Real gamers know how important a quality headset is for computer games. If you spend all your free time in online battles, then you will be able to appreciate the new model of gaming headphones from the Taiwanese brand ASUS - ROG Strix Wireless. In this review, we will tell you about the main parameters of this headset and provide feedback from users who have already tested it in practice.

History of creation

Asus has long tried to create wireless headphones, but every time they were not popular with users. The main reason is a serious lag in sound, which in computer games like death (virtual, of course).

ROG Strix Wireless is the first truly successful model not only from this brand, but in general from all manufacturers of a gaming headset. No other company has yet offered analogues in terms of quality.

ASUS took a long time to create this headset. In 2015, similar headphones went on sale, but with a wired connection. Users immediately appreciated their original design, durable housing, great quality sound, reliable assembly. After such success, the developers realized that they needed to work with this model. The result is the ROG Strix Wireless gaming headset.

5 best ASUS headphones

General characteristics

These headphones immediately draw attention to themselves - it is impossible to walk past the store shelf where they stand without stopping. Bright, creative and slightly aggressive design of the headset case fully corresponds to their inner content and purpose.

The headband and ear cushions are made of soft leatherette, which makes them comfortable for the wearer. With these headphones, which do not put pressure on your head and ears, you can spend several hours without feeling tired. In addition, leatherette perfectly absorbs external noise, acting as a sound insulating material.

Wireless connection of the headset to the computer provides unlimited freedom of movement for the gamer. And the excellent sound transmission quality makes these headphones suitable not only for computer battles, but also for watching movies, listening to music tracks.

Surprisingly, the cost of these wonderful headphones is quite acceptable - in Moscow you can buy them at a price of 9,600 rubles. For example, a wired computer headset from the popular Sennheiser brand - G4ME ZERO, is in about the same price range, but it is significantly inferior to ASUS in terms of sound quality.

Specifications

If you compare technical specifications ASUS ROG Strix Wireless, they will not differ significantly from other sound-transmitting gaming devices in this price segment, and in some ways they may even be inferior. But do not forget about the wireless connection, which unconditionally makes this headset a leader among other competitors.

What technical characteristics does the manufacturer claim to be proud of?

Here are the main ones:

• 7.1 channel audio creates surround sound High Quality designed for virtual space.
• The headphones are equipped with multiple neodymium magnet speakers, which make the sound transmission even more complete and varied.
• Wireless connection from batteries, resource of work in offline designed for at least 10 hours.
• There is an alternative to wired connection, which allows the headphones to be compatible with various devices.
• The range of reproducible frequencies is huge - from 20 Hz to 20 kHz.
• The presence of two antennas and 4 sound profiles makes the sound more stable and varied.
• The headphones have a high sensitivity of about 40 dB.
• They contain a control unit that acts as an audio station and allows you to connect the headset to a home audio system, computer, laptop, game console and even a phone.

Other models of gaming headphones in this price category... For example, the Razer Tiamat 7.1 V2 computer headset also produces multi-channel surround sound, but it lacks wireless connectivity.

Gamers are spoiled people. They always need more. More memory, more powerful processor, cooler graphics card. If you are an ordinary PC boyar, it's easier for you - just take and upgrade your "beast". Laptops are more complicated. Often, a gaming laptop is a huge 5kg monster, sometimes even with an additional water cooling module.

But Asus has a trump card up its sleeve in the form of their line of compact ASUS Rog Strix gaming laptops. At the end of last year, we reviewed the current model... Today we take a look at its successor, a more powerful, new and cooler Strix'a configuration -.

ASUS ROG Strix GL553VE video review

Thanks to the coworking TOLOKA for the shooting location:

ASUS ROG Strix GL553VE design and materials

In terms of design, there are no changes. This is the same familiar and painfully familiar ASUS ROG Strix. Bright backlit lid, orange inserts around the perimeter of the entire case.

In terms of body materials, everything also remained unchanged. The lid is made of aluminum, which also collects all the dirt and fingerprints. The lower part is made of thick plastic, decorated with a pattern. The cover, all the same, can be removed and access to the HDD, random access memory and SSD M2. To make your laptop feel more confident on the table and does not “leave” somewhere during a serious game kneading, there are 4 bright orange rubber legs on the sides.

But on the edges there have been changes, albeit small ones. The first visible change, completely incomprehensible to me - the DVD drive was returned to the laptop. Seriously, who needs a DVD drive in a laptop in 2017? It is located on the right side and shares this place with the castle. Kensington and a USB 2.0 port. With USB 2.0, the situation is also not entirely clear why it was necessary to do everything USB ports 3.0, and one USB 2.0?

On the right side there is a charging port, an Ethernet port, 2x USB 3.0, USB 3.1 Type C of the first generation and a combo audio jack. The card reader is located on the front end, along with activity indicators and speakers.

Opening the laptop, we see that the new generation of ROG Strix has lost the most recognizable feature of any gaming laptop - the dedicated keys W, A, S, D. Now this key block is almost no different from the rest on the keyboard. Also, the speakers disappeared from the front panel. One gets the impression that ASUS decided to save money when releasing a new generation of Strix's. Continuing with the keyboard theme, the backlighting has also changed. But here, unlike the previous changes, ASUS did the right thing. Now the backlighting is not monochromatic, but four-zone RGB. Unfortunately, a test version of the laptop came to our test and there is no backlight at all.

