ASUS ROG GL504 (STRIX SCAR II AND HERO II)

lapzee

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price wise, if the laptop cost below 2.4k with good specs, i think still not so bad. I got it for 2.2k and top up another 260sgd for 1tb evo860 SSD from amazon, still less than 2.5k :)
The Strix II series is expensive, but u have to know that it has a ips 144hz monitor, which work well with 1060/1070 gpu. The temp is high while gaming but u only feel it if u place your hand at the top hand corner of the laptop. Your right hand also wont feel the hot air ventilate out.


Using 144hz ips panel as a justification for overpricing the series is a joke. Dell G7 also has 120Hz IPS panel. Lenovo also has it. Acer also has it. Aftershock also has it. What makes the Strix line so 'special'? Nothing. Roflll. If you can find it on the cheap, good on you then. But the general pricing Asus's mid-low end range laptops are absurd, and really not worth the prices.


And that 144hz panel isnt rlly crucial unless you get the 1070. On all AAA titles the 1060 barely pushes past 50-60 fps on high-max settings. You wont ever feel the diff with a 60hz panel because the 1060 simply isnt powerful enough. The newer games are even mlre demanding. On MHW high settings i barely hit 60 fps. Might as well have stuck to a 60hz panel

Lightweight fps games ofc are another story.
 
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pkjames

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Using 144hz ips panel as a justification for overpricing the series is a joke. Dell G7 also has 120Hz IPS panel. Lenovo also has it. Acer also has it. Aftershock also has it. What makes the Strix line so 'special'? Nothing. Roflll. If you can find it on the cheap, good on you then. But the general pricing Asus's mid-low end range laptops are absurd, and really not worth the prices.


And that 144hz panel isnt rlly crucial unless you get the 1070. On all AAA titles the 1060 barely pushes past 50-60 fps on high-max settings. You wont ever feel the diff with a 60hz panel because the 1060 simply isnt powerful enough. The newer games are even mlre demanding. On MHW high settings i barely hit 60 fps. Might as well have stuck to a 60hz panel

Lightweight fps games ofc are another story.

Ok la, u have your point and I don’t want to stand sides. But these are the few things that make me purchase the HeroII.
-2.2k include duty fee and delivery within 3days, it is within my budget.
-no sign of thermal throttling after gaming for hours and high temp.
-it has pretty good reviews.
-comparing most of the laptop (GS65, AERO-15X, G7)ips display, the heroII is truly remarkable.
-Im not moving around with the laptop anyway so 2.4kg seems comfortable for me.
-Newer games I prefer to play it on my desktop but in the mean time, I only play csgo, overwatch and d3. HeroII can hit 144fps for csgo, easy (high setting). Overwatch need to set to low….like very low to maintain 144fps (lol?).
^^V
 
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chiaRH

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The Strix II series is expensive, but u have to know that it has a ips 144hz monitor, which work well with 1060/1070 gpu.

its worth nothing that in the gaming laptop market there tends to be a lot of homogenity in certain components. Display and processors chief among them. For displays usually it's because they all got generally the same supplier like AUO, LG etc.

Asus having a 144hz laptop was a big deal at IFA 2017 because they were the first. That was a year ago.

Now it's not a competitive edge anymore. Currently even your budget Asus helios or Aftershock MX series also have it.
 

pkjames

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its worth nothing that in the gaming laptop market there tends to be a lot of homogenity in certain components. Display and processors chief among them. For displays usually it's because they all got generally the same supplier like AUO, LG etc.

Asus having a 144hz laptop was a big deal at IFA 2017 because they were the first. That was a year ago.

Now it's not a competitive edge anymore. Currently even your budget Asus helios or Aftershock MX series also have it.

ok, first thing first, whatever i say here, doesnt mean i wanna prove StrixII is the best or whatsoever. I bought a laptop bcoz i really need to kill time while staying @ my gf house and she have a small room with limited space. If space allow, i rather build my own desktop :s22:.

I agree it is expensive, but it have its strong point, and the 1 of the point is the thin bezel, 144hz ips display.
Yes u are right, most gaming laptop also have 144hz ips, but is the quality as good as StrixII? MX-15pro use 144hz ips display but is it better than StrixII?Personally tested both MX-15pro and HeroII, the HeroII wins hands down. Sometime, its not just about what technology they use, but also how they implement it. Its like comparing laptop with the same CPU, ram, GPU, etc... but why some have thermal throttling? why the performance different?
Just my point of view, peace :)
 

chiaRH

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Yes u are right, most gaming laptop also have 144hz ips, but is the quality as good as StrixII?

I can say with high confidence 'yes'. I dont see how the Strix II can have a superior display. This is a 3rd party AUO screen stuck inside the machine, not like some bespoke custom thing that only Asus have. In fact im pretty sure MSI GS65 uses the same AUO screen.

Its refresh rate is 144Hz and it has a 'slim' bezel that is only slim on 3 sides, so thats not an advantage. Thats is parity. Asus is playing catchup to the slim bezel competition from Aero 15X and GS65.

