*** ASUS ROG G703GX-XS71 Owner's Lounge ***

Yes, of course I've been messing around in Farcry 5 last night for about an hour and everything looked stable, in average about 7 degrees C cooler which actually sometimes made the fans slow all the way down even while in game. I will try more games too and post back.

Only thing that still makes me sad/angry is that asus locked this thing down. Especially since I'm running it a lower frequency, I would've really loved to be able to undervolt it too.

 

Have you tried uninstalling armoury crate before undervolting? Is it possible that is locking down or overwriting settings? It seems odd undervolting would just not work.

 

Not yet. I will try that and give it a shot with XTU too. We'll see. For now I'll leave it alone for a few days to make sure everything is stable.

 

Cucubits I sincerely hope the thermal woes on your G703GX are rare case of faulty hardware or software. Most reviews on the G703GX I've seen/read don't suffer from thermal throttling even with an i9 8950HK at base clock speeds, but tech reviewers tend to receive review units cherry picked by either vendors or manufacturers so I take those with a grain of salt.

An i7 8750H CPU running at 90C while playing games on a MASSIVE 17.3" DEKSTOP REPLACEMENT?! Even with stock paste this should never happen, this is not an Aero 15X!
Therefore, you have to manually limit your CPU frequency WAY below the max 3.9 Ghz all core or 4.0 Ghz dual core?!
What a rip off, what's the point then, ASUS should slap an i5 there and charge less money to the costumer. This is ridiculous.

ASUS ROG truly screwed up by removing the third dedicated heat pipe for the CPU; now it's 2 shared 2 dedicated, while the GPU has 3 dedicated heat pipes and 1 shared. Sigh, Nvidia GPUs rarely go above 80 C anyways and T Junction is 87 C, Laptop RXT 2080 has the same 150 watt TDP as laptop GTX 1080! Meanwhile Coffee lake and it's refresh are notorious for running super hot and being throttle hogs, terrible call.

Well now I'm having serious doubts about purchasing this notebook with the HOTTER I9 8950HK, wasting almost 500 USD if the thermal solution can't cool properly a puny i7 8750H at 3.9 Ghz, how can I expect to get my money's worth out of an i9 and it's 4.4 Ghz (ASUS even brags about 4.8 Ghz OC...).

 

Nah, it all started with Asus bundled software not working properly (keep the CPU at 4Ghz while the fans were on medium speed). If the fans are allowed to blast full speed there's no throttling. Not the most efficient cooling setup but it works for what's intended.

I would absolutely love to see some data from someone else who has this model. Start armoury crate and simply switch profiles while watching CPU speed with CPU-Z or any other software. Does the balanced profile where the fans are at lower speed have the CPU at 4GHz? If yes, Asus guys who set this up are simply stupid at their job.

I chose to limit the CPU speed to a little over 3GHz because I prefer less noise above performance. Every game still runs perfectly with the highest setting and it'll probably be the same for the next couple years. I don't have to have the fans and CPU going at full speed. If you buy a high performance sports car, you don't have to drive it like crazy all the time. Best analogy ever

 

Hi there, may i know if anyone has successfully undervolt the 8750h? I tried XTU and definitely greyed out. Meanwhile throttlestop’s undervolt setting just don’t work. The far right corner in FIVR where we can see the voltage shows 0.000 no matter how i adjust it, apply or save the settings. Followed several guidelines on YouTube but it just wont stick.

 

Same, I haven't found any post about successfully undervolting this thing. I will try XTU shortly but I don't have any high hopes.

No biggie, I'm ok with it as is now, but it would've been cool to change some more settings. Maybe someone will figure out a way to modify a bios image and unlock it.

Edit: as expected it's the same in XTU, voltage options and others are greyed out. This is really disappointing from Asus that they locked us out, especially considering the price of this thing and that in the end it's built for the enthusiast market who like to change settings and tinker with everything. It's a shame and this will most likely keep me away from Asus in the future.

 

Yeap.. XTU totally locked. But am curious why only g703 as other rog series are capable of undervolting their 8750h.

 

I guess it can also be just a stupid oversight from Asus... I don't know the procedure, if they have to do something extra to lock it or unlock it before leaving the production line.

Wonder what their answer would be if asked. I'd expect a useless generic customer support reply.

 

Did u tried how is it after uninstalling gaming centre or armoury crate? Ive been told that it wont work as well.

 

ok, this thing has a mind of its own! All of a sudden it's as if it was unlocked.

It's exactly as strange as it sounds. I've literally stopped troubleshooting it after I saw that in XTU things were greyed out too. Uninstalled XTU and that was it. I played FC New Dawn last night and nothing else. Haven't touched any other settings in ThrottleStop, I just opened it up now to look around with no purpose and noticed my voltage changes were applied. Can't believe this, can't explain how!

