Asus ROG Zephyrus G15-GA503 ( New 2021)

Eh, it is what it is. The model numbers didn't match up but since that was the listing of what should've been all the configs I thought that would've been correct. Honestly doesn't matter, you can still throw on a 32GB and get 40GB total which is more than enough for most things anyway.

Any ideas on my Freesync question though? Trying to understand how that operates.

 

Stock vbios https://www.3dmark.com/spy/18656217

MSI vbios https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/58890216 9851 Timespy score utilizing the MSI vbios from https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/229982/229982

https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/58890856 +140/+250


UPDATE: Stock clocks with MSI bios https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/59506566 10039

 

There’s a little bit of info on this in page 9 of this thread, but some keys points are that the laptop screen is hardwired to the amd iGPU, as is the hdmi port. The iGPU will handle the adaptive sync. There’s optimus, but no hardware mux, which makes disabling optimus somewhat pointless, and makes it so gsync isn’t an option with the laptop display. Some reviews have shown how this setup (having iGPU in the middle with no mux) causes lower performance in some applications/games depending on cpu usage. The usb-c ports I believe are connected to the dgpu, which might mean that gsync is an option for usb-c displays, but I’m not sure.

 

Apparently, it doesn't. Gaming with the RTX 3070 seems to not engage VRR at all.

 

My experience with this has so far shown that there is no VRR while gaming on the RTX card. I can visually tell the difference when VRR is off or on especially sub-80 FPS where it gets more noticeable as framerate gets lower. I can turn on/off G-Sync Compatible options on my desktop and see the difference. On here, turning on/off Freesync seems to do nothing.

 

(Deleted) never mind. Posted something that I thought might help, but I misunderstood the original issue

 

I wish I had seen all this before hand. It's a gaming laptop, no one is buying gaming laptops for battery life. The fact they didn't include any kind of MUX is ridiculous and looking at those performance losses just makes it a bad purchase all around. Why buy something that is (un)intentionally being gimped? Yes, you can connect an external display and bypass the issue altogether but the purpose it to be able to game on the go, Effectively it's like having to have a laptop with one of those eGPU docks. It kind of defeats the purpose.

Unfortunately this is a huge deal breaker for me and, I would expect, others. This is unfortunate because after spec'ing out a bunch of different laptops the price/performance ratio had this coming out leaps and bounds ahead of the other machines. I actually convinced several people to buy these based off cost alone, I even purchased 2 for myself.

There are some serious drawbacks to this setup:

• If you want to increase RAM in the future, you lose dual-channel
• No hardware/software mux switching losing what can amount to over 100 FPS because of it
• FreeSync seems to do absolutely nothing currently. None off the reviews are doing anything other than mentioning it in passing. I don't think they can see the visual difference when VRR is engaged. It's very noticeably different and just turning it off and on while spinning the mouse should exhibit differences, it's identical on or off

I normally don't even go AMD but after the launch of the new Zen 3 architecture I did built a 5950x w/ 3090 and it paired EXTREMELY well so I figured I would go down the same path with my laptop. I realize it's not really an AMD problem but an ASUS problem.

I may end up keeping just one of them and returning the other for something else.

Possibly might be a way to cheat the system with the FPS on CPU-bound games though since the higher the resolution you go the lower the loss is going to be. I would expect if you enable supersampling functionality such as what they call "virtual super resolution" within the Radeon Software then configure your resolution higher than 1440p.

 

I am buying gaming laptops for battery life, actually. Which is why getting ryzen in my system this year was so important. It was a top five priority for me. The setup is perfect. I mostly use it as a mobile machine on the go, so the battery life is amazing. At home, I game, where the gaming performance is better because I use an external monitor to do that. But I can still game on the go if I really want to. win/win

^_^;;

The soldered 8gb sodimm is the main reason I returned mine. If I could get one w/ 16 soldered, for a total of 32, it might be good, but the soldered sodimm means ram will only ever be that crappy 3200 cl 22 at best ram. I was able to put a kit of faster ram into the rog strix scar from this year and enjoyed improved performance as a result.

Otherwise for $1800, the zephyrus g15 ga503 is an amazing system. it's just not the best system for every one.

 

The gaming performance on battery is pretty bad. Games seem to be locked to 30fps and battery barely lasts an hour and a half.

This speaker issue is killing it for me though. It's definitely faulty speakers/bad engineering. The pops sound exactly like a bad speaker.

 

Yeah I wouldn't game on battery - if I was going to game, I'd find an outlet haha

As for the speakers - it's definitely a bug. I did a fresh install of windows when I got the system and they were awful till I updated windows/drivers.

