Perhaps the most functional and practical area of Armory Crate is the performance modes or the ability to cycle through the performance-enhancing profiles on offer. The first of these is called Ultimate, designed to ramp things up for maximum performance and, consequently, will also use more power. Standard is designed to balance performance when needed while trying to conserve battery life where it can. In contrast, Eco mode is designed primarily to reduce gaming performance, so battery life is prolonged. Depending on the task, the Optimized profile automatically switches between standard and eco modes.

On the following pages, we’ll dive into the performance of not only the ROG Strix Scar 17 as it is, but we’ll also be looking at how well the AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX3D with 3D V-Cache stacks up in terms of compute and gaming performance.

As we did in our review of the Razer Blade 14 (2023) gaming notebook, we’re also including desktop chips from the Ryzen 7000 series and Intel’s flagship Core i9-13900K for good measure. One reason is as we refine our new notebook and laptop testing protocols, we’re still building up a database of relevant data points. The other reason, and perhaps the most important, is that the AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX3D and other Ryzen 7045HX series processors are designed to be desktop replacements. This means they can/will operate with higher power draw than other mobile platforms, with the aim of delivering as close to, and in some cases, beating desktop chips in the process.

For all of the desktop chips within this comparison, as we expand our list of notebooks tested, we’ll have more effective and comparable data points in the future. To add more reference, all of the desktop and mobile chips in our graphs have been tested with Windows 11 22H2.

Power

Regarding power, AMD has put a lot of focus on efficiency and the amount of performance associated with lower power envelopes on the Zen 4 architecture. Even from our review of the Razer Blade 14 (2023) with AMD’s truly mobile Ryzen 9 7940HS, performance is delivered even at a measly 60 W. In our desktop reviews of AMD’s Ryzen 7000 series processors, we already know that AMD’s Zen 4 core performs at lower wattages, which, when it comes to a mobile platform, is important.

In the case of the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D, more power is drawn because it is simply a desktop replacement chip for a mobile chassis and, as such, has a TDP that ASUS seems to have tuned for around 75 Watts. In our power testing, the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D drew just over 102 W from the 16C/32T chip itself, which is around 40 W less than its desktop counterpart, the Ryzen 9 7950X3D (120W TDP). Given the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D has a configurable TDP of between 55 and 75 W, notebooks such as the ROG Strix Scar 17 are fully utilizing as much of the power available designed to deliver leading-edge performance in a small and portable (albeit large) 17-inch gaming laptop.

Web & Office

The next section of our updated notebook test suite is web and office-based tests. Our updated notebook suite runs in parallel with our current CPU test suite for 2023. It allows us to blend mobile chips tested with desktop chips, mainly to see efficiency and performance levels and how they stack up for each generation we try.

Using the Chromium-based Google Octane 2.0 web test, AMD’s Ryzen 9 7945HX3D performs exceptionally well, even coming in slightly ahead of the desktop Ryzen 9 7950X3D and not being too far off the Ryzen 9 7950X. It’s worth noting that while sometimes Octane results within a certain parameter can be similar, eg, the Ryzen 7 7700 beat the majority of chips and is an 8C/16T, everything on this chip is on one CCD, which did seem to make a slight difference in this specific benchmark.

With the combination of Microsoft’s 365 Office suite and the UL Procyon Office benchmark, we can see the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D performs well for office-based tasks, especially with a score of 8996 in Excel, which actually puts it ahead of Intel’s desktop Core i9-13900K. It didn’t perform as well in Word, and we re-ran this test multiple times to see if it was an anomaly, but alas, it wasn’t.

Storage

Storage performance is dictated by more than just putting in the fastest drive you can; other variables include the interface used, the quality of the controller, and the overall drive. The ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 sample we received has an unspecified 1TB PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 SSD installed. The specific part number for the drive installed into the laptop is HFS001TEJ9X101N, which we know is SK Hynix based, and from doing some digging, it looks to be the SK Hynix PC801. As is with OEM-based storage drives that come with notebooks, these can be subject to change through the product’s production life cycle.

