Pascal ROG Strix GL502/GL702 Thread

Hello all,

Nvidia just dropped the veil on their new Pascal mobile GPUs, and Asus showed their new GLx02 line.

From what I can tell, we can expect both GTX 1060 and GTX 1070, as well as 75Hz GSYNC on select models

More info, pictures and official spec to come.

Pictures & Videos


Previews

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Asus-ROG-Strix-GL502VS-Notebook-Preview.171567.0.html
"
Compared to competitors equipped with the GeForce GTX 980M, the new GL502VS can manage huge leads of around 75 percent in both 3DMarks. The modern and great looking Rise of the Tomb Raider (Very High) runs 61 percent, and Doom (Ultra) even 123 percent faster. There is currently no new game that would not run completely smooth on the Strix with the highest settings and activated picture improvements like anti-aliasing and ambient occlusion (SSAO, HBAO+). The MSI notebook, which is also equipped with the GTX 1070, is a bit slower in some of the games we tested so far. One thing we do not want to hide, however, is the subjectively pretty loud system noise while gaming.

The bright and high-contrast screen is mostly convincing. The system performance can convince us completely, both in the benchmarks as well as subjectively.

There are no big changes in respect to the case and the input devices, so we recommend the reviews of the two predecessors for more information on these topics right now. The subjective initial impression was good, even though the plastic chassis, which appears to be pretty light, did create some creaking sounds when we tried to twist it. Asus definitely deserves praise for the comprehensive port selection."

 

Temps are actually good. <50C is nice.

Xotic PC already has these up. $1,400 for the GTX 1060 lowest spec (no SSD).

 

Yup, I'd be down for a GL702 with Gsync and a 1060 as a desktop replacement that I can move around. It needs to have at least 3h of battery life for movie watching in bed though

 

Just grabbed a GL502VS from newegg. Eagerly awaiting its arrival....

 

Grabbed one from France also awaiting its arrival,

 

iiiih it's coming tomorrow God (or the universe or whatever) bless express delivery.

 

Please provide impressions when you get them in the market for a new laptop and this is on my radar

 

Yes please do. I am also thinking about getting one of these. Hoping the build quality is pretty good!

 

The barebone is mainly abs plastic don't expect a macbook-esque build quality, but should be more than honorable.

will do, the first thing I'll do is check for throttling
in order :
- Boot up check that it's working
- check that the screen is IPS and/or G-sync (french resellers have been rather dodgy on the matter)
- install SSD and throw HDD
- install hyperX DDR4 2*8go
- replace generic thermal paste with noctua NH1.
- clean install windows + drivers
- benchmark/temp testing.

 

Hows the keyboard area? Is there much flex? That is one thing I love about my Macbook, the keyboard area is solid as a rock.

 

Will tell you tomorrow, don't expect a macbook's rigidity . it will have little flex according to some online reviews

 

Ok thanks. I am fine with a little flex. I think I am ready for a change. My Macbook is from 2010 and while I do love the build quality I am ready for something a little more powerful. If there's a little flex I am ok to sacrifice in that area, but I don't know if I can handle a ton of flex.

 

Ok if you're not really into raw power, I'd advise you a MSI GS63VR that has an excellent build quality. The macbook pro 2016 will be presented between (rumour) september and november and will offer radical changes : oled bar, new barebone, new GPU, intel Kaby lake cpu etc.
So if you're not impatient like me I'd advise you to check everything out there before settling for a laptop .

 

I've looked at that MSI one too. I haven't heard too many first hand experiences on the build quality of their GS series laptops. They are pretty thin, though I dont love the big MSI logo on the back. As of right now i have been looking at the MSI GS63VR, both the Asus GL502 Pascal laptops and also the Aorus x3 Plus and x5 v6. The Aorus x5 v6 is a little out of my price range though, but if that has excellent build quality I would save up the extra money to get it. I have an Nvidia shield and would like to be able to stream my games to it and from what i've heard the new Macbooks most likely won't have Nvidia cards in them, so that's kind of a bummer.

 

a good list of slim yet powerful laptops :
- mcb pro 2016
- Asus gl502
- Gygabyte P35
- MSI gs63VR
- clevo P650 with 1070

The nvidia streaming never really worked good for me back when I had a tegra 4 tablet. Don't base yourself on that feature. I personnally don't advise Aorus laptops : really expensive and prone to throttling too. Macbooks will be based on Polaris GPU apparently indeed.

