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

So I bit the bullet and got the DT. My impressions thus far are mostly positive. Coming off a GS60 I was expecting to be disappointed with the keyboard but was pleasantly surprised instead. Fit and finish is top-notch as well.

Concerning noise and heat: I was expecting a this thing to be LOUD... and it's not. It's not froufrou-book quiet and the cpu fan is audible at all times, but this is a gaming laptop. Fans ramp up accordingly under load but either X7's of yore were louder or reviewers were over reacting. As for heat, I've seen gpu temperatures as high as 86C after prolonged benchmarking. I consider this acceptable considering the chassis thickness and the hardware inside.

I've done some minor gpu overclocking, but anything over 125mhz or so results in prefcap events...nothing a custom vbios can't cure One thing that is disappointing is that drivers on Aorus' website while dated 6/14 are actually ancient 359.x but that's not a knock against the laptop itself.


Overall a nice laptop that has no trouble running the Vive, probably one of the most portable as far as heavy-caliber gpu machines go.

 

Fan noise on the X7's have never been an issue for me and in fact I quite like it if I'm being honest. I agree many reviewers were over reacting regarding fans.

86C is very reasonable and reassuring for GPU temp. Can you tell me how high the CPU went on those tests as I think I saw some very high temps showed in an earlier post with screen captures.

I'm still on the fence. X7 DT for some VR action (BF3 preferably for me), however I know from some reviews that the dual 970M SLI can give slightly more fps on non-VR gaming. Mmmm... tough one.

 

I'll run some tests and get back to you

EDIT:

Here is a quick screenshot:



I originally wanted to run this test for 30mins but had to head to work, this will have to do: What the picture doesn't tell you is that the fans are not running anywhere near maximum. In my opinion temps are acceptable at stock without cause for concern, and only get better if you undervolt (I've been running at -.75mV offset, same test yields temps barely in the mid 70s).

I realize the DT audience is small but I've been working on a custom vbios in my spare time (not much of it as of late), hope to post some results by end of week.

 

Mmmm interesting, thanks for testing.

Regarding screenshots posted by GenTech PC for the X7 DT in previous post, unless mistaken, their results yielded CPU Package (and core 0) temperatures of 95°C with CPU utilisation at 92% & 94% and CPU clock speeds of 3.99GHz in which the latter rings true to Aorus's one click overclock feature for the new unlocked Skylake CPU's which Aorus stated to be 4GHz (which 3.99 more or less is).

I see your test showed a lower clock speed at 3.18GHz which may generate lower temps, would that have been run with the one click overclock feature 'off'?

Would be interesting to know if both/either the X7 v5 and X7 DT can be used in a constant overclock state at the unlocked clock to 4GHz (that Aorus has featured) without any throttling or overheating issues. The 4GHz unlocked clock speed would be great for CPU intensive game simming on FSX which is heavily CPU dependant and then the GTX 980 for Oculus Rift/Hive gaming.

That 95°C at 3.99Ghz clock speeds shown previously, does worry me a little though.

 

Edit: double post

 

Will take a look into cpu @ 4GHz. I should mention that all my measurements thus far have been with fans set to the default 'standard' not 'gaming' or 'custom' as that's the default preset. The 'gaming' fan mode ramps up a bit more aggressively and does not throttle the fans as much. I'd bet that just as myself Gentech didn't realize this and hence the higher cpu temps. I'll look into it later this week. As to my core speed, it was at default; turbo clocks ramp down depending on how many cores are currently engaged. All adjustable in XTU but again mine were at default.

 

how good are these aorus x7 pro 12 gb vram? can they max out witcher 3 on 1080p?

 

If you're looking for laptop recommendations, head on over to the 'What Notebook Should I Buy?' subforum.

 

Could anyone with an X7 v5 confirm if the unlocked one-click 4GHz overclock mode is stable and continuous, without any throttling?

 

I'll get back to you on that by week's end, just had to deal with some unexpected setbacks.

EDIT: This fell through the cracks, but better late then never I suppose.

All cores will not run at 4GHz with the 'one-click' overclock mode without some tweaking in XTC; the 4GHz preset overclock runs a single core at that speed. All four cores can be adjusted to run at 4GHz but in my case that required a mild over-volt to remain stable. Temps @ 91C after an hour of XTC benching with fans set to 'Game', no throttling though. Personally I'm fine with the factory 4GHz setting, but the ability is there to push all the cores if needed.

 

Agreed, I use mine for almost a year now and while does make fan noise, it is to be expected and part of a gaming laptop. I 'price' I'm more than willing to pay for its beautiful and practical thinness.

I'm far from selling and upgrading mine, everybody's mileage may vary but this thing eats everything I throw at it. Granted I have not tried VR, and don't even know of that is feasible. Did anyone try the Oculus Rift or Vive on the X7 2x970SLI series?

