***Aorus X7 Pro owner's lounge***

im looking forward to VR gaming in our monster x7. but for now all we can do is wait for official release. Also nvidia said VR SLI uses 1 gpu per eye and polygon drawn per eye is less demanding than full HD monitor so FPS can maintain 90fps.

im super excited about this!

 

guys, whenever I use my laptop in battery mode it often hanged and restarted and hanged again. But if I connect it in AC power it is operational and no problem. Im not sure if this caused by latest nvidia driver (latest beta xxx.6143). How about yours?

 

Try running in balanced power mode. My laptop was doing exactly the same in High Performance.

 

Mine did exactly the same thing, try uninstalling Command & Control IIRC that fixed the issue. My Aorus stopped powering on so I got it refunded.

 

I'm almost certain its a software issue. When mine freezes on battery, the macro light still toggles if I press the Macro button.

 

I use balance power always but made an adjustment to use 99% max power to avoid overheat issue.

how much you refunded?

 

Great to see an updated Aorus X7 Pro 'V5' is to be released real soon having the new Skylake processor and finally HDMI v2.0 for 60Hz (60fps) gaming at 4K, instead of 30Hz at 4K on current HDMI v1.4 only producing a dire 30fps. However I do think they missed the biggest opportunity.

Althought the GTX 970M SLI cards are very capable, I'm now finding that there limited memory of 3GB each (as apposed to say the GTX980M at an option of 8GB each) is starting to show and often causes the first graphical performance 'bottle-neck' issues because the memory maxes out when playing the latest graphic intense games such as Assassins Creed Syndicate and Witcher 3 to name but some. Whereas some games and usually older games can run quite happily on Ultra settings at 1080p resolution for steady 60fps gaming; I'm having to lower many graphics settings just to maintain 60fps at 1080p for demanding and/or newer titles. Don't get me wrong these latest games and even older graphic-intense games still look good with medium to high settings only, but my point is that the GPU's memory RAM is the first thing in my experience to max out before the CPU does, or system RAM or anything else

Therefore I was kinda hoping that Aorus with the new X7 Pro 'v5' may have at the very least sought a GTX 970M incarnation from NVIDIA with possibly an upgraded 6GB RAM specification each, or just gone all-out and straight for an X7 Pro overhall with dual GTX 980M's having the specified configuration option of 8GB RAM per card, so that we can continue to set graphics to Ultra/Max on the latest titles (and current graphically intense titles), or make use of HDMI v2.0's capability of outputting 4K at 60Hz with ability to have reasonably high graphical settings for those wishing to dive into 4K gaming on external 4K monitors.

Incidently, I really like the new Aorus Fusion Keyboard which has per key lighting and programmable effects (possibilities could be limitless), however unless mistaken I can only see reference to the Aorus X5 units having this - I really hope I'm wrong.

Also I kinda like the new Camouflage Design (paintwork), but again it looks like only the X5 is being treated with this option. With the X5 also being blessed with the lavish built-in 4K UHD display, it makes you wonder why the X5 is getting more loving attention.

 

Do you understand how physics works?

 

there's always the one... go on then get it off your chest, enlighten me

 

The X7 Pro already throttles and runs very hot. It simply could not handle a GTX 980M SLI configuration.

 

Im running my 970m sli in disabled cpu turbo and stays 80C without noticeable FPS drop while gaming. I'm not sure if our Aours can handle 980m SLI in disabled CPU turbo in skylake without too much bottleneck in CPU. Heat exhaust is the main design flaw in thin chassis which causing noisy fan. Maybe they will make it 1.2 inch thick to have better ventilation and lower noise. But they wanted to keep the thin profile to placed in thin and powerful category.

