I’ve tested the new Ryzen based ASUS Scar 15 gaming laptop in 13 games at
all setting levels to show you how it performs, and I’ve also compared
it against a bunch of other gaming laptops so you can see what the differences are.
These are the specs of my Scar 15, so I’ve got one of the higher specced options with 16 gig
RTX 3080 graphics and Ryzen 9 5900HX processor. Mine has a 300Hz 1080p screen, however there’s
also a 165Hz 1440p option too, and we’ll check out response times after the game benchmarks.
Nvidia lists the power limit of the RTX 3080 mobile as 80 to 150+ watts,
and ASUS specified the 3080 in the Scar 15 as running up to 130 watts.
Now in a GPU only workload, I did find that mine would run up to 130,
but with the CPU also active it would run at 115 due to the way dynamic boost works.
Unfortunately the Scar 15 does not have a MUX switch,
so we’re stuck with optimus. There’s also no G-Sync, but it does have Resizable BAR support.
The ASUS Armoury Crate software lets you modify performance modes,
I’ve done all testing in manual mode with the fans set to maximum speed and the power
limit sliders set to max, and by default this does apply an overclock to the GPU.
Now it is possible to flash a custom VBIOS to this laptop and get improved gaming performance.
I won’t be doing that in this video as this is a borrowed review unit and there are risks
involved with it, so I’m just testing at stock here, but if you do want to see what custom
VBIOS can do on this laptop then check out this video by Brandon on the GizmoSlipTech channel.
Alright so with that in mind let’s start out by seeing how well the Scar 15 performs in 13 games
at 1080p all setting levels. Then afterwards we’ll see how the Scar 15 compares against other gaming
laptops, I’ll check out screen response time, and we’ll also see what sort of a performance boost
we can get by connecting an external monitor - and make sure that you’re subscribed for the
upcoming full review of this laptop which will cover everything else like thermals and more.
Call of Duty Warzone was tested with either all settings at minimum or maximum,
as it doesn’t have predefined setting presets. With these specs even max settings were running
perfectly fine and still well above 100 FPS. Minimum settings weren't offering
that much of a performance boost here, just a 14% improvement to average FPS.
Cyberpunk 2077 was tested in little China with the street kid life path. The
highest ray tracing ultra preset was just below 60 FPS with DLSS set to quality, so
definitely still usable even with these higher levels likely thanks to the 3080 graphics,
though of course lower settings are able to further increase performance.
Red Dead Redemption 2 was tested with the games benchmark. There was basically no
difference between low and high settings, at least at 1080p. I suspect the difference
would be greater at a higher resolution like 1440p, honestly this looks more like
a bottleneck. Regardless, 80 FPS at ultra settings in this test is a great result.
Control was tested without ray tracing in the purple bars,
with ray tracing in the green bars, which is much lower comparatively,
and with ray tracing and DLSS in the red bars, which at max settings was actually performing
close to the default result in purple and still close to 60 FPS. Actually even without DLSS,
ray tracing was still playable and hitting above 60 FPS with the 3080 graphics.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla was tested with the game's benchmark. Again
above 60 FPS at max settings was achieved here, which is a good result for this test,
as it’s generally pretty resource heavy, aka unoptimized, whichever you prefer,
the outcome is the same, though above 100 FPS was still possible with lower settings.
Microsoft Flight Simulator was tested in the Sydney landing challenge.
Speaking of resource heavy, we’re only just above 30 FPS with max settings even
with the high end specs in my machine. Even lower settings couldn’t reach 60 FPS here,
but to be fair you don’t need a super high frame rate for this game.
Watch Dogs Legion was tested with the games benchmark.
This is another where I don’t think you need a super high frame rate,
and scoring above 60 FPS in this test at ultra settings is a decent result.
Battlefield V was tested in campaign mode. This game is an older game now compared to
the previous titles covered, which is probably why the frame rates are much higher compared to the
other titles tested earlier. Ultra settings were well above 100 FPS and it’s running no problem.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider was tested with the games benchmark tool. Again
still above 100 FPS maxed out, but as you’ll see soon when we compare with other laptops,
this isn’t actually that great for the RTX 3080.
