Asus Zephyrus G15 Upgrade - Teardown - Tutorial 2021 - RTX 3070 - 6TB NVMe SSD

[@nocturnalpursuits1706]

Man thank you so much for this! I just got done adding an additional SSD to my G15 and this saved me so much headache. Fantastic walkthrough!

[@TheDigitalDigest]

Thanks for watching

[@wingsofgoatz]

Did you put a heat sink on the ssd?

[@librefy]

Man, thanks again. I got the same laptop a few weeks after you, and asked some questions. 3 years later I'm finally upgrading my storage and this again has been so helpful!

[@Secoutal]

Learned so much more than I thought I was in for, thank you!

[@TheDigitalDigest]

You're welcome

[@infocyde2024]

Thanks for this video. I was in and out upgrading the 8 gig to 32 gig removable dim and added an additional 1 TB drive in 20 minutes. Your video gave me the confidence to open it up and do it myself.

[@dean9504]

what drive did u add?

[@topgun9666]

Great video, but one inaccuracy. The RAM. If you upgrade using say 32gb + 8gb onboard, as long as you match the speed, it WILL run duel channel up to the 8gb. So you will get the speed benefits for that. Past that, it will run single channel, but there is not that big of a performance hit up to that point.

[@chuboasshippo2181]

ive never really believed this. "random" is in the name so for fastest performance the OS just assigns tasks anywhere in RAM it doesnt know where the dual channel portion is. ive also seen some gaming laptops have HUGE performance penalties on mismatched RAM sizes which doesnt agree with your assertion either

[@Rexodia]

@@chuboasshippo2181 I recently bought a 32gb ddr5 RAM stick to upgrade my zephyrus g15 which only had one 16gb stick in. I'm now getting a 20%+ increase in performances in sole of my games compared to before. From my experience, running mismatched RAM sizes doesn't seem to be detrimental at all. But then again ddr5 memory might behave differently from ddr4.

[@gearguy603]

Came here to say the same thing.

[@Chris-o1x3b]

​@@RexodiaI have 16gb soldered. But it's dd4 can I mix in ddr5 on the same motherboard?

[@kevinsong712]

that screw on the bottom right corner is a pop-up screw where it cracks open a gap under the bottom plate for you to stick a pry tool in. Unscrew it last or it might bend the bottom case because the neighbouring screws are still screwed in.

[@DontEatFibre]

Nice! Thanks for being ass'd to point that out!

[@aajtak13]

I accidentally removed that screw and now it is not fitting in! Please help

[@kevinsong712]

@@aajtak13 I haven't replaced my bottom cover yet so I don't know what it's like

[@jimmc2990]

Thank you SO much for this video! I was able to successfully add a 2TB drive. The screw guidance was incredibly helpful. I put a small piece of blue painters tape over each screw after loosening it to ensure when I popped the back off with the helper tool that they didn’t fly into space. Thanks again so much!

[@AlexGrom]

4:00 Man, I have been looking for an answer way too long. Thank you for answering where which screws are going in

[@kishorek6027]

Great video, I never installed ssd in laptops before, this video helped me to install 1 tb wd sn750 in less than 15 min.

[@AwesomeorTossem]

Just so you know, it's not plastic, it's magnesium alloy. It feels kind of like plastic but it's just a very lightweight metal. If it was something like aluminum, it would be way heavier and less portable.

[@Coffee_Toffee]

This was super helpful!!! I wanted to dual boot windows and linux, and this helped so much, as this was my first time ever disassembling a laptop

[@DennyAtkin]

Thanks for this! Got an Asus M16 which uses the exact same case design (they cram a 16” 16:10 screen in) and I very well might have messed up the screw lengths and tightening if you hadn’t alerted me. With your guide, installing a second 1TB m.2 SSD was a snap!

[@officialabdulrehman]

Sir, you're so underrated :/ Very insightful guide!

[@hannahk6403]

Thanks for the detailed review/instructions, as always. I'll definitely be coming back to this video when I get a 2nd SSD. Looking forward to your RAM upgrade video if you choose to do one!

