Pascal ROG Strix GL502/GL702 Thread

The palm rest is definitely plastic. It is only meant to look like aluminum. I should know, because I have seen the laptop in person. And there are video reviews of the previous models confirming that it is plastic.

 

On second thought i think you're correct.

 

You wrote that you have a GL502VT, but at the bottom of the imager album, you say that it has a GTX 1070. From what I gathered, the VT has a 970m, and the VS has a 1070. Was it a typo?

 

Based on the "VR Ready" sticker on machine in the photos, I would assume that it was a typo.

 

Yes typo. I've got the 1070 model.

 

My first Alienware M11x it was switchable in software. The issue, and maybe its not an issue anymore, was the the GPU driver had to be this hybrid iGPU/dGPU driver that Dell stopped supporting very soon after release. But there was a BIOS setting to go full dGPU, where you could use a straight nVidia driver. Maybe its better now. Since I use a laptop for a mix of gaming and casual I like to have the best battery life I can so Optimus seems to be the best option (or a switch which is uncommon).

 

Actually the switch is becoming more common, along with dGPU only - which is also more acceptable to me than an form of Optimus.

MSI has made a huge mistake dropping the Mux switch from the GT72 and other models, that was a really selling point advantage to differentiate it from the competition.

Check out all the new laptops before settling on Optimus only.

 

Updated my album with some temps. http://imgur.com/a/EyLkc Does this forum not allow imgur embedded links?

 

Looks better than it looks

Congrats!!

Generally I upload the photo's here, that way if the image storage provide goes away, or decides to start serving ad's instead of just images, your post won't get blocked.

Click the Upload button when editing and you can include 5 photos.

 

Does anyone know if this laptop supports eGPUs? I plan on buying this laptop and if it doesn't support eGPUs, how many years do I see this laptop running for?

What I mean is, how many years exactly will this laptop and its GTX 1060 do you think I can get out of it. I'll plan on playing games at 1080p. I'm hoping for high settings maybe 2 or 2.5 years down the line. But tbh bumping it down to medium in the future won't really be a turn off for me as long as it runs ok.

The reason I'm asking how many years I'll get off of this and and whether it supports eGPUs are because I plan on buying it for school and being in the 11th grade I probably won't be gaming much for 2 years. Maybe during summer breaks or long breaks but that's about it. I'd like to continue using the laptop for perhaps 3 years or even 4.

 

I don't believe these support eGPUs, from what i was watching on some review videos. I also picked one up yesterday from my local microcenter so if you guys have any questions, I can try to answer them as best I can !

 

I have asked a couple people this question but just trying to get as many opinions as possible. How is the flex on the keyboard area? Do you notice it while typing? How noticeable is it when actually trying to flex it?

 

I'm not very sensitive to "flex" in the keyboard, but I'd say minimal.

I've never tried to twist any laptop I've ever owned into a balloon animal or shove my fingers through a keyboard, and I never will. I think that is such a crazy waste of time.

 

I'd also say flex is very minimal. I am coming from a msi gs60 ghost, so the flex was a lot worse, smaller/thinner laptop, the 502, is a tad thicker, but feels way more sturdy.

 

Does anyone here have the GL702VM? Seems most the posts have been about the GL502. The GL702VM as the 1060 and it's the same price as the GL502VM but it looks like the 702 has Thunderbolt 3? It's also a little thicker so do you think that cooling would be better in the 702? Also seems like the bezels are a little thinner.

 

Hi guys,
I'm new here. I'm looking into several laptops to buy.
I'm coming from a Clevo W150HRM (with GT555) from 2011 which is very heavy for me now a days once I'm travelling a lot. Like now I'm in USA for an internship.
I'm a researcher but I really like to play games when I have free time. But at the same time and don't want some mamuth laptop. I need a light one.
What wories is me is the thermals. I live in Brazil and there the environment temperature is like 32° celsius degree almot every day.
Do you think that this ROG Strix 502 with (1060 or 1070) would work good in Brazil?

THanks in advance

 

Hi, hope you're enjoying your time in the US. This laptop weighs 5.7 lbs, or 2.6 kg. So it's actually fairly light. I've been traveling with it a bit and it's way, way lighter than my old 3.17 kg Sager P150 with GTX 560m. This laptop is a little bigger than your typical 15.6" frame, it's wider, and I really have to squeeze to get it into my laptop bag.

I've reached 89c on the GPU and we've been at 32c or more all August here in NYC. I've seen that there is a bios flash solution that turns up the fan profile and reduces temps, but increases the fan noise. Fan noise is pretty noticable on all of these new pascal laptops.

