Reviews Asus Strix Scar Ii Laptop Rtx 2060 Gl704
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There we become, guys. Nosotros have our hands on the first laptop (for us) with an RTX graphics card. This 17-inch fella' is equipped with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070. ASUS was fast to react and implemented the new GPUs from NVIDIA into their ROG GL704G. The notebook itself is not your ordinary large and bulky monster. Information technology follows closely the trends from concluding year and incorporates 26 mm pattern with a weigh just under three kg.
As you are soon nigh to run across, the RTX version of the laptop is just a refresh, as it keeps the same design as the older GTX devices. It nonetheless comes in 2 options – SCAR and Hero, with the first aimed at FPS gaming (transparent WASD keys) while the latter one is aimed at MOBAs (transparent QWER keys).
You tin check the prices and configurations in our Specs Organisation: https://laptopmedia.com/series/asus-rog-strix-gl704/
Contents
- Specs Sheet
- What'southward in the box?
- Design and construction
- Disassembly, upgrade options and maintenance
- Display quality
- Wellness impact – PWM / Blue Light
- Buy our profiles
- Sound
- Drivers
- Storage functioning
- Battery
- CPU options
- GPU options
- Gaming tests
- Temperatures and comfort
- Verdict
Specs Sheet
ASUS ROG Strix GL704GW technical specifications table
Display
17.3", Full HD (1920 ten 1080), 144 Hz, IPS
HDD/SSD
256GB G.2 NVMe SSD + 1TB HDD, 5400 rpm
Dimensions
400 x 274 x 24.9 mm (xv.75" x 10.79" x 0.98")
Torso material
Plastic / Polycarbonate, Aluminum
Ports and connectivity
Features
What'southward in the box?
Opening the box presents usa with an ASUS ROG GL704G (what a surprise) on top of everything. When we remove the laptop from the box, we see a puzzle! There are a couple of boxes within that represent a… rectangle. Now you have to cull carefully because some of the boxes are empty. Let usa give you a hint – the branded box which contains all of the papers within and the power brick is on the left *wink*.
Pattern and construction
As you lot already know, this device is sold in two design makes – SCAR Two and Hero Two, and the manner to tell one from the other (except the prints) is by looking at the keys. ROG GL704G lives to its name of a gaming laptop with the assist of RGB lights placed all around it. ASUS has implemented a glowing ROG logo on top of the aluminum hat plus an RGB stripe one the user-facing side of the base. Apart from being essentially a bigger ROG GL504, this laptop is very reminiscent of the cheaper ASUS TUF FX705. We only hope information technology doesn't feature the aforementioned overheating issues.
Side by side, nosotros take the aforementioned impractical webcam location. While it was inevitable, considering you know… they managed to put super thin bezels on it. No matter the excuse, it is stupid to place it there. The other person in a spider web telephone call is literally going to come across just your right shoulder. We accept to say, though, that the 144Hz screen looks gorgeous in this frame.
Hither y'all tin can see the SCAR version of the ROG GL704G, which features transparent WASD keys, representing an FPS identity. The keyboard itself feels good and has decent feedback. ASUS state that their "Northward-central rollover" engineering science enables you to press several keys at the same time. Conveniently, at that place are also defended keys for volume up/down, mute and the ROG Armoury Crate. In improver to that, at that place is the mandatory Aureola RGB, which controls all of the lights on the laptop.
Farther beneath is the touchpad, which is equipped with its own buttons. All the same, it is probably going to be the most neglected feature of this laptop, equally a mouse would be the preferred option by hardcore gamers.
As you lot can see on the prototype below, the bottom plate is not equally perforated as the ane of MSI GE73VR 7RF for example. This, of grade, doesn't hateful the fans don't have enough torque equally nosotros are certain ASUS did a lot of calculations when designing this laptop.
| Width | Length | Meridian | Weight | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ASUS ROG GL704G | 399 mm (xv.75″) | 274 mm (10.98″) | 26.4 mm (1.05″) | 2.90 kg (half dozen.four lbs) |
| ASUS TUF FX705 | 400 mm (15.75″) | 279 mm (10.98″) | 26.6 mm (ane.05″) | ii.60 kg (5.7 lbs) |
| MSI GE73VR 7RF | 419 mm (16.l″) | 285 mm (11.22″) | 29 mm (i.14″) | 2.80 kg (6.2 lbs) |
| Acer Predator Helios 500 | 428 mm (16.85″) | 300 mm (11.81″) | 38.7 mm (ane.52″) | 4.00 kg (8.eight lbs) |
Ports
ASUS have loaded their ROG GL704G with I/O options. The left side seems overcrowded as it is the habitation of the power plug, RJ-45 connector, mini DisplayPort, HDMI 2.0, three USB Type-A three.1 (Gen. one) and an audio jack. On the other side of the laptop, there is a large grill for hot air exhaust, one more USB Type-A iii.1 this time of gen. 2 plus a USB Type-C iii.1 (Gen. 2). Gladly for photographers and content creators, there is an SD bill of fare reader onboard.