 

Folks, correct me if I'm wrong but so far the GL502 is the lightest 1070M laptop you can buy?

Do you expect Razer to come out with something comparable this year?

And do you think I can switch out the 128GB SSD for a 1TB and ditch the hard drive, or is the GL502 hard to open/mess around with?

 

Ok thanks for the info. I will take a look at all these laptops you listed.

 

I just got mine and it is easy to open up.
Took about ten minutes to swap out the standard HDD for a 1TB SSD, the 256M.2 is the Samsung 951 which seems to be fast enough on boot.There are two ram slots so easy to upgrade to 32GB.
Need to install some games but screen is great with no bleed, only problem is a small dent on the back of the lid, doesn't seem to effect the laptop - just looks a bit crappy. Not sure if I will send it back yet as everything seems to be working great and the screen is good with no pixel issues.

 

How is the flex on the keyboard. Been looking around and it seems like there is some amount of flex?

 

A little flex but nothing bad, better than the Inspiron 7559 I have.
Overall I am impressed with the build quality.

 

Ok what about throttling any slowdowns in game etc. ? This is what worries me.

 

Thanks corteen! I'll bombard you with questions now :

• Screen quality---is it IPS-like? Glossy or matte?
  
• Ugh, does it actually say the words "Republic of Gamers" on the back? Is there any way to remove that?
  
• Once you've got those games installed, how's the noise level? Wind turbine?
• Dat bezel

 

Prepare your backsides lads - I'm going in dry.



http://imgur.com/a/wgLWY

Initial impressions:

It's a premium piece of hardware for sure. The brushed aluminum is awesome.

Red ROG symbol isn't as ricey as it appears in the promo photos

can't remove Republic of Gamers lettering

Screen bezel is a little too much, doesn't bother me much but i can see some people hating it

I don't love the track pad, it's totally smooth, I like a little tactile to them

Screen is respectable, wouldn't call it IPS quality. But certainly not terrible

It's 5.6 lbs. 4.8 is BS. Maybe without the battery pack.

Not 100% sure ima keep it...I thought it would be thinner and lighter. It's essentially the same size as my old Clevo P150 with GTX 560m. Really was looking for portability, but I also want the GTX 1070, so i thought this ASUS was the way to go. But it's really no different than your standard issue 15.6" laptop.

Downloading games now

 

I own a p150 also so this doesn't sound good.
For reference, it is definitly a bit too heavy to be carried around for college, not one to take out to Starbucks etc, but light enough for hand carrying when moving dorms/air flight.

I guess there just won't be a 1070 in truly portable system (unless the aorus proves me otherwise but the price premium is pretty significant)

 

Thanks ! you won't get a light 1070 laptop, unless they cut the card in half ^^. If you can find the reference of your screen that would be great . I'll get mine in few hours i hope. Initial impressions on temperatures too ^^ ?

 

performance is insane
holy shiiit.

nearly double performance.

1060 decimates 960m

I wonder if I should sell my 501VW, which I bought for $760.

gtx1060 laptops start around $1300. I wonder when we're ever going to see sub-$800 gtx1060 notebooks.

It's too bad the gl502 does not have optimus.
Looks like they had to give that up for hdmi 2.0 to work, since intel 6700hq does not support hdmi 2.0 directly.

Looks like we're not completely there yet.

My ideal notebook has hdmi 2.0 and Optimus. Will have to wait for gen7 Intel cpu

 

hows the 1060 perform compared to the 980m? I'm wondering if I should sell mine for the 1060 version. I would like the 1070 but I doubt I'd sell my 1 month old 980m model for anywhere near $1500

 

Unfortunately that appears to be the case. Anyway, the performance in fallout 4 is flawless, all settings to ultra, 60+ FPS the entire time. Black Ops 3 60+ FPS (its a surprisingly demanding game) and GTA V benched at 99 fps the entire time. Getting overwatch and WoW right now.

It feels lighter in my hand than my old P150, but I suspect the P150 is more than 6 lbs. That thing is a ****ing beefcake.

Not sure I'm loving how my hands feel on it; there's a lot of space between the edge of the laptop and the keyboard, and it digs in a bit.

Does anyone know how to embed images?

 

Is the fan extremely noisy during gaming? In relation to other thing and lights anyway, I'm not expecting 40db like a 17 inch boat anchor.

