ASUS ROG Strix G17 laptop review and test: mobile esports in style

This spring, ASUS introduced a series of new ROG Strix G15 and G17 laptops. They are distinguished from their predecessors by a slightly improved hardware component, in particular, more efficient cooling, as well as a more spectacular appearance. Now, when buying a laptop in this series, you can choose one of three color schemes, which are called “Original Black”, “Silver Ice” and “Electropunk”. The latter, however, is only available for the 15-inch version. If we add to this a powerful hardware component, then the target audience of these models is visible to the naked eye – these are young gamers and professional cybersportsmen, who at the same time strive to stand out from the crowd.

 

 

 

Let’s take a look at the 17-inch version of ASUS ROG Strix G712LV: this laptop has something to impress both casual users and avid gamers.

⇡#Packaging

ASUS ROG Strix G17 comes in a large, flat box designed in the style of ROG (Republic of Gamers) products. The box is heavy, so its plastic handle came in handy.

Of the useful information on it, only a sticker with the serial number of the product and barcodes can be noted.

Since we have a test sample, in the kit we got only the ADP-230GB power adapter with a power of 230 W (19.5 V, 11.8 A) and a weight of 742 grams (with cables).

At the same time, we note that ASUS ROG Strix G series laptops, depending on the region, can be supplied with one of two sets of accessories. The Original Black and Ice Silver versions can be paired with the rugged ROG BlackPack backpack and the ROG Gladius II gaming mouse, while the Electropunk colorway in the 15-inch laptop can be paired with the ROG Electro Punk BlackPack backpack, wired headset with detachable microphone and smart noise canceling technology ROG Strix GO Core, ROG Impact II gaming mouse and ROG Sheath table mat.

Laptops are made in China. As for the cost, it varies greatly due to the fact that the hardware configuration of the ASUS ROG Strix G is as varied as possible. The version of G712LV provided to us for testing costs about 2200 dollars.

Specifications

⇡#Design, body ergonomics and lighting

The version of ASUS ROG Strix G17 provided to us for testing is made in the Ice Silver color scheme and looks relatively concise. It is worth noting that the design of the laptop was developed jointly with the specialists of the design bureau of the world-famous BMW company, although, of course, you will not find the world-famous BMW “nostrils” here.

The body of the laptop is made of plastic and has a polished structure, and a chrome-plated ROG logo is placed on the top cover.

Perhaps the most significant advantage of the silver color is the invisibility of dust particles that eventually appear on any case or object. We don’t know how the Electropunk design will look like, but black cases constantly suffer from this problem, while Silver Ice will keep a presentable look much longer.

Based on our measurements, the ASUS ROG Strix G17 measures 400×294×30mm and weighs 2826 grams. Obviously, this is a desktop gaming machine, and not a portable laptop for every day. At the front, the thickness of the laptop is less – only 26 mm.

The top panel with the display opens with one hand, you do not have to hold the laptop by the base. It would seem that this is a trifle, but in the end it is precisely from such trifles that one gets the impression of the comfort of working with a laptop, and in this regard, ASUS ROG Strix G17 does not raise any questions.

The base of the ASUS ROG Strix G17 is perforated with many longitudinal slots that provide airflow to the cooling system. We also highlight rubber feet on it to give the laptop stability and anti-slip.

On the front end of the laptop case there is only a small protrusion in the center, for which it is convenient to open the display panel.

On the opposite end, two ventilation grilles, an 8P8C network port, an HDMI 2.0b video output, a power adapter connector and USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C (10 Gb / s) are visible.

And if the output of the first three behind the laptop is quite justified, then placing USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C there is not very convenient for us, even though it is possible to implement a DisplayPort video output through it, which logically should be at the back.
On the left side of the laptop there are three USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A (5 Gb / s) ports and a combined audio jack for headphones or a microphone.

The right end is devoid of ports and connectors and contains only a ventilation grill.

Small side slits closer to the front of the laptop, similar to a slot for a card reader, actually hide the audio speakers. But the laptop itself does not have a card reader, unfortunately.

Here we also highlight the traditionally high build quality for ASUS, the absence of backlash and squeaks, as well as the panel surfaces that are pleasant to the touch. Touching plastic with your hands while working with a laptop is still more comfortable than metal.

In addition to all of the above, the new ASUS ROG Strix G17 is equipped with advanced LED backlighting. And we don’t just mean customizable keyboard backlighting, which we’ve already talked about above.

We are talking about the backlight of the laptop case, which can also be flexibly configured through a proprietary application.

