N56vz review and owners lounge - Techno Art

I've tried two distros so far. Sabayon (based on Gentoo) - everything works, wifi, etc. - except the backlit keyboard and the fn-keys. Right-click on the trackpad is gone (but two-finger tap works). Fuduntu (fork off Fedora 14, but well maintained with stable updates. Keeps gnome 2, instead of going with "Unity" and gnome 3) - exactly the same.

It's because the backlit keyboard and the fn-keys work on a high-level interface, instead of being controllable form the hardware layer.. There is work being done on getting the wmi-based interfaces working (for the rog laptops and the eeepcs - same problem.. since Asus won't document what the functions are, or provide a software layer of some sort) and the modules merged with the main kernel, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Ubuntu may or may not include some of these modules, and there is a ppa with scripts and kernel patches to get the actual interface to respond. So you might have better luck with that, but haven't tested it (and never will).

Proprietary nvidia drivers are are available for both these distros in the package well, with scripts and so on. But I'd recommend waiting until the driver from last week is included, since it specifically includes support for the 650m..). Bumblebee (to get optimus working) is available in the Sabayon package script base.

Other quirks -- Fuduntu w/jupiter gives you reasonably good cpu-scaling. Sabayon should be smooth sailing for setting things up initially, and since it's based on Gentoo, you can customize everything, including the sabayon layer manager, after that if you want to.

So - everything should work reasonably well out of the box for any distro, except the fn-keys and backlit keyboard. But they may work with the right kernel-patches and some voodoo-customisation.

 

Great! That's exactly the post I was looking for. I really appreciate it. Thanks!

If you're looking for a great temperature/system monitoring program I'd suggest AIDA64 Extreme Edition. I bought it, but I'm sure you can find it online somewhere. Below is a pic. It's made by the same people who made Everest (discontinued now). I think these temps and readings are much more accurate than HWmonitor, Coretemp, Speedfan, etc..



I have icons in the taskbar as well for my temps. Green is video related, blue is CPU related, yellow is the hard drive, the purple is the fan speed (1,800 RPM), and the light blue is the CPU clock.

 

This computer looks great. Slap in a SSD and it should be perfect for the overall machine.

Norwegian review.

 

It really is. If you can't afford a SSD then grab a solid state hybrid drive such as the Seagate Momentus XT 500GB/700GB.

I have a quick question - I added a 2GB stick to my laptop and it doesn't seem like it wants to turbo boost up to 3.2 anymore, but only 3.1. Can anyone tell me why?



I've tried all power plans and so forth.

 

I think that it's normal. CPU boost to 3,3 only if one core is in use, if all the four are being used at the same time, then the maximum is 3,1.

 

I changed the number of threads to test to 1 and it is still only boosting to 3.1. I remember running tests before and getting the CPU to 3.2, but it doesn't seem like it wants to do that anymore. This CPU is only designed to boost to 3.2, not 3.3.

Here's a couple of CPU-Z screenshots with the RAM I put in:
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These are the specs of the stock RAM in slot 1:
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These are the specs of the 2GB stick I put in:
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Think this could have any effect on my boost only to 3.1? Thanks!

EDIT: It seems like if I leave the test running long enough it will jump to 3.2 occasionally, but it's mainly capped at 3.1. I know it's not a big deal, but I'm just trying to figure out why exactly.

EDIT2: I ran SuperPI and that makes the processor mainly stay at 3.1, but it will jump to 3.2 more. Say, every 2-3 seconds it will go from 3.1 to 3.2 but only stay there for a second and then go back to 3.1. Weird.. I'm sure it's normal, but still. I just want the full 3.2 most of the time, not 3.1.

SOLVED



EDIT3: I set the affinity for my benchmark program to only use core 0 and the clock is running just fine as of now. Turns out the processor was doing exactly what it was designed to do - spread the load out throughout all cores. It's just that the program still used several cores while benchmarking until I manually set the affinity in task manager.

For anyone wondering - I ran the benchmark once with all cores enabled, and the clock was between 3.1-3.2. I then set the affinity of the program to use only one core so the processor only ran at 3.3 the entire time and got WORSE results even with a faster clock on one core and only one core. Just an observation. Your processor knows what it's doing so leave it alone haha.

