Asus GL703GS mini review

Hey guys!
Yesterday I was at the Store and I bought a New laptop. I was able to choose between the Acer Helios 500 (ryzen 5 2600 and vega 56) and Asus GL703GS (8750H and gtx 1070).

Seeing benchmarks of the Helios 500 I went with the Gl703gs because the gtx 1070 is 3-20% faster Than laptop vega.

Maybe calling this review is a bit too much, because I Will mainly focus on 2 things:
- CPU clock during benchmark
- the problems with the unit

ASUS ROG Strix GL703GS-E5011T (SCAR Edition)
CPU: 6 core Intel 8750H
RAM: 1x 16 GB 2666 MHz CL19 ram
SSD: Samsung 256 GB nvme SSD
VGA: Nvidia Geforce GTX1070
Screen: 17.3" AUO B173HAN03.2 (AUO329D) 3 ms IPS G-Sync

The package is the standard package for gl laptops, however with a little extra this time:



The main problem with the Helios 500 is that Acer is "cheating" to keep temps low, so they lowered the default 45w tdp of the 8750h to 35w. Because of this the CPU Will not hold 3.9 GHz @ 6 core for a long Time and Will downclock to 3.4 GHz.
Asus does something simmilar, however they offer "Overboost" Mode in the Gaming Center for people who want to run thr CPU max speed. Enabling Overboost Will increase the 35w tdp to the Intel default 45w.

Fire Strike



Yes, it is hot, however look at
the CPU frequency, it did not go below 3.9 GHz.
These temps are with default voltage (1.3+ V on core) and with the factory toothpaste paste.

What I love
- screen quality is excellent. almost 100% sRGB and since it is IPS the viewing angles are good.


- full speed of the CPU. Helios 500 for the same price might have lower temps, however the CPU speed there is limited

What I dislike
- it is hot (out of the box)
- touchpad is not using MS driver, so no touchpad during clean Windows install and need a mouse
- As most gl laptops, this one also has cracking speakers (left one this time)
- and the main problem: no perfectly working VGA driver (as of yet)

The problem with driver is the same which I mentioned earlier with other laptops.

The problem is that when playing DX12 titles I noticed a ghosting/blur effect during movement, even if the movement was programmed and not user controlled.
I also noticed when this ghosting happen, the picture got overfocused.
I only noticed with with dx12 titles (games and benchmarks), dx11 titles were ok.
I have seen this with 75 hz LG IPS and 120 hz AUO IPS panels.
As of today this bug has been fixed with the LG panels (took abouth 1 year to get a fix), however As of today I can reproduce this bug with ease with Asus laptops using the 120 hz AUO panel (gl702vs, g752vsk, g701vik, gl702vi).

The reason behind this is unknown to me, but if had to guess there is a bug in the driver regarding the laptop screen controller.
The bug is software level and Shadowplay can can record it.
No issue with external monitor.

A video of the issue (with comparison screnshots at the end):



As of today for laptops with the 120 hz panel the only fix is to ide driver 376.06 released by Asus.

However my main issue is that this ghosting effect appears on the gl703gs too.

Previous Asus Laptops with 144 hz 7 ms screen did not have IT, however it came back with this New 144 hz 3 ms panel.

To make things worse, now IT does not only appears with dx12 only, but with dx11 aswell!

It is enough to open 3dmark. Start switching betweens menus and when the movement animation happens, you can see the menu icons leaving a black ghosting line behind.
RotTR is the same as in the video above, very annoying.

Regarding this New panel AUO did not just make hw changes, but also made changes in the edid..
With previous AUO 120 hz and 144 hz panels the user was able to switch between 60 hz AND 120/144 hz.
Now however only 144 hz is available.

If I had to guess (I am no expert like @j95 ) I would say this New edid somehow confronts the laptop screen controller in the driver.
3 drivers have been released by Asus for this laptop and neither of them fixes IT.
Tried out drivers from nv website and also tried 376.06 (had to mod the inf for IT to install) but nothing helped, not even 376.06 helped this time.

In short if you buy a GL703GS or G703GI Chimera with this screen you Will only see 3 ms the Windows desktop and during Gaming it will feel if it was a 80-100 ms panel.

When Will a driver be released which fixes this? Probably never, but even if Asus releases one, I am not hoping for IT to reach the public this year.

What I do not understand is:
1) how did Asus not notice this?
2) how did reviewers not notice this?

Or I am the problem and only I think that this is not ok?

Well thats all for now.

If you have any tips to fixing this issue which I mentioned, please post it.

 

Thank you for the review. Very well done.

 

I am the current owner of my third GL703GS, mine is a DS74 model.

The first two were returned due to non-stop BSOD or lockup. The third one is having the same experience except I've waited too long to get it returned thinking I could massage it into behaving.

