This is our detailed review of the refreshed 2026 generation of the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 G835 laptop, Asus’s largest and most powerful notebook available as of 2026.
This is a refreshed iteration of the 2025 Scar 18 chassis, with slightly updated specs, a new 4K miniLED display, and a revamped cooling module. Asus implement a tick-tock approach with their lineups, with a major revamp every two years, and a more minor refinement in the meantime. This is the refinement, but it isn’t as minor as it might first appear.
Thus, this Scar 18 is still an 18-inch full-size laptop, but thicker and heavier than the previous generation, in order to accommodate an updated, beefier cooling module that makes a whole lot of difference in games and with sustained workloads. This allows for higher sustained power settings under load, especially on the CPU, and cooler thermals with mixed loads. Otherwise, the CPU is the only refreshed hardware spec, with this generation built on the latest Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus Arrow Lake Refresh processor, while everything else remains about the same: up to RTX 5090 175W 24GB, 2x RAM and 2x SSD gen5 slots.
Furthermore, Asus updated the display on this 2026 Scar 18, opting for a higher-resolution 4K 240Hz display, which replaces the 2.5K 240Hz display used before. Both are mini LED panels, with dimming zones.
With that in mind, let’s get to the review. I’ve used this laptop for more than a month, and be aware that I’ve tested all Scar models available over the years, and I’m still using an older Scar 18 as my daily work laptop, so I am more familiar with the particularities and the quirks of this series than most others on the Internet.
Specs sheet as reviewed – 2026 Asus ROG Scar 18 G835 gaming laptop
ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 18 G835LXG, 2026 generation
Display 18-inch, 16:10, non-touch, matte,
Processor Intel Arrow Lake HX Refresh,
Video Intel Graphics + Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop 24GB graphics (up to 175W with Dynamic Boost)
Memory 128 GB DDR5-6400 RAM (2x DIMMs)
Storage 2 TB SSD (SK Hynix PC801, gen4) – 2x M.2 PCIe 5.0 slots
Connectivity WiFi 7 (Intel BE200) 2×2 with Bluetooth 5.4, 2.5Gigabit LAN
Ports Left: power, 2.5G Lan, 2x USB-C with Thunderbolt 5, 1x USB-A 3.2 gen 2, HDMI 2.1 FRL, audio jack
Battery 90Wh, 450W power adapter and 100W USB-C charger, USB-C charging up to 100W
Size 399 mm or 15.71” (w) x 298 mm or 11.73″ (d) x 23.5 – 35 mm or .93″ – 1.38” (h)
Weight 3.73 kg (8.2 lbs),
Extras clamshell 18-inch format with 135-degree screen angle,
This ROG SCAR 18 G835LXG is the top-specced configuration for this 2026 model year. An RTX 5080 variant is available as well, as the Scar 18 G835LWG.
Design and construction This Scar 18 2026 generation is still a full-size and heavy 18-inch laptop , in fact thicker and heavier than the 2025 variant – this is up to 35 mm thick and ~3.7 kg, while the previous one was up to 32 mm thick and 3.3 kg. Nonetheless, this 2026 generation is about on par with general size and weight with other top options in its space, such as the Lenovo Legion 9i 18 and the MSI Titan 18.
Furthermore, the reasoning behind these updates is the refreshed cooling module, with higher-capacity fans, larger heatsinks, and a thicker vapor chamber. This cooling module allows for higher crossload sustained power in demanding loads, but the more important change is the ability to run the hardware at higher power and lower thermals with games and taxing chores on the more balanced profiles. We’ll discuss these in the appropriate section below.
These aside, the 2026 and 2025 Scar 18s look and feel about the same. I’ll refer you to my previous article for indepth thoughts on the design, construction and ergonomics .
In fewer words, this is a black laptop with a plastic main frame and a metal lid. It feels solid and premium all around, but the black surfaces smudge easily. Having a plastic interior might not sound great, but it’s a good quality plastic, and this approach allows for cooler chassis temperatures with games. My main nit is still with the rather sharp front-lip, especially as this generation sits even taller from the desk than the previous one – you’ll need a large desk to provide proper arm support with this machine.
There’s plenty of RGB here, with a ROG logo on the lid and a lightbar that goes alongside the entire main chassis. They can be controlled and tweaked in the settings, with the ability to switch them off if you want to. There’s also the AnimeMatrix array on the lid, which I mostly consider an unnecessary gimmick, and which can also be controlled/turned off in Armoury Crate.
Otherwise, ergonomics are decent, with still a limited screen opening angle and ports available on the sides, as the rear part is entirely reserved for cooling.
The IO is fairly solid, with plenty of the needed ports. However, there’s still no card reader and the USB-Cs are both placed on the left edge, where in fact you’ll find most of the other ports. The right side is mostly filled by air intake grills.
Still not a fan of the refreshed power plug with the updated square plug with the straight-on cable – the previous rounded design on my 2023/2024 Scar with the 90-degree plug was way more convenient as it allowed me to easily route the cable to the back of the laptop.
Here’s how the two compare, with the new variant at the bottom.
Overall, the ergonomics of this series are still somewhat hit and miss. I like the cleaner looks of the newer generations compared to my older unit, but I dislike the new charger cable, while the screen angle and the IO would benefit from refinements. As to how this Scar 18 compares to its main rivals (Lenovo Legion 9i, MSI Titan 18) in terms of construction and ergonomics, I’d say it holds up well, as each option comes with its own set of quirks. Nonetheless, that’s a topic for a more detailed comparison article.
I’ll leave you with some side-by-side pictures of my Scar 18 2023 (right) and this newer generation (left).
Keyboard and touchpad – still excellent Inputs haven’t changed between the 2025 and 2026 Scar 18 iterations, and are among the best in the segment: you don’t get any fancy tech here, just simple things done right.
Having used my Scar 18 daily for years now, I’m most likely already accustomed to the layout and general feel of this Asus keyboard, although the feedback on this newer generation is a little different, with the actuations requiring a firmer press. Nonetheless, overall this is an excellent rubber-dome keyboard.
The layout includes the extra keys at the top-left, full-size arrows, and a NumPad section, although this is a somewhat weirder non-standard design that some might not appreciate.
Other than that, keep in mind these plastic black keycaps smudge quite easily, and so does the black frame in between the keys. So you’ll need to wipe this clean often.
The keys are RGB backlit, with bright LEDs and per-key control. The Aura software that controls RGB on this laptop takes some time to understand, but gets things done, with control over the entire keyboard, various effects, and control over the RGB logo on the lid and RGB lightbar around the main deck. Furthermore, you can always replace the entire control software with G-Helper, which keeps things even simpler.
The touchpad is a large matte glass surface, larger than on my older unit, but still with enough spacing at the top and bottom to prevent any misclicks or swipes. Palm rejection works fine, so I didn’t run into any issues with the size of this thing. The general use experience is fine as well, although the physical clicks are a little stiffer than on my Scar.
I complained about that last year as well, when I couldn’t quite adapt to the touchpad experience and use it as consistently as the smaller touchpad on my Scar. But things have been refined with this generation, to the point where I could use the laptop daily without a mouse, just like I do with my Scar – yes, I use the touchpad for everyday tasks, without a mouse.
Finally, biometrics: there’s IR support with the main camera. I don’t have any biometrics on my older Scar.
Screen – updated 4K mini LED panel The display on the 2026 Scar 18 is an updated mini LED panel with 4K 3840 x 2400 px resolution, 2000+ dimming zones, 240Hz refresh and 3ms response times, and a refined anti-glare low reflection coating. Asus still calls it an ROG Nebula HDR display, but it’s improved in several ways over the 2.5K panel in the 2025 Scar, and in fact over the options offered by its main competitors – 4K 120Hz miniLED with fewer zones on the MSI Titan 18, 2.5K IPS dual-spec on the Legion 9i, 2.5k IPS on the Alienware 18 Area-51.
The resolution and refresh-rate pairing are unique for this laptop – just keep in mind that by default the screen works at 120Hz, and you can only set it at 240Hz by switching the GPU to its Ultimate dGPU mode.
As for the anti-glare coating, it features what Asus calls the ROG AGLR (anti-glare low reflection) technology that keeps reflections in check without muting the colors/contrast in the same way as most other matte coatings. Having used this next to my older Scar, I’d say this implementation is a jack of both worlds, as it’s still rather shiny in bright-light spaces, but keeps the colors more vivid and punchier than on my older display variant.
Finally, this is also the first display to implement the ROG ELMB (Extreme Low Motion Blur) technology, which uses an updated backlighting strobing technology meant to reduce blur and improve motion clarity. This technology works alongside GSync, to further prevent any stuttering or screen tearing. In real life, this tech matters in competitive fast-paced gaming.
These aside, you can still set this screen to One-zone or Multi-zone lighting from the settings, with two multi-zone options: Balanced and Strong. One-zone works as a good-quality IPS with consistent backlighting and uniformity. Multi-zone lighting activates zone dimming and can be considered for video streaming and gaming, with the Strong setting pushing brightness and contrast higher. Furthermore, you can enable HDR from Windows, when the laptop is plugged in. All these affect the way content is perceived with daily use and games/videos.
However, my testing setup still doesn’t work on this mini LED panel, just like on the previous-gen one, so I can’t give you the usual exact readings.
Hardware and performance Our test model is the top-specced configuration of the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 2026, code name G835LXG, built on an Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus processor, an Nvidia Blackwell RTX 5090 24GB dGPU, 128 GB of DDR5-6400 memory and 2 TB of fairly fast SSD storage.