 

I've had my X7 Pro nearly a year (11 months) and have had no throttling or overheating issues what so ever. I personally do not mind the fans in High/Gaming performance mode and kinda like the sound of the fans which is affirmation of the raw power of the X7 Pro. I do have a cooling pad which both blows cool air into the underside air intake of the X7 Pro 'and' raises the rear outlet exhaust of the X7 into the air (thus away from surface of table for a 180 degree un-obstructed outlet), however the X7 runs so well at normal temps and parameters with the cooling pad 'off' that I've just left the pad off for the last number of months and have had no throttling. Maybe I'll only switch the cooling pad on on those very hot summer nights.

Going back to the bizzare "do I understand physics" quote I received previously (something I'd usually expect from a troll); well I explained above I do not have throttling, nor overheating issues and I haven't even repasted the GPU's. Besides I would expect Aorus R&D to naturally redesign the cooling system slightly to accommodate the extra power and heat, this goes without saying and is unnecessary to mention.

Using my X7 Pro over the past months, the FIRST thing I notice from a GPU breakdown utility while running some of the later high-end graphics hungry monsters, is that the GPU Memory resource gets gobbled up way before the GPU Usage and Frame Buffer does for each GPU when certain high end games' graphic details are set to max (i.e. AC Syndicate). In fact rarely does the GPU Usage and Frame Buffer top out; it's the GPU Memory that appears to do so first which indicate that the GPU's are very capable except for the Memory Bottleneck. Dual 980M's with 8GB RAM each would certainly help address this matter.

Therefore when I suggest it would be nice for Aorus to maybe look into a newer 'updated' version of X7 Pro (maybe a flagship version if you like) being redesigned and slightly altered to include the more powerful configuration of dual GTX 980M's in SLI,... how does this imply I have no knowledge of Physics? One could say that the person stating this has no knowledge of R&D teams that would naturally re-design and beef up the Aorus X7 model range line-up with a newer version having a slightly larger chassis to accommodate the larger GPU's and cooling system, as well as maybe calling it something like the Aorus X7 Pro-X. Don't forget that the X7 does not denote a machine with 970 cards only; rather the X7 means 17" gaming laptop model line-up, the X3 is for the 13" gaming laptop model line-up and the X5 is for the 15" gaming laptop line-up (which you may notice there is an X5 and X5S where one has dual 965M's and the other has a 980M, so cards can vary for each of the Aorus X# model ranges). Also while the slim profile of the X7 range units are a nice design quality and quite honestly a fantastic acheivement given their configuration; I for one would still welcome and embrace a slightly larger and beefier X7 chassis in favour for the raw power of a dual GTX 980M SLI flagship version (as long as they retain the unique and very appealing styling and shape of the unit we have all come to love, albeit just chunkier/beefier and meaner)

MSI have the GT80 Titan with dual GTX980M's in SLI and I think a newer flagship Aorus X7 Pro-X is just what some hardcore gamers are waiting for. They have a customer right here for starters!

 

980m sli sounds great hopefully they address the heating issue with a little thicker chassis

 

Hi there,

I got my Aorus X7 Prosync two days ago, and since then I went about re-pasting my CPU and GPU as it seems to be a common thing to do, looking through this thread. So I tested a few games before I went about doing this. GTA V on High - Veryhigh settings the CPU was sitting about 94 Degrees, Rainbow Six Seige on Max settings I was getting around 87 Degrees this was after around 30mins of game-time each.

So I opened it up, cleaned up the cpu and gpu surfaces as well as the pipe to copper area between the two heat pipe parts, applied MX-4 making sure I just used a tiny amount (probably less that half a pea),I then closed it all back up and ran a few more tests under the same conditions.

I also changed my battery whilst plugged in to be on balanced mode and went into the advanced settings and changed max CPU to be at 85%, I very much advise this! It will lower the temps even more and I never noticed any FPS drops.

GTA V I only reached 76-78 degrees, averaging at 60 fps in more built up areas, and capping at my 75 fps due to gsync regularly.

Rainbow Six - I was even cooler at 70-72 degrees!!!

What pleased me even more, whilst running my first tests, the fans would be going NUTSSSSS sounding like a hover craft! Now I hardly hear the fans at all, as the fans are not needed as much due to the temps being this low.