The fact is that LED strips are built into the front and sides of the ASUS ROG Strix G17 case. Aura backlighting makes the notebook the center of attention in the company of friends or in a casual home environment. A few photos below show the maximum brightness of the backlight, and if it seems too high to someone, then don’t worry – everything is adjustable, and also synchronized with other devices.

In addition, when starting or going to sleep, the laptop blinks backlight several times, greeting the user or saying goodbye to him. It reminded me of the adjustable delay function of turning off the headlights of a car when it escorts its owner, highlighting his path (“Follow me home”). In general, beautiful, original and stylish. I don’t like it – everything is very simply turned off with a couple of clicks.

⇡#Input Devices

ASUS ROG Strix G17 is equipped with a membrane-type keyboard with a block of numeric keys. The developers especially focus on the fact that the keyboard is designed for fans of 3D games – taking into account their requirements and features. We have a test version of the laptop, so there is no Russian layout on the keys yet.

By adapting for gamers, ASUS primarily means the exclusive ROG Overstroke technology – accelerated (early) clicks, which allows the player to respond faster to changes in the gameplay.

At the same time, the keyboard implements the technology of independent processing of keystrokes, when each contact of the key with the sensor is processed separately from the rest, which makes it possible to exclude incorrect responses. Operations themselves are almost silent, no clicks or characteristic “clicks”. The keys are full-sized, typing is comfortable, and the work surface area is large enough so that the hands do not hang from the laptop case. Even with intensive work and a serious load on the processor and video card, the case under your hands becomes barely warm, no discomfort.

For the convenience of gamers on the keyboard, the group of arrow keys is isolated, the size of the spacebar is increased, and the group of WASD gaming keys is also highlighted.

The function keys F1-F12 have a dual purpose, and above them is a small group of volume keys, turn the microphone on or off and adjust the speed of the cooling system fans, as well as the ROG key, designed to launch the proprietary ASUS Armory Crate utility.

As we have already said, the keyboard is equipped with a backlight and a three-level adjustment of its brightness.

The backlight can be adjusted through the Aura app, and can also be synced with other devices connected to the laptop (such as a mouse and headphones).

Also, the laptop is equipped with a two-button touchpad measuring 108 × 59 mm.

There were no backlashes and squeaks while working with it, and the sensitivity is adjusted to any requirements. The touchpad buttons are pressed without clicks.

The laptop power key is located in the upper right corner of the working panel and has a backlight indicator.

A little lower on the same edge you can see the port cover for the Keystone NFC dongle. ASUS ROG Strix G15/17 models do not have this feature, Strix SCAR 15/17 versions are equipped with this key.

Indicators for power, battery charge, storage activity and airplane mode are displayed above the keyboard and are always in front of your eyes, but do not distract during work.

We add that the ASUS ROG Strix G17 does not have a built-in video camera – alas, you have to pay such a price for the thin bezels of the display. However, it is worth noting that every time we scold regular cameras for poor image quality, and for those users who need a video camera, the company offers to purchase the optional ROG GC21.

⇡#Display

ASUS ROG Strix G17 is equipped with a display with a diagonal of 17.3 inches and a resolution of 1920 × 1080 pixels. The surface of the matrix is ​​matte. The side bezels of the display are 6.5mm wide, the top bezel is 10mm and the bottom bezel is a minimum height of 29mm.

The panel with the display rests on hinges fixed to the chassis with aluminum brackets.

The display opening angle is approximately 130 degrees.

Now about the technical characteristics of the display. Our variant of the ASUS ROG Strix G17 uses a 240Hz IPS panel with a claimed 3ms response time – a great gaming display for the most demanding gamers and cyberathletes. Matrix marking B173HAN05.0, manufacturer – AU Optronics.

We checked the display quality with the X-Rite i1 Display Pro calibrator and the Argyll CMS software with the DispcalGUI graphical interface. All measurements were taken prior to calibration. Let’s present their results.

Judging by the results obtained, the display of the ASUS ROG Strix G17 laptop is already quite accurately calibrated at the factory, all parameters are within acceptable limits. The monitor’s color gamut was recorded at 94.2% sRGB, which is also quite high. As for the maximum brightness, at 100% in the monitor settings menu, it reached 337 cd/m², and other brightness values ​​in 10% increments in the monitor settings, we will give in the following diagram.

We had no questions about the uniformity of the backlight of the ASUS ROG Strix G17 display.

The matrix speed is very high, the smoothness of the gameplay at 240 Hz is simply a reference. We add that in the Armory Crate proprietary application there is a GameVisual tab, where you can set the color temperature and select one of the eight preset display presets for different conditions.