It has no HDR, no 100% sRGB, no gsync... so not sure how to argue that it's a superior display, it really looks like its the same spec matching as the rest of the market.

The point is that statements like "Strix II series is expensive, but u have to know that it has a ips 144hz monitor" is not very convincing because 144hz IPS is the norm now. it's actually quite difficult to find a 2018 gaming laptop whose display is inferior to 144hz IPS.
 
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pkjames

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I can say with high confidence 'yes'. I dont see how the Strix II can have a superior display. This is a 3rd party AUO screen stuck inside the machine, not like some bespoke custom thing that only Asus have. In fact im pretty sure MSI GS65 uses the same AUO screen.

Its refresh rate is 144Hz and it has a 'slim' bezel that is only slim on 3 sides, so thats not an advantage. Thats is parity. Asus is playing catchup to the slim bezel competition from Aero 15X and GS65.

It has no HDR, no 100% sRGB, no gsync... so not sure how to argue that it's a superior display, it really looks like its the same spec matching as the rest of the market.

The point is that statements like "Strix II series is expensive, but u have to know that it has a ips 144hz monitor" is not very convincing because 144hz IPS is the norm now. it's actually quite difficult to find a 2018 gaming laptop whose display is inferior to 144hz IPS.

I... am completely speechless not because you are right but... nevermind lol. I just take it you did all the necessary research and comparison.
 

chiaRH

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I... am completely speechless not because you are right but... nevermind lol. I just take it you did all the necessary research and comparison.

lol I mean... if I am wrong and the Strix Hero actually does have HDR and Gsync pls correct me also :s13: I'll be the 1st to admit that I only know those things because that's the advertised specs from reviewers.

but... really the laptop is that good meh? If asus's Strix line jumped so much in improvement I might consider their ROG line (especially eyeing something like the Zephyrus M) for my next laptop cos that's their high end line and I'd imagine those would have improved even more
 

pkjames

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lol I mean... if I am wrong and the Strix Hero actually does have HDR and Gsync pls correct me also :s13: I'll be the 1st to admit that I only know those things because that's the advertised specs from reviewers.

but... really the laptop is that good meh? If asus's Strix line jumped so much in improvement I might consider their ROG line (especially eyeing something like the Zephyrus M) for my next laptop cos that's their high end line and I'd imagine those would have improved even more

no it does not have HDR and Gsync, if have it will probably cost 3k and above...
i am using the HeroII so i dunno about ScarII which i believe is almost the same. It serve its purpose well, at least for me which i find it comfortable to use and look at, the RGB, display, keyboard, sound and overall quality.
I went down to Harvey Norman millenia walk and Marina SQ to try the demo set, MSI, Gigabyte, (i think also have Legion and Predator series) but the HeroII really caught my attention, its like... 1 shot strike my heart like that haha. The only setback is the price. 2.6k for 1060? lol crazy.
After all, its about personal perspective and opinion ba. But from what i know, ASUS tends to sell their stuff at a higher price than other brands, and thats a norm for them. I have to admit that the way they market their product is pretty good, the cool advertisement, RGB here and there, use strong words like ROG blah blah blah, and thats where your extra cash went to ^^
 

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Is it a good idea to wait for the 9th generation Intel CPU?

I don't think so. Because you still need to wait for OEM (Asus,Acer,Dell etc) to update their laptops to 9th Gen. It will probably take few months after Intel announced.
 

chiaRH

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Is it a good idea to wait for the 9th generation Intel CPU?

No, cos its still coffee lake youre not jumping to 10nm or whatever. It's a refresh cycle on an existing CPU series, they do this every other year

The current industry standard gaming laptop CPU, the 8750H is not even a year old. It should still be able to last a while, especially if gaming is the only demanding task you do.
 

sk1des

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For those interested in this model be aware of throttling issues. I didn't notice it on my 1st laptop, but on my replacement it was very obvious... big flaw as a gaming laptop

There is a youtube video on it, just search "strix scar ii throttling"
 

chiaRH

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For those interested in this model be aware of throttling issues. I didn't notice it on my 1st laptop, but on my replacement it was very obvious... big flaw as a gaming laptop

There is a youtube video on it, just search "strix scar ii throttling"

is it the one by Circuitboard? thats the one i found

in the youtube comments, theres some mention about 180W PSU not being sufficient for power demands, wonder if that's a possible factor


i cant remember if 180W is sufficient for a laptop, but usually i believe high end gaming laptops should rightfully have something around 230W PSU?

EDIT: i did google on some keywords of the topic and found an older strix (GL502) had a 180W PSU that could not keep up with the machine's 1070
 
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sk1des

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is it the one by Circuitboard? thats the one i found

in the youtube comments, theres some mention about 180W PSU not being sufficient for power demands, wonder if that's a possible factor


i cant remember if 180W is sufficient for a laptop, but usually i believe high end gaming laptops should rightfully have something around 230W PSU?

