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Aorus X5 review: Making a strong case for G-Sync notebooks

By Salehuddin Bin Husin - 30 Jul 2015
Launch SRP: S$3899

Overview

A slim gaming notebook with NVIDIA G-Sync!

Aorus' X7 Pro was one of the better gaming notebook in recent times. The 17-inch machine not only packed in a huge amount of SSD storage, it even had NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M GPUs in SLI for an unprecedented gaming horsepower in a slimline body that was lightweight and leagues ahead of other 17-inch notebooks. While it sounds awesome in summary, it wasn't perfect and has its share of concerns.

The newer 15.6-inch Aorus X5 gaming notebook would be our first test to see whether Aorus has taken in feedback to improve upon the X7 Pro. It had a sufficiently long lead-up time from the X7 Pro's release that Aorus has had the time to make some changes to the chassis that we've grown familiar with. The result appears to have been well worth it, at least visually. What's more, the Aorus X5 is one of the launch notebooks for NVIDIA's G-Sync technology for notebooks that just debuted last month! More details on what it means for you later in the article, but first, let's have a look at the notebook and some of the key specs that shape it up.

It might be a notebook in the X series, but the X5 has a few new tricks up its sleeves.

The Aorus X5 still retains the classic X series black aluminium chassis. Our review unit came with an Intel Core i7-5700HQ (2.7GHz, 6MB cache) Broadwell quad-core processor, 2 x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M (8GB VRAM) in SLI, 16GB RAM and two 256GB M.2 SSDs in RAID 0 plus a conventional 1TB (7200rpm) HDD. The notebook has space for three M.2 SSDs in RAID 0, so future expansion won't be an issue. Also, the Aorus X5 is the first time we're seeing a Broadwell quad-core CPU in a gaming machine. It should be interesting to see how the Broadwell CPU measures up against the Haswell CPUs in our tests.

The Aorus X5 has 15.6-inch display, which is WQHD+ (2880 x 1620 pixels) and supports NVIDIA's G-Sync technology for notebooks. It is our first review notebook with NVIDIA's G-Sync compatibility and we're really looking forward to see how it performs, which we'll get to further on in the article. Being only 22.9mm thick, the Aorus X5 is one of the thinnest 15-inch machines around. Not only is it thin, but it's also lighter than most notebooks in its class. Weighing only 2.5kg, the notebook is light enough to be carried around without too much effort, making it a perfect choice if you're interested in using it for work and play. Of course, truly portable work machines are now far less than 1.5kg, but considering the strong gaming hardware nature packed into this notebook frame, 2.5kg is quite acceptable.

For connectivity, the notebook features Killer LAN for wired connections and also supports 802.11ac standard for wireless connections. Unlike most gaming notebooks, the Aorus X5 doesn't feature Beats or Onkyo or other branded name audio hardware or software. It simply uses two generic speakers and a single woofer for its aural capabilities, which we unfortunately found it to be underwhelming. While in general it sounded clear, the single woofer didn't deliver on bass tones. If possible, we recommend using a pair of quality headphones or speakers to enjoy your game session better.

The Aorus X5 also comes with three USB 3.0 ports, an SD card reader, and a single 3.5mm audio input jack and another 3.5mm audio output jack. As for video outputs, there's a Mini-DisplayPort, a HDMI port and a special Surround Port that is really just an HDMI port that works only if you are outputting to three external displays. It will not only work if the other HDMI port and Mini-DisplayPort are not in use.

On the left side are the mini-DisplayPort, Surround Port, headphone and mic jacks and a lone USB 3.0 port. The Surround Port is used only for enabling NVIDIA Surround (i.e. output to 3 external displays).

The right side has two USB 3.0 ports, a HDMI output port and the SD card reader.

On the back, the Aorus X5 has the DC In jack, the D-SUB port, a USB 3.0 port and an Ethernet port. The Aorus logo on the back lights up now too.

 

 

How G-Sync Works

When the GPU sends frames to the monitor too quickly, tearing can occur.

To understand how G-Sync works, it is necessary to understand first that monitor refresh rates are typically fixed. For example, if a monitor has a refresh rate of 60Hz, this means it refreshes its screen 60 times a second or once every 16 millisecond. However, as we all know, a GPU rarely renders frames at a fixed frame rate. Depending on the scene and load, a GPU’s frame rates can vary wildly and greatly. The incongruous nature of the GPU’s frame rates and the monitor refresh rate is why we experience tearing, lag and stuttering images.

Without V-Sync, the GPU sends rendered frames to the monitor whenever it is ready. In these instances, a new frame is sent to the monitor even when the older frame is still being displayed causing the image to "tear".

The GPU is now instructed to send rednered frames at fixed intervals to match the monitor's refresh rate (V-Sync enabled), but in instances where the GPU cannot render fast enough and misses the refresh timing, users will experience lag and stutter.

Looking at the top most graph, we can see that the GPU is rendering frames at a rate that is asynchronous to that of the monitor’s refresh rate. What happens then is that the GPU presents the frame even before the monitor is ready to refresh itself and this causes tearing. There are existing technologies that are used to overcome this and you might have probably heard of V-Sync. What V-Sync does is that it forces the monitor to only accept a new frame from the GPU only when its refresh cycle is up. However, as can been seen in the graph directly above, since the GPU does not render every frame at an equal speed, this can cause lag and stuttering images. That is not to say that V-Sync is not useful, but its effectiveness is limited in instances only when the GPU can consistently render faster than the monitor’s refresh rate.

It's a simple but effective solution. Simply synchronize the rate at which the monitor refreshes itself with the GPU.

