ASUS W90Vp: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4870... with CrossFire
by Jarred Walton on May 29, 2009 5:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Back to the ASUS W90Vp
We've already discussed many of the features found on the ASUS W90Vp. Here's the complete system summary:
| ASUS W90Vp-A1 Specifications | |
| Processor | Core 2 Quad Q9000 (2.00GHz 1066FSB 2x3MB L2) Overclocking to 2.29GHz (1221FSB) |
| Chipset | Intel X38 + ICH10R |
| Memory | 3x2048MB DDR2-800 |
| Graphics | 2 x ATI Mobility Radeon 4870 (CrossFire) |
| Display | 18.4" Color-Shine CCFL Full HD 1080p (1920x1080) |
| Hard Drive | 2 x 320GB 7200RPM 16MB |
| Optical Drive | 8x DVDR/BD-ROM Combo (4x DVDRW) |
| Networking | Realtek Gigabit Ethernet (RTL8168B/8111B PCI-E) Atheros AR928X 802.11n WiFi Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR 56K Modem |
| Audio | 6-Channel Realtek ALC888 HD Audio (5.1 Speakers with Mic/Headphone jacks or Digital out) |
| Battery/Adapter | 12-Cell 97.7Whr 19.5V DC, 11.8A, 230W Power Brick |
| Front Side | None (Speaker grilles) |
| Left Side | Heat Exhaust Two audio jacks (Mic and Headphone/SPDIF out) 1 x USB 2.0 Kensington Lock |
| Right Side | BDROM/DVDR Combo Drive ExpressCard/54 SD/MMC/MS/MS Pro/xD reader WiFi On/Off Switch 1 x Mini FireWire 1 x eSATA 3 x USB 2.0 Optional TV Tuner Input (?) |
| Back Side | 2 x Heat Exhaust 56K Modem Gigabit Ethernet HDMI VGA Power Adapter |
| Operating System | Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit |
| Dimensions | 17.44" x 12.91" x 2.48" (WxDxH) |
| Weight | 11.44 lbs (with 12-cell battery) |
| Extras | 2.0MP Webcam 102-Key Keyboard with 10-Key 16 additional touch-sensitive multimedia keys Fingerprint Scanner Up to 15% Overclocking (via ASUS Windows utility) Norton Internet Security 2008 |
| Warranty | 2-year standard ASUS Global Limited Warranty (varies by location) 1-year battery pack warranty Razer optical mouse Carrying backpack |
| Price | Starting at ~$2500 online |
Like the recently reviewed MSI GT627, ASUS support overclocking on the W90Vp. You can configure the amount of overclocking from 3% to 15%; honestly, anything less than 10% probably isn't even worth discussing, and we had no instability or other issues setting the maximum 15% overclock. We will include overclocked performance results in our performance rundown. It's good that ASUS includes overclocking, since the base clock speed of the Q9000 is only 2.0GHz. For gaming, the dual graphics cards will almost certainly outpace the CPU. Previously, ASUS offered a version of the W90 with a dual-core processor, and honestly that's a better choice than the Q9000. There are a few multithreaded games, but to date only a few games (Left 4 Dead and Far Cry 2) appear to benefit from having more than two cores.
There are couple other interesting aspects of this notebook. First, check out the chipset: X38 and ICH10R. That's right, ASUS is using a full desktop chipsets on this notebook. Clearly, this is intended far more as a portable desktop replacement as opposed to your typical mobile laptop. It shouldn't be a surprise considering the size and weight, but the choice of chipset may further reduce what should already be poor battery life. The second interesting point is that ASUS provides 6GB of memory, with three SO-DIMM slots. No, this isn't a Core i7 system with triple-channel memory; ASUS just felt getting more than 4GB of memory into their laptop would be useful, and the X38 chipset supports that. We think they should have taken things a step further and include four SO-DIMM slots, but that would have necessitated rearranging a few things.
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tynopik - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link
the charts are a COMPLETE DISASTERthe first few, I'm still not sure what they're trying to say
the FRAPS charts are better, but:
1: thousandth's of a frame per second? talk about unnecessary precision
2. NO CONSISTENCY. different tests were run for each game, it's bizarre
we have:
- W90Vp OCed / W90Vp 1080p OCed / W90Vp (new drivers? who knows?)
- OCed New Driver / OCed Init Driver / Initial Driver
- OCed New w/o CCC / OCed New Driver / OCed Init Driver / Initial Driver
3. The HD (1920x1080) benchmarks suddenly switch over to 1680x1050 with Mass Effect
- even though you have 2 charts for 1680x1050 results (one on the 1080p page and one on Standard gaming page), the results don't match (for instance on the 1080p page it says the Q6600 had 51.674 fps in Mass Effect while on the standard page it says 53.375)
I can tell it took a lot of time to run all these benchmarks on all these different platforms, but you have to FINISH!
JarredWalton - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link
The 1080p Mass Effect listed as 1680x1050 is merely a typo. I'll correct the labeling of the initial charts - I didn't subtract the 100%, but it makes for an easier chart since there aren't negative values. The earlier poster is correct that it's a ratio, so 100% means equal performance.JarredWalton - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link
FWIW, I initially "finished" at 5:30AM. I have now edited the graphs, added a bit more commentary, and inserted a page analyzing the overclocking results of the W90Vp. Enjoy!strikeback03 - Monday, June 1, 2009 - link
One more - last page first paragraph under the photo, I'm guessing you said "ear splitting" but Dragon has 'your spreading" there for the description of the volume levels.Jackattak - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link
LOL poor Jarred... ;) Get some rest, mate!Thanks for the article. Was nice to see benches on a system like this. Why anyone would lug around a 17er I have no clue, though. I think the 15.4" form factor is the perfect balance of size/weight/performance.
I just wish more manufacturers offered higher-end GPUs or at least gave more options for end user installable discrete GPUs (would love to slap a 8800M GT 512 in my XPS1530).
The0ne - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link
I have a loaded vostro 17" with wuxga and it's very nice. However, lugging it around with me on oversea business trips can become tiresome. This thing is almost 12lbs O.o I can't imagine having this at all even if I wanted the specs.Most people don't realize those extra small lbs will drag you down sooner than you ever can realize :)
The0ne - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link
Oh, and this comming from a guy that's actually in shape and built lolGolgatha - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link
"ATI's Mobile Driver Program -- or Lack Thereof"Seriously, if they want to sell a multi-thousand dollar laptop, they better have drivers available the same day as the desktop GPUs. I can't imagine anyone buying a gaming laptop with anything but nVidia GPUs inside it.
BTW, I have 4870 1GB cards in Crossfire on my desktop, so this isn't a post to just bash ATI. However, they do need to get with their industry partners and correct this issue fast.
Zoomer - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link
Don't know what the fuss is about, I recall installing up to date ATi drivers on my 9600 mobility and possibly even the Rage 3D (can't really that well, unfortunately).*Requires mobility modder or inf editing.
JarredWalton - Saturday, May 30, 2009 - link
The ATI Catalyst drivers on their website "install" without apparent issue, but they don't actually update the drivers - just the CCC. In the past, ATI may have provided drivers that would work with all of their chipsets, but that's not the case with modern GPUs as far as I can tell. Certainly, it's a problem with HD 4870 CrossFire.