While we weren’t able to find any specifics or specifications on the SK Hynix HFS001TEJ9X101N 1 TB PCIe 4.0 x4 SSD that came installed into the ROG Strix Scar 17 gaming notebook, we can see that it’s a high-performance drive. Using CrystalDiskMark 8.0.4 to evaluate performance, we saw sequential read speeds of up to 7350 MB/s, with sequential write speeds of up to 5800 MB/s. Depending on whether the data is compressed or uncompressed, there’s always overlap, which means raw benchmark data can vary.

When judging and measuring storage performance, it comes down to real-world performance and ensuring optimal cooling, especially on these fast NVMe drives, which can run very hot and thermally throttle, reducing performance.

Comparing the storage within the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 (SK Hynix PC801) to the Razer Blade 14 (Samsung PM9A1), we can see that the SK Hynix within the Scar 17 performs noticeably better in PCMark 10’s integrated storage benchmark. Typically, there can be variance with SSDs, especially with different densities, controllers, and other variables that need to be considered. Overall the storage performance of the ROG Strix Scar 17 is really good and is expected from a gaming laptop with a PCIe 4.0 x4 interface.

Typically in previous notebook reviews, we lump basic compute and general performance in with our system performance summary. As we advance into 2023 and beyond, we’ll split the sections up and use some of our 2023 CPU Suite benchmarks to measure performance, not just from a compute standpoint but also from memory and other compute-related variables that can substantially affect compute performance.

CPU-Z Screenshot of the AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX3D processor

We’ll also have more data points as we test more notebooks, and for now, we’ve included our data from some of our more recent yet relevant CPU reviews to judge performance. This includes AMD’s Ryzen 9 7950X3D, the regular 7950X, and other lower-powered 65 W Ryzen 7000 CPUs. We’ve also added the Intel Core i9-13900K in for good measure, as, after all, the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D is technically designed to be a desktop replacement alternative.

Starting off with our 3DPM v2.1 benchmark, the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D performs insanely close to the Intel Core i9-13900K in the non-AVX section, which is very impressive, given that it pulls 1/3rd of the power than the desktop chip at full blast. Naturally, AMD’s Zen 4 architecture includes support for AVX-512 workloads through two 256-bit channels, and as a result, performs very similarly to the 12C/24T Ryzen 9 7900 desktop chip.

Next up is Blender 3.3, and in the case of the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D, it’s more than capable of performing rendering tests. Sitting primarily between the Ryzen 9 7900 and the Ryzen 7 7700 (both desktop) processors, it outputs a lot of grunt for a 55-75 W processor packed into a notebook chassis.

In our Crysis CPU render benchmark, the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D performed very well and wasn’t too far off its larger packaged desktop sibling, the Ryzen 9 7950X3D.

Looking at the results in our C-Ray 1.1 4K benchmark, the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D performs very well, even ousting the Ryzen 9 7900 slightly and making light work of the other sub-16 core chips on test; both desktop and the mobile Ryzen 9 7940HS.

Often used as the go-to benchmark to measure CPU performance by users across the world, CineBench R23 yielded some interesting results. First of all, the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D was only around 8% slower than the desktop Ryzen 9 7950X3D, which also has the 3D V-Cache packaging. It also showed similar performance in the single-threaded test, which is understandable given both chips feature the same Vermeer Zen 4 cores.

Our last compute-related benchmark is WinRAR 5.90, which is sensitive to both CPU cores and memory. Again, we see very similar performance between the desktop Ryzen 9 7950X3D and the mobile Ryzen 9 7945HX3D, which is impressive. It’s worth noting that the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 is using DDR5-4800 memory, which, if ASUS had used faster memory such as DDR5-5200 as per JEDEC specifications, the tables could have turned.

