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

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?

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

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

You can run both at the same time. CCC is easy for me if you know what to do, I can't really tell whether it would be better for you, you can try it. Both are similar only the ATT is lighter than CCC (its placed on tray, hence the name), plus it have more (advanced) option too

QL-64 clockspeed is 2.1GHz, support DDR2-667 and don't have virtualization
RM-74 clockspeed 2.2GHz, up to DDR2-800 and have virtualization

Yes Studio 15 have similar GPU, but faster GDDR-3 memory (IIRC) and uses Intel CPU

I'll post some screenies soon, will keep you guys updated

I did try to use it, the score went up by.....wait for it.....2. Yes, just 2 . I didn't notice much difference in games too, only the laoding time is shorter

P0 or P1? If you just browsing, click P1 and select both core0 and core1, reduce the Vcore to 0.9V and apply. If you want to run games select P0 and both its core and select apply. This way you can save the power more, since in desktop it would be limited to 1.05GHz no matter what the load is

Screenshot added on 2nd post

The fan is very quiet when running normally, and it only spin up if it reaches 80C and up IIRC

Regarding the thermals, that guy got a point. CPU are made with different process, different amount of transistor and there is A LOT of variable that we don't know, so it varies between CPU. I'll read more regarding the topic and will post what I found here.

EDIT: From this page the maximum operating temperature is 100C

No problem I'll put that info on the first page for future reference. I never use the battery for more than few minutes because I don't like to use them

This post has been edited by Najmods: Jul 18 2009, 07:41 PM

Lowyat Plaza of course, hunt around, you'll find it, ask the exact model, if they look puzzled, leave immediately, they don't know it

There are no program to set its fan speed, I'll check again if its in the driver CD, WEI score and temperature on the first post, read it carefully. Maybe others can do the screenies on temperature, I never run the laptop with back cover unless it is really necessary

There are no thermal sensor on the GPU

Right click on desktop you should see the PowerXpress setting there, or you can go to CCC (Catalyst Control Center). I having problems with PowerXpress too, my only option is to disable the onboard GPU and just use the HD 4570 alone

Windows 7. If you can live without integrated you just disable them in BIOS, select dGPU. It frees up some RAM too

No, but you can select between those two

That is the highest I achieve so far, not bothered with anything higher. The limitation is the graphics, not the CPU

It have something to do with ATi driver that doesn't allow you to change that. I'll check out how can I get that thing working again

Define overheat? Do you even have this laptop to begin with? Check out other laptop equivalent to this, and see their temperature is A LOT higher. God I wish I can delete stupid POS like this in my thread

Its only availabe with QL-64 to keep the cost down

Yeah, AMD phobia is in 2001 or 2002 during Thunderbird era, I don't know why anyone still thinks that way, they forgot the Prescott altogether, it even worse

To tell you the truth my cousin have BenQ S41 with that 8600M GS, been using it for a year now, still fine, I give him advice to use it properly, and good thing his laptop still runs fine But even though that laptop have 128-bit memory vs HD 4570 64-bit coupled with very slow 500MHz DDR2 memory, I surprised that HD 4570 is faster than that, the 8600M can barely run CnC: KW at 800x600 low detail, I just stunned that HD 4570 can run it on high, at native resolution!

What do you guys expect? You pay 2k for something that available that on higher priced one, there is of course a catch on it. But at least its better than any other brand that I see

No, its limited to x8, there is no point going to x16 in the first place