Dual GTX1080 ROG GX800 water-cooled laptop 2nd generation first review

IT168 Review Water cooling has always been a standard feature of high-end desktop computers. Whether it is its excellent heat dissipation nature or its cool marquee design, it has attracted a large number of gamers. In the notebook market, the water-cooling heat dissipation mechanism is also too difficult to integrate due to its large size. For this reason, ASUS Republic of Gamers has proposed a new solution-water-cooled expansion dock.

As early as the 2015 Taipei Computex, the National Gamer water-cooled GX700 engineering prototype was unveiled to the public, but it was not until February 2016 that the GX700 was released to global users. At that time, the GX700, known as "the world's first water-cooled notebook", was equipped with i7-6820HK, 32G DDR4 memory, 512G SSD, dual GTX 980 desktop graphics cards, and a 17.3-inch 1080P full HD display, becoming the king of new generation mobile PCs.

Recently, Republic of Players’ second-generation water-cooled notebook GX800, which brings a new upgrade, has also been officially unveiled to the public. Today we will take a look at what upgrades this new generation of water-cooled notebook has compared to the previous generation? And what are its strengths in terms of gaming performance.

Article introduction:

Since the appearance of GX800 has not changed much compared to the previous generation GX700, today we will analyze the heat dissipation, actual performance measurement,

game actual measurement, In-depth evaluation will be carried out in six major aspects, including overall appearance, detailed appearance, and peripheral peripherals.

Water-cooled heat dissipation and air-cooled heat dissipation bring the ultimate cooling experience

Article introduction: This aspect of evaluation is the most concerned direction for all gamers, and even within the PC industry. The editor conducted tests from three aspects: the connection between the water-cooling dock and the host, the main working principle of water-cooling heat dissipation, and the actual heat dissipation of the notebook. From the actual temperature test, we can see that the effect of water-cooling heat dissipation is still very obvious. For simple wind The cold dissipation has been greatly enhanced. Although the temperature of the whole machine does not seem to be as low as expected, the ROG GX700VO is equipped with an i7-7820HK processor and dual GTX1080 8G video memory graphics cards after all, so the heat generation can be imagined.

Compared with the first-generation water-cooled notebook GX700, the standard trolley case of the Republic of Gamers GX800 is only equipped with a water-cooled expansion dock. Compared with the previous generation trolley case that can accommodate both a water-cooled expansion dock and a notebook host, , the design is a bit bulky, so the machine can only carry the standard computer bag and trolley case of the GX800 when going out. ▲If you want to take the GX800 notebook host and the water-cooled docking station out at the same time, the scene must be like this.

▲Water-cooled docking station

Compared with the first-generation GX700, the water-cooled docking station of ROG GX800 has not changed essentially. Only the notebook power supply design has changed. GX800 adopts With a new power supply appearance, the giant power supply brings a higher output current - 16.9A. The appearance of the water-cooled docking station maintains the same design style as the host. It has a large number of irregular pattern designs, a protruding "big tongue" on the front, and a unique lever-type control key on the back, which all look cool. ▲

The connection area located in front of the fuselage

The connection area located in the front of the fuselage is mainly divided into two parts, the first part is the two outermost fixed rods and The two buckles on both sides of the red communication interface are used to fix the host and the water-cooled expansion dock. The second part is the remaining three interfaces, which are also the key to the function of water cooling. The red interface in the center is mainly responsible for the communication between the notebook device and the water-cooling docking station, while the two interfaces on both sides of it are respectively Used to output and recover refrigerant liquid.

In order to achieve a tight connection between the water-cooled docking station and the notebook host, the ROG GX800 water-cooled docking station is equipped with two exclusive control keys at the rear and on the top of the front section. When we correctly place the host on the protruding part in front of the water-cooled expansion dock and fully press the pressure lever behind it, we can achieve a smooth connection between the two interfaces.

When you need to disconnect the ROG GX800 from its water-cooling dock, you only need to press the button on the top of the front section of the water-cooling dock. The entire connection and disconnection process is very convenient and not as complicated as imagined.