The term ‘desktop replacement’ is one that gets banded around aimlessly sometimes, but the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 in specifications is certainly one of the best examples there has ever been. With the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D, as seen in the compute section of our performance testing, smashed against its bigger desktop siblings, it’s time to put the laptop’s graphics subsystem to the test, as well.

As a premium desktop replacement, the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 is using the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, which isn’t to be confused with the fully-fledged desktop GeForce RTX 4090 video. Still the flagship discrete graphics chip for mobile in any laptop right now, it has had to undergo a cut down in specifications compared to the desktop model, mostly due to power and heat restrictions. While the desktop RTX 4090 has a absurd-by-laptop-standards TDP of 450 W with 16834 CUDA cores and 512 Tensor cores, the laptop variety has 9728 CUDA cores and 304 Tensor cores, with a TDP of 150 W; add an additional 25 W to that in even more graphics intensive scenarios thanks to Dynamic Boost.

The ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 (G733) with the regular AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX is also available with NVIDIA’s RTX 4090, so this isn’t the first time ASUS has used it. Installed into the Scar 17, Resizable BAR has been enabled by default by ASUS, and the RTX 4090 within our sample has a base frequency of 1590 MHz and a boost core clock speed of 2040 MHz, with an effective memory clock speed of 2250 MHz. This is more than powerful enough to chomp through AAA titles with ease, so framerates with the included 240 Hz screen aren’t going to be an issue at 1080 or 1440p, depending on the graphics settings used in each game.

As this is our second notebook to use our updated test suite for 2023, and I’ve not had as much time as I would have liked before I set off for a trip to Malaysia, I’ve not had the opportunity to farm laptop and notebook data points. We can compare the ROG Strix Scar 17 to another premium model, the Razer Blade 14 (2023), with AMD’s more power-conscious true mobile Ryzen 9 7940HS which is also paired with an NVIDIA RTX 4070 mobile graphics chip. We’ve tested the ROG Strix Scar 17 at the native default resolution of 2560 x 1440p, as well as compared it to the Razer Blade 14 (2023) at 1080p settings.

All of our notebook/laptop gaming data is taken from the discrete graphics card installed, as we wouldn’t expect any of the titles we run at 1440p to perform on an integrated chip, such as the AMD Radeon 610M, which only has 2 RDNA 2-architecture CUs. Although this is absolutely fine for regular desktop applications that don’t rely on heavy graphical grunt, they certainly aren’t cut out for gaming. First of all, we’ll start off with gaming performance at the native resolution and then compare data at 1080p for comparative reasons.

It is also worth noting that the AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX3D is basically the Ryzen 9 7945HX without the 3D V-Cache and a slightly faster base frequency (>200 MHz), so we’ve tested gaming with the 3D V-Cache optimizations enabled and without, allowing games to utilize the full 16C/32T vs 8C/16T+3D V-Cache to show the differences the large L3 cache can, or does make to framerates.

From the titles we’ve evaluated thus far, we can see that the ROG Strix Scar 17 is a much more potent gaming notebook than the Razer Blade 14 at their native resolutions, which we expected. The CPU (Ryzen 9 7945HX3D) and GPU (GeForce RTX 4090) are much higher-grade parts in terms of compute and graphical performance. The ROG Strix Scar 17 easily runs games well above 60 fps at the native 2560 x 1440p resolution and higher settings. The most demanding title we tested was Red Dead Redemption 2, which is notorious for being poorly optimized for PC hardware.

Looking at how much difference the 3D V-Cache plays into things, we also ran the games with Game Mode disabled, which enabled the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D to run with both CCDs (16C/32T) as opposed to one CCD just (8C/16T) with the 3D V-Cache. We can see that Borderlands 3 performed around 11% better in average frame rates, while we also saw a good boost to performance in F1 2022 with just under 14% higher frame rates. We saw no benefit to the 3D V-Cache in Red Dead Redemption 2, and we actually saw marginally better performance in Total War Warhammer 3 with Game Mode disabled, likely because the regular CCD can clock a bit higher.

