*Official ASUS W90Vp Owners' Lounge*

what up partner in crime! it's been a while.

 

Same.

This was on the radar for a hot minute, but that M98 looks bangin'.

It will end up coming down to:

W90 (If and when the MSRP goes to $1999, this thing is some serious BftB)
M98 (Dual GTX280's....still waiting to see what the OC status is)
D900 (i7 is nice, but a single card GPU is a potential issue)

and there's the issues:

if/when the 4870's w/ GDDR5 actually appear
Driver stability

 

well, kind of why i said it should say 945B because 4870 would be 945A
and that clearly says 4870x2

 

@john
Not really I suppose, as it is two separate Board of Mobility 4870 with Crossfire enabled, again another speculation

 

yeah...actually trying to clear that speculation up
4870x2= two gpus on one board = 945b
4870= 1 board per gpu = 945a
technically speaking...don't know what ati had in mind though

 

Does anybody know if the Asus warranty is transferable, I'm thinking about selling mine.

 

Also did anybody else notice in that BIOS video the 2nd 4870 was running at 71C, in the BIOS? That's really bad.

 

Sure running at 71C? Becoz I suppose only running one GPU on start up, and temperature all on Idle, suppose...

 

maybe M98XT driver on clevo site could help...
ftp://ftp.clevo.com.tw/M57xTU/VGA/M98XT.zip

 

that's an xp driver..
most people are running vista 32/64 win7 beta

although i did dig this out of there though.
"ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4870" = ati2mtag_M9x, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_945A&SUBSYS_04811558

 

Ah ok..so you already did it from that archive..

 

just checked it right now...i was going to see about editing it, but seen it was xp...but did get another piece of the id string puzzle though. thanks!

 

I really wanted this Lappy ..even hoping for a fix before it was made availaable in the UK.

Well ... there's no fix and the UK resellers have started to advertise them

Here's the UK spec's and price:

ASUS W90VP-UZ023J

SpecificationCPU
Processor Intel Core 2 Duo ( T9550 ) 2.66 GHz
CPU Bus Speed 1066 MHz
Motherboard
Chipset Intel X38 Express
Memory
Memory (Maximum) 6144 MB ( 6144 MB) 800 MHz DDR2
Memory Slot 3 x SODIMM
Storage
Hard Disk 640 GB ( 2 x 320 GB) 5400 RPM Serial ATA Hard Drive
Optical Drive
Optical Drive Type BD (Blu-ray)
Input
Keyboard 19mm full size 88 Key with MS Windows function keys
Pointing Device Touchpad
Fingerprint Reader Yes
Display
Monitor 18.4 ins LCD (Colour Shine) WUXGA Colours
Display Resolution Dot Pitch 1920 x 1080 Pixels
Sound
Speakers Built-in Speaker
Interfaces/Ports
VGA Port 1 x 15-pin D-Sub
HDMI Port 1 x HDMI
RJ-45 Ports 1 x RJ-45
USB Ports 4 x USB 2.0
IEEE 1394 (Firewire) Port 1 x IEEE 1394
Microphone In Port 1 x Microphone In Jack
Headphone Ports 1 x Headphone Port
eSATA Port 1 x eSATA Connector
Media Adaptor
Removable Flash Memory Media 8-in-1 Card Reader
Number of Card Slots 1
MultiMedia Card Supported
Sony Memory Stick Supported (MS Pro compatible)
Secure Digital Supported
xD-Picture Card Supported
Network (Wired)
Network Interface Ethernet 10/100/1000 Mbps Integrated
Network (Wireless)
RF Network Standard IEEE 802.11 b/g/n
Wireless Communications
Bluetooth Yes
Bluetooth Version Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
Bluetooth Range (Max) 10 m
Modem
Modem 56 Kbps V.92 56 Kbps ( )
Video Card
Graphics Device ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4870 with 1024 MB Dedicated
Camera
Webcam Integrated
Camera Resolution 2.0 Megapixels
System
Software Included Norton Internet Security 2008, Adobe Acrobat Reader 8.0, NERO 8 Essentials, Power2Go, ASUS AI Touch Media
Security ASUS Security Protect Manager
Operating System Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate Edition
System Requirements
Operating Systems Supported Microsoft Windows Vista Capable
Electrical
Battery ( 12 Cells)
Power Supply AC Power Adaptor
Voltage/Power/Frequency 100 to 240 VAC / / 50 to 60 Hz
Physical
Form Factor Notebook
In The Box W90VP Notebook, Optical Mouse, Carrying bag
Dimensions 44.3 cm(W) x 32.8 cm(D) x 6.3 cm(H) - Weight 5.2 kg

£2049.60 (£2357.04 Inc VAT)

2,358.00 GBP = 3,323.37 USD
United Kingdom Pounds United States Dollars
1 GBP = 1.40940 USD 1 USD = 0.709520 GBP

Compared to the X1 this one has a slower cpu and hard drives but for the extra money we're expected to pay for it we do get a Blueray drive.

Also not sure if we only get a single HD 4870 card and not 2 in crossfire?