I'd try nuking the drivers and reloading using either the MyAsus app or what ever is latest on their website, though the MyAsus app seems to have the most latest drivers usually.

 

It’s odd because the sound quality to me is great. I was on Discord last night and used the speakers/mic. The audio from others seemed positional. Like they were broadcasting from a slightly different location than the game’s audio. Those EQ settings recommended just make it sound terrible.
I’ll see about trying a reload.

 

Every gaming laptop does this - it's by design to protect the battery because it can't handle the immense power draw that comes from running the CPU and GPU at full tilt simultaneously.

 

Best Buy now has the white and black 3080 models.

Heh is color and 16gb of ram worth 500 bucks fellas?

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-r...te-drive-eclipse-gray/6451629.p?skuId=6451629

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-r...b-ssd-moonlight-white/6451631.p?skuId=6451631

 

both laptops at the start of install you can hear popping when cortana talks.

 

Unfortunately you realized what I also realized and why my unit went back. After two units both had the terrible speaker issue (great sound otherwise) and the absolutely trash gaming performance if you're into high fps shooter games like Warzone, BFV, etc. This laptop literally cannot produce greater than 80-90fps on average in those games even if you drop the resolution and settings. It's like its physically bottlenecked so hard that the 3070 is of little use. I am absolutely convinced this is why previous gen AMD laptops were paired with a max 2060 max-q. Literally anything beyond that is almost pointless outside of benchmarks or high resolution single player games. The iGPU is terrible, worse than an Intel iGPU bottleneck and reviewers aren't talking about it enough IMO.

I picked up an MSI GS66 with RTX 2060 and 10750H for $1099 and because it has a MUX I get more fps in Warzone at 1080p than I could manage with the G15 with 5900HS and 3070. It's pathetic. I'll be waiting for 8 core Tiger Lake and laptops that feature a MUX minimum and preferably G-Sync. It's a shame because I really like the AMD CPU, but unless they start pairing more laptops with MUX/G-Sync they're worthless bottlenecks in gaming.

Edit: Appears new Lenovos are going to have 5800H, 3070/3060, FreeSync via iGPU and G-Sync via dGPU all on the internal display! This is what Asus should have done/provided. The Lenovo also has HDMI 2.1 and is likely connected to the dGPU for those that have VRR/GSync OLEDs for couch gaming. They are suppose to go live on Friday.

 

Please post your findings and the model specs in the Ampere thread http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/how-will-ampere-scale-on-laptops.834039/page-133

Thanks.

 

Has MSI finally worked out the issues with Dragon Center? When I had a GS66, I was wondering why I was only getting around 3 hours of battery life while performing modest tasks despite the 99.9 Wh battery and Optimus enabled. Turns out Dragon Center was preventing the CPU from downclocking properly. It wasn't just a problem on laptops, as I tested on my desktop, which has an MSI Z390 motherboard, and it did the exact same thing. While it's easy to get by without the software on the desktop as I can set fan curves and whatnot via the BIOS, it wasn't really possible on the laptop. It's too bad, too, because in terms of specs and upgradability, the GS66 was just about the perfect notebook for my needs.

 

Their software implementation for battery life is meh and you have to do a lot of things manually. At default Dragon Center settings battery life readings are hit and miss for me. It will say 3 hours, then 6, then 9, then back to 6 lol.

Manually with screen brightness lowered, keyboard rgb off, iGPU enabled, and 60hz should get around 9+ hours of light use. 6 Hours of light use with 144Hz. For me the price of this package is pretty good and I really like the looks, weight, size. It will hold me over for a year or more until at this point and I won't get kicked as hard when I sell it.

 

I find it to be absolutely stunning that you can’t assign different Static keyboard colors to different games using scenario profiles in armoury crate. You can set the brightness, or switch to something like starry night, adaptive, etc, but you can’t keep it the same aura (such as static) and change the color. Maybe I need to download Aura Creator? Just seems like this would be an obvious and simple feature.

You also still can’t choose Manual as a power option to associate with a scenario profile.

 

There are some serious defects with these laptops.

I have confirmed through several sources that there is no "hybrid" dual-channel capability here. The only stuff that were capable were motherboards with Intel FLEX. MTR says it does http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...5-ga503-new-2021.835078/page-28#post-11082917

Both of my laptops have developed weird issues within <2 weeks of owning. I have to randomly close and open the screen to get weird lines to go away. One of them the fans already started grinding. One of them the power button actually fell inside the laptop. It had to be opened and I found two sheared screws that were holding the power button bracket on (must have been overtightened from factory?). I realize I received both of these laptops at a few hundred dollar discount but the amount of issues they are having is absurd.

