Gigabyte U2442N Review

The GPU memory is stopping you there.
It sucks to have a DDR3 memory(mine too) though. Hahah

OR it could be the driver?

OR, is the CPU throttling?
Your Physics score is a bit low there.

NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i5-3210M Processor,GIGABYTE U2442 score: P2256 3DMarks

 

MSI AB can work on U2442N? I thought it's only for MSI graphic cards?

 

Yeah I am confused by how low my physx score was.

No, it works with most GPU's

 

I managed to push P2361, I am definitely held back by my memory clock. I updated my physx drivers and that seemed to fix the issue.
NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i5-3210M Processor,GIGABYTE U2442 score: P2361 3DMarks

 

Jumping back into this thread, what results has anyone gotten as far as color pitch, representation and blacks? Anyone tried photoshop/print editing? how well can the display be calibrated? Also, how much ram can be crammed into this thing?

do you guys think that an english-only keyboard will be easily available later on to switch with the english/han keyboard? seems like a pain in the to have all those characters.

thanks for all the overclocking stats

 

Nice job on the Overclock.

 

Niiice..

How is the temp on this portable beast?

Can you run a fresh GPU-Z and then run 3DMark 11, afterwards you check the max temp?

Thanks.

 

Just for fun, a stock bench:

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/3906/dbc7f54278324539b83814a.png

forgot to get max temps... sigh

 

Would love to see the max temp on this little beast after a 3DMark11 test on stock GT640M also. Pleeease.

 

The keyboard is easy to replace.

 

Fresh run and max temp

NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i5-3210M Processor,GIGABYTE U2442 score: P2366 3DMarks

 

Nice temperature.

What's the ambient temp like?

 

26c ambient

 

Man, that is quite a good cooling there.
Gigabyte did a good job.

So, do you want any higher clock?

 

Nice temp. You have a lot of headroom. Higher clocks?

 

If you guys can think it can handle it I am fine with it, in games it does get around 80c though. I am worried about speaker failure since heat rises directly through the speakers.

 

Mine also around 80c on heavy games.

I'm not sure about the speaker thing, but if you are worried to go any higher, then you probably shouldn't.

But if you're thinking of going higher, purely for a benchmark reason and will go back to a comfortable clock once the test done, just hit me up.

Just for sharing :
A video of Crysis 2 on my laptop(your's can too).
Crysis 2 DX11 Sony Vaio S13P GT 640M LE (BIOS MOD) - YouTube

Never would've thought of playing a Crysis 2 on that settings on my innocently small, and lightweight laptop. ^_^

 

Hopefully, I will be getting my U2442n within the next few weeks. I noticed Amal77 posted 3 different BIOS mod and am just wondering which BIOS mod is the best. Is it the 1000MHz one?

 

None are better lol. They are all the same with different clocks. Based an all your questions you seem like a fairly average user. The U2442N will be more than enough for you from factory. Bios flashing can be risky if you're inexperienced. If something goes wrong and you are unable to remedy it on your own, it is unlucky Gigabyte will honor the warranty once they figure out your bios is modded.

 

Power freaks.

 

Alright thanks! I'll be happy as long as I can run Skyrim on max .

 

Does the BIOS allow overclocking the CPU?

 

Yeah, you will be able to basically max out most settings stock, with mods like ENB's you may get some lag.

Nope

 

Thats a shame, it's a gigabyte after all. I currently run a Intel Atom NAS at home and I e-mailed Gigabyte asking if they could add undervolt option to the BIOS. They replied with a new BIOS with it!!

I'm guessing the CPUs are locked, but I don't know much about the mobile cpus.

On a side note, It's a shame no manufacturer has managed to stick a 13" IPS display with a 640LE yet - that would be one awesome ultrabook.

