Sunny's G51VX-RX05 Review

i'm interested in getting fallout 3 soonish... (or maybe wait until goty edition). there's no demo for it as far as i can tell, so does fallout 3 run well on max settings (what fps are you getting)? i was afraid the cpu might bring down the performance a bit. are you overclocking?

 

My CPU is overclocked to 2.25, not that much actually. GPU is stock

I haven't checked the frame rates but after about oh 15 hours of gaming, I haven't seen any lag at all and I've been in some pretty intensive firefights. It would probably be safe to say that you can run everything at ultra-high and never experience any lag at all.

 

alright thanks a lot, man. that's good to know. i'll probably be overclocking to the same eventually... once i get a cooler.

 

I'm not liking how TF2 can't play this at full...
I had to turn off AA and shadows to get 40fps in firefights...

 

I just got the g51 and was wondering does the touchpad light up like the g50 when you turn the touchpad off and on?

 

i read up on TF2 and apparently it only utilizes a single core.. so the cpu won't even reach the recommended requirements. maybe read up on this http://www.gamers-underground.com/f...unlock-dual-core-support-doubles-tf2-fps.html

also, i'm playing fear combat and i'm only getting around 40-55 fps. what's the deal with that? shouldn't i be in the 100's?

@bobby, no the touchpad does not light up. at least, mine doesn't..

 

Your temps are all right, mine are similar (look for pic in signature). The thing is, that score seems to be kinda low, my CPU is only at 2.25Ghz and my GPU is stock and I get 9752 which is basically the same as yours except you have an OCed GPU. If I OCed my GPU like yours, I would most likely be getting 10,000 or something like that...

 

One quick observation I made today is that the exhaust venting area on the side of the G51 is actually larger than what is provided for on the G71.

I currently have both BB models (G51 & G71) and I am in the process of doing a complete side by side as thorough as I can comparison.


Also another thing albeit something some may consider minor is the AC power adapter ends. The G51 uses a 90 degree elbow (I like) while the G71 uses a straight adapter end into the back of the laptop.

 

I was at BB today and notice the different prices. Maybe lowered for when the G60 becomes available? It may take that $1049 or $1099 slot between the $999 G51 and the $1199 G71.

 

How odd. Maybe Rivatuner isn't all it's cracked up to be. I'll try nVidia tools.

EDIT: Well, blow that. When I accepted the end user agreement in nTune, I got a blue screen and my computer rebooted. Rivatuner it is, then.

Tev, what drivers are you using?

 

Dox 185.85, but I would think that it shouldn't make too much difference.

 

Boooo, and yeah I was getting 40-60fps in FEAR combat as well.. i didn't know what was up with that.. Maybe the program limits its FPS???

 

Still.

Interesting new test. (No screenshot as of right now). I upped my overclock ceiling in RivaTuner, allowming me to use the standard clocks of the 260m; 550/1375/950.

I got a +4 point rating. I also jumped up to 88C.

My computer's all funky, man.

 

I read some articles about the G60, but never knew that BB would have one. Anyone know if bestbuy will have a G60 to sell sometime soon?

 

Ok like I had posted previously, since I now currently own both, I'm not sure where I should technically post my comments.

I will start with most folks concerns "the heat"

I am still in the process of installing some games so I have not had a chance to do any stress tests. I installed CUPID HW MONITOR on both machines.

The G71 was the rock. Over the two hours I had it idling the temps didn't move but a few degrees. The CPU ran a steady 34-35 on both cores. The GPU held steady at 58-59 and the HDD ranged between 33-35 all at idle or with very limited stress (internet browsing, you tube).

Now the G51 was a totally different beast. Like most anticipated the temps were higher but not always. The CPU ran between 44-53 on both cores. The GPU bounced around going as high as 79 but the lowest between the two with a 54. The HDD ranged between 33-35, again all at idle or with very limited stress.

One thing I did notice on the G51 as opposed to the G71 was that the fan would shut down from time to time. This of course is when the temps would hit their highest. This was in direct contrast to the G71 as the fan never seemed to shut off and ran constant but quiet. Also regarding the G51 the CPU/GPU temps seemed to drop when I used the Power4Gear OC'ing set to "extreme turbo" I would say on average 3-4 degrees. Now this might be because the fan's settings are tied to the OC settings so it increases the fan speed or time running so the temps go down. Dunno others try it out and see what you get for results.

Also the strength of the air that gets blown out of the G71 is much stronger than the G51. Not sure again if this is because the G71s vent cover is smaller so its more concentrated or if the fan just runs at a faster speed than the G51 as it has a larger vent opening.