Water-cooling heat dissipation principle:

The overall heat dissipation of ROG GX800 is divided into two parts, including conventional copper tube air-cooling heat dissipation and unique water-cooling heat dissipation. The air-cooling heat dissipation comes from the notebook host There are two air outlets on the left and right sides of the rear for exhausting air. Let’s focus on the principle of water-cooling heat dissipation: When the water-cooling dock is working, the water-cooling liquid flows out from the storage tank and enters the water circulation pipeline of the notebook device through the nozzle, and then the water-cooling dock Another nozzle collects the high-temperature water-cooling liquid flowing through the internal water circulation pipeline of the notebook. At this time, it is cooled by a high-power cooling fan and returned to the water-cooling liquid storage tank. It inhales cold air to further cool down and complete the next working cycle. Of course, regarding whether the water-cooling dock itself will leak water-cooling fluid, for ROG Players, this situation is obviously not allowed and will not happen. Players don’t have to worry.

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Air-cooling heat dissipation outlet▲

Gaming Center setting center can boost the fan and adjust the water-cooling dock fan and air-cooling heat dissipation fan. RPM. ▲Fan boosting: Use the automatic mode normally

Actual temperature test:

So what is the specific heat dissipation situation? Let’s test it through a specific baking machine test. We use the system stability test environment of AIDA64 to release all the performance of the graphics card, hard disk, processor, etc. The CPU occupancy rate is 100 for more than 30 minutes, and then use a thermal imager to conduct a temperature test.

▲AIDA64 system stability test, that is, copy machine test.

▲Thermal Imager Temperature Test

We can see that the temperature of the host is mainly concentrated directly above the keyboard surface and at the rotating shaft (i.e., the heat dissipation outlet). The main heating element is CPU and graphics card. The temperature performance is very good, with the maximum temperature being only 40.2 degrees Celsius. It can be said to be the best heat-dissipating gaming notebook to date, which is also an affirmation of its water-cooling heat dissipation. During the test, we placed our palms behind the left and right sides of the notebook host and directly above the water-cooling docking station. We can clearly feel the large airflow, especially the airflow above the water-cooling docking station is relatively larger.

Benchmark performance test: Dual 1080 i7-7820HK is invincible

Article introduction: i7-7820HK, dual GTX1080 8G video memory top gaming graphics card, 64G DDR4 quad-channel memory, 512G*3 SSD , 18.4-inch 4K display, this configuration is scary just to hear it! Let’s take a look at the performance scores of ROG GX800, a so-called top-spec gaming machine. ▲Official parameter configuration

CPU: i7-7820K, a mobile monster that is on par with the desktop i7-6700K

▲CPU-Z test score of i7-6820HK

Seeing the above test scores, we found that the performance of this machine actually exceeded the i7-6700K desktop processor, but friends who know it know that this is impossible. After all, the TDP is just half of the i7-6700K. As for why it is higher than i7-6700K, it may be due to the excellent overall configuration, or it may be due to overclocking.

Next, we use the CineBench? R15 version to test the CPU performance of the machine

to see what kind of performance this "beyond i7-6700K" mobile monster has Bar. CineBench is a very convincing CPU and graphics card testing system, the latest version is R15. Compared with the maximum 16 cores of the R11.5 version, the R15 version can support up to 256 logical cores. In addition, this version also strengthens the inspection of shaders, anti-aliasing, shadows, lights, and reflection blur, etc., and improves CPU performance. Detection is more accurate.

In CineBench? R15, the CPU test is biased towards CPU performance, and the OpenGL test score is biased towards the graphics card, but the overall performance of the two test scores affects each other. We mainly use CineBench? R15 to compare the performance of the i7-6700K processor and dual GTX 1080 graphics cards. ▲

Judging from the CPU comparison results, the performance of the i7-6700K processor is higher than that of the i7-4770K.

▲This picture is the test score of the i7-6700K we tested before. Judging from the scores in the picture, if overclocking is not included, the performance of the i7-6820K processor is indeed very good.

Video card: Dual GTX1080 8G video memory, the current consumer-grade card king ▲

CINEBENCH R15 OpenGL environment test: The quality of the dual GTX1080 card king is clear at a glance.

Next, we will use 3D-Mark 11 to test the P environment (720P resolution) and X environment (1080P resolution) to specifically demonstrate the overall performance of the graphics card and CPU.