 

Yeah I just realized I've been comparing the wrong graphic cards. At the beginning, I was a bit nervous about this laptop because I thought the graphic card was worse than the one I currently have (Radeon Mobility HD 5850). However, after double checking, I realized I was looking at the desktop version of the HD 5850 which is significantly better than the laptop version and that the GT 640M is actually better than the Mobility HD 5850. As I can play every game on ultra with HD texture packs without any lag or overclocking at the moment and the U2442N beats my HP ENVY 17 in every way (RAM, processor and graphics card), I can't wait until my U2442N gets here. Thanks TheLawIX!

 

The GT640M is quite fast actually if you don't do heavy games.
Definitely faster than the Mobility 5850.

Let say you OC the GT640M to a GT650M performance level.
Roughly, a GT650M is 20% to 50% faster than the GT640M, depending on games.
Looking at the benchmark for skyrim, depending on the settings, GT650M is about 35% to 50% faster than the GT640M.

So, it is up to the user whether a BIOS MOD is worth for a 20 to 50 percent increase in performance, depending on the games you have and planning to have.
Like what TheLawIX said, it is a quite risky thing to do a BIOS Flash if you are inexperienced, coz you might totally brick it and will not be able to get it replaced.

Here are the benchmark, in case you're wondering :
Computer Games on Laptop Graphic Cards - Notebookcheck.net Tech

Just focus(tick) on GT650M, GT640M, and GT555M(roughly the same performance as your 5850).

 

What exactly do you regard as heavy gaming? With my Radeon Mobility HD 5850, I can currently run Skyrim with everything to max (shadows, texture, terrain, etc.) with the HD texture pack without any lag.

 

Battlefield 3, Crysis 2, etc.

Btw, my bad on the Mobility 5850. It is a quite powerful card as well. I got confused by the ranking and FPS on notebookcheck.
Looking at the benchmark, they do perform well.
May perform around the same as the GT640M.
MAYBE(I'm guessing) that it will perform better on Skyrim than the GT640M. Probably you can share with us once you have your U2442N.

The mobility 5850 was a high end card after all, and not to be taken lightly.
Even my almost 1.5 years old 6970M also still perform great.

 

Will report back when I get it. However, I'm just curious how the Mobility HD 5850 would run Skyrim better than the GT 640M. I compared the notebookcheck games bench marks for the Radeon Mobility HD 5850 and the Nvidia GT 640M and the GT 640M can run Crysis 2 on high at 40 fps whereas the Mobility HD 5850 can only run the first Crysis at 40 fps on high. (On the other hand, as I've never played Crysis 1 and 2 before, maybe their graphics are similar?) The GT 640M also has a slightly higher dps for Battlefield 2: Bad Company.

EDIT: Just ran my laptop through the 3D Marks 11 thing. Here is my score.

It seems that my laptop scores a little over 100 lower in comparison to the score omghi2u posted in page 11 for the stock U2442N. Is that a big difference?

 

Hi guys, is the bottom of the screen very hot after using u244n for a few hours? Since the screen covers a part of the heat emission holes when it's opened.

 

Based on your 3DMark11 test, it perform just a slightly better than the 7730M, which perform around the GT640M performance.

As always when you compared Nvidia VS AMD, some games it'll perform better, while some perform lower.

Maybe you should try and search around the web on how the 5850 performs on Skyrim compared to a GT640M, if you mind the wait.

 

Any chance of a video review?

 

Any love for Canadian's trying to get this laptop?

 

Yes, mine gets hot as well.

Nope sorry, I'm in law school and classes start tomorrow. I won't have any free time until winter break.

 

Hey Amal77,

Any chance you could set the voltage for the 950Mhz version at 0.9250v, just like your Sony Vaio bios? I'm running (and loving) your 950Mhz bios right now but the temps get a little too high for my liking.

Also, it would be great if you could set both the base clock and the turbo clock at 950Mhz, since it won't turbo to 1000mhz anyways... it just looks better that way in GPU-z .

Thanks for your work!!!!!!