Comparing the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 directly to the Razer Blade 14 at 1080p, it’s clear to see that the Scar 17 is a monster in comparison. At 1080p, the combination of the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D with 3D V-Cache and the NVIDIA RTX 4090 can easily run any game at high settings with high frame rates.

Despite coming with a 240 Hz panel, which is more favorable for less demanding eSports titles such as DOTA 2 and League of Legends, this notebook will max out 240 fps at maximum settings with ease in games like these.

While battery life is normally one of the key aspects of a notebook computer, gaming laptops are somewhat of an exception. Their high-power components often come with significant battery life penalties, which can tend to tether them to a desk. There are extreme cases of this, such as desktop replacement laptops, where they are really meant to spend most of their life plugged in. That’s the classification for a notebook such as the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17, which features desktop-optimized parts that naturally operate with higher power levels due to their higher-end specifications. As we’ve said, they are designed to be plugged in all the time, with less battery life than ideal for gamers who don’t have access to a power outlet.

The ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 has a 90 Wh 4-cell lithium-ion battery with a 330 W AC adapter to charge it up. Although ASUS hasn’t openly advertised expected battery life, we can surmise that with a 75 W desktop-replacement grade CPU, a powerful 17.3-inch IPS display, and a flagship NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 mobile GPU powering it, that battery life isn’t entirely at the forefront of their concerns. ASUS does claim that the ROG Strix Scar 17 can be charged up to 50% within 30 minutes and is capable of charging one USB Type-C device with up to 100 W.

Some laptops and notebooks have various brightness levels, e.g., the Razer Blade 14 (2023) has a maximum brightness of up to 500 nits, so we set the brightness to 50% to give a more realistic scenario, as a brighter screen means more power being depleted via the screen. We also test the battery with the integrated graphics processor or iGPU (Radeon 610M) selected and also by applying the battery saver power profile.

UL Procyon: Video Playback

Using UL Procyon’s video playback benchmark at brightness levels set to 50%, we can get a baseline figure of battery life based on the ROG Strix Scar 17 gaming notebook.

UL Procyon’s video playback test incorporates multiple HD videos and runs until the battery is empty. This includes 1080p Youtube quality video at 30 fps, with square pixels at NTSC level, and VBR 2 pass bitrate encoding with 10 Mbps.

As expected from a desktop replacement, we don’t see the levels of battery life efficiency we did with the Razer Blade 14. Given those notebooks, such as the ROG Strix Scar 17, are designed to be plugged in when used, it’s understandable why we only managed to get 3.4 hours before the battery drained to 0%.

UL Procyon: Office

The office productivity section of the UL Procyon battery life benchmark encompasses most of Microsoft Office’s Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook applications to build a real-world picture of battery life in these types of applications.

Using the Office-based UL Procyon battery life benchmark, we got slightly longer than we did using video playback, with just over 4 hours of battery power before it fully depleted. Again, this is a desktop replacement that’s designed to be plugged in, so unless users are gaming, battery life drainage isn’t going to be as bad as when gaming due to the lofty power usage of the RTX 4090.

F1 2022 Benchmark Loop: High Settings, 50% Brightness

To measure real-world battery drain when gaming, we ran F1 2022 at high settings using the notebook’s default/rated resolution e.g. 1080p or 1440p, and put on a benchmark loop with the battery at 100% and unconnected from the mains. At this time, we start the benchmark and wait until the battery completely depletes.

As we expected, we got just over 1 hour of game time with the ROG Strix Scar 17 unplugged from the mains at 50% brightness. This means gamers looking to play without being tethered to a desk must consider that this particular gaming notebook doesn’t give users long between charges. This is prevalent with all forms of premium gaming notebooks, as even non-gaming notebooks with discrete mobile graphics will run into issues with battery life.

