Extend Life | Improve Performance

The user approached Ryan's Rigs with an ASUS ROG Strix G512LW laptop, bought certified refurb from Micro Center a few years ago. The machine has performed wonderfully, but the user is looking to push it further.

First off: This machine was no slouch when it was manufactured back in 2020! 6 core Intel Core i7-10750H, an Nvidia RTX 2070, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, an NVMe drive, and RGB EvErYtHiNg! I can completely understand why the customer loves this machine. But current-day Windows uses up a lot of that RAM, and with everything on one drive there is competition for read/write. The user also mentioned two "must be playable" titles: The Witcher 3 Remastered and Star Citizen. The Witcher 3 has been very well optimized and patched since launch. It runs on the Steam Deck, after all, so that one is the easy call. Star Citizen (which is still in alpha)? That one is going to be interesting.

So I put the machine through some diagnostics, and it's in great shape. The only bloatware is the ASUS software, which the user actually enjoys for performance and RGB lighting control. Healthy OS install, no errors, and the SSD is also healthy. When I opened the thing up there was only minimal dust in the blower fans. Gaming laptops cook under load, and a good cleaning buys back a little cooling performance. But this machine really needed two things: an additional drive and more RAM.

With the budget set with the user, we got to hardware sourcing. We ended up going with an additional NVMe drive and a 32GB gaming RAM kit. The G512LW has a third M.2 slot and has been tested with up to 64GB, so both upgrades drop straight in with plenty of headroom left over.

I have to shout out the manufacturer ASUS: Upgrading this laptop was a breeze! The bottom of the chassis has 11 screws (with one being a pop-up screw), so with my trusty screwdriver and a pry tool I got the chassis open with no issues. There are two RGB ribbon cables to be careful with, but I could easily access the NVMe drive and RAM slots without disconnecting them. With the parts installed, I ran tests, and both the drive and RAM were detected and functional as advertised!

So I then had the user test their chosen titles. Seeing their smile was priceless. The Witcher 3 ran great, and Star Citizen was now "playable"! The user also noted an improvement in overall laptop responsiveness. They admitted they are a "many tabs and windows open multitasker" when not gaming, and their daily use software is now running better than ever.

A six-year-old gaming laptop doesn’t have to be a retired gaming laptop. The G512LW had the horsepower all along. It was just stuck sharing 16GB of RAM and a single drive with a modern copy of Windows. Two parts and one afternoon later, it’s back to doing what it was built to do, and the customer didn’t have to drop the cash on a brand new machine to get there. Now we just need Star Citizen to make it out of alpha.

If your laptop or desktop is starting to feel sluggish, give Ryan’s Rigs a shout before you go shopping. I’ll run the diagnostics, tell you straight what’s worth upgrading and what isn’t, and get your rig back up to speed. Proudly serving Lancaster and Berks County.