Asus ROG Strix G16 review (2023 G614JV

This is my detailed review of the Asus ROG Strix G16 series, the mid-tier mid-sized Republic of Gamers laptop available as of 2023.

The Strix series shares its core with Asus’s highest-tier ROG Strix Scar series, which I’ve already reviewed here – ROG Scar 16 review.

Internally, the two are nearly identical, but with a few important differences. Among them, the Strix G16 is available with mid-tier Nvidia RTX GPUs, while the Scar 16 only comes with RTX 4080 and 4090 graphics. Another are the display options, where the Strix G16 is only available with IPS panels, while on the Scar 16 you’re mostly getting a superior mini LED panel. And then there are also more speakers on the Scars.

This aside, the Strix G16 also looks different than the Scar 16, with a lighter gray color scheme and fewer RGB elements. But the two are otherwise the same chassis and overall functionality.

Down below I’ve gathered my thoughts and impressions on this 2023 Asus ROG Strix G16 series, with a close look at all the details that you should be aware of as a potential buyer. Our review unit is the i9 + RTX 4060 configuration, but we’ll also cover the performance of the RTX 4070 and 4080 configurations, based on our other reviews of ROG Strix laptops.

Specs sheet as reviewed – Asus ROG Strix G16 G614

This Strix G16 (i9 + RTX 4060) is the mid-specced configuration available with the 2023 ROG Strix G16 series. Other options include RTX 4050, RTX 4070 and RTX 4080 dGPUs, as well as a Core i7 HX processor option on the base-level models, plus various amounts of RAM and storage.

Design and construction

The Asus ROG Strix G16 is a mid-sized full-performance laptop. It’s not portable or compact, but rather a notebook meant to maximize performance and cooling in a 16-inch chassis.

In fact, the Strix G16 and the Scar 16 are identical concepts, as already mentioned earlier. You’re just getting better specs, a more refined design, and a few extra features with the Scar.

That means this Strix G16 is a simpler gray color, which some might find rather dull looking, or might I even say ugly. But at least it is a versatile color that does a good job at hiding smudges. The various branding elements are quite visible on this gray color, both on the lid and on the main deck, more so than on the darker color of the Scar, which makes the design a little more crowded.

That aside, there are fewer RGB elements on the Strix, with just that lightbar on the front and sides, and no RGB logo on the lid. I don’t mind this.

As far as materials go, the lid is made from a thick and sturdy piece of aluminum, while the main chassis is plastic, but still solid made. These plastics might not feel as nice to the touch as the metals used on other devices, but actually allow the laptop to feel cooler to the touch with demanding loads and long gaming sessions. It also allows for a slight weight reduction.

Speaking of the sides, the materials used on this Strix are a little more basic than on the Scar, with plain-color plastics all around the edges and main deck, instead of the partially translucent plastics used on the Scars. There’s also non removable ROG plate in the laptop’s top-left corner, the removable and interchangeable version being exclusive to the Scar.

All these aside, the Strix G16 and Scar 16 are similar designs with similar ergonomics and functionality.

That means this G16 is a full-size 16-inch laptop that weighs about 2.35 kilos / 5.2 lbs, so is not quite a heavy as other 16-inch performance notebooks, and is also a little lighter than the Scar 16 as well. The chassis allows for a spacious keyboard without a NumPad, grippy rubber feet on the bottom, and friendly edges around the main case.

At the same time, Asus implements these awfully positioned status LEDs, placed just below the screen and bright and annoying when using the laptop at night. I’m also not a fan of the always-on light in the power button and the screen’s hinges, as they only allow the screen to lean back to 135 degrees, and not all the way flat to the back. At least they’re solid and smooth, otherwise.

As for the IO, there’s a good set of ports here, but they are only grouped on the right and left sides, because the entire rear-edge of this laptop is used for cooling. Other designs include ports back there, which allows for a less cluttered setup when having multiple peripherals connected.

On the left, you’ll find the power plug, the LAN port, the full-size HDMI 2.1 FRL, and the two USB-C ports. One of them supports Thunderbolt 4 with 40 Gbps USB, no charging, and DP through the iGPU, and the other is a regular USB-C 3.2 with 10 Gbps USB, 100W charging, and DP through the dGPU. On the right, there are two USB-A slots.

