360Hz/3ms panel backed by new NVIDIA GPUs and AMD Ryzen™ processors provides top performance for esports
TAIPEI, Taiwan, January 12, 2021 — ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) today announced the ROG Strix SCAR 15 and ROG Strix SCAR 17, premium gaming laptops engineered from the ground up to give esports players an uncompromising experience in competitive tournaments.
The flagship Strix SCAR 17 integrates the latest innovations to keep the most demanding esports players at the top of their game. It introduces the world’s fastest laptop display, with a 360Hz refresh rate and 3ms response time; drives it with powerful new GeForce RTX™ 30 Series GPUs and Ryzen™ 5000-Series Mobile Processors; and helps the hardware reach its full potential with radically redesigned fans and other cooling upgrades.
The Strix SCAR 15 and 17 both implement the first optical-mechanical keyboard in a Strix laptop, delivering both rapid response and high durability. A higher screen-to-body ratio puts the user closer to the action, while a smaller footprint and a bigger battery with Type-C charging support maximize portability. Quad speakers backed by Dolby Atmos technology make for a more immersive audio experience, and Two-Way AI Noise Cancelation processes both input and output audio to make team chats crystal-clear.
All-new designs elevate both form and function in the new Strix SCAR series, introducing a bold style inspired by athletic gear. The aesthetic includes translucent materials, customizable chassis accents, and lighting upgrades that enable extensive personalization.
ROG today also announced the ROG Strix G15 and ROG Strix G17, which incorporate the new ROG gaming laptop DNA into stylish designs accessible to all gamers. These systems complete a 2021 ROG Strix family engineered to enhance the experience of everyday gamers and to give serious esports players the edge they need to succeed.
World’s fastest laptop display
For esports players, waiting an instant too long can put victory out of reach. That’s why ROG has led the adoption of high refresh rates in gaming laptops and continues to push the limits of panel technology. The Strix SCAR 17 features the world’s fastest laptop display, a 17.3” IPS-level panel that combines a Full HD resolution with a 360Hz refresh rate and 3ms response time. Compared to the 240Hz standard common for tournaments, a 360Hz refresh rate reduces the delay between new frames by 33%.
The smaller Strix SCAR 15 has a 15.6” screen with a 300Hz refresh rate and 3ms response time. For gamers who want fluidity with more detail, the SCAR 15 and 17 are also available with new WQHD panels that feature a 165Hz refresh rate and 3ms response time. The higher 2560×1440 resolution on those displays is made more immersive by a cinematic DCI-P3 color gamut.
In a first for Strix, Adaptive-Sync technology is standard across the entire series. It synchronizes the display’s refresh rate with the GPU’s frame rate to eliminate screen tearing, minimize stuttering, and reduce input lag.
Latest NVIDIA and AMD processors
The 2021 Strix SCAR laptops saturate their high-refresh displays with the combined power of up to a GeForce RTX™ 3080 GPU and AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX processor.
Based on NVIDIA’s new Ampere architecture, the GeForce RTX™ 3080 runs at 1645MHz and 115W with ROG Boost, with another 15W available from Dynamic Boost. It combines new streaming multiprocessors with 2nd gen RT cores and 3rd gen Tensor cores to enable the most realistic ray-traced graphics and advanced AI features. These improvements enable lifelike visuals while pushing frame rates to new heights. They’re backed by support for NVIDIA Reflex technologies that lower latency in select multiplayer games and NVIDIA Broadcast effects that add instant polish to live streams.
The AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX Mobile Processor has 8 cores and 16 threads to power through demanding multitasking like gaming while streaming, recording, and interacting with an audience. The new AMD “Zen 3” architecture raises performance per clock thanks to lower cache-access latency than the prior gen and numerous other architectural tweaks. ROG’s robust cooling and power delivery allow the 5900HX to run on up to 54W of sustained power when the GPU is active and 80W on its own. The processor is unlocked, allowing users to push for higher speeds with overclocking.
In their top configurations, the SCAR 15 and 17 are available with 64GB of DDR4-3200 RAM and dual 1TB solid-state drives in RAID 01. Each NVMe SSD enjoys four lanes of PCIe Express bandwidth straight from the CPU, pushing RAID 0 transfer rates as high as 7000MB/s. The memory and storage are fully upgradeable with an easy-upgrade design and pop-o[1]pen screw that allow quick access to the system’s two SO-DIMM slots and twin M.2 slots.
Optical mechanical keyboard
Regular laptop keyboards push conductive membranes together to detect keystrokes. This electrical approach creates a lot of signal noise at contact, requiring a debounce delay of 5ms to ensure accuracy. Any delay is detrimental in esports, so the new optical mechanical switches in the 2021 Strix SCAR series trigger using a precise infrared laser beam instead, eliminating the debounce delay and reducing the response time to only 0.2 milliseconds. The optical mechanism is also much more durable than conventional alternatives, extending the switch’s lifetime to 100 million presses.
Each key has a long 1.9mm travel distance to improve the overall feel, while the caps have a slight curve that keeps users’ fingers centered. The layout is inspired by desktop keyboards and includes dedicated hotkeys that put vital volume, microphone mute, and other controls within easy reach. ROG’s CoolZone technology strategically places vents around the WASD keys, keeping users’ fingers cool and lowering surface temperatures by up to 14% compared to other laptops.
The new Strix laptops also introduce an improved touchpad, with an active area 85% larger than last year’s and a glass surface with a matte finish, combining smoothness and precision to give users more control. With a tap, the touchpad turns into an illuminated numpad for more intuitive input on 15.6” models that are too narrow to fit a dedicated numpad.
Enhanced mobility
The 2021 Strix SCAR and Strix G series have a footprint up to 7% smaller than last year’s models, making them easier to carry. Their higher-capacity, 90Wh battery also allows for more unplugged time than ever: up to 12.2 hours of web browsing for the Strix SCAR and 12.4 hours for the Strix G.
Mobility is further enhanced by fast charging support, which allows the battery to reach 50% in only 33 minutes. Fast charging is also supported over USB Type-C with compatible 100W adapters and power banks. Support for Type-C charging is new for the Strix series this year, giving users more flexibility on the road.
An athletic redesign
The 2021 Strix SCAR and Strix G series introduce a unique look inspired by athletic apparel. The redesign enhances aesthetics and functionality but remains unmistakably Strix.
The compact chassis has a footprint up to 7% smaller than last year’s models, in part due to thinner bezels. At only 4.5mm along the top and sides, the slimmer frame increases the screen-to-body ratio from 80% to as much as 85%, improving portability and putting users closer to the action.
On the Strix SCAR series, the aluminum lid is slashed with a shimmering dot matrix design created with precise electroplating. A soft-touch texture makes the palm rests comfortably smooth, and a translucent treatment on the keyboard deck shows the hardware inside. Under the body, larger rubber feet take a cue from running shoes to maximize stability and grip.
Customizable Armor Caps add a new level of personalization, allowing users modify the chassis itself. The laptops come with Rubber Grey, Translucent Black, and Spangle Silver hinge caps that can be quickly swapped. ROG also provides the 3D printer source file to let users create completely custom caps.
RGB illumination has been refined with a higher-density light bar that glows around the front edge of the new Strix chassis. In the SCAR, it complements a new companion strip under the screen and a glowing ROG logo on the lid. The keyboard also features per-key control that lets users highlight critical commands for different games. All the RGB accents are fully customizable, and Aura Sync makes it easy to synchronize colors and effects with compatible peripherals.
ROG’s unique Keystone II technology is back in the new Strix SCAR family. This physical key docks into the side of the chassis and triggers a new sound and keyboard animation. It can perform a range of functions, from launching different games and operating modes to restoring preferences associated with the user’s ROG ID. It can even be configured to unlock a secret Shadow Drive.
Despite being more compact than ever, the new Strix series has a full assortment of ports laid out strategically for a tidy gaming setup. There are enough ports at the back to power a multi-monitor desktop with all cables out of the way, including the main power jack, HDMI, Gigabit Ethernet, USB Type-A, and DisplayPort™-enabled USB Type-C. Two more USB ports sit on the left side along with an audio jack, keeping additional cables from interfering with right-handed mousing. Wi-Fi 6 networking supports peak wireless interface bandwidth up to 2.4Gbps on compatible networks, plus smarter traffic management that enables lower latency through higher efficiency.
New cooling technology
A refined cooling system extracts peak performance from the processors in the new Strix SCAR and Strix G series while lowering noise levels by 3 decibels compared to last year’s models. The upgrades start with the first mass-produced implementation of liquid metal on AMD laptop processors. Liquid metal transfers heat away from the CPU more efficiently than traditional thermal compounds, which allows for increased thermal headroom. They’re typically applied by hand, but ROG developed a patented process that paints liquid metal with robotic precision. For 2021, ROG overcame the unique challenge of applying liquid metal to AMD processors, adding an insulating compound that protects surface-mounted components on the CPU package.
The upgraded thermal module channels heat from the CPU, GPU, VRAM, and voltage regulation circuitry with an extended heat spreader and up to six heat pipes, maximizing redistribution to sustain higher clocks. Thermal energy flows across four heatsinks with ultra-thin 0.1mm copper fins that provide greater surface area and lower air resistance. Four fan outlets in the flanks maximize airflow out of the system.
ROG Arc Flow fans improve airflow by up to 35% for the CPU and 21% for the GPU with no increase in noise. The new design spins 84 blades capped by special tips that follow an aerodynamic wave pattern that reduces turbulence. The blades each taper down to just 0.2mm at the base to move more air, and they’re made of a liquid-crystal polymer strong enough to maintain its structure at high speeds.
To further amplify airflow, the new Strix series uses an improved self-cleaning cooling system. Dust accumulation on the heatsinks and fans slowly compromises cooling, so particles are channeled out of the chassis to ensure reliable performance over time. Shorter anti-dust tunnels in the latest models clear the way for 15% more airflow while still preventing harmful buildup.
Cooling and performance can be customized with Scenario Profiles. Performance and Turbo modes provide higher performance for demanding esports titles, while Silent mode lowers noise levels for lighter workloads. With 0dB Technology, the fans switch off completely when CPU and GPU temperatures drop below 60°C in Silent mode. This makes cooling truly silent under light workloads.
Scenario Profiles can change other system settings, like disabling the Windows key and switching RGB lighting effects. Users can also switch operating modes on the fly with a convenient keyboard shortcut.
More immersive audio
The new Strix SCAR series features a quad-speaker array. Two tweeters fire sound from behind the keyboard, while two Smart Amp woofers bounce low frequencies off the surface under the laptop. Together, these four speakers generate rich sound with 2.8x more volume, 3x more powerful bass, and up to 3x greater dynamic range than competing setups. They’re tuned with Dolby Atmos technology for a multidimensional soundscape with incredible detail. Atmos can also create compelling virtual surround sound for stereo headsets.
To make team communication clearer, Two-Way AI Noise Cancelation in the new Strix SCAR and Strix G series eliminates up to 95% of background noise from both input and output audio. Developed using a deep neural network for super-high accuracy, this algorithm can be applied to any mic and configured on a per-app basis, so users can target chat software while preserving in-game sound. The two-way filtering processes output audio, allowing users to hear their teammates better. And because noise canceling runs on the CPU, the GPU is free to hit higher FPS.
ROG Strix G15 and G17
For gamers who want a stylish and powerful laptop but aren’t serious esports players, the new ROG Strix G15 and G17 make ROG’s core technologies and experience more accessible.
These 15.6” and 17.3” laptops have a design reminiscent of the new SCAR chassis but with unique characteristics. The Original Black and Eclipse Gray variants both have a diagonal dot-matrix design across the lid and keyboard deck, while the latest Electro Punk edition features a comic-book-inspired Coded Puzzle aesthetic and a speckled pink accent on the hinge.
Their performance rivals that of the SCAR series, with the top configuration featuring a Ryzen 9 5900HX processor and GeForce RTX ™ 3070 GPU backed by 32GB of memory and up to 1TB of solid-state storage. Like in the SCAR, the processor can run on up to 80W of sustained power and 54W when the GPU is active, and overclocking can unlock higher speeds.
Display options offer a choice between a super-fluid Full HD panel with 300Hz refresh and 3ms response, or a super-sharp WQHD screen at 165Hz/3ms with a wider color gamut. Twin speakers provide rich sound, with up to 2.8x more volume and 3x more powerful bass than the last generation. And Two-Way AI Noise Canceling make team chats clearer while maintaining high FPS.
Many of the upgrades from the new Strix SCAR 15 and 17 are mirrored in the G15 and G17. The smaller footprint and bigger battery option enhance portability, while support for fast charging and Type-C power extends your range even further. Cooling innovations like liquid metal on the CPU, redesigned Arc Flow fans, and a comprehensive thermal module with four heatsinks and outlets keeps performance high and noise levels low across all configs.
[1] Pending a driver update from AMD, the SSDs support RAID 0 configurations to further improve storage speed and throughput.