Problems with c90?

Hi all i'm looking into a asus c90 but a couple of my friends have said its full of problems.

1. Incompatible memory
2. over heats
3. turbo gear wont work
4. 90c+ for gaming
5. you can upgrade the graphics card, but nothing to upgrade it to

>.> i thought this would be a good computer since it would be nice to make upgrades as the years go on but is it really worth buying at this point?

 

well there is a link further down stating potential problems, but i can try to answer some of these
1. i believe this is solved with matching sticks
2. shouldnt in theory.. notebook pad would help
5. mxm2 slot... only cards available are the 8500gt and the 8600gt right now... but future cards should become available

 

1.- well, there are plenty of memories out there and ASUS just said they have tested few. The bad reading of the memory clock is because something else already explained by Vicious
2.- Mine doesnt over heat so far. The prolem is that I was not accustomed to this high temperature
3.- Turbo doesnt work in XP but it should work in VIsta with the right memory & temperatures
4.- As long you GPU doesnt hit 100 oC you are fine gaming on that temperature
5.- No yet but since they have released some ATI drivers this could mean that a new card is coming out

SO far, for me it is a BIG YES. I have DUal Boot (works really good on Linux) so I can do my work on Linux and playing games on XP

 

The incompatible memory issue will most likely be resolved in the next BIOS release, nevertheless you can have your vendor test the memory beforehand so that should not be an issue. Also the Turbo Gear issue is due for a BIOS fix as well. The laptop does get a bit toasty but what can you expect from a desktop processor and a high performance GPU?

 

Well 90c+ seems pretty high to me or is that just normal for this laptop? That much heat seems like it would make the laptop burn out a lot sooner than others. Also mxm 2 how will that work for upgrades, i thought most of the 17" laptops all used mxm 3-4, so how is that going to work?

 

asus is supposed to be designing cards to fit with mxm2

also i believe that it is supposed to become more popular because it will fit in most laptops and obviously is smaller making it again better for most laptops because it takes up less room

rumored to have a 8800 or 8900 series as a mxm2 card!

 

so would you guys recommend this laptop over say one that has a 7950 gtx and can't be upgraded?

 

i would... dont quite have mine yet... BUT from what i have read this c90s is a beast for the buck

mine should be coming in within the next few days ::knock on wood::

fedex tracking sucks BTW!!!

 

anyone bought a barebone model and bought the cpu and other parts separately?

 

only problem i have is turbo gear gaming mode and thats all. everything else works fine.

 

there is one more question i read earlier that crysis ran on a 8700m gt pretty well can the 8600m gt support it?

 

I believe I am the only one having that problem. Gentech has UPS picking it up tomorrow AM for repair. I think it's the GPU but we'll see.

With BIOS updates and the future GPU upgrades this laptop will only get better.

 

hmm well i guese the problems they had where just typical new model problems.

 

thats what i am doing

had the barebone from excaliberpc.com and the parts from NEWEGG.com

newegg is the best btw!

 

I bought everything but the RAM separately, which is easy to install, but I didn't want to hunt for compatible RAM since gentech was testing the laptops anyway.

 

how does the C90 compare to the G1S performance wise? Just curious, I LOVE my g1S and the look is just perfect for a college student like myself. And the backpack is perfect for me too. Well, it's just perfect all around but out of curiosity, is there anything the C90s has that the G1S doesn't have except for the MXM II graphics interface?

 

The C90 has a better processor since it's built for a desktop. Anything that's processor-intensive will run faster on the c90.

 

better cpu + cheaper... basically right now thats the best thing. Later on if there is an option to upgrade to a better gpu then will most likely surpass the g1s graphics wise

 

easily the best icon on here. lol

 

lol thats why i got it! and after they release a new video card for it i will probably have the fastest laptop at my university!

 

It's still a matter of "if". I'm not terribly confident in Asus's ability to give a hamster's furry butt. It's not like they won't consider ditching the C90S users to motivate us to buy their next barebones.

 

"3.- Turbo doesnt work in XP but it should work in VIsta with the right memory & temperatures"


So i wont be able to Overclock at all if i put XP on it. I thought you could?

 

Nope you can not in most of the cases. I think the only guy that I heard overclocked by turbogear in XP was Swoley2k but Im not sure. ASUS Tech support confirmed me the turbogear incompatibility with XP

 

RGS have you tried it in Vista to see if its your system?

