help completing setup of Win7 on G751JT and stress testing

[Camineet]

Hi guys, I'm posting to provide details on my experience installing Windows 7 on the G751JT and ask for some help completing setup.

I was originally hoping to install my OS onto an M.2 drive that I purchased from Amazon. I unknowingly purchased a SATA m.2 drive. After reading all of the forum posts about what is actually required in order to install an OS on an m.2 drive on this machine, and after discovering the prices for AHCI PCIE M.2 drives, I gave up on that. I went with a 240 GB ADATA 2.5 inch SDD for a very reasonable price on Amazon.

For installing Windows 7, I used dieselthirteen’s instructions in this thread:
https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?54252-ASUS-G751-Windows-7-drivers
... and mostly everything has gone very well.

I also experience the blinking cursor for just a few seconds from cold boot. Doesn’t seem to be a problem.

The installation for thunderbolt failed with an error message stating that the installer couldn’t find something. I don’t even know what thunderbolt is, some kind of Apple interface, so I’m not worried about it at the moment as I own no Apple products.

The packaged Nvidia GPU driver reported upon installation that it couldn’t find a compatible device. I simply went on to the Nvidia site, downloaded G force experience, and proceeded to have it install the proper GPU driver successfully.
I was unable to install the software located in the folder entitled G751JMAS206 - FIRMWARE. There isn’t any kind of set up executable in there. I’m guessing this is a bios update. Can you guys please advise if it’s required to do something with it? I don’t like doing bios updates, because my only experience trying it resulted in my desktop PC mobo getting bricked.

I also didn't install the application called Winflash because the folder in which it is housed in the package from dieselthirteen has a name that ends in NOT USED. So, I didn't bother using it.

I tested most of the hardware including the card reader, ethernet port, wireless connection, and speakers. I have yet to test any of the USB ports. The system seems to run well on Windows 7 as expected.

In addition to testing the USB ports, there is a little bit more work to do for me to be satisfied with this setup.

First of all, the keyboard works, but none of the specialized keys work as would be expected without having installed any of the ROG specific applications for the keyboard. I have found the support page on the Asus website for this machine. The keyboard related applications as well as things like Asus Gaming Center and ROG Game First III are located only under Windows 8.1. There is essentially nothing available when selecting Windows 7 X64 professional. Is there anything that isn’t safe to install in the utility section for Windows 8.1?

Most important for me to be able to complete the set up of this machine is to do some performance testing. I’m hoping you guys can please provide some guidance on the applications I should use. My experience is almost entirely with AI Suite III and Prime 95 on my liquid cooled desktop system with all Noctua fans (even cracked open the PSU to install a Noctua). AI Suite III provides me information on the status of the fans and temps. And Prime 95 lets me stress test the system.

I’m guessing that I can use Prime 95 for stress testing on this G751JT, but I can’t seem to find what I should use to get info on my CPU and GPU temps along with getting some information and control of the fans. I did some poking around online, and cannot find any information on the use of AI Suite III on laptops. And since this application is not located in the support center for the G751JT, I’m guessing AI Suite III isn’t the right tool for this machine.

Can you guys please advise on what is commonly used on these machines for fan control and temperature monitoring?

I bought this machine specifically for the large heatsinks and reviews detailing extremely quiet operation and am surprised to find that the fans are easily audible from several feet away when the system is idling. It appears that the fans are running at a single non-varying speed probably around 40 to 50%. With heatsinks as large as these, and with all of the reports of how amazingly quiet this machine is, I would expect the fans would run much lower at system idle. Perhaps I am spoiled by my nearly silent desktop system. At any rate, I really want to do some testing of my new G751JT.

By the way, the fans behave exactly the same on the stock Windows 10 installation on the HDD originally installed in the system as they do with my fresh install of Win7 on the ADATA SSD.

The fans definitely aren’t loud, and perhaps I’m just spoiled by my desktop system. But I have owned a lot of laptops that generally run silent at idle and then get completely obnoxious under load. I was hoping that this machine would run silent at idle and at reasonable fan volumes under load.

Many thanks for help.