ASUS Scar 15 Review (2021) - Now With Ryzen!

**ASUS Scar 15 Gaming Laptop Review: A Comprehensive Look at Performance, Design, and Features**

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### **Introduction**

The ASUS Scar 15 gaming laptop has made the jump to AMD’s Ryzen processors for its 2021 iteration. While it boasts a sleek design and flashy RGB lighting, we need to dig deeper to determine if there’s more to this laptop than meets the eye.

In this review, we’ll explore every aspect of the Scar 15, from its hardware specifications to its performance in gaming and content creation tasks. We’ll also touch on its design, battery life, thermals, and more.

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### **Hardware Specifications**

The configuration tested for this review includes a high-end setup:

- **8-core Ryzen 9 5900HX processor**: This powerhouse CPU delivers excellent performance for both gaming and content creation.

- **32GB of memory**: Providing ample RAM for multitasking and heavy workloads.

- **1080p 300Hz screen with Nvidia RTX 3080 graphics**: The combination of a high-refresh-rate display and top-tier GPU ensures smooth gameplay.

The laptop offers various configurations, including a 1440p 165Hz option. Be sure to check the description for updated specs and pricing.

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### **Design and Build Quality**

The Scar 15 features a familiar design with some notable updates:

- The **metal lid** has a sleek black finish, while the **plastic interior** is mostly black.

- The **right half of the keyboard deck** is translucent, allowing you to glimpse the internals.

- The **back plastic corner piece** can be removed and swapped between three finishes, all included in the box.

The build quality feels solid overall. While there’s minor flex in the keyboard deck, it doesn’t interfere with usage. The laptop weighs 2.3kg (5.1 lbs) without the power brick, and 3kg (6.7 lbs) with its 240-watt power supply. Its dimensions are standard for a 15-inch gaming laptop.

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### **Display**

The display options available for the Scar 15 include:

- A **15.6-inch 1080p 300Hz screen** (tested unit).

- A **1440p 165Hz option** for those seeking higher resolution.

Both panels feature FreeSync, but there’s no option to disable Optimus for a potential performance boost. The color gamut is adequate, and maximum brightness reaches just over 300 nits (varies with the 1440p model).

ASUS Armoury Crate allows you to enable or disable Panel Overdrive, affecting screen response time. With Overdrive enabled, we measured an average grey-to-grey response time of 3.8ms. Disabling it increases the response time to 6.7ms but eliminates overshoot and undershoot.

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### **Keyboard, Touchpad, and Audio**

The mechanical keyboard is a standout feature:

- It features **per-key RGB backlighting**, with three levels of brightness.

- The **1.9mm key travel** and clicky feel make typing enjoyable.

- However, the sound may be too loud for quiet environments.

The **precision touchpad** is large and accurate, with an option to enable a numpad by holding down the top-right corner.

The speakers are impressive for a gaming laptop, delivering rich bass and clear audio, even at maximum volume.

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### **Ports and Connectivity**

The Scar 15 offers a comprehensive selection of ports:

- **Left side**: Air exhaust vent, two USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A ports, and a 3.5mm audio combo jack.

- **Right side**: Keystone (customization via NFC) and another air exhaust vent.

- **Back panel**: A third USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A port, a USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C port (DisplayPort support), HDMI 2.0b output, gigabit Ethernet, and power input.

The Type-C port doubles as a charging option. The front features a plastic bit for easy lid opening.

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### **Battery Life**

With a 4-cell 90Wh battery, the Scar 15 performed well in our tests:

- In YouTube playback, it lasted 9 hours and 44 minutes with RGB lighting off and screen brightness at 50%.

- The Armoury Crate software offers iGPU-only mode to disable the discrete GPU for extended battery life.

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### **Thermals and Performance**

Testing revealed mixed results:

- **Performance modes**: Silent, Performance, Turbo, and Manual. Turbo mode applies an overclock to the GPU, while Manual allows further customization of fan speed and CPU power limits.

- Stress tests showed high temperatures, particularly in CPU-heavy workloads. However, gaming performance remained stable.

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### **Gaming Performance**

The Scar 15’s RTX 3080 paired with a 1080p screen delivers solid gaming performance:

- **Battlefield 5**: Slightly underperformed compared to desktop replacements but still impressive.

- **Shadow of the Tomb Raider** and **Far Cry 5**: Results were competitive, though CPU dependency played a significant role.

Disabling Optimus via an external monitor (via Type-C) provided a noticeable performance boost in esports titles.

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### **Content Creation and Productivity**

The Scar 15 excels in content creation tasks:

- Adobe Premiere Pro and Photoshop benchmarks showed top-tier performance.