Disassembly, upgrade options and maintenance
In order to open the dorsum panel, y'all need to unscrew 11 Phillips head screws. Nothing complicated. However, this is nonetheless a laptop, which would benefit from a service lid.
In that location are two fans loaded with the heavy task of cooling the Cadre i7-8750H and NVIDIA's new RTX 2070. In gild to be as efficient every bit they can, ASUS implemented a design with five heatpipes – 2 shared between the CPU and GPU, ane more for each of them, plus one dedicated to the VRMs and the video RAM.
Upgradability on this laptop is good. You have two RAM DIMMs, supporting up to 32GB of DDR4 retentiveness. In add-on to that, in that location is an M.2 slot supporting NVMe SSDs and a SATA connector. The latter is continued to the motherboard via an extension cable.
Finally, there is the pocket-size-looking battery pack. It is mutual to see tiny batteries in gaming laptops since the priorities in using the gratis space are completely dissimilar than in ultrabooks. However, the pack institute in ASUS ROG GL704M has a 66Wh capacity. A reasonably large battery.
Display quality
ASUS ROG GL704 (SCAR II / HERO II) in the configuration we have is equipped with a 144 Hz Full Hard disk drive IPS screen, model number AUO B173HAN04.0. Its diagonal is 17.3″ (43.94 cm), and the resolution – 1920 Ñ… 1080. Additionally, the screen ratio is 16:9, the pixel density – 127 ppi, their pitch – 0.1995 x 0.1995 mm. The screen can be considered Retina when viewed from at to the lowest degree 69 cm (from this distance, the average human being eye tin't see the individual pixels).
The viewing angles are excellent. Nosotros have provided images at 45 degrees to evaluate quality.
The maximum measured brightness is relatively high – 302 nits (cd/m2) in the eye of the screen and remains at the same 302 nits (cd/m2) average across the surface with a maximum deviation of just 4%. The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen and at maximum brightness is 7460K (average) – colder than the 6500K optimum for sRGB. The average color temperature through the gray scale earlier profiling is 8100K.
In the illustration beneath you can meet how the brandish performs from uniformity perspective. The illustration below shows how matters are for operational brightness levels (approximately 140 nits) – in this particular case at 65% Brightness (White level = 141 cd/m2, Black level = 0.14 cd/m2).
Values of dE2000 over iv.0 should not occur, and this parameter is one of the starting time you should check if yous intend to use the laptop for colour sensitive work (a maximum tolerance of two.0 ). The contrast ratio is very good – m:1 (800:1 after profiling).
To make certain we are on the aforementioned page, we would like to give you a little introduction to the sRGB colour gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there'south the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human being centre, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy.
Inside the black triangle, you will run across the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people in HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors etc for printing. Basically, colors inside the black triangle are used past everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accurateness of a mainstream notebook.
Still, we've included other colour spaces similar the famous DCI-P3 standard used by picture studios, likewise equally the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, nevertheless, is however a thing of the future and it's difficult for today's displays to embrace that well. Nosotros've too included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer's gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around united states every twenty-four hours.
The yellowish dotted line shows ASUS ROG GL704 (SCAR II / HERO Two)'southward color gamut coverage.
Its display covers 92% of the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976.
Our "Design and Gaming" profile delivers optimal colour temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.
We tested the accuracy of the display with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human peel, blue sky, green grass, orangish etc. You can check out the results at factory condition and as well, with the "Design and Gaming" contour.
Below you tin compare the scores of ASUS ROG GL704 (SCAR II / HERO 2) with the default settings (left), and with the "Gaming and Spider web design" contour (right).
The side by side effigy shows how well the brandish is able to reproduce really night parts of an prototype, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in depression ambient light.
