Asus ROG GL503

That's a fairly hefty amount of throttle..

How are the fan noise emissions at idle and load?

Might as well wait <3 weeks until CES 2018 if you can. There's likely to be several new gaming models announced by the various manufacturers, Intel's 8700HQ release, nVidia possibly announcing a Volta retail release, etc.

 

Yes that's right. I used overboost to bring the temps down. It was around just 90 degrees then. I lifted the back of laptop up too with that on. Fans were loud because of the sheer amount of air they were moving and it wasn't a high pittched whine. (sorry that info is for anyone else reading thread.) Just a loud SSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH sound.

I will say that I'm pretty sure if someone set the laptop screen to run at 60Hz with v-sync it probably wouldn't overheat at all. But that defeats the purpose of getting a system with 144Hz, taking off V-Sync, running G-Sync, etc. hahaha.

I don't have a GL502 to compare this one to, but I do believe that Asus tried hard to make it all work. My room temp is approx 25 Celsius, etc

 

Just now I made a reply before this one with a comment on fan noise.

Welp.. I had a buddy link me to the Microsoft Store sale for Alienware laptops. AW17, 7820HK, GTX1070, 256GB SSD/1TB HDD, 120Hz TN, etc. for $1799, so I snatched that up. I'm sure any of the CES ones that may be announced won't show up till mid or later next year.

I needed something now because I was causing serious wife aggo when running Destiny 2 raids in middle of night on my main rig which is near our bedroom. (No joke she had a hammer and looked like she was going to smash my rig to bits.) So I literally ordered this Asus the next day.

From what I'm reading on AW forums all things aren't peachy there either.. It's very much a lottery. I hope I get a good one. =(

 

I Hope it is coming with Standard 2 yr. warranty.

 

Thank you for the infos! I am definitely curious what a -100mv ~ -120mv undervolt will do for ya. Same goes for a repaste - hopefully someone here has ordered from HID/Gentec/Xotic and can weigh in on whether it helped much. I'm still torn between the GL503VS and the Aero 15x. Having the 144hz with gsync vs a non-trivial amount of latency on optimus makes it tough to decide.

One quick question - in one review it was reported that the notebook can't draw enough power on battery to run the gpu past min clocks and that gsync is disabled. Did you experience anything like this? Other users in reviews reported crashing/instability when pulling the power. I realize that it's not practical to game on battery, but am interested in any odd issues like this considering that the GL502 had power draw issues (battery slowly drained while plugged in and gaming).

 

You're very welcome. I've learned a lot from lurking here and wanted to contribute back based on my experiences with the GL503VS and hopefully it'll help other people make a good decision etc.

I'm not going to repaste mine as I'm planning to send it back if the AW is better, etc. However, I am going to attempt undervolting tonight to see if that helps at all.

I am a gamer first and needed a desktop replacement laptop to use in another area of my house because moving my desktop computer isn't practical. So I can't comment on gaming while on battery. I believe that G-Sync will be disabled when on battery.

Regarding the 144Hz with G-Sync being worth it over Optimus... Have you tried using a screen with high refresh and some sort of adaptive sync tech yet? High refresh and G-Sync when paired with a good GPU is really amazing.

If you know that you'll be near a power outlet wherever you plan to use this laptop and are buying it primarily to play games then go for the G-Sync, if you want something more power efficient and use the laptop for schoolwork, etc. and need to be mobile get something with Optimus.

I do own a perfectly functional Thinkpad X230 with external battery slice.. (it's old but I get 7 hours battery doing work, websurfing etc. it's not stellar compared to new thin and lights, but it is 6 years old. hahaha.) So I don't need a laptop that's portable with long battery life. I'm actually looking for something that will be reasonably good for gaming without too much compromise from my real desktop computer.

 

Hi.. The adventures of GL503VS continued yesterday... I downloaded throttlestop and did do some undervolting.

