MiSJAH's AORUS X5V6 Review.

Welcome to my review of my AORUS X5 V6.

The Specs:
• 15.6” 120Hz G-SYNC 1920x1080
• i7 6820HK
• NVIDIA GTX 1070 8GB GDDR5
• 256GB M.2 PCIe SSD
• 1TB HDD
• 16GB 2400MHz DDR4
• Windows 10 Home (64-Bit)

AORUS X5V6 Official site

Drivers and Apps

I’ve never written a review before, mainly because I never been that impressed with any of my purchases. They lived up to expectation but never surpassed.

I’d waited quite a while to for Pascal to upgrade from my Maxwell GTX 980M (that’s another story….).

I bought my X5 from overclockers.co.uk and got it next day Saturday delivery, I don’t do waiting!







It arrived securely packaged within 3 separate boxes.

First thoughts:
Man, this is tiny!! Coming from a 17.3” behemoth to this lithe and light 15.6”. It’s way compact.
It’s fast! Boot times are immeasurable (OK, they’re not really but sub 10 seconds is just bloody fast).
Build quality feels strong with a mix of metals and plastics, minimal plastics.


Keyboard feels great to type and game on, enough key travel to satisfy. If you need to type for long periods (as occasionally do) it’s comfortable and key resistance is firm and satisfying.

Per key RGB backlighting:





I have used block/entire backlit keyboard before, but this individual key backlighting is stunning. Masses of customisation option within the AORUS Fusion app. Light just the keys you use in a game and store that set up for that game, then store other key setups for other games. The Fusion app also allows key binding macros to shortcut as you need (not a feature I’ve used before but will certainly give it a try.

So far using the keyboard I haven’t missed a stroke or had a typo (if you spot any in this review don’t tell me ).








15.6" Full HD 1920x1080 Wide Viewing Angle 120Hz & 5ms Anti-Glare LCD. It took me a few days to appreciate the display coming from a standard 1080p IPS. The 120hz refresh rate is fantastic for gaming and general usage. In general use everything smoother and faster in comparison to my old panel. 120Hz with G-Sync on this display makes gaming @ 100fps+ something to behold. I’ve tested with a few online screen test and this confirmed by appreciation of the superb screen.


Intel Core I7 6820HK – The Beast, unlocked. I think all of the new AORUS notebooks come with Intel’s monstrous unlocked CPU’s. This is the top spec for mobile CPU’s. My previous CPU (4720HQ) felt slow in comparison, and to be fair that chip is no slouch. Using the Command and Control Centre app, it was as easy as clicking the mouse to get this running at 4Ghz.

GTX 1070 (no ‘M’).

15K Firestrike, yes 15000, really.

This is a full fat desktop GPU, no cut down models with old ‘M’ suffix. This really is ridiculous, gaming at 1080p in ultra settings at 120fps:




Madness I tell you. Even playing graphically intense games like Far Cry 4 and Primal are rewarded with ~90fps. If you then overclock the GPU using the Command and Control Centre app, you can play both of these in DSR (2715x1527 res) at over 60fps.

I’m looking forwards to playing Project Cars on my 4K TV at native resolution to see how it fares.


Bring the noise! I have a standard test for notebook speakers. I must be able to watch a movie in my campervan whilst the engine is running (warmth and to power the leisure battery). If it’s audible clearly I’m a happy camper. The X5V6 does this with ease.

There are various options in the Fusion app to change the sound setting to the type of games you are playing and there is a dedicated Audio Equaliser to fine tune things further.


Temps and noise: These are my temps after the 15K firestrike run and an hours gaming prior to the run:



Warm but not frightening. Noise levels are on par, maybe a touch louder than my previous GT72, but I find both of these easy to accept for the amount of power house inside this slick little machine.


Overall, the build quality is amazing, to the touch it feels premium. It looks fantastic, I don’t think there is a better looking notebook being produced at present. AND the power and speed it has continues to amaze and please me daily.



Oh, yeah. I love this laptop so much I got it a present:



I’ve probably missed stuff out, so ask questions and I’ll add information.

Peace.

 

Thanks a lot for typing all of that up! How do you find the portability of the X5 V6?

Could you take a moment to comment on the fan noise?

Also, are those max temps including the prior 1 hour gaming session?

 

No problem the X5 justifies taking the time.

It so easy to move, I had a 17" GT72 before and this is so much lighter and more portable.

Fans get a little noisy when gaming, but a headset is not a necessity.

Yep, firestrike was run after playing Primal for just over an hour.

 

Great review!! Seems like Aorus finally hit gold with a good balance of thermals, noise and performance!

What model/brand is the panel? It seems this 15 incher might fare better than the 17 inch counter part.

Hows the ports? How many does it have? Is it HDMI 1.4 like what apparently most manufacturers are doing?

Does it come with a lot of bloat? MSI GT73 did come with quite some bloatware but luckily it was easy to remove hah.

Thanks for the review if you have time or are willing to, maybe take a pic of the insides?

Sent from my SM-G925I using Tapatalk

 

Thanks MiSJAH, great review, gives me peace of mind whilst waiting for mine to arrive.

 

Panel is a AUO52ED.

3 x USB 3 Type-A and 1 x USB 3.1 Type-C.