 

Welp. I ordered my Aorus X7 PRO V5-SLCM from Amazon and it should be here tomorrow. First time I've owned a gaming laptop in nearly 4 years. I'm hoping the SLI 970m works well with the HTC vive. Does anyone know if/when the DT model is in stock? I'm hoping I can buy one and swap the mobo into the multicam chassis

 

So I uh got it today and updated the GPU driver and now SLI doesnt work. Tried to roll back and now its saying my hardware isnt compatable -_- as far as first impressions go... not super stoked about a future of relying on OEM updated gpu drivers

 

have you enabled maximize 3D performance under NVIDIA control panel after installation?

 

How heavily do you guys game on these things? Anything melted off T1000 style?

 

I game every day. Mostly FPS stuff like BF4 and the new BF1 beta. Its a nice platform for these types of games. No, nothing has melted yet. Just be sure to keep all the screens on bottom of the laptop clear of dust.

 

I saw the X7v6 with additional air intake above the keyboard. Im thinking of drilling some mini holes above fan inside. I know its crazy but I dont know how much temp it will lower with better airflow. Im still waiting for video review of x7v6 to see how significantly improve the temps. I hope they will test it covered and open top airvents for comparisons.

 

I don't think the cooling concept of the X7 v6 is that straight-forward, for all we know our X7's airflow has a different design and the drilled holes can offset that and as such the cooling.
In other words, I would not drill them holes.

 

On a different note, I bought myself a HTC VIVE and have been having good success running all games I came a across.
I have SLI enabled, but most games use only one GPU, other games benefit from the second GPU for NVIDIA VRWORKS and PhysX.

I've been holding back from the purchase for month cause I thought it was simply a no-go with my specs (see signature), but I'm happy its all good.
And that does not mean running all at low settings either.

 

Im also planning to buy VR between oculus and htc. Thanks for the info that we can play VR in our monster laptop. But i will wait for many VR SLI support in games and price drop of VR headgears.
I have question about VR, can some old games can be played in VR with 3D stereoscopic support? or play it in 2D just like big monitor? Thanks

About the drilling holes, i saw the pictures of x7v6 inside and its identical in Fan placement. The fan has big hole above and bottom for air intake but I will see first the temp difference in real gaming. In some reviews they say temp drops 9C which is significant. Im currently disabling my CPU turbo to have stable temp at 80-85C while gaming AAA titles and the fans is significantly quiet. Im concern for longer life of our laptop and lower temp is a must.

 

You cannot directly play non-VR games in stereoscopic 3D, however you can play them in 'virtual desktop mode'.
These basically means you can play your regular games on a virtual 100 inch or 200 inch screen, it's quite the experience however of course but lower resolution than a 4K monitor for example.

 

if im playing at virtual desktop mode, is the game still support SLI? or it will use only 1?

 

I'm just about ready to for the x7-v6pc3k4d.. Would anyone have any laptop cooler base recommendations?

 

im not sure if you still need cooler because x7v6 runs cool. It has 4 air intakes and if you check Dave2D in youtube review its getting around 70C cpu and gpu while gaming and overclocked which is very good for laptop thinness.

 

Hey all, definitely considering the new v6. How is the screen hinge strength? Does the screen easily wobble and teeter if a table is bumped? I'm used to the Asus g752 series strong and tight hinge as an example of comparison. Thing is rock solid and never moves. Any advice would be great!

 

I will be selling my Aorus Pro-sync with dual 970m in SLI in a week or two when I receive my new Razer Blade Pro. Email me if interested. Will be priced to sell

[email protected]

 

Ok, have had the X7 DT V6 CF1 now for just over 2 weeks and is certainly there best unit to date.

It does indeed run cool. It certainly is impressive for a high-end gaming laptop and one that strikes the perfect 'ratio-balance' in my opinion between power, slimness, design appearance, ease of use and quality of material construction (being metal and not bendy, creaky, warpy, cheap nasty plastic).

There are a few minor points as well as many overwhelmingly good ones which I'll try and detail later.

However QA (Quality Assurance) standards maybe slipping slightly and in my case are questionable. Regrettably my unit appeared to slip past this processes with my unit having a small but subtle dent or indentation on the bottom/underside metal panel upon unboxing on arrival (notably, the box was sealed). Small detail I know, but for a £3,000 laptop; it's like say a Ferrari to cars and most would be troubled if they had a small dent on their Ferrari from new.

Likely this is a one off and others should be fine so, however if truth be known my previous (now gone) X7 Pro V3 had a small section of the Aorus Logo on the lid that somehow broke off straight after and I had then realised it was nothing but a sticky label (albeit a thick sticky label). On that occasion I had managed to arrange for Aorus to post to me a new label and much trouble and unnecessary upheaval was avoided as I simply replaced the label with the new one. But on this occasion and despite reporting the issue to Aorus straight away (with photos), they don't appear to want to help minimise the problem and avoid sending the unit back for an 'unnecessary' replacement of the whole unit or replacement of the panel where as sending/shipping out a replacement panel instead for me to change over, would avoid having to be without the laptop for sometime. Typically owners are allowed to remove and replace the back panel because owners are allowed to upgrade the HDD, SSD and or RAM without invalidating the warranty.