▲First, let’s take a look at the scores of the previously tested desktop computer (i7-6700K dual GTX1080). Is it already amazing?

▲This is the test score of our GX800. It beats the desktop computer instantly. This is entirely due to the excellent water cooling.

Hard drive:

512G*3 ultra-large capacity pure solid-state drive ▲GX800

Equipped with an Intel 1536G SSD ultra-large solid-state drive, the overall transmission speed is very fast, providing users with Brings fast booting and smooth operation experience.

According to the official configuration, the machine is equipped with a total of three 512G pure solid-state drives, but judging from the test results, there is only one overall 1536G SSD. According to the official statement of the Republic of Gamers, the ROG GX800 will have three PCI-E NVMe solid-state drives form a RAID0 disk array. While integrating the hard drives, the read and write speeds of the hard drives are once again improved. The average transmission speed of 3.4G/S is the best interpretation of it. And what is worthy of recognition is that the transmission speed of this hard drive is very stable. ▲

Finally, we tested the overall performance of the GX800 under PC Mark 7. The test score of 7488 once again demonstrated the quality of the machine.

The above test data can only be described as "terrible". Taking the PCmark 7 test score as an example, it would be surprising if the test score of a conventional gaming notebook reaches more than 6000, and the ROG GX800 7488's What is the concept of scoring? Is there a "god-like existence"? The name of "Machine King" is well deserved. This performance completely relies on NVIDIA's new GTX1080 top-level gaming graphics card. The measured performance of GTX1080 is more than three times that of the desktop GTX980, not to mention that it is dual-core.

Game test: dual GTX1080 can instantly kill any large game

Article introduction: In terms of game test, we tested four large games - "Metro: Last Light", "GTA 5" ", "NBA 2K17", I believe many friends will think, "

You don’t need to test it to know that any game can run smoothly." However, we still have to uphold an objective attitude to feel what a laptop is. Emperor.

"Metro: Last Light": 1080P/4K resolution top special effects game operation

"Metro: Last Light" is a doomsday game developed by 4A-Games A science fiction-themed FPS game, a work in the "Metro" series, released on May 14, 2013. Although this is a relatively old game, it is still a game that requires very high configurations. Let me take a look at the recommended configurations of this machine.

From the above table, we can see

The minimum graphics card configuration requirements for "Metro: Last Light" in the DX11 environment are actually desktop-level GTX770 and R9-280K, and the recommended The configuration has been pushed to the desktop GTX 780Ti, GTX970, and R9-290X, which is really scary. Let's take a look at the performance of Kahuang. ▲Top game settings at 1080P resolution ▲The average FPS value is 132.4 ▲Top game settings at 4K resolution ▲The average FPS value is 82.45

"GTA 5": 1080P/4K resolution top special effects game operation ▲《 GTA 5》▲1080P resolution top game special effects settings ▲4K resolution top game special effects settings: Except for resolution, the rest are the same as 1080P settings ▲Game actual screen test

"NBA 2K17": 1080P resolution top special effects Game running conditions ▲ 1080P resolution and special effects fully turned on game settings ▲ Game test screenshots

Game test summary:

Judging from the actual test results of the above three games, ROG GX800 can be said It is a monster in the notebook circle. Any game with different configurations and all special effects can have such a high FPS, and its performance can even be comparable to top desktop computers.

The appearance continues the classic keyboard surface and incorporates a new white color scheme

Article introduction: Side A has not changed much for players familiar with the ROG series and friends of the previous generation GX700 products. For game fans who are looking forward to the second generation of water-cooled notebooks, it is somewhat disappointing. The change in the appearance design of the hinge cannot be said to be of much interest. Overall, it is very similar to the GFX72 series produced by ASUS ROG in late 2015.

The C-side keyboard still follows the classic "R" splicing scheme of the ASUS ROG series in recent years. The black and white splicing of metal and skin-like materials declares that it is still the continuation of the classic ROG. Among them, the function keys and The setting of shortcut keys is the magic weapon for gamers. Different from the classic design of ROG, the C-side keyboard incorporates a new white and black color scheme, bringing a fresh experience to this relatively "heavy" keyboard.