It is currently running a clean (full format) of Win10 enterprise with the latest versions of many Asus drivers/utilities, and I cannot play any games that push it for more than 10-20 minutes before I BSOD. I've found older titles and non-intensive games that let me play for maybe an hour to four, but even with them it sometimes will give up.

I'm prepared to venture into undervolting, but am finding almost too much information and not all of it is in agreement regarding the tools. Can anyone point to a clear and concise guide? Specifics for the GL series would be better than not.

EDIT: I contacted Asus, and after the first 3 or 4 tries at translating English I find out they do not offer media (I was hoping ISO) for restoring the original content of the drives. Does anyone here know of a different source?

 

Can you check the event viewer and see what caused the BSOD?

 

Yes, but the errors are not very helpful, since they all arrive AFTER the recovery from the BSOD.







I have taken dozens and dozens of pictures of the actual BSOD messages, at one point I can see in the timestamps that there were over 10 of them one afternoon. They are also pretty useless, sometimes indicating a problem with a critical system file (never says which one) but I've run SFC many times and even done clean format/installs of Windows.

Here's one lone example...

 

Can you click on details tab to find out more? Also, look for clues/issues that occurred moment before the crash happens.

 

Nah, those links just search up the event ID code.

Symptoms before the crash are playing a game, hear the fans getting into high gear, notice a drop in FPS, maybe followed my a momentary pause them boom...BSOD. I will say that I occasionally have a lockup with full freeze of the OS. Cannot ctrl-alt-del or alt-tab, just have to hold down the button and force restart.

I am hoping I can solve the instability with undervolting. I've never messed with that before. I have done some modest work with overclocking and it seems like undervolting is underclocking, but I've been convinced that is not accurate. The problem is I cannot find good info on what to use for the newer systems and the 1070.

 

My last two "gaming laptops" were MSI brand. other than the styling and exterior appearance I have no complaints about them, used each nearly daily for 4 or 5 years. I chose Asus for my third "gaming laptop" and am seriously disappointed that it works for all PC tasks EXCEPT gaming.

 

Upload your minidump file here to see what is crashing your computer: http://www.osronline.com/page.cfm?name=analyze

Hopefully its the memory or hard drive or something you can replace.

Also, this guide makes undervolting easy. https://www.notebookcheck.net/ThrottleStop-Primer.213140.0.html
Pro tip: you have to disable the "intel extreme tuning" utility in services.msc as it does not play nicely with throttlestop. It comes pre installed and is part of the rog gaming center. Disabling it will make ROG show zeros for your temp and clock speeds but its worth it for a stable undervolt.

You can try installing msi afterburner and downclock your gpu to see if that is the problem. Not that that is an acceptable solution, but it might help you rule it out. also, make sure you are in overboost mode.

I have this machine and have had absolutely zero problems. I might have gotten lucky but it is an absolute beast for undervolting and overclocking. I got down to -160mv on core/cache and -80mv for igpu, 100% stable. I never crashed once going that low so im sure it will go lower, i just got bored with the process. the 1070 is stable at +175 clock and +300 memory. Again, i haven't had a single crash or artifact yet so im sure it will go higher. I planned on repasting but my temps max out in the 70s for gpu and cpu at full load so i guess i'll hold off for now. It is loud as hell though in fan overboost mode.

Initially i had some bad backlight bleed that almost caused me to return it, but that went away after carrying it in my suitcase (pressure on the top of the panel maybe?) I have noticed the ghosting issue OP was talking about. Initially i thought i was imagining it but i see im not the only one. The fast refresh rate still makes for a pleasant gaming experience though. All in all extremely happy with this purchase.

 

I just got a new GL703GS from Newegg and it definitely has the ghosting. I think I'll be sending it back; there is no excuse for this....

 

In case anyone is interested, I'm fairly certain this is a hardware defect. I cannot capture the ghosting with geforce experience, I tried and looked frame by frame to see if it was evident. It is not. Although my unit has a manufacture date of this summer, the screen's manufacturer date is April of 2017.

 

Agreed, if the panel is defective then it's best to contact the manufacturer directly for warranty service.

 

Brand new GL703GS with 1070 8GB as well here… same BSOD issue after 10 mins (error: CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED) playing games.
Nvidia 417.22.

 

From BIOS I selected load default settings… and for the first time I've been able to play a game for more than 15 min without BSODs anymore…. I'll keep you informed.

 

Hexaae,

That is good information, I'm hoping it helps, please report back.

FWIW...my issue remains. I have been undervolting to 1.2 and even 1.23, this does help reduce temps, but doesn't have a measurable reduction in the non-stop BSODs. I was wondering if perhaps I have some bad RAM, but have run stress tests on memory and find nothing wrong.

So disappointing. I've owned 12-16 Asus motherboards, mabye 6-8 video cards, a router, a modem/firewall too. This is my first ever Asus laptop, and it will be my last, possibly last Asus product ever I'm so pissed off.