That all said, there's really nothing SMALLER with a GTX 1070 than this ASUS. There is a 14" and a 15.6" ultrathin offering from MSI, but both are 1060 gpus. Basically, your choice is do you want the power of the 1070, or is portability more important? If portability is more important, get one of the lighter 1060 laptops. If you want the extra power, get this ASUS or a Clevo.

Check out my mini-review album: http://imgur.com/a/EyLkc

 

How's the fan noise on the GL502VM 1060 compared to the MSI GS63VR?

How about build quality/likelihood of failure?

Speaker quality?

Screen quality?

Other major factors?

Thanks.

 

I have a query regarding the GL502VS-DB71 with Nvidia GTX1070: On Asus's website, and also on the SKU specific product page (DB71) on both XoticPC and GentechPC, it says that the laptop is 4.8 pounds. However, Axon 14 says it weighs 5.6 pounds, and the official Notebookcheck review also says it weighs 5.6 lbs (2.6kgs). I was curious about this, hence visited a Microcenter nearby to see the laptop in person. It was actually 5.6 lbs, and I assumed that the ASUS, Xotic and Gentech pages had incorrect information. However, today I came across Lisa's review at MobileTechReview (linked below) and she says the GL502VS 1070 is 4.93 lbs (2.2kgs). Am I missing something here?

P.S. Agree with Axon14's review, the laptop is much thicker than it looks on the sleek product images on Asus's website, no way it is an ultrabook by any means. It is 1.2 inches thick.

 

I'm trying to choose between this and the Clevo P650 (GTX 1070). Im concerned about weight (Clevo) but on the other hand the thermals are another to factor in (Asus cooling). Well I guess that and the aesthetics of the Asus; that neon orange tho, why. Though that last bit can be fixed with some sort of paint.

If this is the case, then this puts the Clevo and the Asus on par with each other in terms of weight. Are there any arguments to go with the Asus machine over the Clevo ones?


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I just got my GL502VS this weekend and i have noticed something i wondered if others have, i use an app called batterybar which lets you keep a close eye on the battery usage. And when i'm gaming in something intensive, like DOOM, even plugged in the machine will draw a slight amount of power from the battery itself. Is anyone elses doing this? its drawing about 5% per hour of gaming, which theoretically means that after 20 hours of gaming, the GPU or CPU would have to down clock or something? Shouldn't the power adapter supply enough power even at peak loads that it doesn't have to use the battery to augment power requirements? Is mine just defective?

 

Thanks for the information. And i'm enjoing so far my time here in USA.
Last Friday I've been to a Best Buy (since here in Lexington I didn't find any other place that could be have one of these laptops) and they have only the version with Nvidia 970. The lapptop looks amazing. I mean, looks well built and everithing. If the newer version is like the older one, this laptop is now on my list.
What I didn't notice the difference was in the weight. My actual laptop I think is very heavy (5,9 lbs on website but I doubt that. I'ts heavier) and this Asus is not so different. It is heavier than I thought.
I don't know if I really need the 1070 power, only if I find it in a nice price. I only have the budget of 1500 (maximum) to buy one here.

Nice pictures on your review. I have seen and the laptop looks amazing!

 

The GL502VS would probably me my top choice if it wasn't for those WASD keys.

I wonder if it's safe to plastidip the top of the keys.

 

I'm considering this if I were to get it, then did a quick google and found this. Probably just ****ty job doing it, but still, sounds like more effort than worth. Maybe prime and spraypaint? Sounds like a lot of work for 4 keys, how would one protect the lettering?

 

Yes, the GL502VS laptop is deceivingly heavy (5.7 lbs), though it is noticeably lighter than my old Sager P150 w/ gtx 560m - a heavyweight 7 lbs. There is no "light" gtx 1070 laptop...the lightest is the gigabyte P35v6, 5.2 lbs, and this ASUS is probably second lightest.

Given your budget, your only option to get lighter (right now) is the MSI GS43VR - 14" and approximately 4 lbs with a gtx 1060. Clevo will eventually put out there own 14" pascal laptop, and that will probably be a few $ cheaper. But we don't have a timeline for it.

Of course the previous generation of GPUs are much, much cheaper, so if you can live with the 970m that may well be a way to go as well.

 

I can't confirm as i am not an gl502vs owner ... but what you describe make me think of Msi Nos feature https://www.msi.com/faq/nb-684.html

The marketing talk about maintaining the maximal overclock by making the battery and power supply to work together.