I believe that players who have seen the first-generation GX700 will not be too unfamiliar with the appearance of the ROG GX800. It can be said that they are almost identical! However, compared to the classic appearance of the GFX72, the ROG water-cooled gaming laptop series changes from the former's integrated hinge design and adopts a slightly retro hinge design, which makes the already angular body more tough. ▲

Republic of Gamers▲The lighting effect on side A after booting up is still quite cool

The spliced ??C side that continues the GFX72 series has made a breakthrough in the notebook industry since 2015 is an important popular element, but there are not many good manufacturers that can use it. ASUS Republic of Gamers' "R" splicing is one of the more mature splicing solutions that the editor has seen: larger keyboard area, metal and The black and white splicing of skin-like materials declares that it is still the continuation of the classic ROG.

The keyboard part of GX800 has been greatly changed compared to the previous generation. This is also the biggest change in the appearance of this generation of products. First of all, in terms of appearance, the GX800 adopts a new white and black design, while the backlight still uses the classic red design, and compared with the previous generation, it also adds a variety of backlight modes. Secondly, the function keys have also been changed. There are seven function keys in the upper left corner of the GX800 keyboard, including:

ROG key (Gaming Center setting center), three function keys, video recording shortcut keys, and two Volume adjustment shortcut keys. ▲

Keyboard backlight mode adjustment ▲Three-level adjustable red keyboard backlight,

The prominently marked "WASD" button makes it easier for gamers to find key positions accurately.

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GameFirst IV setting interface, the previous generation GX700 is

GameFirst III

Compared with the three custom programming shortcut keys, the biggest feature of the ROG GX800 keyboard surface is Nothing is better than the ROG key (Gaming Center) and

GameFirst IV settings. This key can set three usage modes and control the fan speed of the host and water-cooled docking station, helping players adjust and quickly understand system information. And carry out personalized optimization settings for different games to quickly start the game.

The three-sensory experience of touch, hearing and vision is truly worth the money

Article introduction: The screen of ROG GX800 has been upgraded compared to the previous generation product, equipped with an 18.4-inch 4K resolution The high-definition display brings gamers more detailed and high-quality videos and game images; as for the touchpad, the machine uses the same separated button design as the previous generation; in terms of sound effects, the machine is equipped with Sonic Studio intelligent In addition to providing immersive auditory effects, the sound control system, combined with Sonic Rader II sonic radar technology, can also provide gamers such as CF with the precise location of enemies. From a practical point of view, Sonic Rader II sonic radar technology may be the favorite among gamers, but subjective feelings such as sound effects still vary from person to person.

The previous generation GX700 version did not come with a 4K resolution display as standard, but gamers could choose it according to their own needs. This time, the first batch of production products comes standard with a 4K resolution display. This is entirely due to the fact that the performance of the dual GTX1080 graphics cards has improved by no means compared to the previous generation desktop-level GTX980. In addition, ROG GX700V supports NVIDIA G-SYNC technology, which can ensure that players can obtain a very coherent and smooth picture display effect without limiting the number of frames. ▲

The speaker units are located on both sides just below the screen and the speaker units on both sides of the front of the fuselage.

Asus ROG GX800 has 4 built-in speakers and uses the Sonic Studio intelligent sound control system. Using the one-click virtual surround function, it can simulate 7.1 channels through stereo (2-channel) headphones, bringing users to bring an immersive auditory experience; at the same time, ROG GX800 can also use Sonic Rader II sonic radar technology to use the radar map on the monitor screen to display the relative positions of gunshots, footsteps and other sounds in the game, providing gamers with Preemptive gaming experience. ▲

The large skin-like touchpad area has a low-key design, blends perfectly with the background color of the C surface, and feels quite good.

The expansion interfaces on the left side of the fuselage include: laptop lock, cooling air outlet, power charging port, network cable socket, HDMI output interface, mini DP output interface, two USB-C interfaces (thunder and lightning), USB 3.0 interface, and two audio input and output interfaces.

Two USB3.0 interfaces that support fast charging are standard. The addition of Type-C and Thunderbolt 3.0 interfaces greatly enhances its expansion performance. It should be mentioned here that ASUS is really the pioneer in popularizing the Type-C interface. Almost all new models launched since the second half of 2015 come with it as standard, and their improvement in data transfer rate is indeed obvious. In addition, from this angle we can also clearly see the location of the speakers on the interface surface.

