Aorus Owner's Lounge

[matzie]

Please run Firestrike and let me know what you get. I'm particularly interested in the graphics score only. I'm getting 16800, fully overclocked which is worse than the 1070! The x5 v6 is faster than this machine... Hopefully I'm missing something otherwise MaxQ is pointless.

I'm quite concerned now. My Firestrike scores are a lot lower than I'd expect. 13578 overall, graphics 16143. Gsync disabled. http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/21223575

Granted, I didn't buy this to run benchmarks - but... this is a disappointment. Any advice?

 

[Derek712]

Re Firestrike... I did run it last night and was rather shocked and disappointed to find something like 13800 overall (can't remember the graphics-only score) although it warned that gsync and an unrecognised driver might be to blame. (This was just the free 3dmark download, pretty much the first thing I installed, no changes to drivers or config anywhere). Something must have been very wrong for it to come in so low (was overclocked fully in C&C gauge). To be fair gaming is secondary for my needs but I do expect the 'few percent better than 1070' performance that's been mentioned in this forum from Aorus.

It's literally years since I've done any benchmarks or really cared about the performance of a PC as I'm a refugee from the Mac world, so there could be something I was doing wrong - although 3dmark was pretty much the first thing I installed. I've since reinstalled my OS and most drivers, a few more to complete tonight and then I'll do some more tests.

Subjectively fan noise was always noticeable, not intrusive and even when fire strike was running, not excessive. No real data on battery yet.

Also this video includes a graph of fire strike results for a few different Max Q laptops including X5 MD at 1 min 51 seconds in, which he clocks at 18222:https://youtu.be/EIc6v4C0_-w?t=111

Yeah, those weren't production units he had, so they might have a different vbios. I've tested the Zephyrus a week ago and now the X5 MD and this is certainly slower than the Zephyrus. It's also slower than the X7 v7 from what I can tell. I've also tested some games and the results like up with the benchmarks. Aorus needs to ship a 230w power adapter with these units. 200w is not enough and there is no excuse to not have better performance than a 1070 model or even a laptop .2" thinner.

 

[matzie]

It's literally the exact same chassis for both the MD and the v7. Gaming performance will be higher on the MD, along the lines of 10-15%..

That statement was a key factor in my purchasing decision. Feeling very disappointed in my first Aorus purchase - hoping you can change that ASAP.

 

[Jared_T]

Hey anyone know a way to stick a keycap back in? My X7v6 left Alt key decided to fly out for no reason and now i cant seem to make it stay in its place without even light presses dislodging it. Do i have to get a new v6 keyboard considering that the whole keyboard can be removed without needing to take apart the whole chassis

 

[darknob]

Hi Atom, thanks for the fast response! You've always had great communication on this forum so I appreciate your response.

I should also mention that, after extensive testing, even vibrations can end up resulting in the 'J' key being incorrectly detected as an input. So I could be typing and then either press the 'spacebar' or 'return/enter' key and then a 'j' is displayed followed by the actual desired input.

I found that the frequency and sensitivity of the 'J' key is 100% corresponding to the temperature of the notebook after a moderate gaming session (2 - 3hrs in Ghost Recon Wildlands or Battlegrounds: PlayerUnknown).
It appears that the hotter the GPU then the more sensitive it becomes to incorrectly detecting input as though I am pressing the 'j' key when I am, in fact, not.

Interestingly, I was repeatedly pressing the 'J' key during one test and stopped and pressed the 'return/enter' key a bunch of times and, after the cursor jumped down a few lines, I waited and then a bunch of 'j's began to appear sporadically despite no other input was being entered at all from myself. Which made me suspect that the sensors had became SO sensitive that it was mistakenly interpreting input from the fan vibrations. Fans were not at 100%. I believe they were at around 75% at this point.

I've applied for a RMA and refund from overclockersUK but will be looking to make another purchase of an Aorus notebook from the x5/x7 v7 line. I was delighted with the notebook aside from this one issue.