But what has not changed at all is the huge bezels around the display. Above the display, there is also a camera and two microphones, and under the display the inscription Republic of Gamers proudly flaunts.

Display

In the review I commended ASUS for not being fashionable and not installing a 4K display in a 15.6-inch laptop. What they didn’t do last year, they did this. IN Asus ROG Strix GL553VE is equipped with a 15.6-inch display with a resolution of 3840x2160 pixels.

But this permission is not always available to you. In games and applications, the resolution is limited to "Orthodox" Full HD. This was done to increase the FPS in games and applications. The question is - why all these show-offs, ASUS? This is really not clear to me. The display itself is of high quality, it is made on the basis of the LG LP156UD1-SPB1 IPS-matrix. The matrix is ​​matte, which minimizes the appearance of any glare. The display is excellent in terms of quality, there are no complaints about it. It is perfectly calibrated and tuned from the factory.

Keyboard, touchpad and sound

Although the keyboard has undergone some external changes, in functional terms, everything remains the same. The keyboard is still island-type with a separate numeric pad. The keys have a clear and long travel, the keyboard does not flex when pressed. Above the NumPad is the ROG Gaming Center launch key.

There is a touchpad under the keyboard, which is still excellent in terms of the quality of work and this time without any backlash. What else is needed for complete happiness?

As there are fewer speakers, the sound has changed. It has become not as loud and deep as in last year's model, although it is still of the same quality and cool. In terms of software in the laptop, everything has remained the same, so AudioWizard has not gone anywhere and you can still adjust the sound for the situation you need.

Branded software

As I said, in terms of software, the changes are minimal, so for a complete acquaintance I recommend that you read the review for you, everything is described in great detail there. The only thing I will focus on is the ROG Gaming Center app. The number of functions remained the same. Nothing was removed and nothing new was added. The only thing that has changed is the design of the application itself.

Equipment and performance

In terms of "hardware"ASUS ROG Strix GL553VE everything is fine, although in synthetic tests it lacks stars from the sky.

Main characteristics:

• 15.6-inch IPS display
• Intel Core i7 - 7700HQ (2.8 GHz, Turbo 3.8 GHz)
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (4GB GDDR5 memory)
• RAM 32GB DDR4

Looking at a short list of characteristics, you can immediately see thatGL553VE is a monster in the flesh. Intel Core i7 - 7700HQ Kaby Lake clocked at 2.8GHz and can overclock up to 3.8GHzin Turbo mode. The processor itself is made using a 14-nm process technology.

Everything is clear about the video card. Unlike previous generations, where there was a mobile version of the video card, inGL553VE full discrete graphics card installed NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti.

The new ROG has a good amount of memory. For data storage, it has two drives: a 512 GB M.2 SSD manufactured by Toshiba and a Seagate Mobile HDD with a 2 TB capacity.

Since the system partition is located on an SSD disk, we tested it to the tail and the mane and the results were quite good. According to CrystalDiskMark, the Toshiba SSD has a read speed of 2472 MB / s and a write speed of 1378 MB / s. The result is impressive.

Let's move on to benchmarking the processor and overall performance. In PCMark 10, the laptop scored 3985 points, but while the test is new, there are still no comparative ratings with other laptops. In 3DMark's Time Spy 1.0 test, the laptop scored 2394 points, outperforming just 13% of the devices tested. You can find the results of other tests below.

In terms of games, there are no complaints, but in principle it cannot be. Here's just a visual picture in which game how many FPS this monster gave out, all games were launched at the highest possible graphics settings:

• FIFA 17 - 60 FPS
• GTA V - 60 FPS
• The Witcher 3 - 34 FPS
• World of Tanks - 90 FPS
• DOTA 2 - 107 FPS

I think you will agree that such results are quite acceptable for a laptop.

Autonomy

Autonomy for a gaming laptop is not very important, you must agree. Autonomy seems to be there, but it seems to be not. For comfortable gaming, you definitely need an outlet, and for office tasks, the battery is quite enough. INStrix GL553VE has a 48 Wh battery. At maximum load, the battery lasts a little over 30 minutes. In real conditions of normal use: browsing, movies, etc., one battery charge will last for an average of 3 hours of work. For a full charge, you will need all the same 3 hours.

Outcome

The ASUS ROG Strix GL553VE is a great continuation of the ROG Strix series of gaming laptops, but it's not without its problems. It's still a cool gaming laptop that weighs in at a little over 2kg. You don't need to swing your back for six months to carry it everywhere with you, unlike your colleagues in the gaming laptop shop. This is its main advantage.

It's good that AMD is loyal to the PC enthusiast. That is why any user who decides to build a PC based on the AM4 platform can purchase any Ryzen processor, any B350 motherboard and significantly increase the performance of their system on their own. Nevertheless, this approach does not do without some nuances. So, the recent low-cost motherboards based on the B350 chipset clearly showed that not all models are suitable for overclocking 8-core Ryzen 7 chips. Manufacturers have not forgotten to equip their devices with colorful backlighting, but on the power subsystem central processing unit saved.

The ASUS ROG STRIX B350-F GAMING model is devoid of many of the disadvantages inherent in budget motherboards. Yes, the device is based on the junior B350 chipset, but in many respects it is not inferior to motherboards based on the X370 chipset. Let's take a closer look at the new product from ASUS.