Anyone that is considering doing this i would advise 100%.

Below image was taken about 50mins into Rainbow Six, accidentally closed it prior, so showing only 8mins of test.

 

Would you mind running Heaven? I'd like to see your temps with the repaste, if it isn't too much trouble.

 

Yeh sure! Ill give that a go after work today and come back with the results

 

Ran Heaven and below are my results, still the cpu only got to 69-70 degrees whilst doing the exterme preset.

 

i think your using only 1 gpu, my heaven score is higher double of yours in same preset.

open youtr nvidia control panel / config SLI / 3d option and choose maximum

View attachment 130946

 

Ahh that would explain the degree difference in GPU , ill try again tonight an post up results. Id say i am happy with the fact i am getting 70 degrees on the CPU, will give it a longer life span that's for sure, also the fans are quiet. Not as though you are trying fighting off a leaf blower. haha

 

im using balance mode also but only 99% max power so it will disable CPU turbo which causing me 95C. My max temp while gaming now is 78-80C on AC room ( 82-84C in 30C room temp without AC) and average 70C.

 

Is your laptop plugged in? My laptop hits 95 on the CPU and 85 on the GPUs in about 3-5 minutes of running a benchmark or a gamr

 

Yes mate it is plugged in, I also have a coolermaster laptop mat i sit laptop on that probably takes it down 1-2 degrees. but as i said in previous post i would advise you to try and put the power on balanced mode and limit the CPU maximum processing speed to 85%, or if want try what other guy said at 99% so doesnt turbo constantly. this is where most of the heat will come from.

 

So ran few more heaven tests with SLI this time haha, see below.

Reached 78 degrees after 5 tests.

 

I re-run Heaven 4.0 in no turbo CPU and with high performance config. I noticed insignificant fps difference but the temp were significantly better.

This config I'm using is Balance mode in 99% max power. Max temp around 80C. Fan is noticeable but not loud.


This config is in High performance and max temp is 95C. The fan is super loud.


My conclusion is this high temperature in high performance has a lot of CPU throttle which limit CPU to perform more to avoid higher temp at 95C and their FPS difference is insignificant. Also it will run cooler, more quiet and will lengthen life of our Aorus.

I highly recommend to disable cpu turbo while gaming and use high performance in other uses like installing program or video editing etc.

Bro im curious why our result is not close or the same? U have the latest NVIDIA drivers but my result is better and we use same 970m SLI. Our CPU is almost the same in terms of performance

 

Bro im curious why our result is not cl

I think its purely because i ran the test at 85% processing power and not 99% will probably give this difference, i did a few more tests within GTAV at different percentages and u do notice a good few FPS drops between 99% and going down to 85% but it never goes below 60fps.

 

DirectX 12 games will be able to use both memory pools, rendering the total amount of VRAM to 6GB. Now this will be at the choice of the developer and all, but this could proof to be a mitigation of increased VRAM usage. The increased VRAM usage is an artifact of the current-gen consoles, it's often criticized as the increased VRAM memory usage in PC titles is not a downright necessity but more of a port laziness from platforms with unified memory pool aka PS4 and XBOX ONE.

In short, for the resolution the Aorus X7 renders at, I do not see the VRAM to be a problem any time soon.

 

I think it's a problem for me enough that I'm more than willing to buy (after much saving-up) a new version flagship X7 Pro being fitted with dual 980M's in SLI with 8GB per card and revamped heavier duty cooling system. However it's not the be all and end all for me as I mostly play Battlefield 3 Multiplayer 90% of the time which runs perfect with headroom to spare on the X7 Pro and I do lock BF3 at 60fps. It's only becomes a tad frustrating having to lower many settings in some of the latest most demanding titles as the mentioned before, i.e. AC Syndicate and Witcher III to name but a few. In the meantime I'm very happy with my X7 Pro v3 and those demanding titles still look quite respectable even with many settings lowered. I understand that certain titles may not make use of the hugely increased VRAM that the 980M's have to offer, but for those that do/will in the near future it's good to have the machine fully capable and set to cope with it.

