Aorus Owner's Lounge

Hi fellow Aorus owners,

I am a very happy owner of the X7 Pro which I bought last December. I have posted a few times, mostly when I had a problem with my PSU. The support from Atom80 and Gigabyte was fantastic, helping to resolve the issue quickly and with a minimum of inconvenience.

I thought it would be good to have a single location where we can share ideas and comments about these laptops, particularly with regard to the forthcoming upgrade to Windows 10, driver updates and ongoing ownership. So thanks to the team for setting one up :)

I'll try and check in fairly regularly to help answer questions where I can, but please bear with me if I am away. My excuse is the same reason I bought an X7 in the first place - I work as an airline pilot and whilst my X7 generally travels with me in my flight bag, my job and home life keep me very busy.

So far my experiences have been very positive. Aside from the PSU failing, the X7 has been absolutely reliable and a pleasure to own. All the games I own are playable at maximum detail and are fantastically smooth. The only modification I have made has been to put in a third mSATA SSD. This was straight-forward and I used the Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver to expand the system partition without any problems. It was necessary to delete the recovery partition so that the empty space was next to the system partition but this enabled me to do an in-place upgrade without reinstalling the OS.

There has been a noticeable increase in file access speeds and CrystalDiskMark shows about a 40-50% upgrade in read and write speeds.

I am starting to think about a gaming headset so the aural experience matches the visual quality. The fan noise can be distracting whilst gaming, although most of the time the laptop is silent. I am looking for something wired, passive over-ear noise reduction lightweight and comfortable to wear. Any suggestions?

Chuffbaby
 
On a separate note, there is quite a lot of posting on other forums about repasting the CPUs and GPUs to keep system temperatures down or squeeze out more performance.

It seems to me that this is a risky thing for an owner to do because there is a real risk of damage and invalidating the warranty. If this service is provided before-sale by the vendor then these risks are avoided, but I would be interested to hear from Atom80 or others in the vendor team what the existing paste is and whether it is likely that changing this could improve performance further?

There are also some interesting posts about undervolting, which may also be helpful in the heat/performance optimisation quest, and presumably less risky than pulling the cooling components apart.

Thanks,
Chuffbaby
 
Last post for now (on updating drivers and providing a physical button to change fan speed settings):

That's great thanks.

Perhaps it could be something to look at in the next update for the macro hub software.

Is there a web-link or reference which gives information about changes when the drivers are updated? It could be a good place for owners to post about features they would like to see that the development team could consider.

Unless you would like to nominate the new owners' lounge...

I'll post this comment there too as your reply is likely to be interesting to others.
 
I'd support the idea of linking a button to fan settings, it's painful to open up the control app and change it that way - a simple Alt-Fn or macro button pre-set would be great.

Also, if we were to repaste the CPU/GPU, could someone from Gigabyte tell us what thickness of thermal tape is used on the surrounding chips that are also covered with heatsinks (ie not the CPU/GPU itself). Note, these ancillary chips are reportedly covered by thermal tape, not thermal paste (which is of course used on the GPU/CPU itself).

There's some question about whether 0.5mm, 1mm or 1.5mm tape is used on these surrounding ancillary chips?

As a general theme, I think the stock paste jobs on the CPU/GPU don't quite live up to the rest of the (high) build quality in the Aorus laptops. This is evidenced by the very material reductions in temps users are reporting in other forums after repasting.
 
I can live with the noise because it is a feature of having a really powerful laptop that is thin and light enough to carry around. Most of the time it is silent. You only really notice the noise when gaming. If you play titles with background music and sound effects it is ok, but when you are listening to dialogue in strategy or rpg titles, it can be difficult to hear over the fan noise.

I am very happy with the laptop, but seriously considering investing in a pair of headphones for gaming
 
Last edited:
Hey Chuffbaby, nice to see another pilot on the forums. There are a few of us now. Who do you fly for?

More on topic, what flight bag do you use that can hold a 17" laptop comfortably? I have a samsonite and it will barely hold a 15"!
 
Blinkz said:
Hey Chuffbaby, nice to see another pilot on the forums. There are a few of us now. Who do you fly for?

More on topic, what flight bag do you use that can hold a 17" laptop comfortably? I have a samsonite and it will barely hold a 15"!
Click to expand...


Hey Blikz,

Its an obvious post from us on this question, but the reason for suggesting is based on experience rather than simply pushing our own products !

