I'd pm-ed several users of ASUS FX504GM and noticed they are too having freezing issues that affects their daily usage/gaming experience, and I would like to know whether they are more of them and hopefully attention could be brought to the related personnel to solve it. Please do post here if you own a ASUS FX504GM laptop and have been having Hard Freeze issue (laptop wont respond whatsoever, only way is to long-press/hold down the power button to restart). And it happened during gaming, under high usage/load. Many thanks.
PS: Apparently they are pushing the responsibility back again to the service technicians.. I'd already had it repaired 4 times (they play-tested it and it froze on the spot and could not find anything wrong with the software so they changed the parts thinking it was fixed and sent it back to me) and almost all of the parts have been changed. Yea, it's highly caused by a software issue and that software should be Asus to fix. And now they refused to fix it without even looking into it? What about other users with the same model that have the same freezing issue that did not voice out? After seeing this, I felt utterly regrettable for buying Asus laptop...
PS2: This is the latest reply, saying they could not replicate and need to analyze it in real-time to find the root cause. So, how are they going to analyze? Once they replicated the problem and it hard freeze, and then? Long-press the power button to restart and everything's back to normal? How to analyze it during hard freeze? Does this make any sense? What kind of reply is this? Anyone could help me better understand? I'd spent 3-4 months trying to solve it alone and also already by sending it to analyze and parts replaced during the time in the service centre. And they did not even try anything, nor trying to replicate the problem. Instead asking me to send to the service centre again...really?
PS: Apparently they are pushing the responsibility back again to the service technicians.. I'd already had it repaired 4 times (they play-tested it and it froze on the spot and could not find anything wrong with the software so they changed the parts thinking it was fixed and sent it back to me) and almost all of the parts have been changed. Yea, it's highly caused by a software issue and that software should be Asus to fix. And now they refused to fix it without even looking into it? What about other users with the same model that have the same freezing issue that did not voice out? After seeing this, I felt utterly regrettable for buying Asus laptop...
PS2: This is the latest reply, saying they could not replicate and need to analyze it in real-time to find the root cause. So, how are they going to analyze? Once they replicated the problem and it hard freeze, and then? Long-press the power button to restart and everything's back to normal? How to analyze it during hard freeze? Does this make any sense? What kind of reply is this? Anyone could help me better understand? I'd spent 3-4 months trying to solve it alone and also already by sending it to analyze and parts replaced during the time in the service centre. And they did not even try anything, nor trying to replicate the problem. Instead asking me to send to the service centre again...really?
*Sorry for may english
I solved the hard freeze problem using Throttlestop and MSI Afterburner software & adjusting the hardware. Reducing Turbo Boost Short Power Max - Undervolting CPU/GPU - Modifying the frequency-voltage GPU curve
My Setup:
Asus TUF FX504GM-WH51
CPU: i5 - 8300H
GPU: NVidia GTX 1060 3GB (Nvidia Geforce Experience 457.09 drivers)
RAM: 16GB
BIOS: 308
Fresh Windows Installation (Not Recovery)
ASUS Software installed: Hotkeys, Battery Management
I bought this laptop second handed.
HARDWARE
When I replaced the thermal paste to the CPU and GPU, I saw that the VRM, the coils and the VRAM chips were also with thermal paste. In the VRM area, the thermal paste was spread over the area and did not make good contact with the heatsink.
This picture is not mine, I took it from the internet since at this stage I did not take a photographic record. In my case, the paste in the VRM area was spread over the VRMs and didn't touch the heatsink, probably due to the heat.
I cleaned everything and used thermal pads on the VRM, on the coils and on the VRAM. In the VRM area use 2 thermal pads (one on top of the other) since between the VRM and the heatsink there is a lot of space.
SOFTWARE
**All offset voltages & MHz overclock depend on your silicon
ThrottleStop Software:
**For Undervolt search some guides using ThrottleStop
CPU: Undervolt -150mV Core Offset Undervolt -175mV Offset Cache
In order not to lose computing power when undervolting the cpu core, you must undervolt the cache a little bigger
Turbo Boost Short Power Max setting on 55W.
*Turbo Boost Short Power Max could be bigger than 55W.
Nominal power supply: 150W - GPU GTX 1060: 80W (CPU-Z > Graphics) - CPU T.Boost Short Power Max: 55W (remains 15W for display/mainboard)
GPU: GPU Voltage limited to 1000mV by BIOS. Modify the frequency-voltage curve so that it doesn't exceed 1000mV on MSI Afterburner + 175MHz Overclock
Open MSI Afterburner and click here
Click OC Scanner
Click on Scan. Make take a few minuts. This result in a frecuency some safe overclock that silicon can handdle. My Result was 190 MHz. I overclock 175MHz because with 190MHz get crashed .