- DaVinci Resolve tests highlighted the importance of GPU power limits, but results were still strong.

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### **Price and Variants**

At the time of recording, the tested configuration (Ryzen 9 5900HX with RTX 3080) retailed for $2700 USD. Cheaper variants include:

- A $500 discount for the RTX 3070 model.

- Lower-end configurations with a Ryzen 5800H and reduced RAM.

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### **Pros and Cons**

**Pros:**

- High-end hardware (Ryzen 9 5900HX, RTX 3080).

- Exceptional battery life for a gaming laptop.

- Mechanical keyboard and large touchpad.

- Customizable RGB lighting through ASUS Aura Creator.

**Cons:**

- inability to disable Optimus limits performance in some scenarios.

- Risk of damaging ribbon cables when opening the laptop (noted by the reviewer).

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### **Conclusion**

The ASUS Scar 15 is a top-tier gaming laptop, excelling in content creation and delivering solid gaming performance. While its inability to disable Optimus may limit its appeal for esports enthusiasts, its build quality, display options, and battery life make it a strong contender.

Whether you’re a gamer or a creator, the Scar 15 offers a powerful experience. However, if ASUS could improve its light bar design (as seen in MSI’s GE76), it would be nearly perfect.

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### **Additional Resources**

- For detailed benchmark results, check out the linked video.

- Join the channel’s Discord for behind-the-scenes content and support via Patreon.

- Stay tuned for an upcoming comparison between Ryzen 9 5900HX and Ryzen 7 5800H CPUs.

Thank you for reading! Be sure to subscribe for more reviews and updates.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enThe ASUS Scar 15 gaming laptop has made thejump over to AMD’s Ryzen processors andit’s got a new design for 2021, but is theremore to it than just flashy RGB lighting?Let’s find out in this review.My configuration is specced quite high with8 core Ryzen 9 5900HX processor, 32 gigs ofmemory, and a 1080p 300Hz screen powered byNvidia RTX 3080 graphics.There are quite a few different specs availablefor this laptop though, you can find examplesand updated prices down in the description.But before we continue, I’ve got to tellyou about this video’s sponsor Skillshare!Skillshare is an online learning communitywith thousands of inspiring classes for creativeand curious people.I’m always looking to improve the videosthat I’m making on the channel, which iswhy I recently watched YouTube Success: Script,shoot & edit with MKBHD, because who betterto get some hot tips on YouTube from, andsure enough I came out of it with some newideas to implement in my own content.Skillshare have lots of other classes foryou to explore and improve yourself by learningsomething new.The first 1000 people to use the link in mydescription will get a free trial of SkillsharePremium membership, and after that it's onlyaround $10 a month.Whether you’re looking to fend off boredom,focus on self-care through creativity, orjoin a similarly creative community, Skillshareis the place to keep you learning.Back to the laptop.The overall design of the Scar 15 looks quitesimilar to previous models with plenty ofRGB lighting, though there are some interestingchanges.The metal lid has a black finish while theplastic interior is mostly black, while theright half of the keyboard deck is translucentyou can kind of see the insides.The back plastic corner piece clips in andcan be removed and swapped between three differentfinishes, all three of which are includedin the box with the laptop.Overall build quality feels quite decent,there’s only minor flex to the keyboarddeck, though the screen has a bit more wobbleto it, but it doesn’t shake around or anythingwhen actually using it.The laptop alone weighs 2.3kg or 5.1lb, then3kg or 6.7lb with the 240 watt power brickand cables for charging.The dimensions are similar to many other 15”laptops, it’s not thin, but I wouldn’tsay it’s thick, just standard gaming laptopsize.Mine has a 15.6” 1080p 300Hz screen, butit’s also available with a 1440p 165Hz optiontoo.Both panel options have FreeSync, but there’sno option of disabling optimus for a speedboost.The colour gamut is fine, just not super impressiveor anything, and the brightness gets to alittle over 300 nits at maximum, but expectdifferent results with the 1440p option.The ASUS Armoury Crate software, the controlpanel for the laptop, gives you the optionto enable or disable panel overdrive whichaffects screen response time.Overdrive is enabled by default, and I measuredthe average grey-to-grey response time atabout 3.8ms.There’s a link down in the description ifyou need an explanation on what all of thesenumbers mean.With overdrive instead disabled, we’re lookingat around a 6.7ms response time now, howeverthere was now no overshoot or undershoot,both of which were present with overdriveenabled.When we look at how it compares against others,it’s one of the better results that I’vetested so far.We’re after a 3.33ms response time for alltransitions to occur within the refresh windowfor a 300Hz panel, so we’re not under thison average.There wasn’t any backlight bleed in my unit,but this will vary between laptops and panels.Although there’s no cameras it does stillhave microphones, and this is what they soundlike.The mechanical keyboard has per key RGB backlightingwhich illuminates all keys and secondary keyfunctions.It’s got 3 levels of key brightness and1.9mm of key travel, I really liked typingwith it.The keys are clicky feeling and were greatto use, here’s how it sounds to give youan idea of what to expect.So yeah a bit louder than non mechanical alternativesas you’d expect, but I think the trade offis worth it, though I could see it being alittle annoying for others if you’re ina super quiet environment like a library orsomething.You’ve got far less chance of accidentallymispressing the power button as it’s abovethe keyboard on the right, and there are extrafunction buttons above on the left includingvolume adjust, microphone mute, the fan iconlets you cycle between performance modes,while the ROG logo is a shortcut to the armourycrate software.The precision touchpad is quite large andworks great, it feels accurate and I enjoyedusing it.You can hold down on the top right to enablethe numpad, but when in this mode the regulartouchpad cannot be used.On the left from the back there’s an airexhaust vent, two USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A ports,and a 3.5mm audio combo jack.The right just has the key stone, and an airexhaust vent here too.The keystone is this red key on the side whichuses NFC and is held in by magnets, basicallyyou can customize things on the system likelighting and performance profiles and bindthem to the keystone, then when you connectit everything automatically changes to yoursettings, so I only really see it being usefulif you’re sharing the laptop with otherpeople.It can also be used to unlock a hidden encrypteddrive, so you can store, uh, stuff.The rest of the I/O is on the back betweentwo air exhaust vents, from left to rightwe’ve got a third USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A port,USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C port, HDMI 2.0b output,gigabit ethernet port facing the preferredway and the power input.The HDMI port connects to the integrated Radeongraphics while the Type-C port offers DisplayPortsupport and connects directly to the Nvidiagraphics, I’ll show how this affects performancein games soon.The Type-C port can also be used to chargethe laptop.The front has a little plastic bit stickingout in the middle to help with opening thelid, and it’s easy to open with one finger,it felt well balanced on my lap.The plastic interior feels extremely smoothso it’s quite easy to clean off fingerprintsand dirt which show up pretty easily.There’s also a light bar that runs alongthe front, and a little on the left and righthand sides, just like last year’s model,however the new 2021 model also adds a littlelight bar below the screen on this littlesection where there’s a gap.The logo