Asus GL502VMK (Titanium Gold) BIOS and temps

So, today I just got my Asus GL502VMK (Titanium Gold) from Amazon and am doing some testings. So far am very satisfied with the performance and the laptop new color looks really nice.

Specs are:

- Intel i7 7700HQ (kaby lake)
- GTX 1060 6gb VRAM DDR5
- 16gb RAM DDR4-2400 (up to 24gb)
- 1tb HDD + 128gb SSD
- 1080p display 60Hz with G-Sync


About BIOS: The weirdest thing about the laptop is that it came already updated to the latest BIOS (which is v.300). How is that even possible? I bought the laptop as new and it really looks like new with no defective hardware.
Previously I had an Asus GL502VT and I remember it came with the default bios (v.202), then I had to update it to v.203 (which got released some days after I bought it ) and more. Also, when I tried to register the laptop through MyAsus it gave me an error (like "product already registered) but when I checked it really did register to my account (so why that message?)

My thoughts are:

- The laptop have been used (I don't think they're able to reset Bios) and sold as new.
- The latest BIOS update (v.300) is dated 2017/02/09 (year/month/day) but the laptop was available on the store since 2017/02/22 only. So I assume the BIOS update was created for the already released GL502VMK with the black/orange colors. The previous BIOS update (v.203) is even dated 2016/12/09. Can I assume that this GL502VMK "Titanium gold" version got bios updated by default?

And most important thing: did anyone have the same experience?

PS: Wear level of the battery is at 3%.

About idle temps: it's the first time I own a laptop with no Optimus, so I always have been used to low temps in idle. On my previous GL502VT (with i7 6700hq + gtx 970m) temps on idle were always close to 37-43°C for the CPU and about 40-44 for the GPU. Fans running at 2100rpm.

Now on my GL502VMK the situation is a bit different.

- GPU temps on idle are between 40 and 50 °C (mostly of the time 44-45 °C). Isn't that a bit high for just being on idle?

- CPU temps on idle are between 41 and 50 °C as well (usually at 45 °C). Fans running at 1800rpm though. I noticed also that when just opening a program, sometimes even Chrome, CPU temps briefly goes between 50-62°C then go back to mid 40 °C. While moving files from HDD to an external drive CPU temps are stable at 50°C (still 1800rpm)

Room temp was 24 °C.

About gaming temps: Tried The Witcher 3 ultra, 55-60 fps (no hairworks) and GPU temps were between 71-76 °C while CPU temps were on 76-80 (undervolted -0,130 V). On my old GL502VT CPU temps while playing TW3 were always 82-85 °C (undervolted - 0,149 V), so at least on gaming I think temps are way better.
Without undervolting CPU temps were going between 78 - 86°C on The Witcher 3 (but still no throttling).

Room temp was 26°C.

Last but not least, when I undervolt the CPU with Intel XTU I can only move by - 0,005 V.
On the Asus GL502VT I could even move by - 0,001 V (that's how I reached - 0,149 V)
I still don't understand why.


Some tweaks:

Screen:
- Overall the IPS display is pretty good, but it's way too yellowish. The panel is an LG Philips LP156WF6-SPB6, couldn't find many info about it online. Lucky me there's just some minimum backlight bleed on the top right corner, almost unnoticeable. I think the screen is also flicker-free, but am not sure about it.
I compared it to the GL502VT display which was way better, have better color accuracy and a true white color. But it had some bad backlight bleed on the top and the bottom of the screen. Also, it didn't have G-Sync.

A 4K wouldn't have been bad btw.

PS: If you want to calibrate your screen remember to unistall Asus Splendid (which is useless anyway), otherwise it will probably keep restoring the default color palette.


Audio popping issue:
- I didn't have this problem on the Asus GL502VT so it's pretty weird this one has it. Oh well, at least I learned something new. The Realtek audio has a power management mode set by default (thanks Realtek but no need). If you don't use the speakers for 10 seconds they will shut off and when you will use those again (for any kind of sound, even those related to Windows) a "pop" noise will just show up, just before the sound. It's basically the speaker turning on and it can be really annoying.

You can disable the power management (which is useless even on battery mode) through the registry.
Type "Regedit" on the search bar, start it, and search for HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Realtek/PowerMgnt then set the "Enable" string to 0 (it's on 1 by default). So Enable REG_DWORD 0x00000001 must become Enable REG_DWORD 0x00000000.
Then restart the PC. This should fix the issue in most cases.

Otherwise unistall Realtek audio drivers and just use the Microsoft ones.

Pros:
+ G-Sync is a game changer.
+ Fan speed control through ROG Gaming Center.

Cons:
- Yellowish white screen.
- No switch mode between dGPU and iGPU. Actually, the Intel HD Graphics 630 is not even being detected, even on BIOS. I think that switching to iGPU would have been really good for light tasks and on battery.

 

You're probably just used to the cooler color temp on your old laptop screen.
my LG external monitor is supposedly factory color calibrated, and it matches my gl502vm LG screen white color.

My old G501 had a samsung panel, and that was slightly cooler, probably the same as your gl502vt.

But your eye adjusts after using a while.

 

True. I restored the default colors (due to a conflict between applications, W10 Creators Update and ICC profiles) and am slowly getting used. It doesn't look so yellow anymore (if I don't look back at the GL502VT screen which has a more blueish white which kinda hurts my eyes now).

But I have the GL502VM K version. Is the panel (LG Philips LP156WF6-SPB6) the same as the standard GL502VM?

Should be this one: http://laptopmedia.com/screen/lg-lp156wf6-spb6/ but I think the screen shouldn't have PWM.

Also I read that sRGB is 85% and Adobe RGB is 55% (while the old GL502VT screen had a solid sRGB 98% and Adobe RGB 63% but also PWM)

 

yes, asus has been using the same LG panel since the skylake gl502vm.

 

Did you have the audio pop issue too? Just curious to see if it's a common problem of the VM versions.
I don't think it's an hardware issue 'cause I was able to fix it through the registry, even if I basically disabled the Realtek power management. Even if I fixed it this way it kinda worries me a little bit.

 

every laptop i've had recently has the audio pop.

 

YELLOW SCREEN FIX - I have owned many Asus laptops over the years and everyone complains about the yellowish display. It's actually a very easy fix. When you unpack your new laptop it comes with Asus' Splendid Video software installed and by default it is set to "night mode" (yellow instead of blue hue to save eyestrain at night). If you've removed the software reinstall it and change the mode to default or vivid depending on your preferences. Then you can uninstall it and you're done. It's worked like a charm for me with my 4 ASUS ROG laptops. Hope this helps !