C90 Upgrades?

Hi new here and just got a couple of questions.

#1: What exactly would you upgrade the cpu to? From what I understand Intel is moving to a 45nm process which means the C90 mobo won't be able to use any of the new cpus. Doesn't that mean as far as cpu upgrades go, this generation is the dead end? Please clear up this part for me if I'm wrong...

#2: In the next 3 years can we expect games to recommend over 3gb of ram? I kinda want to use this thing for a long time

#3: Kinda same as #1, what can we expect in gpu grades? From what I understand more powerful = more power consumed. Can we expect nvidia's next gen gpus to be compatible with the C90?

Again please correct me if I'm wrong.. Thanks!

 

1. I do not believe they will work but do not quote me on this.

2. Yes, games are already recommending 2gb of RAM and certain games have been doing so for over a year.

3. Depends on what Asus wants to do and where they want to go with the upgrade ability of the C90.

 

yep no new genreation CPU are expected on the C90 though the C2D desktop processor currently on will be hard to bottleneck.

Ram well if you want ot use more that 3Gb of ram then youll need a 64 bit os which isnt the greatest for games either... so 3gb its pretty much the top anyway.

Gpu its too hard to predict so its a risk i guess, though its a very powerful card for a 15inch system

 

Microsoft said Vienna (between 2009 and 2013) will be 32bit mainstream so 3GB will be the max games will be targeting until the next one comes.

The heat is also a problem for the GPU, that's why there is no high-end graphics card in 15''. The Geforce 9 are supposed to be 45nm so heat iwll be less a problem. A 9600GT is a realistic card that people are hoping for.

 

Yeah there will for sure be a 9000 series card I think, and with a die shrink + the advances intech it could be nearly 2x stronger than the current card allowing a considerable upgrade for MUCH cheaper than a new notebook. The rest of the core system is a great baseline like the keyboard and screen, and the cpu is way ahead of its time in power for notebooks. The next gen of notebook cpus will probably be able to tie its power, however they will cost like 700$ probably while a e6600 doing just shy of 2.93ghz for this will only be in the ballpark of 200$

There are even optical drive upgrade out there, that I think cost too much now, but will definitly go down in price as time goes by. Both Bluray and HDDVD are avalible for the c90

 

My E4500 scores as much as a T7500 in 3dmark06. Same speed, same bus, the T7500 has 2x the cache!

 

Isn't 3dmark a benchmark for gpus not cpus?

 

cache has very little effect on anything period tho, even cpu tasks. It helps in cpu benchmarks tho like sandar or super pi.

 

Even in games? I remember seeing the E6300 @ 3.3 scoring less than the X6800 in-games FPS

 

Another question (don't really want to make another topic). How stable are C90's? The Asus forum is filled with threads with people asking for help with the C90s and its kinda got me worried lol...

 

People always say when they have problems, but not when everything is ok.

if 1million units were out there and 300 of them have problems you will find 300 post about the problems and 5 about how perfect it is.

Keep that in mind. It definitly CAN have some issues but if you know what those are and make sure you go thru a good e-tailor you should be ok.

 

Mine's wicked stable, only 1 BSOD due to two programs trying to use Webcam at the same time. My heat issue has been resolved and for a self build I couldn't be happier. I've had several desktops give me more of a headache than my c90.

I also think there are several people asking for help on these forums that in my honest opinion probably shouldn't have bought a whitebook style notebook. That and several of their problems had been address several times over again in other posts.

People need to learn to use the search option.

 

My sound cuts out and I have to restart if I close the lid an open it back up and I can't run it on battery power. Maybe I'm just really unlucky.

 

@Kiliap: What Viscious and Hollywood said.

pat_thetic: Closing the lid and having to restart due to a freeze up is not the C90's fault. I had that problem on my Acer with Vista, and it turned out to be Catalyst Control Center. What happens when you try to run it on Battery? I can run on battery no problem. Have you done a clean install of the audio drivers from the Asus site? You could have a hardware issue which is just back luck. You may need an RMA.

 

With the proper ram and drivers the c90 is stable.
People on other brand systems (desktop or notebook) also have problems
with Vista drivers.
Of course, only a few will post when they don't have issues...

Btw, mine C90 for sale $1,300 w/XP MCE and Vista Premium (both 32bit)
Stats are in my sig.

 

Hahaha thanks guys that really puts some of fears to rest