There’s still no card reader on this Strix series, and no Lock of any kind. But at least they gave up on that useless KeyStone occupying space on the right edge with the previous generations.

I’ll also add that this Strix G generation only implements a system of 2x speakers (placed on the bottom), without the extra tweeters offered with the Scars, despite still having those speaker cuts underneath the screen, to the right and left of the status LEDs. There are also no biometrics: no IR camera and no finger sensor.

Keyboard and trackpad

The keyboard on the Strix G16 is an update of the rubber-dome keyboard design offered on past ROG laptops.

But there are actually two keyboards and touchpads variations available for this series. The keyboards are the same layout, but differ in aspect and in functionality: the keycaps are different and the illumination is either 4-zone RGB or per-key RGB. The touchpads are also either a basic surface, or one that integrates a virtual NumberPad. On this unit, we have the 4-zone keyboard and the standard touchpad.

This keyboard is a minimalist layout with a central deck of properly sized and spaced main keys, and without a NumPad section. Instead, there’s an extra column of media keys at the very right side, and five customizable keys positioned separately in the top-left part, as on most other ROG devices.

I would have preferred if those keys in the right column were mapped as PgUp/PgDn/Home/End by default and not as media keys. Instead, that functionality is implemented as secondaries to the arrow keys.

Speaking of, the arrow keys have been updated on this generation, and are now full-size keys intertwined between the other keys on the lower-right side. I rather prefer the smaller and better spaced-out arrows implemented in the past design, but perhaps full-size arrows make more sense on such a gaming computer. Perhaps.

The typing experience hasn’t changed notably from the previous Strix generations, and doesn’t differ in any notable way from the variant implemented in the Scar 16, with per-key lighting. This is still a good keyboard with average stroke depth and good overall key feedback. No complaints here.

The keys are RGB backlit, with 4-zones in this variant, and various effects selectable in Armoury Crate and the Aura Creator app. The LEDs are bright enough and uniform, with some light creeping from underneath the keycaps. This is especially visible because the keycaps have translucent sides. The QWER ASDF keys are also entirely translucent. I’m not necessarily a fan of this design, but it’s fine.

I must add that unlike on the keyboard implement with the Scar 16 model, the F1-F12 writing on the top keys is backlit on this variant.

For mouse, the taller format of this 16-inch chassis allowed Asus to implement a taller glass clickpad than on the past Strix G15 models. The surface is spacious and smooth to the touch, and the physical clicks are smooth and quiet. The surface still rattles with firmer taps, though, so tap it gently.

On this laptop variant, the touchpad doesn’t double as a virtual NumberPad. But you will get that touchpad version with some G16 configurations, particularly the highest-tier models.

As for biometrics, there are still none on this 2023 ROG Strix G16.

Screen

There’s a 16-inch 16:10 matte display on the ROG Strix G16 series, with either an IPS QHD+ or an IPS FHD+ panel option.

We have the QHD+ panel on our sample, which seems to be the most widespread of the two, as the FHD+ is only available on some of the lower-end configurations.

This is a versatile laptop screen, with 100% DCI-P3 color coverage, good brightness and decent contrast and blacks. This is also a matte non-glare finish, so well suited for outdoor or bright office space use.

Furthermore, this panel is 240Hz refresh with fast response times (3-7 ms GtG), both must-have features on a modern gaming laptop. On top of these, GSync is supported on the main display with the 2023 ROG laptops, for smooth images without any tearing in games.

Here’s what we got in our tests of this panel, with an X-Rite i1 Display Pro sensor:

• Panel HardwareID: TL160ADMP03-0;
• Coverage: 99.8% sRGB, 83.8% AdobeRGB, 98.1% DCI-P3;
• Type: 10-bit HDR, with Dolby Vision support;
• Measured gamma: 2.08;
• Max brightness in the middle of the screen: 480.88 cd/m2 on power;
• Min brightness in the middle of the screen: 24.95 cd/m2 on power;
• Contrast at max brightness: 1074:1;
• White point: 6900 K;
• Black on max brightness: 0.44 cd/m2;
• PWM: No.

