I bought ASUS K40AB two days ago and install Windows 7 on it, everything is great but two problem, the CPU temperature is unbelivably high (hovering around 60-70 when idle) and PowerXpress is sketchy (maybe because Windows 7) as it keeps telling me that the HD 4570 cannot start in device manager, I forced it to use only discrete GPU in BIOS, it free up 256MB of RAM, problem solved.

About the high CPU temperature, I removed the back cover and run it directly to the cooler below, pretty odd as ASUS doesn't provide any ventilation hole directly on the CPU/GPU fan. Before this, it crashed after playing CnC Kane's Wrath for about 30 minutes, now its perfectly fine, after finishing CnC3 KW, I play CoD2 for a while with no problem at all. Thank God for the back cover opens up to the whole mobo, so I can cool everything down. Temperature is kept under 60 on idle (its around 56 as I typing this, on a hot room with no fan or AC)

Game performance is great too, more than I expected it to be, my cousin have BenQ S41, it struggle to play CnC3 KW even at low setting and low res, but this one, I can play at 1366x768 with High detail. CoD2 also excellent, 1366x768 High detail

No, the latest driver doesn't support HD4570, weird isn't it? I use DNA Cat 9.4

Yes, it only been lock down by 5 screw, and I only use one now to easily remove it, but still secure enough and not flimsy. I don't know any other way to cool it down without taking the back cover, even using notebook cooler have minimal effect.

Since this is my very first laptop, I want to make a full reviews about it. Let me play for a while, expect a full reviews soon

I've been using K40AB for a few days now,and this is what I think about it.

Pros:
- cheap, good spec
- HD4570 GPU for below RM2500, with HD3200 onboard to save power
- 250GB HDD
- very nice L.E.D LCD screen, better than my Dell 1704FPT at home
- very quiet running after Windows load
- pretty fast for moderate gaming (CnC: KW, CoD2, H.A.W.X all run at high at native resolution)
- onboard VIA audio codec support SRS Premium Sound, sounded rather good when properly tweaked

Cons:
- hot running (60-70C idle with the back cover close) because unbelivably low fan speed, and there are no way to turn it up
- sketchy PowerXpress (may be due to RC Windows 7 or its drivers)
- touchpad could be better with side scroll
- for keyboard shorcut, it need an enormous amount of system process to get it working (more than 5)
- HD4570 is new, anything to tweak it is nearly impossible to find, even the driver is hard to find, latest 9.6 Beta needs INF tweak to get it work, Mobility Cat Modder won't work with HD 4XXX series yet

Unfortunately there is no way to increase fan speed when in Windows but you can use k10stat to reduce speed and voltage of the CPU. Read here on how to use it

Well, other notebook at similar price point also having similar problem. I guess 14" is too small for decent cooling

Nope, AMD Overdrive only let me to change memory timing, the utility I posted earlier can also do overclocking, it helps in gaming by quite A LOT especially in RTS. Load temperature never exceeds 80C that is why I dare to do so

This post has been edited by Najmods: Jul 11 2009, 05:02 PM

That 2.6GHz is only for gaming la, in desktop its only 1GHz 0.9V Well, I tested it again and guess what? Its now at 2.8GHz same Vcore Crazy stuff, maybe it can go more but I won't need that kind of speed especially with slow GPU. I just need to wait for any utility to overclock the GPU. Performance gains? Game runs faster and smoother, I could jack up a higher detail too

I don't think the price could get any lower, IMO they could jack up the price and give all sort of 'free gifts' that most of us won't even need. I paid RM2100 for mine after I say I don't need those extras, no OS, no nothing, even so they give lots of free stuff, LCD cleaner, cheap notebook cooler, USB hub, and notebook lock. They say i'm their first customer so they give me that, if not they wanted RM2150 for it, or RM2199 with 4GB of RAM with OS installed and sort of stuff I don't want

Nah I done playing, I let it settle at that speed its more than enough for me, slightly lower than my desktop CPU at stock Vcore overclock

You can try what I'm doing, but if something happen please don't blame me

No la, I've tried some programs, won't work, ATiTool not register anything, ATi Tray Tools Overclocking won't work (thankfully the other driver control works) Even flashing these cards is hard, Radeon Bios Editor works but ATiWinflash will crash, the stable one doesn't recognize the card and the DOS version of atiflash and flashrom doesn't detect the card at all

I even plan to put more heatsink, there is some gap inside where I can put some very low profile heatsink. But I forgot where did I put those heatsink, my room is a big mess

This post has been edited by Najmods: Jul 11 2009, 08:51 PM

Stock WEI:
CPU: 4.7
RAM: 5.0
Graphics: 4.1
Game gfx : 4.5
HDD: 5.3

Yes the lowest is the graphics, the 2D speed is very low, less than half from full speed (220MHz compared to 680MHz) and the memory is exactly half (250MHz instead of 500MHz)

Check my past post, I give it already with guide how to use it

I just tested 3DMark06, I don't expect a good score, it gave me 3007Marks stock speed, not bad

What do you mean you don't know? This are what it called heatsink:


Why don't you Google before asking? Its easier and faster, plus for such ultra noob question ask in proper place

I know we all noobs to begin with. That is the reason I pointing to the right direction

They put DDR2-800 but its limited to 667 anyway so there is no point using 800. Its bundled with the laptop bag and mouse too

Yeah don't worry, no offence, I do give the answer to your question right?

For those who their laptop such as k40AB that have the option to install SRS Premium Sound, I suggest you install it. It will make your laptop sound so much better than stock one, I been playing around with it, and very satisfied with the result

And for k40AB user, the 14" LCD is very nice for watching videos, especially 720p HD one, the picture quality is excellent, color were accurate enough and the small dot pitch just seals the deal. I end up loading loads of videos to this lappy, thanks to 250GB harddisk I can put them all in it

I use Media Player Classic (K-Lite codec) and use this guide

I even got Crysis Warhead playable at 1280x720 with a custom config Maybe I should make a thread exclusively how to tweak k40AB to da max

You guys are so funny Playing Crysis is not really that playable, since its limited in both ways (fill rate and memory bandwidth). But at least I make it look decent enough with some shadows with semi playable setting.

So far I want to put this in the thread:

1) Where to download Mobility driver (its hard to find one, even the official driver won't work)
2) k10stats for downvolt/downclocking or even overclocking
3) Ways to cool it down/mod it (with picture of course)
4) Gameplay tweaks on some games , especially the aforementioned Crysis

Anything else I should put?

Its slightly faster than k40AB it seems, but its weird that some are faster but some are slower, the CPU its faster by 0.2 points, memory is of course you faster because dual channel, graphics is the same but game graphics is faster by 0.6 but the harddisk is 0.2 slower.

Can you check the GPU speed in k50AB? Use GPU-Z