on the lid also has RGB lighting,and all of it can be customized through theASUS Aura Creator software.Underneath has a large rubber foot sectionto the right up the back, but despite thisit’s still got holes in it for airflow,as we can see here.You need to be careful when opening it up.There are 11 phillips head screws, the fourdown the front are shorter than the rest andthe one down the front on the right doesn’tcome out and instead creates a gap to helpyou open it.There are two ribbon cables attaching thebottom panel to the motherboard which areused for the light bar.I could see this being very easy to breakif you’re not aware and just pull off thepanel, personally I much prefer MSI’s GE76design as the light bar is part of the chassis.Inside we’ve got the battery down the front,two memory slots in the middle just above,two M.2 storage slots above on the left, andthe WiFi 6 card is hidden below the installedSSD.The speakers are underneath down the fronton the left and right sides, and they soundamazing for a gaming laptop, plenty of bassthough not quite as clear at max volume despitenot getting super loud, but still well aboveaverage, and the latencymon results were goodtoo.Like most other ASUS gaming laptops, it playsthis sound on boot.Fortunately it’s possible to disable iteither through the Armoury crate softwareor BIOS.The BIOS has the same layout as other modernASUS laptops, so just most of the basic optionswithout too much customization available.The Scar 15 has a 4-Cell 90Wh battery.I’ve tested it with all RGB lighting off,background apps disabled and screen set to50% brightness.The ASUS Armoury crate software gives youthe option of enabling iGPU only mode.This will disable the Nvidia discrete graphicsto help improve battery life.You can manually enable it through the software,or also choose for it to enable automaticallywhen you unplug.The software will also lower the refresh rateof the screen down to 60Hz when you unplugto help save battery.This results in the screen flashing blackbriefly while it changes.In my YouTube playback test I didn’t findthe iGPU mode to make too much differencehere, just 11 minutes longer runtime, buthey still an improvement, and this could belarger if your system has other apps installedthat frequently call the GPU.The Scar 15 is stacking up well when comparedto other gaming laptops, one of the betterresults I’ve recorded, especially with thishigher tier hardware inside, lasting for 9hours and 44 minutes in the YouTube playbacktest.The MyASUS software also lets you change betweenthese options to prevent the battery chargingto 100% which can help increase battery lifespan.Let’s check out thermals next.There are plenty of heatpipes inside, andthe Ryzen processor is cooled with liquidmetal.The ASUS Armoury Crate software lets us changebetween different performance profiles, whichfrom lowest to highest are silent, performance,turbo and manual.Turbo mode applies the following overclockto the GPU, but this can be modified in manualmode.Manual mode also lets us modify fan speedas well as CPU power limits.I’ve done most of my testing with manualmode for best performance.The idle results down the bottom were warmercompared to most others, which does resultin warmer keyboard temps than average, asyou’ll see soon.I’ve run stress tests with both the CPUand GPU loaded up to represent a worst case,as well as playing an actual game.The GPU, represented by the green bars, washitting thermal throttle limits in performancemode with the stress tests going, otherwisethe CPU in the blue bars appears to be hittinglimits in turbo and manual modes prior tousing the cooling pad, link for the modelI’m using is down in the description.The temperatures with this game running werecooler compared to the worst case stress testswhich is generally the case.These are the clockspeeds for the same testsjust shown.The results are a bit strange, with the stresstests running performance mode actually dropsback in CPU speed in exchange for a boostto the GPU, something that isn’t happeningwith the game running, it could be dynamicboost messing around.There are otherwise only small differencesbetween turbo and manual modes.The GPU was basically maxing out with thestress tests running while the CPU was ableto surpass 60 watts, a great result, thoughwith the game running the CPU seemed to belimited to 45 watts.Higher power limits can clearly be hit inthe stress tests but we’re not seeing itin the games.I think this is simply because the clockspeedswe just looked at were basically already hittingmaximum in this specific game.This isn’t usually the case in this test,but maybe I need to move to a newer game.The only reason I haven’t yet is this onehasn’t been a problem so far and it meansall my past results are comparable.Here’s how an actual game performs withthese different modes in use.There’s basically no change at all betweenperformance and manual modes, while silentisn’t even reaching half the frame rate.In fact I wouldn’t consider the performancein watch dogs earlier in silent mode as playable.Here’s how the different modes perform inCinebench R23.Again not too much of a difference betweenperformance, turbo and manual modes in bothsingle and multi core.The multi core CPU performance in this testis the best score I’ve recorded so far,and the single core result is well up theretoo.Makes sense, the 5900HX is the best Ryzenmobile processor I’ve had so far.We’re not losing too much performance whenrunning on battery power relative to otherlaptops either.The G15 takes the lead now, but the Scar 15is still close to the top with these samemachines.The keyboard was in the low 40s when idlingin silent mode, most others are around 30,so a bit warmer as a result of the above averageidle temps noted earlier.It’s only a little warmer with the stresstests running as the fans get louder.Performance mode was similar again, cool wristrest and only a little warm in the middle.Turbo mode was cooler now as the fan speedalso increases, then manual mode is coolerstill as the fans are even louder now, let’shave a listen.At idle there were two different levels, itwas either silent or the fan had a light pulsatingnoise.Performance mode wasn’t much louder thansilent mode, then turbo is a fair bit louderwhile manual mode pushes beyond this, ideallyyou’d want to be using headphones.Now let’s find out how well the new Ryzenbased Scar 15 compares against other laptopsin games, just use these results as a roughguide only as they were tested at differenttimes with different drivers.I’ve tested Battlefield 5 in campaign modeat ultra settings, and the Scar 15 is highlightedin red.The result isn’t bad or anything, I meanit’s only just slightly under the desktopreplacement Alienware 51m, but I was expectingbetter from the 16 gig RTX 3080 graphics here.The lower wattage 3070 in the Aero 15 is doingbetter, though it does have an Intel processorand I did recently show that Intel is by nomeans out of the CPU gaming race just yet.The XMG Neo 15 is Ryzen based but with 3070graphics, and I suspect it’s much furtherahead because that one has a MUX switch andlets you disable optimus.Shadow of the Tomb Raider was tested withthe games benchmark tool with the highestsetting preset, and the Scar 15 drops downa couple of positions now relative to thesame selection of laptops.It’s just a little ahead of the thinnerASUS Zephyrus G15 just below it which alsohas RTX 3080 graphics, though half the VRAMand with a lower power limit.Far Cry 5 was also tested with the games benchmarktool 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 thoughthat wasn’t the case here.The results don't really make sense to meeither, given the 5900HS with the lower powered3080 in the G15 was performing better here,though to be fair the G15 does have a highCPU power limit for a HS chip.The 3080 graphics paired with the 1080p screenare a bit overkill unless you’re a seriousesports player, but even then if that wasyour priority you’d be better served bya laptop that actually lets you disable optimus,as that will give you a speed boost, especiallyin esports titles.We can see the difference this would makeby attaching an external monitor to the Type-Cport, as this bypasses optimus.In this game there’s a 12.5% boost to averageFPS, a pretty decent improvement for sucha simple change.I’ve also tested this configuration of Scar15 in 13 different titles at all setting levels,you can check out that video over here ifyou want to get a better idea of how wellit performs in games.It’s also worth noting that you can flushcustom VBIOS to this laptop to get betterperformance in games.I won’t be doing that in this video as thisis a borrowed review unit and it’s not withoutits risks, but if you do want to see whatthe performance differences are in games withthe higher GPU power limit, then you can checkout this video by GizmoSlipTech.Now for the benchmarking tools, I’ve testedHeaven, Valley, and Superposition from Unigine,as well as Firestrike, Timespy and Port Royalfrom 3DMark, just pause the video if you wanta detailed look at these results.Adobe Premiere was tested with the Puget Systemsbenchmark.The results from the Scar 15 are the bestI’ve seen from this newer version of thetest.Despite the larger GE76 having a higher GPUpower limit, it’s coming in slightly lower,presumably due to the Intel processor givenmost of the top results are Ryzen based.Adobe Photoshop generally depends more onprocessor performance, and again the resultfrom the Ryzen 9 5900HX is great here too,only a little behind the 5900HX in the clevochassis at the top.DaVinci Resolve is more GPU heavy, and althoughthis laptop has the 16 gig RTX 3080, the powerlimit isn’t as high as others, so the processoris clearly making a difference here too.Outside of gaming it’s clear that the Scarhas an edge in content creator workloads.I’ve also tested SPECviewperf which testsout various professional 3D workloads.The drive speed for the 1TB NVMe M.2 SSD wasgreat for both reads and writes, and as there’sa 2nd M.2 slot you could add another driveif you want.I booted an Ubuntu 20 live CD to test Linuxsupport.Out of the box the speakers, keyboard, touchpadand WiFi worked fine, but the shortcut keysto adjust keyboard and screen brightness didn’twork by default.Let’s discuss price, you can check the linksin the description for updated prices, asthese will change over time.At the time of recording, the configurationI’ve tested here is listed at $2700 USDon the ASUS website, though the 3070 modelis $500 less and will probably still performvery nicely.There’s also a cheaper version with the3080 but lower 5800H CPU, though this onealso has lower memory, the point is thereare options.Alright so with all of that in mind, let’ssummarise both the good and the bad to helpyou decide if the ASUS Scar 15 is a gaminglaptop worth considering.ASUS have started to deliver what everyonewas asking for last year - high end Ryzengaming laptops.The specs in my unit are on the higher endof what’s available, however the gamingperformance wasn’t quite where I’d expect,probably because of the inability of disablingoptimus, but at least it has FreeSync.Outside of gaming though, as we saw earlierin the content creator workloads and in Cinebench,the CPU performance from the Ryzen 9 5900HXis next level.It can run hot depending on the workload evenwith the liquid metal, though that’s witha worst case stress test.Actual games didn’t seem too bad and we’vegot the option of customizing fan speed toimprove things.The 1080p screen is decent for gaming, it’sgot fairly low response time and ok brightnessand colours, though the 1440p option mightbe better for maximizing the 3080 graphicsin my unit.I’d probably go for the 1440p option, especiallyif I was considering the larger 17” model,but that’s just personal preference.Overall the build quality is good, and there’splenty of RGB lighting if that’s your thing,but even if it’s not you can customize itor turn it off.Battery life was great and it’s got Type-Ccharging support.The mechanical keyboard and touchpad wereboth great to use.My only real complaint outside of it not lettingus disable optimus are those two ribbon cablesthat connect the bottom panel to the motherboard.I have heard of people breaking the connectorsby taking the bottom panel off who weren’taware of this, and if others like MSI canpull off a light bar without these, then I’msure ASUS can get it sorted too.Other than that, I’m sure the lack of camerawill be a deal breaker for some.So although I’ve got the Ryzen 9 5900HXCPU, you can still save some money and getthe Ryzen 7 5800H, which is still an 8 corechip.I’m going to be comparing both of thoseCPUs in an upcoming video, so make sure you’resubscribed for that future comparison as itshould give you a good idea if whether ornot it’s worth paying the extra money.Otherwise you can check out how well thisgaming laptop performs in 13 different gamesin this video over here, or come over andjoin us in Discord and get behind the scenesvideos by supporting the channel on Patreon.\n"