[@jamiealexander8136]

Best tutorial I've seen for this machine. 👏👏🙌 Very informative and On Point

[@TheDigitalDigest]

Thanks for watching

[@ayanbasu11]

Thanks to you, had a hassle-free upgrade! Thanks man!

[@felipin0709]

Wow! I didn't know the screws were different sizes. I lucked out when adding another SSD to mine. I left them all right by the original wholes so they would all go back to their original place. But I was under the impression that all screws were the same size and didn't bother to check so I would probably have ended up making a dimple on mine as well. Thanks for putting this out there, now we know for future reference. It's a shame you just put a dimple of your shinny new laptop though. This is still a beast of machine.

[@TheDigitalDigest]

I wasn't happy about it but I figured it at least will serve to educate the community. Also, I will be putting an M2 Skin on it, so hopefully that will help...

[@Agent_Alpha_SLV]

i cant afford this but watching this was pretty chill, i love upgrading videos which contain things i can never afford lol

[@oXMadManXo]

beast laptop, ordering the 3080 version on monday, cant wait

[@soubhikmukherjee6871]

I lack all these amazing skills!

[@BAdventures]

Plenty of helpful info. Good tutorial. 👍

[@AngleOfAttackImagery]

Nice thanks for some of the ideas

[@zaspalia]

You are right about that dimple. I got one on mine and I haven't even opened it up yet.

[@ChaoticTempest]

Great, I appreciate it 👍, it was an awesome guide. Thank you.

[@thabeckslife]

new sub! thanks again for all the help !

[@fr33for3]

Just got mine last week. What a machine! Gets loud tho.

[@airshom]

Thank you sir!! Awesome and thorough! 🙏

[@true3568]

If you upgrade the RAM you only loose dual channel beyond the 8 gig pairs. So in the case you go to 40gigs, the first 16gigs is daul channel the next 24gigs is not.

[@TheDigitalDigest]

That is what I have been saying throughout my coverage.

[@true3568]

@@TheDigitalDigest Samsung

[@Cricket-Joe]

@@TheDigitalDigest it really isn't what you said in the video. over and over again you say there is no dual channel if you add 32gb.

[@ChibiKeruchan]

The screw doesnt need to be tight coz the case has clipers anyway to hold them in place. As a matter of fact even if you don't screw them back it will be ok.

[@wlau3944]

Great video, thank you!

[@JJbm4233]

Unless there’s something really strange wrong about the US version every other version I’ve seen you can clearly tell the top deck is magnesium by removing the battery. You can clearly see the magnesium honeycomb metal top to the keyboard deck. It’s not in question you can’t definitively answer with the keyboard is magnesium or not simply by removing the battery. In Canada I can tell you for sure get the lid on the top of the keyboard are all solid magnesium it is only the bottom that is plastic and you can prove it to yourself by simply removing the battery.

[@Tekniques25]

Also according to some the 16 hb soldered will work in dual channel and the 16 gb inserted will run in single channel

[@Cricket-Joe]

You are wrong about the dual channel. You don't lose it. It just counts the first 16 as dual channel. Tons of people on reddit have shown this.

[@TheDigitalDigest]

actually several benchmarks show the 40GB as dual channel...it shall remain a mystery.

[@Cricket-Joe]

@@TheDigitalDigest that's actually news to me. Wild

[@erg1450]

Good review and detailed enough for me to try it. Question, how can I find out what SSD manufacturer are compatible with this device?, the one you have is $300 for a 2TB, a bit price for my pocket , thanks

[@s.anthonyulibarri2488]