To recap for others reading the thread at normal factory settings both GPU and CPU would hit 100 degrees, then I would get huge framerate dips from the usual 80-120 FPS to 45-50 FPS. At first I did -80mv to see if that would help and it didn't do much. I moved it over to -100mv and I saw some improvement in GPU being around 90 degrees, but CPU was still constantly throttling at 100 degrees. I then undevolted to -110mv and got about 90-99 on CPU, the CPU would turbo again which would probably cause temps to go up, then it would go back to default speed and cycle like that. The good news was that the GPU was constantly between 80-90 degrees and GPU clockspeed was mostly at 1443Mhz, etc. Notebookcheck.com lists the GTX1070 mobile boost speed to 1645MHz. So all in all, doing an undervolt of -110mv helped to stop the GPU from throttling, BUT it still didn't allow the GPU to have the boost clock active. CPU was basically cycling between default and turbo clock speed. I tried using the Asus ROG app to control the fans at Auto and Overdrive and results in temps were same.

With the -110mv undervolt I gamed for about 3 hours and didn't "feel" any stuttering like the time where the laptop was clearly throttling on both CPU and GPU. This time I did all the testing with laptop flat on my desk, because I wanted to see how effective the undervolt was working. I had no freezes or glitches in game. I even switched on resolution scaling to simulate the GPU running Destiny 2 in 1440p, so the GPU was being taxed.

After I finished my gaming session, I did some light web browsing and that's where I had an issue with the undervolting. The computer froze and I got the Win 10 blue screen ("Your system is having problems.. we're collecting information... etc.."

The issue clearly is thermals, and I think the stock cooling system is just "almost there" if paired together with a mild undervolt. I'm guessing that -100mv would have probably been fine, but I didn't prime95 to confirm, etc. A re-pasting would probably help a lot, but I'm not going to attempt that because I feel like there's not enough headroom for it to surely work and I'm considering sending it back to where I purchased it from.

The Alienware 17 that I ordered is on its way today. I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed for that, and not holding my breath for it.. The hundreds of complaints I've seen on the internet aren't promising and the couple of threads on here about the AW17 R4 have me concerned as well.

I have the utmost confidence that the GL503 does perfectly fine with a GTX1060, but feel the cooling system falls a bit short to get the most out of the hardware in the GL503VS version.

 

It sounds like your unit lost the thermal goop raffle at the factory

 

Interesting find for the GL503VM.

I just undervolted my CPU with throttlestop (-125mV) instead of Intel XTU using the notebookcheck guide, temps seems to drop for the CPU.

My first test a few days back resulted in 92 degrees for CPU and and 71 ish for GPU after 10 mins

This test resulting in 84 degrees for CPU and 73 for GPU after 25 mins.

Anyone else tried undervolting GPU and CPU using afterburner aand throttlestop. Be cool to know what others are getting.

 

Hey guys! Created this account just so I could chime in about my personal experiences with the GL503VS. I just ended up buying this computer and the GL702VS this week, and let me say, I’m not having any of the issues described about the GL503VS; I absolutely love it.

So, with the GL503VS, let me just say, the screen is absolutely beautiful. Comparing to the other laptop, it’s night and day. The 144hz monitor is definitely noticable, and the ips over the tn is everything.

I tested a couple games: Overwatch, Swtor, and Rainbow 6 Siege. I gamed on overwatch the longest with both laptops, and the GL503VS handles is perfectly. I was able to achieve a near constant 140-150 FPS with high graphics, and there was never any overheating Issue. The impressive thing about this computer is that the auto fan mode actually works. It handled everything, and increased when needed. Now, when I played overwatch on the GL702VS, this computer was absolutely awful. I would constantly get fps screen lag (blinking), however I did average at 100-120 fps on high. But in order to achieve this, I had to manually go and raise the fan to max. The convenience of having the system do it automatically flawlessly is awesome. The fan on the GL503VS can get a little bit louder at times, and I tried with the max fan and gosh it gets quite loud, but honestly it really never went up to max and was completely tolerable, also so worth it for that screen!!

