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

It's not as fingerprint prone as the msi black ghost, but yeah. The kb will get oil marks super easy

 

Hey guys! Just an update on my order: XoticPC finally got another batch a few days ago and they're currently doing QC(Phase 6) on mine. I'm guessing I will have mine around the end of the week.

 

Congrats, so far it's a keeper (barring an open box gt80 titan in the next 20 days maybe).

 

Man...i am torn on the GT80 or the X7Pro.... they both seem to be quite powerful...where the GT80 gets the power with the heft and thickness... the x7pro is a bit less powerful but sleeker.....

anyone have suggestions?

 

The GT80 looks pretty damn awesome. The only problem I'd have with it is portability. It weighs about 14lbs total with the power brick. If you have the extra cash and plan on having it at home most of the time, I don't see why not.

 

If you have enough money for either, it's s tough choice. If you can get the x77 pro for $1200 less it's a no brainer

 

Man i am waffling....i need this also to work really well in Photoshop and Lightroom....where i know SLI doesnt really help... I will be moving this laptop around a lot...often on a cart but often in a backpack to and from places...

Does anyone make a laptop with a straight GTX 980 instead of the M version? I am leaning towards a 980m by itself at this point due to the Photoshop needs and lack of SLI GPU acceleration....

at first iw as sold on the x7 pro.... then the gt80 came stomping in and i coudl deal with the corners i had to cut to get it in the price i could spend... now i feel like i am right back where i started...

ugh

 

gigabyte has a 980m version. i don't know of anybody who makes a laptop that runs the full size 980GTX, unless you wanna get an alienware with the external GPU kit (MSI has something similar coming out). good luck.

 

Honestly if you're looking for something to be good in Adobe suite, you don't want a gaming laptop. Get a workstation laptop like the E540, which is a powerhouse workstation laptop with a Nvidia Quadro card in it.

 

an e540?

as for the Quadro vs GTX....i still dont truly understand why the 2 yr old Quadro 5100m has much going on the new GTXs

Whenever i bring up that i want to use it for Photoshop people immediately brush me off to the Quadro line...and i just cant seem to understand why....i get not going SLI as it isnt support in GPU acceleration in Photoshop...but beyond that i dont get it

 

E540 is Lenovo's Workstation machine. I purchased one of these for our UI developer here, and he's loving it. Sorry if you got the impression that I was brushing you off, but I have built and support PC's for digital artists. If you're exclusively using Photoshop, then the graphics card doesn't make much of a difference. For programs like After Effects, Premiere, and all 3D related programs (3DS Max/Cinema4D ETC) the workstation graphics card is a must. Quadro cards are extremely good at rendering, they are purpose built to increase render speed (both live render while you're working, and post-process rendering for your finished product).

Why don't you describe exactly what you use your machine for, and I'll help steer you in the right direction. I don't want to guide you away from the X7, as I love mine, but I'd like to help you get a machine that's actually built for what you want it to do.

 

it really does matter what you intend to do with your laptop primarily. If you need a dedicated workstation laptop for photo editing, etc., the Aorus will still do that for you. A single 970m is still faster than a 780m. Its got the horsepower for doing some real work. Its also pretty thin and light for a 17 incher, maybe lighter than most workstation machines even.

Its not an all-day battery kind of machine though. Really is weak in that department. this is a wall-hugger of a laptop, and I only use the battery to move from outlet to outlet around the house or office building.

But if you're a gamer... this thing will not disappoint. I can use this thing to work on my sermons, powerpoint, yada yada. But more importantly I can play NBA 2k15 on it at max settings...

anybody else with the Aorus do any tweaking with the speakers? The fans get loud, as everybody knows, but I don't remember my original X7 being this quiet? At max volume I can barely hear some of my games. When testing my speakers though, the speakers chime very, very loudly. Its like I can't get the games to play as loudly as regular music or videos for some reason. A driver issue maybe? I use headphones most of the time, but am having poor speaker volume gaming for some reason... The MSI speakers were much louder.

 

Ooohhhh.... NBA 2k15 at max settings!

So many good things about this laptop... but the noise comments get to me. Everytime I see someone mention it, I keep thinking, is it really that loud? If I wanted to sit down on the living room couch and play an MMO, Action game or the like while my girlfriend watches TV, will that annoy her? Is it louder than my Alienware m17x R3?