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=LT-005-AU&groupid=959&catid=1828

We used this bag for travel in Taiwan for Computex, as hand-luggage and for carrying notebook. It really is a sturdy rucksack, with plenty of storage compartments and nice features. Very comfortable to carry,, and the video link on the OCUK product page gives you a tour of the various features and materials used.

One member of the media who was given a rucksack during the exhibition, reported to us upon his return to the UK that he loved the fact that the rucksack has a compartment that stores a waterproof cover, apparently this waterproof cover has other uses and is ideal for chucking all your dirty underwear into in your case before the 14 hour journey home!

This case is obviously designed for the AORUS X7 product, but will take other 17" devices as well.

Can't comment from a pilots perspective, so I will leave the rest to chuffbaby...

Hope that helps,

Regards,

Gigabyte UK NB Team
 
Chuffbaby said:
Last post for now (on updating drivers and providing a physical button to change fan speed settings):

That's great thanks.

Perhaps it could be something to look at in the next update for the macro hub software.

Is there a web-link or reference which gives information about changes when the drivers are updated? It could be a good place for owners to post about features they would like to see that the development team could consider.

Unless you would like to nominate the new owners' lounge...

I'll post this comment there too as your reply is likely to be interesting to others.
Click to expand...

Hi chuffbaaby,

News views and ideas from this thread will be fed, and already have been fed back to the AORUS mother-ship !

Because we want to deliver the most accurate and helpful information that we can, there will be some delay in replying to the more technical questions to ensure we aren't simply taking and "educated" guess:cool: Because of the time difference with HQ in Taipei sometimes this prevents instant responses. But rest assured we will do our best to be a swift as we can.

All questions re thermal paste and tapes, and the views on the Fan Tweak functions will be replied to as soon as possible,

Regards,

Gigabyte UK NB Team
 
Blinkz said:
Hey Chuffbaby, nice to see another pilot on the forums. There are a few of us now. Who do you fly for?

More on topic, what flight bag do you use that can hold a 17" laptop comfortably? I have a samsonite and it will barely hold a 15"!
Click to expand...

Hi Blinkz,

I am with BA, flying longhaul.

I picked up a Victorinox roller flight bag on sale from PC World a couple of years ago. It is an excellent piece of kit, holding all the usual paraphernalia and the X7 pro. It is a fairly tight squeeze, though and I can't fully close the zip on the laptop compartment.

I used to use a rucksack but BA has a pretty tight uniform policy which frowns on "wearable luggage".

Hope this helps :)
Chuffbaby
 
Hi there,

I just recently purchased the Aorus X7 Pro G-sync and bag/case to go with it.

So far after having the laptop for only a few day, I am extremely pleased by the build quality and performance of the laptop. I was very wary of the reports about the fan noise, but so far after playing a couple of games its not actually that bad. Yes its there but reassuring that its keeping everything nice and cool. During non gaming activities (Word, Excel, etc.) and watching movies from HDD or Sky Go, it's TOTALLY silent.

The only question I have for the Aorus/Gigabyte rep is, now that I have registered the laptop with Aorus. How do I go about getting the code for the Batman game down load?

One final note, a big thumbs up to Overclockers for the ease of order and very prompt delivery. You couldn't ask for better.
 
ADE70 said:
Hi there,

I just recently purchased the Aorus X7 Pro G-sync and bag/case to go with it.

So far after having the laptop for only a few day, I am extremely pleased by the build quality and performance of the laptop. I was very wary of the reports about the fan noise, but so far after playing a couple of games its not actually that bad. Yes its there but reassuring that its keeping everything nice and cool. During non gaming activities (Word, Excel, etc.) and watching movies from HDD or Sky Go, it's TOTALLY silent.

The only question I have for the Aorus/Gigabyte rep is, now that I have registered the laptop with Aorus. How do I go about getting the code for the Batman game down load?

One final note, a big thumbs up to Overclockers for the ease of order and very prompt delivery. You couldn't ask for better.
Click to expand...

Hi ADE70,

Glad all is good with you and your new addition :-)

The Batman promotion is from NVIDIA rather than AORUS directly, but if you have purchased qualifying machine, we cant see any reference to this promo on OcUK site at the moment,, then here is the web-site for you to register and claim:

http://www.geforce.co.uk/games-applications/pc-games/batman-arkham-knight/bundle

Enjoy :-)

Regards,

Gigabyte UK NB Team
 
mrpetrov said:
I'd support the idea of linking a button to fan settings, it's painful to open up the control app and change it that way - a simple Alt-Fn or macro button pre-set would be great.