Anyhow I relayed this to Aorus and they might look into it... After all what is there to loose; an inevitable outcome and bonus from this if Aorus were to produce a new beefier 980M SLI X7 Pro monster, would be that it would have a revamped heavier duty larger cooling system which the CPU would inevitably benefit from. Now that can't be a bad thing and besides the still impressively capable current X7 Pro 970M SLI version would no doubt still be available as part of the X7 Pro range for those that prefer 970M SLI configurations.

Response from Aorus:-

"

Thanks for your valuable feedback, we will forward to related department for further evaluation.

"

 

I must be running a different laptop, because I have yet to come across a game I had to lower any settings...
And yes I played AC Syndicate, The Witcher 3, etc.

There are some notorious VRAM hungry games where even top desktop grade card show struggle and are under criticism ever since.
Do not confuse these occasions with a reflection on how games will be going forward, there is a point where optimization of a game plays the more important role over raw power.

That's just my advise.

 

the I ran Heaven just for gathering results here.

Attempt 1 below - ran several minutes after X7 Pro power-on and Benchmark Test was initiated as soon as I ran Heaven render from Heaven Menu:-

• Aorus X7 Pro v3 - i7 4870HQ (no G-Sync)
• Using a basic Cooling pad and switched 'on' (has 1x large single slow quiet fan).
• Fan Control Mode = Gaming
• Power Setting = High Performance (CPU settings untouched at Min=5% & Max=100%)
• External Display 1920x1080 with Windows set to the external Display only.
• Windows 10 (upgraded to from Windows 8.1 - not a clean install of Win 10)
• X7 Pro v3 has 'not' had the CPU nor GPU's re-pasted.

Maximum Peak Temps reached/observed: CPU - 91°C ... GPU 1 - 67°C ... GPU 2 - 82°C





Attempt 2 below - exactly as above EXCEPT that the Benchmark Test was started 'after' 20 minutes of Heaven rendering on the display (in which the 20 minutes included the Attempt 1 Benchmarking which was run at the start).

Important to note here that part way through the benchmark test the fans went from loud/high to low for a while, say 30 seconds apprx and then went back to loud/high; maybe the fan behaviour here unknowingly contributed to the slight frame rate and overall score drop, then again the unit had been rendering for 20 minutes prior to this.

Maximum Peak Temps reached/observed: CPU - 92°C ... GPU 1 - 68°C ... GPU 2 - 84°C



Now if I have Windows Display output/projection set to 'extended' display mode with the external screen set as the main one and X7 Pro's screen set as extended/spare (as was the case on the previous day to this), I then had temperatures slightly higher at approx. 1°C to 3°C more on CPU and GPU's to that of temps shown in 'Attempt 2 Benchmarking' above. However the previous day's room temperature may have been different.

Not that there should be any significance, but one slight minor difference between the X7 Pro v3 & X7 Pro v4 G-Sync, is that of the CPU Turbo clock speeds. The Core i7-4870 fitted in the X7 Pro v3 appears to clock 100MHz higher when in high-performance/turbo mode.

5th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-5850HQ (2.7GHz-3.6GHz)
4th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-4870HQ (2.5GHz-3.7GHz)

 

whats is your max temp in both test?

 

Forgot on first posting but edited in after, should be visible now. I had noted them separately on phone from visually identifying temps as benchmark ran it's course.

I had Logitech ARX app running on separate tablet (Nexus 7) which sits in the Dock of my Logitech G910 Keyboard. I have found shows system statistics to be 100% accurate and matching that of the Aorus System Gauge albeit with a second or two delay (WiFi link and protocols). I had to use the ARX app when running the test with the X7 Pro 'only' outputting the display to a single external monitor; normally I would have 'Extended Display' setting with Aorus's System Gauge running on the X7 Pro's screen as extended and the games running on the external monitor set as main display.