So close to pulling the trigger...

That and waiting for XoticPC to get back to me. Sent them an email yesterday morning and still no response. May have to try someone else.

 

Wait a sec. Is this a new review: Aorus X7 Pro Review

 

its loud, yep. even running low speed fans for gaming. dunno how bad it would annoy your gf, i play in my office in a recliner usually. that said, the MSI Ghost was probably almost as loud too. The Stealth was quieter. Never an Alienware 17x r3, but did have the R2, and it was quieter than this one. The bigger the laptop, the quieter it can run usually.

it runs nice and quiet when not gaming of course, you can web browse and whatever. i say buy it, try it, return if you don't like it. newegg with a $50 premiere membership is the way to go. No restocking fees, 30 day returns. Actually, if someone would buy the Titan and return it, so I can snatch it up open box, that would be great.

thanks to whoever bought the X7 Pro and returned it. still had all the plastic on it, had never even been turned on. Probably someone's wife found out about their purchase and made them send it back.

 

read that review, want to know how they scored a 15900 on 3dmark11, when i get around 14400. did they overclock or something? weird.

 

Hey bro. I was in the same boat. Ordered it first week of December. Mine didn't ship till 2 days ago. I got a little impatient after about a month so I called in and apparently Aorus was really lagging with production. As a result XoticPC didn't get many of them.

If I were you, I'd call in and inquire about the wait time before purchasing.

 

I remember you saying that earlier in the thread. Man that was a long wait and you have the patience of a saint. I'll be sure to ask about the wait time. I may not be necessarily in a hurry since my laptop is still fine, but I would still want it soon enough. By the way, did you get anything extra modifications done to your Aorus when you ordered it through XoticPC?

And I'm thinking of purchasing off of XoticPC or GentechPC because I want them to re-paste it and depending on the cost, maybe add a couple more things (like another SSD). Still thinking about it. If I do find a good deal like the Newegg Open Box, I will definitely jump on it if I could. May be a little while longer while I wait on sales people. I could call, but meh.

And at least the Aorus is quiet while web browsing and the like. I guess I'll have to see how loud it is and if I can live with it.

 

I went with GenTech PC, free repaste (not sure if that's still going on), free shipping in US, and No only 2% cash discount if you use free shipping option spiel from XoticPC - got the full 3% cash discount with free shipping XD.

 

Only thing holding me back from Gentech PC right now is that they charge sales tax because I'm in Cali too. They are actually not that far for me. I could drive over and pick it up from them, but I don't know if they have a store front or take walk-ins.

XoticPC has no sales tax for me since I'm not in Nebraska, so that's a huge plus because I can save that chunk of change. Or pour it into extras.

 

Haha. I was pretty close to canceling my order.

I went with a repaste + clean wipe.

 

Ah, yeah sales tax will suck then XoticPC will probably be the better choice in this case.

 

I'm loving this laptop, but I think I've decided I'm going to wait to see what Razer and MSI do for their next rounds. Everything about this really appeals to me except the battery life. I'm somewhat tired of being tethered to the wall all the time. I always game on line power, but it'd be nice to be able to not have to bring the power cable with me to the next room, or have it getting in the way in general, when all I want to do is surf the web for a few hours. Sucks, too, because I really want to get rid of this damn Alienware.

 

Hey I'm a huge Razer fan, and was surprised they didn't have a 970m machine ready to go by now. They had a pretty good arrangement with Nvidia over the last couple years. My thinking now is Min and the gang are waiting for a better Broadwell i7 CPU, and maybe even have some crazy 975M GPU or something ridiculous like that. Maybe offer one of the first 4k 17' Blade Pros? Who knows? But Razer really is the Godfather of slim and light gaming laptops, were the first to offer one in the Razer Blade with the 555m

As for MSI, their laptops are great now as well. The RED Stealth Pro is epic, except for the dim TN panel inside. Its got good colors and contrast, but just not bright enough. Then there's the Titan which looks like a beast. Good luck in your hunt.