I think the G51 has room to grow from a cooling perspective just in the way the fan is controlled; and if it ran as often as the G71 thereshould be noticeable differences. I mean the G71s GPU never dropped below 58 @idle with the fan on constant while the G51 hit a low of 54.

***Both machines are set up in my basement (about 72 degrees F) on a cool countertop with enough space between them not to recycle each others heat.

 

well, i read up on FEAR as well. apparently, if you go to the device manager, and disable one or two "HID-compliant devices", your fps should increase by a large amount. i'm now in the 90-100s. when i disabled one of the devices, i went to 60-80 fps, disabled another and ^^ yeah. :/ weird huh? if only disabling these devices gave me an extra 20fps in other games too.

edit: yeah, warhammer, the fan in the g51 is apparently a little slow to respond. while idle, i think i've had it reach the mid 80's before the fan realized what the hell was going on.

 

You can download SpeedFan freeware prog. and try to speed up your fan.That may solve the overheating problem

 

Ok just a few more observations having a few hours on each under my belt.

Sometimes I just don't understand ASUS. I swear that their design team throws out a bunch of features they would like to have on their next laptops writes them on post-it notes and moves them from one side to another (each side representing a G51 or the G71). Unfortunately this seems to lead to oddities of features with little to no symmetry as they struggle to ensure that no one product has too many features as compared to the other. A case in point.

The 90 degree end on the power adapter, a feature I typically think is a great thing and a good way to avoid damage to the laptop by keeping the plugs in tight. I thought when I first saw it for the G51 it was a great thing.....well its turned bittersweet. If your AC outlet is too the left of the G51 you're good. However where I set up the laptop the AC outlet is on the right, and what happens to be right next to the AC in of the G51? The dang Ethernet plug (I mean right next to it) so basically that 90 degree plug is now more of a annoyance than a boon. A straight plug would have been better for the G51 given the location of the ethernet adapter. The G71 could have taken full advantage of the 90 degree end however it came with a straight plug

Next would be the touchpads. Here again I am confused. The G71's touchpad is surrounded by a ring of blue light, but the G51 has no lights. Its almost comical looking at both with the lights down because you again have to wonder.....Ok here we have the G51 with a backlighted keyboard all "look at me" but then the touchpad is all dark. One would almost think that the touchpad bulb is out. Then you look over at the G71 and can't help but notice this annoyingly bright blue ring floating among a sea of relative darkness. This just does not fit each other right. I have not played around with seeing if you can turn off the touchpad on the G71, but I assume that you can, regardless it just seems out of place on the G71 and a missing feature of the backlighted G51.


Now to expand on the whole backlighted keyboard (G51) vs. not (G71). I must say I was one of those that thought the feature was way cool. I loved messing around with it at BB. Odd thing is after playing with it at home I really don't see the benefit. First both screens have sufficient lumens to provide more than enough ambient light to allow someone to see the various keys (if they need to). Second, I don't think I have looked at the keyboard since my high school typing class (yes I'm older). So here is a feature that I know is there but I have trained myself through hours of using a keyboard to avoid looking at. Really isn’t it the goal to learn the keyboard so that we don’t stare at it. I mean hell, ASUS might as well included a deployable stylus that one could substitute for a pencil for typing with. Really after a few hours a typical computer user might find that the lights are actually more of a distraction (reflecting up onto the screen during darker scenes in games or general use) and realize the keyboard is more of a novelty than a necessity for successful typing. The G71 provided more than enough ambient light on the keyboard to assist a user who might need to recover their bearing.

 

Judging by your benchmarks (Sunny) the performance is not that much better than the G50 (even less than what I get on the stock GPU and CPU freq.), so I don't see the point to upgrade now only for backlight.

 

I would have to say if the only reason that you would upgrade is for the backlight do not do it.

I was very much 100% taken by the cool factor and it was one of the reasons for buying the G51 (already have a new G71). I wanted to see if it was "all that". Well at least for me its not. After the novelty of it wore off I found myself actually more annoyed with it than WOW'd by it.

I mean really the screen sits right on top of the keyboard and provides more than enough light for the typically computer keyboard operator. This is not like a desktop where your keyboard is further away and doesn't take full advantage and you may like to have just a little light for those times where you need to regain your bearings on the keyboard.

Seriously outside a few times where you will turn it on to get a raise out of your friends I would guess you might regret potentially passing over a different model or feature on a different model for it.

I no longer consider the backlight a feature with much weight. Yes maybe between two machines priced exactly the same with the exact same CPU/GPU/RAM/Screen etc but other than that it just doesn't hold that much weight after having played with it.