Another thing, the speakers on the GL503VS are fantastic. I like to play Overwatch without a headset, and they are super loud. The GL702VS were very disappointing and I could hardly hear with them. This was big for me.

Swtor ran perfectly fine on ultra graphics on the GL503VS, but unfortunately I didn’t do a lot of testing. Equally, Rainbow 6 Siege rain great on both computers, however the GL702VS would once again have fps lag which drove me mad.

I just wanted to post here to say that my GL503VS has no issues with the thermals, and I’m in love with the laptop. I game extensively, and overwatch alone was a good 6 hours yesterday, running flawlessly the whole way through.

 

Can you comment on how loud the system is on idle or just everyday uses such as browsing/watching videos?

 

If you were speaking about the GL503VS, it’s not loud at all during normal daily stuff. Just the norm that you would expect. I literally don’t notice or am annoyed by any of the fan speeds, whether it be daily stuff, or gaming. I’m literally in love with this laptop.

 

Spec-wise, it's definitely the best 15.6" panel on the market. Would love to see this screen as an option on the various 2018 refreshes (Gigabyte Aero, Dell XPS, etc).

Is this where the screen goes black for fraction of a second during gaming? (basically blinks off then on very quickly?) I experienced this on the GL702VS and it's very distracting, but it's also completely random, worse in some games vs others, and seems to have happened less over time (perhaps a driver update smoothed things out). Any idea what causes it?

Agreed, how such a higher end model ended up with such lousy speakers is beyond me..

 

How's the backlight bleed? I currently have a zephyrus but might swap it for the 503 scar, and the backlight bleed is borderline unacceptable for a laptop this expensive. I have a couple days to decide.

 

Eh, it's something like that. Perhaps it's not FPS lag, but it was directly correlated to when the system overheated. It would basically seem like the brightness was going up and down in the flash of a second, over and over again.

Unfortunately, I'm not the best to ask this question. I pulled up a full black screen and can't notice anything, so I'm not quite sure. I'm sure it has some, but nothing that I can even see or that bothers me.

 

I have not managed to find almost any information about the GL503VM Hero edition. Can someone who bought it tell me how it handles the temperature and the sound of the fans? I really love the style it has, but I would hate to end up buying a hybrid between vacuum cleaner and toaster.
I would always keep the MSI GS62VR, even if I hate its power button and its design.

 

Screen color reproduction and 144Hz is really nice. The unit I was using before had some acceptable backlight bleed on the 4 corners. The backlight bleed is pretty normal for an IPS screen and only really noticeable in a pitch black room. The screen is quite bright, so I found I could reduce the brightness to about 60% and it was still very bright, etc. That helped with the backlight bleeding for the one I was using.

I saw your other thread, that $800 can go a long way for other upgrades, etc. the build quality on the GL503 is quite nice. I just won't be keeping mine because I think the one I got had a bad pasting job, etc.

 

Yeah, the zephyrus isnt playing nice with my recording interface so that kinda made my decision to swap for the gl503 Scar. Havent really been impressed with the zephyrus screen as the response time is really slow and I can see ghosting. This is exacerbated due to having a Rog Swift PG279q monitor on my main rig, so the slower response time is really jarring to me. Is the GL503 faster than the Zephyrus when it comes to response times?

 

Well the display for the GL503VS is really one of its strengths. I mentioned a few posts back that I use one of those Alienware 240Hz TN screens for my desktop gaming, and I feel that the Asus 144Hz IPS is very good compared to that. While the 240Hz TN is faster for sure, you only really see it when you flick the mouse to turn around 180 degrees in an FPS shooter on purpose, etc. I can't comment on the Zephyrus because I haven't tried it out, but the GL503VS screen was quite good in my opinion.

