GL702ZC - Fixing Heat issues one way or another!

Let me start off by saying, I haven't always been the most knowledgeable about computers... I liked yelling 'IT SUPPORT!!!!' to my friends to fix my issues on occasions. But my IT guy from my current job, who i was actually learning a lot from left a few months ago so I've been watching and Reading everything I can to fix or upgrade my computers. I've known my way around things but the deeper you go sometimes, the more lost I get..

ANYHOW!!!
So I picked up a GL702ZC for my new Work/Personal/Travel workstation rig. I travel for work as an engineer so a Desktop just inst as viable option as Id like... I've already upgraded it a bit, New thermal paste, 970pro, 860Evo, 32Gb ram...

I primarily run CAD/CAM programs. Which, if you do as well, no one really talks about computer specs for CAM. CAD(outside of motion simulations) are really like games and just Graphic and RAM intensive. But CAM(computer aided machining) is a process of constantly calculating tool paths, collision checking... yada yada.. One of my programs is a Hybrid 3D Printing software. VERY cpu intensive. yesterday it ran 4 hours straight on one process. 100% CPU load for 1/3 - 1/2 of that total time... If I'm not attentive or preset the fan boost to 30-50%... Lets just say I saw 92*C the other day... I need to run 100% all day long, worst case.

So I took the computer home the other night and ran a smoke test to see where all this air IS or ISN'T going....

The big thing I took away from the smoke test was the fact that some warm air from the exhaust is recirculating back to the center and lower ends of the case... Using this thing for work, at a desk, My computer is like 4-6" away from the walls of my cubical so... this is a problem!

So the only effective thing I have found was to place books on an angle between my computer and wall(about 45* angle) to force the hot air upwards and prevent it from recirculating back to intake. Speaking at this very moment, Im at a 30% fan boost and sitting at 56*C... not bad at all.. heavy load it might break 80* but this has been very effective.

Buttttt It kinda looks like poop to have these books around and I just bought a new 3d Printer for myself so, lets class things up a notch....

Step one... Printing Exhaust Ducts....
Tonight after a test print, and provided I have enough resin left, I will print off some ducts that will locate around the exhaust ports and redirect that air Upwards.

Step two... Cooling Pad...
Probably wont see a huge improvement here.. but it will be better than nothing, and considering I always prop the computer up at my desk to get more air underneath as well as it would be nice to get the computers up to the same level as my monitors... I picked up a DeepCool N9 on amazon and it should be at home now..

Step Three... Balls to the wall... Liquid Metal....
I have to travel to customers with this thing, I just cannot have 90c+ at any point... the lower I can go on temps, the better... Its a risk Im willing to take...

Step 4.. 'Sucker Fans'
This might end up at step 3, honestly, as most review a Cooling pad + sucker fans do really well together. Since I will be ducting this hot air up, I will actually revise and reprint my duct Models to perfectly fit the exhaust fan of my choosing. the Automatic fan curve in this thing really blows(no pun intended) so I'm at least thinking this could supplement a better fan curve...


Step 5.... If all else fails, I'm kicking it to the curb... seriously... well, after I pull out all my good stuff...

Feel free to comment or follow along/ ask questions as I try my best/worse to get the temps down on this friggin' beast... or watch me smash my $1500 computer a month from now... stay tuned

 

Maybe @Deks can help you out

 

- Well no, what you need to do is repaste with high quality thermal paste such as ICDiamond, Mx4 and GCGelid, liquid metal won't give you much or anything compared to those other tims.
- After that, undervolting would be the next step.
- Then take the bottom plate out and make 2 holes under the fans on the notebook, after you cut 2 nice holes, get some kind of mesh so it doesn't get all kinds of dirt inside the notebook.
- Then tape the heatsink and fan together so that air cannot escape from the sides in the space between heatsink + fan.

Enjoy your ~70-80c notebook.

 

I have added tape between the fan and radiators. The books behind the notebook has really been a noticeable difference. I was topping 75 just putting the books behind the laptop. I'm trying not to mod the bottom plate but if I do I'm going to really open it up. Id probably build a die to heat and melt in a new set of slots that look decent.

 

Sadly you will have to. Once the bottom plate lets the fans suck up air properly you'll not need any books etc. The only real flaw on that notebook is indeed that the bottomplate makes the airflow terrible. You can always order another bottom plate in case you plan on selling it again without modding, but considering you can upgrade the CPU up until 2020 revisions of ryzen CPU's it's probably unlikely that you're interested in selling it anyways.

 

IIRC Asus isnt updating the platform to house future revisions. Unless that changed?

 

Doesn't matter if Asus does or not, if they won't, the community will simply release a BIOS version with the x-gen ryzen devisions support in it. Unlike clevo, all the other manufacturers such as MSI, Asus, Gigabyte have their own modders roaming their forums doing crazy stuff on the machines, you'd be amazed about the crazy stuff they did to the G752VY for instance.

 

Oh for sure, but I wouldn't promote the idea til it happens though. Well at least that's just my thought on the matter.

That being said the faster that occurs the better, of course. Myself am hoping the helios 500 can hit 4.0ghz. Here's hopin'.

 

It depends on Acer at this point. The cooling can absolutely cool down the Ryzen and the I9 no problem. Even under stresstest the CPU temps are around mid 50 with prime95, however 45W TDP limit is nerfing the CPU's 2 hard.