EDIT: i did google on some keywords of the topic and found an older strix (GL502) had a 180W PSU that could not keep up with the machine's 1070

Not sure about that, the Strix Hero/Scar II with the 1060 has a 180w PSU while the Scar II with 1070 has a 230w PSU.

The circuitboard was using the 1060 similarly with mine. But I also know someone who uses the Scar II with 1070-230w PSU and have the same throttling issue.

I tried to isolate the problem that causes the FPS drop, and I did notice when my fan mode is in silent my FPS is stable. At balanced/overboost the FPS drops erratically. Not sure if there is something wrong with the software controlling my fan since even when I set as balanced, it will auto increase to overboost sometimes during gaming.
 

chiaRH

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if it really is fan software it'll be very tricky you might need to spend time even just to demonstrate it to the folks at the service centre and theres no guarantee of a possible fix either if Asus has no workaround for the bios or embedded controller to remedy this.

how about uninstalling the software? any chance that might stop it from messing with the fan tables?
 

sk1des

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if it really is fan software it'll be very tricky you might need to spend time even just to demonstrate it to the folks at the service centre and theres no guarantee of a possible fix either if Asus has no workaround for the bios or embedded controller to remedy this.

how about uninstalling the software? any chance that might stop it from messing with the fan tables?

Nah, don't think the fan is the reason behind the throttling. Most probably it's power throttling.
I did reinstall whatever software i could find, including resetting/reformatting windows.
Will probably have to go to the service center, but not sure what they could do. Replace the GPU & CPU? Might be a bios problem that Asus needs to address. Either way these "gaming" products are retardedly flawed...
 

sk1des

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Not just their ROG series, even the FX...

-> https ://linustechtips.com/main/topic/934169-i7-8750h-power-limit-throttling-low-tdp-even-though-cooling-is-capable
 

chiaRH

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Nah, don't think the fan is the reason behind the throttling. Most probably it's power throttling.
I did reinstall whatever software i could find, including resetting/reformatting windows.
Will probably have to go to the service center, but not sure what they could do. Replace the GPU & CPU? Might be a bios problem that Asus needs to address. Either way these "gaming" products are retardedly flawed...

Firstly you need to be able to reproduce the problem on the spot, right in front of the service counter guy. that means loading up whatever game, etc and running it to show the throttle. I once had GPU BSOD issues on my aftershock laptop and cos i made the mistake of not reproducing the issue (by running a game), they ran unigine heaven (a benchmark) for a week, concluded there was no problem, and gave the laptop back to me with the original problem still there.

But it's also true that Asus might not be able to do anything if it's not officially a known issue with an available remedy (new bios etc).

Or worse still they may argue the throttling is normal power managing behaviour of the machine, which is not far fetched especially since throttling is not really something that you see being covered by warranty. If it were, then many laptops like MSI GS65 would be seeing failure rates as throttling is super common on them. If Asus does not regard throttling as a defect they can remove themselves from the obligation to 'fix' the device.

If they really cant solve the issue then yea I would fight for a RMA honestly. Unless you want to DIY find your own solution. My current laptop (aftershock s17) has a GPU that always runs full boost regardless of load, producing temps in the low 90s. Aftershock repasted GPU, updated bios, updated drivers, saw that the problem is still there, and gave the 'theres nothing more we can do, seems thats just how the machine is' reply, so in the end I just try undervolt and told them if it ever dies from excessive thermal load I'm coming back with a RMA request.
 
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sk1des

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Firstly you need to be able to reproduce the problem on the spot, right in front of the service counter guy. that means loading up whatever game, etc and running it to show the throttle. I once had GPU BSOD issues on my aftershock laptop and cos i made the mistake of not reproducing the issue (by running a game), they ran unigine heaven (a benchmark) for a week, concluded there was no problem, and gave the laptop back to me with the original problem still there.

But it's also true that Asus might not be able to do anything if it's not officially a known issue with an available remedy (new bios etc).

Or worse still they may argue the throttling is normal power managing behaviour of the machine, which is not far fetched especially since throttling is not really something that you see being covered by warranty. If it were, then many laptops like MSI GS65 would be seeing failure rates as throttling is super common on them. If Asus does not regard throttling as a defect they can remove themselves from the obligation to 'fix' the device.

If they really cant solve the issue then yea I would fight for a RMA honestly. Unless you want to DIY find your own solution. My current laptop (aftershock s17) has a GPU that always runs full boost regardless of load, producing temps in the low 90s. Aftershock repasted GPU, updated bios, updated drivers, saw that the problem is still there, and gave the 'theres nothing more we can do, seems thats just how the machine is' reply, so in the end I just try undervolt and told them if it ever dies from excessive thermal load I'm coming back with a RMA request.

Yep I sent it in for repair. Was told during their testing the GPU failed so they have to replace the mainboard. Will take some time since they have to order the parts from Taiwan...

Have a feeling most of the FPS drop issues plaguing this laptop is due to failed/poor QC GPUs in these series...
I read their FX Tuf series also have this issue.

https ://linustechtips.com/main/topic/934169-i7-8750h-power-limit-throttling-low-tdp-even-though-cooling-is-capable/
 
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