 

Yep, I understand. I come from my first gaming laptop and desktop replacement (I think I'll never go back to desktop PCs) MSI GX660 upgraded with 7970m etc., then ASUS G751JY and now ASUS GL703GS. These are VERY expensive rigs so I perfectly understand your irritation for something supposed to be "near perfection" and finding instead new troubles…
I think I'd say the same, if that BIOS reset didn't fix the situation, as it seems for now….

 

One of the first things I did when I got home, reset to default, saved and booted.

Loaded a game, then sat in the lobby without entering a match and went to get a beverage. Came back and the unit had rebooted. Total run time less than 5 minutes, and without actually playing (low stress) a game. I am using the laptop now to type this, when running browsers, streaming aud/vid, and running Office apps it is relatively stable. But I've had a BSOD with only one browser tab and no other apps open.

 

Mmh, got another strange crash sigh...
Let's try this: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/asus-gm501-or-gl703gs.816327/page-4#post-10728596 as someone suggested upgrading manually Samsung NVMe drivers

 

Still game freezes (after manual Samsung NVMe update from https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/download/tools/ ). No more BSODs though (at least ATM)

 

Agreed, I just have a lemon, and it is the second 703GS to behave that way. Reseller refused to exchange mine saying they already did it once. I could send it in to Asus but they hold them for 4-6 months and say there's nothing wrong with it.

 

Contact me on Steam "Hexaae" (Italy), let's see if we can find a reliable solution joining forces… sigh… I still hope it's just a buggy driver issue and not a HW fault (Intellidia = Intel + NVidia, is unfortunately a very bad combo regarding driver quality).

EDIT: HW faults with random freezes and USB were because of a faulty motherboard. Got it replaced at 2nd RMA and those two issues disappeared.

 

Can you guys be more specific listing the EXACT display model with the ghosting issue?
You can inspect it with freeware HWiNFO

Mine is:
Monitor Name: AU Optronics [Unknown Model: AUO329D]
Monitor Name (Manuf): AUO B173HAN03.2

ISSUE CONFIRMED (tested with No Man's Sky)

 

@ DRevan
You forgot another BAD thing to dislike in this gaming laptop: crackling speakers

EDIT: crackling speakers fixed with mobo replacement at 2nd RMA.

 

If the inverse ghosting bug is a sofware issue with NVidia drivers, please add your comment here: https://forums.geforce.com/default/...e-ghosting-on-panel-auo-b173han03-2-gtx-1070/ and fill the form for NVidia survey: https://surveys.nvidia.com/index.jsp?pi=6e7ea6bb4a02641fa8f07694a40f8ac6 reporting the issue!

 

Guys do you think is it a good idea to switch from GX501 Zephyrus to this device? I love my Zep. but it is worth swapping for the new CPU and Screen?


Tapatalk kullanarak iPhone aracılığıyla gönderildi

 

Screen suffers a slight inverse ghosting, noticeable in particular with some games, but you have to pay attention to notice it (for me is a minor bug, yet annoying of course):
https://forums.geforce.com/default/...-ghosting-display-issues-with-nvidia-drivers/
https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthre...)-display-panels-affected-by-inverse-ghosting

 

Hello all.

I’m currently contemplating the purchase of an 17.3” ASUS ROG G703 GX Chimera series laptop (the one with the RTX 2080) from vendors who offer customization, repaste and display cherry picking services.
Considering that ASUS ROG has been using the same chassis, motherboard and intel chipset for the last couple of years I’m posting my query in all threads across the ROG G703 lineup for increased feedback and input from either owners or vendors regarding the customization I want to do. I guess this does not count against the Cross posting rule as I’m posting multiple times in the same forum and not across different ones?

Can the ASUS MOBO and the Mobile Intel HM370 Express Chipset handle DDR4 3200MHz SO-DIMM RAM (2 x 8GB dual channel), as in XMP keeping the system stable and reliable at those overclocked frequencies. This G.SKILL Ripjaws module is the laptop memory I’ve found with the tightest CAS latency timings 16-18-18-43 (tighter than most 2666 kits I’ve browsed), price of dual channel kit 200$. Or should I just stick to 2666 MHz as the mobile MOBO might be less capable than a desktop MOBO due to voltage and thermal limitations? Have any of the owners put 3200 Mhz RAM or Higher inside their ASUS G703 Chimera?

How easy is it for a vendor to acquire and swap the AUO B173HAN03.2 AHVA Display panel (6 bit, slower response time) for the AUO B173HAN04.0 AHVA Display panel (8 bit, faster response time)? Both display panels are 1080p, G-Synch enabled and have a refresh rate of 144Hz, so I guess they are plug and play for the ASUS G703 Chimera series. Comparison chart. Only thing that worries me is the presence of a MUX to switch of G-Synch and enable Nvidia Optimus for the GX model over the GI, would the MUX accept the newer 8-bit display panel and still work? Has any owner here upgraded their screen successfully?

I would greatly appreciate any answers to my queries.

Best regards.