The left side of the paradigm represents the display with stock settings, while the right ane is with the "Gaming and Spider web Pattern" profile activated. On the horizontal axis, you lot will find the grayscale and on the vertical axis – the luminance of the display. On the two graphs below you tin can easily check for yourself how your display handles the darkest nuances just keep in mind that this likewise depends on the settings of your current display, the calibration, the viewing angle, and the surrounding light atmospheric condition.
Response fourth dimension (Gaming capabilities)
We exam the reaction time of the pixels with the usual "black-to-white" and "white-to-black" method from 10% to xc% and vice versa.
We recorded Fall Time + Ascension Time =11 ms – incredibly fast response, typical for a 144 Hz.
Wellness impact – PWM / Blue Light
PWM (Screen flickering)
Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an like shooting fish in a barrel way to control monitor effulgence. When you lower the brightness, the lite intensity of the backlight is not lowered, but instead turned off and on past the electronics with a frequency duplicate to the human heart. In these low-cal impulses, the light/no-calorie-free time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes. Yous can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM.
This panel doesn't use PWM to adjust its brightness levels. This renders information technology safe for use in prolonged gaming sessions, without risk of further negatively affecting your health.
Blueish light emissions
Installing our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM merely also reduces the harmful Bluish Low-cal emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you're non familiar with the Bluish lite, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin and your whole trunk. You tin can find more information almost that in our dedicated article on Blue Calorie-free.
Conclusions
ASUS ROG GL704 (SCAR II / HERO II)'s 144 Hz Total HD panel has comfy viewing angles, covers 92% of the sRGB colour gamut and doesn't use PWM for brightness adjustment. This, combined with the high contrast ratio, and the evenly distributed calorie-free across the screen makes information technology a very practiced gaming brandish.
Buy our profiles
Since our profiles are tailored for each private display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for ASUS ROG GL704 (SCAR Two / HERO 2) configurations with 17.three″ AUO B173HAN04.0 (FHD, 1920 × 1080) IPS.
*Should you have issues with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you'll receive via e-post. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, modify the file extension to .zip or contact united states at [e-mail protected]
Read more than near the profiles HERE.
In improver to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by ownership LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where nosotros test devices in club to produce the most objective reviews possible.
Office Work
Function Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to evangelize better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (two.20), native color temperature and perceptually authentic colors.
- $iv.96 BUY NOW
Design and Gaming
This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate equally possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-ane standard for Spider web and HDTV, at white betoken D65.
- $4.97 BUY NOW
Health-Guard
Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Bluish Light which affects our optics and body. Since information technology's custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually authentic. Wellness-Baby-sit simulates paper so the pressure on the optics is greatly reduced.
- $4.98 BUY At present
Sound
ASUS ROG GL704 (SCAR II / HERO II) produces loud and crisp sound. Its depression tones take some deviations, while the mid and high frequencies are clear.
Drivers
Thankfully, this ROG notebook came with a preinstalled Windows 10, unlike its TUF sibling, and then information technology is manner easier to operate with the drivers. However, if you still demand the latest versions of the drivers and utilities for the ROG GL704, you tin can get information technology here: https://www.asus.com/me-en/Laptops/ROG-Strix-SCAR-II/HelpDesk_Download/
Storage performance
In the region we are located, nosotros received the ROG GL704 equipped with an NVMe drive from Western Digital with a model number PC SN520. With sequential Read speeds reaching up to ane.75 GB/south it is far from the fastest 256GB SSD. Still, its Write speeds are more on signal – 1.30 GHz.
| SSD model (240-256GB variants) | Max.Seq.Read (GB/s) | Max.Seq.Write (GB/south) | IOPS 4K Read | IOPS 4K Write | Latency Read (ms) | Latency Write (ms) |
| Western Digital PC SN520 NVMe | 1.75 | i.30 | 11116 | 33886 | 0.136 | 0.028 |
| Toshiba KBG30ZMS256G | ane.48 | 0.24 | 8091 | 19820 | ane.564 | 0.309 |
| Samsung PM981 | 3.41 | 1.88 | 12199 | 27961 | 0.040 | 0.035 |
| Light-ON CA3-8D512-Q11 | iii.18 | 1.66 | 9864 | 25136 | 0.171 | 0.041 |
| Intel Pro 6000p Serial | 1.83 | 0.59 | 7792 | 28266 | 0.075 | 0.033 |
Battery
At present, nosotros conduct the battery tests with WindowsBetter performance setting turned on, screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits and all other programs turned off except for the one nosotros are testing the notebook with. This unit is equipped with a 66Wh bombardment pack.
