Asus ROG Zephyrus GX501 - Dissasembly and Repaste?

Hi,

I want to repaste my GX501 with Liquid Metal because I want to get the best out of this beatiful laptop.

I have done that for all new Alienware models and I wonder how I can do it with my new ASUS.

A few questions regarding the repaste:

1. Is it possible to use liquid metal in the ASUS GX501?
   
2. Is there any dissasembly guide especially for the heatsink?
3. What would be good CPU temperatures in OCCT with and without liquid metal?

Would be nice to get some help because I do not want to harm the system.

 

Repaste of the GX501 voids the warranty, as you have to remove the "warranty void if removed stickers" to remove the heatsink.

That being said, It definitely could use some liquid metal. I would expect mid 70's to 80's with repaste... depending on a lot of factors

 

Hm, voiding the warranty is a problem for me. Yesterday I ran two OCCT 5 minutes session. One run without undervolting and One run with -100mv undervolt.

Seems to me that I already got a very good pasted unit. What do you think?

 

5 min is a very short run time, that data is suspect. OCCT isn't a best representation of Gaming/ normal use anyway. Do a Firestrike stress test (20 min).

The 11C difference between core 0 and core 3 suggests there might be a seating issue. I don't know why that stabilized with the undervolt (but like I said before 5 min is not enough time for good data)

With proper seating and good paste job, there could be even more improvement.

Call/email Asus. Ask if repasting voids warranty. If you get it in writing (that it doesn't) from any company rep, that is legally binding and they will have to support any warranty issue after repaste.

 

The core differential seems to be a "miss meassurement". In Fire Strike stress test I don't have this high differentials. Nevertheless ASUS replied that repasting will void the warranty.

"Thank you for contacting the online ASUS tech support.

I am sorry to hear you are having problems with your GX501VIK notebook.

Unfortunately replacing the CPU paste would void the warranty. Could you please tell me how high the CPU temperature is and when it is at its highest (while playing or during normal use)?"

 

If you have 4x threads of equal compute utilization, like prime95 or other CPU benchmark tool, tune it for 4 or 8 threads with 100% CPU utilization - I use prime95 small FFT - don't run a simultaneous GPU load test that's too much for a thin laptop to handle, just stick with testing the CPU core temp differentials first.

If you have a misaligned heatplate, not getting even pressure across the CPU, you can get Cores 0/1 with lower/higher temps than Cores 2/4 (or their equivalents in hyperthreaded cores), basically half the "cores" will run hotter than the other half.

3c-5c core differential is "normal", from 6c-10c it's "acceptable" if undervolting keeps the hottest cores from entering "thermal throttling" range of 93c. If half the cores run hot enough to thermal throttling, then all the cores are throttled, so you don't want that to happen.

Before testing all this, undervolt first. It's a waste of time to do this under the overvolted BIOS CPU voltage setting.

Asus used to say re-pasting was ok, at least in the US, where are you located?

 

Hi,
my location is Germany. Attached you can see my results with Prime95. What do you think? CPU is undervolted with -125mv.

 

Temps look fine no need to repaste.

 

Thank you for your reply, but I still wonder how to remove the heatsink. I found a quite good pic of it. Does someone know which screews and tape needs to be removed? Would be very helpfull.

https://www.laptopmain.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Asus-ROG-Zephyrus-GX501VI-Disassembly-3.jpg

 

You only ran the hwinfo64 for 1 minute and 27 seconds, so that wasn't long enough to get good numbers, the short measurement time and the CPU temps are way too low to show anything useful.

Try running Prim95 small FFT on 8 threads for at least 5-15 minutes, start the hwinfo64 monitoring before you start the Prime95 run.

-125mV is good, but is that your first setting? Are you stable with that value at idle and for long gaming sessions? Did you try a larger undervolt? Try increasing -5mV at a time until you crash under 100% CPU load and then back off +10mV, if you haven't already

 

Okay, will try another 10 minute session with prime. First I undervolted with -100mv and this was fine so I tried -125mv. I had one or two freezes but I think this was becasue a too high OC of MSI Afterburner. After disabling this OC no crash occured even in long gaming sessions e.g. BF1 for 1 hour.

 

The OC is cool, you just need to adjust the undervolt to match the voltage needs of the additional OC

It's good to undervolt at stock speeds to get a good baseline for maximum undervolt, so as you OC you know to reduce the undervolt as needed to gain stability at the new OC.

It's good to completely remove the undervolt, and do the OC on stock BIOS voltage, then when you find the top OC, you can then see if there is any voltage margin left by trying an undervolt.

If there is no undervolt margin at the top OC with stock BIOS voltage, this tells you there might be more OC available by *overvolting*

Then you can overvolt by +50mV at top OC and then see if you can OC a bit more, and a bit more, until unstable again, then increase overvolt by +5mV to +10mV.

It's a good plan to ratchet up in increments like this to bracket stability, undervolt, OC, and then overvolt. Culminating in finding top OC + overvolt to the limits of your cooling, and then undervolting slightly - back off the overvolt by -1mV at a time to complete the tuning.