Open box (store display for a few weeks) was $1650
New In Box w/ 10% off coupon was about $1700

Coupled with the huge amount of FPS loss due to lack of mux makes it a no-brainer, if the MSRP was $1500-1600 I think it could get a pass. I have no idea why Linus even recommended these in his video yesterday. They absolutely underperform. I was really avoiding it because I didn't want to go back to FHD and Intel but I may end up just snagging an Alienware M17 R4 w/ 3080 and the 360hz G-Sync screen.

Possibly may wait for the Lenovo Legion 5/7 Pro as well since those have a QHD 165hz w/ G-Sync and HDR400.[/S][/S]

 

In our testing, I swapped in a HyperX 16GB DDR4 3200MHz SODIMM in for the factory 8GB module, and utilities like CPU-Z and HWinfo64 report dual channel. No drops in games fps (nor any gains). Asus does state that the motherboard supports hybrid RAM mode (what Intel calls Flex) up to 24GB for the 8+8 model. The same was true of the G14. Not sure what happens with a 32GB module since I didn't have one handy to test (and it's beyond the supported spec, if that matters).

 

This is bizarre. I had seen several people test it including on the zephyrus subreddit and report back single channel. I stand corrected I guess.

 

When I dropped a 32GB sodimm into mine 16 of the 40gb were dual channel and i actually tested it by opening like 120 chrome tabs that i usually have open.

The framerates in cyberpunk dropped by 10-15 on average as the game was shunted into the single channel portion of the ram.

Which is why i returned it.

 

Has anyone actually seen their GPU hit 100W no the 3070 variant? I have not, the Armoury Crate software even shows the TGP at 80W. Was the 100W a rumor?

 

Armoury Crate states 80w for 3080 too, but it hits 100w in every 3dmark benchmark and Cyberpunk 2077 (I havent tried anything else yet).

 

mine hits 100W often. Are you using dynamic boost? That’s where the extra 20W will come from.

 

I've spent a little over two weeks with the Grey 3070 16gb version now. Originally, I said that I was just going to buy this as a holdover, and then upgrade to the white version once available, with the hopes that a 32GB white 3070 version would become an option (it's listed on Asus website as GA503QR-HQ099RS, just not for for sale anywhere).

However, DAMN, do I love this thing. I might just keep it. Honestly, I had low hopes for it before I got it. Why? The lack of MUX, the 16gb ram with half soldered, the speaker issues people have been reporting (blown out low frequencies), some reports of creakiness.

I have no creaking (by the way, some people have said creaking issues are only on white variant), no speaker issues even at max volume (and damn have I tested it), no backlight bleed. My screen is BRIGHT, in fact I had to download a chrome extension to set google's background dark, because the white was hurting my eyes on this thing at max brightness.

On the RAM, I've been monitoring maximum physical memory usage in HWINFO, and found that I actually had been wasting my money with 32gb in the past. I use about 9GB max while gaming, listening to music, and alt-tabbing to multiple browser tabs between rounds. I guess 16gb is fine for me... I know that's entirely subjective to the users use, so this one truly only applies to me.

And holy hell, is this thing beautiful. If, by chance, a 32gb variant becomes available with 3070 (I don't want to pay the exorbitant 3080 price) before my March 25th return date, I might swap, but I think I have a diamond in the rough here. No speaker issues, no backlight bleed. Not sure I should take a chance by swapping it.

 

I never turned it on/off is there an option somewhere to turn it on?

 

Never heard of creakiness before, definitely don't waste the money on the 3080 variant. Pretty much confirmed in nearly all cases that it performs the same as a 3070 on these.

 

Within NVIDIA Control Panel, there is a Dynamic Boost option under Global settings, as well as the per-application use settings. I believe it's defaulted to ON, so you should be seeing it occur already (might want to check that it's on). However, the support for it might be application/game specific. I'm not positive. But if that's the case, I wonder if your applications aren't supporting it yet.

 

Boy my ROG strix sure doesn't have that and dynamically boosts regardless.

 

To add to my list of complaints,

https://www.reddit.com/r/ZephyrusG1..._xbox_controller_not_working_on_zephyrus_g15/
https://www.reddit.com/r/GamingLapt...box_controller_wont_hook_up_to_asus_zephyrus/
https://www.reddit.com/r/ZephyrusG1...ere_a_fix_for_the_xbox_controller_issues_yet/

I'm pretty sure it all goes back to the AX200 chipset being used though. Lots of reports of issues.