 

I have some issue with bluetooth devices. When I connect some bluetooth speakers like Bose and JBL the range is short and some broken sound if someone block the space between the laptop and devices. Also i use dualshock 4 via bluetooth using ds4windows and most of the time was delayed input (more than 30-100ms) and forced me to use usb cable for instant input. I haven't notice this before in my previous laptop alienware 15. Do you also have issues with stock bluetooth? I'm planning to buy small dongle but ill ask first to you guys if there is a fix or something. TIA

 

I also have those issues with Bluetooth on my X7. The range for my PS4 controller is about 5 cm from the laptop

 

Guys! I had those problems too with Bluetooth and it caused me much pain for a long time.

I too had struggled with the DualShock controllers for years. First the PS3 DualShock controller & then PS4 controller using MotionInJoy driver software and then DS4 tool for Windows. MotionInJoy worked but was very buggy and often caused problems with other things as well as having to buy a dedicated compatible Bluetooth Dongle
which then upset the previously installed Bluetooth Stack and also loosing connectivity if you had a Bluetooth Keyboard or other devices. The DS4 for Windows tool for use with the PS4 Controller was and is a good piece of software that even enabled the touch-pad on the PS4 Controller as an extremely useful 'mouse-pad pointer', however range and latency issues rendered the controller useless for me and most of the time the Bluetooth range really was as bad as mentioned by 'TheFallenPenguin'. This was frustrating for me as I was then very much use to the Analog Sticks on the PlayStation controllers being in-line and not offset like with the Xbox controllers. Portable speakers should use WiFi instead or a dedicated wireless dongle for better connection and this is what the Sony Pulse headphones use; Sony obviously realised how poor Bluetooth technology was/is and therefore made a dedicated dongle for the Sony Pulse headphones and it works very well indeed - this includes the PC and in fact I find they sound better still on PC (in Cinema or Game mode setting on the headphone button) as you can boost the sound further on some sound cards. For what it's worth, the Sony Pulse headphones are one of the most important things in my setup and rather than, i.e. hearing the tanks shoot and helicopter blades chopping the air, you can instead 'feel' them as they reverberate your skull with the 'pulse' (sub-woofer rumble kind of effect) technology, I would never be without them and they replaced my previous Sennheizer HD25 world renowned headphones.

This is what I've learned about Bluetooth: Bluetooth really is an unreliable low powered technology, especially for use with a controller that always demands instant reliable uninterrupted data streams for live action situations (gaming, especially multiplayer) and for portable Bluetooth speaker that need to produce half decent sound that's continuous and un-broken. In my opinion it's only 'just' expectable for mono Bluetooth earpieces for mobile phone hands-free conversations where the sound frequency response range is extremely narrow and the odd crackle or poor sound quality is acceptable and tolerable just for voice conversations. It's also acceptable for mobile to mobile data exchange that can resume after signal pauses without the user noticing or suffering. Sometimes even one's own body/torso that's obstructing the signal between mobile phone in lower jeans/trouser pocket and Bluetooth earpiece that's placed in the ear on the opposite side to that of the phone in the pocket, can have broken and crackly sound quality and that's only 1 metre distance approx. With the PlayStation consoles, I can only imagine that they have some specially built, custom and obscenely powerful Bluetooth circuit and antenna('s) that overly compensate for the lower powered ones in the DualShock controllers.

The only resolution honestly, is to bite the bullet and use either the Xbox 360 controller, Xbox One controller or even treat yourself to the Xbox One Elite controller as these all have specially 'dedicated' Wireless USB Dongles that for me work flawlessly and depending on what version of Windows you run, it runs perfectly without driver or any connection problems. Windows 10 has drivers built in for all three controllers, however can only use the Xbox One Elite Controller and special Elite Controller App, on Windows 10 only. The Xbox 360 controller is still a good controller and is both the cheapest and is the only one where you can buy it bundled with the wireless USB dongle for a low price (£35 approx.). The wireless USB controller for the Xbox One controller & Xbox One Elite controller was released recently (end 2015) and is at a fairly reasonable price (£25 approx). I very soon got accustomed to the offset analogue sticks on the Xbox controller because I was enjoying the wireless connection reliability and low/non-existent latency. Half the time I'm using mouse & keyboard anyhow, i.e. character or soldier on foot, Tanks, Mobile AA, Jeeps, etc. and then I switch to the joypad/Xbox controller when hoping into an Attack Jet, Attack Heli, or some platform games - so I'm always alternating. My WASD control is via a Razer Chroma Orbweaver & Logitech G910 and mouse is Cyborg/Madcatz R.A.T. 9 (Razer Oroborus as a spare).