The Ryzen revision will likely run at 3.3ish ghz on all cores stock, given that AMD does have default config of 65WTDP on their CPU's. You can run the CPU at 4ghz, if you're a little lucky with silicon, use BCLK and PBO with some undervolting, and suprise, you got a 65W TDP 4ghz 8core CPU @ 4ghz. If you're unlucky with silicon lottery, you'll likely still achieve around ~3.8ghz+, still beats the living hell out of all the intel chips in most workstation loads, even the 8700K. In terms of gaming it will beat the crap out of any CPU under 8600K and I9 BGA.

 

Im not too terribly concerned with the cooling, as it looks to do well enough with the intel counterpart.

Im more concerned with software side at present, we will see when it gets released and consumers get their hands on it.

 

I'm clocked at 3.65, hopeful Asus and amd to sort their **** out to make this thing as full of power as it has the potential

 

You're talking about the 1700 I assume, did you undervolt it??

 

yes. 1700.... I played with undervolting a little bit this weekend. I could be stable around 1.15v without pulling back too much clock speed. I actually am sitting on a 3.7mhz clock st 1.1875v at 50* idle right now.
Got the cooling pad in and I can see it helps getting the temperature back to normal and its a bit more stable.
I have the liquid metal sitting next to me.... we will see..

pulled a 1604 cpu on cinnebench this morning.

 

Cooling pad doesn't really help that much because the fans can't breathe, there are no ventholes. Cutting the case would improve the temps drasticly.

but 3.7ghz is full turbo speed and 1.6k conebench points is around 50 points shy of the average, might be caused by bloatware, so not to shabby.

 

here is my terrible looking laptop cooler. I added a hugely powerful fan, and blocked all air exit, except thru the laptop. loud but effective.. I push air in basically..

Sent from my ALP-L09 using Tapatalk

 

I don't see why this would be needed in any way tho. You're pushing air in the middle of the notebook, but not where the fans are, which isn't efficient. Normal coolingpad with holes on the backplate would outperform the modded coolingpad by a lot.

This is your notebook:


This is the backplate:


As you can see, there are no ventholes below the fans, this makes the notebook not being able to breathe properly. It's a bad design choice on Asus's part. Making holes would probably shave of 5-10c.

 

good Idea. I was hoping that pushing air into the vents in the middle would convey air to the fans.

Sent from my ALP-L09 using Tapatalk

 

It doesn't do that much sadly. Cutting holes under the fan and covering the mesh is the way to go really.

 

done.. two nice big holes . covering them up with a net so small objects and dirt do not go in..

Sent from my ALP-L09 using Tapatalk

 

I would make them larger, but you got the idea

 

Im really trying not to mod the case... we will see. The pad is actually doing well it seems. Running 100% load and 40% fan boost is yielding 65* currently. The face of the cooling pad is alum and it has veins. so Everything not getting pushed directly into the one center hole is running the face of the pad and ultimately to the side vent holes... Alum in itself is a great heat exchanger.. one of the reasons I went with this cooler actually.. I would like to have another cooler pad I could strategically place the fans at the openings but this current setup requires minimal effort..

as far as CB, Being a laptop im not expecting to hit desktop numbers... Im certainly not feeding it as much voltage as stock Desktops... and I could probably get a bit closer to 3.8-3.9mhz with a desktop as well....

 

You guys even have room to replace your ram without needing to remove the heat pipes. Im jelly!

 

those two holes dropped my overwatch temps from 80 plus to 70ish! highly recommended..

Sent from my ALP-L09 using Tapatalk

 

What's the Cinebench r15 numbers please? Considering this over new Helios 500 as it's only 10%-15% better.

 

I tried the cinebench. I believe I got about 70 FPS, and 4100 points for the CPU benchmark; smoking all i7's who choked around 1000 points

 

Nice! Can you double the Cinebench r15 multicore score because the range for this one is around 1600-1700 (4100 seems excessive as even multi-thousand high end servers can barely hit that )

 

The longer metal rods are better for cooling IMHO.

 

I think you switched a couple numbers around and meant to say 1400 CB, which sounds about right since that's what a stock 8700K gets.

 

Running your 1700 at 3.6 GhZ and virtually stock voltages... dunno how recommended that is (but if you can cool it properly, then I don't see a problem).
I keep mine at 3.2GhZ across all cores and 0.98125V.

In addition to undervolting the CPU (with Ryzen Master of course), another thing you could do is undervolt your GPU using MSI afterburner.
You should be able to drop the GPU core voltage to -93mV.... should help things under load too.

As for modding the case... it would probably be worth it... but if the laptop is under warranty, I would not play about with modding the back plate as it would likely end up voiding it (unless.... we could buy a spare backplate off E-bay for example, mod that, and then keep the original one in case you need to RMA the unit).

EDIT: I found a spare laptop backplate on ebay that fits GL702ZC... I've ordered it and will drill adequate holes in it underneath the fans (keeping the original as a spare in case I need to RMA the unit for whatever reason).

 

Is there not an Owners Club thread for this model? I just ordered it off NewEgg for a steal with all the promo codes, and being on sale. $1079.00 shipped.

 

Asus ROG GL702ZC owners lounge
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/asus-rog-gl702zc-owners-lounge.809882/

Awesome price, please post link(s) to the offer in that thread, I'm sure someone will be thrilled.