 

Dang I'm really really tempted to get this laptop but I'd mainly use it for casual gaming with an xbox controller and also VR and both of those seem to have major issues on the g15. Hopefully asus pushes out some good updates because I don't think the other ryzen 9 + RTX 3070 laptops are as cheap or slim

 

I've been using an XBOX wireless controller (with the PC dongle) nightly, and not a single issue. I occasionally use a USB-A Xbox 360 wired controller and haven't had an issue yet. I use a Bose Bluetooth headset when gaming, no issues there either. I'm by no means saying that others' issues with USB-A and Bluetooth aren't real (I'm sure they are), just saying that it's not a 100% fail rate.

 

Thanks for the reply, I'll probably give this laptop a try anyways then and hope I'm lucky enough to have no issues.

 

Hello everyone. I recently got the Zephyrus G15, and am trying to get the best performance out of it.

I had flashed my Zephyrus G15 3070 with the MSI GS66 vbios. I saw some performance gains, but unfortunately lost the backup of the stock vbios.

I cannot find the stock vbios anywhere - I tried all vbios from the techpowerup archive. May I ask if you can upload your stock 3070 vbios that I can use?

The reason why I'm looking for the stock vbios is that although the MSI gs66 vbios gives improved performance, it disables the usb-c outlet - we cannot bypass optimus. As a result, we are losing a lot of performance. I don't think there is a way to bypass optimus while still using the GS66 vbios...

Thank you for your help.

EDIT: I was able to get the vbios through different means. Please ignore. Thank you!

 

"XBOX wireless controller (with the PC dongle) nightly"

That's not using the onboard bluetooth though. I, too, can get the XBOX One controllers working using the dongle without issues. I think it's just something with this AX200 chipset completely based on people's experiences with the AX200 across the internet and not directly related to this laptop specifically.

 

I wonder if you’d have more success with the ax210. It would give you upgraded Bluetooth 5.2 and also prep you with 6e support. These are typically easy to replace in laptops— Asus gives us access right? I know it kinda sucks to have to pay extra $ after buying a brand new laptop, but you could consider it to be an easy and fairly cheap upgrade. And the actually process to replace the wifi card is really easy (for anyone who's never done it, watch an m.2 wifi card replacement video).

$40
WiFi 6E AX210 Expands Wi-Fi into 6GHz with Bluetooth 5.2 Tri-Band WiFi 6 Module for Laptop and Desktop Support Windows10 64bit https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08MJLPZP...abc_50FSSNX1EA5XWZP6WMWA?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1



Note—- if you plan to install this, the module won’t work until you install the drivers, which you of course can’t get without Internet access. So, make sure you download the drivers first, and have them ready. There’s a separate driver for wifi and Bluetooth 5.2.

 

I've used an Xbox controller and headset via Bluetooth without issue on my G15. I've also used the controller with a wired connection too, worked fine.

 

The controllers with the issues are the newer Xbox controllers with the type-c connector. You cannot use a Type-A to Type-C cable without an error. If you use Type-C to Type-C they have issues. If you use a Micro USB (older style XBOX controller) that works fine as well.

 

For anyone that needs stock https://www.sendspace.com/file/ayyhi1

 

I didn't say the controller was using Bluetooth. The Bose Bluetooth headset is the example of a Bluetooth device that works fine for me with no dropouts or other issues. The XBOX controllers were an illustration of some of the USB-A devices that work for me.

 

Hello,

does anybody own the model GA503QS-HQ020T with an Ryzen 5800HS and RTX 3080. Does it perform much worse than the other models?

 

Is that actually for sale anywhere? Asus has like 15 different GA503 models, but I've only seen 2 for sale, both with 5900HS


Edit: someone replied to a Reddit post that the uk version has 5800hs, but they see little performance difference (how they compared, I don’t know). https://www.reddit.com/r/GamingLaptops/comments/lms81s/rog_zephyrus_g15_ga503_model_differences/

 

The 3080 white version was just available on the Asus website store, but only for about an hour before being sold out.

 

I have a playlist with short videos across several titles showcasing one of these.
5900hs
3070 80w
16gb memory
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYUNT4_RmzWOO6hyUWKo5Cg7PgcDi4bm0

 

What’s your personal opinions on this model ?
Good buy ? Look elsewhere?

 

This sums it up.

 

Is there anywhere that sells GA503 (5900HS / 3070MQ specific) extra AC adapters? I contacted HIDevolution and they said not yet...

Chinese eBay options here:
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fr...00JB&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&LH_BIN=1&_sop=15

Not 100% comfortable with that.

Pic for reference from my adapter:

 

maybe this — https://www.asus-accessories.com/asus-adapter-200w-for-tuf-gaming-89851-75213.htm#fa506qm|l