first, congratulations! second, i can only answer some of the questions:
"2) Update to the latest asus recovery utility version and then burn yourself a set of recovery disks."
- there was a bug in the previous stock asus recovery utility that created recovery DVDs or BD that could not be used to perform restore on 1TB HDD. TO BE SAFE, update this recovery utility first before performing the backups.
- the recovery disks is a number of normal DVDs (for me it's 5 DVDs) if you used blu-ray disc, it's a single BD. i personally back up them as .iso files first before i do the burning.
- you should create these isos or disks first because it contains the factory settings, especially your windows activation; it will take some extra steps when you reactivate your windows using the key at the back of your laptop. normally that key will not work as-is.
"4) Do some testing with something like furmark and ( hwinfo to monitor ) and verify/check that your GPU temps are within normal ranges. ( If not within normal perhaps heat sinks not installed correctly or covered etc ... )."
- What are the normal ranges for GPU temps?
this one is hard to answer. maybe someone else can help; mine is 70 to 75 Celsius, depending on room temperature.
"6) If re-installing Win 7 for a fresh installation or doing a windows system image recovery be aware:
a) You need a Win 7 64 bit installation disk that includes SP1 on the G55/G75 machines. The original ( missing SP1 ) Win 7 install disks will not understand the UEFI/bios stuff.
b) If doing a Win 7 system image onto an external drive ( highly recommended ) for recovery purposes ( will be up to date with anything installed on your system at the time you create the system image ) it needs to be recovered with the same type of Win 7 64 bit SP1 included INSTALL disk. The win 7 utility will let you create a recovery disk on G55/G75 but it will not work to recover a system with ... the SP1 included INSTALL disk will work to boot up a system and do the recovery with."
for a) it means only w7 with service pack 1 and up is compatible for g55/75. anything less will cause problems, and this is important when you do a fresh install. you need 64bit because 32bit is limited to access up to 4GB of RAM only.
for b), i have no idea, sorry.
Second; are there any more tips you would like to add?
1. if possible, upgrade to SSD. it will bring up the windows index from 5.9 to 7.3, with nicer user experience. however, be careful of this because some reported that there are issues when you have an "incompatible" SSD.
2. if you're going to upgrade your RAM, without voiding warranty (i.e. just replace those on the user accessible slots), always buy the RAM that matches or is compatible with the stock RAM. you can double check and confirm the with hwinfo first before purchase. yes, you can also ask here for hints.
"2) Update to the latest asus recovery utility version and then burn yourself a set of recovery disks."
- there was a bug in the previous stock asus recovery utility that created recovery DVDs or BD that could not be used to perform restore on 1TB HDD. TO BE SAFE, update this recovery utility first before performing the backups.
- the recovery disks is a number of normal DVDs (for me it's 5 DVDs) if you used blu-ray disc, it's a single BD. i personally back up them as .iso files first before i do the burning.
- you should create these isos or disks first because it contains the factory settings, especially your windows activation; it will take some extra steps when you reactivate your windows using the key at the back of your laptop. normally that key will not work as-is.
"4) Do some testing with something like furmark and ( hwinfo to monitor ) and verify/check that your GPU temps are within normal ranges. ( If not within normal perhaps heat sinks not installed correctly or covered etc ... )."
- What are the normal ranges for GPU temps?
this one is hard to answer. maybe someone else can help; mine is 70 to 75 Celsius, depending on room temperature.
"6) If re-installing Win 7 for a fresh installation or doing a windows system image recovery be aware:
a) You need a Win 7 64 bit installation disk that includes SP1 on the G55/G75 machines. The original ( missing SP1 ) Win 7 install disks will not understand the UEFI/bios stuff.
b) If doing a Win 7 system image onto an external drive ( highly recommended ) for recovery purposes ( will be up to date with anything installed on your system at the time you create the system image ) it needs to be recovered with the same type of Win 7 64 bit SP1 included INSTALL disk. The win 7 utility will let you create a recovery disk on G55/G75 but it will not work to recover a system with ... the SP1 included INSTALL disk will work to boot up a system and do the recovery with."
for a) it means only w7 with service pack 1 and up is compatible for g55/75. anything less will cause problems, and this is important when you do a fresh install. you need 64bit because 32bit is limited to access up to 4GB of RAM only.
for b), i have no idea, sorry.
Second; are there any more tips you would like to add?
1. if possible, upgrade to SSD. it will bring up the windows index from 5.9 to 7.3, with nicer user experience. however, be careful of this because some reported that there are issues when you have an "incompatible" SSD.
2. if you're going to upgrade your RAM, without voiding warranty (i.e. just replace those on the user accessible slots), always buy the RAM that matches or is compatible with the stock RAM. you can double check and confirm the with hwinfo first before purchase. yes, you can also ask here for hints.