Fortnite was tested with the replay feature. This is more of an esports test,
so it’s not too surprising that we’re getting much higher frame rates here. Low settings would be the
best match for the 300Hz screen in my unit, but I’d expect higher frame rates with a MUX switch,
so again a bit sad there’s no option of disabling optimus here.
CS:GO is another esports title, and this one in particular is one I’ve found to see big gains
with optimus disabled, so there’s absolutely performance being left behind. Regardless,
even max settings are reaching average FPS higher than the screen’s refresh rate in this test.
Rainbow Six Siege also hits fairly high frame rates without issue. Low settings were close to
the screen’s refresh rate, but there’s not too much of a drop off at higher settings,
ultra settings are still performing extremely well.
The Witcher 3 is an older game that I still test so that you can compare with my older videos.
Again no problems running maxed out at ultra settings, though there’s a fairly big boost
to both average FPS and 1% lows simply by stepping down one setting preset to high.
Now let’s find out how well this configuration of the Scar 15 compares against other laptops,
but use these results as a rough guide only,
as they were tested at different times with different drivers.
I’ve tested Battlefield 5 in campaign mode at ultra settings,
and the Scar 15 is highlighted in red. The result isn’t bad or anything,
I mean it’s only just slightly under the desktop replacement Alienware 51m, but I was expecting
better from the 16 gig RTX 3080 graphics here. The lower wattage 3070 in the Aero 15 is doing better,
though it does have an Intel processor and I did recently show that Intel is by no means
out of the CPU gaming race just yet. The XMG Neo 15 is Ryzen based but with 3070 graphics,
and I suspect it’s much further ahead because that one has a MUX switch and lets you disable optimus.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider was tested with the games benchmark tool with the highest
setting preset, and the Scar 15 drops down a couple of positions now relative
to the same selection of laptops. It’s just a little ahead of the thinner ASUS Zephyrus
G15 just below it which also has RTX 3080 graphics, though half the VRAM and with a lower
power limit. I’ll take a look at how we can boost performance here with an external monitor shortly.
Far Cry 5 was also tested with the games benchmark tool at max settings. The Scar 15 was lower this
time around. This test tends to be more CPU dependent, and I was expecting more from the
5900HX though that wasn’t the case here. The results don't really make sense to me either,
given the 5900HS with the lower powered 3080 in the G15 was performing better here,
though to be fair the G15 does have a high CPU power limit,
I’ll check that out in depth on the Scar in the upcoming full review.
Look, at the end of the day I think RTX 3080 graphics paired with a 1080p screen are a bit
overkill unless you’re a serious esports player, but even if you were a serious esports player
you’d be better served by a laptop that has a MUX switch as this will boost gaming performance.
For 1080p, I think the RTX 3060, maybe 3070, might be a better option.
If I had the 165Hz 1440p screen though then the 3080 might be a bit more useful.
It would just be able to stretch its legs better.
Attaching an external monitor to the Type-C port can boost gaming performance as it bypasses
optimus and connects straight to the discrete GPU. This is the level of performance that we
could be getting if the Scar 15 had a MUX switch, so a 12.5% boost to average FPS in this game.
I’ll cover thermals and everything else in the upcoming full review,
so make sure you’re subscribed for that. Now let’s take a look at screen response time.
The ASUS Armoury Crate software gives you the option to enable or
disable panel overdrive which affects screen response time.
Overdrive is enabled by default, and I measured the average grey-to-grey
response time at about 3.8ms. There’s a link down in the description if you need
an explanation on what all of these numbers mean.
With overdrive instead disabled, we’re looking at around a 6.7ms response time now,
however there was now no overshoot or undershoot, both of which were present with overdrive enabled.
When we look at how it compares against others, it’s one of the better results
that I’ve tested so far. We’re after a 3.33ms response time for all transitions to
occur within the refresh window for a 300Hz panel, so we’re not under this on average.
Pretty much everything else about this gaming laptop will be covered in the full review,
so make sure you’re subscribed for that, and if you want to help support the channel,
join the Discord chat and get behind the scenes videos, then check out Patreon over
here. Otherwise if you want more gaming laptop videos like this one then there’s plenty more!