This was enough for five hours and 45 minutes of web browsing – not bad, given it has to push button a 17-inch screen with a refresh rate of 144 Hz.
In guild to simulate real-life conditions, nosotros used our own script for automated spider web browsing through over 70 websites.
CPU options
This model is currently simply offered with Intel Core i7-8750H, which is a direct successor to the Core i7-7700HQ. The new Java Lake processors feature six physical cores instead of the just 4 found on the Kaby Lake CPUs. Moreover, the blue company was able to fit the actress two cores on the same 14nm architecture while maintaining a TDP of 45W. In terms of clock speeds, we have a slight drop in the base frequency from 2.viii GHz to 2.2 GHz but the Turbo one is 4.one GHz (up from 3.eight GHz). This means effectually l% better performance in theory and 9 MB of cache (vs 6 MB on Core i7-7700HQ). However, the new Core i7-8750H will be more cooling-dependent, due to the higher clock count and the wide range of Turbo speeds.
On the iGPU end, there are no particular changes as the Core i7-8750H retains the HD Graphics 630 cores with 350 MHz Base frequency and 1100 MHz maximum Dynamic frequency. The only difference is the back up of OpenGL iv.5.
Results are from the Cinebench 20 CPU test (the higher the score, the better)
Results are from our Photoshop criterion test (the lower the score, the better)
Results are from the Fritz chess criterion (the higher the score, the amend)
GPU options
ASUS ROG GL704 (SCAR Ii / HERO Two)'s refresh tin can be bought with two of the new NVIDIA RTX GPUs. More precisely – the RTX 2060 or the RTX 2070. The unit nosotros received has the GeForce RTX 2070 on board. It has 2304 CUDA cores and the clock speeds vary depending on the power provided – 885-1215 MHz Base clock, 1185-1440 MHz Boost clock. It consumes somewhere between eighty and 115 W. If you opt for the RTX 2060, on the other side, y'all'll go a lower amount of CUDA cores – 1920. However, it consumes less energy – up to 90W and clock speeds go from 960 MHz (Base of operations) to 1200 MHz (Heave).
Results are from the 3DMark: Burn down Strike (Graphics) benchmark (college the score, the better)
Results are from the Unigine Sky three.0 benchmark (higher the score, the better)
Results are from the Unigine Sky 4.0 benchmark (college the score, the better)
Results are from the Unigine Superposition criterion (higher the score, the better)
Gaming tests
First, we have to note that this is the get-go laptop RTX 2070 we are testing and the results were accomplished with the latest (by the time of writing the review) driver that ran stable on this configuration – WHQL 417.22. Despite the strong results in the benchmarks, where information technology neared the scores of the GTX 1080, RTX 2070 performed worse than its predecessor – the GTX 1070. We are going to continue you updated on how the performance changes with newer drivers.
| Grand Theft Auto V (GTA v) | Full Hard disk drive, High (Check settings) | Total Hard disk, Very High (Cheque settings) | Full Hard disk, MAX (Bank check settings) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average FPS | 101 fps | 66 fps | 54 fps |
| Far Cry five | Total HD, Normal (Check settings) | Total Hard disk, Loftier (Cheque settings) | Full HD, Ultra (Check settings) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average FPS | 84 fps | 81 fps | 80 fps |
| Rise of the Tomb Raider (2016) | Total HD, Medium (Check settings) | Total HD, Very High (Cheque settings) | Full Hard disk drive, MAX (Check settings) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boilerplate FPS | 99 fps | 77 fps | 54 fps |
| Tom Clancy'southward Ghost Recon Wildlands | Full HD, High (Cheque settings) | Full HD, Very High (Check settings) | Full Hard disk drive, Ultra (Bank check settings) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average FPS | 68 fps | 63 fps | 49 fps |
Temperatures and comfort
Max CPU load
In this test we use 100% on the CPU cores, monitoring their frequencies and fleck temperature. The first column shows a computer's reaction to a curt load (2-x seconds), the second column simulates a serious task (between fifteen and thirty seconds), and the third cavalcade is a good indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as video rendering.