You do embedded images with code like this:

Code:

[img]http://i.imgur.com/vxDrmug.gif[/img]

 

Nah but I haven't been able to challenge it yet. But that's a good thing.

 

I don't think we need fan noise information for prime95+furmark, but at the very least a few modern taxing games would be good.

It's so difficult to decode what the system noise level readings mean from notebookcheck.net. Like does Load mean gaming? What game? Is it prime95+furmark (unrealistic for gamers..)?

 

Thanks for your feedback , did you happen to measure temps during game ? But i suppose you haven't experienced slowdown/throttling from what I've read.

 

benchmarks are out.

the 1060 absolutely kills the 980m, and they're generally cheaper than 1500$

I'm on the 5th month of owning my 501vw, and I somewhat have buyer's remorse.
But it was $760 new OTD, so I shouldn't be complaining.

 

Understood. Crunching some numbers now. I just played Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 on it for about 45 minutes and it got loud. I would say it sounds like a typical GPU moving into the 55% fan range - noticable, but not annoying. The keyboard is warm where I place my right hand, not scalding, but warm like a cell phone that you've been grinding a game on. but the left side is cool to the touch.

76c was the max and the fans do get semi loud. Wasn't too loud but wasn't quiet either.

 

That's why Optimus is a bad idea and completely unnecessary.

Intel iGPU's don't support a lot of what is needed to be supported by the Nvidia GPU.

Not just HDMI 2.0, but also G-sync, higher than 60 hz refresh (maybe fixed in newest GPU's), VR - needs direct dGPU connection.

The real solution is a matrix switch, settable via an actual physical switch like on some MSI / Alienware laptops, or a program that switches through a reboot.

That way on battery the dGPU is offline, and on AC the iGPU is offline, with the internal display. The external display connectors always directly connect to the dGPU.

Optimus has been a pain for years, let it die

 

Optimus was dropped because of :
- bad VR support (increased response time)
- no HDMI 2.0
- bad Gsync support.

 

sorry double post :
the german notebookcheck website just uploaded the full GL502VS review :
(use translate)
http://www.notebookcheck.com/Test-Asus-ROG-Strix-GL502VS-Notebook.171191.0.html

spoiler : it's great.

The postman had the wrong digicode so he couldn't deliver my asus yesterday ^^ but will get it tomorrow . I was worried about a lot of things but the notebookcheck review reassured me, it's a loud computer but I'm used to that. Cooling is great and that's the most important point imo.

 

Cooling is very good for sure. I could only push to 76c. I've had desktop gpus that run hotter.

 

when nvidia gpu's have the same low power as intel igpu during idle, then I will let optimus die.

I don't want to have a laptop with <2 hours battery life

 

it reaches up to 89°C in demanding games after few minutes and stays there, i don't really like that. I'm a little maniac on temps, i won't enjoy a game if In my head I keep checking for throttling and temps...but it works perfectly so maybe I should stop being anxious about temps and enjoy my computer ^^

 

it seems the Pascals (except for 1060) are just not meant for thin chasis

wondering how the others (eg: MSI, Gigabytes) will fare

 

Yes but I don't mind actually, I think I'm just over-anxious about temps...the computer works per-fec-tly in games even for hours.

 

Any thoughts of repasting the laptop?

Do you mind taking comparison pictures between the 9350 and the G502VS? I can't find a G502 locally so the thickness worries me.
Thanks!

 

The thickness of gl502 is about 3cm.

Sent from my ZTE A2017U using Tapatalk

 

I didn't get even close to 89. You sure? I played every game you can think of. That's TJ max territory.

 

Optimus is a bad idea and completely unnecessary.

The real solution is a matrix switch, settable via an actual physical switch like on some MSI / Alienware laptops, or a program that switches through a reboot.

That way on battery the dGPU is offline, and on AC the iGPU is offline, with the internal display.

 

i think this thread should move to asus gaming notebook section....

 

Apparently, Microcenter has the gl502 on display. The laptop is bulky as hell. It looks like a Dell from the late 90s. And the orange accents on the top and bottom look super tacky. I was expecting a better looking laptop for the price.

 

yeah, i prefer more stealth look.

 

A few photos of the GL502 in my imgur album. Meant to put this up last week but time is always short.

https://imgur.com/a/EyLkc