Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 (2023) Review - Ryzen 9 7945HX Powerhouse!

I purchased the 2023 ASUS ROG STRIX SCAR 17 for $2899 + tax. It is the fastest laptop I have tested, especially in multi-threaded workloads.
In this video I showcase how fast it is in productivity and gaming scenarios, look at it's build quality, fan noise and thermals.

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Specs:
Ryzen 9 7945HX CPU
175W RTX 4080
17.3" 2560 x 1440 panel
1TB SSD
32GB DDR5 4800MHz RAM
720p Webcam
Advanced optimus
90Wh battery

Timeline:
00:00 Specs and pricing
00:34 Productivity and game average benchmarks
01:41 Build quality
01:55 Keyboard
02:15 RGB Light bar
02:52 weight
03:05 styling
03:13 Thermals - CPU load
03:24 Thermals, performance modes and fan noise - Gaming
06:03 Panel
06:40 Webcam
06:53 Underside and inside the laptop
07:10 speakers
07:27 battery life
08:16 ports
08:41 Summary and game benchmarks

i9 13980HX
in MSI GE78HX
in MSI GT77HX Titan

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#7945HX

[dontowelie]

Good review. Good to see that the temps for the r9 7945 hx are normal. I though mine being stuck @95°C is a problem. However it seemed to be worth mentioning that the latest bios updates seem to improve the situation and the CPU runs cooler in desktop

[thefancyapple]

Awesome Review! Asus seems to be doing well recently and I'm personally glad about it. Hope to see a 2023 asus flow x13 and x16 review once they come out!

[wackyxx]

I like watching things i can't afford

[vladdank]

~300-350 nits at this price range is kind of a joke coming from Asus honestly.
Looking to see how Lenovo will price theirs.

[MISLab]

Perfect introduction. I love it. ~^^y🙂🙃🙂

[Suryasis]

Great review and it's good to see that now AMD is also back in the high performance segment, offering performance very similar to its desktop 7900X. One question, is there any BIOS setting or custom tool to disable one CCX chiplet in the CPU to make it a 8C/16T. I have seen in many reviews that lot of games don't play well with the dual CCX based 7900X and 7950X and disabling one, does increase the performance. In laptop that would be interesting to see as 8 Zen 4 Cores are enough for most games and it will reduce the power consumption to the CPU and divert more power to the GPU. Can you please check this?

[adityashekhar]

Steve can you do a video on 1% low issue with 13th gen laptops

[lucamagni]

Very interesting review... Personally, with regard to the materials, I prefer to have more metal finishes, at the expense of a greater weight, on such a machine, in which portability is compromised by the generous size, considering the price not cheap, compared to the choice of materials. Bad that Asus still insists on not finding a better implementation for the front rgb strip (the cables are very delicate and the risk of ruining the connectors by disassembling the cover, and 'high). A little' poor webcam compared to what offers the competition, but at least this year 'have put' put! Too bad for the touchpad, and the high temperatures of the CPU, which I expected to behave thermally better, given the better efficiency, compared to Intel. Well that at least there does not seem to be any annoying coil whine noise.

[gregsimpson]

I like this new Asus, has many pluses, but also has some negatives when one considers the price point. I wouldn't buy it at that cost, especially when it's mostly plastic. Good informative review!

[JBrinx]

Excited for these Zen 4 CPUs. Very powerful

[pinballsorceror]

I think adding some Linux assessment would be helpful; machines like this are targets for dual booting.

[noscholartate]

Mine came with a broken video card so yesterday it went for a service ...

[vzuzukin]

Looking forward to what Asus G14 will do with AMD/Nvidia and hopefully a Nebula screen

[yousefhesham]

can i plug a HDD in? or there isn't space for this one?

[CHASBLEEDS]

SInce you're the only one I've see with a Ryzen 45 series laptop I was curious how the 780m iGPU performs. Anyone buying this laptop probably wouldn't be curious about that sort of thing, but I like to run my laptop on battery for light gaming and emulation, and plugged in for full games.

[jonathanr]

I think you have the same annoying bug in MSI afterburner that I had, where it shows the incorrect CPU utilization. I guess others were getting it too after looking for a solution on Reddit.

Seeing the 7945HX only showing about 10% utilization in Battlefield can't be accurate considering the temps/wattage.

I had to switch to a newer version of it and that seemed to fix the issue!

[Ryan-oywl]

Actually looking at getting this one! Is there another SSD slot that I can just plug another ssd in without replacing the current one?

[nehoraycohen]

I have the same computer and it freezes in games because it has to be constantly charged while playing games because the video card is really strong and consumes a lot of electricity after you plug it in, no game freezes and I play heavy games on the highest settings like call of duty warzone

[andrzejzoedz]

Hello. You make great stuff However, I have a question about this laptop I've seen temperatures of 98 degrees with Dead Space Did these frame drops happen only in this one game? Can you in good conscience recommend this laptop?

[p]

Can this dual boot from one or the other NVME drives?