmm, did you dl the drivers from asus before you did the 7.10? and Can you Explain please how step by step you did the install, im really confused how and which folder you extract and save the files. thanks so much, by the way i have the F3ka A1 version, which is not intel, got amd, but same VGA anyways. Thanks bro

 

I completely uninstall the stock drivers from Asus and download Catalyst driver from ATI, once you click setup.exe it'll automatically extract drivers to C:\ATI\Support\710XXX

once the driver is extracted you'll need to cancel the installation and begin to modify the drivers, here is the step by step instruction by www.driverheaven.net:

Installation step by step guide

1: Download MSXML 4.0 from Microsoft. Install.

Step 2 is VISTA ONLY

2: Make sure UAC control in Vista is turned off. If you don't know how to do this then read this guide (method 4 is the easiest) or click the "disable UAC" in Mobility Modder.net - please note you MUST reboot after disabling UAC. If you don't want it disabled permanently, you can turn it back on after our mobility tool has finished, but it won't mod the drivers correctly with UAC ON.

3: Download the newest desktop drivers from www.ati.com (or get them from Driver Heaven Downloads). If you are using Windows XP make sure to download .net framework from Microsoft (this is built into Windows Vista so there is no need to install it).

4: Run the downloaded driver, let it extract into c:/ATI/SUPPORT - but cancel the installation once the driver is extracted.

5: Run Mobility Modder - browse to the driver in C:ATI/SUPPORT/ - an example of Catalyst 7.4 would be C:\ATI\SUPPORT\7-4_vista32_dd_ccc_enu_44985 - hit modify. Wait until driver is modified.

6: In Vista, go to C:\ATI\SUPPORT\7-4_vista32_dd_ccc_enu_44985 (Or whatever the driver installation folder was called), and run the SETUP.EXE. Please note you might see a "Driver is not WHQL certified", ignore this, as it is a side effect of the modification.

7: Wait until Install is finished and reboot. Enjoy the new drivers !

 

Hows The performance? any heat problems or black screens n such?

edit, Hmm i just got done Downloading the driver 7.10 32 bit fromdriver heaven not ati, is that fine? now im down with the mod tool too, ill post asap when i get it done. ahh

 

Wait, how did you uninstall the stock ones? sorry i just dont want to **** up again, from device manager?

 

Download direct from ATI, I was having problem with 7.10 32bit driver from driversheaven because the one they have is corrupted.

I had problems with stock driver and 7.09 on some games, no problem at all with 7.10.

You can uninstall stock drivers from device manager.

 

OMG!!! i rebooted right after the modification!!! AHH!!!! now what!! i tought it was done!! :[

 

It says that after the modification, run teh Setup.exe there is no setup.exe so i ran the ati setup. omg i wish it will install correctly.

 

setup.exe is in C:\ATI\SUPPORT\710xxxxxxxxx\Driver\setup.exe

 

Thanks so much for the help man. This forums helped me out so much brotha. I just got done rebooting my laptop, and there it is version 8.421.aka 7.10 catalyst for mobility. Right out of the box the version of my card was 8.381. updated to 10/31 update from asus which was 8.401. still gave some problems and compatibilities. Now to 8.421(7.10 catalyst) Nice clean install. for vista tho if UAC is on, i did not install the driver correctly, lol s2pid me, well then i just followed what was supposed to be followed. DONE

 

Hey Ken, Did you get those 7.10 benchmarks yet pretty excited to see them, and yes Crysis is so playable with this 7.10catalyst, no crashes no nothing. For some reason, My guildwars FPS is like 200 + lol

 

Yes I'll do that next.
I was having problem playing Crysis with stock driver and 7.09, it will play for a while and computer will freeze, no problems at all with 7.10 and better FPS.

 

Have you Tried Over Clocking with AMD GPU Clock tool ? this thing is insane.
Hmm i downloaded that AMD GPU Clock tool, How do you use this for overclocking? it says Engine :499.50 Memmory Clock:396.00, But how come when i check the box that says Show Current Clocks. it reads Engine:109.68 Memmory Clock:252.00 ???? WHY so low, Can some1 Correct me, im confused what is this suppose to say.

 

Unless you're running a game or something, the card automatically downclocks into 2d mode, that's why the current clocks are low while you're on the desktop.

 

When i click the link, it shows nothing but a $3000 price tag, can you check that out?

I really want this laptop, just want to make sure i can get a 9 cell.

And Ken, you said you can't overclock the GPU? (i never OC'd so dont know anything about it)

Is downclocking possible? for both CPU and GPU to save battery life?

 

Both XP and Vista downlock it to pretty low clocks under power saving mode

 

i see, i thought i would be able to get more batt life if i down clocked it myself

why is so hard to find a descent laptop with a over 3 hours life at a good price

 

I tried ATI Tool but not able to overclock, I’ll try AMD GOU Clock Tool next time.

The 9 cell battery never make it to North America, 6 cell battery part #90-NI11B1000 is the only battery for F3 series.

 

Hey Ken would you have the part number for the 9 cell? is it available in asia?
It would be freaking awesome if you could! And i m definitelly getting F3SA then.

Also, instead of OCing, do you know if theres a program i can use to under clock the cpu and gpu while on batt to extend the life?

also i email both you and kattie at gentech but got failed delivery notice

Thanks lots

 

I got one last thing I would like to know about this laptop

Anybody got any info on its screen? ie Refresh rate( any lags during games?)
is it bright enough? I head that there were some issues with the V2S models (not sure)

 

*See my responce to you question here, http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=2695853#post2695853.

 

yep just did thanx lots

 

Hmm 7.11 Catalyst Came out, so Quick, geeze

 

As a new F3SA owner, I have a question. Is there any reason to do this as opposed to using the drivers you can apparantly download from this URL I came across on another forum:

http://ati.amd.com/online/mobilecatalyst/

? Clicking the URL starts a download, and I now have a 7-11-mobile_xp32_dd_ccc_enu_54438.exe file downloaded from ATI.

Edit: Nevermind, I see those are XP drivers.

 

9 cell battery for all F3 series 90-NI11B2000 and it's now available in USA.

You can use Power4Gear to lower CPU performance when it's in battery life, you can set different CPU speed for each mode.

For GPU, I remember ATI Catalyst has the Power Play option to do that.

 

Thanks Ken, thats great news!!! with a 9 cell this thing is a killer

Oh btw I just got mine today!!!!!!

Now ken, i know you just gave a description above on how to tune this laptop, now do you know any link in the forum where it shows me how to do a full all tuning for this laptop so i can squeeze all the performance it has? I mean including all the OC for cpu and gpu. That being said, I haven't done any of this before. The description you described above is clear, but is there anything else i can do or install to make this system bullet prof?

Which asus drivers do i need to uninstall? Seems like it comes with bunch of junk installed already. How do i strip it down to a clean and simple? What are the "junks" that this system come with?
Which new ones i need?
Which apps i need to be able to OC?
And all the 3d marks and pc marks tests?

I really want to be able to do a full review on this system and post it here, I almost feel i owe it to forum, with all the tips i got so far!!!

Thanx lots

BTW whats UAC?? i never used vista before lol

 

WTH, this thing is actually 2 X 80 gigs? or its a 160gig partitioned?
lol , why would they even do that?

 

First and the most important is uninstall stock ATI driver and download Catalyst from ATI, game runs very slow with stock driver.

Catalyst 7.11 is the latest which I haven't got a chance to try it yet, must be better than 7.10:

http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx?p=vista32/common-vista32

You'll need the Mobility Mod tool to mod the driver before you can install, you can download Mod Tool here with instructions:

http://www.driverheaven.net/

If you want to do a clean installation of Vista without factory installed junk softwares you can use Asus recovery DVD to recovery Windows, it'll also give you the option to recovery Windows to entire HD with just one partition instead of 2 80GB partition. When the first part of recovery is done it'll eject the recovery DVD and ask you to insert the driver disk, you can shut down the computer without insert the driver disk, boot to Windows and you'll have a clean installation of Windows without any softwares and drivers. You can now insert the drivers CD and choose only to install drivers.

 

Wow Ken, you are awsome. Thanx lots for the tips.

I did the catalyst driver instalation, and found out about the required mod the hard way(trying it 100X lol). But not its working. I will try doing the recovery disk sometime this weekend.
Meanwhile i got 3 other questions, 1 of which is a problem:

1. I got a 22 inch Viewsonic screen with an ipod dock. Resolution of 1680X1050. Problem is while using DVI, the max resolution i can get on it is 1440X900, which is horrible because everything looks blury, since its not at its native. The option of 1680X1050 is simply just not there undering DISPLAY PROPERTIES in vista.
However when I switch the conection to analog, the resolutio of 1680X1050 can be achieved! WTH, any ideas?

2. It takes forever for the laptop to shut down/ reboot! I am talking bout 5+ minutes!!!! I have installed extra gig to the total of 2gigs RAM, why is still so slow?

3. If i use the recovery disk(just the first one with clean vista), does that include all the drivers and essential apps like the finger print reader and tools for the web can? Or is it 100% clean as if i installed vista myself?

Thanks alot ken,
learned so much from you already!!lol

 

2: Try install Northon or any other unnecessary programs you don't need, or maybe uninstall Turbo Memory might help.

3: You can do clean install of Windows Vista even with recovery DVD, just shutdown the computer when it ask you insert the drivers CD, reboot the computer and you'll have a clean installation of Windows vista, go ahead insert the drivers CD and now you'll have the choice to choose what you want to install, the drivers CD has all the drivers you need.


And tootall4wsu, 9 cell battery test per your request:

F3SA-A1
9 cell battery on battery saving mode, ATI PowerPlay on battery saving mode.
T7500
1GB DDR2 667
160GB 5400rpm SATA
Wifi/Bluetooth on

Programs open during test:
Word, Excel, MSN Messenger, IE7 on Youtube.com,

Battery life 2 hours and 47 minutes

 

Holly smokes! It's not a myth, the 9 cell for this thing does exist!!!
Asked every vendor in vancouver, all of them said they can order it, but none of them were sure if it was gonna work..
Thanks Ken!!
I will try out the recovery disk. and see if it improves anything.
Meanwhile 2 questions:
1 do you have the part number for the battery?
2 have you tried to conect the laptop to a 22 inch 1680X1050 using a dvi? If it worked, can u tell me witch catalyst version it is?
Thanks alot!

 

9 cell battery for all F3 series 90-NI11B2000
This is from Ken's earlier post...

 

Ya i realize that, and i was also getting confused with the A33-F3 thats on te battery. I guess will just send Ken's picture in along with the oder just to be sure.

What about the monitor any ideas?

 

So all in all... How is this as an semi-cheaper alternative to the G1S-A1?

 

If you are tying to do what I am doing, which is pretty reasonable i believe, then its a WORLD OF PAIN IN YOUR AS*!
read my other thread here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=2767857

 

As a gaming computer it's not bad, but there are better alternatives, depending on your needs.

 

Just did the Catalyst 7.12 with the mod tool and it works great. Thanks so much for the info. Does this add quality or FPS to the experience?

 

I am sure as the new drivers rool out, fps and collor is supose to improve.
But i believe there has been any bench mark comparison amongst different version of the same driver yet.

 

looking the fraps tests in the first post I believe you need a best setup for your video card, or maybe it have some problem.

It is the COD 4 in my mobile HD2300 DDR2 128m and pentium dual core t2080
(My notebook is light years form yours, much less CPU and GPU power, 115Mil. of transsistors from hd2300 vs 390 Milions transistors from Hd2600 mobile)



[]'s

 

did u do the same settings as him ?