I even offered to 'pay' for a replacement new underside panel to be shipped out to me so that I can replace it myself without spending time without the unit and without having to re-setup and reinstall on the laptop. But still Aorus will not help.

((( Good and Bad points to follow )))

 

Looking forward to reading all of your points. I've got the same model shipping to me sometime this week, I believe. That bites about the dent in the underside and Aorus' desire to have the unit back entirely instead of sending you the part, though. Hmm.

 

Ok here are some of my views and opinions below regarding the X7 DT V6 CF1 (sorry for the delay). Sadly I don't get much time with my job, so gaming time is precious and viewing posts/threads can be occassional and therefore take some time.

My current thoughts after only one month are that it's undoubtably the best Aorus X7 gaming laptop yet and it certainly appears to deliver adequately in performance, design appearance and functionality. Naturaly it's to early to say how well it's long term reliability and durability will be, but judging on my previous X7 Pro V3 which performed admirably without issue which just seemed to go on and on with great reliability, hopefully the same should exist with the version 6 incarnation of X7.

I did some quick tests on 3D Mark 11 and received these results:-

Firestrike - 16040
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/11068450

Firestrike Extreme - 6818
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/11076411

Firestrike - 16265 (One-click Overclock set to 4GHz GPU Overclock set to Level 4)
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/11067678

Firestrike Extreme - 9218 (One-click Overclock set to 4GHz GPU Overclock set to Level 4)
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/11067767



The upper two slightly lower scores if I remember correctly, were done with the default setting within the Aorus Command & Control software where the GPU overclock is set to Level 2 by default (not Level 4) and the CPU is set to the highest at 4.0 by default (at least that is what the CPU was set to 'out of the box' when new if I remember correctly). So the only difference would appear to be that the GPU is set to Level 4 from 2 giving the slightly better results.

I think it might be better to give some Pros & Cons with slight explanations, at least for me it is, so these are as follows below:-



Pros

Beautiful legendary X7 design as always by Aorus and the X7 DT V6 is better still, looking meaner while still being timelessly sleek and very slim. I would go on a limb and say it's the best looking gaming laptop on the planet even though it's not all about the looks and is mostly about what's under the hood.

Fully metal all-over enclosure/shassis with exception of custom moulded-shaped legendary design rear vents. The bottom underside panel is also metal, unlike my older version 3 X7 Pro which appeared to be plastic on the bottom underside panel (can't speak for the models inbetween as I did not have these). Metal for me always wins over cheap nasty, bendy, creaky, twisty plastic that over time can warp and crack. Keep this up Aorus. Metal over plasticy enclosures is a win win for me and with their design and performance they certainly give MacBook Pro's not only a run for their money but leave them far behind!

The Power of the new X7 DT V6 for gaming certainly appears to tick the boxes with regard to the GTX 1080 inside. It's pretty much on par with my friends desktop PC also sporting a GTX 1080 with the exception of his overclocked CPU. Most games are GPU dependant so the X7 DT V6 performs very well and is doing so for me right now with games such as Battlefiled 1, Gears of War 4, Rise of the Tomb Raider, TC's The Division, Homefront The Revolution, etc. all appearing to run very smoothly indeed with a mix of very high & Ultra graphics settings. Sometimes you'll have to byte the bullet and turn down resource hogging MSAA (type anti alaising) from 4x or 6x to a lower 2x, or better still change it to some other like FXAA which is good and ironically was developed under NVIDIA. The exception to high-end performance are games/sims like FSX, FSX SE, etc that are more critically CPU dependant and although FSX SE could run alot better with a desktop version CPU, at the same time it performs admirably well for a laptop unit. 3D Mark 11 Firestrike yields fairly decent results as shown above.

Surprisingly the X7 DT V6 appears to run fairly cool from the games I've played which include GPU intensive AAA titles and the GPU tends to run cooler than the CPU most of the time. Admittedly it's winter-time here in the UK as of writing this, so that will no doubt have some influence however the environment's central heating has been active. No doubt stress testing the X7 DT V6 may change this, but I have no desire to do that. Fans do not sound as loud or as high-pitched as my previous older X7 Pro V3 unit, but the noise is something that never bothered me personally and bizzarely I kinda though it was affirmation of the unit's raw power like the Space Shuttle taking off (can you imagine the Shuttle rocket launch being silent!)

The Aorus RGB Fusion Keyboard really is a fantastic addition and a joy to behold. It illuminates the colours on each key very well indeed, with consistent even glowing light accross the key's letter/symbol. The software appears straight forward with it's UI and although I have not delved deeper into it's slightly more advanced options, it certainly appears accessible.

