Custom PC - UK (2020-03)

nevertinny.There’s

evensomebass,whichis

impressiveevenona laptop

thishefty.A headsetwillbebetter,

butthesespeakersarepeusable.

Unfortunately,theAsustakesa downturnwhenit comes

tobatterylifeandthermalperformance.TheAsusbarely

lastedanhourina gamingtest.It’snota surprisethatgaming

drainsthebatterythisfast,butastheXMGFusion 15 (p16)

shows,therearesomemachinesthatcanprovidemore

meaningfulgamingtimeawayfroma mainssocket.

Thislaptopis alsorarelyquiet.There’sanirritating,

noticeablefannoiseduringevenundemandinggaming

situations,andtherigoftenwhirrsintolifeevenwhenit’sidle.

Thisis a by-productofthismachineusingitsTurbo

performancemodebydefault.SilentandPerformance

modesareavailabletoimprovethefansituation,butthey

hamperperformance.In Silentmode,ourWarhammer

scoredroppedto30fps,andtheAsusalsolosta coupleof

framesin Performancemode,whichis counterproductiveon

agaming laptop.

Conclusion

The GTX 1660 Ti misses out on ray tracing, but it’s good

enough for mainstream 1080p gaming and for esports.

Elsewhere, the Asus has a powerful CPU, a good screen

and speakers, and a decent keyboard. Sadly, though, this

machine is bulky, with poor battery life and noticeable

fan noise – and it’s not hard to find machines with similar

specifications for less cash.

The Asus is worth investigating if you want a laptop with

bold looks, a large screen and a fast CPU – a machine for

work as well as play. However, remember that it’s easy to

find more quality and gaming speed elsewhere.

MIKE JENNINGS

VERDICT

A decent large-screened gaming laptop but it’s

not a standout bargain.

OVERALLSCORE

70 %%

SPEED

17 / 25

DESIGN

16 / 25

HARDWARE

19 / 25

VALUE

18 / 25

MUFASA

+ Solid1080pand

esportsspeeds

+A large,high-

qualityscreen

+ Decentkeyboard

andspeakers

SCAR

• Loud,withpoor
  batterylife


• Heavyandbulky


• No proper^
  ray tracing

BENCHMARK RESULTS

GIMPIMAGE

EDITING

49,978

HANDBRAKEH.264

VIDEO ENCODING

389,132

LUXMARK

OPENCL

86,908

HEAVYMULTI-

TASKING

170,973

SYSTEM

SCORE

156,866

run at beyond 100fps though – so you can use the full might of

the display in games such as League of Legends and Fortnite.

It’s a solid GPU, but the RTX 2060 is quicker: the Asus

scored 56fps and 45fps in Shadow of the Tomb Raider and

Total War: Warhammer II, but RTX 2060 laptops routinely

score around 70fps and 63fps in those games. Also bear in

mind that the RTX 2060 has proper ray tracing whereas the

GTX 1660 Ti doesn’t.

The Core i7-9750H is fast, with its overall benchmark

result of 156,866 impressing. It’s one of the best results

we’ve seen from this chip. Smaller laptops often throttle the

CPU, which results in weaker scores.

The 1080p screen has an excellent contrast ratio of 1,652:1,

with a black point of 0.19cd/m^2. They combine to make for a

screen that has plenty of depth and punch, with none of the

washed-out quality of lesser displays.

The delta E colour accuracy score of 2.52 is decent if not

amazing, and the colour temperature of 7,083K is a little

on the blue side, but neither are wayward enough to cause

major problems.

Thespeakersaresurprisinglygoodtoo.Theyhave

amplevolume, a clear mid-range and a high end that’s

SHADOWOFTHETOMBRAIDER

1,920x1,080,HighestDetail, TAA

0 25 50 75 100

25 50 75 100

25 50 75 100

Asus ROG Strix SCAR III G731 56fps 74fps

BATTLEFIELDV

1,920x1,080,Ultra,DX11

0

Asus ROG Strix SCAR III G731 44fps 57fps

TOTALWAR:WARHAMMER II

1,920x1,080,UltraDetail,AA

0

Asus ROG Strix SCAR III G731 45fps 55fps

Minimum Average

INTELPERFORMANCE

INDEX

137.06%