Charging Time

Given the loftier power requirements of desktop replacement-grade notebooks such as the ROG Strix Scar 17, ASUS has equipped it with a larger capacity 90 Wh 4-cell lithium-ion battery. Although battery life isn’t as much of an issue as it would on a typical notebook, it’s still respectable when compared to the Razer Blade 14 (2023) we previously tested.

Providing charge to the 90 Wh Li-ion battery is a large 330 W AC adapter, which uses a universal and not a proprietary connection, and plugs straight into the port at the rear of the notebook. This means that the power connects to the back of the laptop and as such, means there are no cables protruding from the sides unless of course, you’re plugging in peripherals.

ASUS advertises a fast 50% charge within 30 minutes of plugging it in, and although we can confirm similar findings, the rest of the charge is inherently slower. From full battery depletion to 100% took just under one and a half hours, which isn’t too bad all things considered. The 30-minute 50% fast charging is useful, but of course, if users are playing games untethered from a power outlet, it’s not going to last very long at all, so bear that in mind.

When it comes to keeping the ROG Strix Scar 17 cool, ASUS has gone with an impressive cooling solution, at least on paper. ASUS is using a vapor chamber cooling system which ASUS claims have 43.3% thermal coverage and uses two 84-bladed fans, which operate at a claimed noise level of 40 dB when set to performance mode. On top of this, the ROG Strix Scar 17 has four exhaust vents to allow ample heat to escape.

Going even further, ASUS is using Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut extreme liquid metal TIM on the components which ASUS claims reduces temperatures by around 15?C compared to using traditional thermal paste. Exemplary cooling is a requirement when stuffing high-performance components such as the AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX3D and a beastly graphics chip such as a GeForce RTX 4090 into such a portable (for a desktop replacement) notebook chassis.

Using our FLIR thermal imaging camera to take photos of the front (keyboard side) and back after a 1hr loop of the F1 2022 benchmark, much of the heat is focused from between the speakers and the keyboard. The heat signatures across the keyboard seem to indicate that the vapor chamber cooling is pulling heat effectively from the components out towards the exhaust vents. We observed a maximum skin temperature of 39.5?C, which was coincidentally from the vent and is the area we would expect to see the most heat from.

On the rear, much of the heat came from the area where the battery is housed, which we observed a rather warm 54.7?C. Even after an hour of non-stop F1 2022, that’s still a good indicator that the vapor chamber cooling solution is doing its job well, given the quality and power requirements of the installed components, as well as the localized heat from one larger area with a pinpointed area of heightened temperature. If the cooling solution wasn’t adequate, we would see a much wider area of heat and thermal leakage, which could not only cause problems for users sitting with the notebook on their lap but could lead to thermal throttling across a multitude of components.

Looking at the average CPU temperature running the F1 2022 benchmark on a 1-hour loop, we observed an average core temperature of 81?C. The AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX3D is being cooled well and was only 0.8?C hotter than the Razer Blade 14 with its slimmer design and lower-powered Ryzen 9 7940HS.

Moving to the thermal performance of the graphics chip, the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 and the powerful RTX 4090 laptop graphics chip managed to average 71.7?C after an hour of F1 2022’s benchmark on a loop. This is more than acceptable and is a good indication that ASUS’s cooling solution is not only adequate but is performing well on the Scar 17.

As PC components and hardware constantly evolve, especially at the higher end of the market, users can expect more and more performance, pushing game developers (not PC porters) to develop better game graphics on more advanced game engines and technologies to utilize the hardware. Flagship hardware is the best-in-class hardware available at the time of purchase, and the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 is a prime example of leading-edge hardware in the laptop space, aiming to replace a desktop system.

