Upgrade Guide/Log - ASUS Zephyrus G15 GA503QR

[Techstorm970]

Good day, fellow forum browsers!  Less than a week ago, I received my new laptop in the mail.  I bought one of the laptop models ASUS showcased at CES in January, the ASUS Zephyrus G15 GA503.  Here's a quick spec sheet:

• Ryzen 9 5900HS
• RTX 3070 mobile (80W)
• 16GB RAM
• 1TB NVMe SSD
• 90Wh battery
• 1440p 165Hz screen

In this log/guide, I will be installing a secondary drive into the Zephyrus.

Spoiler

Setup

So the obvious first step is to flip it over...

Spoiler

You will immediately see 10 screws around the edges, but do you see those three little rubber things towards the center?  Those hide three more screws, so we will need to remove those.

 

With that cue, I present my PC building toolkit!

Spoiler

It is never a good idea to play with computer internals without putting on an anti-static wristband first.  We don't want to risk bricking our system with a static shock!

 

Now, I will need to attach it to a ground.  Hmmmm...

Oh, I know something that will work!

Spoiler

Perfect!

 

Now is probably a good time to show the tools that I actually needed to use during this upgrade process.  The Zephyrus is rather easy to work on overall, so I only needed these three tools:

Spoiler

• The pick on the left was for prying those rubber things off I mentioned earlier.
• Obvious screwdriver is obvious.  Fortunately, all of the screws had the same sized heads (but different lengths) so I only needed to use one Philips-head screw bit.
• Plastic wedge for prying off the bottom panel is on the right.

Removing the Bottom Panel
Step 1: Take off the rubber things.  They're stuck to the screws underneath with some sort of adhesive, so we will need to made sure to take that off with them.

Spoiler

Uh oh...

Spoiler

I was down to the last one and it chose not to cooperate!  The adhesive stayed with the screw instead of coming off with the rubber thing.

 

Supposedly, you are supposed to stick the rubber things back on after you're done, but having worked on this myself, I can assure you they aren't necessary.  At worst, they are a "gotcha!" indicator to Asus that you have opened up the machine and voided the hardware warranty.  What makes this look worse is that the little things would not stick back on, especially after this dilemma!  I had to scrape off the adhesive and it got balled up in the process.  Could not reapply it.  Oh well...

Spoiler

Ah, they're off!  Now, we unscrew!

Spoiler

Uh oh, what's this?

Spoiler

The one in the bottom-right corner will not come off!  I suppose I shouldn't force it...we'll come back to it later...

 

The other three screws along the bottom are the same size, but the six screws along the sides and back of the laptop are longer.  Better separate them out!

Spoiler

Crap!  Another one won't come out?!

Spoiler

Ah well...I guess it can't be helped.  The other 11 are off, so I guess it's time to pry it open.

Spoiler

 

Twist to separate.

 

Well, the good news is that it came off!  The one screw in the back was a fluke; it just didn't want to leave its hole.  However, the one in the bottom-right corner is actually meant to stay there.  Smart design; it gives us a starting point for putting it back on later!  Good thing I didn't force it...

Spoiler

The inside of the bottom panel is coated in aluminum and copper plates, serving as reinforcements for the panel as well as cooling aids.  You will also notice the big black thermal pad for the battery.

Spoiler

A Tour of the Internals
Alright, let's have a look!

Spoiler

Well I'll be damned!  They lined the SODIMM slot with thermal pads, connecting it to the heat pipes and fans.  And they put a thermal pad on the SSD, as well!  They really took cooling seriously!

 

I love how you can tell where the CPU and GPU are under the heatsink; CPU on the right, GPU on the left.  I would recognize that cooler socket anywhere; Ryzen!  The other plate is much bigger; it's probably cooling not only the GPU but also the 8GB VRAM that it accesses.

 

The black sheets or pads covering the RAM stick and part of the Wi-Fi 6 chip serve functions unknown to me.  Do they help with cooling, too?  Or is it just electrical tape?  Either way, I won't take it off, but I want to peek in and see what brand the RAM stick is...

Spoiler

Samsung.  Quality.    ("Alright, stick back on the stick!  There you go!")

By the way, the other 8GB of RAM is soldered onto the motherboard, so there is no point to upgrading to a faster or larger RAM stick.

 

Brilliant!  They already provided us with a screw to use for our secondary drive!  Asus, how thoughtful!

Spoiler

You can also see the battery rating.  Indeed, it is 90Wh.  Big boi battery!

 

Drive Installation
Let's remove that little screw to clear the way for the Crucial P2.

Spoiler

Time to unbox the Crucial P2!

Spoiler

It comes with a little booklet that directs you to Acronis and what not if you're cloning stuff.  It's written in like 30 languages, so I doubt that will be a problem for anybody.

 

Time to slide the drive into the M.2 slot.  It will go in logo side up.  Don't force it, but make sure it's in all the way.

