Cooling/Audio

Cooling

One advantage of using such a large chassis for the W90Vp is that its larger size helps to improve airflow inside the system. All too often we’ve seen notebooks and HTPCs with small chassis’ have to overcompensate for the lack of airflow by spinning the fans faster in order to keep the system components cool.

Even with dual Mobility Radeon 4870s and hard drives, this isn’t an issue for the W90Vp, the system runs remarkably cool considering its specs: the last system we reviewed with dual GPUs and hard drives, Alienware’s m9750 was the complete opposite. When plugged into the AC outlet and running a game, the system would get pretty hot after just a few minutes of use; running it on your lap was a definite no-no. We recorded the following temps at various points on the notebook:

Three cooling fans provide the system with cool air. Each fan is responsible for cooling the system’s main hotspots, namely the GPUs and the CPU, with hot air exhausting out the vents located at the back of the chassis.

The fans run extremely quiet while the system is running at the Windows desktop. Our Extech sound level meter only goes down to 40 decibels, and even with the meter resting on the center of the W90Vp’s keyboard we couldn’t register a sound reading. We wouldn’t be surprised if the system was running below 30 dB while running apps at the Windows desktop. In fact, the W90Vp was so quiet, even under load we couldn’t get a reading, the system just whispered along quietly while running the Crysis GPU benchmark looped. Only when the system was overclocked did we finally register a reading: 44.8dB.

Audio

Audio duties are handled by a 5.1 speaker set from Altec Lansing. Two of the speakers are located above the keyboard, just above the numpad and escape key. These are the left and right surround channels when listening to movies and other 5.1 content. As such, they aren’t quite as powerful as the mains, so you’ll want to make sure they’re configured properly in the Realtek HD audio manager control panel.

The main channels are located on the front edge of the system and are decked out with what ASUS describes as “stereo speakers designed to resemble the heating vents of a high performance super car”. Our guess is ASUS is referring to the Lamborghini Reventón here, as ASUS happens to have the exclusive rights to producing Lamborghini laptops. The center channel and subwoofer are also similarly tricked out.

In terms of audio performance, we were really surprised by the W90Vp. Most of the so-called gaming notebooks we’ve seen have shipped with underpowered speakers with disappointing highs and lows, only the midrange sounds somewhat passable. The W90Vp isn’t like this though. The system actually delivers bright highs, and excellent midrange. And for once we don’t feel like the system is lacking in power. In fact, ASUS has done a brilliant job mixing volume level with the capabilities of these speakers. They don’t fall over themselves like most notebook speakers do when you crank the volume all the way up to the max. We threw a mixture of different games at the system, and all sounded surprisingly good. Like most notebooks, we were expecting the W90V’s subwoofer to have a problem with booming sounds like shotguns and explosions, but it handled them well.

With that being said, the lows are still a tad on the weak side, but on the other hand it probably isn’t realistic to expect a 1.5” driver to deliver floor-thumping bass. The lows are certainly deeper than other notebooks we’ve seen.

Are these speakers better than a set of midrange desktop speakers? No. Again, expecting these drivers to outperform setups twice their size isn’t realistic. There’s only so much you can do given their size and power limitations. Are they better than most high-end gaming notebooks? Yes. Easily in fact.