ASUS G614FR notebook issues (AMD); BSOD and random reboots. Switch to Intel-version, or even MSI?

[kiddingguy]

For two weeks I have a new ASUS notebook (ASUS ROG Strix G16 G614FR-S5251W) after a previous G614FR died on me.
It has the same specs (AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX, 5070Ti GPU and all that).

Yesterday I got this image as well as random reboots & restarts (while browsing Brave, or zooming in on a regular photo, editing a Word document or finding some stuff out in Claude).
I already used DDU for uninstalling all nvidia related drivers, and now have the "hotfix" version 596.02 installed. The previous version 595.97 also gave random reboots.

This is not good.

Is something definitely off with this ASUS/AMD notebook?
I am still in my no-questions-asked return period from the webshop I bought this. Should I return this in, and go for the ASUS Intel version of this model ( G615LP) with Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX and the 'regular' GeForce RTX 5070 GPU).

And/or... in case I really need more power I can switch to my GeForceNow Ultimate subscription.

[kiddingguy]

Or maybe even leave ASUS behind and go with the MSI Stealth 16 AI A2HWGG with an Intel Core Ultra 9 285H, 5070 GPU and also/still 32 GB and an OLED screen.

[Steven P. Administrators]

Have you made sure to install all of the ASUS drivers for the laptop, and maybe checked for a BIOS update?

[kiddingguy]

On 12/04/2026 at 12:06, Steven P. said:

Have you made sure to install all of the ASUS drivers for the laptop, and maybe checked for a BIOS update?

Yes. Latest BIOS (307) is installed, with all latest drivers (updated from MyASUS and Armoury Crate), as well as nvidia's from their own site.

[kiddingguy]

I asked Claude, and it came with.

And it doesn't sound promising...

 

G614FR (AMD + RTX 5070 Ti) — Known Issues
Yes, the G614FR has documented stability problems. Users have reported screen glitches (distortion on the upper quarter of the display), frequent freezes on low loads, crashes and reboots when waking from standby (roughly 70–80% of the time), and occasional boot freezes lasting up to 10 minutes — all persisting even after clean Windows installs and full driver/BIOS updates. Asus Some affected owners ended up having to return the unit for RMA.
A closely related AMD model, the G614PR, had constant random crashes from games or BSODs with various error codes, persisting across different Windows versions, RAM configurations, and BIOS versions. Asus For that model, a new BIOS update released in late August 2025 (version 307) resolved the crashing for at least some users, while others found that rolling back to ASUS's own validated NVIDIA driver (576.65 rather than newer versions) helped significantly. Asus

The Broader ASUS ROG BIOS/Firmware Issue (Affects Both Models)
Both the G614FR and G615 are caught up in a wider, well-documented ASUS ROG problem. The root cause was traced to a systemic BIOS firmware flaw: ACPI interrupt storms causing improper power cycling of the discrete GPU, leading to DPC latency spikes (1000µs+) that bottleneck a single CPU core, resulting in system-wide lag, audio crackling, and frame drops. Loadsyn
LatencyMon tests on different ASUS ROG laptops confirmed the lag was being caused by ACPI.sys, but only on a single core. The investigation also found the system repeatedly attempting to power the discrete GPU on and off every 15–30 seconds, even when it's supposed to be permanently active. PC Gamer
ASUS acknowledged the issue in September 2025 and began rolling out beta BIOS updates, initially for select 2023 models (Strix Scar 15 and Zephyrus M16), with more models to follow. Tom's Hardware As of December 2025, the original periodic ACPI/DPC stall was confirmed fixed via an updated ASUS UEFI that rewrites the ACPI ECLV routine, removing the sleep/self-rearm behavior that caused the problem. GitHub

[Steven P. Administrators]

Ahh in that case looks like you need to do a return.

[kiddingguy]

 

On 12/04/2026 at 12:56, Steven P. said:

Ahh in that case looks like you need to do a return.

Looks more and more like it...

 

Is the G615LP-S5088W (Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX) with 5070 be an option?
It has at least more BIOS updates since the 307 from my AMD-version [2025/08/15]

Or should I stay away from ASUS ROG Strix notebooks in general, and look for another gaming brand like Gigabyte or MSI?

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

I'd personally go with another brand, but that's just me. As you had a lot of trouble with ASUS.

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

Buy better (more reliable) laptops - look at your brand choices.  Don't get me wrong, a product sold for a purpose should fulfil that purpose, and that's on them.  But sticking with these brands is clearly not serving you well.

[kiddingguy]

On 13/04/2026 at 12:56, Nik Louch said:

Buy better (more reliable) laptops - look at your brand choices.  Don't get me wrong, a product sold for a purpose should fulfil that purpose, and that's on them.  But sticking with these brands is clearly not serving you well.

So what’s a good brand for gaming- and affordable? (I’m looking less than $2800/€2800)

Preferably with decent CPU, GPU and preferably 2 TB NVMe.

[kiddingguy]

I am looking, as alternative, at the Gigabyte AORUS Master 16 (BYHC5EEE64SP) or MSI Raider 16 Max HX B2WI.

However, these are far over my initial willing-to-spend-on-a-gaming-notebook (around € 3300, so a spend-increase of about 35-40%). Yikes.

 

... on the Intel based model (Asus RS G615FR), someone posted "Stay with ASUS and try the 275HX alternative, the design is much better than the competition for the same equivalent".

What to do?! 

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI - sorry fella, I just wouldn’t buy laptops from those brands. This may be 100% my sitch but I see them as trashy brands for laptops. Components sure but I tend to buy Lenovo. But that said, I’m not a gamer

[kiddingguy]

On 13/04/2026 at 23:24, Nik Louch said:

ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI - sorry fella, I just wouldn’t buy laptops from those brands. This may be 100% my sitch but I see them as trashy brands for laptops. Components sure but I tend to buy Lenovo. But that said, I’m not a gamer

Kinda funny. I try to stay away from Lenovo.

They had very poor notebooks back in my days when I wsa building machines. And it got stuck in my head.

Maybe they've improved their (build)quality and internals drastically, but that's something I missed, blocked, didn't notice or have registered