If to describe in a few words the overall impression of the ASUS ROG Strix G17 display, we can say that it is as close as possible to the ideal gaming display. For complete immersion, only a larger size is missing, but it will not be a laptop format at all.

⇡#Internal device and accessories

The base of the laptop is a solid plastic panel with aluminum shielding. To remove it, you need to unscrew 12 screws around the perimeter and in the center, as well as disconnect the backlight cables.

Bomost of the internal space of the laptop is reserved for a dual-circuit cooling system, to which we will return. Two rams of RAM not soldered on the board, two SSDs and a relatively small battery immediately attract attention.

The motherboard chipset belongs to the Comet Lake HM470 family, and the AMI BIOS version is dated July 13, 2020 and is marked G712LV.310. In our version of the ASUS ROG Strix G17, not the most productive, but more than sufficient, Intel Core i7-10750H central processor, released using 14-nanometer technology, is installed.

It has 6 cores, 12 threads and is capable of operating at frequencies from 2.6 to 5.0 GHz. The maximum TDP level of this processor can reach 45 watts.

The ASUS ROG Strix G series laptops can have 32 GB of RAM, but the version of ASUS ROG Strix G17 provided to us for tests has a total of 16 GB of memory, recruited by two eight-GB DDR4 modules manufactured by Samsung (marking M471A1K43DB1-CWE).

By default, the memory operates at an effective frequency of 2.933 GHz with timings of 21-21-21-47_2T, although according to the specifications, its nominal frequency is 3.2 GHz.

Stoit should be noted that if you choose the ASUS ROG Strix G17 version with the most powerful Intel Core i7-10875H processor, it will have a memory frequency of 3.2 GHz . However, the difference in performance between memory with a frequency of 2.933 and 3.2 GHz will not exceed 4-5%.

Let the laptop be gaming, for 2D modes, the Intel UHD Graphics graphics core built into the central processor is used. In turn, for 3D applications (read – for games), the laptop provides a discrete graphics card NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060.

Recall that it is equipped with six gigabytes of GDDR6 video memory operating at an effective frequency of 11 GHz, providing a bandwidth of 264 GB / s with a 192-bit bus. GPU frequencies, according to GPU-Z, can vary in the range from 1005 to 1560 MHz, but in fact, in tests and games, we received other values, which we will discuss in one of the following sections.

Quite unusually, the disk subsystem is organized in the ASUS ROG Strix G17. The laptop has two Intel 660p series SSDs labeled SSDPEKNW512G8 with a capacity of 512 GB each. Both drives are sealed with metallized heat-distributing strips; we did not peel them off on the test sample.

These are fairly reliable drives, backed by a five-year warranty from Intel.

By modern standards, each such drive individually no longer shines with speed characteristics: the declared sequential read speed is 1500 MB / s, and sequential write speed is 1000 MB / s. ASUS solved this problem quite simply by installing two such drives in a laptop and combining them in RAID 0 mode. It turned out effectively: look at the speed performance of the ASUS ROG Strix G17 disk subsystem in three popular benchmarks (on the left, the results when powered from the mains, and on the right – from the battery).

As you can see, there is a performance level of more expensive SSD models, which will be more than enough for both professional gamers and digital content processing. It is also important that in everyday work the drives do not heat up above 43 degrees Celsius, and in the AIDA64 Extreme stress test, the temperature of the hottest of them only rose to 51 degrees Celsius.

Next to the drives, to the left of the battery, there is free space in the laptop, very reminiscent of a seat for an HDD.

However, there is no connector for its connection, just as there is no mounting system for such a disk. Yes, and in the characteristics of the ASUS ROG Strix G17, support for 2.5-inch HDDs is not indicated. But it is indicated that such laptops can be equipped not only with a pair of SSDs in RAID 0 (even two terabyte models), but also with single SSDs from 512 GB to 1 TB, and the 15-inch version of the laptop can also be found with one 256 GB drive.

The laptop has two network adapters. The cable network is implemented by a Realtek RTL8168/8111 gigabit controller, and the wireless network is implemented by an Intel AX201NGW module supporting Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) and MIMO 2×2 mode. The wireless adapter can operate in the 2.5 and 5.0 GHz (160 MHz) frequency bands, and its maximum throughput can reach 2.4 Gbps. According to the manufacturer, four wireless module antennas are built into the laptop case, which, using the exclusive ROG RangeBoost technology, can increase the coverage area by 30% and increase the stability of the wireless signal.