Having the normally 'optional' AverMedia dedicated Capture Card already fitted in the X7 DT V6 from new, was a nice little surprise and greatly appreciated as the card is neigh on impossible to source and buy anywhere on the internet. Every bit of processing demand from non game.exe that can be freed up away from the CPU and/or GPU to leave more focus of CPU & GPU for game processing power is very welcome and beneficial. Thank you Aorus for including the capture card!

Bar the miniDP version, all I/O connections are very comprehensive and very welcome. HDMI 2.0 ensures smooth 60fps up to 4K and USB 3.1 (gen 2) is most welcome for faster data transfer should you need it. The connections cater for most of your needs and adequate for most applications. Maybe would have liked miniDP to be v1.4 instead of only v1.3 and USB 3.1 although great, Thunderbolt 2 especially Thunderbolt 3 capability would've been the icing on the cake regarding interfacing, flexibility and future profing.

Although this is a gaming laptop I've not actually used the built in screen much as I tend to have it hooked up 98% of the time to an external 42" LED display, so I can't comment too much on the display. However I like having a mobile gaming rig so that I can go mobile if I need to, transport it easily from one room or property easily if I need to, or just have it on the desk with external monitor if I require that - so you get the best of all worlds. Saying that, I did briefly try the built in display for gaming and it doesn't dissapoint and while the display doesn't exactly leap out at me in terms of combination mix of contrast, sharpnes, colours, it does appear to be a good quality display never the less and is very smooth with motion. NVIDIA have a truly great setting within their control panel that I've always used which ads vibrancy to the colours if they look a little pale or washed out and it does this in a way which is different to the regular colour saturation; it's NVIDIA Control Panel > Display > Adjust desktop colour settings > 'Digital vibrance', it's great for adding some life to the display and colours.




Cons

Not getting 4.0 GHz CPU clock speed, not ever. I've not witnessed nor recorded 4.0 GHz clock yet. Clicking the 4.0 GHz setting of the four CPU overclock speeds available (3.7GHz, 3.8GHz, 3.9GHz and 4.0GHz within the Aorus Command & Control) results in a constant clock speed fluctuating between apprx 3779 and 3859 and only peaking very seldomly to 3910 when worked hard such as in a Firestrike test. I've never recorded above 3910. Personally I would at best expect clicking the 4.0GHz overclock in the Command and Control to yield a minimum of 4.0GHz sustained clock or at the very least a fluctuating average hovering around 4.0GHz and not an occassional maximum peak hitting 4GHz (which I am not even getting that) and certainly not a very seldom/occassional peak that's maxing at approx nearly 0.1 below at 3.9GHz (3910 to be exact) - this I would expect if I clicked a lower overclock setting below 4GHz. This is important in my case as games/simulations such as FSX SE are slightly more CPU dependant as well as this feature being important regarding advertising and features by a company.

Ok, this one I kind'off expected because I could see from the design in the pictures before I even ordered it - it's obvious but can be easily overlooked and also depended upon wether the air was being blown 'out' or sucked 'in'. So I knew that those newly incorporated air vents on the top of the X7's base unit sitting just above the keyboard and being essential for extra cooling of the rather powerful desktop version GTX 1080 would naturally start to look discoloured once dust starts to accumulate. Sure enough these new vents are 'air intakes' and therefore they start to change appearance very quickly as the dust does indeed build up in the fine-mesh holes... Ok, there's actually another positive to this besides adding extra cooling to the GTX 1080 and I'm going to make you feel a lot better regarding the slightly unfortunate unsightly side-effect consequence; I had actually made myself feel a lot better by understanding that a hidden benefit is that these powerful visible air intakes being mounted on the top and just above the keyboard are serving to suck-in and thus divert all the fine dust that would otherwise fall straight into the keybaord crevices and would build up over time. So now as a result we may have a cleaner slightly more dust-free keyboard for longer - this last bit should therefore be a positive point.

Unless mistaken and as far as I know, the genuine desktop PC GTX 1080 GPU has the latest Display Port v1.4 fitted. However as far as I am informed, the GTX 1080 'DT' (desktop card version) within the Aorus X7 DT V6 apparently has the older Display Port (Mini DP variant compact connector type) that is only version 1.3 which I find disapointing. As some may know the Display Port/Mini Display Port interface is far more superior than HDMI in terms of video interface and it is the essential interface to use if you want to output 120Hz/144Hz refresh rates to 'external' displays with the newer Display Port version 1.4 being even more important for even higher resolutions at high refresh rates/variable refresh rates to 'external' displays. The PC Desktop version GTX 1080 has 1.4 and Aorus should have maintained this specification to keep it true to the desktop cards specs. Naturally if you do all your gaming mobile on the built in display, then this will not be a problem for you. But if you do both mobile and at home hooked to an external display and was hoping to maybe upgrade your external display for a high refresh rate/variable refresh display, then version 1.3 Display Port wil not be as powerful as the version 1.4 Display Port fitted on the true Destop GTX 1080 cards.