Specifications and packaging

As I said, ASUS ROG STRIX B350-F GAMING is the most expensive representative of motherboards based on the B350 chipset. The competitors of this model are MSI B350 Krait Gaming boards and inexpensive devices based on X370 logic. At the time of this writing, motherboards such as MSI X370 GAMING PLUS and ASUS PRIME X370-A could be purchased for 8-9 thousand rubles. In fact, the main difference between the B350 and the X370 lies in the impossibility of using symmetric arrays of AMD CrossFire and NVIDIA SLI video cards according to the x8 + x8 scheme, but all other "goodies" are present almost in full. In addition, the difference between the X370 and the B350 is fewer USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb / s ports, and a reduction from eight to six PCI Express 2.0 lanes. However, I cannot say that ASUS ROG STRIX B350-F GAMING suffers from a lack of connectors. Take a look at the technical specifications of the device for yourself.

Together with motherboard, in addition to the standard set consisting of an I / O panel plug, four SATA cables, paper documentation and a driver and software disc, I found a bag with nylon ties, a cardboard mug stand, cable stickers, extension cable for RGB tape and a discount coupon for the purchase of modding accessories.

Design and capabilities

It's nice that this model is assembled on a conveyor belt on the basis of a full-fledged printed circuit board measuring 305 × 244 mm. In cheap devices, they also save on PCB, and therefore the cut-down PCB does not allow fixing the board along the right edge, therefore, when connecting RAM modules, SATA connectors and a 24-pin power supply connector, the PCB of the motherboard will bend noticeably. But in the case of ASUS ROG STRIX B350-F GAMING, there is definitely no such danger.

Since the ATX form factor is used, the motherboard received an almost complete set of connectors. The ATX format allows you to use up to seven expansion slots, but the ASUS ROG STRIX B350-F GAMING has six soldered sockets. On the other hand, the board has a well-located "landing strip" for M.2 drives - it supports the installation of devices of form factors 2242, 2260, 2280 and 22110. The drive is connected directly to the processor. The place for installing the SSD is conveniently located, since, firstly, the drive will not "languish" under the video card. Secondly, it will be additionally blown by the CPU cooler fan.

I will add that when using an M.2 drive, the SATA6G_5 and SATA6G_6 ports will be disabled. That is why they were visually separated from the other four SATA ports on the motherboard.

Returning to the conversation about the location of the expansion slots, I note that they are all in their places. So, two reinforced slots (the manufacturer claims that the ASUS SafeSlot shell increases their reliability by 1.6-1.8 times) PCI Express x16 are maximally distant from each other. If we assume that, nevertheless, an array of AMD CrossFire graphics cards will be used in a system based on ASUS ROG STRIX B350-F GAMING, then Radeon graphics adapters will interfere with each other to a minimum. Imagine, for example, a couple set up side by side.

However, creating a CrossFire array of video cards on any B350 board is obviously a failure. For example, for ASUS ROG STRIX B350-F GAMING, PCI Express x16 slots in the case of using a Ryzen processor and several video cards will work according to the x8 + x4 + x4 scheme... In this case, four lines of the second armored socket correspond to the third version of the PCI Express standard, and the third (unreinforced) - to the second version of this standard. In addition, in the latter case, PCI Express lanes will be shared with PCIEX1_1 and PCIEX1_3 slots. The ASMedia ASM1480 switches are responsible for switching the operation modes of the expansion slots.

ASUS ROG STRIX B350-F GAMING is equipped with six connectors for connecting fans at once. All connectors are four-pin, the motherboard can control the fan speed with or without PWM. As you can see, the pads are divided into three groups of two connectors each. Their location has been chosen well, let's consider a typical situation: we connect the fans of the processor cooler to the upper ports (for example, in the case of using a tower supercooler or a two-section SVO in the system). To the connectors located closer to the I / O-panel, we connect the housing impeller fixed on the back wall, as well as the liquid CO pump. The connectors, which are soldered at the bottom of the board, are equipped with case fans mounted on the front panel and working for blowing. So six connectors for cooling systems are enough for an average gaming PC.

ASUS ROG STRIX B350-F GAMING allows you to connect two USB 2.0 and one USB 3.0, as well as internal COM ports, TPM and F-audio. Here, at the bottom of the board, there is a four-pin RGB_HEADER2 connector. As you might guess, it is connected to an LED strip or the backlight of the cooler and RAM. The RGB_HEADER1 connector, which performs the same function, is soldered next to the processor socket.

Among the additional modding elements, I will note the presence of a backlight in the chipset area.

The ASUS ROG STRIX B350-F GAMING I / O panel has all the necessary connectors. In particular, there are HDMI and DisplayPort video outputs if you suddenly want to build a system based on the Bristol Ridge APU. The board also has all three versions. USB connectors that the B350 chipset supports along with the CPU: USB 2.0, USB 3.0 and USB 3.1 - all A-type ports. For complete happiness, perhaps the newfangled C-type port is not enough, but for this, ASUS engineers would have to unsolder an additional controller on the board. The Ethernet port has received LANGuard hardware protection, which increases the resistance to static electricity and voltage surges by 2.5 times.