 

So when you say you aren't keeping it, does that mean you're exchanging it for another one or getting an entirely different brand? Like Hale Leon said, he experienced none of the thermal issues you had, so maybe you just had some bad luck with the laptop gods.

 

I'm returning it and have mixed feelings about doing so, because the screen colors and response time is very very nice. I did get an AW17 R4 and am testing that out for now, but the GL503VS I got is probably a bad one. The build on the GL503 and the software package is quite nice.

I wrote in a couple posts earlier that I believe Asus did make some improvements and tried really hard to keep things cool. I can't imagine Asus designing it to run up to 99C on both CPU and GPU after 1 hour of Destiny 2. The fans are very strong on it and I'm sure that if I took time to repaste it, etc. things would probably be different, but you know.. It's a brand new laptop and I shouldn't have to open it up like that, etc. So I'm sending it back for a refund.

If you look through the Alienware thread it's kind of a "luck of the draw" thing too, moreso than with Asus and MSI, etc.

 

I have the hero edition. you can read some of my previous post for some information. I went from a GL703VM and returned it for the 503V.M
I posted screenshots of running prime95+furmark at the same time for about 25 minutes. I did do a undervolt on the CPU for about -125mv as well using afterburner to undervolt the GPU. As for the loudness of the pc, lets just say its pretty dam loud with or without fan overboost on. I keep fan overboost on just because its not that much "quieter" with it off so you might as well keep it on for better temps.

Temps are posted again in the screenshot below.
My next test is probably with witcher 3 for an 1-2 hr of game play.

For battery life, you can get 3.5 to 4 hours of battery ish. As of typing this reply, i have about 2:39 hr left of use with the time on battery currently at 1:18 hr (using BatteryMon). So total time according to these numbers are 3:57 hr. This with screen at 30% and power saver mode on.

Overall, I like this laptop over the GL703VM version since this one has better battery life.

 

I have a GL503VS ordered through XoticPC with Kryonaut paste for both CPU and GPU. I've had it for about a week now and the fan noise was a bit concerning at first. I was not used to ramping up to such sounds on the razer blade 2013 model. I undervolted earlier to I think -0.060V but I got BSOD while gaming so I went back to normal. Sounds don't bother me now and I've seen the CPU low as 37C to 96C after gaming. It usually idles at 40-45 C which seems high but I do see it register around 35C when I check HWMonitor.

 

could you test your system with aida64 extreme stability test cpu+gpu for 30 minutes? what temperatures?

 

I am very interested in the 503VM Hero. However, I can’t find really any reviews or literature about the laptop.


My main concern is the response time of the monitor. ASUS lists the response time at 25MS, which seems like a hell of a lot for a 120Hz display! How is it? Do you notice a lot of ghosting in any FPS games or even other games?

 

I don't really notice any ghosting that affects day to day use. As for FPS gaming, im not too sure. If you want a game for FPS , you should get the scar edition. This version is for MOBA games and possibly RPG games and what not.

Anyways I did a test for the Witcher 3 for about an hour and temps are pretty decent.

I am getting GPU temps of 70 degrees (thanks to undervolting the GPU) and CPU temps average around 75-76 degrees with max temp at 79 degrees.

Settings were mostly on high, with hairworks off, and shadow at low. Also fan overboost was on.

 

Hi,

By any chance any of u guys know where I can find a bios update for the Gl503VS? The one with 1070? Pls help

 

When you're riding around in Witcher 3, do you notice any ghosting? Trailing tree branches against the snow, for example?

 

I didnt notice any ghosting issues on witcher 3. I think you will be fine.

 

WTF Asus. Why must you ruin everything? I've been through over a dozen laptops the past two years, some with even more powerful graphics in them, and they ALL had optimus, advertised or otherwise. The very first Asus laptop I try in over a decade and it comes out with the ****tiest battery life of them all. If it's gonna be a literal brick on a desk shackled to a power outlet I don't see why they even bother to make it thin and light with suspect cooling.