I really wish you also showed how to fix the partition or li l. You said to trust you that you can search. But I do nit know if what I'm finding is what you mean. Seriously I things about clean install and Linux and how to delete all which I'm sure we are nit doing. Manual partition in Debian installed, do not know what that is. How to use partitions got vs mbr. Nit sure I need all that. I want to fix that partition, then wipe my old drive now in the secondary slot. I loved thus vid, but it is incomplete if it does not help us get fully to what we need. Even if you did a seperate video and linked. The fact you posted something to help at all is great and you walked us through the installation. Just wish you did teach us all the way to the end. It feels incomplete and I am list on finding what you meant about partition. - One I found is saying I have to download a 3rd party app. But you said it can be done manually and I am hesitant to download a 3rd party app for this. I have Disk 0 with 250MB Healthy (EFI System Partition), OS (C:) Healthy Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Basic Data Partition, 1.27 GB healthy recovery partition, Restore 17.50 GB NFTS Healthy Basic Data Partition, then last 909.15 GB unallocated. Then I have Disk 1 which is offline because of signature collision (I assume if I wipe/reformat that will fix itself?) - Edit: I think I got it done correctly. Now I just have the 250 System and the rest partitioned as the drive and I see the available space is correct. So I went ahead and authorized a format of my old drive. Though I may need to delete partitions and extend the volume again. I think I have it down. I still wish you had included all this, including formatting the old system drive. *Let me be clear* I still believe you provided us a wonderful video here and I truly appreciate the way you made the video and got me through exchanging the drives. - *THANK YOU!*

[@Pharesm]

Man you got the ifixit kit, but you didn't pick up a set of different sized SSD cooling strips?

[@iwillpower]

Could you have went with 8TB , if you’d were to choose to?or would that not worked? Awesome video.

[@TheDigitalDigest]

It can't power the 8tb...I am still running the original 1tb hynix and sabrent 4tb.

[@riccardogeraci9401]

3:56 1. Doesnt anyone know where to get replacement rubber covers? I lost one! 2. Why would Asus know if they have be removed? Once put back they look exactly the same. 3. To upgrade the RAM, you have to remove all screws, so this mean removing the rubber covers 4. Does installing extra RAM voice warranty? I read somewhere it doesn't as these are classed as "user upgradable parts) 4:12 I removed this, there is a nylon washer, it is easy enough to put back on, but does anyone know if it is important? I almost lost it 4:34 I'm not sure how that is possible with the correct screws. It sounds like you cross threaded the original plastic threads and pulled the plastic inwards 8:49 When I put the new RAM, I put it on top of the black material What is the black material for and should it be on top or below the RAM stick? 23:00 I had 16GB RAM pre installed. Asus says 48GB is max on my model (3080 model), so I added 32 GB stick (for 4k editing) I have people telling me that this is not recommend because I won't have dual channel. However, I read for myself that this is not true. I read that 16GB of the 32GB stick will run in dual channel with the preinstalled 16GB soldered RAM and the remaining 16GB of the 32GB stick will run in single channel. Is this true? Too much contradictory information about! I even checked with speccy software before RAM installed (just preinstalled 16GB soldered RAM), it says £Channels: Single£ I checked after, with the 32GB stick installed, it says "Channels: Dual" Also, should the stick be made by Samsung? The original soldered RAM is PC4-25600 DDR4 3200MHz / Samsung M471A2G44AMO-C (as reported by memtest86.exe) I installed Crucial RAM CT32G4SFD832A 32GB DDR4 3200MHz CL22 Is that okay?

[@itspariz3666]

hey im kinda new to this and my m16 has only 500g and I have a brand new 500g m.2 I want to add just to have a Terabyte, If i just open the laptop and slide in the m.2 on will I have to do some manual software thingy or will it be ready to use like an USB? great video bro hope you can help me 😄

[@W0LLF]

Please please make a video of cloning process and also how you remove that unallocated space from command prompt. I am a clueless person on this stuff and I don't want to make any mistake and do it exactly like you did. Thank you so much..

[@tehdreamer]

Dual channel will still work with 48GB total, Dual channel will work for the first pair of 16GB and the rest will be single channel

[@Electric_Crystals]

I'm looking to add a second storage 2tb ssd to my asus zephyrus m16 2021.. which ssd would you recommend for a second storage ssd for my laptop? Thanks and keep up the great work!