The sound in ASUS ROG STRIX B350-F GAMING is answered by the 8-channel HD audio codec ROG SupremeFX S1220A (aka Realtek ALC1220), equipped with a voltage regulator, Texas Instruments RC4850 and OPA1688 operational amplifiers and Japanese "audiophile" Nichicon capacitors. The chip itself is shielded with a metal frame. ASUS calls this idea SupremeFX Shielding technology. All elements of the sound path are isolated from the rest of the printed circuit board. As a result, according to the manufacturer, the ROG SupremeFX S1220A provides a signal-to-noise ratio of 113 dB.

For wired network connection ASUS ROG STRIX B350-F GAMING is equipped with an Intel I211-AT gigabit controller.

The power subsystem of ASUS ROG STRIX B350-F GAMING consists of eight phases. The converter is controlled by the ASP1106GGQW PWM controller. Four channels are dedicated to the CPU cores. For each such phase, there is one choke and three power elements NTMFS4C09B and NTMFS4C06B from ON Semiconductor. Four more channels provide the CPU NB / SoC Voltage. Here, there is one inductor for each phase, but already two field-effect transistors.

The ASUS ROG STRIX B350-F GAMING RAM power system is two-phase and consists of the same elements as the processor power circuits.

The power converter is cooled by two small aluminum heatsinks. As you can see, these elements are quite enough, since in the nominal operating mode, the elements of the VRM zone are heated to only 70 degrees Celsius.

Asus has launched the latest ROG Strix GL703VD 17-inch gaming laptop powered by a 7th Gen Intel Core processor. In terms of hardware configuration and design, there is nothing new or unusual here, this is just another not-so-expensive gaming laptop. In this article, we will take a closer look at all the features of this model.

Completion and packaging

The Asus ROG Strix GL703VD laptop comes in a small black cardboard box with a handle.

In addition to the laptop itself, the package includes a Quick Start Guide, a warranty card and a 150 W (19.5 V; 7.7 A) power adapter.

Laptop configuration

Judging by the information on the manufacturer's website, the configuration of the Asus ROG Strix GL703VD laptop may be different. Differences may lie in processor model, RAM size, screen type (60Hz or 120Hz), and storage configuration. We had a model for testing with the following configuration:

So, the core of the Asus ROG Strix GL703VD laptop is a quad-core processor (Kaby Lake). It has a nominal clock speed of 2.8 GHz, which is Turbo mode Boost can go up to 3.8 GHz. The processor supports Hyper-Threading technology (8 threads), its L3 cache is 6MB, and the calculated power is 45W.

This processor has an integrated graphics Intel core HD Graphics 630.

But there is also a discrete Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 graphics card with 4 GB of GDDR5 video memory. Moreover, the Asus ROG Strix GL703VD laptop supports Nvidia Optimus technology, which allows you to switch and use processor or discrete graphics.

As it turned out during testing, under stressful loading of the video card (FurMark), the GPU runs at 1708 MHz, and the memory at 1752 MHz, which is not bad at all.

There are two slots for installing SO-DIMM memory modules in the laptop.

In our case, the laptop already had two 8 GB DDR4-2400 memory modules (SK Hynix HMA81GS6AFR8N-UH). The maximum memory supported by the notebook is 32 GB.

The storage subsystem in the Asus ROG Strix GL703VD laptop is a combination of two drives: a 256 GB SanDisk SD8SN8U256G1002 SSD and a 1 TB HGST HTS721010A9E630 2.5-inch HDD.

The SanDisk SD8SN8U256G1002 SSD is installed in an M.2 socket, has a 2280 form factor and a SATA 6Gb / s interface.

In total, the laptop has one slot for a 2.5-inch SATA drive and one M.2 connector with an M key that supports PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA drives. So you can install a faster SSD here with an M.2 slot.

Communication capabilities of the laptop are determined by the presence of a wireless dual-band (2.4 and 5 GHz) network adapter Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 8265, which meets the Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11a / b / g / n / ac and Bluetooth 4.2 specifications.

In addition, the laptop has a gigabit network interface based on a pair of Realtek RTL8168 / 8111 controllers.

The audio subsystem of the Asus ROG Strix GL703VD laptop is based on the Realtek ALC295 HDA codec. There are two speakers in the laptop case - on the bottom, beveled to the edges of the panel on the left and right, there are decorative grids that cover these speakers.

It remains to add that the laptop is equipped with a built-in HD-webcam located above the screen, as well as a non-removable lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 64 Wh.

Appearance and ergonomics of the case

The case of the Asus ROG Strix GL703VD laptop is made of metal and plastic. The top cover of the notebook is made of a thin sheet of black aluminum.

The lid features a mirrored ROG gaming series emblem that glows red when the laptop is turned on.

The laptop lid is very thin - only 7 mm. Nevertheless, its rigidity is quite satisfactory. Of course, when pressed, the lid bends a little, but not critical.

The working surface of the laptop, framing the keyboard and touchpad, is made of black plastic, part of the surface is stylized like brushed metal. The disadvantage of a work surface is that it gets dirty quickly, that is, sweat marks from hands remain on it.

There are ventilation holes on the bottom of the case. Rubberized feet keep the notebook stable on a horizontal surface.

The thickness of the frame around the screen is 16 mm from the sides, 21 mm from the top, and 28 mm from the bottom. The top of the bezel houses the webcam and dual microphone holes, while the bottom houses the mirrored ROG logo.

The laptop's power button is located in the upper right corner of the work surface.

In the left corner of the work surface, above the keyboard, there are four separate laptop control keys: a branded key with the ROG logo, designed to launch the ROG Gaming Center application, a microphone on / off key and two volume control keys.