I really don't think the Bluetooth problems and issues can be resolved at all. I had tried everything and eventually became fed-up that Bluetooth devices where suffering miserably, even when connection may be less than a meter away (even using Bluetooth v4).

 

My previous alienware 15 R1 has better bluetooth range and signal (can play wireless DS4 controller without problem around 2m). Maybe because of metal body of Aorus vs Carbon composite in Alienware.

 

Only the top panel and the screen lid of the aorus are made out of metal. Same goes for the Alienware 15. The screenlid is aluminum and the midplate under the keyboard of the alienware is metal aswell. The bottom internal chassis part is metal too.

But the antennna's for wifi and bluetooth are in both laptops mounted inside the screen. Maybe the Aorus just has ****ty antenna's.

 

Hi Rinneh,

This is actually not accurate. The AORUS models have full Aluminum chassis.

Hi Star1Child,

Sorry for the trouble, If you wouldn't mind going to the AORUS official forums to report your problem, they might have some advice to help you fix it or make arrangements for testing. The AORUS team isn't alone, other brands/models have also run into issues with the Intel AC7265 WiFi adapter, but the AORUS team have done their best to work on these cases individually. Contact them on the forum directly and they should be able to help you or point you in the right direction!
http://forum.aorus.com/

Thanks,
GIGABYTE NB

 

i hope next gen model that they include KILLER wifi module so the bluetooth signal is better

 

Sorry but I really dont believe this. I had an Aorus X3 in my hands and I am quite sure the frame piece with the fan exhausts etc is plastic and is the same part on which the mother board is mounted. The keyboard frame itself as well. I dont call that full aluminum chassis.

 

Hi Neil,

The skylake models will have Intel AC 8260 adapters.

Thanks,

GIGABYTE NB

 

Guys i bought ORICO (BTA-403) bluetooth 4.0 adapter/dongle and it fixed every problem of intel bluetooth. If you were using windows 10/8 it is only plug and play just make sure DISABLE to intel bluetooth first in device manager. Windows 7 has separate driver included in mini disc or download.

I tried playing wireless (DS4) and no delay in every input. My distance around 2-3m and its perfectly stable as it should be. Also i noticed my Bose soundlink mini 1 is less delayed in sound (almost instant maybe around 50-100ms delayed compared to 150-200ms before which i adjust in VLC when watching movies). Make sure to pair all bluetooth device again to make it connected.

This is a must replacement if you have trouble in bluetooth in our gaming rig.

 

hey guys i had this x7 pro v3 for almost a year now ok i am having a problem once i upgraded to win 10 i updated my graphics cards to the newest nvidia update 361.75
when i take my laptop off the plug it show a display error and the screen goes black or sometime the laptop restarts is anyone ese have this problem while on battery and do anyone knows a fix
please help!!!

 

im using same driver and its working as it should. Try to use older driver for now

 

There is a new Aorus audio equalizer after the updater has been updated. But its not working, no changes in sound. How about you guys?

 

I would like to think that is not true, in fact I know this is not true having owned three 'unibody' MacBook Pros that really are fully metal enclosure (underside-plate, keyboard/main body chassis and screen lid) all except the glass screen, plastic buttons & glass track-pad if there's no full metal below that. Needless to say the Bluetooth on the MacBook Pro didn't appear to suffer horrendous Bluetooth connection/latency and neither did the Sony VAIO Fit Multiflip laptops that had metal body/keyboard plate section and metal screen lid.