 

wow wow wow.. is that the new bios? OMG, i might want to try uninstall XTU and give it a try. LOL

 

No, no new bios. It's still 301, the initial version. I'm not aware of any updates. I really haven't done anything to make this work. Completely surprised too.

 

Hmmmm finger crossed. Lol hopefully it works. Btw did u restart after uninstalling XTU?

 

No luck. Still the same.

 

Yes, closed ThrottleStop (didn't uninstall it), installed XTU, reboot, check settings - noticed still greyed out - uninstall - reboot - thats it. Since then I've restarted a couple more times (power on/off for random gaming sessions). Only kept turning on ThrottleStop to apply my initial lower multiplier turbo speed (3.1GHz).

I can't explain it and now I'm afraid to mess with any settings. Just turned up a bit more the voltages to -100mv for core/cache and -60mv for igpu. So far it does seem to make a difference. Haven't seen it above 70C under load.

I asked in ThrottleStop thread too, let's see what unclewebb says.

 

It makes zero sense to lock down the G703 so I don't think this was deliberate by ASUS. It has ample cooling available, and the previous two models (Kaby Lake/Pascal, Coffee Lake/Pascal) have not had this issue. It sounds like it is shipped with something weird going on with BIOS settings. Especially as you now have it working. Hopefully a reliable method to replicate unlocking it is found for you guys. It's an amazing laptop when tuned (undervolting + overclocking), and we have the benefit of ASUS allowing a much higher GPU TDP being much higher than other brands (I am pretty sure your Turing models also allow up to 200W).

 

i am waiting for Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut from Amazon. Gonna try to repaste it and see since i cant undervolt it.

Just wonder if its gonna void my warranty by repasting it?

 

I don't think so. I haven't seen any seals when opening it up. Just be patient and take your time with a guitar pick style pry tool when popping the case for the first time.

Also, I only repasted the CPU/GPU, I felt that the thick factory paste style pads on the VRMs and other components around there was still good. Plus I didn't have enough new pads to cover all.

Oh and if you take out the battery (just one extra screw once the lid is off), be sure to put it back. I actually started putting it back together, popped the back on and starting screwing it in place when I realized I had forgotten about the battery

 

LOL. Hopefully no tiny stickers / seals for UK’s model as well.

Thanks for the reminder.

Btw, what paste did u used?

For the vrm(s), i am planning to clean off and apply thermal grizzly Kryonaut on it as well. Since the stock application used paste as well right?

EDIT: what was your temp before and after?

I noticed the temp on every cores kinda far apart when i did a test with cinebench r15. Throttling in 1/2 cores and the rest just nice. Scored around 1170.

Wasn’t looking for any big figure but trying to make it at least “not throttling”.

 

I also used Grizzly Kryonaut but I had the tiny 1g pack. I'm not sure about the vrms. The stock paste seemed very 'gum-like'. There's a possibility the heatsink doesn't touch them properly and you may need something more there (like some good pads). The 1g paste for sure wouldn't have been enough for all of them.

 

Ive purchased the one with 5.5g.

How was your temp before and after? Any improvements?

 

Yes, 7-10 degreed C cooler. There's a couple posts back in this thread with temps and some details.

 

I think this laptop is haunted.

Last night I powered it off as usually, did no other changes or messed with settings and now when I turned it on, started throttlestop and the voltages are zero again (and multipliers greyed out). Something in windows has to be messing this up. Now it's obvious it's not locked, we've seen it work, I haven't touched the bios.

We must figure this out!

Edit: I've had a bit of undervolting set up in msi afterburner too (just changed the points in the curve as recommended). This was also reset to default now.

Very very strange. I'll start uninstalling Asus bundled crap tomorrow. Tonight I'm tired and I want to try out Sekiro.

If anyone else has this laptop, please install ThrottleStop and let us know if you can/cannot change voltages.

 

Currently i am using MSI afterburner to undervolt/OC around 1900 clock @ 0.9v it will maintain 1880+ throughout the furmark benching. Temp wise, no difference.

I have yet to discover if it has been resetted as I kinda busy recently. Will check and see.


EDIT: so far MSI afterburner did not reset. Maintaining around 1880-1911mhz throughout gaming. Looking forward to see some temp improvement when my tools and thermal grizzly Kryonaut arrive next week.

EDIT 2: after gaming in ultra settings BFV in 1911 clock @ 0.9v. It will randomly freeze and crash for every 15-30mins. Gpu temp was maintaining at 59c while gaming (max 60) vs stock voltage 65-68c (max 68/70c)

Tweak a lil bit on voltage 0.925 and game on it. So far so good, no more crashing and freezing issues. Temp maintaining at 60c (max 61c).

 

Here's a bit of an update on what I found so far.

- I don't think we can get rid of the bundled asus crapware software. When I uninstalled Armoury crate, asus service and everything else beginning with asus, the cpu clock would not behave. I mean the frequency would keep jumping from around 800mhz (when idle) to 4Ghz when starting anything. My constant setting of 3Ghz from Throttlestop would not be applied anymore. I feel that windows 10 without some help isn't able to properly manage cpu settings.

- installed back armoury crate and service and everything was suddenly ok again (cpu would stay stable at 3Ghz as I had set it in ThrottleStop).

- as an extra kick in the nuts, now all of a sudden my voltages are applied again in ThrottleStop (also multiplier settings unlocked there). Since checking last time when they were not applied, I only put the laptop to sleep instead of shutdown. Maybe try this, make your settings there and without closing throttlestop, put the computer to sleep and wake it up. Who knows what black magic is going on in windows.

Getting close but not quite there yet. This is turning out a real mystery.



PS: getting the undervolt settings reset in MSI Afterburner may have been my fault. When I set it up, I didn't actually save it to a profile.

 

LOL.. so weird. But in order to get rid of asus bundled, its best to go for clean install. But i am reluctant to do so. Kinda lazy to go through that.

I’ve given up on undervolting it. Just wait for my tools and Kryonaut next week and repaste it.

 

What battery life are you guys getting while using the iGPU (MUX, disable G-Synch) and browsing or watching movies at 50% screen brightness?

 

I’ve no idea about that as i plugged in everytime i use it.

 

Same. Sorry. I've literally never ever used these laptops without them being plugged in.

 

So my post Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut in cinebench r15 is max 79C

It was thermal throttling in 2 cores previously when i bench @ 98C max.

Points bump from 1170 to 1227.
Happy with the temp now.

And i dont hear any fans after booting. Usually it will ramp up the fan for few secs after booting into windows.

Waiting for my samsung 970 evo plus 1tb tmr.

 

Good to hear that! I can actually play games now without headphones, the fans do stay at lower speeds.

What GPU temps are you getting in games after the repaste? I'm seeing between 70-80C depending on the games. It never goes above 80 but I think that may be the throttle limit for it. I do wish it would run a little bit cooler though, above 75C the GPU fan starts to spool up noticeably. Maybe I need a bit more aggressive undervolting there.

By the way, I've still got the CPU voltage settings unlocked and applied but I haven't shut the thing down in the past two days. Sleep only
Something at windows startup must be the culprit which messes it up...

 

Just tried two rounds of conquest in bf v. Ultra settings. Currently undervolt 0.925@ 1911mhz. GPU max temp at 61c. Maintaining 59c during gaming (stock paste max 62c)

Cpu max temp 91c. Maintaining at 70-85c during gaming (stock paste constantly hitting 80-90+ during gaming).

So far so good. LOL. Love Kryonaut. I hav no balls for LM yet.

Btw i only used up lil bit from the 5.5g Kryonaut. Applying on the vrms as how Asus did. I did not get any thermal pad.

 

Btw, i did noticed that the effect of new paste mostly on cpu. Not so much on gpu. Maybe gpu temp already in the sweet spot.

 

Any idea why the 970 evo plus not recognised? How to deal with it?

Thanks

 

Not recognized? In which slot did you put it in? The one on the left side (where the 512 factory one was or one of the two from the right). Did you try in other slots too? Have you gone through bios settings? Maybe there's something needed to be enabled.

It has to work, I've been planning on getting the 970plus too.

 

i plugged in to the left empty slot (PCH side) since both of my right slots are occupied by the factory intel 760p for OS.

 

So, i managed to install it. No idea why but i just open up and re”screw” it again. Check bios and it was there (it doesn’t show up previously).

Booted in windows and managed to initialise it and etc. Dont think i gonna raid it since my OS already in raid 0. Will use it for games instead. Reserve the sshd as storage.

One issue thou, i cant install the samsung nvme driver. It shows nvme not connected. No idea why.

EDIT: after going thru google for some info, it seems that due to raid configuration in my bios so i can’t install the samsung nvme driver. I shall just let it be then. Benched both the raid 0 drive and new 970 plus. Raid 0 read at 4.7gb write at 2gb+; 970 plus read and write at around 3.5gb.

 

So after a few days, my throttlestop undervolt settings are still working but I have yet to shut it down. Besides just gaming I haven't done anything on it so putting it to sleep it's fine... but this is not a solution.

Btw, exiting throttlestop and starting it back is fine, voltage settings are still being applied.

At some point I will power it off and see if on a fresh windows boot they will still work...

