Aorus X5 v8 (i7-8850H, GTX 1070, Full HD) Laptop Review

Despite the laptop's low height of 2.3 cm, the manufacturer installed a GeForce GTX 1070 and a Core i7-8850H. Additionally, our test edition at a price of 2700 Euros (~$3161) was equipped with 16 GB DDR4 RAM (2x 8 GB @2666 MHz) and a combination of a 512 GB SSD and a 1 TB HDD. The display is a matte 144 Hz panel based on IPS technology and supporting G-Sync. According to our information, a 4K version will be released as well.

The competitors of the Aorus X5 v8 include other slim gaming devices released in 2017 and 2018, such as the Asus ROG Zephyrus M GM501, the MSI GS65 Stealth Thin, the Acer Predator Triton 700 and the aforementioned Aero 15X. All of these can be found in our mobile gaming top 10. Because of its relatively high weight (2.7 kg), the Aorus X5 v8 did not make it onto this list. We will determine if it is still convincing enough to make it into the "normal" gaming top 10.

In contrast to the predecessor that was equipped with a UHD display, the current model utilizes a significantly faster 144 Hz display (also IPS). The display of the older X5 had response times of 26.4 ms (black to white) and 44 ms (gray to gray), while the new 144 Hz display impressed us with fairly quick, but not quite perfect times of 12 and 18.8 ms, respectively. The MSI GT75 8RG, among others, proves that even faster times are possible, but it utilizes TN technology which has far worse viewing angles.

In the "Native Color" mode, which deactivates the X-Rite profile, the display has a slight blue tint but an even better brightness (more than 300 cd/m² in the center of the screen).

Thanks to the preinstalled tool Command & Control, not only the image reproduction can be adjusted; the energy-saving mode and the fan control can also be adjusted. We used the fan control mode "Normal" for our measurements. Those looking to overclock the 15-inch device have to use the fan profile "Gaming" or the manual controls.

The performance deviations of the 8750H devices can be explained by the different efficiency in using Turbo. Despite its small to medium advantage, even the Core i7-8850H installed in the X5 v8 does not exhaust its Turbo Boost to its fullest potential, as evidenced by our Cinebench loop.

While the first iteration was still processed at 4.0 GHz (= maximum possible value for six cores under load), the clock speed dropped to 3.5 to 3.6 GHz from the second iteration onwards. However, given the laptop's low height, this result is acceptable.

Even though the X5 v8 does not have the fastest SSD of our comparison field, the 15-inch device scored first in our system benchmarks. The high-end laptop easily claimed the first place for both PCMark 10 and PCMark 8. The subjective operating speed was rather convincing as well. Windows booted pleasantly fast and reacted quickly in general (starting of programs, loading times, etc.).

The manufacturer integrated a 1 TB HDD by HGST as the secondary storage device. The Travelstar 7K1000 works at 7200 rpm and performs well for an HDD, but games and frequently used programs should still be installed onto the SSD instead if possible.

The graphics are calculated by Nvidia's second most powerful Pascal chip without Max-Q design. The GeForce GTX 1070 is definitely powerful enough for operation in 1920x1080 pixels and even the WQHD resolution of 2560x1440 pixels still works well. However, at 4K, gamers have to compromise between performance and image quality.

There were no surprises regarding the performance of the X5 v8 in our benchmark course. 3DMark 11 and the Fire Strike test of 3DMark 13 rank the 15-inch device as equal to the Asus GM501, which is also equipped with a GTX 1070. Because of the Max-Q version, the Gigabyte Aero 15X and the MSI GS65 fall behind by over 10%. The GTX 1080 Max-Q in the Acer Triton 700, however, is faster by several percentage points, but this still does not justify the much higher price.

Just like the Intel processors, the Nvidia GPUs can overclock automatically. The Turbo works really well in the Aorus X5 v8. Even under protracted gaming load, the GTX 1070 is clearly above its standard value of 1443 MHz. After 60 minutes of The Witcher 3 (Full HD, Ultra), the DirectX 12 chip leveled off at around 1700 MHz. In an ideal situation, it reaches up to 1873 MHz.

The fact that the GTX 1070 is great for gaming is proven as soon as the user tries a game on the Aorus X5 v8. Even more-demanding titles can be played fluently on maximum settings, although the 144 Hz panel is not always provided with the corresponding FPS numbers. In combination with the G-Sync technology, however, the screen content still appears less edgy than it does on classic 60 Hz laptops, be it for gaming or just during desktop operation.

By the way, Nvidia's graphics-switching Optimus is not included for the X5 v8, so the processor's graphics chip (UHD Graphics 630) remains inactive constantly.

The X5 v8 is much quieter in idle mode, but 33 to 35 dB is still a noise level that is clearly audible (the value of 40 dB refers to the boot procedure). Tip: Those preferring quietness during undemanding activities should select the fan setting "Quiet" in the Command & Control tool, which turns off the fans completely (only the HDD will still be audible afterwards).

The case surface got rather warm as well. After 60 minutes of full load, the bottom of the case reached up to 62 °C, which speaks against placing the laptop on one's thighs during a gaming session. The top of the case is slightly cooler. A maximum of 47 °C in the WASD area and 42 °C near the wrist rest are far from good, but they are at least acceptable.

In comparison to other Coffee Lake gaming devices, the X5 v8 consumes a relatively high amount of power. The Asus GM501, which is equipped with comparable hardware, has a power consumption of about 16 to 26 watts in idle mode, whereas the Gigabyte laptop has a much higher consumption of 25 to 33 watts. Max-Q devices such as the Aero 15X and the MSI GS65 prove that this can be done better. At 102 to 239 watts under load, the X5 v8 is an outlier here as well and has even higher power consumption than the Acer Triton 700, which has a slightly better gaming performance and benefits from the Max-Q design of the GTX 1080 for its energy management.

Gigabyte tries to make up for the lack of the graphics switching with an especially powerful battery. With 94 Wh, in line with the Aero 15x, the X5 v8 leaves behind not only the Asus GM501 (55 Wh) by far but also the Acer Triton 700 (54 Wh). Solely the MSI GS65 is able to keep up to at least some extent with 82 Wh. Due to the hefty power consumption, the runtimes are still shorter than those of the MSI laptop – with the exception of the load test. Instead of a maximum of 8.5 hours, the X5 v8 can only reach 5 hours in the idle test (more than 12 hours for the Aero 15X). For everyday operation, for example while surfing the Internet or during the playback of HD movies, the battery runtime amounts to about 3 to 4 hours.