Despite the fact that professional gamers usually use headphones, the audio system in the ASUS ROG Strix G17 leaves a very pleasant impression. It is implemented by the Realtek audio codec and two speakers with a power of 4 W each.

Supports proprietary Smart AMP intelligent amplification technology, which without distortion can increase maximum volume by 2.8 times, bass by three times and dynamic range by 6.5 dBA. Indeed, according to subjective feelings, the acoustics of the laptop does not sound like a laptop at all, but like a very decent stereo system with a hint of surround sound. At least for a room of about 20 square meters, the volume reserve is more than enough.

⇡#Cooling system, efficiency and noise level

 

 

 

Since the ASUS ROG Strix G17 series laptops use very high-performance components, their cooling has traditionally been given special attention. The cooling system has two separate circuits – for the central processor and for the video card. Each of them has a copper heat spreader, copper heat pipes, copper radiators with ultra-thin fins (0.1 mm) and fans.

An exclusive feature of ASUS ROG notebooks is the use of Thermal Grizzly [thermal conductivity 73 W/(m·K)] high-performance liquid metal on the processor die. The process of its automatic application is demonstrated in the following video.

Thanks to the use of such a thermal interface, the developers managed to reduce temperatures by 12 degrees Celsius, increase the CPU frequency by 100 MHz and reduce the noise level by 4%. It’s great, of course, but I still have a question: why is liquid metal used only on a CPU chip, and an even more heated video card is forgotten for some incomprehensible reason?

The design is cooled by two fans, each of which has 83 thinnest n-Blade blades made of liquid crystal polymer, which increases their strength by 33% compared to conventional fans. Air is drawn in from the bottom of the laptop and expelled through two rear and one side vents.

The fans have a dust cleaning system, thanks to which the high efficiency of the laptop cooling system is maintained throughout the entire period of operation.

At the software level, laptop cooling is controlled by the Armory Crate application. It has three preset operating modes for the laptop: Turbo, Performance and Silent.

When running on battery power, only Performance and Silent modes are available, but in both cases there is also a manual adjustment of all parameters.

In addition, Armory Crate has a monitoring system.

To evaluate the efficiency of CPU cooling in the ASUS ROG Strix G17 laptop, we used the powerMAX utility, and the monitoring parameters were read and displayed by HWiNFO64. Testing was conducted at a room temperature of about 25 degrees Celsius running the Windows 10 Pro x64 operating system with the latest available drivers and updates installed.

We conducted the first three cycles of the ASUS ROG Strix G17 test with it connected to the power adapter, and here are the results we got.

In the most productive mode of the processor, Turbo, its temperature very quickly reached 96 degrees Celsius (for the hottest core), and then – by increasing the speed of the cooler fans and simultaneously reducing the frequency – the temperature stabilized at 88-90 degrees Celsius at a frequency of 3, 6 GHz. The noise level of the laptop in this mode of operation was very high. The next setting mode, Performance, tried to balance between performance and temperatures with noise levels, although at the beginning of the test the CPU again warmed up to 96 degrees Celsius. Further in the course of testing, the processor temperature stabilized at 80-82 degrees Celsius at a frequency of 3.4 GHz. Finally, the Silent mode really lives up to its name, as it keeps the processor under load (after stabilization) within 70 degrees Celsius. The price for this is only 2.8 GHz of clock speed and, as a result, lower performance. But it is in this mode that the laptop works quietly.

When the ASUS ROG Strix G17 is running on battery power, the laptop’s processor behaves completely differently. At the same time, the available Performance and Silent modes show almost the same monitoring performance.

The processor frequency in both cases was 2.4 GHz at temperatures not exceeding 60 degrees Celsius. Significantly, when running on battery power, the laptop’s processor was limited to 25 watts TDP, which explains the modest performance in temperature and frequency.

As for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 discrete graphics card, we tested it with twenty consecutive cycles of the Fire Strike Extreme benchmark from the 3DMark package.

First, let’s look at the operation of the laptop’s graphics subsystem when it is connected to the mains.

In Turbo mode, the peak value of the graphics core frequency was 1935 MHz, followed by stabilization at 1770 MHz at a temperature of 75 degrees Celsius. Performance mode again forces the laptop to balance between performance and noise level, as a result, the GPU frequency in the load stabilized at 1650 MHz, and the temperature increased to 80 degrees Celsius, but the noise level became much lower. Quiet mode brought the frequency of the graphics core to the level of 1425 MHz, stabilizing its temperature at 74 degrees Celsius and making it completely comfortable to work with a laptop. We add that in all three modes the frequency of the video memory did not fall below 11 GHz.