[@TheDigitalDigest]

The Sabrent Gen 4 2TB drive is excellent.

[@Electric_Crystals]

@@TheDigitalDigest awesome! Thanks!

[@rjthewerew0lf]

Will it do the same thing with the Zephyrus G16, last year and this year version too?

[@JohnOfChernarus]

I dont understand how that dimple appeared, the screw underneath was over tightened which created a bump on the top?

[@joshuacinquemani3299]

Replacing the original SSD requires cloning the original to the new SSD, correct? Meaning, all the data the original is transferred to the new SSD. I hope I am on the right page with this. After that cloning process you can take the new SSD and insert it into the laptop and it should work correctly? You don't have to do anything else I am assuming besides the partition thing, correct? Would there be a need to clone the original to a new SSD if you do not intend on replacing the original, but simply adding a secondary SSD along with the original? I apologize for the excess amount of questions.

[@OldSchoolBMXTV]

As you did an excellent video, "Future Proofing" by putting GEN 4 into your Laptop (Which I have the same Laptop and Love it) is a waste of Money. It will never get a "GEN 4 Upgrade" as that is Hardware (Motherboard) based. Your only path there is to remove the drive and put it into perhaps a future (There's that word) model that in fact does/would support it. Again, excellent video, but could have saved some $$$ with high end GEN 3 Drives.

[@TheDigitalDigest]

Gen 4 is merely so that in the future you're ready to transition to your next laptop or desktop. The premium cost is worth it to not need to purchase a new drive down the road.

[@matthewhedge8955]

you will only lose dual channel support after 8 GB for example, if you have a program that is using 12 GB of ram eight of that will be dual channel and then once the smaller ram is full, the remaining for will be just on the 32 GB

[@HotHeadCJ]

I'm considering this and Eluktronics Max 15. This has several advantages and is a little cheaper than the max 15 besides a metal body. I'd want my machine go last at least 3 years and I'm very sceptical about another plastic body machine after several issues with a legion y520 which has falling apart and been repaired several times. I've never owned a Asus so I'm not sure how durable they are. I got a legion because I thought it would've been like my old Thinkpad tank and not like a Toshiba.

[@mikefalanga437]

Wow, great video, I have this laptop, but its with the Ryzen 7 3750 I believe, I wish I could find a source which could tell me exactly what is compatible to my model to max it out with the speed and memory, I'm not too worried about what the price of the components are either, I just want to do it myself and know that I put the best or close to it, in the machine! PS. I also got mine from best buy 👍

[@user-sg9rp2iw1d]

Do you not need to connect the battery ? Cheers

[@drmindriot]

Hey, thanks for this video. I just picked up the same laptop. Have you had any issues with backlight bleed getting worse over time? Also, are Sabrent drives better than Samsung EVO? Is Crucial the best memory you can get for this machine? Also, I read that if you upgrade the ram, the computer will run 16g in dual channel and then use the rest as needed, is this incorrect?

[@njramsfan30]

If folks strapped for cash, the Hynex is not a bad ssd as well. It had slightly better writes and reads than my sn750 I had laying around. Definitely don't throw it away. Lol.

[@kkon5ti]

I am salty though that the Type-C ports are USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 GB/s) only instead of USB 3.2 Gen 2 2x2 (20 Gb/s) or USB 4 (40 Gb/s) or Thunderbolt 3/4 (40 Gb/s) and that the HDMI port is only 2.0b instead of 2.1. And 2,5 Gbit/s networking would have been nice too...

[@youtuberbayleexiong908]

Next time it's in stock we're snatching it

[@tanmaykoli9345]

Great video but I am unable to remove these screws they are very tight

[@zizanix88]

Where do you get the thermal blanket on the ssd (the green thing that you pitted it on)

[@carlosleon8026]

Can you do a video upgrading the ram either adding an extra 16bg or a 32gb ram or both in a vid? This is the deciding factor between the strix g17 and the zeph g15 both with a 3070 and I would love to see it

[@Great_America]

Just break the solder on the board holding the 8GB stick into place 👍🏻 Also, ran onto a separate issue with the battery not charging and showed the infamous “255% Charge Remaining” in Windows 10. I took the laptop apart (already knew how to do it) and uninstalled the battery, inspected it, and reinstalled it. Most likely the battery cable was not fully inserted. Battery now charges with no issues. Phew!