I had turbogear work just fine in XP and I have a tripple boot system so I got to try 3 different OS's

 

I am using Turbo in XP and it seems to be working with my E6600, it hits 2762 under load and 1842 at idle.

 

ASUS Tech support suggested to change the Corsair memory but he also said turbogear was not meant to be for XP but Vista. He also said that I should use original video driver I just wait for furture upgrades such as New video cards and so on so I get the whole new package toguether (new video card, the wireless that got stolen, and new RAM brands) For now, It works fine for what I need and it doesnt overheat as you can see on 3dmark06 test

Uhmm, installing Vista, well I have to buy it but in case I do, wouldnt that mess my other installations?? Usually, you install Vista, XP, and last LINUX, dont you guys??

 

Turbo gear also works for me in XP

 

You have to understand generally when you talk to a tech support person, they dont know jack. You probably know more about the system than they do.

They have cut & paste answers for everything and there first line of defense is to put you on the defense by blaming your setup/software for the problem.

This can include anything from video card drivers, to the operating system in this case. If the Turbo Gear was not meant to be used in XP it shouldnt pop up in the install disk and allow you to install it. The disk will automatically detect if its vista x86 or x64 or XP and install the right drivers... so if it can do that it should give a pop up that says "warning this software is not intended to be used with this operating system" or something along those lines.

 

hahaha. lol.

I completely agree... because I have proof... ( i sent a tech inquiry to ASUS.... ) and they even suspected a virus !!!! causing my c90 to run hot. They didn't even answer my question about the normal temp range for the c90. So most likely, they really dont know jack... haha.

 

I understand Vicious, but you know as I that some software meant to be for Vista can indeed run at some point in XP and that sometimes our own OS configuration could be different to others and you wont get that message of imcompatibility (It is Microsoft for GOD sake and you know what I mean) ABout Tech support, I agree with you at some point. However I have to be fair with ASUS, all my tech inquirement answers were really helpful and so far their answers dont differ much from what is going on with the clients in this forum. ALSO, I consider this forum one of the best for ASUS customers. But indeed, ASUS tech support they even got the bad BIOS problem solved & no vendor here neither outside could help me to solve that issue. They made our product so at some point they sure know something we dont. SO I always advice to have a ballance from their info and ours and that would definitly would let us go through trouble as they appear.

Best regards,

RG

 

Well I received the C90 from Velocity Micro 2 days ago and had nothing but issues with it BSOD's every 10 min or so and as of yesterday it went completely out it would cycle on but nothing would come up (BIOS, or OS). I sent it back yesterday afternoon and they are giving me a full refund for hardware failure. Now this is not really Velocity Micro's fault just my bad luck . Since I was in desperate need for a laptop prior to this Sunday and no one had the C90's in stock, I called up Powernotebooks.com and spoke to Ron who set me up with a G1s-A1 and overnighted it to me. It should be here today hopefully with no issues.

 

Impossible. There is NO way a 8800 or 8900 could only consumes 25W when a 8700 consumes 35W.


Hacksaw: Well, it is VelocityMicro fault for not testing it.

 

Yes there is, because the 8700 and 8600 are built on the 80nm process while cards like the 2600 and possibly the 8800 are on the 65nm process wich means less heat and less power.

 

Well the C90S also doesn't really have a standered size MXM slot either and has a bigger PSU then your standered notebook, I think if you can crank out a 8800M for MXM 2.0 then it would be the C90S.

 

not sure how legit this site it but they are reporting 8800m will be based on a G80 chip and that was used before wasn't it? Anyways they say it will only use 22w compared to the 100w desktop model.

 

Yeah I think its might be true but it will be a low end model like 8800GS, not full blown like a 8800GT or GTS.

 

well if its better than a 8600gt and works with mxm2 does it matter?

 

Depends on the price point and what you were expecting.

People are expecting a kill everything 2x more powerfull gpu to suddnly materialize out of thin air and it wont happen, even with a die shrink there is only so much you can do.

a 8800GS probably wont be very strong and so it wont be worth the money.

Thats if it even ever comes out, its all speculation for now so dont let it get to you too much. I would look into the HD2600 or possibly HD2600XT since thats confirmed and also on the smaller process, anything a 8800 could achieve IF it has a die shrink this can do now, and probably for less money.

 

The main thing would be the 256 bus. Ideal situation would be 256 bit bus with the 8 series architecture on a smaller die would be a huge improvement.

 

isn't the HD2600 just the same thing as a 8600mgt?