 

Just a quick update... I had to disable my start-up task that OC'd the G51VX "automatically" as I was getting random restarts (I think it was a conflict with something else ASUS has starting up, probably Power4Gear (it tries to reset the system clock depending on power profile)). I now have two buttons on my RainMeter layout that OC the computer for games and un-OC for regular use. Also, tweaked the 260M clocks again as Burnout Paradise and Sims 3 BSoD on nVidia dll errors. I will post a review on my experience with the machine (with stock Vista install) soon (tm).

 

Hey guys my hard drive/processor is making a notable clicking scratching sound after i start the laptop up is this normal?

 

Well Sunny was kind enough to provide a picture of the serial # for the new KB, so if any one is amazed by the backlight can go ahead and get it separately for their G50, but I am probably not going to. Another thing they really should have changed the design for 51 and keep the same old one from G50, probably that is one of the issues with the temp's people are getting. The only thing I would do with mine in a short future is to upgead to 260m or 280m (if can fit, but it should being mxm 3) and than see what would be the temperature difference.

 

Picking one of these up tomorrow and i have some questions.

1) How easy is it to upgrade the CPU? Can I just drop one in or do I need to take out the motherboard and screws, and apply paste and all that? What tools would I need?

2) Should I even upgrade the cpu? How would it effect blu ray play back/ gaming? Say I spend $200 on a new CPU where would that get me in terms of overall power and FPS in games.

3) Can I install a blu ray drive in this laptop? If so where can I get one for under $100.

4) Have the heating issues been resolved?

5) How does gaming performance compare to the gateway p7811? I mean this is a gtx 260 so should it not be a lot better? Also should I just get the G71?

 

On the 1) I can say it is super easy but Arctic Silver paste is a mast, u just need a small Philips sd.
on 2) If you can, it is always good, I defiantly would. Than again is it worth ed spending the extra money - pleasure have no price.
on 5) I am not convinced that 260m is better than 9800gs/gts, from what I have seen here in the owners benchmarks.

 

1/2) Haven't done it but from what I understand, it should be pretty easy. It would improve gaming alot, but it is hardly critical right now. I would probably wait at least after the warranty goes out since it'll probably void it.

3) You should be able to. The reseller versions offer blu ray. Dunno where you can get it.

4) There is no "issue," the computer just runs hotter than others. Doesn't seem to be a major issue.

5) Gaming performance, I guess, should be about the same. The biggest difference is the size. Get the G51 instead of the G71 or the Gateway if you don't want a large 17 laptop.

 

@Lethal Lottery

I should be getting my G51 at the end of the week, as well as a T9800 CPU that I got from eBay. I think that the performance should see a noticeable increase. I will let you know how easy it is to perform the swap. Can't wait to get my hand on this awesome laptop!

 

@xcskiier23

Well if you decide on upgrading the processor please let us know how it goes and how it improves the performance, I am also considering swapping the processor for the T9800.

Thanks

 

http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/14/microsoft-confirms-windows-7-rc-upgrade-rules/

 

super great review my god only 999.99$ dude thats a steal love the white on the new asus hopefully i get hired and save enough money to grab one of these puppies.....

 

@renegg

I will more than likely be doing a review of the G51 with the stock CPU as well as the T9800, so I'll let you know all about it! Just got shipping details from BB, should be here Thursday!

 

Concerning the warranty, I understand that the ASUS G51 comes with 1 year manufacturer's warranty. However is it domestic or international? I live in Thailand and is about to visit Hawaii next week. I try to check with my local ASUS branch but they need me to provide them with the Serial number of the model which currently I don't have one. Does anybody have any idea whether it's international warranty or not? If not, is it possible to choose to elect international warranty at Best Buy (and pay extra for it) upon the date of purchase?

 

I'm starting to wonder what is wrong with my laptop.

I installed Dox 185.85, and overclocked my CPU only to about where Tev had his.

And I got about 8850 marks. What the hell. Nearly a thousand points difference between mine and his.



I'm wondering if I installed the drivers right. I uninstalled the current drivers. I rebooted into safemode. I used Driversweeper to remove all nVidia display files. I installed Dox 185.85 while still in safe mode. I restart back into normal mode and install PhysX. Right?

 

CoderJ how do you set up the commands for the OC buttons on Rainmeter?

 

What's the screen res of your 8850 marks, 1280x768? Not to be rude but man, that's pretty lame for ur laptop model, you should at least be getting 9.5k with a few OC. My G50Vt-X5 has 9.46k 3dMark06, all stock hardware (but after flashing to GTS that is). But still..