Although the having the Avermedia Digital Capture Card for such things as live game streaming and game recording is a most welcome surprise; sadly it can only muster 30fps at most higher resolutions and not 60fps (unless resolution and compression quality is low). This will leave many to switch the capture streaming software to use the GPU engine in order to get the more appreciated and more easy on the eye 1080p at 60fps broadcasts that are where its at. This kinda defeats the object of having a seperate hardware capture card for removing the load from the CPU or GPU. 30fps broadcasts are certainly watchable, but 60fps looks so good and natural.

Personally, to vastly compliment the GTX 1080 DT fitted inside, it would have been a natural progression if Aorus had gone all-out and fitted a desktop version CPU, i.e. i7 6700K slightly overclocked from stock 4GHz to 4.4GHz (4.6 if we're treated) and this for me would have justified the price of £3K more. Many would even spend a bit more if this had been the case, if driven to it then I would too for the bigger picture of performance gains. COnsequently I'm left thinking "If only" and "What a waisted opertunity". Having said that, this is still a very capable, mean and powerful machine... (but if only?)

Quality Assurance standards can be slightly questionable with Aorus having had a second unit with a small defect from new. This is the second time now. This X7 DT V6 CF1 unit had a small but subtle dent/indentation on the bottom underside metal panel. My previous X7 Pro V3 CF1 had a small section of the Aorus Logo label on the Lid that had come off. I would imagine and hope that not everyone will be as unfortunate as me because I'm assuming this type of thing to be rare, but being the second time for me makes me a little wary. Aorus could have really saved the day by offereing a replacement bottom panel for which I had provided the proof in photos and also offered to pay for the replacement panel myself.



Well that's it for now. I'm sure there's other points I may have forgotten to mention as there is so much to this rather impressive machine.

I hope the above is useful in some way.

Very interested to know what other users are experiencing for their overclock speeds if they have or when they get an X7 DT V6.., please share.

 

I feel you ... i am getting 16k+ Firestrike score with 6700k (4.6Ghz) + 1070N... (the config from my signature costed me ~ 1800$ excluding the HDD)
Firestrike - 16149
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/16977041

 

Comparing your brick-like GT62 with desktop cpu with the svelte X7 doesn't really make any sense.

 

View attachment 141296 Ok, here's another result from 3DMark 11 which I ran 'after' an Intel Chipset Driver Update to 10.1.1.38 and Intel Management Engine Driver Update to 11.6.0.1026, which had only just appeared on the Aorus Drivers Update panel (apprx. 30 Dec 2016).

Firestrike benchmark test result appear to have jumped a little when running another benchmark test after the updates, from 16265 Overall - 21406 Graphics to 16735 Overall - 21881 Graphics and another at 16837 Overall - 22060 Graphics. I'm not sure if this is as a result of the Intel chip driver updates or if some other factors like environment temperature and background processes.

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/11264011

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/11264545

Firestrike Benchmark Ref/Description: Aorus (Gigabyte) X7 DT V6 CF1 Gaming Laptop One-click Overclock set to 4GHz GPU Overclock set to Level 4 ... After Intel Chipset Driver Update to 10.1.1.38 and Intel Management Engine Driver Update to 11.6.0.1026

At the bottom of this message is a link showing the measured & validated CPU score from CPU Z which reports a CPU frequency of 3807.41 MHz (38 * 100.29 MHz) - Uncore: 3811.1 MHz. This wax measured with the Aorus 'one-click' overclock set to the maximum 4GHz (of the 5 levels available, i.e. 3.6, 3.7, 3.8, 3.9 and 4.0). It can be seen the X7 clocking two levels below 4GHz at approx. 3.8GHz despite having set 4.0GHz in the Command & Control Overclock setting.

This overclock issue is about the only troubling issue for me, for what is otherwise an immensely impressive X7 Laptop incarnation. For most, the X7 DT V6 will not disappoint at all with it's shockingly striking slender design, form & function, features and the show stopping capable GTX 1080 desktop card stuffed within a physics defying 'svelte' enclosure that breezes through most all games you chuck at it using Very High to Ultra graphics settings with no problem over 1080p @ 60fps and scored an impressive Graphics section score of up to 22K+ on Firestrike (2nd link above).

Naturally, running higher resolutions at higher frame rates goes without saying that some graphical tweaks will be necessary and lets be honest if you want to output to an external 4K monitor then don't kid yourself as you'll really need a rig with dual Titan X Pascal (SLI) cards - I know as I was considering going for the Infin8 Meteor overclocked PC with Titan X Pascal SLI dual GPUs option fitted for capable 4K outputting in order to see fine clear detail of all those instrument panels in a PMDG Boeing 737 NGX aircraft running in Flight Simulator X (Steam Edition), but that will be for a later date as the cost was high.

For me at least, getting true 4GHz performance and not the reported 3.8GHz when having set 4GHz in the control panel (having not set 3.8) is something I feel needs addressing, especially for me when running CPU reliant FSX SE.