 

That’s great man. Maybe just my luck. I’ve given up to undervolt it since my new paste works well for me.

 

I've rebooted windows once and surprisingly throttlestop voltage settings are still being applied.

Still don't know why or how but I do want to do a clear windows reinstall when I get rid of the sshd, sometimes the next couple weeks.

 

I am planning to get rid of my sshd as well. Just wonder so i need to “uninstall” it or just plug and play with my new ssd? My os is in the raid 0 drive.

 

Normally it should be plug and play if you're not touching your system drive raid setup. On the other hand I know that windows puts some system files/partitions on each drive so it may complain or you may run into trouble if you are going to do any clone restore later. I'm not sure, it may work fine.

Mostly I want to do a clean windows reinstall to make sure I get rid of all the asus bloatware crap and see if I can set up my undervolting cleanly after.

 

I am getting a ssd / hdd enclosure kit for the sshd. So it wont be wasted. LOL. Hopefully no issue.

 

To be honest I'm getting contradictory feelings with this laptop. While it is an amazing machine, incredibly fast, I just can't get around to the cooling solution they are using.

Asus used to be known for bulky gaming machines but with proper cooling and quiet operation even under load.

Here, even a less demanding game gets the CPU and/or GPU to above 70-75C and the fans pass the point of being too loud in a room where for example someone else is watching TV. This is how it's going to be used, even if I am using headphones most of the time, I cannot have it running so loud.
At least the previous models had somewhat better exhausts designed pointing only backwards. I know, for this one they needed side exhausts too to cope with more heat produced by the current hardware.

I honestly don't know what to do. I'm passed the point of just returning it and I kind of don't want to do that. Ideally if I could improve the existing cooling setup, to keep the temps under 70C, everything would be ok.

For now I see only two viable options:
1- improve cooling by any means (I don't care about warranty, honestly after all the stories I've heard about asus customer support, I wouldn't even try if I needed them). If it didn't break so far, it will be fine. I do have hopes for this approach as simple repasting made a difference. Going with liquid metal and maybe some other improvements, will surely help. If it's going to be enough, we'll see.
2- sell it, of course at a loss (take it as a lesson for not doing proper research with my exact needs) and build a quiet compact desktop.

 

I think the issue lies in the new 6 cores 8750h which is known to be a toaster (although not so new now, the current 9th gen 8 cores line up is even hotter).

I noticed that most of the new thin + light gaming laptop nowadays are struggling to keep the 8750h cool. Running at 80-90c+ stock and will need to undervolt it + repaste to keep the temp slightly low. Good thing with your unit is you can undervolt it; not like mine, can’t undervolt. Maybe you want to try LM to push the temp further down?

Regarding the fan noise, it is unavoidable thou. Even if you go with the LM repaste route. The fan will still kick in when it is underload, but i believe the fan speed will be slightly lower like what happens to my unit. I did not use LM but after the Kryonaut repaste. I do noticed that the fans kick in slightly later and even when they ramp up, the speed is slightly slower due to the overall lower temp.

Indeed, a watercooled desktop will be a lot better. You might want to get a compact watercooled powerhouse thou

 

I think that is the struggle with any desktop replacement laptop. You should probably try Option # 1 because you are beyond return period. Rather than selling it for a loss, why not try going to LM to see if it improves the situation.

 

Yes, I'll see how it works with LM and I also want to experiment a bit with the back cover. Honestly the intake cutouts seem way too small for the amount of air it needs. Wonder if this is by design or not, but I can try to run it with the back cover off for a bit and see if it makes a difference.

The desktop build option is also good, I mean I don't really need it to be a laptop. My previous G751JY (about the same size as this) was moved from its place on my desk exactly zero times in over 2 years. They're not really designed to be traveled with. But on the other hand, I love how clean these make the desk look, no extra wires and way more compact than an actual desktop.

There's no way some of these are locked and some aren't. You must find a way to do this. It has to be some windows thing messing up or blocking the registry entries which are probably changed by ThrottleStop.

In the mean time, I've powered mine off last night. Curious to see if the voltage changes are still applied when I get home today.

 

Here's another thought. What software could I maybe use to get full manual control of both fans?
Please don't recommend asus bundled (cr)app as that doesn't seem to let me control anything at all.

I could set up a manual profile for the fans to spool up to just below the point where they get too loud and then I could watch the temps, where/if they are stabilizing under load.

 

I did noticed some post about modding the bottom panel and in fact the design of the panels are restricting the airflow. However, i do believe there must be some logic behind the “designed” vent right? LOL.

I have no idea what’s wrong with my setting thou. I tried to uv it on the first day I received it but failed. Tried with TS and then XTU. No idea why. Even @unclewebb said nothing can be done since Asus decided to restrict everything.