The reality: It allow msi and other brand to give you lighter psu ... but not powerful enough for the laptop when it run a game.
If you look at other laptop that have a 6700hk + GTX1070 you will see that those system can drain up to 202/210W and are released with 230w Psu.
I got the same behavior with my GS60 and his 150W psu.

 

Hello all, couldn't find it anywhere, but would anyone happen to know if the GL702VS will get the gtx 1070? Really holding out to see Alienware's prices/temps, or go with the Sager NP8173, but I would prefer the Asus.

 

Just got MY GL502VS yesterday from microcenter, thermals when running valley for stress test was around 82 DegC without air conditioning in the room, sounds ok?

playing dota 2 was around 65 DegC though

 

This sounds right to me, Some games run very quiet and low temps. Something like Overwatch on the other hand i was running around 80-85 at tops. I'm pretty impressed with heat and sound coming from a MSI gs60 ghost, with a 870m running mid 90s.

 

great, its a keeper then, i heard abut some users talking about heat and throttling issue, luckily what you say is that it's "normal"

 

Hey there;

I just bought it off Amazon, - GL502vm, with the 1060. Currently I have a Razer Blade (early-2016 with the 970m) and I have a Razer Core too. Unfortunately, it does not work with eGPUs. As soon as the Core was plugged in, a message popped-up saying the laptop does not support external GPUs. I thought to myself: "Yeah, sure, pfff, whatever!" and clicked the OK button. The laptop instantly froze.

Now, to be honest, I am not sure I like it. Say what you will about Razer, but... I think I fell in love with the all aluminium, so I don't think I am keeping the GL502vm. Therefore, I won't experiment further to see if the Core works.

My half-educated guess is this: the Razer Blade Stealth and the Blade 14 (970m) use the Intel iGPU. On the Stealth it is a pretty straighforward process, you just plug the Core and it switches to the eGPU. But on the Blade 14, Razer developed a "GPU switcher". What this switcher does is it disables de 970m, and so it offloads all rendering to the eGPU when it needs to.

As I understand, having a G-Sync panel like the GL502vm does means that Optimus is not an option. Thus, the Intel iGPU is actually not being used. Therefore, there is probably no way for the 1060 to suddenly offload rendering to the eGPU in the Core. Probably, if you disable the 1060 and find a way to enable the Intel iGPU... ? And even then... would the DisplayPort work with just the iGPU enabled?

... I dunno... too many interesting questions but right now I don't have the time to figure it all out. Part of me thinks that is the reason the Razer Blade (1060) is going to launch until November; they're probably trying to figure something out and it's also the reason there are no G-Sync options on the Blade.

Don't get me wrong, the GL502vm is a great laptop; especially for that price! The Razer Blade is more expensive, there is no denying that, but the construction is awesome and I love it.

 

Can anyone provide me gaming benchmarks for GL502vs?


Witcher 3
Arkham Knight
Crysis 3
Deus Ex (new)

Also, any throttling?

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The Notebookcheck review has some of the games you mentioned. Ctrl + F "Gaming Performance"

 

mistake sorry

 

I can confirm now, that the laptop need psu + battery to power the laptop at full speed.

some gameplay video
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLV5ZfcKtycPl4G2bQkvrK4Gjh9z_js3Dp

 

The Asus is physically capable of supporting eGPU. However, Razer is keeping its cards close about how the Core works and has not released support for other laptop makers. So while its physically possible I find it very unlikely the Asus will ever work with the Core. Some other eGPU solution may be more friendly, but nothing is guaranteed.

 

Apparently the 180W PSU is not enough so when playing the laptop will actually drain from your battery even if you're playing plugged to the psu ! And after, when the battery is depleted the performance will drop...

 

Wait, you are playing plugged and the battery still drains?

 

Where did you see that?

 

That's a pity, was really keen on getting this.


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I'm still waiting for a reply on this one. Seems to be it's a defect on his end. Also, how many hours and what game.

 

Well, we can't know for certain. Razer has openly said there is no propietary mumbo jumbo on the Core and that it is up to other laptop manufacturers to provide the firmware support. Obviously, it is in Asus' interests to not support the Core when they have the XG2 on the pipeline.

In the end, all companies lie and will point fingers at each other when convenient. They all have their own agendas that most of the time don't include end user's best interests. Maybe some other eGPU could work; but so far, I only know of the Core and Alienware's (which is propietary) that actually exists.

Time will tell, though.