 

I had been doing a lot of research on Razer, as that was one of my choices. Based on all the rumors that are out there, it looks like:

Razer 14: They are just updating the motherboard (BYD, Betty-R3), processor (Intel, i7-4720HQ, 2.6GHz), and a new panel (LG Display, LP140WF3)
FCC Applications for Razer Inc. (RWO) - Updated Daily

Looks like the new resolution is 1920*1200 according to the report. I don't know if that was just the testing setting or if that is what is going to ship. The current one is 3200*1800.

There is no mention of which GPU they are using. Makes me think they may stay with the 870m. Upon further reading, it says in the Declaration Letter that they are changeing the GPU, but they don't say which GPU. It could be a new GPU (but they didn't test with it) or it could be the integrated GPU that comes with the new processor.

Razer Blade Pro: No FCC filings yet, but someone in the Razer forums found the 3DMark Razer post. It shows the Blade Pro had a 960m as it's GPU. Generic VGA video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-4720HQ,Gigabyte Blade

Now, my take is that these are tests, but you can see where they are leaning towards as of right now. Since its not even out to the FCC yet, and it looks like they are still testing things, I'm guessing this is going to be out in May at the earliest. And the 14" could be out much sooner than that.

Just so I don't get totally off topic with the Razer, I had some info on the Aorus that I found last week about their thought process, but I'll have to find out what I did with the link. It talks about why they made certain choices on their internals. I'll find it and post it up a little later.

 

Yeah, I want something slim and 17". Needless to say, the Titan doesn't interest me one bit. I'm leaning toward either the GS70 or Blade Pro. I'm really confused as to why the Pro ships with a lower end GPU than the 14" Blade, however. That's what's keeping me from buying the current version. I also don't like their storage solution compared to having multiple msata/M.2 drives like Aorus and MSI are doing.

 

well keep an eye on newegg buddy, they received my rma gs70 (6gb 970m red edition) yesterday and will be relisting it soon. was only $1750 open box, vs. $2200 unopened.

 

Hmm... at that price, I may try to jump on that too. I was going to ask you about your returned laptop. But it is bright red...

So I found the link. ** SAY HELLO TO AORUS X7 V3 PRO: THE WORLDS FASTEST GAMING LAPTOP!! ** - Page 2 - Overclockers UK Forums Starting with post #39. They were asking the Gigabyte rep why the Aorus X7 Pro had only 3GB of VRAM on the 970m. Then just continue reading down the page on what he says about that.

For those that don't want to go to the new link, the main quote is from post #43:

===Begin Quote===
There are a couple of reasons why we chose this configuration:

1) Cost is one of them - the gap is wider than the you state, but still not huge, you are correct.

2) Another reason is performance Vs the competition. The X7 Pro with 6GB VRAM can already beat most advanced GTX980M laptops buy a large margin of 30% plus.

Most of the competitor units using GTX970m models have 3GB single cards, and on GTX980m 4GB isn't uncommon although there are 8GB units

Note that Gigabyte P35X and P35W use 8GB GTX980m and 6GB GTX970m - a decision made to keep "ahead" of the competition and offer customers something more.

3) Finally is the power and thermal cooling needed. Having 2 x 6G VRAM would create approx. 5-10w more demand, translating into heat.

We did produce some samples with the 6GB cards but the decision was taken to go to mass production with 2 x 3GB

We look forward to producing the elusive "perfect machine",,, but we am confident there will always be room for improvements and always someone who would have preferred it slightly different. (generally speaking, not aimed at you personally!)

Lets also not forget that before this model launched, the market, the media, our competitors, and forums, expected this machine to be between £2,500 - £3,000.....

And there are machines that don't come close to our performance that you could spend this sort of money on.

We believe that our position in the market offers a very strong and compelling proposition to end users considering this sort of purchase.

===End Quote===

 

of course I would rather it have had 4gb or even 6gb per card too. the 6gb 970m did perform better for ultra textures running shadow of mordor than the 3gb version 970m in my ghost pro. at least they didn't come up with a silly comment like, "well 3+3 equals 6 which is a lot," when gpu ram doesn't stack like that.

 

I actually might just wait for the P37x and P37w to come out and see how they look. They're supposed to be out next month so it isn't much of a wait. Having the 970m's in SLI would be really awesome, but I just think I'm personally not willing to live with the performance hit on the battery for times I want to relax on the couch and surf the web.