There’s room to further improve the out of the box pre-calibration. Once calibrated, we measured good luminosity and color uniformity levels on our sample. However, some light bleeding was visible around the edges on dark backgrounds. Make sure to check this on your unit, and decide if you’re fine with what you got, or return the laptop if you’re not.

As far as the FHD+ IPS screen option goes, that’s a slightly lower tier panel, with around 350-nits of brightness and 100% sRGB colors, plus 165Hz refresh and 7ms response. If possible, I’d pay extra for the QHD+ screen, it’s way better across the board.

Hardware and performance

Our test model is the mid-specced configuration of the Asus ROG Strix G16, code name G614JV, built on an Intel Core i9-13980HX processor, 32 GB of DDR5-4800 memory in dual channel, 1 TB of SSD storage, and dual graphics: the Nvidia RTX 4060 8GB dGPU and the Iris UHD iGPU integrated within the Intel processor.

Before we proceed, keep in mind that our review unit was sent over by Asus and it runs on mature software available as of mid-June 2023 (BIOS 309, Armoury Crate 5.6.3.0, GeForce 531.79 drivers). Few aspects might still change in any significant matter with later software at this point.

Spec-wise, this 2023 ASUS Strix ROG G16 is built on the latest Intel and Nvidia hardware available to date.

The Core i9-13980HX is the top mobile processor in Intel’s Raptor Lake 13th-gen platform, with 24 Cores and 32 Threads. It is a hybrid design with 8 High-Performance and dual-threaded Cores, and 16 extra Efficiency cores, which work together or separately in the various loads. The design and thermal module of this Strix G16 allow the processor to run at up to ~135W of sustained power in demanding CPU loads, on the Turbo or Manual profiles.

For the GPU, the 2023 Strix G16 series is available with mid-tier RTX 4000 chips. What we have on this sample is the RTX 4060 Laptop dGPU running at up to 140W with Dynamic Boost, and you can also spec this series with an RTX 4050 140W or RTX 4070 140W, as wel as an RTX 4080 175W on some configurations. With the exception of the 4080 modell, these GPUs are lower power than the RTX 4080/4090 implemented in the Scar 16, and allows the laptop to run cooler as a result.

There’s still a MUX on this design, for uncompromised gaming performance, but new for the year is support for Nvidia’s Advanced Optimus technology and GSync on the main display.

As for the RAM and storage options, the laptop still comes with two accessible memory DIMMs and two M.2 2280 SSD slots. Our unit shipped with 32 GB of DDR5-4800 RAM in dual-channel and a single 1TB gen4 Micron SSD. This is not as fast as the Samsung SSD offered on the Scar 16 series.

Getting inside to the components required you to pop up the back panel, held in place by a couple of Philips screws, with the one in the lower-right corner being a pop-up screw. Careful, these screws are of different lengths, so make sure you put them back the right way.

The light bar on the front edge of the laptop is no longer integrated into the D-Panel, as on the previous Strix generations, which means you can easily lift up the panel without any concern.

Inside you’ll find all the components, the big battery, and the thermal module. Everything is packed up tightly inside this 16-inch chassis.

Specs aside, Asus offer their standard power profiles in the Armoury Crate control app: Silent, Performance, Turbo, and Manual, with various power settings and fan profiles between them, summarized in the following table.

Aside from these main power profiles, there are also some GPU options to choose from: Ultimate (dGPU only, requires a restart when selected), Standard (enables Advanced Optimus), Optimized (enables regular Optimus), and Eco (regular Optimus, but disables the dGPU). I mostly kept the laptop on Standard for daily use and tests, and opted for Ultimate for gaming.

Before we jump to the performance section, here’s how this laptop handles everyday use and multitasking on the Silent profile, unplugged from the wall. For what is worth, the fans keep mostly idle on this Silent mode with casual use, as the 0DB technology keeps the fans inactive most of time, as a result of the CPU/GPU staying under 60 degrees C.