I firmly believe it's down to the inadequate Intel WiFi adapters that have hopefully vastly improved of late and NOT down to the metal enclosure which my previous MacBook Pro's proved this. I know it doesn't help us with those versions of Intel WiFi adapters much, but I'd rather this than it being down to metal enclosures because part (not all but part) of the reason for loving the Aorus X7 Pro is the fact that the metal enclosure/chassis adds real quality, finesse, finish and substance to the X7 Pro phenomenon as well as to maintain chassis and enclosure integrity for many many years to come.... rather than the alternative of any plasticy rubbish that feels, cheap, creaky, bendy and over time can slightly warp, buckle, bend, crack. I've even owned/used a few plastic laptops over time where I was able to slightly bend & twist the chassis in my hands.

The day Aorus start to make a plasticy or plastic looking (whether composite) X7 Pro; is the day I'll consider abandoning it (even if they stuff dual GTX980's inside which I'm eagerly awaiting).

Hi GIGABYTE it's good to see that your looking into these forums, more impressively so when considering this is not an official GIGABYTE forum. This is something I disliked profoundly with Apple's useless official forums which were rife with Apple brown-tongues and forum police, where quite often users in real need did not fit in and where quite often told that Apple do not look at their forums. So it's definitely reassuring and comforting to know GIGABYTE are paying attention (even if GIGABYTE can't always reply for various quite understandable reasons).

In answer to the Intel WiFi module concern; I'm considering either contacting Aorus for them to maybe test it, or to possibly consider upgrading the X7 Pro to the new Skylake version that has the newer Intel WiFi adapter. However I was planning to possibly hold off and upgrade my Aorus X7 Pro at such a time when a version with dual GTX 980M's in SLI may be incorporated mas more and more I find the newer game titles (with more lush graphics and newer technologies) are maxing out the GPU's RAM memory way before the GPU's processors even hit their max - there simply is not enough dedicated GPU RAM in the GTX 970's from my experience with the latest titles. Naturally the version of GTX980M's with 8GB each would certainly address this as well as being needed for true 4K '60Hz' gaming (using HDMI 2.0 included on the new X7 Pro V5 Skylake models). I know this would inevitably fatten-up the enclosure/chassis of any new flagship version of X7 Pro being configured with dual GTX 980M (Ti) in SLI to accommodate larger adapters and stronger cooling system, but as long as you continue to use metal construction for the enclosure/chassis, then thats all that matters because hardcore gamers will gladly endure a larger unit for a flagship version as all that matters is raw power and quality (GTX980M Ti in SLI and metal construction for integrity & longevity).

Thought I'd get that lot in

Agreed, the exhaust ports are plastic and so I believe is the underside bottom-plate. Despite myself being a lover of quality metal enclosures, I'll give Aorus some leeway regarding the plastic ports on the basis that their design looks so good and so damn complimentary to the X7 Pro and that I guess in this case it can only be achieved be some very complex injection-moulding process in which the same effect would probably not be achievable for metal unless costing unimaginable amounts of money to the end customer.

This is good to know.

Thanks this is also good to know even though I'm not a fan of occupying limited valuable USB ports, as you can never have enough of them. Still I'm intrigued and wonder how well the dongle performs on a USB3 hub which are apparently known to produce more noise interference than USB 2 hubs when using sensitive RF (radio transmitter) equipment, unless I'm mistaken.

 

Hey guys, just a note regarding the previous long random issue I had with the X7 Pro getting 'stuck' with a black screen from a cold boot (i.e. first power-on/boot-up from Off and not a restart); initially it was suggested to turn off the very troublesome Windows Fast Start Up that plagues so many users, this did not appear to work for me at first. However after some time (and some NVIDIA released Driver updates), I turned of fast start-up again and this time I also deleted the large hibernation type image file on disk that Windows used for the Fast Start-up and have no-longer had the problem. I cannot be 100% if it was the fact I did this or if the latest NVIDIA updates had anything to do with it, but my guess was the turning off and deleting the file... who knows. At least it hasn't happened for now and I was a bit skeptical mentioning it earlier here in case it returned.