It's a premium notebook and I understand quality control can't detect every little error so I look forward to making another purchase once I receive my refund/more stock is available.

Any news on the x5 v7-CP2 or CP3 stock yet in the UK? Has there ever been any stock received by OCUK of those models?

All the Best,

Robin

Hey can you do a firestrike test to compare with the X5 MD? Would be cool thanks! Also how do you find the noise of the laptop? Battery life for regular use? Thanks

 

[Derek712]

Hey anyone know a way to stick a keycap back in? My X7v6 left Alt key decided to fly out for no reason and now i cant seem to make it stay in its place without even light presses dislodging it. Do i have to get a new v6 keyboard considering that the whole keyboard can be removed without needing to take apart the whole chassis

I had this issue with my old MSI. If your key is popping out, the scissor switch is broken. I called them and they asked me to send it in. I ended up calling their parts Dept and they sent me a new key. Popped right in. I have no idea how gigabyte operates, but call your rep.

 

[Atom80]

Hi Atom, thanks for the fast response! You've always had great communication on this forum so I appreciate your response.

I should also mention that, after extensive testing, even vibrations can end up resulting in the 'J' key being incorrectly detected as an input. So I could be typing and then either press the 'spacebar' or 'return/enter' key and then a 'j' is displayed followed by the actual desired input.

I found that the frequency and sensitivity of the 'J' key is 100% corresponding to the temperature of the notebook after a moderate gaming session (2 - 3hrs in Ghost Recon Wildlands or Battlegrounds: PlayerUnknown).
It appears that the hotter the GPU then the more sensitive it becomes to incorrectly detecting input as though I am pressing the 'j' key when I am, in fact, not.

Interestingly, I was repeatedly pressing the 'J' key during one test and stopped and pressed the 'return/enter' key a bunch of times and, after the cursor jumped down a few lines, I waited and then a bunch of 'j's began to appear sporadically despite no other input was being entered at all from myself. Which made me suspect that the sensors had became SO sensitive that it was mistakenly interpreting input from the fan vibrations. Fans were not at 100%. I believe they were at around 75% at this point.

I've applied for a RMA and refund from overclockersUK but will be looking to make another purchase of an Aorus notebook from the x5/x7 v7 line. I was delighted with the notebook aside from this one issue.

It's a premium notebook and I understand quality control can't detect every little error so I look forward to making another purchase once I receive my refund/more stock is available.

Any news on the x5 v7-CP2 or CP3 stock yet in the UK? Has there ever been any stock received by OCUK of those models?

All the Best,

Robin

Hi Robin,

OK, not problem.

We had just arranged for keyboard and top part of chassis to be shipped to service centre. But if you prefer the route you outlined above, that's OK, we will have the unit back to HQ and get better understanding of the issue when we can analyse.

X5 v7-CF2 and CF3 - should be stock landing on Monday next week.

Fingers crossed.

Regards,

Team AORUS

 

[darknob]

@Atom80 What the X7 V7 DT in 4K? Monday too?

 

[matzie]

I just did another Firestrike test on my X5 MD. after removing Geforce experience and Killer suite, as some have suggested they make a difference. - 13787 overall, 16757 graphics. http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/21236482

@Atom80 this isn't what I expected - please advise.

 

[Atom80]

@Atom80 What the X7 V7 DT in 4K? Monday too?

Hi darknob - X7 is looking more likely for the week after from what we learned today, sorry.

Regards,

Team AORUS

 

[Atom80]

I just did another Firestrike test on my X5 MD. after removing Geforce experience and Killer suite, as some have suggested they make a difference. - 13787 overall, 16757 graphics. http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/21236482

@Atom80 this isn't what I expected - please advise.

Sending to HQ to get their view on expectations.

Regards,

Team AORUS

 

[matzie]

Sending to HQ to get their view on expectations.