Don't let that all scare you off, you'll discover this on your own as you explore the limits, in your own time.

Have fun

 

Here is my 10 minutes prime test with -125mv. Core diffentials are bit high aren't they?

 

Not optimal, but not fatal. Under 10c and without thermal throttling on the hottest cores, you are still ok, but there is room for improvement

To fix the core temp differential it would require redoing the thermal pads - replacing with thinner pads or K5 Pro - typically. And, replacing the paste too.

You might have uneven tightening of the screws around the heatplate, first thing to check. Don't pull the heatplate - reseating introduces air bubbles that make it worse, instead loosen the screws and retighten them in a cross pattern, 1/2 turn at a time to get even pressure across the plate against the CPU. After it's all tight again, test again for core temp differential.

Good luck

 

Do you know how thick the thermal pads which are currently attached are?

Still searching for disassembly guide. Am I the only person who wants to remove the heatsink ?

 

Probably

Most people get what they want from undervolting... turning on the Balanced Power Plan with CPU min/max of 0%/100% so the CPU can downclock during idle time and between load lets the laptop cool down too. High Performance Power Plan runs at full speed all the time (except for power and thermal throttle) 100%/100%.

Read the thread, do some googling, I've seen mention of pad thickness for various Asus models.

 

Look closer, 16c between Core 3 and core 0. Still not fatal, but that is big

@pitha1337, you may be able to simply tighten the heat-sink without damaging the warranty sticker. With a core differential that large, good chance one of the sides is not screwed down as tight as the others. Do what @hmscott said with loosening and tightening

 

doing 100/100 isn't worth for anything other than benchmarking

for battery I would recommend 1/99 and plugged in 5/100

I use this on all of my systems

 

Good idea for the battery operation, 99% disables Turbo and reduces CPU power draw - and performance - quite a bit.

I don't use battery mode much, so I don't think of it when recommending AC settings, thanks

 

You measure the differential between odd and between even cores, 0/2 and 1/3, those pairs are physically near each other, so if half the CPU is under less pressure / contact this differential shows up.

The 0/3 differential is likely due to stray processes loading / running during Prime - like a system update or telemetry report run, typically - or another program indexing.

Core 0 is usually the core that gets a couple extra degree's from random single thread's as well.

I've seen this a few times, so there is a chance re-tightening the screws around the heatplate is enough to get the temperature differential down below 5c.

 

Hi@ all, repasted the ASUS 5 minutes ago with Gelid - GC Extreme. So haven't used liquid metal yet. Here are my results. I will post some pictures of the disassembly soon. It is very easy by the way

10 Minutes Prime and -125mv undervolted and of course repasted^^

 

Nice work, you completely removed the core temp differential, and the overall temp is some of the best I've seen while running prime95 on a laptop, no need to go further

 

Thanks! Waiting for your disassembly guide

 

so is there some pictures of the repaste...or after the heatsink has been removed? i am tempted to do it...already got some thermal grizzly...but there doesn't seem to have anything online that shows a repaste....and i rather watch the process before i actually do it myself

 

Here is my 3DMark Fire Strike Score after Repaste with Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut and OC with MSI Afterburner:

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/14386195

I also undervolt the CPU with -125ms. Repaste was simple and took me about an hour. When you open the case you have to remove 13 screws. 3 from the left Radiator, 2 from the right one and 8 for CPU and GPU. After that you have to remove the Black Label on the left Radiator where the white and black wifi cable goes through and the connection for the right fan. I also used a couple of Thermal Pads after cleaning.

Very happy with the Zephyrus now, temperatures are also fine, great Gaming Machine.

 

I've got the 1070 model of the Zephyrus. I'm thinking I may do a repaste but am posting here to ask whether this is necessary and to ask for advice towards appropriate steps.

• Why am I considering repasting?

I want my laptop to last ~5-6 years and I'm worried about heat produced affecting the lifespan. I game ~10-20 hours/wk. I will be going back to school in 2 years and won't be able to afford a new laptop in the future.

• What do temps look like now?

Running prime95 small FTTs 8 threads for ~27minutes produces this at an undervolt of -125mv. Idle is stable with 39-40C averages.

• Why am I worried?

To be honest: I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to a gaming laptop. I've always owned a desktop and this is a desktop replacement. I have repasted desktops I've built before. Unfortunately, I need to have a laptop for the portability it affords. I know I'd like to have temps under 80C. Considering that my best undervolt produces the temps above, I'm worried I have a bad unit and need to repaste. I need advice if this is a necessary step to ensure my laptop lasts as long as I need it to.

• What other options am I considering?

Trading up w/ cash for an Aorus X7 or possibly a delidded Clevo/Sager unit. Trading down w/ cash for an EVGA SC17. As long as I can ensure it 1.) looks professional 2.) will have great performance and 3.) will last quite a while, I am up for suggestions.

Thanks for any help anyone can give me.

Edit: I've posted this comment in it's own separate thread.

 

Hi Iwould like to know how you dealt with the warranty void sticker, thank you!

 

Your system temps seem normal, don't do anything to void the warranty if things are working fine.