The expansion interfaces on the right side of the fuselage include: SD card slot, two USB 3.0 interfaces, and heat dissipation vents.

ROG Trolley Computer Bag: Peripheral accessories are equally professional

Article introduction: The consistent, tough and sturdy suitcase design is enough to show that the Nation of Gamers is interested in its water-cooled notebook ROG GX800. To save time, the GX800 comes standard with a ROG trolley case and computer bag, making the machine portable.

However, what is puzzling is that this trolley case can only carry water-cooled docking stations. We have also raised questions above. Let us take a look at these two exquisite peripherals.

ROG Trolley Case:

For professional players and game enthusiasts, the biggest advantage of gaming notebooks over desktops is the sentence of the hero Mundo in "League of Legends" As the classic line goes, "Go wherever you want to go." Portability has almost become one of the important considerations for consumers today when purchasing a computer, whether they are choosing a business laptop that is portable or a gaming laptop that is powerful but very bulky. As the world's first gaming notebook equipped with a water-cooled expansion dock, portability seems to be quite tricky. A bulky notebook host plus a water-cooling expansion dock is obviously not something that an ordinary travel bag can carry.

In order to maximize the advantages of notebook portability, ROG GX800 comes with this business-style travel trolley case. The overall appearance of the ROG GX800's exclusive luggage adopts ROG's classic color scheme. The composite texture of pure black vertical stripes is matched with an orange metal frame, which looks very classy. The "THE OF CHAMPIONS" slogan on the front of the luggage is combined with the classic ROG pattern. It conveys to the outside world that this is a masterpiece from ROG. We can see the good intentions of ROG GX800 designers from the "simple" design appearance of the suitcase.

ROG computer bag:

The GX800’s standard computer bag uses red and black colors, still showing the classic design of the Republic of Gamers.

▲Computer bag detailed design

In order to make the user more comfortable to carry, the ROG computer bag has put a lot of effort into the back fit, with soft sponge design and wider straps The user will not feel too heavy when carrying the computer.

Photo album ROG trolley case computer bag unboxing: 100 years of professional luggage

Other accessories display:

▲ROG mouse▲The one above the NVIDIA label is ANT Antenna input interface

Evaluation summary: An unquestionable laptop king

This article mainly tests the ASUS Republic of Gamers second-generation water-cooled notebook ROG GX800 from six major aspects. and applicable. The machine is equipped with the same water-cooled docking station as the first generation, NVIDIA's new 10 series graphics card dual GTX1080 8G video memory (***16G video memory), Intel's new seventh-generation mobile top flagship processor i7-7820HK, 64G DDR4 four-channel high-speed With memory, 512G*3 pure solid-state drive, and an 18.4-inch 4K resolution screen, the quality of the machine is clearly evident.

The characteristic design of ROG GX800 mainly includes the following three aspects. First of all, as a water-cooled notebook, ROG GX800 uses a water-cooled docking station, but portability is still an unavoidable problem. Therefore, ROG designers specially designed customized travel cases and computer bags for ASUS water-cooled notebooks to carry them. Secondly, the water-cooling heat dissipation device constructed by the water-cooling expansion dock is undoubtedly the biggest highlight of this notebook. The dual cooling system composed of air-cooling heat dissipation guided by copper tube heat conduction and water-cooling heat dissipation guided by the water-cooling device ensures dual GTX1080 graphics cards and i7 - A large amount of heat accumulates in the 7820HK high-performance processor; finally, the performance of the dual GTX1080 graphics cards is about three times that of the previous generation desktop-level GTX980, making the overall performance more powerful.

In terms of price, the low-end ROG GX800 costs 30,000, while the high-end version costs 50,000.

General gamers have already passed on the price, 30,000 The above price is simply an astronomical figure for non-professional gamers and non-rich friends, and for players who like DIY, the cost of assembling a high-configuration gaming desktop is far less than 30,000 oceans. .

Therefore, the main sales channels of this machine tend to be professional players and some well-off game enthusiasts. From my personal point of view, ASUS aims to build the ROG water-cooled series into an iconic milestone product in the history of PC, and compete with the world's top e-sports teams Cooperate to create a professional and easy-to-use water-cooled gaming notebook for professional players, which will not be mass-produced.