Thanks. *My* expectation, based on meanmachine's comment that I quoted above, was 10-15% better than the X5 v7... and since in reviews the X5 v*6* was getting scores like 14476 (17869 graphics: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Aorus-X5-v6-Notebook-Review.179321.0.html ) and @MiSJAH reported 15k... I was expecting a lot better than I'm getting. Not to mention that Dave Lee reported 18222 for the X5 MD (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIc6v4C0_-w&t=109s - presumably that's a graphics score not overall).

Bottom line is I'm really disappointed - if it takes a beefier PSU, or a new driver or vBIOS or whatever - I'm hoping you can sort this out ASAP. Thanks.

 

[RobinRedford]

Hey can you do a firestrike test to compare with the X5 MD? Would be cool thanks! Also how do you find the noise of the laptop? Battery life for regular use? Thanks

Hi Darknob,

I'm sorry I already sent away the laptop to the post office this morning before I went to work. I should have performed a firestrike test first though but I just wanted to dispatch the laptop asap to get it back to OCuk for a refund in time for my next purchase. Once I get my new notebook I'll be sure to run the firestrike test and post the results accordingly (so next week hopefully - which I know is a fair bit away but it's all I can do to help).

All the best,

Robin

 

[mrhumbility]

I got my x5 MD in the mail just the other day. Using the graphics drivers that came installed on it, I got a Fire Strike Score of 14,560. After updating to the newest drivers from Nvidia though, my scored lowered to around ~138XX's. I'm hoping that it's something to do with MaxQ being new and still needing some driver tweaking, and that its not a limitation of the 200 watt PSU throttling the performance. That said though, I love everything else about this laptop. Performance is still really great, and it stays quiet even while under load. I have no problem playing games without the need for headphones which is the reason that I picked the MD over the standard v7. I knew that I would be trading some performance for a quieter laptop and for me at least, that's a trade I wanted to make.

 

[MiSJAH]

Thanks. *My* expectation, based on meanmachine's comment that I quoted above, was 10-15% better than the X5 v7... and since in reviews the X5 v*6* was getting scores like 14476 (17869 graphics: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Aorus-X5-v6-Notebook-Review.179321.0.html ) and @MiSJAH reported 15k... I was expecting a lot better than I'm getting. Not to mention that Dave Lee reported 18222 for the X5 MD (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIc6v4C0_-w&t=109s - presumably that's a graphics score not overall).

Bottom line is I'm really disappointed - if it takes a beefier PSU, or a new driver or vBIOS or whatever - I'm hoping you can sort this out ASAP. Thanks.

The 1080MQ has a power limit of 90-110w and the 1070 standard has a power limit of 115w. The 1080MQ is tuned for coolness and quietness, the standard 1070 is not. Even though the 1080MQ has extra cores and DDR5X I think the tuning for coolness and quietness drops performance to 1070 standard levels (without much overclocking headroom).

As long as your 1080MQ is on par with a 1070 standard (but cooler and quieter), you have got what you paid for...

 

[matzie]

As long as your 1080MQ is on par with a 1070 standard (but cooler and quieter), you have got what you paid for...

I do hear you, but my problem is that I'm getting sub-1070 performance, and before my purchase I asked this question:

Any news on the X5 MD? I'm considering going for the regular X5 v7 but want to know how much lighter and thinner the MD version is going to be (if at all) and whether performance will be better or worse.

Aorus employee Mean Machine replied:

It's literally the exact same chassis for both the MD and the v7. Gaming performance will be higher on the MD, along the lines of 10-15%.

