The Aorus 5 is an entry level gaming laptop from Gigabyte. In this detailed thermal testing
we’ll find out how hot it runs, see if there is any throttling, and see what can be done
to improve performance.
I’ve got NA version of the Aorus 5, so there’s an Intel i7-9750H CPU, Nvidia GTX 1650 graphics,
16gb of memory in dual channel, and a 144Hz 1080p screen. The GA version is also available
with the GTX 1050, you can find updated prices linked in the description.
Air is pulled in underneath the machine through the vents in the center, and is then exhausted
out of the back and below the screen. Two heatpipes are shared between the processor
and graphics, and we’ve got an interesting design with the two fans in the center. The
fans are right below the air intakes, but the blade count of the fans is looking a little
low compared to others.
The Aorus control center software allows us to set the CPU between 5 different levels
of power, and the GPU between 2 levels, as defined here. Throughout this testing I’ve
tested the stock settings with the CPU at level 2 and GPU at level 0 with the fans set
to the normal profile, or with the CPU and GPU maxed out with the fan set to maximum.
Unlike the higher end options like the Aorus 15 it wasn’t possible to customize the fan
curve, you just have the option of toggling it between normal and max speeds. There’s
also no shortcut on the keyboard like the higher end Aorus models to quickly swap between
fan speeds, it’s only done through the software.
Thermal testing was completed in an ambient room temperature of 21 degrees Celsius, so
expect different results in different environments.
At idle both the CPU and GPU were looking fine.
The rest of the results are from combined CPU and GPU workloads, and are meant to represent
worst case scenarios as I ran them for extended periods of time.
The gaming results towards the upper half of the graph were tested by playing Watch
Dogs 2, as I find it to use a good combination of processor and graphics. The stress test
results shown on the lower half of the graph are from running the Aida64 CPU stress test
with only the stress CPU option checked, and the Heaven GPU benchmark at max settings at
the same time to fully load the system.
Whether gaming or under combined CPU and GPU stress test, the CPU was thermal throttling
at 96 degrees Celsius. Basically there’s no difference, because as you’ll hear later,
the fan was already pretty much at max speed in normal mode due to these higher levels
of heat. Although the GPU temperatures were a little warmer with an actual game running,
thermal throttling on the GPU was not happening here. With the CPU undervolt applied, thermal
throttling on the CPU was removed with this game running, but it was still present with
the stress tests. Combining the undervolt with the cooling pad dropped temperatures
the most, especially for the GPU, which dropped by 16 to 18 degrees just with this change.
These are the average clock speeds for the same tests just shown. The CPU clock speeds
don’t change between the fans at normal and max speed due to the thermal limitations
that we just saw, though the GPU speed rose higher here with GPU mode 1, which just as
a reminder overclocks the 1650 a little. The CPU undervolt makes the largest improvement
to CPU clock speed, but the best results were seen when combining the cooling pad, as this
lowered temperatures substantially. CPU clock speed is improved with the stress test result
as the cooling pad finally removed thermal throttling, allowing the full 4GHz all core
turbo boost speed of the 9750H to be hit. The GPU clock speeds also rise a bit, presumably
as GPU boost prefers cooler temperatures.
These are the TDP values during these same tests. The 50 watt limit was constantly being
reached by the 1650 which is good, as shown by the green bars. Although the CPU is able
to boost up to 62 watts for PL1 in CPU mode 4, we only saw 50 watts or lower prior to
reducing thermal throttling with a cooling pad and undervolting, as thermals were the
main limitation there.
Here are the CPU clock speeds while under a CPU only stress test, the results are higher
as the GPU is not contributing heat to the system. Despite this, it was still only possible
to reach the full 4.0GHz all core turbo boost speed of the i7-9750H CPU with some undervolting
applied. This is because with CPU level 3 and 4, even in a CPU only workload without
GPU load, thermal throttling was being hit, reducing performance. Although thermals were
the limitation, if we look at the average TDP level 4 was close to hitting its 62 watt
power limit anyway. It was possible to raise the power limit through Intel XTU, but without
first addressing the thermal limitation this wouldn’t help, and as we saw undervolting
got us full performance anyway with less power.
To demonstrate how this translates into performance I’ve got some Cinebench CPU benchmarks from
these same modes. Like was saw in the clock speed results previously, there’s a nice
jump in performance with the undervolt applied, on top of that, again as we just saw it was
also running cooler too, so the undervolt is definitely helping nicely here.
So how do these different changes actually affect game performance? I’ve tested a couple
of games to find out.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider was tested with the built in benchmark at highest settings.
Like we saw in the clock speeds previously, there was no change between normal or max
fan. Undervolting and using a cooling pad barely helped, improving average FPS by 1
with each.
Far Cry 5 was tested with the built in benchmark at ultra settings. Again there wasn’t really
much difference between these different settings, though the 1% low was down a bit in this test
at the lowest setting, probably as it’s a CPU heavy test and this is capping the max
power limit.
If you want to see more gaming benchmarks on this machine, check the card in the top
right where I’ve tested 21 games at all setting levels.
As for the external temperatures where you’ll actually be putting your hands, at idle it
was quite cool, warmer on the right but still below the 30 or so I usually see. With the
stress tests running and fans at default speed the right hand side of the keyboard was warmer
but not too bad, right up the back is hottest as air exhausts below the screen. With the
fan manually set to maximum there’s no change to the externals, as we saw before internal
temps were still the same, so this is to be expected, though I wouldn’t call it hot,
just a little warm to the touch. While gaming with the fans still at max there’s not much
change, the left of the wrist rest when under load was about 10 degrees cooler than the
right, which was preferable as my hand sat here when on the WASD keys.
Here’s what the fans sound like during these different tests.
At idle the fan was still audible. Whether gaming or under stress test with the fan on
the normal profile it was about the same, and this hardly changed much once I manually
set it to max speed. This makes sense when you consider that CPU thermal throttling was
being hit in these workloads with the normal fan profile. That said though, even with the
fan at max it’s quieter than most other gaming laptops that I’ve tested.
Overall there was a fair bit of thermal throttling on the CPU, both under worst case stress test
and while actually gaming. The CPU was averaging 96 degrees Celsius even with the fan at full
speed. Although this resulted in performance loss in terms of clock speed, as we saw, when
actually testing out some games there appeared to be minimal practical difference.
Undervolting the CPU was a good way to help boost performance, and adding a cooling pad
further helped reduce temperatures by a decent amount. With these simple changes it was possible
to improve performance, but I think it would have been better if the fans had the option
of going faster as more air from the cooling pad is clearly helping. The plus side of this
is at least that the machine does run noticeably quieter when compared with most other gaming
laptops I’ve tested.
These differences in performance shown aren’t hard and fast rules, there are different factors
which will vary results, primarily the temperature of the room you’re running in, application
of thermal paste, and even the specific hardware which comes down to the silicon lottery. You
may not be able to undervolt or overclock your hardware the same as me, it depends on
the chip and its specific power requirements, so don’t just blindly copy my settings and
do some testing to find out where your stable point is for best results.
It may be possible to further improve temperatures by swapping the thermal paste, however as
this is a review unit that I have to send back I’m not able to change the paste, otherwise
the next reviewer will unknowingly report different results due to what I’ve done.
Raising fan speed, undervolting and using a cooling pad are much easier for most people
to do than changing paste anyway, and as we’ve seen these tweaks did help improve performance
and temperatures with the Aorus 5.
Let me know what you thought about the thermals from the Aorus 5 gaming laptop down in the
comments, and if you’re new to the channel you’ll definitely want to get subscribed
for the upcoming full review to see everything this machine has to offer.