Well.. who cares, i'm no longer intetested and will now take my custom elsewhere.

 

It is. Make sure you keep your receipt. The warranty begins on purchase date if I recall correctly, and if you don't have the receipt, they consider the date of manufacture as the first date. Also fill out the Accidental damage card if you haven't.

 

So with that information, and also if you notice the official website for this laptop in the specs show only one card...

http://usa.asus.com/products.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=2712&l1=5&l2=61&l3=899&l4=0

I am assuming that either...
1. The newer models will not have crossfire built in, but with a possibility that a user can add one if willing to.
2.You can choose to have your laptop in crossfire, or with only one card.

I am interested in this laptop, but I personally like staying away for cross fire, and sli, it's to much of a hassle. So it seems like a waste to buy this, and pay for 2 video cards when chances are I will get fed up and disable one.

So I am hoping that either option 1 or 2 come into play, but does anyone else know more about this?

 

If you're not interested in the Crossfire I'd got for a MSI GT725 with a 4850 or a 17" ASUS K with a 4860.

The GT725 should perform about as well as...and the ASUS K with a 4860 (if ASUS uses GDDR5) should perform better than...the W90 running only one card.

 

... That UK config is really expensive...

Consider the US A1 model with Blu-ray costs only about $2400, £2357.04 Inc VAT is really alot to pay.

At least ought to be thankful they didn't decide on a 18.6 inch WSXGA version for UK.

 

thanks alot
i play alot of older games, as well as a few apps for work that DO NOT work under vista so i just run xp.

 

I would expect 11-12K stock from a single 4870 w/GDDR5 running a [email protected] and 13-14K overclocked.

RK computers have got a MSI GT725 scoring 12743 3dMarks running a single 4850 on an overclocked [email protected]:

http://www.rkcomputer.net/rkcforum/viewtopic.php?t=1760

 

The problem is I am also looking for something reasonably cheap, with 2 or more hard drives, and the 18 inch screen is nice too (17 inch is ok, but no smaller). Also I am going wait a while till I buy from Nvidia due to recent events.
So really the only 2 laptops I really am looking into are this, and the M980NU.

 

Let's wait for Mr. 4860 to be put to the test before we put the crown on his head.

 

Have you the W90?? do they work?
I don't remember wich versions are..

 

Did anyone see if MSI had a working 64bit driver for the 4850 ? if not i would have been tempted to toss vista 32 on for the time being and trying there drivers for giggles just to see if it would work .

 

For anyone that cares, they're both reported as 945A, and the BIOS date is 10/24/08. They both use 1.1 volts at 3D clocks and 1.0 at 2D clocks. The vendor is reported as Asus, not ATI like any other ATI card I've ever seen. The master card's BIOS size is 62 kB, while the slave's is 43 kB. There isn't a way to control the fan settings, which might be done by the motherboard BIOS.

 

Well I just got off the phone with Asus and spoke to a man who was personally involved with the w90, not sure if it was J.J. He did confirm this issue was sent overseas for a solution but he has not heard back from them yet. Additionally, he told me he will be receiving a test unit tomorrow after which they will do extensive testing. He mentioned they are looking into the graphics drivers, the preloaded os image, and any possible hardware issues. I was told to call back wednesday when more information should be available. It's good to know that the american tech. support will be testing a unit of their own, as they probably can work faster and more efficiently as opposed to waiting on overseas support. Hopefully a solution can be found now that they have a w90 in front of them instead of working through customers. I'd advise every owner to call on wednesday asking for an update and to express your interest in a speedy solution. If your agent is not knowledgeable on this issue (like all the one's I've spoken to in the past), ask to be transferred to someone who does, they're out there.

 

any way you can read the whole id string from the bios??

 

they worked but i had do manual install. the ati installer says no compatible hardware bla bla but just using the windows driver installer works great.
still no crossfire though

 

Date: 10/24/08,12:26:
Reported Chip: M98
Hardware String: 945A.11.09.0.0.AS01M (945A.11.09.0.0.AS01S for the slave card)
BIOS Version: ATOMBIOSBK-ATI VER011.009.000.000.000000
Vendor: 0x1043 (Asus)
Video Card: Unknown (There is no hex string)

 

what program are you using?
and can you get it to show you your device id anything like this...it shows the whole string....

this is for a first gen 9800m gtx board

 

that 1043 number is already different from the one they now use as 1002

"ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2" = ati2mtag_R7X, PCI\VEN_ 1002&DEV_9441
"ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4870 X2" = ati2mtag_M9x, PCI\VEN_ 1002&DEV_945A&SUBSYS_027E1043

 

Yeah, I know. That's why I made the comment earlier. I think Asus screwed the pooch. Even on their desktop cards, they don't put themselves as the vendor. Someone could go changing the ID and probably get the drivers to install correctly, but I'm tired of messing with this thing. Gonna put it up for sale.

 

That is a pretty epic letter you have there striker and hopefully it does not fall on deaf ears or you just get another canned response of "we are aware of the problems and are working on it and are sorry for your inconvenience".