I have to thank all the idiots on Amazon, newegg, and youtube for never mentioning this little gem that I spotted within the very first hour of unboxing the laptop. And of course the only mention of the issue is in a thread for a different model entirely.

So what are the chances newegg will let me return it without me getting butt raped with restocking fees?

 

Hey guys, I am deciding between buying the hero edition and MSI raider. Both are 15.6" with i7-7700HQ, 16GB of ram, 256GB SSD + 1TB HDD, and GeForce GTX 1060, at the exact same price point for me (I am located in Canada).

My question is the display. It seems like the response time of GL503 (non-SCAR) isn't that good, according to notebook check ( https://www.notebookcheck.net/Asus-ROG-GL503VD-DB74-7700HQ-GTX-1050-Laptop-Review.259452.0.html). Is that the case?

 

Well I not in favor of using ASUS Laptops because of very much expensive. You can buy much better gaming laptop in less amount as compared to ASUS.

 

U cant go wrong with either. The MSI will have better cooling but a smaller battery. However, u will probably get similar battery performance or better since the MSI has nvidia optmius.

The screen for the asus hero edition is 120 hz IPS (i will get the exact model number when i get home) while the msi is 120 hz TN panel. Both does not have gSync nor do they have thunderbolt 3.

Between the two, if they are the same price point, the msi seems to have more value;though i love the new look of the asus laptop. I personally went for the hero version cuz the msi was 200+more. But if they were identical in pricing, i would go with the msi.

You may want to consider looking at the 1070 versions of both models.

Edit: asus gl503 hero screen panel Model : B156HAN04.5 (Monitor ID: AUO45ED)

 

I got myself an asus gl 503vm i think a month back, and just played dota 2 on it. Today when i turned it on and played halfway the screen got filled with static(?). Does anybody knows what’s the reason?

 

Sounds like a gpu issue. Does it occur everytime or is this a one time thing? This happens to even desktop GPU once in awhile sometimes. It could be just a hiccup failure / instability. Maybe it overheated during that moment or something. You should be fine unless it constantly happens under load. Run some stress test and see if you can duplicate the error.

Also, did you undervolt your gpu, if so then you may need to back off the undervolt just slightly, this may have cause instability therefore resulting in graphical issues.

 

Hi guys, i'm a new owner of gl503vm... i think my product have problems because i have EXTREME banding on grey scale on some images. I have to send pc back or you have the same problem (in this case i make my soul in peace).

Here's some screenshot of the problem (i even tried to reinstall nvidia drivers)



I wait for a response from other people. Please, is very important, becase i have 14 days to send pc back if is a fault

 

are you using an uncompressed image?

Open this gradient and see if you have banding.... https://i.imgur.com/rMdEvPk.png

check your driver setting to see that it is 32bit full dynamic range.

 

thank you for your answer. Yes your image do look banding too (less prominent). I find that this is a very common problem with nvidia and some display's... basically it looks like 16 bit but all is setted right with 32 bit and 8 bcp... the only way to made it better is to configu with 6 bcp in nvidia control panel but the trick to create a custom reoslution doesn't work on my rog (i read cause of windows 10 fall creator update and new nvidia driver).

I can only hope that the sostitutive unit of my pc will be ok (i already contacted my store and ask for this, but they have no units at the moment so i have to wait untile end of the month with this)

 

Anyone know the best place to get a Gl503vs from for the uk?

Seen some on various Amazon European stores(Gl503vs-EI005T), since us imports are way too pricey. Idk why they don't sell the 503vsmodel in uk. Any news on if they plan on releasing soon?

 

it should be 6 bpc. I don't know why you have an 8 bpc option.

laptop screens are cheap, and most only have 6bit with dithering. If 6 bpc eliminates the banding, then that is what you have to live with.

Get HWinfo64 and post what model your lcd display is.