The ROG Strix Scar 17 is a 17.3-inch premium gaming notebook and, on paper, is a highly capable machine, even in a laptop form factor, designed to replace the large and bulky desktop system on a desk and spearheaded by the latest AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX3D. The Ryzen 9 7945HX3D is, by all accounts, a high-performance desktop replacement chip primarily aimed at gamers, and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 16 GB laptop graphics chip, the best laptop-centric graphics chip currently available.

Ryzen 9 7945HX3D: 3D V-Cache in Mobile, Desktop Replacement Levels of Performance

Perhaps the most fundamental part of this review is the AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX3D, which has 96 MB of 3D packaged L3 cache on one CCD, while the other second has the default 32 MB (as per the Ryzen 9 7945HX). This is AMD’s first mobile CPU to feature their 3D V-Cache, which deserves special attention, especially given the success of their Ryzen 7000X3D series for desktops and even the initial Ryzen 7 5800X3D, which debuted back in 2022 using Zen 3 cores.

The Ryzen 9 7945HX3D can operate in two primary modes, assisted by a pair of AMD drivers, the PPM Provisioning Driver and 3D V-Cache Performance Optimizer Driver. Working in tandem with Microsoft’s Game Mode, when Game Mode is enabled with a game is running, the PPM Provisioning Driver parks the 8C/16T CCD without the 3D V-Cache and operates exclusively from the 8C/16T CCD with the 96 MB (32+64) of L3 cache.

Given that not all games, for whatever reason that may be, can’t utilize the extra L3 cache, some titles just aren’t going to see the frame rate increases that may be expected. In the hidden crack where a title can’t use that large L3 cache, but is effectively optimized for more cores, then there’s the likelihood that disabling Game Mode on the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D could be advantageous.

One example was Total Warhammer 3, where we saw slightly better performance from 16C/32T without V-Cache than 8C/16T with the 3D V-Cache enabled. In other titles, such as F1 2022, the 8C/16T CCD with the 96 MB of 3D V-Cache performed noticeably better in average frame rates, which gamers want, even if they don’t necessarily need them. With ASUS adding a 240 Hz panel to the Scar 17, getting more frames is beneficial from a utilization point of view. Even though we’ve had Ryzen processors with 3D V-Cache for over a year now, there still doesn’t seem to be a defacto list of what games can or do benefit from more L3 cache, which would be helpful for gamers making an informed buying decision.

On the compute side, the AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX3D operates with 16 x Zen 4 CPU cores active, effectively making it a Ryzen 9 7945HX, but with a 200 MHz lower base clock. In our power tests, the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D hit a maximum of 102.4 W, which for a mobile device, is quite a bit, but in the context that this is a desktop replacement chip, and the chips it’s aiming to replicate operate with 120 W or more, then it’s easy to see why. Designed to be plugged in, albeit with very lackluster battery life performance, this can be forgiven as the caliber of the notebook the Strix Scar 17 represents. They are more suited to being tethered to a power socket than as a portable gaming machine for, say, a long plane or train journey.

Even in CineBench R23’s multi-threaded test, the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D came up short of the desktop Ryzen 9 7950X3D by around 8%, which is seriously impressive performance and power efficiency from AMD. Given that one is a flagship desktop processor and the other is designed for laptops, the level of performance on offer from the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D is impressive, especially at the power envelope.

ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17: A Premium 17.3-inch Desktop Replacement

It’s no surprise that the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 performs as well as it does, especially given the inclusion of the latest Ryzen 9 7945HX3D CPU and the best mobile graphics card available today, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU. The ASUS Armory Crate software allows users to adjust performance expectations on the fly through profiles. Where the performance preset does precisely what it says on the tin, the silent mode focuses more on dropping performance to ensure thermals remain stable by slowing the cooling fans. In contrast, the turbo mode pulls power from the CPU towards the power budget of the RTX 4090, effectively giving it a ‘TDP’ of 175 W through Dynamic Boost technology. Giving users the choice and the power to affect what performance levels they want, or can get, is a plus point.