Bottom line; I whole heartedly recommend the X7 DT V6 unit all the same, it will not disappoint and will most likely impress in waves. Most games are heavily GPU reliant and a 0.2GHz CPU overclock deficiency is virtually unnoticeable with GPU reliant games which lets face it are nearly all games nowadays. Who knows maybe it's just my unit so the slight clock deficiency may not even exist on others.


CPU Z:-

http://valid.x86.fr/4cxkxq

 

Delete post please, wrong thread.

 

Actually, this is where nothing happens, but in this thread, there is at least sign of life:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/official-aorus-x5-v6-owners-lounge.798940/

 

Actually your post was very relevant to this thread and you should copy it back in, It refers to the same exact serious issue regarding the pretend or falsely claimed 4GHz Overclock by Aorus.

Both units (your X5 V6 and my X7 DT V6) have the same unlocked i7 6820HK CPU and both units are stated by Aorus to easily Overclock to 4GHz with just one click; their webpage for the products even have a picture showing the Overclock feature (in a bar chart like graphic) showing the Overclock at approx. 4.1GHz, thus ensuring 4GHz with headroom to 4.1GHz. See below.

 

I noticed when I play CSGO (cpu intensive, gpu not so much), using default 4G oc, the cpu can only maintain @3.8Ghz. Is there anything that can be done to increase this limit?

 

Sadly no! It looks like false advertising on Gigabyte's part. I have been in (slow) communications with Aorus for the last couple of months trying to sort this rather important issue out, but it would appear they cannot fix the issue to ensure the unit overclock's to match the one click 4GHz Overclock claim. They did provide me with two different updated versions of Command & Control to 'test' which was downloaded via a special link they sent to me; the first one C&C v3.3.6 was useless making no difference over the current v3.2.2 and the second C&C v3.4.4 did raise the clock to 3.9GHz (minimum fluctuation around 3.9 and occasionally topping 3989MHz) but had some graphical glitches in the OC LAUNCHER drop-down Menu and stressing the CPU made other things unresponsive - the 'uncore' clock was exactly the same where usually I thought it was/should be 100 to 200 less than core's 0 to core 3, but I'm no expert. If it was proper and legit then they would release it through the default Aorus Drivers Update program, however it still didn't produce the claimed 4GHz Overclock in which their own graphical 'Bar Chart' diagrammatic depiction of it on the website implies approx. 4.1GHz to ensure producing 4GHz due to fluctuations (see diagram in previous post above). I think Aorus was trying it's luck with the alternate Command & Control versions they issued to me, likely from other Aorus systems/models as the CPU clock-dial actually went up to 5GHz within its range, but it begs the question why didn't they test this at their end on an X7 DT V6.

The 4GHz stated overclock was important to me because I expected it to live up to it's claim especially when the X7 DT V6 costs £3K. More so because despite many of todays AAA title games being more GPU dependant, older games and some games of today that are very number crunching intensive can be more CPU dependant such as MS Flight Simulator X, FSX SE, Prepar3D and in your case it would appear CSGO which is an older game; therefore the 4GHz overclock feature spec was one of the three main deciding factors for me to get the unit. Sadly more of a pretend overclock feature as the unit only clocks at 3.8GHz occasionally dropping to 3.7GHz - so when it is set to 4GHz in the C&C panel, it has a minimum clock at 3.7GHz and averaging at 3.8GHz. Disappointing!

I would have thought CSGO wouldn't be too taxing on the CPU though, maybe some other optimization issue or conflict somewhere?

The last support mail from Aorus had advised me to return the unit for a refund which implies they can't fix the issue to match their claim. I'm not exactly happy returning the unit because everything else about the Aorus X7 DT V6 is perfect and I cannot abide the thought of having some other alternative plasticky brick-like build quality laptop from another brand. The almost all metal, high build quality and very likeable appearance of the X7 DT V6 is second to none, so a mostly plastic brick alternative brand is out of the question and I may be forced to consider switching to a Desktop (metal build) PC tower, or wait until Aorus release the next X7 DT (maybe version 7?) and confirm with Aorus that they have no false or misleading advertising and claims.

 

Such a shame...It seems they have a BIOS update..not sure what that can do..I may give it a try sometime this week.

 

I've got an Aorus X7 V6 DT less then a week ago.

I love this laptop. The build quality is solid. The performance is blistering. Works perfectly with VR!

I can definitely notice the screen striping issue, but I can live with it. From a distance the screen looks very crisp and vibrant.

Although everything has been great, The laptop has already managed to die on me and come back to life after just a few days of use:

http://forum.aorus.com/forum/gaming-laptops/support/42450-aorus-x7-v6-dt-dead-within-a-week

Also, does anyone know why the update centre is telling me that the version of the installed nVidia GeForce drivers on my laptop is higher then the available BETA drivers?