 

i have only 8 bcp... on forums i see that there is a trick with custom resolutions that enables 6 bcp profile but don't work on my rog (maybe i read cause of windows 10 FCU and nvidia driver from a couple of months).

My screen is an auo53ed... i just asked my seller to send my a new pc, and should arrive to me on 16-18 jan... so if the new gl503 will have the same problem i just have to keep it like this (orrible) because i don't want to give him back; this pc is a beast, and build qualità is so awesome that i was shocked when unboxed first time. I just hope that have a faulty one...

 

in your previous post, you said 6 bpc makes it better. So I thought you had that option.

if 8 bpc is your default option, then maybe you should contact Asus tech support directly and ask for a firmware update.
Firmware is what you'll need

 

in those days i will have a new unit straight from my seller... other comments said that "screen is awesome", so i think that i have just a faulty unit... we'll see in those days (i should have the new one in 2-3 days)

 

Anyone who has the hero edition of the 503 please, let me know the sRGB and AdobeRGB on your display. Thanks!

 

Can anyone with GL503VS can upload esupport folder? I sudden delete it when reinstall windows. Thank in advance.

 

Well, I've been lurking in the shadows on this thread because I've been looking to buy a gaming laptop that could edit photos, too. Definitely needed an IPS panel and the GL503VM seemed to fit my needs. Ordered it and received one with a beautiful, but defective screen that has some diagonal cloudiness in the center of screen. You wouldn't even notice it in general if it weren't that I was so focused on very small parts of the screen to edit photos. That said, every time I look there it bugs the heck out of me. There's some light bleed around the edges, which is forgivable on such a nice IPS panel, but a hot diagonal white area on the screen is not. Since I worked with Amazon and ASUS and all agree it's a defective panel, I'm using the opportunity to second guess the purchase and upgrade to the GL503VS. (Once I played Destiny 2 on Ultra settings, I just want more). So, (for a moment in time) I should have both the "VM" and "VS" in house.

I learned a lot on this thread, since there's little to no information online about this series of laptops. Looking forward to the VS and also maybe giving back some. Just hoping I get a solid panel tomorrow and that the 144hz panel is as good or better as the 120hz. (rolls dice)

 

So, here are some pics that show what I am talking about in regards to the screen. I'm chalking this one up to damaged panel and still really like the feature combinations the Hero and Scar offer. That said, be sure to give the laptop display a once over. I use an old site like The Lagom LCD monitor test pages. Technology has changed, but the fundamentals of a good display like contrast, gamma and levels have not. Never wanted to drop the money on the hardware and software bundles to fully test, though. In the following photos, you can see that back light bleed is pretty high, but still okay in my book, considering color, contrast etc. when gaming or looking at a busy screen. When focusing on certain pictures, there's clouding that does not go away, no matter what. On the solid blue photo, you can see a hot spot shining through that moves from upper-right quadrant towards the center of the screen. No amount of dimming, adjusting etc. will lessen etc. Damaged panel. The black level picture looks worse than it is because the best low-light camera I have is my Pixel 2 XL. I just don't have a good zero light lens for my camera, but the picture still highlights the areas of issue.

Overall, regardless, love the Hero and hope the issues resolve when the Scar arrives. Double check your display panel when you purchase.

 

this thing drive me crazy... today i have the replace unit, and this have the same identical banding problem of the first one. I don't know what to do a this point. Gl703 suffer from this? someone have info's?

 

hi, you have my problem too? you can check on your model? extreme banding on grey and blacks... look

 

Sorry to hear your issues, I'd be frustrated too. Mines a clouding issue which is supposedly damage to the screen or so ASUS says since it was delivered this way. I would say your screen looks as if it was manufactured that way. I don't know how you would get such a distinct striping on the panel. Clearly it's repetitive in nature and man made, whatever it is.

I have the GL503VM-DB74 model or Hero model purchased from Amazon. It's definitely a different panel than yours, but obviously there are issues.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/v2vznmfApskYU4bk2