Performance and benchmarks

On to more demanding loads, we start by testing the CPU’s performance by running the Cinebench R15 test for 15+ times in a loop, with a 1-2 seconds delay between each run.

The Core i9 processor stabilizes at ~125W of sustained power on the Turbo setting, with temperatures of around 95 C and scores of ~4700 points. The fans spin at ~46-47 dB at head level in this mode.

Voltage control is locked with both XTU and Throttlestop, but there is an undervolting option in the BIOS that allows for up to a -30 mV undervolt. With the undervolt, the CPU scores 1-2% higher than on stock Turbo.

There’s also the option of using the Manual profile and bumping the fans to 100% rpms. With the fans at max and the back of the laptop raised up to facilitate better airflow into the fans, this mode translates into a slight noise increase (50-52 dBA) and a 2-4% increase in scores over the standard Turbo mode. The CPU is still thermally limited at 95 C even in this mode.

Switching over to the Performance profile translates in the CPU stabilizing at ~115W and temperatures in the mid-80s, with the fans spinning much quieter at ~37-38 dB at head-level. The system power limits the CPU on this profile, and the performance takes a 10% drop from the Turbo profile.

On the Silent profile, the CPU runs at around 90W for a few loops, and then stabilizes around 65W, with barely audible fans (sub 35 dB) and temperatures in the high-70s C. The i9-13980HX scores ~3500 points in the Cinebench test on this profile, which is about 65% of the Turbo performance.

Finally, the CPU runs at ~70 W of power on battery use, on the Performance profile, with scores of around 3500 points. Details below.

Overall, these are excellent results in this test.

Sure, other implementations of the i9-13980HX are able to run at higher sustained power and score around 5% higher than this Strix G16, but this is still very competitive. And much faster than the Ryzen-based Strix G15 reviewed last year.

At the same time, Ryzen 7000 HX platforms available this year in the Strix G17 and Scar 17 score around 5500 points in the Cinebench R15 test, beating this Intel HX platform by about 15%.

We then went ahead and further verified our findings with the more taxing Cinebench R23 loop test and Blender – Classroom, which resulted in similar findings to those explained above (~125W limit for Turbo, ~100W for Performance, ~65W for Silent).

We also ran the 3DMark CPU test on the Turbo profile.

Finally, we ran our combined CPU+GPU stress tests on this notebook. 3DMark stress runs the same test for 20 times in a loop and looks for performance variation and degradation over time.

This review unit passed the test both when having the laptop flat on the desk, or placed on a raiser stand in order to favor airflow into the fans. Unlike on the Scar, the lower-power GPU allows this system to run at cooler temperatures and not overheat in any way that impacts the crossload performance. We’ll further discuss this in the Gaming section below.

Next, we ran the entire suite of tests and benchmarks, on the Turbo profile with the GPU set on the Standard mode (MUX on Advanced Optimus), and with the screen set at the native QHD+ resolution. The CPU runs on stock voltage for these tests.

Here’s what we got:

• 3DMark 13 –CPU profile: max – 13249, 16 – 9465, 8 – 7090, 4 – 4174, 2 – 2248, 1 – 1166;
• 3DMark 13 – Fire Strike (DX11): 24308 (Graphics – 26342, Physics – 42777, Combined – 10918);
• 3DMark 13 – Port Royal (RTX): 6032;
• 3DMark 13 – Time Spy (DX12): 11381 (Graphics – 10807, CPU – 16291);
• 3DMark 13 – Speed Way (DX12 Ultimate): 2622;
• Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Extreme: 6573;
• Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Medium: 18551;
• Handbrake 1.3.3 (4K to 1080p encode): 74.82 average fps;
• Handbrake 1.6.1 (4K to 1080p encode): 110.21 average fps;
• PassMark 10: Rating: 7301 (CPU: 51201, 3D Graphics: 21423, Memory: 3237, Disk Mark: 24392);
• PCMark 10: 8016 (Essentials – 11788, Productivity – 10854, Digital Content Creation – 10925);
• GeekBench 5.5.1: Multi-core: 19814, Single-Core: 2067;
• GeekBench 6.0.2: Multi-core: 16516, Single-Core: 2883;
• CineBench R15 (best run): CPU 4999 cb, CPU Single Core 312 cb;
• CineBench R20 (best run): CPU 12426 cb, CPU Single Core 824 cb;
• CineBench R23: CPU 32412 cb (best single run), CPU 29370 cb (10 min run), CPU Single Core 2149 cb;
• x265 HD Benchmark 64-bit: 18.47 s.