As we’ve highlighted, the majority of the chassis on the Scar 17 is coated in plastic, and that’s hit-and-miss, but mainly it’s down to personal opinion. Despite the plastic, the chassis itself is well-built, as far as the use of plastic goes. It’s also a fingerprint magnet; natural oils from skin or fingers will leave noticeable marks. Other elements are audio, which two front-facing speakers drive, and while it’s likely users will use a gaming headset, they do sound pretty good, at least when I was listening to music through them. As my taste varies across multiple genres, I found the Strix Scar 17 speakers to carry plenty of good high and mid-range, but I noticed an inherent lack of bass reproduction. While sound is subjective to personal opinion, I’m just giving mine.

Another area is connectivity, and the ROG Strix Scar has enough to remain functional, and while there are two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C ports and two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, users looking to replace an entire desktop might want to opt for a USB hub. Also included is a single 3.5 mm audio port which supports both a mic and headphones, and there’s a single HDMI 2.1 video output, and the Scar 17 benefits from a 2.5 G Ethernet port and Wi-Fi 6E and BT 5.2 connectivity.

Focusing on gaming performance, as far as laptop graphics go, the NVIDIA RTX 4090 Laptop GPU is the best available and is seriously capable. Despite being a cut-down version of the desktop RTX 4080, NVIDIA’s Ada Lovelace architecture has pushed gaming performance on the 4000 series cards, specifically the RTX 4090, to even greater heights. Couple this with specific games that can leverage the 3D V-Cache on the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D, making things even more impressive in performance. Even with the 17.3-inch IPS panel is decent, with a 240 Hz refresh rate and a native resolution of 1440p, it fits the level of performance expected from this notebook, but the 240 Hz aspect is more applicable to 1080p resolutions and in eSports titles than say a AAA game which is more demanding,

The only lackluster area we believe needs highlighting is ASUS’s choice to use DDR5-4800 memory over DDR5-5200. While this might not be the most significant upgrade from a user’s point of view, given the desktop replacement pedigree and classification, we would at least expect ASUS to opt for AMD’s rated JEDEC specifications on processors they use.

Closing Thoughts: ROG Strix Scar 17 Is Impressive, Ryzen 9 7945HX3D More So

There’s no secret that more and more users are considering a desktop replacement gaming laptop over conventional desktops, and there are many reasons why a more portable option might be a better fit. The onus on vendors is to provide more options, not just on paper, but in practicality too.

The hardware available to vendors to build these desktop replacements is a crucial factor, and for gamers, the AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX3D is a welcome addition. Combined with an NVIDIA RTX 4090, the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 delivers the expected performance levels in the premium gaming laptop market, not just in compute and gaming performance but in other areas, such as cooling efficiency, user experience, and build quality. ASUS has a solid dual fan and an effective and efficient vapor chamber cooling design. It vents from multiple areas, most notably in areas away from natural hand placements (vents point up instead of straight), giving it a more comfortable user experience when used with external mice.

One glaring omission at the time of writing is almost certainly the price, and as it stands, we currently haven’t been given one. However, following on from the ROG Strix Scar 17 with the same configuration, but with the Ryen 9 7945HX, which retails for around $3000, we expect the X3D variant to cost slightly more, putting it in the $3200-3500 price range. That would be fair given that this is the first time AMD, or anyone, has put 3D V-Cache into a mobile processor, and the best-in-class products typically demand a premium price tag.

From our testing of the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17, the AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX3D truly performs like a desktop replacement processor should, with the added advantage for gamers in titles that can use the additional L3 cache. As stated, we would love to see a list of games provided by developers or AMD from in-house testing, so gamers and users can make informed buying decisions based on the 3D V-Cache alone. Even so, the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D is a superb mobile chip with lots of performance available in both compute and gaming to be tapped into, and combined with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 mobile graphics card, there’s not a situation we don’t feel the ROG Strix Scar 17 can’t deal with.