Notebook status LEDs are located at the rear edge of the work surface and are visible even when the lid is closed. There are four indicators in total: power indicator, battery level, data storage subsystem activity and wireless adapter operating mode.

The system for attaching the laptop screen to the case consists of two hinge hinges that are located at the bottom of the screen. This mounting system allows you to deflect the screen relative to the plane of the keyboard at an angle of approximately 120 degrees.

On the left side of the case there are two USB 3.0 (Type-A) ports, an HDMI connector, a Mini-DisplayPort connector, an RJ-45 connector and a combined audio mini-jack. In addition, the power connector is located right there.

On the right side there are two more USB 3.0 (Type-A) ports, a USB 3.0 (Type-C) port, a memory card slot and a Kensington lock hole.

At the rear end of the case there are only ventilation holes for blowing out hot air.

Disassembly capabilities

On the bottom of the Asus ROG Strix GL703VD laptop there is a hatch in the form of a beveled hexagon. Removing it, you can access the HDD, SSD and one memory slot.

By unscrewing a few screws, you can remove the entire bottom panel of the case, which will open access to all the components of the laptop.

Input Devices

Keyboard

The Asus ROG Strix GL703VD laptop uses a membrane-type keyboard with an increased spacing between the keys.

The key travel is 2 mm. The size of the keys is standard (15 × 15 mm), and the distance between them is 3 mm.

The keys themselves are black and the symbols on them are white.

The keyboard has three levels of RGB backlighting. The backlight turns on automatically when you press the keys and turns off if you do not press anything for a while. To configure the backlight, the Asus Aura utility is used, which is included in the Asus Gaming Center package. The entire keyboard is divided into four zones, and the Asus Aura utility allows you to customize the color of each zone, as well as choose a color effect (constant glow or "breathing").

The zone of the game keys WASD is also highlighted: the side edges of these keys are white.

The base of the keyboard is quite rigid. When you press the keys, if it bends, then it is quite insignificant.

The pressing force on the key is 60 g, and the residual pressing force of the key is 27 g. The keys are spring-loaded rather weakly, when typing, the fixation of pressing is almost not felt. On the other hand, and the keys do not emit any clattering sound when typing, the keyboard is generally very quiet. In general, it is convenient to type on such a keyboard. We would rate the keyboard as good, but not great.

Touchpad

The Asus ROG Strix GL703VD laptop uses a clickpad with simulated key presses. The dimensions of its touch surface are 106 × 74 mm. The touch surface of the clickpad is slightly recessed. The touchpad is very convenient to work with.

Sound path

As already noted, the audio subsystem of the Asus ROG Strix GL703VD laptop is based on the Realtek ALC295 HDA codec, and two speakers are installed in the laptop case.

Subjective testing of the built-in acoustics revealed that nothing rattles at the maximum volume level, there are no metallic shades when reproducing high tones. The maximum volume level is quite sufficient. The sound reproduced by the built-in speakers is rich.

Traditionally, to evaluate the audio output path intended for connecting headphones or external acoustics, we conduct testing using an external audio Creative cards E-MU 0204 USB and RightMark Audio Analyzer 6.3.0. Tested in stereo, 24-bit / 44.1 kHz. According to the test results, the audio section was rated “Very good”.

Test results in RightMark Audio Analyzer 6.3.0

Overall results

Frequency response

Noise level

Dynamic range

Harmonic distortion + noise (−3 dB)

Interpenetration of stereo channels

Screen

The Asus ROG Strix GL703VD laptop uses the LG LP173WF4-SPF5 IPS-matrix with LED backlighting based on white LEDs. The matrix has a matte anti-reflective coating, its diagonal size is 17.3 inches. Screen resolution - 1920 × 1080 pixels.

The matrix in a laptop does not flicker throughout the entire brightness range. According to the specification, the matrix has a maximum brightness of 300 cd / m², the pixel response time (total on and off time) is 25 ms, and the contrast level is 700: 1. The vertical and horizontal viewing angles are 80 ° each according to the CR≥10 method.

According to our measurements, the maximum brightness of the screen against a white background is 396 cd / m². At maximum screen brightness, the gamma value is 2.14. The minimum screen brightness against a white background is 22.5 cd / m².

Asus' ROG Strix GL703VD has a color gamut of 85.1% of sRGB and 62.2% of Adobe RGB, and a color gamut of 102.2% of sRGB and 70.4% of Adobe RGB. This is a very good color gamut.

The color filters of the LCD matrix are not very good at distinguishing the spectra of the primary colors. The spectra of green and red overlap strongly, which, however, is quite typical for matrices used in laptops.

The color temperature of the Asus ROG Strix GL703VD laptop LCD screen is stable across the whole gray scale at approximately 7000 K.

The color temperature stability is due to the fact that the primary colors are well balanced across the entire gray scale.

As for the color accuracy (delta E), its value does not exceed 7 across the entire gray scale (dark areas can be ignored), which is a good result for this class of screens.

The viewing angles of the Asus ROG Strix GL703VD laptop screen are very wide, both horizontal and vertical. This is inherent in all IPS matrices.

Overall, we can say that the screen of the Asus ROG Strix GL703VD laptop deserves a high rating.

Work under load

For stress loading the processor, we used the Prime95 utility (Small FFT test), and the stress loading of the video card was carried out using the FurMark utility. The monitoring was carried out using the AIDA64 and CPU-Z utilities.