 

I'm a bit concerned with the heat part. Are cooling pads of any good use? Right now I'm just using the laptop as it is. No repaste. Should I opt for a repaste or a cooling pad ?? What are you guys doing about the heat ??

 

That means NOTHING at all... Every product got it's weakness point. Maybe ID, maybe electronic design, maybe Sku config, or the Software environment.

Product of MSI maybe good for you, but maybe trash for other users.

As a senior Quality engineer(I do SW/HW QA for 15 years), I can easily find more than 50 issues on EVERY LAPTOPs - Even Macbook Pro/Pro Retina/ Air.

But SO WHAT?

I still love my Macbook Pro 17". Cause it fit my needs. That's all I want.

So no meter you love X7 Pro or not, your comments means NOTHING for other users have different requirement. Respect other users have different requirement if you want get respect from other people.

 

If you feel comfortable doing a repaste or know somebody who can do it for you, then go for it. Cooling pads do definitely help, but it's another thing to carry around, so that's something to consider. As far as worrying about it, I wouldn't worry very much. It's not going to hurt anything by running hot. There are protections in place to keep things from getting damaged. That's what throttling is there for.

 

You can use Shipito[1]. They have a warehouse in Oregon -- tax free! They charge only $1 per package and no setup fees.

[1] USA Address & Mail Forwarding - Shipito.com | English

 

I feel the same about all laptops I've seen. Can you send me your check list for laptops SW/HW QA? I'm curious and will surely have an application for that on my selection process.
BTW, what's you favorite laptop with 980M dual-SLI?

 

not sure who this guy was whining at anyway. back on topic please. evga precision tuner doesn't work with the latest 2 nvidia drivers that were released. but at least the last two drivers direct from the nvidia website and nvidia china both work on the device. not that I need to use evga precision for any game at all. just bragging rights. dont' like people posting on 3dmark11 that their aorus x7 pro got them 16000 and I haven't hit that elusive number yet.

 

also, a little frustrated cause the folks at aorus emailed me to see if I wanted a free touchpad cover, which is supposed to protect the glass trackpad from getting scuffed up or something? I think the real reason is because many people find it too slippery to use all that effectively. I just tweaked the driver sensitivity and now it works great. that said, I want to try the cover, to see if it improves the experience. but this was over a month ago and they haven't shipped this little freebie out yet.

also, great news. while the os backup creation software never worked for me with the original aorus x7 v1, was able to create a usb recovery drive using their software without any problem this time around.

 

finally enjoying playing watchdogs. its still a stutter game when driving from time to time (not a very well-optimized game for SLI or even a single card), but with this gpu horsepower, i'm staying above 30fps even in the laggy moments, but typically hover b/w 60-70. can't wait for gta v though.

 

So I purchased a MSI GS60 2PE-010US and returned it a month later to upgrade to a better model. I was about to purchase the GS70 2QE-200US and then discovered the X7Pro-CF1.
I ordered it about a week ago and they are telling me it is probably at least 2 weeks out still.
I know the feel and build quality of the GS70 because I have owned the GS60. I was very happy with it. It is solidly built, I like the form factor and the placement of the I/O ports. Top of the list is the track pad and especially keyboard which are top of the mark in quality and feel.
I did get a chance to check out another model (not the X7Pro) and was very impressed with the aluminum body. It is sturdy. Perhaps more so than the GS70. The keyboard doesn't begin to compare. It's like a toy compared with the GS70.
The track pad, while I didn't get a chance to actually use it, is not at all as nice as the GS70. I can certainly see where some peoples comments and complaints about it are coming from.
All things sitting there, I would lean to the GS70...
BUT! then there is the SLI factor and that was the tipping point that had me ordering the X7Pro.
So there is where I am at at the moment. I was on the spot at the store where I had this in store credit to use and was about to order the GS70 2QE-200US when I noticed this alternative and ordered it.
Since then I have had a lot more time to research and compare and though there is limited info available for either model, I am still on the fence and it is not too late to cancel.
At the moment of ordering I did not know much about SLI and had never owned a system that used it. I did not know that the 3GB of ram on either card did not stack.
There is where my biggest concern comes in. So many of the top games now are pushing so close to and in some cases even past the 3GB mark.
My setup at home (that I plug my notebook into) is a triple display 1080 monitor setup and I would love to setup a Nvidia Surround setup for some of the games I like but I am really unsure about the longevity of even a 970SLI setup when all it has for vram is 3GB. That is a pretty large bottleneck from what I understand.
In many ways I am wondering if, given my home setup, I may be better off with the GS70 2QE-200US or another 970M 6GB system.
I admittedly am no expert. There are so many guys who would probably be able to answer the question much better than myself.
That's why I am posting this. I am really hoping for some feedback and help here.
Is there any chance that these existing Nvidia GPU's may someday be able to stack or otherwise utilize the slave vram?
What system should I use?