So on the basis of that reply, I went for the MD. I was happy to pay the price premium both in terms of the raw price (~£300) and in the reduced SSD size, vs the X5 v7-CF1, in order to receive a 10-15% improvement on its performance.

and that's why I'm unhappy. Things that would rectify that, in my order of preference:

1. Receiving some kind of software update that would produce the 10-15% increase I expected, or the promise that one will be provided within 90 days (and a promise of option 4 or 5 if that doesn't happen)
2. Receiving a bigger PSU if that will produce the same increase (I want a spare anyway)
3. Receiving a replacement X5 MD if mine is faulty and a replacement would match my expectation
4. A managed, no-hassle return of my X5 MD and replacement with an X5 v7-CF1, and a refund of the price difference
5. A managed, no-hassle return of my X5 MD and refund of the whole cost.

The simple fact is that if Mean Machine had said, "You'll get 1070 performance at best, maybe a little less, but it will be cooler and quieter", I'd probably have bought the regular v7.

Trusting that @Atom80 and his team will put this right, and I'm not being stroppy, just want what I paid for

 

[MiSJAH]

Things that would rectify that, in my order of preference:

1. Receiving some kind of software update that would produce the 10-15% increase I expected, or the promise that one will be provided within 90 days (and a promise of option 4 or 5 if that doesn't happen)
2. Receiving a bigger PSU if that will produce the same increase (I want a spare anyway)

The GPU is power limited, so a beefier psu will not produce results unless the vbios is adjusted to allow it.

I'm happy to compare gaming performance to see if the increase performance is there rather than in synthetic benchmark?

Current games installed: Farcry 4, Dishonored 2, Elite Dangerous, Half Life 2, and Dirt 4. If you have any of these, I'm happy to compare performance?

 

[matzie]

I'm happy to compare gaming performance to see if the increase performance is there rather than in synthetic benchmark?

Thanks, and of those I have Elite Dangerous available but not installed - I guess I'd need to configure FRAPS etc too, which I've not done before, and I'll be offline soon and not near my Aorus until tomorrow night - If you could generate a benchmark for that I would appreciate it as a useful data point and I'll do mine tomorrow night.

However, if you're getting 15,783 on FS and I'm getting 13,787... I'd be amazed if that big a disparity in a synthetic benchmark would be reversed in a gaming one. Thanks though.

 

[Closing]

Can anyone share with me the specs or a link to the specs of the onboard DAC please?

 

[AORUS - Mean Machine]

I do hear you, but my problem is that I'm getting sub-1070 performance, and before my purchase I asked this question:



Aorus employee Mean Machine replied:



So on the basis of that reply, I went for the MD. I was happy to pay the price premium both in terms of the raw price (~£300) and in the reduced SSD size, vs the X5 v7-CF1, in order to receive a 10-15% improvement on its performance.

and that's why I'm unhappy. Things that would rectify that, in my order of preference:

1. Receiving some kind of software update that would produce the 10-15% increase I expected, or the promise that one will be provided within 90 days (and a promise of option 4 or 5 if that doesn't happen)
2. Receiving a bigger PSU if that will produce the same increase (I want a spare anyway)
3. Receiving a replacement X5 MD if mine is faulty and a replacement would match my expectation
4. A managed, no-hassle return of my X5 MD and replacement with an X5 v7-CF1, and a refund of the price difference
5. A managed, no-hassle return of my X5 MD and refund of the whole cost.

The simple fact is that if Mean Machine had said, "You'll get 1070 performance at best, maybe a little less, but it will be cooler and quieter", I'd probably have bought the regular v7.

Trusting that @Atom80 and his team will put this right, and I'm not being stroppy, just want what I paid for

My internal little database of machines I've tested personally has the X5 MD sitting at 15049 points in Fire Strike with the 381.71 driver - definitely higher than the X5 v7 with the GTX 1070 scores, and your rather low score. I haven't done anything special with the machines, except letting Windows Update do its thing, and making sure that the power profile is set to high performance. I'd also check the NVIDIA control panel and set the Power Management Mode to "Prefer Maximum Performance".

If you're still not getting 15k-ish with max power, crank up the fan profile to max and try again (I didn't, but as a last diagnostic test, rather than a fix). Let us know how it goes.