ASUS C90S Whitebook
BIOS and Overclocking with Turbo Gear
As a laptop that boasts overclocking potential, we were disappointed at the lack of options the C90S offered via its system BIOS. Normally we include BIOS pictures, but our sample had nothing special to show off in this regard. There were virtually no real configurable options aside from the basics. Memory speed, CPU speeds, voltages are all locked and overclocking is handled exclusively within Windows through ASUS' TurboGear Software.
There was a hardware monitor that displayed the CPU temperature, but the menu lacked any further details. One feature sorely missing is a flash utility integrated into the BIOS. ASUS offers updated firmware on their website, but doesn't offer the tools to update the firmware easily, which is a common complaint by current C90S owners in various support forums.
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To handle the overclocking of the C90S, ASUS supplies a Windows based application called TurboGear. TurboGear not only handles overclocking, but adjusts the system's power profile as well. TurboGear comes with four modes; Overclocking, Gaming, Standard and Power Saving. The Overclocking function is not an option with this review unit as the E6700 processor would exceed the C90S's maximum supported clockspeed of 2.93GHz with minimal overclocking. The Gaming Mode was available, however, but that didn't operate as expected. We encountered what numerous user's have been reporting that the system kicks up a BSOD once any load is applied when in Gaming Mode. We suspect this is a result of excessive heat, but it's difficult to say conclusively. On the bright side, we found positive reports with overclocking when the C90S is equipped with an E6600 processor clocked at default clockspeed of 2.4GHz, which we did not have on hand for testing.