Under moderate processor load (Stress CPU test of the AIDA64 utility), the core clock speed is stable at 3.4 GHz.

At the same time, the temperature of the processor cores reaches 75 ° C, and the power consumption of the processor is 34 watts.

If you load the processor in stress mode with the Prime95 utility (Small FFT), the core frequency will drop to 2.7-2.8 GHz.

At the same time, the temperature of the processor cores is 76 ° C, and the power consumption is stabilized at 45 W.

As you can see, the cooling system in the laptop is very efficient. Even under stressful CPU load, there is no throttling.

Drive performance

As noted, the storage subsystem of the Asus ROG Strix GL703VD laptop is a combination of a SanDisk SD8SN8U256G1002 M.2 SSD and a 2.5-inch HGST HTS721010A9E630 HDD. Of interest are, first of all, the speed characteristics of the SSD, which is used as a system drive.

ATTO Disk Benchmark utility detects it maximum speed sequential read at 550 MB / s, and sequential write speed at 450 MB / s. For a drive with a SATA interface, this is a very good result, but in comparison with the performance level of top-end drives with a PCIe 3.0 x4 interface, this, of course, is not enough.

We will also present the test results with the popular utilities CrystalDiskMark and AS-SSD.

Noise level

The noise level was measured in a special sound-absorbing chamber, and the sensitive microphone was positioned relative to the laptop so as to simulate the user's typical head position.

Based on our measurements, the notebook has a noise level of 22 dBA in idle mode. This is a very low noise level, which actually merges with the level of the natural background during the day in the office, and it is impossible to "hear" the laptop in this mode.

Under stressful loading of the video card using the FurMark utility, the noise level is 43 dBA. Almost the same noise level (43.3 dBA) will be in the stress mode of the processor using the Prime95 utility (Small FFT). This is already a high level of noise. In this mode, the laptop will stand out from the rest of the devices in a typical office space.

In the mode of simultaneous stress loading of the video card and processor, the noise level rises to 47 dBA. This is definitely a bit too much, but nevertheless, such a loading mode is achieved only with the use of special tests, in ordinary life the laptop does not make so much noise - when working with real applications, the noise level emitted by the laptop is no more than 40 dBA.

Generally laptop asus The ROG Strix GL703VD can be classified as a mid-range device in terms of noise.

Battery life

We measured the battery life of the laptop according to our method using the iXBT Battery Benchmark v1.0 script. Recall that we measure time autonomous work with a screen brightness of 100 cd / m². Recall also that the Asus ROG Strix GL703VD laptop has the ability to switch (manually or automatically) between the processor graphics core and a discrete graphics card. We measured battery life with both the GPU and the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 graphics card. The test results are as follows:

As you can see, the battery life of the Asus ROG Strix GL703VD is quite long for a 17-inch model.

Performance research

To evaluate the performance of the Asus ROG Strix GL703VD laptop, we used our performance measurement methodology using the iXBT Application Benchmark 2017 benchmark and the iXBT Game Benchmark 2017 gaming benchmark. For clarity, we have added to the table the results of testing the 17-inch gaming laptop Asus ROG Strix GL753VE, which has a similar configuration and cost. The test results in the benchmark iXBT Application Benchmark 2017 are shown in the table. Results were calculated for five runs of each test with a 95% confidence level.

The Asus ROG Strix GL703VD laptop lags behind our reference system based on the Intel Core i7-6700K processor by 16% in the integrated result in processor tests, and by 24% in the integrated performance result, taking into account tests that depend on the system drive. This is a very good result, which demonstrates that the Asus ROG Strix GL703VD laptop can be used for various resource-intensive tasks. In general, the Asus ROG Strix GL703VD laptop can be classified as a high-performance device. Recall that, according to our gradation, with an integral performance result of less than 45 points, we classify the devices as entry level performance, with a result in the range from 46 to 60 points - to the category of devices of the average level of productivity, with a result from 60 to 75 points - to the category of productive devices, and a result of more than 75 points - this is already the category of high-performance solutions.

Now let's look at the results of testing the Asus ROG Strix GL703VD laptop in games. Testing was carried out at a resolution of 1920 × 1080 in the game settings for maximum and minimum quality. In games testing, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 graphics card with an Nvidia ForceWare 388.43 video driver was used. The test results are as follows:

As you can see from the test results, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 video card does not pull the setting mode to maximum quality at a resolution of 1920 × 1080. Some games can be played comfortably in this mode, but not all. But when set to the minimum quality, all games will "fly".

In general, the Asus ROG Strix GL703VD laptop can be classified as a mid-range gaming solution.

conclusions

The undoubted advantages of the Asus ROG Strix GL703VD laptop include stylish design, high-quality screen, good keyboard and a touchpad. Add to this high performance and long battery life. Of course, this is not a top-end gaming configuration, and resource-intensive 3D games can only be played here at medium quality settings. But the Asus ROG Strix GL703VD is not geared towards dynamic 3D shooters. Games are different, and many of them can be played quite comfortably on such a laptop.

At the time of publication of the article, the Asus ROG Strix GL703VD laptop in the configuration we described cost about 82 thousand rubles. In our opinion, the cost for such a hardware configuration is quite adequate. This laptop can be used not only and not so much for games as for working with resource-intensive applications, it is perfect as a replacement for a productive desktop.

