In this article we are going to discuss about Asus ROG Strix Scar X3D review. AMD announced that its Ryzen 9 7945HX3D will be the world’s fastest mobile gaming chip. It was fine.
AMD, just a few weeks ago, announced the new Ryzen 9 7945HX3D, a chip with 16 cores, 32 threads, a boost clock of up to 5.4GHz, a 55W-plus TDP, and a whopping 144MB of total cache. The company claimed it would be the “world’s fastest mobile gaming processor”. This processor, AMD insisted, will deliver an unparalleled gaming experience.
Well, I’ve got the processor in hand now. It’s housed in Asus’ ROG Strix Scar X3D, a massive 17-inch RGB-equipped laptop. And guys, I’m seeing some absolutely ridiculous numbers from this thing. This stain is eating intel for lunch. It’s by far out of the league of any other gaming laptop I’ve ever reviewed.
Memory And Price
Now, the device (which also includes 32GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, an Nvidia RTX 4090 GPU, and a 240Hz QHD screen) is $3,699.99. Like many of the world’s top gaming laptops, this is a luxury purchase. For some buyers, this will be one of those products that is more of a statement than a viable purchase. And the statement, in this case, is one that we all assumed was true the second AMD announced this chip: Intel is at risk.
| THE GOOD | THE BAD |
| 1.The best performance on the laptop market today 2.Bright enough, 240Hz, QHD screen 3.Exceptional per-key RGB keyboard 4.Great battery gaming experience | 1.Mediocre webcam 2.Short battery life 3.Expensive |
The Numbers
It is, without a doubt, the best gaming performance on the laptop market today. This number is more than I have ever seen. The X3D beats MSI’s Titan GT77 HX, a more expensive RTX 4090 machine with Intel’s flagship Core i9-13980HX, by 20 percent on the titles tested here. This is a level of performance difference you can expect to see from a GPU upgrade, not just a CPU.
Needless to say, this is the laptop you want to use if you’re interested in gaming at QHD resolution. If you’re able to afford it, you’re basically paying to not have to worry about settings, resolutions or frame rates on most modern games.
That Counter-Strike: Global Offensive number, by the way, is not a typo. It’s not something that will make a difference on this 240Hz display, but it’s such a ridiculously high frame rate that I’ve seen any gaming laptop put out on any game that I have to include it here.
One of the main reasons these numbers are so large is AMD’s 3D V-Cache. The X3D chip is the first mobile processor to feature this technology, and currently has more cache than AMD’s desktop X3D lineup.
Cache, for the uninitiated, is high-speed memory that resides on the CPU. It can be accessed very quickly. I like to think of it as a CPU pocket. If something the chip needs is stored in its cache, it doesn’t need to dig into the system’s RAM for it. But cash is also like a pocket in which it cannot hold much. It is measured in megabytes in these types of devices, where memory is measured in gigabytes.
3D V-Cache allows AMD to stack more cache on the CPU. This can make a big difference for gaming laptops as games, in particular, require CPUs to process data very quickly. The cache doesn’t make that much of a difference for office tasks and other types of productivity tasks, which emphasizes that the X3D isn’t something you’re buying for office use.
Like the rest of the Strix line, this is as “gaming laptop” as a gaming laptop gets. This is for games and only games. (After all, it’s over six pounds, and about an inch thick. I carried it from the office in a backpack, and my back didn’t thank me for it.)
Asus ROG Strix Scar X3D benchmarks
| Title | Frames per second |
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | |
| Native | 123 |
| FHD | 149 |
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | |
| Native (ray tracing on) | 133 |
| Native (ray tracing off) | 196 |
| FHD (ray tracing on) | 212 |
| FHD (ray tracing off) | 283 |
| Horizon Zero Dawn | |
| Native | 173 |
| FHD | 203 |
| CS:GO | |
| Native | 545 |
| FHD | 692 |
| Assassin’s Creed Valhalla | |
| Native | 142 |
| FHD | 181 |
Asus ROG Strix Scar X3D review
The Strix Scar uses Asus’ ROG Intelligent Cooling System, a motley crew of Conductonaut Extreme thermal paste, a vapor chamber that covers 43.3 percent of the motherboard, 84-blade fans, four heatsinks, 0.1mm fins, and anti Covers the dust tunnel. Everyone did a fantastic job, and their massive chassis supports. Throughout my gaming, the CPU stayed very comfortably in the mid-80s (Celsius) with only occasional spikes upwards. The keyboard never got heated to feel comfortable for me.
Of course, that’s in a larger laptop with plenty of room for all that cooling apparatus — we’ll have to see how easy it is to cool the new X3D chip in smaller 15-inch gaming laptops whenever they arrive.