[@EXITMUSIC2011]

Can you really desolder the RAM?

[@D.medrano]

hi sir..i have that the same laptop and its draining the battery even its shut down..do you have any idea to fix it..

[@watermanh2o]

The screws will not come off and I’m afraid of breaking them. Do I proceed with the build?

[@kchr3956]

Replace ssd like you,need replace windows again ?

[@josekennycallejasramos5113]

If u put a Samsung 980 pro it Will recognize it or it will be limited at the 3x4?

[@CCo1-22]

Thanks for the Asus Zephyrus G15 series! Do you know where I can download the drivers that are comes with the laptop?

[@tehdreamer]

Btw you know if KC3000 2tb kingston will fit? It seems too fat as it has chips on both sides...

[@infected1769]

Question for the main SSD Can I use the same white one that you use for the additional one?

[@grimm5284]

Ok so if the drives your putting in are gen 4 how are you then still using them if the laptop doesn't support gen4 and is gen 3? i have the m16 with the 12 gen intel processor and basically want to do the same thing you did same ssds. Only thing is they're a lot of money and i don't want to get them if they're not going to work. Im just confused because you said they aren't compatible..

[@Ja.KooLit]

a question for you. Do you experience constant color change in your G15? I just got mine today and after few hours, when I open lets say file explorer, screen gets a little bit brighter, but if i open something with color, brightness dimmed.. Anyway, looks like you really like the G15. My initial impression, meh.. hardware wise, its good. Fan is quite. But software? Its crap. I dont like the armoury crate. My 2 previous laptop were MSI and I do miss the dragon center software. It is more complete than armoury crate. You can save fan profile which you cant in armoury crate. For battery charging, battery care, its not even integrated in aemoury crate. Im kinda disappointed actually

[@TheDigitalDigest]

Pretty sure that is from the AMD software. You can disable it.

[@Ja.KooLit]

@@TheDigitalDigest i found it. Its asus implementation on their game visual. If i change to rpg setting, contrast change. But putting it to any other than rpg setting i dont experience. I even enable back the amd software 's vari-bright. Its all fine now.

[@pabluasus2.0]

What speed are you getting with the Hynix in the external enclosure in this laptop?

[@kingkr8586]

love your videos.....was just wondering is it worth updating my asus ga503 with a 3060 ? it has 16 ram looking to get another 16 but was told 8 is soldered and it wont work in duel channel and blah blah ...dont know much about it ..also heard its only upgradable to 24 on some sites and some say 40 ? any idea?

[@Ju1712]

I have a question, on your video I can see the right fan connecting cable but not the left one. Is it under the heatpipes and do you have to remove them to access the cable? Thanks

[@sleet_gaming]

I tried to install a second NVME drive, but the M.2 screw WILL NOT come out. Ended up stripping the screw. Even pliers + rubber band won't work. Any thoughts on how to deal with this predicament?

[@TheDigitalDigest]

I had a similar situation but was able to get it out. Not sure what to tell you regarding this. I'm sorry to hear that it stripped.

[@jayway6411]

Did yours come with blown out speakers? If so did you fix yours? I was lucky to get my hands on one from best buy but my speakers r shit lol and my screen came kinda separated from the laptop lid( like a airbubble or somethibg

[@carboncartelfr]

Is it possible to swap the entire mobo and everything for a same model but higher spec g15?

[@xianlee4628]

Can you please help me? I mixed up the screws of 11.5 and 11 mm size. Can you please check and let me know where the yellow marked and the blue marked ones go? I have 4 yellow marked screws and 2 blue.

