The ASUS Scar 2 gaming laptop has some pretty nice specs, but how well does it perform in
games?
I’ve benchmarked 16 different games at all setting levels to show you how well it runs
and help you decide if it’s worth it.
Just quickly before we jump into the benchmark results I’ll cover off the specs in my unit.
There’s an Intel i7-8750H CPU, Nvidia 1070 graphics, and 32GB of memory running at DDR4-2666
in dual channel.
It’s also got a 144Hz screen, so we’ll be able to see which games are actually able
to take advantage of the high refresh rate panel.
Other than that I was running Windows 10 with the and these Nvidia drivers, with ASUS’s
Overboost mode enabled which boosts the power limit of the CPU to 45W TDP and increases
the fan speed, so let’s see how well it runs!
Fortnite was tested with the replay feature, and even at epic settings we’re averaging
above 100 FPS, with high settings getting us above the refresh rate of the display,
while the 1% low results at medium settings are above it, so it’s running very smoothly.
Overwatch was tested playing in the practice range, and again at epic settings the results
are very nice, with even the 1% low not too far below the refresh rate of the display,
it played excellent even at max settings.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider was tested with the built in benchmark, still a newer title
for me so not much to compare it with, though it is performing a bit better than the MSI
GE63 that I’ve recently tested with the same hardware, so seems like good results.
PUBG was tested using the replay feature, and although this is a less optimized game
I thought the frame rates were actually pretty decent, with 1% lows at ultra settings still
averaging above 60 FPS, so quite playable with good settings.
CS:GO was tested using the Ulletical benchmark, and the results were again pretty nice for
this hardware combination compared to other laptops tested.
Rainbow Six Siege was tested with the built in benchmark, and was another that ran well
at basically all setting levels, with 1% lows at higher setting levels not far behind the
refresh rate of the display, so even the dips in performance are pretty good.
Far Cry 5 was also tested with the built in benchmark, once again pretty good results
from this test, above 60 averages for 1% low and fairly high average frame rates.
Assassin’s Creed Origins was another that was tested with the built in benchmark, and
again pretty good frame rates for this test, especially considering that I don’t think
you really need a high frame rate to play this one.
Dota 2 was tested using a fairly intensive replay, so this should be a worst case scenario,
these results are not the same as actually playing the game, and for this test the results
were pretty decent compared to other laptops as there wasn’t quite as much CPU throttling
here.
Testing Battlefield 1 in the first campaign mission ran well at all setting levels, and
again the 1% lows are quite high, although not too different between the different setting
levels, but I found it to play great even at ultra settings.
Watch Dogs 2 is a demanding game, although it doesn’t really need a high frame rate
to play, but despite this even at ultra settings we’re able to average 60 FPS which is pretty
impressive.
Ghost Recon is another demanding game and was tested using the built in benchmark, pretty
much no laptop will really play this well at ultra settings, but should run well at
lower levels.
The Witcher 3 played great at anything below Ultra, it was still definitely playable at
ultra settings but it just felt nicer stepping down slightly to high settings, as shown by
the jump in frame rates.
DOOM was tested using Vulkan, and as usual fairly high frame rates for this game, it
ran perfectly smooth for me while playing even on ultra settings, with 1% lows still
above 100 FPS.
Shadow of War was tested with the built in benchmark, and again pretty good results,
with low settings averaging above the refresh rate of the panel, though I don’t think
you need super high frame rates to enjoy it.
Ashes of the Singularity was tested using the built in benchmark with Direct X 12, and
the results for the most part are better than other laptops with same specs I’ve tested.
All of the games tested are giving us pretty nice results, I think Nvidia 1070 graphics
are a really great option if you’re looking at running games above 100 FPS, a good match
for the 144Hz 1080p screen in the Scar 2, although it does of course depend on the specific
game and the setting levels in use as we’ve just seen.
I haven’t yet tested undervolting or overclocking, as this will vary between laptops based on
the hardware, but I’ll cover those in future videos along with detailed temperature testing,
this is just how the laptop performs out of the box in a number of different games, as
this is likely how most people will probably end up using it, don’t worry though I’ll
definitely cover the more advanced stuff too.
So how do you guys think the ASUS Scar II gaming laptop did in these games?
As we saw it can run them all no problem, most of them with max settings, and still
fairly high settings are playable in the more intensive titles.
The 144Hz screen paired with the 1070 graphics allowed us the ability to get high frame rates.
Let me know what you guys thought down in the comments, and don’t forget to subscribe
for the full review of the ASUS Scar II gaming laptop as well as future tech videos like
this one.