And here are some workstation benchmarks, on the same Turbo profile:

• Blender 3.01 – BMW scene – CPU Compute: 1m 23s ;
• Blender 3.01 – BMW scene – GPU Compute: 20.20s (CUDA), 8.86s (Optix);
• Blender 3.01 – Classroom scene – CPU Compute: 3m 15s;
• Blender 3.01 – Classroom scene – GPU Compute: 40.93s (CUDA), 20.80s (Optix);
• Blender 3.41 – BMW scene – CPU Compute: 1m 22s;
• Blender 3.41 – BMW scene – GPU Compute: 21.00s (CUDA), 8.87 (Optix);
• Blender 3.41 – Classroom scene – CPU Compute: 3m 27s;
• Blender 3.41 – Classroom scene – GPU Compute: 41.05s (CUDA), 20.40s (Optix);

• PugetBench – DaVinci Resolve: 1570;
• PugetBench – Adobe After Effects: -;
• PugetBench – Adobe Photoshop: 1153;
• PugetBench – Adobe Premiere: 1272;

• SPECviewperf 2020 – 3DSMax: 97.02;
• SPECviewperf 2020 – Catia: 62.80;
• SPECviewperf 2020 – Creo: 108.57;
• SPECviewperf 2020 – Energy: 36.63;
• SPECviewperf 2020 – Maya: 363.14;
• SPECviewperf 2020 – Medical: 36.22;
• SPECviewperf 2020 – SNX: 24.37;
• SPECviewperf 2020 – SW: 231.57;
• V-Ray Benchmark: 20702 – CPU, 1231 – CUDA, 1833 – RTX.

These are solid results for this sort of top-tier CPU + mid-tier GPU configuration, on par with our findings on similar devices such as the Alienware m16 or the Lenovo Legion Pro 5i.

On the CPU side, this performs within 95% of the fastest implementations of the i9-13980HX platform we’ve tested so far, and on the GPU side, this offers as much as you can expect from a full-power RTX 4060.

i9 (13th gen) + RTX 4080, 4070 or 4060 performance

Asus offer this laptop in a multitude of options, and I expect many of you to want to compare the 4080, 4070 and 4060 specs on this sort of chassis. I haven’t yet tested the 4050 model, but will update the table once we do.

The i9 + RTX 4070 scores a little higher in some of the CPU tests, but that’s because the test unit is the larger 18-inch Strix G18, with a larger cooling module.

On the GPU side, the RTX 4070 is about 15% faster in regular GPU loads, and 20% faster in RT tests and games.

As for the RTX 4080 configuration, that’s in a different league altogether, 50-60% faster in GPU loads, and 70-80% the performance in RT. However, you’ll rarely find the RTX 4080 on the Strix G16, as that’s mostly reserved for the Strix Scar 16 within the 16-inch ROG lineup. You will find the RTX 4080 on some Strix G18 configurations, though.

Turbo Mode vs. Performance, Silent

Let’s also discuss the Performance and Silent profiles offered in Armoury Crate.

The laptop runs at ~48 dBA on the Turbo profile, which is not as loud as on most other devices, but still loud enough. So if you’re willing to sacrifice the performance to some extent for quieter fans, the Performance and Silent profiles should be of interest.

Here’s how this 2023 ROG Strix G16 performs on the Performance profile, which limits the fans to around 38 dB at head level.

• 3DMark 13 – Fire Strike: 23641 (Graphics – 25440, Physics – 40328, Combined – 10991);
• 3DMark 13 – Time Spy: 11219 (Graphics – 10647, CPU – 16141);
• Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Extreme: 6408;
• CineBench R20 (best run): CPU 10965 cb, CPU Single Core 815 CB;
• Blender 3.41 – Classroom scene – CPU Compute: 3m 38s.

The CPU runs at high power in shorter loads, but at about 85% of its Turbo capabilities in sustained longer-duration loads. The GPU, on the other hand, runs at about 90-95% of its Turbo mode performance. Not bad at all, but do consider the internal temperatures as well, which we’ll discus in the gaming section down below.

You can also opt for the Silent profile, in which case the fans won’t go over 35 dB. Here’s what we got in this case:

• 3DMark 13 – Fire Strike: 23053 (Graphics – 26056, Physics – 34787, Combined – 9726);
• 3DMark 13 – Time Spy: 9402 (Graphics – 8835, CPU – 14784);
• Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Extreme: 5224;
• CineBench R20 (best run): CPU 9763 cb, CPU Single Core 757 CB;
• Blender 3.41 – Classroom scene – CPU Compute: 4m 10s.

Both the CPU and the GPU run at 75-90% of their capabilities in this mode, due to the power limitations applied by the profile. Nonetheless, these are excellent for this sort of profile.

Gaming performance

Lt’s see how this mid-tier i9 + RTX 4060 configuration of the Strix G16 handles modern games.

We tested a couple of different types of games on the various available profiles at the screen’s native QHD+ resolution, all with the MUX set on the Ultimate GPU mode.

Here are the results:

• Battlefield V, Cyberpunk, Doom, Witcher 3 – recorded with Fraps/in-game FPS counter in campaign mode;
• Far Cry 5, 6, Metro, Red Dead Redemption 2, Tomb Raider – recorded with the included Benchmark utilities;
• Red Dead Redemption 2 Optimized profile based on these settings.

Those above are rasterization tests, and here are some results for RTX – Ray Tracing performance, with and without DLSS.

This configuration handles most modern games at even QHD+ resolution and Ultra settings, but with of the most demanding titles you’ll have to trim down the graphics settings for 60+ fps. Furthermore, the RT performance is rather limited here, although activating DLLS in supported titles helps-out the experience a fair bit. Nonetheless, of RT and DLLS gaming are important, you’ll want to opt for a higher-tier configuration.

As for how the RTX 4070 and RTX 4080 configurations compare in games, you’ll find the results in our reviews of the Strix G18 and Scar 16. You’ll also find the RTX 4090 gaming performance in the Scar 18 review.

With that out of the way, let’s go over some performance and temperature logs.

The Turbo mode ramps up the fans to levels of ~48 dB with the laptop sitting on the desk. This is averagely loud for this sort of computer.

With the laptop on the desk, the CPU runs hot at around 95 degrees Celsius in the tested titles. The GPU runs warm and even hot as well, at 80-82 degrees and only around 110-120 W of TGP power (which is enough to allow the GPU to work at its maximum speeds and potential). These are higher temperatures than I was expecting given the lower GPU power on this unit, compared to the RTX 4080 in the Scar 16.

Placing the laptop on a raiser stand, in order to allow for better airflow underneath the chassis and into the fans, help shed 2-4 degrees C in most titles, so I’d still do it for long gaming sessions. But the impact is not that significant, as the CPU still runs very hot here, at 90+ Celsius.

You could also opt for the Manual profile which allows customizing the power setting and fan profiles. For testing, I’ve pushed all the fans to 100% rpms, bumped the laptop on a raiser stand, and kept the power settings as they come by default. This raises the fan noise over 52 dBA, with some impact on the temperatures, but no impact on the performance.

If you’re willing to sacrifice the framerates to some extent and get a quieter gaming experience, the Performance and Silent profiles are worth pursuing.

On our unit, the Performance profile drops the fans’ noise to ~38 dBA at head level, limits the CPU power to some extent, and barely impacts the GPU, which still runs at max potential in most titles. That’s why the framerates only drop by about 5-10% compared to the Turbo profile.

Even the temperatures are a little better on this Performance profile, in the 80s on the CPU and on the GPU. The GPU, in fact, runs a little warmer here than on Turbo mode, so you’ll want to raise up the laptop to keep GPU temperatures at bay.

Here are the logs for Performance mode with the laptop flat on the desk.

And here are the logs for Performance mode with the laptop raised up on the stand.

The Silent profile is hardly as useful, as it limits the GPU at around 55-60W of power. Sure, the fans keep very quiet on this mode at sub 35 dBA, but you’ll have to lower the resolution and trim the graphics settings to get playable framerates on modern titles on this power mode. This is still fine for FHD+ gaming in most titles, though.

Noise, Heat, Connectivity, speakers, and others

Asus have completely updated the thermal design of this 2023 Strix G16 in comparison to the previous 2022 Strix G15/G17 generations. In fact, the thermal module on this series is identical to the one on the Scar 16, with the exact same layout of fans and heatpipes and radiators, despite the lower-power GPUs in this Strix.

There are three fans now, a more ample set of heatpipes, and radiators on the side and across the entire back edge. A massive full-length radiator is built over the entire back now, with a heatpipe on top that feeds into the main CPU/GPU heatpipes.

Furthermore, Thermal Grizzly’s Conductonaut Extreme liquid metal compound is applied on the CPU, but not on the GPU on most configurations (only on the RTX 4080 variant there’s LM on the GPU, the other variants get regular thermal paste).

As a result, the components run fairly warm in this chassis, both on the CPU and the GPU. So I recommend placing the laptop on a raiser stand in order to help the airflow of fresh air underneath the chassis, even if the impact is not major.

As far as noise levels go, expect 52 dBA on Manual with max-fans, ~48 dBA on Turbo, ~38 dBA of Performance, and 35 dBA on the Silent profile. Turbo and Performance mode are quieter here than on the Scar 16. I haven’t noticed any coil whining on this unit, but that’s no guarantee you won’t on yours. Make sure to properly listen for any potential issues within your return term.

Now, as far as the outer case temperatures go, there are some hotspots in the area above the keyboard and on the underbelly, over the main components, which go past 50 degrees Celsius on Performance and Turbo, but the arm-rest and keyboard areas, the surfaces that you’ll get in contact with, rarely go above high-30s. Thus, this laptop never felt hot to the touch during my time with it.

Keep in mind that I’ve measured the below FLIR recordings in a 24-25 C ambient room, with the laptop on the desk. Placing the laptop on a raised stand will positively impact these temperatures, dropping them by a few degrees.

*Gaming – Silent – playing Cyberpunk for 30 minutes, Silent profile, fans at ~35 dB
*Gaming – Performance – playing Cyberpunk for 30 minutes, fans at ~38 dB
*Gaming – Turbo, on desk – playing Cyberpunk for 30 minutes, fans at ~48 dB

Gaming aside, this laptop is a breeze with everyday use, with multitasking, browsing, or video streaming. The 0dB Technology allows the fans to completely switch off with light use on the Silent profile, as long as the hardware stays under 60 C, which is most of the time. And that’s both on battery or when plugged in.

*Daily Use – streaming Netflix in EDGE for 30 minutes, Silent profile,  fans at 0 dB

For connectivity, there’s Wireless 6E and Bluetooth 5 on this unit, as well as 2.5 Gigabit Lan, an update from the previous generations. This sample performed well on wi-fi with my setup.

The audio quality here is pretty good for laptop speakers, with two main speakers firing on the bottom and extra tweeters firing through the grills under the display.

The sound is fairly rich and with some bass, as well as loud at ~76-78 dB at head level. I haven’t noticed any distortions at high levels, but the armrest vibrates at higher volumes, so you’ll want to use headphones for your games if this is something that bothers you.

Finally, the camera… there is an included camera positioned at the top of the screen and flanked by microphones. It’s merely a 720p HD shooter, though, so not much in image quality, especially in dimmer rooms. But at least it’s there for when you’ll need it, unlike on some previous ROG notebooks.

Battery life

There’s a 90Wh battery inside all the 2023 ROG models, including this Strix G16.

The system is also set to automatically switch the screen’s refresh to 60 Hz when using the laptop on battery power.

Here’s what we got on our review unit in terms of battery life, with the laptop on the Standard GPU mode and the screen set at a brightness of around 120 nits (~50% brightness).

