Since this laptop is a hotseller I might as well make its own thread to guide

ASUS k40AB specification:

k50AB is similar but it have bigger 15.6" LCD and full sized keyboard with numpad

Regarding heat on this laptop

There are no such thing as heat issue, high heat (60-80C) is normal on laptop because its restricted size and the amount of transistor and speed it have, because the suface area of the laptop and limited space, its hard to put full fledged heatsink on it, so laptop components are designed to handle higher temperature than desktop while at the same time consume as little power as possible

You can change the BIOS setting to just use the HD 4570 instead of switching between the onboard one, change from 'Power Xpress' mode to 'dGPU'

If you have difficulty installing XP, read this guide

Driver download:

Download latest driver for K40AB/K50AB from ASUS here

Download Mobility HD 4570 driver DNA modded driver or ASUS site
DNA is a modded driver to support all Mobility cards, since AMD/ATi doesn't bother with them for no reason
This laptop support advanced PowerXpress, which disables discreet GPU and run the onboard when not gaming
Additionally if you are more advanced user you can opt not to install CCC (Catalyst Control Center) and install ATi Tray Tools. Its much lighter and provides with more setting to play with

The latest mobility modder already support HD4XXX series so you can download normal Catalyst and mod it

If you want to overclock HD4570, use AMD GPU clock tool v0.9.26.0

Download AMD Overdrive here
Overdrive is mainly used for changing memory timings, since it can't allow to overclock on k40AB

Download k10stats from here
k10 stats is used for downclock or downvolt your CPU to get the most from its batteries and reducing temperature when you just browsing
Some k10stat setting:
For idle I suggest reduce the voltage to 0.9V, I get under 50C when browsing with it
For load 1.05V is good, I'll try to test at lower voltage, but your result may vary (I can reach 1.0375V)

How to use k10stats

Download AMD Fusion from here
Fusion is used to reduce system process when gaming, reducing CPU overhead and freeing up memory so you get the most from your system when gaming

Tweaks:

Tweaking Media Player Classic (K-Lite codec) for video watching here

LCD scaling problem can be minimized by following this guide and DNA driver

k40AB can get pretty toasty when running games, here is the hot spots on it:

Red color is the main heatsink to cool all three major heat source( the CPU, chipset and the discrete GPU) the orange one is the CPU and chipset is located (GPU is under the red area), the slightly dimmer orange on the far left is where the power connector is, this can get warm when you use the power adapter and lastly the yellow area is the harddisk, rather warm

SRS Premium Sound tweaks:
Put the 'Content' to music, 'Output' to Notebook Speaker, predefined audio to SRS Premium, click Options > Advanced control and adjust to these:

SRS Definition: 10% (mids brightness)
SRS TruBass: 50%
SRS TruBass Speaker Size: Small
SRS 3D Center: 75% (vocal)
SRS 3D Space: 100% (instruments, soundstage)
SRS Focus: 25% (sound focus)

Battery life: 2 hours 10 minutes in normal situation, if you undervolt to 0.9V using k10stats and force it to run 1.05GHz, it will squeeze 25 minutes more battery, plus the reduction of temperature around 8-10C *tested by hanz08*

Benchmarks/games experience:

3DMark06 default score: 3047 3DMarks (Catalyst 9.7 )
Command and Conquer Kane's Wrath: playable at 1366x768 everyting on High detail
Call of Duty 2: Playable at 1366x768 2xAA with High detail (no shadows)

*If the games you play feels sluggish, reducing shadows will give HUGE boost in performance*

Recommended resolution to play games is 1024x600, 1280x720 or 1280x768, 1366x768 is too high and this GPU is too slow for it. Overclocking can give a boost in framerate

Crysis/ Warhead is hard to run on ANY system, I found it performs well at Mainstream/ Medium detail at 1280x720 or 1280x768

Here is one of my custom config that playable at 1280x768 (set it everything to Low/Minimum before putting this (make a new text documents, paste it and rename autoexec.cfg)

My reviews on it:

Windows 7 Windows Experience Index:
CPU: 4.7
RAM: 5.0 (1x2GB RAM) or 5.2 (3GB)
Graphics: 4.2 (4.5 when overclock 720/615)
Game Graphics : 4.5 (5.4 when overclock 720/615)
HDD: 5.3

This post has been edited by Najmods: Oct 11 2009, 03:14 AM

Screenshot from games:

Crysis Warhead 1366x768 custom setting (framerate is low, but at 1280x720 give slight boost)


Tom Clancy: H.A.W.X 1366x768 (FRAPS doesn't seem to capture full detail)




This post has been edited by Najmods: Jul 18 2009, 01:45 PM

wow...new asus thread? 1st here? congraz!
actually im more interested vit k50

This post has been edited by nothing_nth: Jul 17 2009, 06:33 PM

Wow...Asus K40Ab own thread...

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Added on July 17, 2009, 6:59 pm@najmods...give reviews for games too, max load the GPU

This post has been edited by miahahaha: Jul 17 2009, 06:59 PM

the cpu can keep up with gpu performance?
no bottleneck?

nice thread . this model pawned compaq cq40series in term of price/ performance ratio .

u sure da temp reaching 70C.. if it true, den ppl sure mati pucuk if playing games in their lap

LOL i heard put hp in pocket also mati pucuk

that is consider ok compared to CQ40 which can be as high as 100C

do u know how hot is 70C.. try put a cup of hot coffee in your lap, and if ur can stand the heat den ok lor... but for me sure big NO NO

btw 4570 is real tempting.. but i hav to say no to amd proc

I cant run it, it gives me error
The name laptop doesn't mean it have to put it on your lap to use it And why you say no to AMD CPU?

Thats y some k40ab users DIY open up the back cover when gaming. Get better air flow. lol..

Yup...if open up the back cover & lift it up so that the air will flow freely...any laptop will cooled down way fast...

back cover opened, much more easier to clean ma...

Still the same, even compatibility mode to Vista or XP won't work. What with this Wprime thing anyway?

To tell you the truth I never bother with the prime thing, it never reflect the real world performance

Crysis config file added, it still needs some tweaking but it still playable enough

Yea, nice thread ~ I am sooner to get a Asus K50AB for my brother....hope can tweak for him before pass the lappy to him~

nice thread bro. you actually made one!

Yeah, I hope it can guide people who wanted to tweak this laptop. It can also be applied to similar laptop like CQ-40 401AX too, everything is similar only a few things are different

BTW do i have to uninstall CCC before installing Ati Tray Tools? will it be better and user friendly as i'm not too familiar with ccc's configurations and options.