 

Hey , It's not my computer, I read it here (it's in french). I hope it's a defect or something like that ! It's not my laptop ^^ still waiting for more feedbacks and barebones before buying a pascal laptop so can't give you more info sorry. But a 180W PSU for a GTX1070 am I the only one who find that disturbing in the first place ? a 180W psu can handle a 1060 effortlessly but a 1070 ??? Clevo ship their P650/1070 with a 230W ! I really hope it's an isolated case, won't accept that manufacturers now won't even ship you a correct PSU !

Scroll down the french forum, someone made a test with and without the battery pack.

EDIT : Here Tonrac (ca va ?) is confirming that it's the case :

what worries me is the life expectancy of the battery pack

 

@hmscott: If you check some reviews of other 15inch model that include a 1070 (gt62), you will see that those laptop need 202/210W while gaming.
That make me ask how the gl502vs do his magic trick to only need 180W ...

Then we have this post of GigaTigga: " I just got my GL502VS this weekend and i have noticed something i wondered if others have, i use an app called batterybar which lets you keep a close eye on the battery usage. And when i'm gaming in something intensive, like DOOM, even plugged in the machine will draw a slight amount of power from the battery itself. Is anyone elses doing this? its drawing about 5% per hour of gaming, which theoretically means that after 20 hours of gaming, the GPU or CPU would have to down clock or something? Shouldn't the power adapter supply enough power even at peak loads that it doesn't have to use the battery to augment power requirements? Is mine just defective?"

With all that pieces of information, i want to be certain that Asus use "hybrid power" on the GL502VS, so i ask a user to make some test with and without the battery plugged in order to simulate a dead battery.

Unigine valley with battery + psu
http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2016/37/1473935879-valley-fps1.png

Unigine Valley with psu (no battery)
http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2016/37/1473936200-valley-sans-batterie-fps.png

Firestrike extreme battery + psu
http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2016/37/1473935727-firestrike.png

Firestrike extreme psu (no battery)
http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2016/37/1473936158-firestrike-sans-batterie.png

The conclusion is that the GL502VS need psu+battery in order to power the 1070, without battery there is no shutdown problem but the 1070 will reduce his frequencies to make the laptop stay under 180W ... so even if the performance remain great without battery, you will have a drop in performance when your battery died.
Ok, it won't be a big problem until the battery will be dead ... but it's sad that Asus don't communicate on this behaviour (because some of us keep their laptop during years).

NB: Asus is not alone, other enterprises like msi use this trick in the past on some gt80s model, gt60 etc...

Wickette: ça va bien et toi? on te vois plus trop sur p4g ... par contre, je vois que tu as fait du chemin depuis l'époque où tu me demandais comment il fallait faire pour repaster une machine ... Maintenant c'est toi qui donne des conseils

 

It's just odd that they thought that was such a good idea, when they could have supplied the 230w power supply.

With the GT80S 980 SLI the single 330w was the largest PSU available and so there was nowhere to go but the battery to handle peak load.

This season the GT83VR/GT73VR use 2x 330 or 2x 230w to get the power they need.

It would be so much simpler for Asus to supply the 230w PSU.

I think the connectors are the same? If not re-wire a 230w with the 180w plug...

Maybe someone with the laptop should plug in a 230w and see what happens

 

Hmm so battery reduces 5% per hour while plugged when playing games hmm? So it only throttles when battery is depleted?

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I can be wrong but IMHO asus made this choice for marketing reason: a 180w psu have a weight of 560g vs 940g for a 230w psu ... Asus with the GL502VS want to make the lighter laptop with 1070 available on the market ...

I suppose that plug in a 230w psu won't change the behaviour as i think that this hybrid power feature is hardware or bios related.

 

That's why I suggested someone try a 230w, and see what happens

Asus made a mistake, unless they advertised this feature, and so far I haven't seen a mention.

The 1060 is fine with the 180w, but the 1070 needs a 230w PSU.

The battery boost at peak usage is a nice feature, when it was first done it was advertised as such.

It's only when it's a surprise that it feels like a cheat.

I wish MSI had vaunted it as a feature in their product marketing for the GT80S 980 SLI - it would have stopped few from buying it, but it would have stopped everyone from complaining about it

 

If it uses 5% per hour on a 76WHr battery it means that means it needs an additional 76*0.05= 3.8W of power.

So 183.8 Watt of AC power, so a 200W powersupply rather than the 230W will be enough, just like my last Gigabyte P37X v5 laptop with the 980M.

 

Asus uses 180w / 230w / 330w PSU's, and that's why I picked that specific size