NVIDIA’s G-Sync offers a simple and elegant solution to address this problem - simply synchronize the rate at which the monitor refreshes to the rate at which the GPU finishes rendering a scene. A special controller in the monitor simply tells the monitor that its time to refresh after the GPU finishes rendering. The end result is a smoother gaming experience.

On desktop computers, G-Sync needs a hardware component installed in the display for it to work. Since external displays can be used for a variety of purposes (set-top boxes, gaming consoles, desktop display), the monitors needed a hardware component to serve as an enhanced scaler so that it can work with different sources. On a notebook, the display only has a single source so making G-Sync is far simpler. As a result, NVIDIA is relying solely on eDP's (embedded DisplayPort) built-in variable timing and panel self-refresh features to enable G-Sync functionality.

That said, not all notebooks that have eDP for video output will support G-Sync as they must still undergo qualification from NVIDIA. According to reports, there is a fee involved so do expect G-Sync notebooks to command a premium, even if they don't require specialized hardware. This qualification is to ensure that products that carry the G-Sync branding will meet a certain level of quality and visul experience.

While we've previously reported that NVIDIA is bringing G-Sync to notebooks, the Aorus X5 is the first G-Sync capable notebook that we got our hands on to test extensively..

We tried the Aorus X5's G-Sync capabilities first on NVIDIA's pendulum demo. Embedded below is the Youtube version of the demo, courtesy of Digital Foundry.

The Aorus X5 performed exactly like the video when G-Sync was turned on. In games, we tried it out on Shadow of Mordor and Tomb Raider, our benchmark titles. Without V-sync enabled for both titles, we ran both titles on the highest settings to tax the Aorus X5, which usually causes stuttering and screen tearing. Despite low frame rates in some instances (due to the extreme graphical settings used), the gameplay remained free of stuttering and screen tearing.

The downside of G-Sync on notebooks is that it's not compatible with NVIDIA's Optimus technology. This is because the notebook display must be connected directly to the GPU. As a refresher, Optimus works by using the CPU's integrated GPU as an intermediary. In other words, the display is actually connected directly to the integrated GPU. The discrete GPU, when activated, actually feeds video display data through the integrated GPU's display controller. But since G-Sync requires a direct connection betwen the display and the discrete GPU, Optimus cannot be supported. On the flip side, this won't matter much to the Aorus X5 since Optimus is not supported for notebook SLI configurations too (remember, the Aorus X5 has a dual GeForce GTX 965M GPUs in SLI configuration). 

 

Other design & feature aspects

Aorus also offers an optional hardware encoder (called the Hardware Live Streaming Engine) for users who stream gameplay regularly. Hardware encoding ensures that performance hits are minimal as the hardware takes some of the duties away from the CPU, freeing it up for game-related matters instead. As such, Aorus claims that there's a 25 - 30% improvement when you're streaming with the Aorus X5 over other machines. We didn't really have a way to measure this but we did notice a marked increase in frame rate while streaming when hardware encoding is enabled.

The IPS G-sync compatible display retains its clarity even when viewed from the side,

Aorus has a done a decent job of stabilizing the display, as it doesn't wobble as easily as the one on the X7 Pro did. While that wasn't a major criticism we had with the X7 Pro, it's still nice to see that the X5 actually changed an aspect of the X7 Pro that irked us.

Sadly, the keyboard isn't one of the things Aorus has updated on the X5. Like the X7 Pro, the keyboard on the X5 is full featured, with the Numpad included. However, the machine still retains the shallow keyboard style found on the X3 Plus V3 and the X7 Pro where the keys have little travel. This gives typing a somewhat unsatisfactory feel.

There's a small silver lining though. The keyboard isn't as easy to smudge this time around. Even after repeated use, the keyboard on the X5 was nowhere near the condition of the X7 Pro's, which was easily smudged, even with minimal usage.

The shallow keys really detract from the typing experience.

Like the other machines in the X series, the X5 also has the recognizable macro keys on the left side of the keyboard. As with the ones on previous X series notebooks, the macro keys uses a special type of scissor switch, which offers faster response times when compared to the normal chiclet switches. We didn't really notice it but the switches do have a different feel than the keyboard switches.

The five macro switches are easily accessed, though the lower ones (G5 and G4) are a tad uncomfortable to use as you need to bend your wrist in awkwardly to hit them with your pinkie finger.

The biggest usability aspect that Aorus has improved on the Aorus X5 is the trackpad. It's still has a glossy finish, but the trackpad now has the Aorus eagle logo embedded in it and there's a small textured section on the lower portion of the trackpad. The trackpad is no longer as glossy as the ones on the X7 Pro or the X3 Plus V3, and is harder to smudge, which is a win-win in our book. The textured area at the bottom is also great, serving as a warning to the user that the finger is approaching the end of the trackpad. It also serves as a marker to where you can click in the trackpad to perform mouse button functions.

If this was the old Aorus trackpad, you can probably see our reflection in it at this angle.

The texture on the trackpad is actually made up of tiny dimples so that you can easily tell when you run your finger over them.

Still, as much as we like the new trackpad, its response is still a bit sluggish. Clicking on the designated mouse button area on the trackpad isn't as responsive as having real physical buttons. Despite that, it's still a marked improvement over the Aorus X7's trackpad, so at least there's that.

Now that you've read what Aorus X5 is made of and its key features, head on to the next page to see how it performs when it's put to the test!

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7.5
  • Design 8.5
  • Features 8.5
  • Performance 7.5
  • Value 7
  • Mobility 6.5
The Good
G-Sync capable high resolution 3K display
Smooth game performance thanks to G-Sync
SSD RAID combined with 1TB HDD storage system
The Bad
GPU performance not as great as expected
Portability and battery life sacrificed
Keyboard's key travel is still shallow
Expensive and not competitive
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