*** ASUS Zephyrus M (GM501) Owner's Lounge ***

Picked up a 1mm guitar pick from a friend. Hopefully it works or I need to order the iFixit Pro Tool Kit.

 

As ever, once you find the first opening, the rest follows very easily. Just take your time and you'll find a spot that gives you leverage. I've cracked open the case to replace HDD with SSD and new RAM, but I've not repasted yet. The only teardown video I've seen makes this look a little more involved than I'd like it to be, with ribbon cables and suchlike to work around, plus some of the cables are stuck on with tape that looks a little tricky to remove. I'd be interested in any tips from those who have repasted, and whether we need thermal pads on hand too.....

 

I seem to have incredibly rotten luck. One of the t5 torx is striped and on the wrong hinge from the factory. Asus gives me 2 options: cancel the contract of purchase, try luck with RMA and 3rd option that I came up with is I drill out the screw but there will never be another screw in that hole.

Sigh.

I should have checked the screws yesterday but watched the teardown video first and didn't attempt due to the prying tool part and seeing my old CC flex so much.

 

It helps to have 2 picks - or pry tools, plus another tool to hold open one side of the clamshell - push a credit card in the space opened with the pick / pry tool.

Yup, the ifixit pry tools are great and individually inexpensive:

iFixit Picks (Guitar pick inspire)
https://www.ifixit.com/Store/Tools/iFixit-Opening-Picks-Set-of-6/IF145-123-2

Jimmy ( art / plaster spatula inspired )
https://www.ifixit.com/Store/Tools/Jimmy/IF145-259-1

spudger (plastic electronics tuning tool inspired)
https://www.ifixit.com/Store/Tools/Spudger/IF145-002-2

Opening tool
https://www.ifixit.com/Store/Tools/iFixit-Opening-Tool/IF145-335-2

Prying & Opening Tools
https://www.ifixit.com/Store/Tools/Prying_and_Opening

There are now a number of make / model specific inspired case cracking tools, this custom Macintosh case cracker was the first such, and aptly named because of the ungodly "CRACK!" made by the Macintosh as the little plastic fingers were forced to release the case halves when pressure was applied:

https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/39316/case-cracker

Inserting the thin ends where they meet, and then pressing the handles in gently increasing pressure until you heard the "CRACK!". Great fun was had by all, especially the Macintosh owners, having paid $K's for their little friends, it was quite the experience for them to hear that "CRACK!" first-hand.

Advice: if you are working on someone else's computer, don't let them watch you disassemble their pride and joy.

 

Your report isn't the first reporting soft metal screws, it may be a new method of deterring owners from self servicing their laptops.

You may not need to drill out the hole larger, get a bite on the screw in order to back it out, preserving the hole.

Maybe you can find a professional mechanic that can work with small parts. Usually these problems are with much larger components.

Before rushing forward drilling out that screw, consider moving a bit slower and finding another way other than losing that screw down point, if you can't use it to apply counter pressure against the other screw down points, you might never get proper flat even pressure across the heatplate.

 

Yeah, I had stripped and VERY soft screws on the heatsink in mine. Bought a bunch of spare screws and am going to try to remove the stipped ones with pliers or something. I worry about messing it up and having unevevn pressure if I do, though.

iFixit kit is amazing, though. The machine itself is pretty easy to get into once you have done it once.

 

Is anyone having the problem where the laptop keeps switch to high performance while gaming?

 

Hi all, new to this website and forum. I found it because I did my research, saw that the new Zephyrus M was the device to buy, and once received used it to search for an owner's thread.

Wow, so much great info in here, thanks guys! Took me a few days to read the whole thread, but now I have Throttlestop knowledge and profiles in place to either maximize performance or battery and life is good.

I am running on the stock thermal paste. Bought mine from CUK via Amazon with upgrade to 32g ram and 1TB NVMe drive. I may repaste some day, but for now with Throttlestop set to -125mV and -48.8mV cache I can play Witcher 3 for hours and never break 78~80C on CPU and 72~75 on GPU. After reading hmscott's comments on the previous page, I may reevaluate those TS settings and see how performance compares with matching cpu and cache voltage offset. For now I am more than pleased with the result and feeling very confident in this machine's capabilities. Prior to making voltage offset, after playing a demanding title like witcher, my cpu would sometimes spike to 90C for a moment and drop back down to low-mid 80s and gpu would sit at around 80C.

This is my first gaming laptop. I have always wanted to get one but could never justify the cost involved in getting what I want all in one sleek package. This thing delivers. I was worried about not having an Ethernet NIC, so far not an issue. I have a half way decent wifi router and a 200mbps internet connection. Via wifi I am pulling a solid 130~180 down and 30~50mpbs upload with negligible difference in latency compared to my hardwired desktop. I have a gigabit usb-ethernet dongle but have found no reason to use it. Maybe if I had a faster connection it would help but as it stands I am very satisfied. Bought it for gaming in the living room and when we travel, and considering the fact that it blows my now 4 year old gaming rig with a gtx1070 in it, out of the freaking water, I am in love.