A wireless gaming headset compatible with PCs, smartphones and consoles looks like a gamer's pipe dream. Large speakers with wide dynamic range, sensitive microphone, comfortable headband, and of course rich connectivity options. No joke, ASUS ROG Strix Wireless can be connected to an audio source using the included AUX cable or via radio (the transmitter is included, of course). Moreover, among the compatible devices, even game consoles are indicated: PS4 and Xbox One. This short description looks very attractive, so let's figure out what the ASUS ROG Strix Wireless is, and how good it is in real life, and not in advertising slogans.

Technology

Various connection options

ASUS ROG Strix Wireless has two connection options: via a 2.4 GHz radio channel and using the supplied cable. Wireless connectivity is great for PC or MAC computers and laptops, and the cable can be used to connect headsets to game consoles and smartphones. However, the same method can be used to connect it to a PC or Mac. And in general, to any device that has an audio output with a diameter of 3.5 mm. In addition, ASUS ROG Strix Wireless has two antennas to improve wireless audio transmission and suppress interference. Still, we are talking about the 2.4 GHz frequency popular among most wireless devices, so additional antennas will come in handy here.

7.1 virtual surround sound

Headset software can add some volume to the sound. Of course, there are only 2 speakers installed inside the ROG Strix Wireless, so with real 7.1 headsets, it will not be able to compete - like all other headphones with virtual surround sound. But the presence of such an option will be a pleasant plus. And the stock, as they say, does not hold a pocket.

Powerful battery

A wireless headset is certainly good and modern, but charging it every few hours is very inconvenient. Therefore, a 900 mAh battery is installed inside the ASUS ROG Strix Wireless, which should be enough for 10 hours of operation. In short, you can play in such headphones all day and charge them at night.

Detachable microphone

A detachable microphone will always be a great bonus for any headset. With it, you can not think about whether it is turned on or not. A microphone disconnected from the headset will certainly not transmit sound, and will eliminate the doubts of the paranoid. By the way, its leg is long and flexible so that the microphone can be positioned in the right place after connecting to the headset.

Description ASUS ROG Strix Wireless

The headset comes in a classic ASUS ROG transparent box through which you can see the coveted headphones. Inside, in addition to the ASUS ROG Strix Wireless itself, there is an instruction manual, an AUX cable 1.5 meters long, as well as a USB transmitter and a charging cable.

The ASUS ROG Strix Wireless headset is made in a bright, black and orange color scheme. Earlier, before the ROG and Strix lines merged together, all the "streaks" sported bright and noticeable orange accents, and ASUS ROG devices stood out with red red inserts. However, ASUS ROG Strix Wireless should not be considered an old woman, because audio equipment is not processors with video cards, and over the years it almost does not become outdated. So, on the outside of the ROG Wireless, round inserts are highlighted in orange, located in the center of the cups. Considering that the cups in their shape resemble the formidable gaze of a tawny owl, the symbol of the Strix line, the headset lying on the table will look spectacular and a little ominous.

Large cups contain not only orange "pretties". On the left cup are the headset control keys (volume control, microphone on / off and Power). On the bottom, you can see a MicroUSB connector (for charging), a microphone input and a 3.5mm audio jack for the AUX cable. But on the right cup there are no controls. Only the Republic Of Gamers logo is located there.

The inner surface of the cups is trimmed with soft ear cushions that can cover even large ears, which adds comfort to the headset. Inside each cup is hidden under one speaker with a rare earth neodymium magnet - similar magnets are often found in ASUS ROG headsets and other expensive audio accessories from other brands. Headband - "dimensionless", with inserts from "smart foam". This material is softer than its not very smart counterparts, it knows how to keep its shape and return to the initial state if you remove the headset. Simply put, the inner part of the headband will not lose shape over time.

Thanks to the large ear cups and soft headband, the headset sits comfortably on your head, and with the soft ear cushions and headband with smart foam, ROG Wireless will not press in places where you do not need to do it. You can play, work or listen to music in such a headset for hours - until the powerful, 10-hour battery is discharged. In addition, if you remove the ASUS ROG Strix Wireless and leave the headset on your neck, it will not cause discomfort, even despite its size.

Photos ASUS ROG Strix Wireless

Specifications

Judging by technical specifications During the development of ASUS ROG Strix Wireless, the manufacturer sought to achieve a delicate balance between the filling and the final cost of the product. A high-quality headset with a pleasant sound cannot be cheap on its own, and the built-in wireless module will in no way reduce the final price. However, ASUS ROG Strix Wireless is balanced. Inside it are large 60-mm speakers with neodymium magnets, with a frequency range of 20 to 20,000 Hz and an impedance of 32 Ohms. The detachable microphone turned out to be narrowly directed, so it will not transmit keyboard claps and other extraneous sounds... Unless, of course, they are loud enough for a narrow-beam microphone to pick them up. The microphone sensitivity is -40 dB, and frequency response- from 50 to 16,000 Hz.