 

The only game where the 6gb ram helped me out was the shadow of mordor game. It still ran slower than my aorus pro did (6gb msi stealth). Lowered textures from ultra to high to keep it from stuttering. I can't tell much difference bwu ultra vs high on a 1080p screen to be honest with that game. The aorus will net you better performance with sli supported games every time. Msi will give you better battery life though....

 

Even with multiple external display?
I know that at present the X7Pro is going to get better performance. Especially in SLI. I am more thinking about future titles with my triple display and surround display setup.

 

What the hell was Aorus thinking not putting at least 4GB of vRam in this thing?
They are going to date themselves on vRam shortage barely after the platform has launched.
Hell, its nearly out of date already. With a 970m SLI, at this moment, 3GB is just enough and not a MB more from what I can figure.
On a side related note, I think that solves the mystery of why such a high end laptop only has a 1080 display.

 

More likely cause there really aren't any 4k 17" screens that I know of so far.

 

Again, I am far from an expert but my understanding of vRam and the near future of resolution tells me that 3GB is only just enough to do for now.

Many games with highly detailed texteure maps and other highly detailed graphics will eat up close to, if not more than 3GB of vRam even at 1080. Well over that much at 4K but I won't go there for the time being.
If you have three displays, as many people do, then we're talking about resolutions of 5760 X 1080. That's going to chew up 3GB easy even on basic textures. A game like BF4..., forget it.
In little more than a year nearly all the top titles will require 2.5-3 GB minimum.

Here is the thing, having SLI 970m is like having a 1000gpm pump to pump out a reservoir.
The pump is insanely powerful and fast. It'll drain that reservoir in 30 seconds. But, what happens when the reservoir is empty? The pump runs dry and pumps nothing but air. Really really fast mind you.

The pump is like the GPU and the reservoir is like the vRam.
You want a big enough reservoir to keep that pump working all the time between full throttle and half all day long.
Likewise, you need enough vRam to supply the GPU with information to render between full MHz and not all day long.

I really don't understand why such a mediocre amount of vRam on such a beastly a GPU.

 

3GB is plenty. 970m SLI will struggle to push 4k resolutions. It will be OK for 3K res maybe, but having more vRAM won't help matters much. It just isn't powerful enough to really matter still. Heck even desktop 970 and 980 come with 4GB vRAM only, and 970m SLI is between desktop 970 and 980 depending on the game. You won't be pushing 5760x1080 with latest games at any amount of considerable detail with this laptop or any laptop. That requires desktop 980 SLI minimum performance.

There are a few games that push the vRAM limit, or exceed it actually (like Shadow of Mordor), but I haven't seen it affect performance or "stutter" at all between 3GB and 6GB versions. *Maybe* in the future it will be a concern/issue but I doubt it.

 

Thanks for the feedback. The way you present that really puts it into perspective. A good point.

 

That's why I didn't buy an X7 Pro!
I may consider the next gen if they increase the VRAM.
Since I'm planning to stay at least 3 years with my next laptop I'll buy one with at least one 980M 8GB.

 

980m will net you maybe 10800 in 3dmark 11
970m sli getting me 14400 or so... in real world gaming, I'd rather be running the two 970ms. even if it is only 3gb VRAM. Sorry I don't have a 980m laptop for personal comparison, only a 6gb 970m, which did not perform nearly as well as the Aorus Pro. For that matter, neither does my 670 GTX desktop GPU, which I think is a 4GB VRAM card.

 

To me 20fps above 100 is useless.

 

For the record this is my test of Shadow of Mordor at 1080p Ultra with 3GB 970M SLI.

80-90 fps, no stuttering or freezes: