• ASUS South Africa has announced the launch of the ROG Strix SCAR 18.
• This behemoth of a notebook can be configured with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090.
• The PC maker says the 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13980HX CPU and RTX 4090 collectively draw 240W of electricity.

With loadshedding set to be a feature in South Africa for a long while still, now might be the time to consider trading in your desktop gaming PC for a gaming notebook.

To that end, ASUS South Africa this week launched the ROG Strix SCAR 18. Looking at the spec sheet however, we’re hesitant to call this a solution to gaming during loadshedding for reasons we’ll get to in a moment.

There are multiple configurations of this notebook with two display options and two GPU options.

Buyers can choose between a 1920 x 1200 165Hz display or a 2560 x 1600 240Hz display. The latter is Pantone Certified but both options support G-SYNC and Dolby Vision.

As for GPUs, you can choose between an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 or an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090.

On CPU duty, ASUS says the notebook will sport a 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13980HX CPU. The documentation we’ve received says “up to” which suggest a lower spec CPU can be selected but the i9-13980HX is the only config we’ve spotted on the ASUS and Evetech websites.

The ROG Strix SCAR 18 with an Intel Core-i9, 32GB DDR5 RAM, 1TB NVME PCIe SSD and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 will retail for R87 999, while the GeForce RTX 4080 iteration will retail for R79 999.

With all of this tech, ASUS ROG has once again employed its Tri-Fan Technology, albeit with some tweaks.

“In addition, we’ve taken the full-width heatsink from the Flow X16 and enlarged it for the 2023 Strix SCAR 18. This larger heatsink increases surface area for heat dissipation by up to 92.23% compared with 2022 models. Paired with our new full-surround vents, this ensures next-level airflow for the powerful components inside. Combined with Conductonaut Extreme liquid metal on both the CPU and GPU with 7 heat pipes, ROG’s new solution allows for higher-than-ever TGPs for this year’s next-gen CPUs and GPUs,” ASUS South Africa said in a press release.

One area that we feel could use some attention is the 90Wh battery that is fitted inside the Strix SCAR 18. With all of the tech inside these machines, that battery may drain rather quickly if one doesn’t switch to integrated graphics when the power cuts.

ASUS says that the CPU and RTX 4090 draw a total of 240W with the GPU alone accounting for 175W. This is an inordinate amount of power but thankfully a MUX Switch with NVIDIA Advanced Optimus is included that automates power delivery when plugged in and when not.

We won’t mince our words, this is an extreme notebook and likely only one that is going to appeal to the well-heeled gamer. With that having been said, it’s likely to be kinder on inverters and other backup power solutions than a desktop.

If you are interested in the ROG Strix SCAR 18 you can pre-order a unit from either ASUS or Evetech at the links above.