• Loudspeakers
• Speaker frequency range
• Speaker impedance
• Speaker sensitivity
• Microphone
• Microphone frequency range
• Microphone sensitivity
• Connection options
• Battery
• Cable
• Compatible platforms
• Weight
• Estimated price

• ASUS ROG Strix Wireless

• 2 speakers, diameter 60 mm, neodymium magnets
• 20 - 20,000 Hz
• 32 Ohm
• 98 dBA
• Removable, unidirectional
• 50 - 16,000 Hz
• -40 dB
• With an AUX cable Wireless 2.4GHz
• Built-in, 900mAh, up to 10 hours of use
• Detachable 3.5mm AUX, 1.5m, with fabric braid
• PC, Mac mobile devices PlayStation 4, Xbox One
• 350 grams
• from 8 200 rubles

ASUS ROG Strix Wireless software

For fine-tuning the headset, the Sonic Studio utility is used, which can be downloaded from the manufacturer's website. In this program, you can flexibly configure voice transmission, enable surround sound, the reverb effect, boost the bass and - in a separate place - play with the equalizer settings. Moreover, all the settings are collected in one window, you don't have to switch between endless submenus.

ASUS ROG Strix Wireless testing

The ASUS ROG Strix Wireless headset has been tested in several modes: listening to music, watching videos, and of course, playing games.

Michael Oldfield's Tubular Beats album was selected for music testing. This album contains many different instruments, which sometimes sound in one composition. Here the ROG Wireless has performed well. There was no overdrive at low frequencies, the middle was clearly audible, but the high frequencies were not enough for the headphones. However, this drawback is small and it is found in almost all gaming headsets. Still, the reproduction of music is considered a secondary task for them. By the way, when connecting headphones wirelessly, you can use proprietary utility ASUS to improve the quality of your music. For example, you can work with the low frequencies using the Bass Boost parameter. For rap, rock, and other heavy music, the bass can be increased by 3.5 or 4.5 dB. For classics, they can be raised by 1.5 or 2.5 dB. If you do not like low frequencies (bass), the amplifier can be turned off altogether.

In movies, the ROG Wireless performed much better. Here, the “tops” are not as important as the rest of the frequencies, so you can watch video in such a headset without any problems. The best sounds will be explosions, shooting, the roar of car engines and other dynamic sounds.

Now let's move on to the games. In this test, the ROG Wireless unveiled in its entirety. The headset perfectly transmitted the sounds of shots, explosions, and also helped to hear sneaking opponents. Shooters, racing, strategy games - ROG Wireless handles all genres of games. As for the virtual surround sound, then in games it can be viewed more as an entertainment opportunity. This is the limitation of all headsets with one speaker per ear cup. Of course, ASUS software will do its best to add volume to the sound, and it will even succeed, but a full-fledged headset with surround sound will always be better than its software counterpart. However, such headphones will cost a lot.

A wireless gaming headset compatible with PCs, smartphones and consoles looks like a gamer's pipe dream. Large speakers with wide dynamic range, sensitive microphone, comfortable headband, and of course rich connectivity options. No joke, ASUS ROG Strix Wireless can be connected to an audio source using the included AUX cable or via radio (the transmitter is included, of course). Moreover, among the compatible devices, even game consoles are indicated: PS4 and Xbox One. This short description looks very attractive, so let's figure out what the ASUS ROG Strix Wireless is, and how good it is in real life, and not in advertising slogans. Technologies Various connection options ASUS ROG Strix Wireless has two connection options: 2.4 GHz radio channel and the supplied cable. Wireless connectivity is great for PC or MAC computers and laptops, and the cable can be used to connect headsets to game consoles and smartphones. However, the same method can be used to connect it to a PC or Mac. And in general, to any device that has an audio output with a diameter of 3.5 mm. In addition, ASUS ROG Strix Wireless has two antennas to improve wireless audio transmission and suppress interference. Still, we are talking about the 2.4 GHz frequency popular among most wireless devices, so additional antennas will come in handy here.

7.1 Virtual Surround Sound Headset software can add a bit of volume to the sound. Of course, there are only 2 speakers installed inside the ROG Strix Wireless, so with real 7.1 headsets, it will not be able to compete - like all other headphones with virtual surround sound. But the presence of such an option will be a pleasant plus. And the stock, as they say, does not hold a pocket.

Powerful battery A wireless headset is certainly good and modern, but charging it every few hours is very inconvenient. Therefore, a 900 mAh battery is installed inside the ASUS ROG Strix Wireless, which should be enough for 10 hours of operation. In short, you can play in such headphones all day and charge them at night.

Detachable microphone A detachable microphone will always be a great bonus to any headset. With it, you can not think about whether it is turned on or not. A microphone disconnected from the headset will certainly not transmit sound, and will eliminate the doubts of the paranoid. By the way, its leg is long and flexible so that the microphone can be positioned in the right place after connecting to the headset.

Description ASUS ROG Strix Wireless The headset comes in a classic ASUS ROG transparent box through which you can see the coveted headphones. Inside, in addition to the ASUS ROG Strix Wireless itself, there is an instruction manual, an AUX cable 1.5 meters long, as well as a USB transmitter and a charging cable. The ASUS ROG Strix Wireless headset is made in a bright, black and orange color scheme. Earlier, before the ROG and Strix lines merged together, all the "streaks" sported bright and noticeable orange accents, and ASUS ROG devices stood out with red red inserts. However, ASUS ROG Strix Wireless should not be considered an old woman, because audio equipment is not processors with video cards, and over the years it almost does not become outdated. So, on the outside of the ROG Wireless, round inserts are highlighted in orange, located in the center of the cups. Considering that the cups are shaped like the menacing gaze of the tawny owl, the symbol of the Strix range, ...