Also, if we were to repaste the CPU/GPU, could someone from Gigabyte tell us what thickness of thermal tape is used on the surrounding chips that are also covered with heatsinks (ie not the CPU/GPU itself). Note, these ancillary chips are reportedly covered by thermal tape, not thermal paste (which is of course used on the GPU/CPU itself).

There's some question about whether 0.5mm, 1mm or 1.5mm tape is used on these surrounding ancillary chips?

As a general theme, I think the stock paste jobs on the CPU/GPU don't quite live up to the rest of the (high) build quality in the Aorus laptops. This is evidenced by the very material reductions in temps users are reporting in other forums after repasting.
Click to expand...

Hi mrpetrov,

We have received diagrams from HQ regarding the thermal pads and paste/grease used, but unfortunately it is confidential and we are not allowed to post it.

From re-reading you specific question, I can tell you that we use 4 types and thicknesses of thermal pads:

1. 1.25mm
2. 0.2mm
3. 0.75mm
4. 1.0mm

From examining the diagrams closely, all we can ascertain is all of the above thickness of pads are used at various points throughout the system, so its not just one thickness on all chips,,,

Hope that helps is someway, and not confused the issue !

Regards,

Gigabyte UK NB Team
 
Atom80 said:
Hi mrpetrov,

We have received diagrams from HQ regarding the thermal pads and paste/grease used, but unfortunately it is confidential and we are not allowed to post it.

From re-reading you specific question, I can tell you that we use 4 types and thicknesses of thermal pads:

1. 1.25mm
2. 0.2mm
3. 0.75mm
4. 1.0mm

From examining the diagrams closely, all we can ascertain is all of the above thickness of pads are used at various points throughout the system, so its not just one thickness on all chips,,,

Hope that helps is someway, and not confused the issue !

Regards,

Gigabyte UK NB Team
Click to expand...

Do we know what Overclockers' position would be if someone opened up his/her laptop and attempted to repaste? If this would result in an invalidated warranty would Overclockers consider carrying out this upgrade/maintenance as a paid service if the laptop was returned? I can see that several vendors in the United States already offer this service.
 
Chuffbaby said:
Do we know what Overclockers' position would be if someone opened up his/her laptop and attempted to repaste? If this would result in an invalidated warranty would Overclockers consider carrying out this upgrade/maintenance as a paid service if the laptop was returned? I can see that several vendors in the United States already offer this service.
Click to expand...

Hi Chuffbaby,

We are happy for customers to carry out opening machines, but obviously there needs to be care taken when doing this, and any Customer Induced Damage would affect warranty.

We appreciate that OcUK customers do tend to be enthusiasts who have a level of competence around computer hardware, but please do undertake carefully.

We will speak with OcUK service dept, to see if this is something they would want to provide as a service, but we also want to ensure that the need for this is minimised and have communicated the thread back to the "thermal team" within our R&D department.

Thanks

Gigabyte UK NB Team
 
mrpetrov said:
I'd support the idea of linking a button to fan settings, it's painful to open up the control app and change it that way - a simple Alt-Fn or macro button pre-set would be great.

Also, if we were to repaste the CPU/GPU, could someone from Gigabyte tell us what thickness of thermal tape is used on the surrounding chips that are also covered with heatsinks (ie not the CPU/GPU itself). Note, these ancillary chips are reportedly covered by thermal tape, not thermal paste (which is of course used on the GPU/CPU itself).

There's some question about whether 0.5mm, 1mm or 1.5mm tape is used on these surrounding ancillary chips?

As a general theme, I think the stock paste jobs on the CPU/GPU don't quite live up to the rest of the (high) build quality in the Aorus laptops. This is evidenced by the very material reductions in temps users are reporting in other forums after repasting.
Click to expand...

Hello again mrpetrov,

We understand you have been talking to owners in other forums who have re-pasted and had positive results - your mission, should you choose to accept it...... find out the exact brand/type of paste that has been used and our team will run tests, and if better, they will switch over..

Please return to AORUS Owners lounge and report back with your findings :-)

:cool:

Regards,

Gigabyte UK NB Team
 
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