Average core temperature (base frequency + 10); CPU temp.
| Intel Core i7-8750H (45W TDP) | 0:02 – 0:10 sec | 0:15 – 0:thirty sec | 10:00 – 15:00 min |
|---|---|---|---|
| ASUS ROG GL704G | 3.49 GHz (B+59%) @ 92°C | 3.41 GHz (B+55%) @ 95°C | 3.twenty GHz (B+45%) @ 87°C |
| ASUS TUF FX705 | iii.57 GHz (B+62%) @ 88°C | 2.98 GHz (B+35%) @ 87°C | two.75 GHz (B+25%) @ 80°C |
| ASUS ROG GL504 | 3.29 GHz (B+50%) @ 95°C | 3.12 GHz (B+42%) @ 95°C | 2.56 GHz (B+16%) @ eighty°C |
| Lenovo Legion Y730 | 3.43 GHz (B+56%) @ 91°C | three.23 GHz (B+47%) @ 94°C | 2.69 GHz (B+22%) @ 79°C |
It seems that the larger amount of oestrus pipes definitely does the chore to increase the thermal efficiency of this system. Comparison it to the 15-inch model we run into a whopping 640 MHz increase at the end of the stress examination, and stable 200 MHz at the beginning. However, the temperature at the end is 7C higher with the larger notebook. Really, we hadn't seen that high of an average frequency with this CPU yet.
Existent gameplay
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 | GPU frequency/ Cadre temp (after 2 min) | GPU frequency/ Core temp (after 30 min) |
|---|---|---|
| ASUS ROG GL704G | 1595 MHz @ 83°C | 1588 MHz @ 83°C |
We currently don't have another device to relate with, so we don't actually know if this event is good or bad. However, what we can say is that it runs quite warm – at 83C. Moreover, it runs adept 150 MHz above the maximum boost frequency, so nosotros are happy.
Gaming condolement
Despite the warm internals, ROG GL704 somehow maintained controlled sub 50C temperatures on its surface. Actually, the hottest spot was but above the "O" fundamental at 48C, while the area around the about often used keys during gaming remained very absurd.
Verdict
Despite the controversial results in the gaming tests ASUS ROG GL704 (SCAR Ii / HERO Two) is certainly an incredible device. We are happy to see how manufacturers notice ways to put extremely powerful hardware in ever so smaller form factor. In the past, when one would hear about a GeForce GTX 1070 on a laptop, ane would imagine Acer Predator 17, Alienware 17 or even MSI Titan. However, lately things have changed and nosotros see more than powerful Razer laptops, as well as MSI'due south GS75 and ASUS's own Zephyrus line-up. In order to compete with them, ASUS had to upgrade their ROG line-up equally well. This resulted in the GL704, which is somewhere on the balance point between gaming ultrabooks and monsterbooks.
It was mandatory to see the latest and greatest from Intel on this device and it certainly didn't disappoint – the Core i7-8750H had ane of the highest frequencies at the finish of our torture test. In addition to that, the core clock speeds of RTX 2070 were college than the maximum Boost clock listed by NVIDIA. Exactly this is what leads us to think that the disappointing frame rates in real gaming were due to the lack of commuter optimizations.
If yous aren't convinced nigh this laptop withal, take a look at the screen. Yes, it is not very suitable for designers, neither is information technology the almost color accurate. Nonetheless, information technology excels with the uniformity of its backlight at 302 nits boilerplate across the screen, 92% of sRGB colour coverage and of grade – 144 Hz refresh charge per unit. In add-on to that, it doesn't apply PWM-aligning for its brightness. By the way, if you want to bring the colour accuracy of this panel close to the two.0 dE you can get our Gaming and Web design profile.
While the ROG GL704 (SCAR Two / HERO Ii) is a expert gaming notebook, our advice is to await a trivial chip. Don't spend a huge amount of money on laptops with the RTX GPUs notwithstanding. Soon, we expect NVIDIA to push drivers that volition improve the performance, and game designers to release more and more than titles that support ray tracing. Until then, a good ol' GTX 1070 volition definitely do the job for pretty much anything at Full HD and max details.
You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/asus-rog-strix-gl704/
Pros
- Acceptable cooling
- Lots of upgrade options
- 92% sRGB coverage (144 Hz AUO B173HAN04.0)
- CPU maintains high frequencies fifty-fifty during farthermost load
- Weighs less than iii kg
- Customizable RGB lighting and ii keyboard layout options
- Great input devices
Cons
- Underperforming RTX 2070 with early drivers
- Loud noise during gaming
Source: https://laptopmedia.com/review/asus-rog-gl704-scar-ii-hero-ii-review-everyone-hop-the-rtx-ship/