• 16 W (~5-6 h of use) – text editing in Google Drive, Silent  Mode, screen at 50%, WiFi ON;
• 15.5 W (~5-6 h of use) – 4K fullscreen video on Youtube in Edge, Silent Mode, screen at 50%, WiFi ON;
• 17 W (~5-6 h of use) – Netflix 4K HDR fullscreen in Edge, Silent Mode, screen at 50%, WiFi ON;
• 22 W (~4-5 h of use) – browsing in Edge, Silent Mode, screen at 50%, WiFi ON;
• 85 W (~1 h of use) – Gaming – Witcher 3, Performance Mode, screen at 50%, WiFi ON, no fps limit.

Not bad, but not great either.

This lasts for quite a bit longer with light use and video streaming than the Scar 16 we’ve tested in the past. The miniLED panel most likely takes a toll on that one.

I’ll also add that the 2023 ROG Strix G16 comes with a 280W power brick on all models, which is mid-sized by today’s standards. The battery fully charges from 10% in about 2 hours, with fast charging for the first half an hour.

USB-C charging is supported as well, up to 100W. You won’t be able to use the laptop on Turbo/Manual while plugged in via USB-C, but PD is enough for everyday multitasking and occasional heavier workloads on the Performance profile.

Price and availability- 2023 Asus ROG Strix G16

The 2023 Asus ROG Strix G16 is listed in most markets at the time of this article.

The variant reviewed here, the Strix G16 G614JV, with the i9-13980HX processor, RTX 4060 dGPU, 16/32 GB of RAM, 1 TB SSD and the IPS QHD+ display, is listed at 1799 USD in the US, 1899 EUR here in Europe and 1699 GBP in the UK.

However, if you’re willing to sacrifice on CPU performance a fair amount, a Core i7-13650HX + RTX 4060 configuration is also available starting at around 1200 USD in the US and 1400 in Europe. Just be aware that some configurations are only available with the FHD+ 100% sRGB screen in most markets, especially the more affordable ones.

Other configurations are also available:

• Asus ROG Strix G16 G614JI with the i7/i9 + RTX 4050 dGPU and either FHD+ QHD+ display, from $1400 in the US and around 1500 EUR in Europe.
• Asus ROG Strix G16 G614JY with the i9 + RTX 4070 dGPU and the QHD+ display, for around $1800 to $2200 in the US and ~2000 EUR here in Europe.
• Asus ROG Strix G16 G614JZ with the i9 + RTX 4080 dGPU and the QHD+ display, but hardly available anywhere. You will find these specs on the Scar 16, though.

All these are fair-value configurations in their tiers at the time of this article. But they’re surely not the most affordable devices in their class, so make sure to check the entire offer available in your area and decide based on what’s locally available for you.

And follow this link for updated configurations and prices in your region at the time you’re reading this article. Buying from our affiliate links helps support our work.

Final thoughts- 2023 Asus ROG ROG Strix G16 review

This generation of the ROG Strix G16 is one of the most powerful notebooks available in the mid-tier segments this year.

It offers powerful hardware and a beefy thermal module, which it shares with the higher-tier ROG Scar 16 series. In fact, the Strix G16 is a simplified variation of the Scar 16, with similar barebones, and fewer bells and whistles. And a more competitive price.

I would have expected this to run cooler internally than it did in our tests, given the lower-power of the RTX 4060 dGPU in comparison tot he RTX 4080/4080 chips. Instead, Asus chose to keep the fans a little quieter on this unit, and in fact the Performance profile is especially interesting, offering 90+ of what this hardware can do as sub 40 dBA, which few to no other devices can offer these days.

Speaking of, there are plenty of competitors out there from the other brands, such as the Acer Predator Helios 16, Alienware m16 or the Lenovo Legion Pro 5i, among others. You’ll find more about these from our reviews.

Furthermore, this G16b is not necessarily the most beautiful design out there, and potential buyers would have to accept some ergonomic quirks with the annoyingly positioned status LEDs and the IO placed entirely on the sides, since the back is entirely reserved for cooling.

This pretty much wraps up my review of the 2023 Asus ROG Strix G16 mid-tier performance and gaming laptop. Let me know what you think about this series in the comments section down below.