1. Click on curve icon
2. Slide to 175 MHz "Overclock" (175MHz for my silicon)
3. Found the "1000mV" Point. 1000mV - 2010 MHz
4. All points to the right of 1000mv must be below 2010mhz
5. Show looks like this
6. Save new curve
7 - 8.Now save the new curve on 1
9. Apply new curve at start MSI Afterburner
All these changes are made by software, both Throttlestop and MSI Afterburner must be started and apply the changes. Both Software can be configured to start with Windows
For max perfomance Must Fn + F5 set on Turbo Mode & Windows Max Perfomance setting
For max power save Must Fn + F5 set on Silent & Windows Max battery Duration
I had 76C on CPU and 83C on GPU while Aida64 stability test runnig 8 hours. No hard Freeze/Arctifacts
2 Weeks gaming 2-5 Hours/day. No Hard Freeze.
I have only tried Just Cause 4. High settings, 60 fps mayorly, drops to 48 occasionally.
I love the Asus brand. This is a good laptop for the price, nice hardware. The Asus staff should have gibben that more love.
*Sorry for my english
Edit 1: I've played watch dogs for 30 hours (a more CPU demanding game). freezed 2 times. I think it is due to the CPU undervolt. setting on -135mV Offset Core -155mV Offset Cache
I solved the hard freeze problem using Throttlestop and MSI Afterburner software & adjusting the hardware. Reducing Turbo Boost Short Power Max - Undervolting CPU/GPU - Modifying the frequency-voltage GPU curve
My Setup:
Asus TUF FX504GM-WH51
CPU: i5 - 8300H
GPU: NVidia GTX 1060 3GB (Nvidia Geforce Experience 457.09 drivers)
RAM: 16GB
BIOS: 308
Fresh Windows Installation (Not Recovery)
ASUS Software installed: Hotkeys, Battery Management
I bought this laptop second handed.
HARDWARE
When I replaced the thermal paste to the CPU and GPU, I saw that the VRM, the coils and the VRAM chips were also with thermal paste. In the VRM area, the thermal paste was spread over the area and did not make good contact with the heatsink.
This picture is not mine, I took it from the internet since at this stage I did not take a photographic record. In my case, the paste in the VRM area was spread over the VRMs and didn't touch the heatsink, probably due to the heat.
I cleaned everything and used thermal pads on the VRM, on the coils and on the VRAM. In the VRM area use 2 thermal pads (one on top of the other) since between the VRM and the heatsink there is a lot of space.
SOFTWARE
**All offset voltages & MHz overclock depend on your silicon
ThrottleStop Software:
**For Undervolt search some guides using ThrottleStop
CPU: Undervolt -150mV Core Offset Undervolt -175mV Offset Cache
In order not to lose computing power when undervolting the cpu core, you must undervolt the cache a little bigger
Turbo Boost Short Power Max setting on 55W.
*Turbo Boost Short Power Max could be bigger than 55W.
Nominal power supply: 150W - GPU GTX 1060: 80W (CPU-Z > Graphics) - CPU T.Boost Short Power Max: 55W (remains 15W for display/mainboard)
GPU: GPU Voltage limited to 1000mV by BIOS. Modify the frequency-voltage curve so that it doesn't exceed 1000mV on MSI Afterburner + 175MHz Overclock
Open MSI Afterburner and click here
Click OC Scanner
Click on Scan. Make take a few minuts. This result in a frecuency some safe overclock that silicon can handdle. My Result was 190 MHz. I overclock 175MHz because with 190MHz get crashed .
1. Click on curve icon
2. Slide to 175 MHz "Overclock" (175MHz for my silicon)
3. Found the "1000mV" Point. 1000mV - 2010 MHz
4. All points to the right of 1000mv must be below 2010mhz
5. Show looks like this
6. Save new curve
7 - 8.Now save the new curve on 1
9. Apply new curve at start MSI Afterburner
All these changes are made by software, both Throttlestop and MSI Afterburner must be started and apply the changes. Both Software can be configured to start with Windows
For max perfomance Must Fn + F5 set on Turbo Mode & Windows Max Perfomance setting
For max power save Must Fn + F5 set on Silent & Windows Max battery Duration
I had 76C on CPU and 83C on GPU while Aida64 stability test runnig 8 hours. No hard Freeze/Arctifacts
2 Weeks gaming 2-5 Hours/day. No Hard Freeze.
I have only tried Just Cause 4. High settings, 60 fps mayorly, drops to 48 occasionally.
I love the Asus brand. This is a good laptop for the price, nice hardware. The Asus staff should have gibben that more love.
*Sorry for my english
Edit 1: I've played watch dogs for 30 hours (a more CPU demanding game). freezed 2 times. I think it is due to the CPU undervolt. setting on -135mV Offset Core -155mV Offset Cache