Even after seeing all these problems i still want one maybe im a glutton for punishment, but i still dont see any models that offer this much stuff for the price, especially Dual GPU's,18.4 inch screen.

im praying for you guys they get this sorted fast but sadly the corporate wheels usually turn very slow and for the record i love asus and there motherboard is whats holding my i7 inplace .

 

.....this is what we go through when we become the manufactures test dummys.... we can either help the community or send it back... really no in between...unfortunately

 

Driver INF files must match the hardware ID of the BIOS, otherwise the drivers don't work properly/at all. That's the reason people were editing the INF of the 9.2's. However it seems Asus marked the BIOS of the cards as Asus, not ATI. This would be the reasoning they have to use a custom driver. Generally, all ATI partners mark their BIOS as an ATI part, not the name of their company. Hope that makes sense. In otherwords, in the first screenshot, you should see 0x1002 (which is ATI) under the vendor name, not 0x1043 (for Asus).

 

Has anybody successfully RMA'ed one for a working model? Like, are the ones you get back working fine?

 

It is pretty dumb they mark there card ASUS for whatever reason, but i guess since they designed the card themselves from scratch they chose that path.

Question though since they are ASUS cards instead of ATI cards how far has the desktop sector got with modding there own drivers with the newest released drivers ? or did they just flash an ATI bios on there card and call it a day ?.

 

It wouldn't be a bad idea to spread around info of the issues to other review sites and try to get the power of bad press behind you.

I'd also suggest trying to get confirmation directly from AMD/ATI on what design specifications there are for a Mobility 4870 that separates it from a Mobility 4850. If you can get AMD/ATI to say a 4870 is supposed use GDDR5 you'd have grounds to ask for a refund due to false advertising.

 

Striker, I would bring it up. The only reason I can see that they would mark it Asus is if they have strayed from the reference design, which would cause issues with the ATI reference drivers. We know that GDDR3 is acceptable by ATI on the 4870's, so I wonder if they changed something else. Theoretically, you could edit the BIOS to show an ATI part and install the 9.2's, but I've decided to sell the laptop and end experimentation. I have not had any problems with it, once I did my own install from the Vista disc. However, it's more of a toy that I don't absolutely need. I also have an MSI MS-1722 that I built that is more portable.

 

Do you have a reference to where ATI has directly said this?


The ATI website lists the specs for the 4850 and 4870 collectively as the 4800 series and the language is unclear.

 

Good work Striker, you really put the pressure on. Unfortunately, I feel that a responder to that email would not be qualified or high enough to answer some of those questions. I hope though it gets forwarded to someone with influence over the operations at Asus. I too am interested in receiving a refund from Asus if they cannot deliver, considering newegg will not.

The main issue I hope your email addresses is the timeframe. It's been more than two weeks, I cannot sit here forever (figurative) waiting for Asus to slowly fix the problem. They need to commit to a DATE, not this "oh, it could take at least 7 days, maybe 14." That timeframe means nothing to me, and obviously, they have no problem letting it slip week after week. But still, the most shocking thing of all is just...well, how hard could this possibly be?! They're a computer manufacturer, figure it out already! That's what you're supposed to do! That's what I paid you to do!

 

yep. there are a few inconsistency there.
that part where it says 1043, click that drop down menu and see what it says for 1002.

 

Well I meant I hope they provide a specific answer to a timeframe, since you asked about it. That's the main piece of info I'm looking for now. I guess that bit was too vague.

 

uhm.. lemme fix the drivers for you. Someone please post a download link to the Asus provided driver? I'll download and review it, then make a modded driver which will install flawlessly. I've had a little practice with modding the ATI drivers for the OCZ Whitebook. Anyhow, someone please post a link and I'll promptly mod it.

 

well thank you mr E!

 

Could start by writing an NBR user review with details about the issues and submitting it to the mods. They've been know to post a few user reviews as news articles on the main page and I doubt they'd mind you telling about any bad experiences so long as it's not just a rant.


Yup I noticed the questions from our discussions and I hope they lead you owners to some answers and fixes. Like I said in PMs though I don't expect ASUS to incriminate themselves or else they'd have to give you your money back.

I won't be satisfied with the GDDR3 vs. GDDR5 debate until I see a detailed specs chart from AMD/ATI like they have on their website for the 4830/4860. And I won't ever be satisfied with anything from Notebookcheck

 

Question about X-fire

Just got done with about 3 hours on Warhammer again and the default 4870 was running at 60 degrees while the other card registered just 48. Is it normal for there to be such a disparity between the temps of the two cards? Or does it depend on how much the program in this case Warhammer online uses the second card?

Thanks

 

Ya warhammer some games just wont make full use of both cards . For nvidia they have a program that runs in the background and it puts a large bar on your screen to see how much of SLI is being used but im not so sure ATI has anything like that ?.

 

My cards idle at 46, so that might help you judge. That second card is definitely not working in the game. Whether that's because of the drivers or because of the game, I don't know.