If you use the turbo cooling profile you will be able to hear the fans at work (which of course I did — come on). Considering they’re cooling the best laptop components on the market right now, I’d say that’s not unexpected. Fortunately, the silent profile is there for you if you prefer a quieter gaming experience.
Other things I like.
This giant screen. I hate carrying around a 17-inch laptop, but boy do I love looking at a 17-inch screen. It has a 2560 x 1440 resolution, which is – yes – a terrible 16:9 aspect ratio, but that doesn’t matter on such a large screen.
The panel has a 100% coverage of the sRGB gamut, an 87.5% coverage of Adobe RGB, and a 99.5% coverage of P3.It’s brighter than average for a gaming laptop, maxing out at 368 nits in testing.
Finally, games look good – and Asus’ Armory Crate software has an impressive array of color profiles for you to choose from.
This screen is enormous
All the ports you need. Giant laptops have plenty of space for ports. You’ll find two USB-A on the left. The back houses two USB-C, one HDMI, one Ethernet, and one power port. I hate reaching around and putting things in the rear, but I begrudgingly accept that this is a versatile place for them. The X3D also supports 2.5G LAN and Wi-Fi 6E. The two USB-Cs both support G-Sync, and one supports 100W power delivery. I think it would be nice to have some ports on the right side. I imagine some people want to stick a mouse in there or have a monitor that’s hard to move or something.
Asus ROG Strix Scar X3D specs (as reviewed)
- 17-inch IPS QHD, 240Hz display, 3ms, 300 nits, 100 percent DCI-P3
- AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX3D, 55W default TDP, 5.4GHz boost, clock, 16 cores / 32 threads
- Nvidia RTX 4090, 150W+25W, 16GB VRAM
- UP to 64GB Dual Channel DDR5 4800MHz (2 x SODIMM slot)
- 2 x PCIE 4.0 SSD M.2 Slots, up to 1 x 2TB 4×4 SSD included (up to 7000MB/S)
- 720p webcam
- Wi-Fi 6E + BT 5.2
- 90Whr battery
- 330W adapter
I used to type on his keyboard all day. This is definitely one of the greatest keyboards I’ve tested this year, even though I know I claim that about ROG gaming computers all the time.
The keys have a comfortable texture, and their shape fits my fingers perfectly. They have an incredibly satisfying bounce. They are very quiet. There’s a number pad on the right, and I go out of my way to find opportunities to use it because the keys are so smooth and comfortable to press.
Of course, per-key RGB lighting is a need for any Strix.
X3D is excellent and fairly equal. Combined with an unusual light strip running along the bottom, the keyboard ensures a colorful environment—if you’re into that.
Things I don’t like so much.
The webcam is bad. It’s a grainy 720p affair. I mean, the last Strix I reviewed didn’t have a webcam at all, so I’m glad to see we’re making progress. But still — $3699.99, 720p, in 2023.
It’s got all the connectivity you want.
Battery life is… ok. This is no Zephyrus. I got three and a half hours of general (non-gaming) office use out of this device before it died. (This was done on silent mode, medium brightness, battery saver on.) This is where MSI’s Titan GT77 has a slight advantage, as this laptop has a larger battery than the X3D. I saw about an hour and a half more usage time than the MSI. That said, if you’re buying one of these huge six-pound computers and basing your decision on battery life, I think you need to go swimming or do something to clear your head. Is.
The good news is that the X3D delivered a solid 54 minutes of battery gaming (Red Dead Redemption 2). The game was so playable, with a flurry for the duration, that I was really surprised when it suddenly went black. The included 330W charger also juiced up the X3D fairly quickly, reaching 60 percent in just 37 minutes.
Agree to Continue: Asus ROG Strix Scar X3D
The mandatory policies, for which an agreement is required, are:
A request for your region
Microsoft Software License Terms
Optional things to agree to:
- Device privacy settings: Find My Device, inking and typing, advertising ID, location, diagnostic data, tailored experiences
- Microsoft 365 free trial
- Join Xbox Game Pass
- Provide your name, email region, and phone number to allow McAfee to send you service-related email and text notices
That’s two mandatory agreements and nine optional ones
AMD did it. It made the Strix Scar X3D a blisteringly powerful laptop that easily outperforms the competition and brought 3D V-Cache to the mobile market.
For those with $3,700 to spare, the calculation should be pretty simple: buy the X3D if frame rates are your only priority and you want the best. The moment you start caring about other things (ie battery life, portability, or any semblance of webcam quality), you’ll probably want to look elsewhere.
Personally, I’m more interested in what the X3D represents in the gaming laptop space. While testing it, I was reminded of when I was testing the ROG Zephyrus G14 in 2020. I remember checking these numbers over and over again. AMD had shattered our understanding of what a gaming laptop could do. And I think he just did that.