You might get a few pointers from this thread right here

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=357807

The folks with G71 on the other forum gets 10.9k after a few OC by the way

 

My 8850 was with Dox 185.85, without any OC. With overclocked CPU I'm jumping past the 9500 mark. With overclocked CPU and GPU I'm hitting almost 9800.

The thing with 3DMark06 is that it's heavily CPU dependent. That's why the G71 folks, who have the exact same vidcard, score much higher. The P8700 way outclasses the T7350 in this guy.

The thing I don't get is why Tev's computer outclasses mine by such a wide margin. I get about 9770 give-or-take with CPU upped to 2.255 GHz and GPU clocking in at 550/1100/300. Tev gets 9760-something, with the exact same drivers, only overclocking the CPU.

It's maddening.

 

You could have something running in the background while 3dMark is going on. Maybe Tev has an Ace up his sleeve he is keeping from us?

 

It is pretty wierd, I installed my Dox drivers just like you did. Uninstall, safe mode, driversweeper, install, reboot.

The only other thing I did was to undervolt, but that shouldn't affect benchmarks at all. Maybe my resolution is lower or something like that, I'll double check tonight, but I'm pretty sure its at 1280x768 too.

 

I haven't try 2.25, but the highest score I have is 9443 with turbo extreme on which is 2.15 in my G51, and DOX driver in Quality with some tweaks. I should say I saw a huge improvement in the score with turbo extreme on, before I was getting 8800, 8900 at most. I will try latter to see if I can get to the 9750 mark overclocking to 2.25.

 

Just got this Asus G51vx-Rx05 from Best buy! I am an old G50vt early adopter, and so far i like the new design and the back lit keyboard and LED screen.

What I am still concerned a bit is the temps. I read that they were high and so far, the readings are indeed high while I don't notice anything weird to the touch.

My web browsing temps are

Core 1- 57°C
Core 2- 60°C

GPU 65°C

I am going to test some games, but well I can see the GPU is a good 8C hotter than my OC 9800M GS, so that is expected with the extra power, but the CPU is basically at my max temp of my P8400.

Are these temps normal, along with everybody elses? if so, i won't worry anymore. I will probably buy a cooler though.

 

Please do.

I ran a test using your CPU clock and res at 1024x768, and got 9938. Still don't know what's going on.

 

Well, I did run it at 1280x768. Who knows, maybe mine is just doing better than normal or something like that.

 

just got some update and now my fan is running at full blast and hasn't stopped for 20 min..

windows update...

 

really? what did the update say? or was it automatic?

 

That is strange, I made a clean install yesterday to erase the Express Gate hidden partition and today I updated everything that windows update had in the list and no problems.

 

Renegg I noticed your 3DMArk score is 9443. Is that with or without any overclocks?

 

Made a skin as follows...

Code:

[Rainmeter]
Author=CoderJCronin

;---- Button ---

[OC]
Meter=BUTTON
ButtonImage=OC.png
ButtonCommand=(!Execute ["C:\SetFSB\OC.bat"])
X=10
Y=10

OC.png is a three-frame image (in my case, a black and white 50px square gear, with colors inverting to show click; RainMeter will automatically determine the Height and Width) located in the skin directory. OC.bat is...

Code:

@C:\SetFSB\setfsb.exe -w0 -s250 -q

This works with UAC off, not sure about with it on (if RainMeter is run with admin priv, should allow SetFSB to run or at the very least pop-up a permission window).

Also, my button command may be off... I just made an example, my actual script is quite messy.

 

Well, after some gaming with crysis I like the performance increase even if its just a bit. The game maintains all high with consistent 25-30fps, making it very playable and fluid so far.

The temps are quite high though. They are nothing new, as most have experienced them, but having a GPU at 102°C is a bit worrying haha. The CPU was at 77°C which again is high but I have seen higher, so I am not that worried.

Everyone has been gaming with these temps without issues? I think I might buy a cooler for the extended periods of time gaming.

 

Forge my 3dmark score is with dox drivers and turbo extreme which is I think 2.15...... cpuz gives tonz of decimals. That's it, I haven't overclock my CPU to 2.25, I will give it a try latter and report what the score is.

 

ryzeki I have very similar temps, the whole afternoon I been playing COD 4, most wanted and medal of honor, and the highest GPU temp was 91 and my CPU 75, I think we should consider also the fact of room temperature, I don't know where in Mexico you live, but here in Monterrey temps get high, I been testing in different rooms with different temps and I see some huge differences.