Spoiler

After you let go of it, it will stand at an angle like this on its own.

 

Time to screw it in!

Spoiler

Ta-daaa!

 

Putting the Bottom Panel Back On
The panel is lined with little plastic clips.  Put it back on at an angle so that the clips on the bottom (remember the corner screw?  That side.) click back into place.  You will likely need to push down on the edges to make sure the clips all click in.  The corner with the screw will be raised up until you screw it back in.

Spoiler

 

Screw the screws back in.  Remember, short ones on bottom, long ones on top near the exhaust vents.

 

Formatting the New Drive

Moment of truth time!

Spoiler

It boots!

Spoiler

Task Manager detects the new drive!  File Explorer won't, though, as the drive is not formatted yet.  A drive that is not formatted is a drive that the computer can't talk to and perform read/write operations with.  So, we need to use Disk Manager to format it.  Type "disk management" into the Windows search bar (little magnifying class).  Click on the first thing that comes up.  (I forget exactly what it says...something about partitions...)  You should get this window:

Spoiler

When I took that photo, I had already formatted the drive.  To format the drive, look for a black-barred box instead of these blue ones, right-click, and click "New Simple Volume."  The process should be straightforward from there.  I recommend formatting it as "NTFS" once you get to that page.

 

After you complete this process and the black bar turns blue, close the disk manager window and open File Explorer.

Spoiler

Ta-daaaa!  New drive!  "Cave Johnson!  We're done here!"

 

Thank you for viewing my upgrade log/guide!  Any comments, questions, or reactions are appreciated. 

 

Edit:  Fixed an image.

Edit 2:  Fixed A LOT of images.

[Downkey]

32 minutes ago, Techstorm970 said:

Good day, fellow forum browsers!  Less than a week ago, I received my new laptop in the mail.  I bought one of the laptop models ASUS showcased at CES in January, the ASUS Zephyrus G15 GA503.  Here's a quick spec sheet:

• Ryzen 9 5900HS
• RTX 3070 mobile (80W)
• 16GB RAM
• 1TB NVMe SSD
• 90Wh battery
• 1440p 165Hz screen

In this log/guide, I will be installing a secondary drive into the Zephyrus.

  Reveal hidden contents

Setup

So the obvious first step is to flip it over...

  Reveal hidden contents

You will immediately see 10 screws around the edges, but do you see those three little rubber things towards the center?  Those hide three more screws, so we will need to remove those.

 

With that cue, I present my PC building toolkit!

  Reveal hidden contents

It is never a good idea to play with computer internals without putting on an anti-static wristband first.  We don't want to risk bricking our system with a static shock!

 

Now, I will need to attach it to a ground.  Hmmmm...

Oh, I know something that will work!

  Reveal hidden contents

Perfect!

 

Now is probably a good time to show the tools that I actually needed to use during this upgrade process.  The Zephyrus is rather easy to work on overall, so I only needed these three tools:

  Reveal hidden contents

• The pick on the left was for prying those rubber things off I mentioned earlier.
• Obvious screwdriver is obvious.  Fortunately, all of the screws had the same sized heads (but different lengths) so I only needed to use one Philips-head screw bit.
• Plastic wedge for prying off the bottom panel is on the right.

Removing the Bottom Panel
Step 1: Take off the rubber things.  They're stuck to the screws underneath with some sort of adhesive, so we will need to made sure to take that off with them.

  Reveal hidden contents

Uh oh...

  Reveal hidden contents

I was down to the last one and it chose not to cooperate!  The adhesive stayed with the screw instead of coming off with the rubber thing.

 

Supposedly, you are supposed to stick the rubber things back on after you're done, but having worked on this myself, I can assure you they aren't necessary.  At worst, they are a "gotcha!" indicator to Asus that you have opened up the machine and voided the hardware warranty.  What makes this look worse is that the little things would not stick back on, especially after this dilemma!  I had to scrape off the adhesive and it got balled up in the process.  Could not reapply it.  Oh well...

  Reveal hidden contents

Ah, they're off!  Now, we unscrew!

  Reveal hidden contents

Uh oh, what's this?

  Reveal hidden contents

The one in the bottom-right corner will not come off!  I suppose I shouldn't force it...we'll come back to it later...

 

The other three screws along the bottom are the same size, but the six screws along the sides and back of the laptop are longer.  Better separate them out!

  Hide contents

Crap!  Another one won't come out?!

  Reveal hidden contents

Ah well...I guess it can't be helped.  The other 11 are off, so I guess it's time to pry it open.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Twist to separate.

 

Well, the good news is that it came off!  The one screw in the back was a fluke; it just didn't want to leave its hole.  However, the one in the bottom-right corner is actually meant to stay there.  Smart design; it gives us a starting point for putting it back on later!  Good thing I didn't force it...