NOW... the new problem is when shutting the system down! Fast Start-up remains disabled, however sometimes (probably 40% to 50% of the time) the system will proceed to shut down, the display will go off/black but the X7 Pro's keyboard illumination, cooling fans and remaining heat being generated from the unit remain and continue to do so being the only indicator that the unit is still on. The fans admittedly remain quite on low speed, so one has to put their ear close to the unit to hear them and it's usually the keyboard illumination that gives the clear indicator that the unit it still 'on'.

For me this is one of the most worrying issues as you can imagine. It concerns because if switching it off on your way out (if leaving premises), it then remains on your mind that your unit may get hot if perpetually stuck in this kind off frozen loop state and if you've flown out of the door in a hurry, you may not be around to force it off. Forcing it 'off' only appears possible by holding the Power Button down; sometimes this will turn the keyboard illumination off along with the whole laptop/system... and other times holding the Power Button down will still turn the keyboard illumination off BUT then put the Power Button light indicator into a 'flashing' (on & off) state which I can only assume is some kind of error state indicator or other indication.

Any ideas on this? as I'm really not to keen at this stage on reinstalling the system, then upgrading to Windows 10, then installing all games, drivers, game controllers, updates, and so on......

 

Phew, I'm not the only person who has this bug when I shutdown my computer. What I don't understand is why it only happens sometimes, I shutdown my system from practically exactly the same state every time - all applications still running and music still playing after I have finished playing dota, so I'm not sure why it chooses to not shutdown properly sometimes I will add at this point that I have tried closing everything first to see if for some strange reason it was an application not closing or who knows what forcing the computer to stay on, but that was to no avail.
I'm also subject to the bug where my display driver crashes when it is running off battery but not when it is plugged in: Annoying but not an issue for me since I have it plugged in pretty much the whole time.

If anyone knows a solution to the shutdown bug, please do shout!

 

I'm pretty sure it's not any potential running programs causing this because Windows itself will reveal any open programs preventing shutdown with an option to close/end them, however Windows is so quick at automatically terminating any such programs that you would have to be the fastest gun-slinger in the west to beat Windows to it. Once Windows closes any open programs, it then commences to shutdown and leaves the user operating state. I did reset the BIOS to it's defaults but this didn't cure the issue. This is one issue I really would like to eradicate so as to not worring about the unit staying 'on' and hot. Will have to contact support at some point, just not keen on being advised to reinstall the system.

With regards to the display driver crashes syndrome; I can tell you that I sometimes get this although admitedly it's not that frequent (once or twice a week maybe, or once a fortnight). Strange thing is that my X7 Pro is permanently plugged in all the time, so I've experienced the the display driver crash always while the unit is plugged into the mains power.

 

This might help you.

Although previously the BIOS reset did nothing, I was maybe hoping for a BIOS update to see if that may resolve the issue with the unit staying powered on after shutdown. It could be some time before any BIOS update, so although my unit has the latest BIOS installed I decided to download the current version manually and then 're-flash' the BIOS's non-volatile memory and so far the problem has not occurred.

To be honest I've been holding off mentioning this for over a week in case sods law struck after mentioning it, so didn't want to tempt fate. But I think manually re-flashing the BIOS ROM with the current BIOS version might have cured it.

(just hope I haven't spoke too soon)

Here's the link if it helps for speed.

http://www.aorus.com/Product/Download/X7 Pro?OS=Windows 10 64bit

It's for the X7 Pro and you will have to choose operating system from the drop down menu tabs because despite Windows 10 64bit shown in the link address you will nevertheless be presented with two BIOS update with one for Windows 7 (strange), so just select OS in drop down menu just to be sure. If you have the G-Sync or other model, then just navigate from the relevent Laptop model page and then click support tab near top of page.

 

Hello guys, is anyone has oculus rift here?