It is unlikely that this will be a discovery for anyone, but when a laptop is running on battery power, even such a powerful video card as the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 behaves completely differently than when running on mains power.

In both modes of operation, the frequency of the graphics processor fluctuated around 800 MHz, and the frequency of the video memory dropped to 10 GHz. All this contributed to low temperatures, but, of course, affected 3D performance as well. Just to evaluate the performance of the ASUS ROG Strix G17 (G712LV), we will now move on.

⇡#Performance testing

Since we just saw how much the laptop’s operation mode differs when running on power adapter and battery, we further suggest evaluating its performance in these states of ASUS ROG Strix G17 with Turbo and Performance settings. Well, since the new ASUS laptop model is positioned as a gaming laptop, special attention will be paid to testing in 3D benchmarks and games, where the maximum quality settings were used. So, first let’s look at the results of the processor and RAM tests.

The results in 3D benchmarks and games are shown in the table.

If in tests of the processor and RAM the difference in laptop performance is noticeable, but not critical (since it is at a fairly high level even when running on battery), we cannot say the same about the video card. When the power adapter is disconnected, the performance of ASUS ROG Strix G17 is reduced by half or more, and it becomes uncomfortable to play even on such a powerful hardware configuration. However, this fact has long been known – all the so-called gaming laptops are gaming only when connected to a power adapter and an electrical outlet. Nevertheless, it is in this mode of operation that ASUS ROG Strix G17 at its native resolution of 1920 × 1080 pixels will provide a very high level of performance in the most modern games, including at maximum graphics quality settings.

⇡#Autonomous

The capacity of the lithium-polymer battery ASUS ROG Strix G17 is modest for its size and weight of 66 Wh.

We fully charged the laptop four times during our testing, and the average charge time from 3 to 99% was 1 hour and 50 minutes.

The autonomy of the laptop has been tested in several ways. In all cases, the display brightness was set at 200 cd/m². First, we ran three modes of the PCMark’10 test suite: Modern Office, Applications, and Gaming. In the first of them, emulating the work of a laptop in office tasks and videoconferencing, the battery lasted for six and a half hours.

If the display brightness is reduced to 100 cd/m², then another half an hour can be added to this time.

In the emulation mode of working with various kinds of applications – Applications – the laptop was able to work for 2 hours 47 minutes. At the same time, its performance was at a high level.

But in the mode with the speaking name Gaming, the battery only lasted for an hour or so.

The ASUS ROG Strix G17 lasted the same amount in the looped 3DMark Time Spy Extreme stability benchmark in full screen mode. When watching Full HD video at a high bit rate, you can expect a little over seven hours of battery life, but you need to make a reservation that we used the energy-efficient power settings mode, since more performance is not required to watch videos from a laptop. In general, the autonomy of the new ROG Strix G17 is at an atypically high level for gaming models, even despite the modest battery capacity and very productive components.

⇡#Conclusion

Asus has produced high-performance gaming laptops before, but with the ROG Strix G series, they have become even more attractive both technically and visually. It is difficult for us to evaluate the entire G-series, but we can confidently summarize that in the G712LV modification, the laptop is a charged gaming machine, which, on the one hand, provides a high level of performance when powered by the mains, and on the other hand, is also suitable for long daily work. from the battery.

If we talk about the operation of the ASUS ROG Strix G17 in a stationary state, then its six-core and twelve-thread processor, coupled with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 and a pair of SSDs in RAID 0 mode, is enough for absolutely any game. It is important that you do not have to sacrifice quality settings, and a high-quality 240-Hz display with excellent color reproduction and a sufficient margin of brightness will provide speed and impeccable image output smoothness. Let’s add here an exhaustive set of ports, a comfortable keyboard with dedicated zones and a numeric keypad, as well as clear sound with an impressive volume margin.

Among the shortcomings of the ASUS ROG Strix G17, we can note the lack of a card reader and a webcam. And if the first drawback cannot be called critical, then a video camera for e-sportsmen and streamers is an urgent need, and its absence in such a laptop is unjustified. As for the dimensions, weight and noise level, it would be unfair to attribute these features of the laptop to disadvantages, since it simply does not happen differently with gaming laptops. Here, as they say, either checkers, or go.

Bottom line, ASUS ROG Strix G17 is a stylish and comfortable gaming model with a high level of performance, a high-quality display and beautiful backlighting that can satisfy the most demanding users.