  Reveal hidden contents

The inside of the bottom panel is coated in aluminum and copper plates, serving as reinforcements for the panel as well as cooling aids.  You will also notice the big black thermal pad for the battery.

  Reveal hidden contents

A Tour of the Internals
Alright, let's have a look!

  Reveal hidden contents

Well I'll be damned!  They lined the SODIMM slot with thermal pads, connecting it to the heat pipes and fans.  And they put a thermal pad on the SSD, as well!  They really took cooling seriously!

 

I love how you can tell where the CPU and GPU are under the heatsink; CPU on the right, GPU on the left.  I would recognize that cooler socket anywhere; Ryzen!  The other plate is much bigger; it's probably cooling not only the GPU but also the 8GB VRAM that it accesses.

 

The black sheets or pads covering the RAM stick and part of the Wi-Fi 6 chip serve functions unknown to me.  Do they help with cooling, too?  Or is it just electrical tape?  Either way, I won't take it off, but I want to peek in and see what brand the RAM stick is...

  Reveal hidden contents

Samsung.  Quality.    ("Alright, stick back on the stick!  There you go!")

By the way, the other 8GB of RAM is soldered onto the motherboard, so there is no point to upgrading to a faster or larger RAM stick.

 

Brilliant!  They already provided us with a screw to use for our secondary drive!  Asus, how thoughtful!

  Reveal hidden contents

You can also see the battery rating.  Indeed, it is 90Wh.  Big boi battery!

 

Drive Installation
Let's remove that little screw to clear the way for the Crucial P2.

  Reveal hidden contents

Time to unbox the Crucial P2!

  Reveal hidden contents

It comes with a little booklet that directs you to Acronis and what not if you're cloning stuff.  It's written in like 30 languages, so I doubt that will be a problem for anybody.

 

Time to slide the drive into the M.2 slot.  It will go in logo side up.  Don't force it, but make sure it's in all the way.

  Reveal hidden contents

After you let go of it, it will stand at an angle like this on its own.

 

Time to screw it in!

  Reveal hidden contents

Ta-daaa!

 

Putting the Bottom Panel Back On
The panel is lined with little plastic clips.  Put it back on at an angle so that the clips on the bottom (remember the corner screw?  That side.) click back into place.  You will likely need to push down on the edges to make sure the clips all click in.  The corner with the screw will be raised up until you screw it back in.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Screw the screws back in.  Remember, short ones on bottom, long ones on top near the exhaust vents.

 

Formatting the New Drive

Moment of truth time!

  Reveal hidden contents

It boots!

  Reveal hidden contents

Task Manager detects the new drive!  File Explorer won't, though, as the drive is not formatted yet.  A drive that is not formatted is a drive that the computer can't talk to and perform read/write operations with.  So, we need to use Disk Manager to format it.  Type "disk management" into the Windows search bar (little magnifying class).  Click on the first thing that comes up.  (I forget exactly what it says...something about partitions...)  You should get this window:

  Reveal hidden contents

When I took that photo, I had already formatted the drive.  To format the drive, look for a black-barred box instead of these blue ones, right-click, and click "New Simple Volume."  The process should be straightforward from there.  I recommend formatting it as "NTFS" once you get to that page.

 

After you complete this process and the black bar turns blue, close the disk manager window and open File Explorer.

  Reveal hidden contents

Ta-daaaa!  New drive!  "Cave Johnson!  We're done here!"

 

Thank you for viewing my upgrade log/guide!  Any comments, questions, or reactions are appreciated. 

I’m on my school ipad atm and it blocks the pictures. This is a very strange read.

[Techstorm970]

On 3/3/2021 at 3:21 PM, Downkey said:

I’m on my school ipad atm and it blocks the pictures. This is a very strange read.

Oof, so I've noticed some issues with my upgrade log post.  I can view the images on my Dell G7, but not on the Zephyrus or my iPhone.  In order to fit all those images, I copy-pasted them from OneDrive, which may have to do with the issues.  Perhaps starting an LTT photo album would fix this?

[Techstorm970]

1 hour ago, Techstorm970 said:

Oof, so I've noticed some issues with my upgrade log post.  I can view the images on my Dell G7, but not on the Zephyrus or my iPhone.  In order to fit all those images, I copy-pasted them from OneDrive, which may have to do with the issues.  Perhaps starting an LTT photo album would fix this?

Fixed!

[raven123]

So the ram on this model is not upgradeable? I plan on buying the 8gb one and upgrade it to 16gb ram

[Canadaboy]

would you suggest also adding a thermal pad to the new ssd, and from the existing ssd, what was the thinckness?

[JobinJames]

On 3/19/2021 at 2:01 PM, raven123 said:

So the ram on this model is not upgradeable? I plan on buying the 8gb one and upgrade it to 16gb ram

The 8GB one comes with 8GB soldered on the motherboard and you can add upto another 32 GB of RAM on a single stick.