Considering doing a blog/review of my experience as I feel there is a lack of information out there on this notebook. I work full time+ for a small tech company so my time is limited, but my enthusiasm is strong, so I will be sure to link it here for you guys if I follow through.

 

Something I noticed last night after posting.. I ran a few competitive matches in Overwatch and checked my HWMonitor max temps and my cpu temps on one core broke 90C. It had seemed while playing that my fans were at maximum volume but we were winning so I was giving my full attention to the game lol

When I was done gaming I confirmed my suspicion that throttlestop had failed to start with windows. I rebooted again, and again it failed to start. I had followed the instructions on the TS thread for creating a scheduled task to run TS at startup, so this time I went digging through all possible options in the task scheduler and what I found to work in the end was to have the Trigger be "At log on of any user", and also to enable a Delay of 30 seconds.

 

I'm almost done with selling my current machine and getting the Zephyrus M, so if anything goes well I should get it for first weeks of september. I'm having a little doubt though, more a curiosity actually: is it possible to remove/replace the intel 9560 wifi card, or is it soldered on the motherboard?

 

after looking at the tear down video on youtube it appears that the wifi card is removable.
here's the video:

 

Nice... I already saw that video but I didn't really noticed it.
Should be replaceable then, I only wonder though why Intel chose to stick with the 9560 and not the more used 9260 chip instead. On the official intel page it says that the 9560 has a different plug (not m.2), so I just hope there is a way to replace it in the future with standard m.2 chips like 9260 successor and such. In any case, the 9560 is pretty equal to the 9260 and should be enough for anything, I guess.

 

The 9560 is the newer WiFi card that has replaced the 9260. There would be no point to replacing it with the older card.

 

Are you sure of that? They were released both in the same time, Q4 2017. The 9560 seems more of a "variant" since it uses Intel CNVio interface instead of the standard PCI-E one.

By the way, I wasn't discussing replacing it with the 9260, it was just curiosity to know if it was repleceable in future with other cards, and it seems so. That's all.

 

In theory it *should* work with upgrades on the wifi for the future. However, we won't really know if it works in *application* until newer hardware comes out. They always love to throw curveballs.

 

When the laptop comes with the 9560 or Killer 1550i, 9260 and Killer 1535 and 1550 cards will work in it. However, if the laptop comes with the 9260, Killer 1535 or 1550, the 9560 or Killer 1550i will not work.

They all use the same formfactor, but the key slots in the socket are different. The 9560 and Killer 1550i only have the E key slot, while the 9260, Killer 1535 or 1550 have both the A and E key slots...

 

Hello,

Im proud owner of GM501 for now on everything run smooth and good.

AVG CPU temp on Far Cry5 - 85, max 93 (ultra) - 70-90 FPS
GPU ismostly arround 75.
IDLE - 45-48.

There is one thing that concerns my mind - when i run Bench in Throttlestop with 8-12 threads im getting a lot of errors - like many.

Guess its not normall ?
Its undervolted -0,120mv Core / -0,50mv cache
Does not matter if i turn TS off or not - same errors.

Could You Guys help ?

 

I also get TS bench errors, mostly at 12 threads or higher, and rarely at 8. Temp is not high or anyhing.

 

Yo,

I've noticed it was only happening at silent mode - try on balanced it worked well - 0 errors.

 

Mine was already on balanced.

 

I am wondering if some of these temp results you guys are sharing, ie: 45+ at idle, won't get better after a burn in period. I actually didn't notice for the last week that I hadn't properly set my undervolting, and was running at stock settings. Despite this my CPU temps have been very good, hardly ever peeking up over 80C even during long sessions in games like Witcher 3 and Destiny 2. GPU hardly ever sees anything over 70-74C.

edit: never mind I'm forgetting about ambient temps

edit again: I always leave on Overboost fan setting

 

I have a question when im gaming on the gm501 I noticed that when I increase the fan speed the laptop is getting hotter and I also am gaining performance(more FPS) but when I lower the fan speed the temps are getting lower and I am losing performance(lower FPS) shouldn't it be the opposite. I would think the faster the fans spin the cooler the machine will run cooler correct… regardless of performance? Is something wrong with my machine or is this how the laptop is supposed to be? I'm just wondering why is performance and temps increasing when I increase fan speed.

 

That's normal - faster coolers = more performance (more FPS) and it's getting hotter. Have exactly the same.

Did u Guys noticed throttling when playing on silent mode ? for example tried yday Dying light, and its like 100 FPS, then drop to 3 FPS for 5 secs, and then return to 100. CPU arround 70 / GPU 78 but with 1100 mghz (maybe thats the problem ?)

Thats normal or not ?

Same thing happened in Farcry 5 in balanced fan mode but with balanced power option (the one u set cliking on battery).

Do u Play with maximum power setting ?

 

I leave my power settings at max performance, gsync enabled, and fans on overboost.

What is happening when you are on the silent fan setting is that your cpu is throttling to maintain temps without the benefit of the increase air volume passing through.

 

I am still having issues with temps. if you don't mind what is everyone using for speed shift and core,cache voltage offset ratings in Throttlestop? I would also like to know what is the best fan profile to use while gaming? I'm having a hard time with this sorry for all the questions.

 

Two questions:

Did your AC adapter come with plastic wrap on it like in this picture ( https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/ypwAAOSwWxxau7sw/s-l300.jpg). I bought a Zephyrus M from Best Buy, and the block had plastic on it, but I had to return the computer due to a dead pixel. I bought another from Costco, and I noticed the adapter did not have plastic on it. The computer did and the sub-box that the computer came it was shrink wrapped. I am wondering if this is just SKU differences between Costco and BestBuy (one is -US74 the other is -XS74).

Also, is there any way to turn off the red leds

 

Problem is farcry 5 at balanced And high performance is throttling And drops to 5 fps. Gpu at 85, Cpu at 85-88. Its like gpu is droping to 111 mhz for 2 secs. Im considering giving the laptop back - still have few days to do so. Any ideas how to solve that ? Undervolted -125, -50. Maybe downclock gpu ?

U cant turn off the reds :/

 

Is it just me or is the SSHD loud? I just got mine and I am installing a lot of things on it and I can hear creaky noises from it.

I am thinking about replacing it with a SATA SSD.

 

Did your AC adapters come with plastic wrap on it like in this picture ( https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/ypwAAOSwWxxau7sw/s-l300.jpg). I bought a Zephyrus M from Best Buy, and the block had plastic on it, but I had to return the computer due to a dead pixel. I bought another from Costco, and I noticed the adapter did not have plastic on it. The computer did and the sub-box that the computer came it was shrink wrapped. I am wondering if this is just SKU differences between Costco and BestBuy (one is -US74 the other is -XS74).

 

Mine came with plastics.

 

Where did you buy your computer from?

Also, did Sonic Studio 3 come pre-installed on your computer? I can't find it anywhere on mine.

 

here: https://www.x-kom.pl/ (Poland)

Yes Sonic Studio 3 was preinstalled.

 

Can I get some help with this please? I'm still having trouble with high temps.

 

Weird, when you open C:/eSupport, what do you see? I just see a few PDFs.

 

edriver and manulas

todays tests in far cry 5 in balanced - CPU 95 GPU 85 - way to high.

im at -0,190 core and -0,50 catche speed shift at 64.

 

You can indeed turn off the red lights on bottom:


But I don't think you can turn off the ROG symbol on the lid.

 

Hey everyone,
Just received my second Zephyrus gm501, I returned the first because my second HDD disappeared and couldn't be found in device manager or BIOS, then seemingly out of no where it would return if i restarted (sometimes).

My second unit has just shown the same issue, I am trying a few solutions I found on the web and i also changed the power option "turn hard disk off" to never, maybe this will help..

I just wanted to know if this is a common issue, because I feel id have to be extremely unlucky to get this issue twice in two different units.


Has anyone experienced this? is there a fix? I love the machine otherwise...

 

First I have heard...are you using the included HDD, or are you utilizing and aftermarket?

 

from my experience the speed shift needs to be at 128 for best thermals vs performance, but I am noticing some performance loss with speed shift at 128.

 

I

Included, this is my second Zephyrus. I read it happens sometimes with windows 10 but I'll watch it closely

 

I have had similar occurrence due to failed or failing SATA cables and HDD, but never on the software side.

 

Is there a way to force GPU not to go to power saving modes if u set Silent mode fans ?

It's like 1100 mhz for the most of the time, but then suddenly drops to 150 mhz which cause FPS drop to 5 FPS for 5 secs. Then everything is normal again.

Ofc im talking about not much demanding games. AVG temp 70-75.

 

Appears to be a new BIOS out for the G501GM - typically no details....v304

 

Did you update to the latest rog gaming center? I had this issue where the laptop would keep going into high performance when gaming, I have it undervolted so I prefer balanced. The issue was the latest rog gaming center, it will change the battery performance mode based on settings and usage. I had to revert back to an older version and now everything is fine again.

 

Which version u have ?

Today is even worse Core speed constantly at 500 mhz nad at 99% usage.
FPS droped from 150 to 50 in divinity orginal sin (silent mode).

 

version 2.5.5

 

Have you installed, is it stable?

 

Yep, seems little difference - the usual "system stability" in the changelog.

 

Great...thanks!

 

Seems i've solved gaming in silent mode.

if I setup for maximum performance with GPU and silent mode in ROG Gaming - FPS is arround 50-60 (not demanding games).
If i setup for adaptive they run 144 fps with lower temps.

Checked for example with divinity original sin 1 and houseflipper.

Anyone have the same?