[@richardh8822]

Where is the cmos on this laptop? I have a similar laptop and I can’t find it

[@BlazerJake]

Any idea where i can get replacement parts for this, such as the screen? Hopefully i'll never need it, but i do laptop repair and i'd prefer to do it myself. I just want to be prepared just in case.

[@artthoudoge-8458]

So even if it doesn't support gen 4 Nvme, is it still work getting it or is it best to just stick with Gen 3?

[@OscarRodriguez-ez2kb]

hi, did you get the skin for this laptop?

[@akira9323]

I want to know the thermal pad thickness(mm). I want to know about thermal pads.

[@japkiratsingh930]

Can you do a video on best setting in armory crate?

[@huiying1]

can i please just check with you, I have recently just purchased my G15 and am looking into buying an m.2 SSD cuz mine only has a C: thats only about 500 G. you mentioned cloning and replacing it and a Samsung 980 is less than that but can I install that as my 2nd drive?

[@goroplayground3831]

how's the 6tb SSD hold up??? I had my G15 for around 8 months and constantly having problem recognizing the Adata 4TB SSD I installed, it usually starts okay but after few hrs it suddenly disappear from file explorer, after restarting a few times it reappear again....was going to change the SSD to another brand but after contacting the tech support here in Hong Kong they told me the laptop is currently only support 1+1tb SSD , bought this laptop because of the 2nd m.2 slot and now I feels like abit screwed

[@aksaifuddinpb8978]

My original SSD is 500 gb. Is it okay if I keep my original SSD but add another 1 TB at the extra SSD slot?

[@noobpokemontrainr2914]

So what is the command prompts to deal with the new unallocated space?

[@molecularconcept1318]

what about asynchronous mode? wouldnt at least 16 gigs run in dual channel, the remainder running in single channel? i have this same laptop.

[@JJbm4233]

OK quick question I thought the Zephyrus G14 was a combination of magnesium and composite plastic, so the G15 is plastic?

[@kkon5ti]

I clone my drives with a small usb drive with some linux cloning tool - works with a pc too

[@unL33T]

Why not put in two and run them in RAID?

[@kkon5ti]

I have a 3080 model but with only 16 gigs :( the 32 gig model is priced 240 dollars higher than the 16 gig one

[@primal114]

Quesiton: How did you remove the screw on the second M.2 slot? Mine is stubbornly in there and I'm afraid that I'm going to strip the screw.

[@TheDigitalDigest]

It took time but I got it out using a screw driver...just be careful

[@alvarov.1840]

would you buy the g15, or the 2070 blade 15 (base) for $200 less? (0.5TB) thank you!!

[@youtuberbayleexiong908]

It's coming in and out of stock in my area everyday

[@trevincurrey6752]

My best bet for you would be to use the best buy app, create an account and then click "Notify me when available" for the laptop. Thats what I did last week and it sent me a notification immediately when it was in stock. I was checked out in minutes.

[@pixelperfecttv1162]

Does your unit have light bleed?

[@FranzVierz]

Hello, does 6tb not overkill for a gaming laptop?

[@rexoxd3103]

If you want to know the laptop name. That is Asus Rog Zephyrus G15 GA503QM

[@k_botadra]

Second M2 slot is too tight for me I tried to unscrew it but it started to strip the screw head so I stopped. Any solutions on that ?

[@S0UNDB1T3]

could i send you a laptop (g15) and parts for you to upgrade?

[@felixig15]

Do you clean your G15 often? I've got mine for about a week now. Worried about dusts getting inside the holes on the lid

[@TheDigitalDigest]

Check out my first look at the M2 Skins...solves that problem

[@felixig15]

@@TheDigitalDigest all right. Thank you for the vids man

[@TheDigitalDigest]

I will be doing an update on the skins soon. Thanks for watching.

[@chiekihuang7992]

Does adding a SSD void the warranty from ASUS???

[@aephix73]

Gen4 NVMe is a waste of money. These things have a finite life span. If you get something that can actually utilize Gen4 NVMe, that is the time to get it. It may also be cheaper then.