 

I just stumbled upon this review, and I think I found my next big purchase

I haven't read the whole thread yet, but a search turned up nothing... though I've read about the core freq/voltage overclocks in the BIOS mod. In the desktop GT 640 (which this is based on), the 128 bit DDR3 memory is a HUGE bottleneck, so much so that every other card in it's price range with GDDR5 simply runs over and destroys it. It's not a huge problem at stock 640 clocks, but it's a big problem at 1ghz.

But DDR3 memory can be overclocked... and overvolted. Has anyone had success overvolting the DDR3 on the GPU?

EDIT:
Nevermind.

AMD Radeon HD 6870 Memory Voltage Modification - With a Pencil by VR-Zone.com

Pretty sure this can't be done with software, or even a BIOS mod.

 

Sounds like you're no longer a 1L. Time to forget about the case books and start working on important things, like your short game or your backhand.

 

Hahaha, I have been playing golf all summer trying to forget the horrors of first year.

 

New user here. TheLawIX, Thanks for the review. Two questions: 1) what HDD did you purchase for this ultrabook and 2) where do you get an English keyboard to replace the Chinese one?

Also, were you able to order or create recovery media?

Also, anyone that knows: does the i7 core put more demands on laptop cooling? Does anyone have a U2442N with an i7, and if so, is it louder?

Thanks.

 

The U2442V (with i7 ULV) would put less demand on the cooling, as its TDP (17W) is smaller than the U2442N i5's (35W).

 

That's a good observation. Do you think that'd make a significant difference in cooling efficiency and quieting?

 

Cant wait to pick up this beast next month! I kinda wish you had a planetside 2 beta key so you could tell me how it runs.. im excited to play that and firefall on high settings..


Quick Battery Status Check

The innovative quick battery status check lets you see how much battery power is remaining when the notebook is off. Simply click on the right mouse button and the LED lights will light up to indicate how much battery power is remaining.

i like that :3

 

Oh man this thing looks sweet! Can't wait for it to release in U.S.! I might just get it from asia since I'm here at the moment. Do you guys think this could replace my daily computer (Sony Vaio Z11?) The only thing stopping me right now is want of an extended or larger battery. This thing looks almost too good to be true.

Also, the screen seems a bit lackluster for what you pay. Any owners care to comment or have any insight?

 

Ok, mine is here. Haven't gotten a chance to really do much but so far I'm very impressed with the speed and performance. I think the screen looks good but I don't have much to compare it with. I'm very pleased with the purchase, the single negative was dealing with USPS

 

USPS. Ugh. Congrats on your purchase arriving!

Is the screen clear of any lines or individual pixels? From the screenshots posted at the beginning of this thread it's a bit hard to make out. I'm glad you are impressed with the performance. Can you clarify the WEI? I normally don't treat that as an indicator of any kind, but I read a rumour that it's only 3.3 in Windows 8. How does it look in W7?

Looking forward to your answers +rep.

 

Optimus forces the CPU to render the desktop so the overall score is 5.9. If you force the GPU the render the desktop than the overall score is 6.7 for me. It's not really important though, as WEI is a near worthless benchmark.

 

I agree. I just asked because of a video on youtube posted March 5th, (prototype version) saying it had a WEI of 3.3. I mean I know that it's worthless but windows must HATE it for that to be the case.

Thanks for clearing that up.

 

That score was a result of no drivers being installed.

 

PCHome purchase? EMS uses the post office to ship the last leg of the delivery. My 3820TG was in the post office and I had to beg them to give it to me.

 

Hi I'm thinking of purchasing this notebook. Mainly because I can't find anything even slightly similar - lightweight+good graphics card. But I'm worried about the overheating... as from the NotebookCheck review, there is about 50°C under load at the outside where the CPU and GPU is located.

Could you try to install app like SpeedFan, and tell us what's the GPU and overall temperature when browsing or watching movie, and what's the temperature like when gaming (e.g. Assassin's Creed Revelations). And if the adding of active cooling pad underneath helps alot or just a little.

I also want to know if one can play Max Payne 3 on this notebook.

Thanks in advance. Best Regards.