 

Hi, is this laptop suitable for portability? I know its not exactly lightweight but I love the specifications and design and was wondering whether, as an university student, it would have sufficient weight to carry this laptop around.

 

Most definitely. It's very portable.

 

By the way, @ LulzChicken and nipsen:

Can you confirm that there is a high frequency noise out of the power supply when the laptop is fully charged and in standby mode?

 

Sad. I was really only interested in it for the bling. I may just end up with a System 76 machine *sigh*.

Thanks for the input!

 

I have played with the N56VZ in-store, and it has become my favorite notebook of 2012 (behind the Retina MacBook Pro, which is about $1000 outside of my budget).

What worries me are the high temperatures reported by Notebookcheck during intense load. Contrary to what they say, I thought the mouse was okay, but I plan on using an external mouse anyway.

I think I will wait until Black Friday or Cyber Monday to pick one up.

 

@hodor: Um.. well, I don't have either low or high pitched noise.. at least..

Good one. Trust notebookcheck to come up with something like that in a review for the laptop with the best cooling system I've ever seen.. that also happens to be the most silent..

Actually, I think the high point in the review was when they insisted the n56vm was more powerful than the n56vz because of the processor. That's.. really perceptive..

They could at least have suggested something like that the i5 version that might turn up with higher boost speed and a serviceable graphics card, is going to have higher performance in games that rely on single-core performance.. or something.

 

I can't confirm that there is a high frequency noise coming out from the power supply because I simply haven't ever heard it. If you can hear it, then you must have super hearing. I'm 20 and can't notice anything. The power brick is under my desk. It's really not an issue, purchase away! I love this machine!

It's a great notebook, and heat honestly isn't that much of an "issue". The system runs extremely cool, is EXTREMELY quiet, and everything I'd look for in a laptop. I'm very happy with my machine. With high performance comes high temperatures. Ivy bridge runs hotter than other i-series processor Intel has come out with during intense load. It's expected. They raised the TJ Max temp to 105c for the Ivy bridge processors. Why? Because they expected it to run hotter than Sandy or the first generation i-series, which it does. With more power, comes more heat. Keep your machine clean and everything will run within spec, no worries!

I do, however, wish that someone can figure out how to take this thing apart enough to where I can access the heatsink/fan just in case I want to give it a super cleaning one day and reapply the thermal paste at some point down the road. As of now, I don't see any issues and the fan/cooling is exceptional. It all depends upon your ambient temperature. That's probably the biggest determining factor in how cool/hot your laptop's going to run. I don't see any other way to clean the fan/heatsink of this thing besides getting a can of compressed air and blowing it on the side vent and the vent on the underside of the laptop where the air intake is.

 

They did say the laptop was very silent. I am inclined to believe them about the temperatures... to make such a thin laptop remain cool during extreme load is almost unimaginable.

Err... are you talking about the part when they were talking about CPU throttling, or the part when they were talking about playing games at the lowest resolutions? They know and said the 650M is much better at rendering graphics at medium and above settings.

The review says the N56VZ runs very cool while idle. While good, I am more curious to know about how the laptop runs when under heavy load. Maybe someone could do their own test with a laser thermometer and verify the results. They did say they tested in an ambient temperature of 25.5 degrees Celsius, but I figure those conditions would have at most a minor effect on the temperature readings.

No, I don't work at NotebookCheck, even though I am defending them. I think they put a lot of effort into their reviews, and the best way to disprove them is to show some contradictory evidence. The reason I am being so damn annoying is because I want to buy the N56VZ when the price drops further.

 

If you want to see some temperature readings check out this video around 19:10. Sure, it's the N76VZ I believe, but it should give you some reference.
ASUS N76 Video Review by XOTIC PC - YouTube

 

Errr.....actually the "new" of Ivy Bridge was not the more computation power (only 10-15% more than Sandy) but the less Thermal Power emitted. Message was: this time i don't give you more and more computation power but now you can pack our beast into slim notebook, no more heat issues.

 

...I guess so.

My problem with the review is that they know on beforehand that no stock setup is supposed to "default" into running the processor at 100 degrees at load. It's obviously not working the way it's supposed to. And my test, supranium in the links, gentech, literally everyone else .. even Hardware.no (and that's saying something - they're completely clueless), have numbers to prove this is not how the thing is set up. Which would have been absurd - an i7 setup that doesn't cool the processor, but miraculously cools the gpu with no effort.. I mean, ? It'd be a recall - can't have a system like that.

And then when the processor then runs too hot, it obviously does throttle, and they insist that this is how the system runs by default. Going: aha, this system has /throttling issues/. They really should know that's not the case - and they must know the i7s all only have full boost on one core at the time, before it's dynamically throttled down because of either heat (like with their test) or load-balancing (like with every other test ever done on any intel multicore) - but they write that this particular model has throttling issues anyway.

And then even go and say that the other identical n56 model (in terms of heatsink setup) suddenly doesn't have heat issues. I mean, two plus two is...? One and a half, I guess?

Why, I don't know - notebookcheck usually does a good job.

 

Read over these:
Why is Ivy Bridge so hot and bothered? - The Tech Report
Ivy Bridge Temperatures – It’s Gettin’ Hot in Here | Overclockers
Intel's Ivy Bridge Chips Appear to Run Hotter Than Sandy Bridge Chips When Overclocked | PCWorld (I know it says when overclocked, but read the article)

A comment by TurtlePerson 2 stated:

Either way, it's not terrible in my opinion. If it's going to break the laptop purchasing decision for you then so be it - but I see where you're coming from.

 

The thing, though, is that on these laptops we're talking about clock-speeds a bit below the point where you would see any actual difference between ivy and sandy bridge processors.. Besides, they're both a lot warmer than any random a8 clocked at the same speeds on all cores, for example.

So you would need more cooling than "average" on either Ivy or Sandy and Bendy and Creepy or whatever...

 

3.2 because you said that it is 3.2? it's 3,3..."The Intel Core i7-3610QM is a fast quad-core processor for laptops based on the Ivy Bridge architecture. Due to Hyperthreading, the four cores can handle up to eight threads in parallel leading to better utilization of the CPU. Each core offers a base speed of 2.3 GHz but can dynamically increase clock rates with Turbo Boost up to 3.1 GHz (for 4 active cores), 3.2 GHz (for 2 active cores) and 3.3 GHz (for 1 active core)"
Read: Intel Core i7 3610QM Notebook Processor - Notebookcheck.net Tech

It is a well-know fact that ivy runs hootter than sandy, and it's more difficult(requires more skills) to do a good overclock with ivy than with sandy.

 

My apologizies JXulo! I overlooked that and didn't do my research very well it seems. I always saw the clock at 3.2 max. Thanks for clearing that up for me, I learned something new today that I should have definitely already known.

 

Same here. Thanks a lot. Made some of the data make a lot more sense all of a sudden.

.. funny thing. Makes you appreciate what AMD did with their core construction as well. That their "piledriver" cores allows running all cores at normal speeds with much lower power consumption. Or that the power-draw stays the same with increased load. ..

 

Sorry for demi-OT but then i don't find the reason to buy an IvyBridge machine at the moment. Am i missing something ?

 

No. It's mostly a gimmick, buffed up to impossible sizes by easily impressed reviewers and hardware geeks. Basically, you shouldn't buy a very power-hungry processor like this for office-tasks anyway. And the intel hd4000 card isn't fast enough for gaming in general, nor supported well enough to actually work as a "low res" 3d gaming platform for the most part.

The support for earlier shader models is also more than good enough on the earlier chips to support older games as well, so the actual use for this kind of thing is.. questionable, to put it lightly.

So there's nothing with the chip itself either that will give you any clear benefits from a performance perspective over the previous chip. In practice, however, you won't actually get any new and updated laptops with the older sandy bridge chipsets, along with newer nvidia kepler cards, for example, to save costs. Or, say, get new chipsets with the older processor - simply because that's not how intel does business. It's not the same socket, and the extra features with the way the bridge works, etc., wouldn't work.

So no, you haven't missed anything at all.

 

I'm going to buy the S4035V flavour of N56VZ but i need some info. Sorry for the very silly questions but i was away from PC world since 5 years and a lot of things changed.

I wish to buy a Samsung SSD 256GB and put it where's now the 7200rpm HD. Then i want to move the HD to where's CD-ROM reader now. Finally i want to buy a 2x8GB ram modules in order to have a 16GB machine (i will use it for virtualization).

Is Ok connector of 256GB SSD with connector of Asus ? Are the same of the HD ?
I should buy a caddy for the HD move ? Which type of caddy (dimension, connectors, etc ) ?
Which kind of memory i should buy ? I see a lot of memory tipes on market.
In N56vz package do i find a separate CD with only windows operative system or do i find only a restore cd? In the last case, there's a way to create a windows installation CD by packaging installed files as it happened with Windows XP (the i386 folders, you know) ?

Thanks a lot!

 

Right. You've missed about 450 different sockets, then

..I think the sata-controller has two channels that both support sata 600. But I haven't tested using an ssd in it myself, so I don't know. There might be bios tweaks done to the second channel with time-outs as well that /could/ cause problems (that has happened before on other laptops). But sandra at least reports that there are two channels on the same controller. So it's likely it will work well - and I'm pretty sure the n56 setup controls the time-outs with software via the dvd-rom drivers, instead of hardware calls to the controller. You would need a 12.7mm caddy without it's own extra "combined" pata/sata module on the connector. It's the same as this Simple how-to Asus N53 adding 2nd HDD using DVD Drive Bay - YouTube , except the screw is on the underside of the chassis, instead of under the keyboard. Worst case, the second hdd runs at sata150 and is turned off at the controller, invalidating any paths and so on. But like I said, I don't know.

Memory.. two matched ddr3 PC3-12800 rated so-dimm 204 pin. That's what is in there now, anyway. ..anyone know if buying something with higher and tighter timing would actually work..? I'd kind of like to get something that would be locked on lower voltage for example on the lower timing, if that was possible.. (..since we're locked out of the bios, I mean).

There's no windows dvd in the package. Maybe you can get asus to send you one, if you ask nicely. But there are a lot of places you can download an iso from. There's a page on this forum http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...-digitalriver-windows-7-sp1-13-languages.html

Not sure about slipstreams in win7. It's supposedly better supported now with win7 than it was with xp. But I always felt more secure when I had to mallet windows into doing things with brute force.. *cough*. Welcome to RT Se7en Lite - Slipstream Service Pack,Integrate Updates,Integrate Drivers,Integrate LP,Remove Components,Enable or Disable features,Unattended Setup,Apply Tweaks,Add Icons,Wallpapers,Themes,Bootable USB or DVD and sfxmaker is probably a good bet.

 

thanks for your kindly answers. I have to admit that i'm in hurry because in 20 hours a "free shipping offers" will end on an online market

What i miss is the meaning of the number after sata and the thing about timeout . I thought there were sata, sata2, sata3, msata and stop Also i did not knew that a sata-controlloer could have more channels...or at least i don't remember it anymore I think i will make some googling about the topic to full understand that part of answer.

thanks again

 

on xotic pc you can opt for a sandy i7 and shave 80 dollars off your order.

 

Neat. Hopefully no unforseen problems come along with that because of the locked bios-settings asus uses..

Pata - Parallel Ata/IDE.
Sata 1 - SATA 1.5Gbit/s.. which really doesn't mean much either, since the practical speed is 150Mb/s. But the signaling speeds are 1.5Gbit/s.
Sata 2 - Sata 3Gbit/s
Sata 3 - Sata 6Gbit/s
mSata is the smaller slot connector.

And sata has 1 device per channel. Newer controllers now finally are up to the same consistent standard as scsi was in 1995 or so...

(By the way - I don't know if any of those problems will turn up.)

edit: Found a amibcp version that let me open the 204 bios - no worries about timeouts or lower sata speeds. It's set to auto, and the hardware switches are disabled. So all green on the second ssd in the optical drive slot.

Don't know about the ram yet. Seems that it might be locked somehow to the highest frequency state. Best guess is that they've overridden one significant variable, and left the rest. So the default ram-timing on some of the chips might fail because of that.. Which could explain why some chips randomly work while others apparently don't..

 

Hi,
I just bought a new n56vz and its great. Only problem is that the palm rest next to the trackpad gets warm on normal use (even warmer on heavier use)...

Also i have deleted the windows that comes with the laptop and installed my own version and updated the drivers from the asus website..

anyone know what the reason for this might be? and should i call customer service to check with them?

ps
i am asking this due to the fact that in all of the reviews and internet reviews it was said that the chasis should not get warm.

 

Yeah, doesn't seem right. There's very little space to go on, and the aluminium soaks heat instantly.. So if there's a cable or something leading heat into the chassis, it's going to get warm very quickly. Ram-module resting into the wrong edge, that kind of thing..

 

so i should call the asus service and ask for a replacement or for a repair?

 

If it's more than slightly warmer than your hand - imo, yes.

 

Check your temperatures with a program like occt and put here. It's easier to help.

 

what test should i run and for how long?

 

Heat shouldnt be an issue as most are saying. Ive been trying to push this one to its limit through various tests, and no time could i feel the heat on the left side. Hopefully u got a defect one and will get replaced.

On another note, u all figured out all these "holes" are fake and just textured on there right? Except for the actual circular shaped speaker outs. Cheap trick? Anyways the sound delivers above expectation results so ama overlook that one.

Now for my three questions i didnt really get a reply on previously:

1. A simple guide on updating to bios 204 please, i guess inside the bios bootup screen? Anything i should keep in mind?

2. The above is to hopefully get more constant effective overclocking on one core. Flight simulator x does not run on two cores even after sp2 dont believe the hype. Single core speed is still what matters. Btw no trick to go beyond 3.3ghz i suppose?

3. Really dislike having to hold down fn key for controlling volume etc meaning two hands are necessary. I hold my baby boy in one hand many times while i wanna lower the volume with one hand. No software allowing u to map single keys? I would want to continue using wmp.

 

actually the left side stays pretty cool but the right side next to the trackpad (between the trackpad and the asus sticker gets pretty warm)..

 

Probably a gap in the "cooling channel" assembly. Get it switched out.

Hehe. Yeah. That's one of two things Asus should be doing right away. Create a user-programmable interface for the shortcut keys. Just a simple menu of some sort. Along with a few gadgets interfacing with the same commands.

For example, right now you can map the "insta-key" to "fade volume". Which triggers some command that the osd/atk package responds to. But there's no way to use that command from elsewhere. Same with for example having home/end/pgup/pgdown on the fn+arrow-keys (habit from the Eeepc keyboards..).

Since it's a programmable interface instead of hardware buttons, they could, you know.. do something like have the volume key or the brightness on fn+trackpad slide. Colour saturation control in x+y.. that kind of thing. Would be easy to port as well, if they just translated the actual keys to the hardware layer.

Second thing is a transparent bios. Seen a few too many very bad decisions from asus on this. That probably is going to cost them money, in damaged laptops, or less customer satisfaction because of lockups and instability. Never mind cause hardware retailers to not sell as much goods, for example ram or sdds. Lots and lots of versions that have a sata3 controller, but have them disabled in the bios. While the ram is locked to a frequency that either is very low, or too high.

Meaning that people will shy away from actually upgrading the laptops later. That should be a selling point, right? It's so easy to make the upgrades, because the panels are easy, and the cooling is insanely good, the hardware is fast, the mainboard is Ivy bridge, it's expensive, etc. But you either won't benefit from upgrades, or the upgrades won't work. So.. you will avoid doing them. Even though we're talking about less than merely "cheap" changes Asus could do here.

Loss-loss situation. Asus can't use the customisability as a strong selling point, and we don't get the best experience. While asus could provide that, basically without increasing the cost for producing the existing package..

..sorry. Rant over..

 

You don't need to do any test, you said that it gets warm only surfing in the web right? So let the program open and check the temperatures time to time. It should be between 35ºC and 40ºC...an if it is the case, so it's normal.
It's really really strange. Everyone here(and myself) feel warm or hot(depend of the sensibility) in the left side, close to the fan and "asdw" keys. The right side it's always cold.