The closest to no bloat on a machine I ever bought. (Thank the stars, no McAffee!).

Looking at chucking some EVO 960's or SM961's in RAiD0 shortly so will take pics of the inside then.

 

Does this AUO panel have the striping issue of the X7?

Sent from my D6653 using Tapatalk

 

Zero striping on this panel. Pretty sure it only affects the 2K display.

 

I guess you mean the 3K display as you have a 2k display?

Sent from my ASUS_A001 using Tapatalk

 

The AORUS X7V6 is QHD this is specified as 2560x1440 so 2K and this appear to be the only one affected by striping, mine is 1920x1080.

 

And thus the QHD being a 3K, UHD being 4K and the FHD being a 2K

But never mind that, thanks for the review. What kind of battery runtimes do you get with this unit for productivity use as it doesn't have Optimus?

 

1280×720 (HD, 720p)
1920×1080 (FHD, Full HD, 2K 1080p)
2560×1440 (QHD, WQHD, Quad HD, 1440p)
2880x1620 (3K WQHD+)
3840×2160 (UHD, Ultra HD, 4K, 2160p)

Well I learned something new. The panel affected by the striping is 2560×1440 (QHD, WQHD, Quad HD, 1440p).

Not used the X5 away from the socket, will update when I do. (I may run battery eater when I'm less busy).

 

Yes, both QHD and WQHD are 3K. Looking forward to seeing your battery times later.

 

Hello, something that bugs me about this model, the screen, is it TN or IPS ?

 

TN. Unnoticeable when gaming.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

OK. Thanks for the quick answer !

 

Really nice write-up, @MiSJAH.

Those temps are impressively low, both the CPU and GPU.
For gaming, I'm in agreement it takes first-hand experience to appreciate a 120Hz refresh rate + G-Sync together. Once you do, it's hard to go back.

What a beautiful notebook, too.

Charles

 

Agreed. It's a beautiful machine. With so much power and easier to move around than the 17.3" behemoths.

 

In what increments can you adjust fan speed? Do you think you could game somewhat 'stealthily' without throttling?

 

As you can see on the scale, the fan speeds can be increased in 10% increments.

Hope that helps.

I can play at 55% in the same room as the Mrs watching TV.

 

You feel like this affects performance?

 

Nope, still playing Far Cry Primal at over 60fps with DSR.

 

What's the point of even running fans at max speed then?

 

It gets quite warm after a while playing with reduced fans. I've only used maxed fans for benchmarking and when pushing it to the limits (120fps gaming sessions 3 hours+).

 

I take it 55% can't be heard more than 2 meters away or is the missus indulgent?

 

With background noise, the TV, the fan noise is almost unnoticeable.

 

I mean in relative silence? Is it distinguishable or too soft to really notice.

 

I just put it to 55% now, zero background noise and it's definitely audible, at 35% it's not audible but will throttle.

 

Just to add, throttling on this machine means playing at 60fps rather than 90+

 

I think you mentioned it earlier but you did some repaste or overlockers did something that isn't usually in the standard model right?

 

Nope, all is stock.

 

Is the 100% fan speed the default gaming one that everyone in reviews is complaining to be super loud or is that the 55% speed?

See http://www.notebookcheck.net/Aorus-X5-v6-Notebook-Review.179321.0.html for example in the temp and noise sections

 

I think the default 'gaming' setting is variable depending on temps (external as well as component), so can probably ramp up 100% in a warm environment and gaming for long periods.

Personal experience in my home with background temps around 22°C, when gaming on the 'gaming' fan setting it is not as loud as manually setting the fans to 100%.

 

If I remember correctly "Gaming" mode doesn't ramp up the fan to 100%, its more like auto fan with a max of ~80% or so.

 

Nice to see AORUS appreciating my review.

 

Nice

 

Can you disable G-Sync to make use of Optimus?

 

Yes, you can disabled G-Sync. This does *not* make use of optimus.

 

Thanks!

How much battery life did you squeeze while using the integrated graphics?

 

My bad, had to edit my post above. It does NOT use optimus.

I haven't had chance to use away from the socket. Will run battery eater tonight and see how it gets on.

 

Oooops. I really have a terrible memory. I completely forgot to run it.

 

Kinda sad that the new Kaby Lake refresh wont have the FHD screen on both the 15 and 17 in models

Sent from my D6653 using Tapatalk

 

Great review, what make / model ssd does it have?

 

It has the Toshiba on the left in this comparison - http://ssd.userbenchmark.com/Compar...2-256GB-vs-Samsung-850-Evo-250GB/m36660vs2977

Ignore the comparison, comparing PCIe to SATA is a bit daft.

 

Any further tests done on your lappy? Still looking for as much info as we can

 

Yours must have arrived so how is it? how is screen contrast?

 

Outstanding. Gaming is stunning. Watching full blurays is awesome. I'm not into video/picture editing so can't comment in that aspect.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Well TN panels were neevr meant to do such things hahaha. @MiSJAH how's the battery life on your unit? Granted 94whr doesn't really last thanks to the exclusion of Optimus due to G Sync

 

I tried running battery eater and it crashed!

Will try and find another way to check

 

How do you do that, glue it to the screen?

(AFAIK there is no optical drive in the X5 but could be wrong)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk