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Asus ROG Strix SCAR 17 2022 review (G733ZW – Core i9

12900H, RTX 3070Ti)

By Andrei Girbea , last updated on March 12, 2022

Summary: The 2022 Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 is a capable performance/gaming full-size laptop and
one of the better-value options in its class, especially in the mid-tier RTX 3070Ti + QHD screen
configuration tested here. Compared to the previous Scar 17, the 2022 update is significantly more
powerful in games and workloads, thanks to the updated specs, higher power graphics chips, and the
implementation of a MUX. On the other hand, the components still run hot inside, especially on the
GPU side now, and the Intel Alder Lake platform is not as efficient on battery use as the AMD
hardware in the 2021 model.

Our score: 4.25 / 5

Price when reviewed: $2599

Updated configurations & prices »

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nice design, solid build quality and refined RGB elements smudgy interior and annoyingly placed status LEDs
good inputs and IO no card-reader, camera or biometrics
good QHD 240 Hz screen, even if not very bright high GPU temperatures with games & demanding loads (c
significantly more powerful than the 2021 generation be tweaked in Manual mode)
versatile Manual profile in Armory Crate shorter battery life than the 2021 AMD model
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 90W battery, but limited runtimes
punchy audio with quad-speakers
competitively priced

This article is our detailed analysis of the 2022 Asus ROG Strix Scar 17, Asus’s full-size performance/gaming 17-inc
laptop of this generation.

The 2022 model builds on the chassis and design lines of the previous Scar 17
from 2021, so don’t expect significant changes in looks or features. However,
Asus rolled back on their optical-mechanical keyboard implemented on the
2021 model, which hasn’t been well received. The 2022 update now gets a
more standard rubber-dome keyboard, which I prefer and expect most potential
buyers to appreciate better.

Internally, the 2022 Scar switches over to an Intel 12th gen Alder Lake
hardware platform, DDR5 memory, and the latest RTX 3000 Ti graphics chip
from Nvidia, and Asus have also implemented a MUX on this generation and
updated the power settings, allowing the GPUs to run at up to 150W now, up
from the 130W limit on the 2021 generation.

All these translate into a significant performance boost in demanding workloads and games, but also high internal
temperatures on the GPU side with those activities. That’s one of the downsides of this 2022 Scar 17 notebook,
alongside the somewhat limited runtimes on battery.

We’ll get in-depth on all the essential details that you should be aware of before jumping on this series in the
comprehensive review down below.

Specs sheet as reviewed

2022 ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 17 G733ZW

Display 17.3-inch, 16:9, non-touch, matte, BOE BOE0A69 panel

QHD 2560 x 1440 px IPS, 240 Hz with 100% DCI-P3
FHD 360Hz panel option also available, with 100% SRGB

Processor Intel 12th gen Alder Lake, up to Core i9-12900H, 6C+8c/20T

Video Intel UHD + Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080Ti Laptop 16GB (up to 150W with Dynamic Boost)
with MUX and Adaptive Sync (no GSync on internal display)

Memory 32 GB DDR5-4800 RAM – up to 64 GB (2x DIMMs)

Storage 2 TB SSD (Samsung PM9A1) – 2x M.2 PCI 4.0 x4 slots

Connectivity WiFi 6E (Mediatek MT7922) 2×2 with Bluetooth 5.2, 2.5Gigabit LAN (Realtek RTL8125)

Ports 2x USB-A 3.2 gen1, 1x USB-C with Thunderbolt 4, 1x USB-C gen2 with video and data, HDMI 2.1, LAN,
headphone&mic

Battery 90Wh, 280 W power adapter, USB-C charging up to 100W

Size 395 mm or 15.55” (w) x 282 mm or 11.1 (d) x 27.5 mm or 1.08” (h)

Weight 2.76 kg (6.1 lbs),

.99 kg (2.2 lbs) power brick and cables, EU version

Extras rubber-dome per-key RGB backlit keyboard with NumPad, quad speakers, no webcam or biometrics, Keystone
:
 Specs-wise, this is the best-value 2022 Scar 17 configurations available here, pairing the Core i9 processor with the
RTX 3070Ti graphics chip and the QHD 240Hz screen. However, there’s a fair chance this particular combo might n
available everywhere, though, as Asus might reserve the QHD screen option only for the 3080/3080Ti configurations
some markets.

We’ll follow up with reviews on other GPU configurations in the next couple of weeks, for the top-tier RTX 3080Ti mo
(Scar 17 G733ZX) and hopefully for the base-tier RTX 3060 (Scar 17 RTX G733ZM) model as well.

Design and construction

The ROG Scar 17 is a full-size 17-inch laptop, roughly 1.1-inches (27 mm) thick and 6.1 lbs (2.76 Kg) in weight. It’s s
relatively compact and lightweight for what it is, but it’s not by any means designed primarily as an ultraportable chas
instead, it’s rather a balanced package of size, features, and performance.

On the outside, the 2022 SCAR 17 is nearly a perfect replica of the 2021 model, with only some minor design chang
and a more subtly lit ROG logo.

Before, the entire lid-logo was backlit, and now only the perimeter is lit and the inside of the logo is not – this is still R
and fully controllable in the Aura Creator control app, much like all the lightbars, the one under the display and the o
around the main chassis. I still find the Aura app a bit cumbersome to figure out, but Asus includes a practical how-to
guide that explains it well, and it eventually does what it’s designed to.

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For the materials, aluminum is used for the lid-cover and different types of plastic for everything else. All of these are
black or dark-gray and will show smudges easily, especially the smooth plastic on the arm-rest and the anodized me
on the lid. This means you’ll constantly need to clean this if you like your laptop neat.

Some of you might also complain about the inner chassis being made out of plastic and not metal, but this actually fe
comfortable to the touch. Plus, on the esthetics side, the top-right half of the C-deck is translucent and allows you to
peek inside at the internal components, something that would not have been possible with a metal deck. This is a de
particularity of the ROG Scar series, alongside the customizable ROG caps, with a couple of different versions includ
in the pack and the ability to create your own 3D printed versions if you want to customize your laptop.

That aside, the build quality is sturdy, with little flex in either the lid, chassis, or keyboard desk. I also haven’t noticed
warping or squeaky noises during my time with any of the 2022 ROG Strix models.

The practicality of this design is a hit and miss, though. On the positive side, the laptop sits very well anchored on th
desk thanks to its grippy rubber feet, the screen can be easily pulled up and adjusted with a single hand, and the ed
are dulled and friendly on the wrists. There’s also a very spacious arm-rest on this laptop, as expected from a 17-inc
product, uncompromised inputs, and punchy speakers, some of them firing through cuts under the display.
:
 On the other hand, the screen still doesn’t lean back past 110 degrees, which can be limiting when not using this
computer on a desk. Some might also complain about the design, with tiny bezels at the top and on the sides of the
display (which leave no room for any camera), and a hefty chin underneath. This doesn’t bother me, but I would hav
preferred not having that cut in the chin that allows me to peek behind the laptop and see the cables connected back
there.

What bothers me is that Asus didn’t do anything about the big and bright status LEDs that are placed just under the
screen, or the always-on red light in the power button. I find both annoying when using the laptop at night.

As for the IO, that’s still mostly on the back of the laptop and on the left side, with the right reserved for the Keystone
a novelty, there are only 2x USB-A slots now, both on the left edge, and 2x USB-C ports on the back: one of them
supports Thunderbolt 4 with data and video and is plugged into the iGPU, and the other supports data and video thro
the dGPU. In addition, the HDMI 2.1 port also goes into the dGPU now, so both of these can be used to output game
an external monitor without sacrificing performance.

I still don’t understand the practical benefits of that Keystone and would have preferred if Asus had utilized that spac
either an SD card reader or even an extra USB-A slot. This might not sound like much, but having all the USB-As on
left isn’t ideal to me, although it is something I can live with.

All in all, the ROG Scar 17 is still a fair design for 2022, and it would be up to you to accept its drawbacks or look
elsewhere if any are a deal-breaker.

Keyboard and trackpad

Asus rolled back to a standard rubber-dome keyboard on the 2022 ROG Scar 17, after last year’s experiment with th
optomechanical switches wasn’t received as well as they were expecting.
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 I was among those who complained about the clicky mechanical keys and I’m happy they came back to a regular
keyboard this year, which feels to me more comfortable to use and is also far quieter.

The layout is also partially different, especially around the arrows and NumPad section. Yes, the NumPad area is a b
more cramped than the other keys, but there’s a key for almost everything in there. And while the arrows are shorter
than on the 2021 design, I still find them perfectly usable and I appreciate how they’re slightly spaced out from
everything else.

As far as the typing experience goes, to me, this is an average keyboard very similar to the one in the 2021 ROG St
G17 series. It didn’t strike me for anything in particular, it just does what it’s meant to do.

The keys are also RGB backlit, with per-key control and various effects selectable in Armoury Crate and Aura Creato
app. The LEDs are bright enough and uniform, with some light creeping from underneath the keycaps, but not notice
or annoyingly.

However, the F1-F12 writing on the top keys is not lit, making them difficult to figure out in the dark.
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 For mouse, Asus kept the larger glass clickpad they offered in the past. It’s spacious, smooth to the touch, and accu
but I still find the physical clicks to be rather clunky, and I noticed that the surface rattles with firmer taps. So tap it ge

As for biometrics, there are still none on this 2022 ROG Strix SCAR 17.

Screen
Asus offers two screen options for this 2022 ROG Scar 17, all 17.3-inch, 16:9, matte and non-touch:

FHD 360Hz 3ms with 300+ nits of brightness and 100% sRGB colors;
QHD 240Hz 3ms with 300+ nits of brightness and 100% DCI-P3 colors.

We have the latter option on our unit and the one that makes the most sense on this kind of laptop today.

Aside from the fact that this panel doesn’t get very bright, there’s nothing to complain about. This screen option is ide
for daily use, gaming, and professional creators who need good color accuracy and gamut coverage. Still, if there’s o
more thing missing here: GSync support on the internal monitor; Adaptive Sync is implemented instead to prevent
tearing.

Here’s what we got in our tests, with an X-Rite i1 Display Pro sensor:

Panel HardwareID: BOE BOE0A69 (NE173QHM-NZ2);

Coverage: 99.9% sRGB, 85.0% AdobeRGB, 99.2% DCI-P3;
Measured gamma: 2.15;
Max brightness in the middle of the screen: 299.47 cd/m2 on power;
Min brightness in the middle of the screen: 12.44 cd/m2 on power;
Contrast at max brightness: 1115:1;
White point: 6900 K;
Black on max brightness: 0.26 cd/m2;
PWM: No.
:
 The panel comes well calibrated out of the box, yet you can further improve the Gamma and White Point with a
calibration run. Once calibrated, our sample proved reasonably uniform, yet with some imbalances in the corners an
some noticeable light bleeding – the luck of the draw, and I expect these to vary between each unit, so make sure to
properly look into them when you get your units.

A FHD 360Hz panel is also an option with the lower tier configurations of this laptop, and it’s similar to the panel we
tested in the 2021 Scar 17 over here. That’s still a fair quality panel, just not as color-rich and lower-resolution.

Hardware and performance

Our test model is a higher-specced configuration of the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17, code name G733ZW, built on an I
Core i9-12900H processor, 32 GB of DDR5-4800 memory in dual channel, 2 TB of fast SSD storage, and dual graph
the Nvidia RTX 3070Ti dGPU with 8 GB of vRAM and the Iris Xe iGPU integrated within the Intel processor.

Before we proceed, keep in mind that our review unit was sent over by Asus and it runs on the early software availab
as of early-February 2022 (BIOS 306, Armoury Crate 5.0.22.0, GeForce 511.65 drivers). Some aspects might chang
with later software.

Spec-wise, this 2022 ASUS ROG Scar 17 is built on the latest Intel and Nvidia hardware available to date. The Core
12900H is one of the top mobile processors in Intel’s Alder Lake 12th-gen platform, with 14 Cores and 20 Threads.
a hybrid design with 6 High-Performance and dual-threaded Cores, and 8 extra Efficiency cores, which work togethe
the various loads. The design and thermal module of this Scar also allow the processor to run at up to 100W of
sustained power in demanding CPU loads, on the maximum-performance profile.

For the GPU, the 2022 Scar 17 series is available with RTX 3000 and RTX 3000 Ti graphics chips. What we have on
this sample is the mid-tier RTX 3070Ti running at up to 150W with Dynamic Boost in supported games and applicatio
Compared to last year’s Scar series, Asus bumped the power settings of the GPU, updated the thermal compound u
for heat transfer, and also added a MUX to the design, all these leading to a noticeable increase in performance.

As for the RAM and storage options, the laptop still comes with two accessible memory DIMMs and two M.2 SSD slo
Our unit shipped with 32 GB of DDR5-4800 RAM in dual-channel and a Fast PCIe 4.0 Samsung SSD. I cannot
guarantee you’ll get the exact same SSD with the retail units.
:
 Getting inside to the components is a basic task, you just have to pop up the back panel, held in place by a couple o
Philips screws. Be extra careful when you lift up the bottom panel as it’s attached to the mainboard by two ribbons th
power the LED strips on the front. Pulling too hard might cause those to disconnect, in which case you’ll need to res
their connectors in their place.

Inside you’ll find all the components, the big battery, and the thermal module. There’s still a fair bit of unused space,
though, and that’s because Asus implements the same design between the Scar 17 and the smaller Scar 15, with on
longer heatpipes on the GPU side for the 17-inch model. I would have appreciated that extra space to be put to som
use, perhaps for a more significant GPU radiator/fan or beefier speakers in that empty space around the battery.

Specs aside, Asus offer their standard four power profiles in the Armoury Crate control app: Silent, Performance, Tu
and Manual, with various power settings and fan profiles between them:

Silent – quite fan-noise at under 35 dB, limited CPU/GPU speeds and power;
Performance – balanced profile with stock CPU/GPU settings and 40 dB max fan noise;
Turbo – High-Performance profile with increased CPU power allocation, faster-spinning fans at up to 48 dB, a
overclocked GPU (+50 MHz Core/+100 MHz Memory, up to 150W,).
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 Manual – like Turbo, but with the ability to custom tweak the CPU PL1/PL2 power levels and GPU power/cloc
plus create manual fan profiles based on temperature limits.

Turbo/Manual are only available with the laptop plugged in and are meant for gaming and other demanding loads.
Performance is a jack-of-all-trades, while Silent is made for light daily use. The system is able to idle the fans on the
Silent profile as long as the CPU/GPU stay under 60 degrees C, leading to a quiet daily-use experience.

Here’s what to expect in terms of performance and temperatures with everyday multitasking, browsing, and video.

Performance and benchmarks

On to more demanding loads, we start by testing the CPU’s performance by running the Cinebench R15 test for 15+
times in a loop, with a 1-2 seconds delay between each run.

The Core i9 processor stabilizes at ~100W of sustained power on the Turbo setting, which translates in frequencies
3.3+ GHz on the P Cores, temperatures in the 93-95 C, scores of ~2700 points. The fans spin at around 48 dB at he
level in this mode. The CPU does run at higher power for a short while in this test, as the PL1 and PL2 levels are se
135W here, but thermal and power throttling kick in after a little bit, leading to the stabilized sustained power of aroun
100W.

That means the i9 processor could score somewhat higher in this test in a different thermal design. At the same time
the 2022 i9-based Scar 17 scores roughly 25% higher in this test compared to the 2021 Ryzen 9 Scar 17. It’s also w
noting that Asus have also upped the sustained power limits from the Ryzen 9 2021 models by a fair amount, as tho
were only running at 75-80W sustained power.

For what is worth, there’s no undervolting option in the BIOS, and voltage control is locked with both XTU and
Throttlestop, so there’s no way to tweak the CPU at this point.

Switching over to the Performance profile translates in the CPU stabilizing at 70W and temperatures still in the mid 9
but with the fans spinning quieter at ~40 dB at head-level. Once more, the system allows for a higher power allocatio
closer to the 90W PL1 limit set for this profile for a couple of loops, and then the PL2 power limit kicks in once the
processor hits 95C consistently.

The Silent profile is more aggressively power-limited at only 30W sustained, with barely audible fans (sub 35 dB) an
middling temperatures (high-60s C). The i9-12900H still scores 1500 points in the Cinebench test, roughly 60% of th
Turbo performance, and still fairly respectable for a Silent mode.
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 Finally, the CPU runs at ~35 W on battery, on the Performance profile, with still respectable scores of around 1650+
points. Details below.

To put these in perspective, here’s how this Core i9-12900H implementation fares against other full-size implementa
in this test, both Intel and AMD. It simply tops our chart by a significant margin over anything else. We haven’t yet te
the 2022 Ryzen 6900HX to see how that fares against the i9.
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 We also ran the 3DMark CPU profile test. Take the results for what they are, as this is our first Alder Lake review uni
Once more, on Turbo the results are 5%+ over anything else in lower-cores tests, and 20+% over the competition in
16 and all-threads test.

We then went ahead and further verified our findings with the more taxing Cinebench R23 loop test and Blender –
Classroom, which result in similar findings to what we explained above.

Finally, we ran our combined CPU+GPU stress tests on this notebook. 3DMark stress runs the same test for 20 time
a loop and looks for performance variation and degradation over time, and this unit passed it just fine, which means
there’s no performance throttling with longer-duration sustained loads.
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 Next, we ran the entire suite of tests and benchmarks, on the stock Turbo profile in Armoury Crate.

3DMark 13 – Fire Strike: 26461 (Graphics – 29768, Physics – 31403, Combined – 12789);
3DMark 13 – Port Royal: 6856;
3DMark 13 – Time Spy: 11646 (Graphics – 11302, CPU – 14081);
Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Extreme: 7132;
Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Medium: 21075;
Handbrake 1.3.3 (4K to 1080p encode): 67.19 average fps;
PassMark 10: Rating: 9888 (CPU mark: 33280, 3D Graphics Mark: 23838, Disk Mark: 39791);
PCMark 10: 7825 (Essentials – 10841, Productivity – 9752, Digital Content Creation – 12298);
GeekBench 5.4.3 64-bit: Single-Core: 1865, Multi-core: 13833;
CineBench R15 (best run): CPU 2933 cb, CPU Single Core 264 cb;
CineBench R20 (best run): CPU 7102 cb, CPU Single Core 708 cb;
CineBench R23 (best run): CPU 18506 cb, CPU Single Core 1838 cb;
x265 HD Benchmark 64-bit: 23.21 s.

Compared to the R9 + RTX 3080 Super 130W configuration of the 2021 Scar 17, the 2022 i9 + RTX 3070Ti 150W+
MUX model ends up faster across the board.

On the CPU side, we’re looking at 15-25% higher scores in the single-core loads and 20-30% higher in the all-core t

On the GPU side, the RTX 3080 in the 2021 Scar only came up faster in the RTX tests, but the higher-power RTX
3070Ti in the 2022 generation outscores it by a small margin in all the other benchmarks. That’s impressive conside
the 3070Ti is a lower-priced chip, and that Asus also offers a 3080 and a 3080Ti for the 2022 Scar 17 for those
interested in the best possible GPU performance in this chassis. However, the best-value for your money is most like
these 3070 configurations.

And here are some workstation benchmarks, on the same Turbo profile:

Blender 2.93 – BMW Car scene- CPU Compute: 2m 21s (Turbo);

Blender 2.93 – BMW Car scene- GPU Compute: 35s (CUDA), 19s (Optix);
Blender 2.93 – Classroom scene – CPU Compute: 6m 35s (Turbo);
Blender 2.93 – Classroom scene – GPU Compute: 2m 24s (CUDA), 1m 2s (Optix);
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 Pugetbench – DaVinvi Resolve: 1193 points;
Pugetbench – Adobe Afert Effects: 1021;
Pugetbench – Adobe Photoshop: 1141;
Pugetbench – Adobe Premiere: 919;
SPECviewperf 2020 – 3DSMax: 158.49 (Turbo);
SPECviewperf 2020 – Catia: 70.88 (Turbo);
SPECviewperf 2020 – Creo: 104.91 (Turbo);
SPECviewperf 2020 – Energy: 32.54 (Turbo);
SPECviewperf 2020 – Maya: 398.47 (Turbo);
SPECviewperf 2020 – Medical: 33.4 (Turbo);
SPECviewperf 2020 – SNX: 22.32 (Turbo);
SPECviewperf 2020 – SW: 256.53 (Turbo).
V-Ray Benchmark: CPU – 12454 vsamples, GPU CUDA – 1250 vpaths, GPU RTX – 1541 vpaths;

The i9 demolishes the Ryzen 9 5900HX in the 2021 Scar 17 Blender, and as a whole, this middle-upper 2022
configuration outmatches the 2021 top-tier model across the board in all the activities and applications, by a smaller
greater amount.

Now, all these are excellent results, but you might also consider that the laptop does run at up to 48 dB on the Turbo
profile, so there might be situations when you’d rather sacrifice the performance to some extent as long as you can k
the fans quieter. Here’s how this 2022 Scar 17 performs on the Performance profile, which limits the fans to around 4
dB at head level.

3DMark 13 – Fire Strike: 23573 (Graphics – 27288, Physics – 28940, Combined – 10253);
3DMark 13 – Time Spy: 10660 (Graphics – 10368, CPU – 12691);
Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Extreme: 6712;
CineBench R20 (best run): CPU 6224 cb, CPU Single Core 704 cb.

The performance only takes a ~10% hit on this mode, but at the same time, the internals tend to heat up a fair bit in
case. That means I wouldn’t abuse this Performance mode for sustained demanding chores, especially when using
laptop in a hotter environment.

You can also opt for the Silent profile, in which case the fans rarely go over 35 dB. Here’s what we got in this case:

3DMark 13 – Fire Strike: 9756 (Graphics – 10809, Physics – 18815, Combined – 3978);
3DMark 13 – Time Spy: 4751 (Graphics – 4310, CPU – 11309);
Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Extreme: 3690;
CineBench R20 (best run): CPU 3749 cb, CPU Single Core 594 cb.

The CPU and especially the GPU end up significantly limited in this mode, but they also run at perfectly adequate
temperatures, so there are no thermal restrictions to using this Scar 17 on Silent. Up to you if the performance/noise
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 balance is justifiable for you on this Silent profile.

Update: Based on our more recent review of the Scar 15, with updated software, Asus have tweaked the power sett
for the Silent mode, allowing for a significant increase in performance over the scores mentioned above. Check out t
Scar 15 review for more details.

Gaming performance
Now, the ROG Scar 17 is primarily a gaming laptop, so let’s see how it handles modern titles.

We tested several games at QHD and FHD resolution on Ultra settings, on the stock Turbo and Performance profiles
but also on a Manual mode that I’ll explain further down. I haven’t included Silent mode in the tables, but we’ll also
discuss it down below.

Here are the raw numbers, all these on the Discrete GPU mode:

Intel Core i9-12900H QHD Turbo QHD Manual QHD Performance FHD Turbo
+ RTX 3070Ti Laptop 125-
150W

Battlefield V 124 fps (65 fps – 1% 128 fps (70 fps – 1% 115 fps (48 fps – 1% 160 fps (58 fps – 1
(DX 12, Ultra Preset, RTX low) low) low) low)
OFF)

Cyberpunk 2077 44 fps (35 fps – 1% – 41 fps (32 fps – 1% 66 fps (53 fps – 1%
(DX 12, Ultra Preset, RTX low) low) low)
OFF)

Far Cry 6 85 fps (45 fps – 1% 87 fps (46 fps – 1% 77 fps (40 fps – 1% 105 fps (55 fps – 1
(DX 12, Ultra Preset) low) low) low) low)

Far Cry 5 111 fps (86 fps – 1% 114 fps (88 fps – 1% 102 fps (76 fps – 1% 153 fps (111 fps –
(DX 11, Ultra Preset, SMAA) low) low) low) low)

Metro Exodus 67 fps (48 fps – 1% – 62 fps (46 fps – 1% 84 fps (54 fps – 1%
(DX 12, Ultra Preset, RTX low) low) low)
OFF)

Red Dead Redemption 2 79 fps (54 fps – 1% – – 115 fps (88 fps – 1
(DX 12, Ultra Optimized, TAA) low) low)

Shadow of Tomb Raider 99 fps (59 fps – 1% 100 fps (64 fps – 1% 91 fps (55 fps – 1% 133 fps (72 fps – 1
(DX 12, Highest Preset, TAA) low) low) low) low)

Doom Eternal 164 fps (91 fps – 1% – 161 fps (84 fps – 1% 278 fps (86 fps – 1
(Vulkan, Ultra Preset) low) low) low)

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 106 fps (79 fps – 1% 108 fps (82 fps – 1% 100 fps (74 fps – 1% 143 fps (101 fps –
(DX 11, Ultra Preset, low) low) low) 1% low)
Hairworks On 4)

Battlefield V, The Witcher 3 – recorded with Fraps/in-game FPS counter in campaign mode;
Far Cry 5, Middle Earth, Strange Brigade, Red Dead Redemption 2, Tomb Raider games – recorded with the
included Benchmark utilities;
Red Dead Redemption 2 Optimized profile based on these settings.

Those above are rasterization tests, and here are some results for RTX titles.
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 Intel Core i9-12900H QHD Turbo FHD Turbo
+ RTX 3070Ti Laptop 125-150W

Battlefield V 79 fps (61 fps – 1% low) 106 fps (74 fps – 1% low)
(DX 12, Ultra Preset, RTX ON, DLSS OFF)

Doom Eternal 113 fps (73 fps – 1% low) 244 fps (82 fps – 1% low)
(DX 12, Ultra Preset, RTX ON, DLSS OFF)

Cyberpunk 2077 51 fps (42 fps – 1% low) 62 fps (51 fps – 1% low)
(DX 12, Ultra Preset + RTX, DLSS Auto)

Shadow of Tomb Raider 58 fps (28 fps – 1% low) 84 fps (36 fps – 1% low)
(DX 12, Highest Preset, TAA, RTX Ultra)

Compared to the 2021 Scar 17, the 2022 model implements a higher-power GPU, a MUX, and an improved thermal
compound on the CPU. All these lead to a 5-12% increase in framerates when comparing this 3070Ti in the 2022 mo
to the higher-tier 3080 chip in the 2021 Scar 17.

MUX performance – Hybrid vs Discrete modes

I was curious to measure the impact that the MUX has on the 2022 model, and here’s a comparison between the Hy
and dGPU modes.

Intel Core i9-12900H QHD Turbo, dGPU QHD Turbo, Hybrid FHD Turbo, dGPU FHD Turbo, Hybr
+ RTX 3070Ti Laptop 125-
150W

Battlefield V 124 fps (65 fps – 123 fps (64 fps – 160 fps (58 fps – 1% 154 fps (56 fps – 1
(DX 12, Ultra Preset, RTX 1% low) 1% low) low) low)
OFF)

Far Cry 6 85 fps (45 fps – 1% 78 fps (61 fps – 1% 105 fps (55 fps – 1% 99 fps (66 fps – 1%
(DX 12, Ultra Preset) low) low) low) low)

Far Cry 5 111 fps (86 fps – 1% 110 fps (88 fps – 1% 153 fps (111 fps – 1% 148 fps (109 fps –
(DX 11, Ultra Preset, SMAA) low) low) low) 1% low)

Metro Exodus 67 fps (48 fps – 1% 66 fps (48 fps – 1% 84 fps (54 fps – 1% 83 fps (52 fps – 1%
(DX 12, Ultra Preset, RTX low) low) low) low)
OFF)

Shadow of Tomb Raider 99 fps (59 fps – 1% 97 fps (82 fps – 1% 133 fps (72 fps – 1% 125 fps (67 fps – 1
(DX 12, Highest Preset, TAA) low) low) low) low)

Doom Eternal 164 fps (91 fps – 153 fps (62 fps – 278 fps (86 fps – 1% 228 fps (76 fps – 1
(Vulkan, Ultra Preset) 1% low) 1% low) low) low)

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 106 fps (79 fps – 108 fps (80 fps – 143 fps (101 fps – 140 fps (85 fps – 1
(DX 11, Ultra Preset, 1% low) 1% low) 1% low) low)
Hairworks On 4)
:
 The results vary between the different titles, but we can argue that you can run most titles on the Hybrid mode just fi
especially when it comes to the recent AAA titles at QHD resolution. The MUX plays a bigger role at FHD resolution
high-framerate titles such as Doom or CS:Go.

With that out of the way, let’s go over some performance and temperatures logs.

For starters, here’s what happens on the Turbo profile, with an ambient room temperature of around 25 C.

With most games, the GPU runs in the 82-86 degrees Celsius in this case and close to the 150W of power allowed w
Dynamic Boost 2.0. That’s hot and too close to the 87C thermal limit for my liking, as I prefer GPU temperatures und
80 C as much as possible for sustained gaming periods, which would leave some room for when the GPU paste
degrades later on.

On the CPU side, I’ve recorded temperatures of around 80 degrees Celsius in most titles, as the system powers dow
the CPU to around 25-30W as it shifts the power to the GPU with Dynamic Boost. Far Cry 5 is the exception that
allocated more power to the CPU, and in this case, we measured average CPU temperatures in the mid to high 80s
the i9 processor, with still similar ~85 C on the GPU.

Go through the logs for more details. This batch is at the screen’s native QHD resolution.

And these are also for the Turbo mode, but at FHD resolution.
:
 We measured similar temperatures on the 2021 Scar 17, and with the various tricks tried last year in mind, I wanted
see what can be done to tame down the high GPU temperatures recorded on this 2022 Scar 17 as well.

First, I bumped up the back of the laptop from the desk, in order to improve the airflow into the fans, as the rear rubb
feet are still rather slim and choke up the intakes to some amount.

The results vary between titles, but the logs indicate a 2-5 degrees C decrease in temperatures on both the CPU an
GPU in all games, which translates in CPU temperatures in the 75-80 Celsius and GPU temperatures in the 80-83
Celsius. This might not seem like much, but it’s a notable improvement that Asus could have easily achieved with ta
rubber feet on the back of the laptop.

Then I moved on to the Manual mode which allows customizing the fan profiles and CPU/GPU settings. You can pus
the fans to 100% if you want to, in which case you should expect noise levels in the 52-54 dB at head level, up from
48 dB on the standard Turbo profile. I opted for some middle ground settings instead:

CPU: PL1 limit at 35W (to prevent CPU overheating in titles that don’t scale well with Dynamic Boost and fav
the power shifting to the GPU), fan set at 60% rpm for temperatures over 70C, 80% rpm for over 80C and 90
rpm for over 90C.
GPU: the same +50MHz Core and +100 MHz memory overclock (there’s room for further tweaking here), fan
at 80% for temperatures over 75C and 90% for over 80C.
:
 This profile pretty much pushes the GPU fan at 90% in most titles, and actually helps stabilize temperatures and
performance in Far Cry 5, as shown in the tables above.

However, this manual profile has almost no noticeable impact over the CPU/GPU temperatures with the laptop sittin
a desk.

However, bumping the back of the laptop from the table helps once more, shaving off 1-2 extra degrees over the
components compared to the raised Turbo mode.
:
 One other aspect this Manual mode allows is to set a GPU thermal limit and the system will adjust the frequency and
power to make sure the chip doesn’t go above that. For testing, I’ve set the limit at 80 degrees Celsius, and kept the
laptop on the desk.

In Far Cry 6, this comes with a roughly 10% hit in performance, as the GPU drops to ~130W of average power. In
Cyberpunk, the performance only drops by about 7%, as the GPU averages ~133W of power in this scenario.

Now, if you’re looking for quieter noise levels when running games, your options are either the Performance mode o
Silent mode.

On Performance, the framerates take a ~10% hit compared to the Turbo mode, while the components still run just as
if not hotter, as the fans spin much quieter at 40 dB. You can play games fine on this profile, but you’ll have to accep
GPU temperatures in the 85+ and GPU power throttling, as well as higher surface temperatures than on the Turbo
mode.

Lifting up the back of the laptop helps, but not as much as on the Turbo profile, due to the lower fan rpms in this case

However, you could create a Performance like profile in the Manual mode, opting for a lower Dynamic Boost setting,
lower fan profiles, and a GPU temperature limit, which would allow a solid gaming experience at around 40 dB noise
levels. Expect about a 15-25% performance toll over the Turbo profile, though. I’ll further look into this in our future S
reviews.
:
 The Silent mode aggressively limits the CPU and GPU, leading to component temperatures in the 60-70 C despite fa
noise levels of sub 35 dB.

Most games are still going to run OK with Whisper Mode activated and a 60 fps limit, but you’re not getting 60 fps in
recent AAA titles at QHD resolution and Ultra settings, so you’ll need to trim down some of the graphics settings. I’d
QHD Medium should be OK on most games on this Silent profile, which is respectable considering the excellent
temperatures and noise levels you’re getting here.

All in all, the 2022 Scar 17 is an excellent performer across the board. With the 12th gen i9 processor, the DDR5
memory, the higher-power graphics, and the MUX, you can expect a performance bump of 15-25% compared to the
2021 Scar 17, for matching specs.

At the same time, this laptop still runs hot internally, especially on the GPU side with this generation. Asus haven’t
updated the thermal module or the thermal paste or the bottom rubber feet over the previous generation, despite the
that they pushed the GPU 20W higher in power-draw with this series. Bumping the back of the laptop from the desk
helps a fair bit here, and I’d also seriously consider a top cooling pad for serious gaming on this 2022 Scar 17, as we
further tweaking in the Manual mode.

Noise, Heat, Connectivity, speakers, and others

As mentioned already, Asus haven’t updated the thermal design of this 2022 Scar 17 in comparison to the previous
generation.

The only notable difference is an updated liquid-metal compound used on the CPU side (Thermal Grizzly Conducton
Extreme), which actually seems to make a difference alongside the Dynamic Boost technology that shifts power from
CPU to the GPU in sustained applications, as this 2022 Scar 17 is able to run the CPU at higher sustained power th
the previous Scar 17 could for the AMD processor, and the overall CPU temperatures in combined loads are also
noticeably lower for this 2022 generation.
:
 The GPU does run hot, though, at 82-87 Celsius on the Performance and Turbo profiles in all the tested games, with
laptop sitting on the desk, and that’s despite the fact that Asus actually updated the fan settings allowing them to run
faster on Turbo than on the 2021 generation. The laptop takes most of the fresh air from the bottom, where the intak
are somewhat choked by the slim rubber feet that Asus implement on this series. As a result, bumping up the back o
the laptop leads to a noticeable decrease in those internal temperatures, both on the CPU and especially on the GP
side.

The low-profile feet choke the intakes

To me, this is no surprise given our experience with the 2021 Scar design and the higher-power settings on this 2022
model. Ideally, Asus should have opted for those higher rear rubber feet, but also should have updated the internal
cooling on the GPU side, perhaps implementing a larger radiator, a higher-capacity fan, and even an extra heatpipe
the space that’s now left unused. They didn’t, as they still share the same design between the Scar 15 and Scar 17 f
coast-cutting reasons, with only slightly longer heatpipes on the 17-inch chassis.

With those changes, the GPU could have run cooler and perhaps Asus could have also allowed for even higher GPU
power, closer to the 165+W that the competition offer on their full-size 17-inch chassis, such as the Alienware X17
GE76 Raider or even an updated Predator Helios 500 when/if available. As it is, the Scar 17 comes within 90-95% o
performance of those options, which is something I can accept considering the more affordable price tag with this se
but it also ends up running too hot on the GPU side, which is harder to accept on this kind of a notebook that’s prima
created for heavy gaming.

Now, as far as the outer case temperatures go, those are alright on Turbo and only noticeably warmer on the
:
 Performance and Silent profile.

*Gaming – Silent – playing Far Cry 5 for 30 minutes, Silent profile, fans at ~35 dB
*Gaming – Performance – playing Far Cry 5 for 30 minutes, fans at ~40 dB
*Gaming – Turbo, on desk – playing Cyberpunk 2077 for 30 minutes, fans at ~48 dB

At the same time, gaming aside, this laptop is a breeze with everyday use, with multitasking, browsing, or video
streaming. The 0dB Technology allows the two fans to completely switch off with light use on the Silent profile, as lon
as the hardware stays under 60 C, which is most of the time. And that’s both on battery or when plugged in.
:
 *Daily Use – streaming Netflix in EDGE for 30 minutes, Silent profile, fans at 0 dB

For connectivity, there’s Wireless 6E and Bluetooth 5 on this unit, as well as 2.5 Gigabit Lan, an update from the
previous generations. However, Asus only equipped our sample with a rather limited Mediatek chip, which is OK for
everyday use, but not as fast as the modern Intel wireless modules available these days. I can’t tell for sure what yo
be getting on the retail units – this is probably due to the current chip shortage, and something that will hopefully cha
in the future. As far as I can tell, the WiFi chip can be updated if you need/want to and you can find a compatible
upgrade.

The audio quality here is very good for laptop speakers, with two main speakers firing on the bottom and extra tweet
firing through the grills under the display, between the hinges. The sound is rich and with fair bass, as well as loud a
dB at head-level. I haven’t noticed any distortions at high levels, but the arm-rest tends to vibrate noticeably, so you
might want to use headphones for your games if this is something that would bother you. As far as I can tell, Asus di
skimp on the headphone output here.

Finally, the camera… well, there still isn’t any.

Battery life
There’s a 90Wh battery inside all the 2022 ROG Scar models, both the 15 and 17-inch options, just like in the 2021
:
 models.

The system is also set to automatically switch the screen’s refresh to 60 Hz when using the laptop on battery, to incr
efficiency, so if you’ll notice a quick screen flicker when you disconnect the laptop from the wall, that’s a side-effect o
this tweak. Also, if you’re looking to maximize runtimes, make sure you’re using the laptop in the Hybrid mode and n
on the discrete GPU profile in Armory Crate.

Here’s what we got on our review unit in terms of battery life, with the screen’s brightness set at around 120 nits (~60
brightness) and on Hybrid mode.

18 W (~5 h of use) – text editing in Google Drive, Silent Mode, screen at 60%, WiFi ON;
17 W (~5 h of use) – 1080p fullscreen video on Youtube in Edge, Silent Mode, screen at 60%, WiFi ON;
15 W (~5-6 h of use) – Netflix fullscreen in Edge, Silent Mode, screen at 60%, WiFi ON;
24 W (~3-4 h of use) – browsing in Edge, Performance Mode, screen at 60%, WiFi ON;
75 W (~1+ h of use) – Gaming – Witcher 3, Performance Mode, screen at 60%, WiFi ON, no fps limit.

This is not much, but there’s a chance the runtimes will improve with later software tweaks, as we’re testing an early
sample here with early software. For what is worth, Asus mentions 10+ hours of video playback on their site, but we
far from it in our tests.

So look for updates in later reviews, but don’t expect wonders. Given our experience with other Alder Lake laptops, i
seems that efficiency is still the platform’s Achilles heel, despite the hybrid CPU design with the Efficiency cores.

In comparison, here’s what we got on last year’s AMD-based Scar 17.

11.5 W (~6-8 h of use) – text editing in Google Drive, Silent Mode, screen at 60%, WiFi ON;
8.5 W (~10+ h of use) – 1080p fullscreen video on Youtube in Edge, Silent Mode, screen at 60%, WiFi ON;
8 W (~10+ h of use) – Netflix fullscreen in Edge, Silent Mode, screen at 60%, WiFi ON;
14.5 W (~5-6 h of use) – browsing in Edge, Performance Mode, screen at 60%, WiFi ON;
80 W (~1+ h of use) – Gaming – Witcher 3, Performance Mode, screen at 60%, WiFi ON, no fps limit.

I’ll also add that this ROG Scar 17 G733ZW configuration comes with a 280W power brick, larger and heavier than t
240W variant on the 2021 Scars. The battery fills up in about 2 hours, with fast charging for the first half an hour, and
USB-C charging is supported, up to 100W.

You won’t be able to use the laptop on Turbo/Manual while hooked over USB-C, but that’s enough for everyday
multitasking and occasional heavy workloads on Performance, in case you don’t want to bring along the heavier mai
brick when on the go. The USB-C charger is not included in the box with this model, but Asus says you will be able t
find a ROG branded 100W PD charger in most stores this year.
:
 Price and availability- 2022 ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 17

The 2022 Asus ROG Scar 17 is listed in some regions at the time of this article.

The top-tier Scar 17 G733ZX, with the RTX 3080Ti dGPU, starts from ~$3100 in the US and 3299 EUR in Germany.

I’d expect the 3070Ti model tested here to go for a fair bit less, somewhere around $2500 in the US, as it’s already l
at 2799 EUR in Germany – but with the FHD screen, not the QHD that I would recommend. We’ll update once we kn
more.

Update: The same 3070Ti + FHD 360Hz screen configuration is available at $2299 from select retailers in the US. N
bad!

Follow this link for updated configurations and prices in your region at the time you’re reading this article.

Final thoughts- 2022 ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 17 review

Last year I ended up recommending the ROG Scar 17 as a well-balanced 17-inch performance/gaming laptop, but
warned you about its mechanical keyboard and the high CPU/GPU temperatures under load.

This year, the 2022 Scar 17 gets updated hardware, higher power graphics, and a MUX, which translate into a
significant increase in its capabilities. To put it simply, this year’s mid-range configuration outmatches last year’s top-
model pretty much across the board, with the sole exception of some RayTracing benchmarks and games.
:
 Furthermore, Asus opted for a more traditional rubber-dome keyboard, the kind offered with ROG laptops of the pas
That optomechanical keyboard on the 2021 Scar 17 sure sounded interesting on paper, but I wasn’t a fan of its feed
and clickiness with actual use, despite the fact that I’m using a mechanical keyboard with my PC. So I’m glad they ro
back to a standard keyboard now.

All in all, the 2022 Scar 17 is a more capable performer and a better-value gaming laptop, especially in the mid-rang
RTX 3070/3070Ti configuration. You can still opt for the 3080s if you want to, but that’s not where your money would
best spent, especially considering the 150W GPUs in this product are not as fast as some other full-sized 17-inch
laptops offer these days.

As far as my complaints go, there are still practical aspects that I wish Asus would have addressed, such as those
annoying status LEDs and the rather weird IO placement that reserves the left-side entirely to what I consider a rath
gimmicky and useless Keystone. That aside, there are still no biometrics on this laptop and no camera, and the inter
smudges easier than pretty much any other laptop in this segment, so you’ll constantly have to run this clean.

The laptop’s thermal design is one other aspect to mention here. Last year, the Scar 17 ran hot especially on the CP
side, and this year Asus seem to have addressed that issue, but ended up with very high GPU temperatures on mos
profiles, close and even over 85C sustained. That shouldn’t have been a surprise when they upped the power settin
150W without changing the internal cooling module in any way and without improving the intakes into the fans, which
still choked by the slim rubber feet.

As a result, you’ll want to somehow bump up the back of this laptop from the desk in order to at least partially addres
the high internal GPU temperatures, or consider a capable cooling pad for your long gaming sessions, or limit the GP
thermal limit on the Manual mode, accepting the slight toll in performance.

One final aspect to mention in this summary is still a bit of an unknown to me at this point. From our early tests, batte
life with streaming, daily use, and multitasking isn’t great by any means with this Intel-based 2022 generation, and th
something to carefully consider if you plan to use your laptop unplugged more often than not. Look into other review
well, though, as we’re reviewing an early unit and future software updates might improve the efficiency and runtimes

Bottom point, Asus still did a good job with this laptop and I expect the mid-range configuration that we tested here t
popular in most markets, especially corroborated with Asus’s aggressive pricing policies compared to the more powe
17-inch alternatives. This is still not without its limitations and quirks, though, so make sure you understand and acce
them before jumping on this series.
:
 This pretty much wraps up our review of the 2022 Asus ROG Strix SCAR 17 G733ZW. I’d love to hear your thoughts
feedback down below, and don’t hesitate to get in touch for any questions, as I’ll be keeping this for a bit longer and
most likely follow up with a similar review of the top-tier RTX 3080Ti configuration when available.

Disclaimer: Our content is reader-supported. If you buy through some of the links on our site, we may earn a commission. Learn more.

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Andrei Girbea, Editor-in-Chief of Ultrabookreview.com. I've been covering mobile computers since the 2000s and you'll mostly find reviews and
thorough guides written by me here on the site.

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52 COMMENTS
Mul Razer Samsung Sony
February 3, 2022 at 5:34 pm

Did ASUS answer you why are they designing laptops with annoying status LEDs?
Do they plan an option to turn them off in BIOS?

Reply

Andrei Girbea
February 3, 2022 at 5:56 pm

This Scar is a 2021 design, this year they just tweaked the hardware. I hope next year they'll dump those
LEDs.

Reply
LATEST REVIEWS

Anon Darrk
February 5, 2022 at 5:48 am By Derek Sullivan

The 3070ti is priced at $2299 in the US at newegg. I think that’s excellent. It performs better than last year’s 3080, Razer Blade 15 review (202
which was priced higher. The AMD Strix G17 version would likely be cheaper and even better bang for buck. Core i7-12800H, RTX 3080T

Reply
Andrei Girbea | May 10, 2022

Asus ZenBook S 13 OLED UM5302 (202

– AMD Ryzen 7 6800U)

Andrei Girbea Andrei Girbea | May 9, 2022

February 5, 2022 at 1:55 pm Asus ZenBook Pro 14 Duo OLED UX8402

(2022 UX8402ZE – Core i7, 3050Ti)
thanks. better than I expected!
Andrei Girbea | May 6, 2022

Reply Asus TUF Dash F15 review (2022 FX517

Core i7-12650H, RTX 3060)
:
 Derek Sullivan | April 19, 2022

Lenovo Yoga 9i review (2022 model – I

Anon Darrk
1260P, OLED)
February 6, 2022 at 5:29 am

COMPARISONS AND TOPS

Will you check the performance in gaming on USB charging alone? I heard Asus tweaked their profiles.

Andrei Girbea
February 6, 2022 at 4:07 pm

I will have a separate article on that subject based on a similarly specced Scar 15.

Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 2022

6800S), 2021 (R9, 3060), 202
2060) models compared
LorryM
Andrei Girbea | April 6, 2022
February 8, 2022 at 11:10 am
Over the years, I’ve reviewed multip
of the popular Asus ROG Zephyrus
Actually, last year's full-wattage 8GB 3080 Max-P laptops such as MSI GP66 and Eluktronics Prometheus 16 of portable performance laptops, an
were priced at $2000 USD. So 3070Ti is very expensive, especially considering that Lenovo Legion 5 Pro to put up together a comparison of..
3070 was on sale for $1300 USD for the majority of the year and it's not a big jump in performance.

Reply AMD Radeon RX 6800S vs 6700S perf

Zephyrus G14 GA402RK vs GA402RJ

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laptops
Andrei Girbea
February 8, 2022 at 11:19 am
Intel Core i7-11370H benchmarks vs. A
Fair enough, but you should factor in inflation and the fact that this is a brand new series currently listed 5800H, in RTX 3050 Laptops
at MSRP. It will get discounted down the road.
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buying guide

RECOMMENDED POSTS
Lakshay Kakkar
February 5, 2022 at 4:46 pm

Maybe you got a defective one as far as thermals are concerned? Because as per techtesters YT channel, scar
15 can sustain 117W at 91c in cinebench, and 78c max on gpu while gaming.

Update: I had a look at their results, and it seems that the GPU in their unit is only running at around 125W
average on Turbo, while on our Scar 17 it runs at 145-150W. this would explain the difference in findings.

Reply

Andrei Girbea
February 5, 2022 at 5:42 pm

idk. I'm also working on the Scar 15 right now and the results are a little different, but not those that you
mentioned. It's hard to compare results without knowing their testing methodology.

Reply

Lakshay Kakkar
February 6, 2022 at 4:12 am

Okay. Also I had the Zephyrus S17 2021 edition for a week, and it could do 130W on the cpu no
:
 problem, in Cinebench. I had seen your review of the S17, and both of your 3080 and 3060 models were
running way hotter. Right out of the box, mine sustained 90W at 75C in cinebench and I overclocked it to
make use of the thermal headroom as well. And on the GPU side, turbo mode was 83C max and manual
mode with max fans brought it down to 77C (combined stress test). So it does seem that there is a lot of
variance on Asus laptops when it comes to thermals.

And seeing good cooling from a THIN s17 makes me wonder why a thicker machine like the Scar 17 has
worse cooling than the S17, makes no sense to me at all. Looking forward to your scar 15 review.

Please also forward my request to Asus to allow for some tuning like undervolting, that is just so
important on Intel laptops these days.

Andrei Girbea
February 6, 2022 at 4:13 pm

are we talking 130W sustained in Cinebench or peak power for the first loop on the S17? Because the
Scar 17 can do 135W peak, which is the PL1, but the sustained power drops once the heat builds up.

Also, for what is worth, the overall thermal design of the Zephyrus S17 is superior, even if that's a
slimmer laptop.

Lakshay Kakkar
February 6, 2022 at 5:22 pm

Yes, my S17 could actually sustain 130W indefinitely in Cinebench (not just the first loop) with CPU
maxing out at 92C, at 4.7 GHz and -80 mV undervolt with maxed out fan speeds. Testing was done in a
room temp of 26C, and resulted in a Cinebench score of 15.7k. (Actually Armoury Crate's manual mode
caps the CPU power at 65W, so I used a third party tool called 'atrofacgui' to change the fan curves for
turbo mode itself, and it essentially turned into a beast and created around 10-15W more thermal
headroom, would otherwise stabilize at the throttle limit at 125ish W). Also I think the GPU Fan on the
S17 was a tad bit bigger than CPU fan, don't you think? As I noticed that the GPU heatsink fin stack was
much wider at the rear compared to the CPU fan.

Unfortunately my S17 got bricked due to an infamous 311 BIOS update (many who updated to the latest
BIOS had their S17 bricked), so I had to send it back, otherwise it was a fantastic machine.

Andrei Girbea
February 7, 2022 at 11:34 am

Are you sure we're talking sustained performance? Because this is what I got on my unit:
https://www.ultrabookreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/stress-cinebenchr15-turbo-v2.png and it's
very far from 130W sustained. I have not yet tested any i9 laptop that could handle real 130W sustained
in Cinebench R23 loop, not even the Predator Helios 500 could do it.

Lakshay Kakkar
February 7, 2022 at 5:16 pm

Yes indeed. I was myself surprised at how good the S17 was at handling CPU only thermals, that too
sustained. I have a leftover recording of Cinebench's last 4-5 minutes of the 10 minute loop which I've
uploaded as unlisted on Youtube, and my temps barely average in the mid 70s at 90W, unlike the 92C that
you're getting. Take a look:
:
 https://youtu.be/xqLOAvFio5Y

I had seen your review before buying the S17, and I was prepared to see 90C stuff and so on, but no. I was
surprised that it was running quite cool. And then I checked others on reddit, and they are reporting good
temps on theirs too. It definitely sounds strange that review units have inferior performance than retail ones,
maybe Asus becomes careless at times.

Reply

Andrei Girbea
February 7, 2022 at 5:38 pm

Ha, thanks. Those are some excellent temperatures. I've tested two S17 models and both were very far
from what you are getting in that post.

I cannot explain why the differences are so big compared to my reviews. Sure, my samples are usually
early-production units with early software, but even so, the difference is huge.

Tanishq Hooda
February 6, 2022 at 4:57 am

So what would you say to buy This laptop or Msi GE76 Raider?

Reply

Cezary
April 2, 2022 at 10:51 am

hey man, did you decide in the end which one to get out of the ge76 or the scar? I'm currently in similar
situation considering either GE76 i7 12700 3070ti qhd, or scar 17 i9-12900H with 3080ti, both similar price

Reply

Ben
April 4, 2022 at 9:21 pm

I have the 12th gen GE76 and although it's a great machine in many ways the fans make a
grinding/whining noise at low speeds which is extremely distracting — I use it for coding as well as
gaming, so this is a big deal to me. Anyway, I decided to send it back. I've had good experience with
Asus laptops in the past so I think I'll try this one next.

Jatin Goyal
February 6, 2022 at 10:45 am

Please test the Scar 15 (whenever you review it) with 100% max fans speeds too. I want to see the maximum
cooling capability of the laptop, as I generally wear headphones while gaming so noise is not a problem for me.

Reply
:
 Andrei Girbea
February 6, 2022 at 4:07 pm

Ok, will consider it. It's not going to be a lot different than 90%

Reply

Lakshay Kakkar
February 6, 2022 at 5:34 pm

I'm interested in seeing the 100% speeds as well. The Scar is so close to 87C limit, that any headroom
gained by the use of max fans is a blessing for laptop's longevity, and worth compromising acoustics for
a cooler laptop (provided it sheds off another 2-3C and takes it down to 80C), though headphones are
also good for covering the fan noise.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank you for providing comprehensive and indepth reviews, I have
read almost all your gaming laptop review articles since the 2020 ROG models. I have one suggestion,
please also include 'core differentials' (the difference between the temp of hottest core and the coolest
core) while running Cinebench. It gives an idea of how good the thermal paste application is – as the
higher the core differential (say one core peaking at 95c, others at 75C is a poor thermal paste
application or bad heatsink), the worse it is.

Andrei Girbea
February 7, 2022 at 11:37 am

Noted on the 100% speeds.

Will also consider logging CPU per core with Cinebench. Can't promise for the Scar as I've already ran
the CPU tests, but will keep in mind for the future.

Hexaae
February 7, 2022 at 9:07 pm

<<Still, if there’s one more thing missing here: GSync support on the internal monitor>>
How sad… Can't buy it without g-sync :(

Reply

Andrei Girbea
February 7, 2022 at 9:21 pm

why? please explain

Reply

Hexaae
February 8, 2022 at 12:46 am

Because G-Sync is a must-have feature for me, especially for old games and retro-gaming (emulating
old consoles and computers like Amiga, MAME and so on).
G-Sync (or FreeSync) is the only tech able to play smoothly at strange Hz refresh rate of old systems
(55.7Hz, ~50Hz PAL, 57.2Hz etc. used by Amiga and some MAME games for examples).
:
 Having the gfx card video frames in sync with the screen grants the perfect smoothness, instead of
waiting for VBlank or other solutions like fast-sync (not compatible with <60Hz BTW).
Yes, G-Sync for me is still a must-have feature.

Andrei Girbea
February 8, 2022 at 11:02 am

got it, thanks. Few laptop screens are GSync compatible anymore these days, most likely because of
licensing costs and duration with Nvidia.

hexaae
February 8, 2022 at 12:57 am

This video I've found on YT also summarize the concept (but you have to see it with your own eyes, how much
better MAME games, for example, run with g-sync on): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CeZ0xbtfDo

Reply

LorryM
February 8, 2022 at 10:59 am

Great review, as always. I am disappointed by the lack of HDR 600nit screen brightness in 2022, when it has
been available on laptops for 7 years now.

Can't wait for you to test one of the new MiniLED HDR laptops.

Reply

Andrei Girbea
February 8, 2022 at 11:03 am

Yeah, the mid brightness is a potential drawback for me as well. Unfortunately, there are no 17-inch panels
with fast refresh/response, wide gamut, and higher brightness at this point.

Reply

LorryM
February 8, 2022 at 6:33 pm

I believe there were many 16 inch (500nit/P3/QHD/165Hz) and 17 inch (600nit/P3/4K UHD/120Hz) gaming
laptops from last year from Lenovo, Asus, Dell, Razer and MSI. The most popular Asus were Zephyrus M16 and
Zephyrus M17, granted they were expensive. Hopefully there are more options this year at lower price points that
are capable of HDR content consumption.

Reply

Andrei Girbea
February 8, 2022 at 6:44 pm
:
 I'm only referring to 17-inch high-refresh. If you consider 17-inch 4K 120Hz high refresh, then yes, there are
some options there. Pricey and mostly on the 3080 configurations. I prefer some sort of QHD 165+Hz with
500+ brightness and 100% DCI-P3, and I don't think there's such a panel for now

Reply

alex
February 13, 2022 at 1:54 pm

In this regard – what will be Your preference – Lenovo legion 7 with 165Hz QHD 500+ nits and 3800 vs
this one with its dim display and 3070Ti? I am asking as Legion 7 with 3080 is available now and I am
looking for a fast laptop for video editing and some gaming.

Andrei Girbea
February 14, 2022 at 1:28 pm

Two things to consider:

1. Do you need the 100% DCI-P3 gamut coverage, or are you OK with 100% sRGB only (on the
Legion?).
2. Do you need the extra CPU processing power on the 12th gen i9?
I'd decide based on these two. The Legion 7 is one of the best performance laptops out there, but only
available with a standard gamut panel and older hardware at this point

STAGEMAN
February 10, 2022 at 7:43 am

is this available as of right now can you give me a link please?

Reply

Andrei Girbea
February 10, 2022 at 10:06 am

not yet.

Reply

Fran
February 10, 2022 at 9:39 am

A 300Hz QHD display is also available.

Reply

Andrei Girbea
February 10, 2022 at 10:07 am

source? I'm not aware of a 300Hz QHD

:
 Reply

TheBrownPaul
February 13, 2022 at 6:47 am

You mentioned an upgraded Helios 500. Do you think Acer will make it and release it?

Reply

Andrei Girbea
February 14, 2022 at 1:25 pm

I hope so. It's just my supposition at this point.

Reply

Christia
February 22, 2022 at 4:04 pm

Where can I buy this laptop?

Reply

Cezary
March 30, 2022 at 8:05 am

Andrei did you experience any stuttering's with this laptop at higher loads? seen a review and couple people
reporting that the scar 15 has major stutters in games possibly due to too much power needed vs what it was
supplied, so the solution was to limit PL1 and PL2… And since I'm considering the scar 17 I wonder if this applied
here too, thanks

Reply

Andrei Girbea
March 30, 2022 at 10:30 am

Not that I remember. Can you point to some links where they detail the issue?

The system is designed to run at a maximum CPU+GPU combined power, which means that if too much
power is allocated to the CPU for any reason, that would subtract from the GPU and cause a drop in graphics
performance, but should not cause stuttering. High CPU temperatures caused occasional stuttering on older
Scar models, but they seem to be better with the 2022 gen. Still, if the CPU does run at abnormally high
power, that could cause overheating and perhaps stuttering. We'd need to find out what's causing the CPU to
run at that power, though.

Reply

Cezary
April 2, 2022 at 10:57 am

sure, here's the link, it's in polish i think, but the guy added English subtitles
:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkr3g38AUSM

Andrei Girbea
April 4, 2022 at 9:06 am

OK, I looked at what he's saying around the 6 minutes marks, but:

1. This system is not designed to work at 210 W combined, but rather around 180W combined
CPU+GPU power. His unit is showing abnormally high power draws at 210W, and I cannot explain why.
2. The CPU will never run at 95W in combined games on Turbo, as he's implying.
3. With Dynamic Boost, the GPU is designed to go up to 150W in games and other supported apps,
leaving only around 30W for the CPU. These are the ideal conditions, not all games are going to work
like this. In real-life, the GPU power varies between 125 to 150W in games, with the rest up to 180W
applied to the CPU. See the performance logs in the article for more details (this and the Scar 15
review).

If the laptop doesn't work in this way on Turbo, then there's something wrong with the software on that
unit. I don't know why his unit is running at 210W combined, but that's higher than the designed power
draw and I expect it would overheat the components.

Cezary
April 4, 2022 at 4:49 pm

i see, that makes a lot of sense, didn't know that laptop has around 180W power limit which makes me
consider the GE76 i7 a bit more with its 195W limit. Do you have some sort of info to back this up or is
this based on your testing with your unit?

Andrei Girbea
April 4, 2022 at 4:58 pm

The results are based on my tests, as well as on official documentation from Asus (which I don't think is
public)

I haven't tested the 2022 GE76. That does run the GPU at higher power, and I would expect 3-8% better
performance. Based on past experience, the GE76 is much noisier at full-blat, though, and also heavier
and more expensive. Up to you to weigh the pros and cons.

Cezary
April 5, 2022 at 3:23 pm

People were testing side by side and turned out that Raider was quieter overall and had better temps,
also where I live Raider with i7/3070ti is cheaper by around 400$ than i9/3080 Scar and since
performance is comparable I dont see the reason to spend more

Andrei Girbea
April 5, 2022 at 5:04 pm

Oh, that's quite a price difference. Give it a try, then. Curious about your feedback
:
 Rafal
April 7, 2022 at 11:05 pm

Hello, Andrei Girbea ,

at the outset, a great review, I wanted to comment on what you wrote about my movie with the review of the 15-
inch SCARA G533ZX version:

1.I had 3 of this model, additionally 7 people have reported this problem to me so far. In each laptope you can
check the MAX CPU + GPU power consumption FURMARK + CB23 and here it is 210W. It's strange if they
designed a new generation with lower power consumption, since the 2021 SCAR with the RTX3070 and the R9
had it at 220-230W.

2. I said that if I set the TDP to 95W (in manual mode) and not that in turbo mode it is 95W

3 I do not know how to relate to it because you are right but here if I did not block the TDP CPU, the TGP could
drop to 100W. It is a software problem anyway.

Since I already have a few lptops from this generation (12GEN), I can draw some conclusions: In my models,
which were the premiere models, the CPU dropped to a minimum of 3925Mhz and did not want to fall further
despite the temperature, which led to overheating and activation of the protection.

For example, for other manufacturers, such as MSI or Gigabyte TDP i9 12 GEN, it drops to even 3600Mhz to
maintain the temperature.

At the end, even today, a person wrote to me who said that after updating the chipset driver the problem ceased
to occur. When I asked her to check if there was any TGP / TDP blockade, it turned out that the GPU, regardless
of the settings, worked at MAX 115W even when the CPU was at 20-30W.

P.S. Try run Cyberpunk 2077 at ULTRA with DLSS MAXPREFORMANCE CPU is working at 85-90W

Reply

Andrei Girbea
April 8, 2022 at 9:50 am

Hi Rafal. Thanks for getting in touch.

I no longer have this around, or any of the other Scars, so I cannot run other tests at this point. Also, I've run
my tests on older BIOS versions, there's a chance things might have changed in the meantime.

1. What do you use for the measurements, just to make sure we're on the same page. Can I see some HW
Info logs? CB23 + Furmark is not something I've tested, I prefer real-use scenarios such as games. You can
find my logs in the article
2. Are you saying that you've set the CPU at 95W on Manual and it runs at 95W while the GPU is also active?
That's not how the Manual mode should work. That's a PL upper limit, so if you're setting it at 95W, then the
CPU should go up to 95W when required, but that doesn't mean it should be blocked at 95W in sustained
gaming sessions. Again, can we see some HWinfo logs? You have mine in the article, for Turbo, Manual, and
the other profiles
3. Interesting, and weird at the same time. Does this happen to the other 12th gen laptops? I've only tested
the Asus/Acer units and haven't experienced the same. Sure, the CPU runs higher in some older games such
as Far Cry 5 or Battlefield V, but not as high as you're saying. Also, Cypberpunk or Witcher are doing a good
job at scaling down the CPU with Dynamic Boost, from my experience.

I did run Cyberpunk on my units, the logs are in the article: https://www.ultrabookreview.com/wp-
content/uploads/2021/01/gaming-cyberpunk-turbo.jpg I use Ultra and DLSS on Quality. Let me see your logs.

It's interesting that you're saying other buyers are experiencing the same issues. Perhaps there are some
software bugs involved. I'd love to help figure these out, but as I said, I no longer have these Scars around to
retest.
:
 Reply

Rafal
April 7, 2022 at 11:09 pm

Forgive the second post but I do not see the editing option, as far as I know in the 17-inch version and with the
R7 6800H this problem does not occur

Reply

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