 

It get at least warm on the left side under heavy use, i don't believe that you cannot feel anything next to the fan, everyone feels it . Yes, almost everyone knows that almost all the holes are fake(and this is a good thing!).
1-i whant a guide too please .
2- i agree with you, they should have put another fn button in the right side.

 

You can update the Bios very easily using WinFlash. That is what I used to update the bios on my N56vz. You can download it here if it isn't already pre-installed on your machine:

ASUS - Notebooks- ASUS N56VZ

 

on normal use the temperatures are around 40 and when on max its around 70. the same with my friends asus k53sd laptop. but on his laptop the heat comes out the fan and on my laptop the fan feels like it doesnt pump out any hot air at all and all the heat comes out of the chasis..ive sent the laptop to the repair center (here in israel IBM takes care of ASUS laptops). hopefully they find this defect and i can ask them to replace the laptop for me.

 

will i void the warranty if i swap the optical drive with hdd?

 

Difficult to say. Mr. "Asus Trust&Loyalty Initiative" suggested that you would not receive support if you switched memory chips, if the laptop didn't work afterwards.

But since you're not actually removing any seals, and can do the replacement by removing one phillips screw - it's extremely unlikely that the retailer will insist the warranty is voided afterwards. Or get anywhere by doing that.

Then again - who knows. Asus currently ships the n56vz with ram-timing settings locked to a state that will create much more heat and wear than normal operation should give you. Which potentially could cause software malfunctions that will cost Asus money. Along with effectively prevent you from upgrading the ram.

And they don't seem to have any concern for that, in spite of being asked nicely more than a few times. Suggesting that Asus in general is perhaps so hung up with technicalities that they would pull the "not intended to be used that way" card with the retailers later.

So if you get a faulty laptop for some reason after adding a second hdd in the optical bay with a caddy - you could well end up having problems getting the laptop replaced, if the retailer isn't going to put themselves out for you. I.e., large resellers with lousy service are just going to take your laptop in, and leave you hanging after talking to Asus.

 

Is anyone using this with Ableton Live and/or Native Instruments products? (sorry if someone posted about this before, it's a long thread and I skimmed through it all)

Trying to get a sense of how good this would be as a DAW and if it has low DPC latency.

 

Hardware itself should be more than good enough. But I'm not sure what "good" latency is, if a mixing loop has to go through usb in the first place. Pretty sure firewire and mac is the way to go for that one, since Firewire doesn't have the.. different speeds depending on package sizes, traffic both ways, etc.

Knew a guy who swore to scsi for this kind of thing back in the long-long ago. He didn't know much about computers, but he knew what jitter and variable packet transport sounded like..

 

Just a quick tip: If you're playing a game and you're getting 60+ fps in that game - limit the FPS to 60. If you're cranking out 150 fps or some crap that's unnecessary and un-noticeable to the human eye, however, your temps will be much lower by limiting the frame rate to 60 instead of letting it run wild at 100+ fps or something along those lines. Many Steam/Source games can limit the fps by typing max_fps 60 in the console or by enabling vsync in the video options I do believe. It lowered my temps by 5-6C on load while gaming and it still runs smooth as butter.

 

Pff. What kind of tips is that?! You load up as much detail as you can, until the card screams in pain - then you overclock it until it runs smoothly!

No, good point. Hit the v-sync at 30 in the graphics heavy games, and take off detail until you get minimum frames at 30, for example. Works smoothly, temp drops. I'm wondering if that's how the dynamic overclocking works. The card still reports the same speeds, but that there is something done to make the card hit the v-sync limit. Or, it's reduced very effectively when it does hit the v-sync.. All the kepler cards are supposed to have something like that. But I can't see exactly how it works.

 

Notebook Check has an official review of this laptop up as of July 17. Check it out here:
Review Asus N56VZ-S4044V Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

 

Do you know if the Crucial M4 SSDs are also compatible out-of-the-box with the Asus N56vz, that is, would one not have to change BIOS settings or install spacers like the slim Samsung 830s?

In the quoted Notebookcheck review of the N56vz, they mentioned a rattling sound coming from the laptop and attributed it to poor construction. I also hear this noise and can't seem to find the source of it; anybody else with this problem have any luck?