 

Despite Overclock issue, I believe it to currently be the way gaming laptop on the planet when considering all things.

Regarding Graphics driver update; forget the version in the Drivers Update and just stick with the latest offerings in NVIDIA's GeForce Experience programs. You'll then always have the very latest version for the latest game releases.

 

Guys I'm have issue with my aorus x7 pro v5. The plastic frame of my screen start peeling off and the hinge cant close due to uneven force distribution, can I fix it by myself? The glue of this laptop seems to be weak

 

Today i discovered a 'worn out' usb port.
Never encountered this in my life, didn't know USB ports could be worn out.
I used this one the most, swapped cables probably 1-2x per day. There is no real visual problem but since no cables are recognized at all, upon plugging in, I can only assume it is worn out.

I've had it for 1yr 3mo, purchased through Amazon from ExcaliburPC. Anyone have experience with this type of issue? Is it worth the warranty claim? The port is the USB on the left, when looking at the keyboard on the v6.
Just wondering if I should fix or warranty.

I have experience tearing and building PCs. I've replaced the power socket off the motherboard on a past laptop (Asus G73), and have all the soldering equipment needed, since I build micro drones. But I've never opened my Aorus and since it is under warranty, wanted an experienced opinion.

 

All ports have a certain durability. Per the spec ( http://www.usb.org/developers/docs/devclass_docs/CabConn20.pdf) USB Type has the smallest of 1500 insertion cycles (usb mini/b has 5000 and micro has 10000). Given 2x a day, you should only be at <900 cycles, so it is a premature failure. Whether it's worth the warranty claim it depends on you..... ~2 weeks without the machine for one of your usb ports.

 

Hello everyone

I have a Aorus X7 pro GTX970M 3GB version SLI

I can't seem to get it to run very cool CPU is very high around 96° maximum and GPU around 88° maximum and the slave is around 80° Maximum when gaming .

I have 're pasted both the CPU and GPUs and but have not changed the thermal pads yet.

And I can not update the BIOS due to the laptop not having a battery in it ( I just use the power adapter )

 

Star1child, if I understand the issue you are facing correctly. The CPU overclock silder works by applying Intel "XTU" profiles. You can change these manually and allow your slider to hit any clock speed you desire. Just locate the profiles being used usually under the (SmartManager/cpuoc/<model>) directory, back them up and then overwrite them with new profiles you export out from XTU that include core offset voltage and your determined clock speed.

 

This was my first model Aorus gaming laptop and it is a decent rig, especially for its time back then as there was nothing like it being so slim with its power to slim size ratio.

I know the following might sound a bit pointless and you may have done a few steps, but I would suggest all of the following might help at best, or maybe just waffle in which case feel free to ignore:-

1. cleaning/hoovering the laptops vents (intakes & exhausts) inside and out which means opening up the laptop again. While it's open, clean the fans free from all dust and more importantly if the tiny heat-pipe-radiator-fins are not clear and free from dust & fluff, then find a way of clearing them so that airflow can travel freely and fast again.

2. Get a decent laptop Cooler stand with fans and make sure airflow direction of Cooler stand matches the laptop. I had this setup and it did help a little not so much the fans in the stand, but more so because the stand allows airflow more freely because it props up laptop away from a solid table base.

3. Try and ensure there's plenty of space around the laptop's sides and more so the rear ( 1 foot space if possible).

4. Make sure a decent high power fan profile is selected within Command & Control.

5. Try and avoid any overclocking as any performance gain is tiny or insignificant vs the extra heat generated.

6. Many of today's infinitely more demanding AAA game titles are really making CPU's sweat with their higher performance demands. As much as we crave for high quality graphic visuals, unless you have a liquid cooked high end Desktop then you'll have to bite-the-bullet and lower those graphic quality settings. Adjust so that your fans are not screaming at their maximum after a while of gaming, which sadly means resisting the "Ultra or Very High" settings for latest high performance games, or experimenting and tweaking to get your personal preference. I have found that the default "Optimal" setting within NVIDIA GeForce Experience software is often not ideal, but if you click the Spanner icon you can then adjust a slider below optimal to find the best setting. Avoid dynamic super resolution scaling which puts way to much unnecessary demand on CPU & GPU. Shadow quality & anti alaising methods can contribute heavily to demand, so find the best processing methods used by these.

7. I have always found that the damn HDD's within gaming laptops are heat bombs. After extended gameplay, the heat a HDD contributes& adds to the laptop internally and its chassis is excessive. On my now current Aorus X9 Laptop, the area around the internal HDD (front right) gets very hot and toasty even though the X9 has extra air intakes and venting ports. Old technology mechanical spinning hard drives should ideally not be used anymore in laptops, however SSD's are still costly for higher capacities which force manufacturers. I would say if you could store your most performance intensive most played games on the internal PCIe M.2 SSD's within your X7 then your helping to remove excessive usage and therefore unnecessary excessive heat generated from your internal HDD which slightly reduces effectiveness of your internal cooling system. Even better if your in a position to swap out the HDD for a 2.5" SATA SSD. I'm certainly planning myself on maybe replacing my HDD in my X9 because the heat from it is frankly rediculous, even offensive.

8. I noted that you re-pasted the CPU/GPU. Although I've never done this personally, if I were to consider doing this I would probably opt for Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut as it appears to yield results.

Some hard core PC Pro's go further and de-lid the CPU to re-paste it between die & lid which is massively risky, voids warranty and risks damage especially if using metallic paste - this is only for people that know what their doing and have money to throw on replacement CPU's & parts if all goes wrong.. Recently some have applied a new type of "straight-on-die" CPU cooling water blocks for desktop gaming rigs which is insane!

Gaming laptops sadly don't run and probably will never run as cool as desktops with their bigger fans, radiators, liquid cooking options and so on. I've always seen CPU temps run high on laptops wether gaming type or not. Old games admittedlyrun superbly on gaming laptops and my No1. favourite of all time Battlefield 3 runs fantastically without the fans spinning fast on my Aorus X9. However if I run Ghost Recon Wildlands, Ghost Recon The Division, AC Syndicate and other demanding AAA games then the fans work extra hard after several minutes of gameplay. I've had temperature peaks of 97 degrees on CPU with demanding current games, but considerably lower in older games like BF3 where it hits around the eighties. (so again lower those graphic quality settings in demanding titles, especially the culprit settings).

Lastly you stated that you have no battery in your X7 unit and although you can get by without one, having one will not only allow BIOS update, but one of the best things I think in having a battery is that in effect it becomes an UPS (un-interruptible power supply) which can be invaluable for preventing data loss and safer chipset firmware updates.

Sorry if a bit long winded.

 

@Star1child Thanks a million for all this help and the 1 trick i will still try is the harddrive trick..

What i have found is that the heat-pipe setup in this laptop can get ever so slightly bent out of shape maybe over time..

The design is good but NOT GREAT...

This is where the heat issue comes from GPU1 and CPU heatsink not making great contact with GPU2's heatsink ( a solid 1 piece design would have been much better )

I will be doing all this over through tomorrow and might take a few pics to upload encase others have the same issue as me some time.

 

I'll have to re-read that one as it's been a while since I've had the X7 now and I'm currently on my second Aorus X9 unit, so I've lost touch and cannot remember to well regarding what you mentioned about Intel's XTU. I'll look it up later but what I do remember is that the actual reached Overclock was always showing below what was being set within Command & Control's Overclock slider settings. When checking within CPUz/HWMonitor, it showed the correct multiplier for the Overclock being set, i.e. setting OC to 4GHz within OC section of Command & Control resulted in a 40x multiplier, however Aorus's OC Guage and some other monitoring utilities would show clock fluctuating at around 0.3 to 0.4GHz lower than what was set. I think this was because Aorus's OC Guage within Command & Controll was displaying the "Uncore" clock speed and not an average sum of the 4 separate cores. Unless mistaken I think uncore clock runs sightly below core clocks speeds. Still I would have preferred a sum average representation of the 4 cores which would have resulted in the OC Guage giving a closer reading to what speed has been set on the Overclock slider setting.

 

Sorry man I didn't realize it was a post date of April 2017 after the thread was brought back. FYI though the same holds true for the x9. Aorus updates these profiles and their clock vs target displayed can be misleading. They should provide general names on the sliders like they do for the gpu side. Regardless the user has control which is nice.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

I agree with you on the heat pipes not being ideal, they have always looked like an after-thought to me. They defiantly look undersized and prone to mid-shaping overtime. When I saw some of the more impressive, solid, cutting edge vapour chamber offerings that can be seen in Sager's NP9877 GTX1080 SLI laptop and even the rather impressive looking heat exchange system with bleeding edge vapour chambers in the latest overly slim Razer Blade Prob; I felt a little disheartened that Aorus didn't concentrate more on this. No surprise incidently with the Sager NP9877 better heat exchange system as it's a laptop rocking an unlocked overclockable desktop i7 -8700K CPU, as well as being brick-like. Still Aorus (Gigabyte) can do better.

I have to commend Aorus on their extra venting & exhaust placements in the Aorus X9 Laptop which are impressive, however when I'm running current AAA game titles I'm not really seeing thermal benefits when I'm seeing CPU occasionally hitting 97 degrees. Let's be honest thought, Ghost Recon Wildlands is the new Crysis 3 for benchmarking or seeing just how good your new PC is.

Eventually I'm gonna give up and think I'll consider getting an open loop watercooled desktop PC when the gaming version of NVIDIA Volta comes out, either being called GTX 1180? GTX 2080? NVIDIA Ampere? or NVIDIA Turing? (Are the current rumours).

Trouble is, I'm a sucker for convenience & ability to unplug my gaming rig and transport it from room to room or one house/place to another and even take it on holiday.