Disclaimer: Our review unit was sent over by Asus. All results were recorded using the software available as of late-June 2026 (BIOS 304, Armoury Crate 6.5.7.0/Ghelper 0.260.0, and GeForce Game Ready drivers 610.62). By default, the system runs on Armoury Crate, but I’ve also run some tests on GHelper to see if that can impact things, especially on the lower-tier power profiles and when using the laptop on battery power.
Spec-wise, this 2026 ASUS ROG Strix Scar 18 lineup is built on the latest and most powerful Intel and Nvidia mobile hardware available as of mid-2026.
The Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus is the top mobile processor in Intel’s Arrow Lake HX Refresh platform, with 24 Cores and 24 Threads.
Much like past Core i9 HX processors, this is still a hybrid design with 8 High-Performance Cores (Lion Cove) and 16 Efficiency Cores (Skymont), which work together or separately in the various activities. The updates from the Core Ultra 9 275HX in the previous-year Scar 18 are minor, but this generation can run the CPU at higher sustained TDP: up to 240W on Manual and 200W on Turbo, compared to around 150W in similar tasks in the previous generation. That’s due to the updated cooling module, which we’ll discuss more indepth further down.
For the GPU, the 2026 Scar 18 series is available only with top-level Nvidia GeForce RTX 5000 chips, either 5090 24GB or 5080 16 GB, both running at up to 175W with Dynamic Boost. This configuration is the RTX 5090.
There’s still a MUX on this chassis, GSync support on the main display, as well as either regular Optimus or Advanced Optimus.
For memory and storage, the laptop comes with two accessible memory DIMMs and two M.2 2280 SSD gen5 slots. This review unit bundles 128 GB of DDR5-6400 memory and an SK Hynix PC801 2 TB SSD. Asus mostly ship their units with gen4 drivers, but you could either upgrade to a faster gen5, or configure the laptop with gen5 SSDs at specific third-party sellers in some markets. I’ll also add that lower-tier configurations, generally those with only 32 GB of RAM, might ship with a single RAM stick – that’s just something to keep in mind, as a single-stick means single-channel memory with some potential performance limitations in demanding loads.
Accessing and upgrading components (SSDs, RAM) is a tool-less process with this chassis. You slide a latch to unlock the back panel, and then just slide the panel up and away. Inside, the SSDs are held in place with Q-latches instead of regular screws, and there’s unrestricted access to the RAM slots. Of course, you’d have to further take out the back chassis for access to the motherboard, speakers, or the battery.
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.
Silent Performance Turbo Manual
CPU only, PL1/PL2 TDP
85/100W
115/125W
180/200W
200/240W
GPU only, max TGP
D-Notify, 55-95W
150W
175W
175W
Crossload
100 to 130W,20-30 + 80-95 W
195W, 45 + 150 W
280W, 95 + 175 W
320W, 145 + 175 W
Noise at head-level, tested
35 dBA
~42 dBA
~48 dBA
~53-54 dBA, max fans
As mentioned earlier, CPU TDP settings are higher than on past Scar generations, both on the Turbo and on the Manual profiles. And that’s while the fan noise levels are being pegged around the same limits.
Overall, versatile multi-functional profiles, with Performance mode being especially interesting for serious capabilities without crazy fan noise.
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.
Performance and benchmarks – Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus, Nvidia RTX 5090 With that out of the way, let’s move on to the performance testing. We’ll start with the Cinebench R15 CPU loop test.
Here’s a summary of the existing profiles:
Manual, raised: ~6400 points, 54 dBA fans, 100+ °C on the CPU, ~240W TDP;
Turbo, raised: ~6150 points, 48 dBA fans, ~90 °C on the CPU, ~180W TDP;
Turbo, on desk: ~6150 points, 48 dBA fans, ~95 °C on the CPU, ~180W TDP;
Performance, raised: ~5400 points, 42 dBA fans, ~75 °C on the CPU, ~120W TDP;
Silent, raised: ~5000 points, <35 dBA fans, ~70 °C on the CPU, ~85W TDP;
Performance on PD, raised: ~4000 points, <30 dBA fans, ~60 °C on the CPU, ~65W TDP;
Performance on battery, raised: ~4000 points, <30 dBA fans, ~60 °C on the CPU, ~60W TDP;
Impressive profiles across the board, and especially Performance and Silent modes.
And while not on par with plugged-in performance, the PD/battery use capabilities are very competitive as well.
For comparison, this Core Ultra 9 290HX high-power implementation barely outmatches the previous-gen Core Ultra 9 275HX/285HX models, by as much as 5-8%%. At the same time, the Ryzen 9 HX platform outscores the Intel hardware at much lower power, but only by a few percent.
However, I also included a 2-year-old platform in this chart (Core i9 14900HX) to showcase the real 25-30% performance gains on this sort of load over the last two years.
Finally, I also included a Core Ultra 9 386H Panther Lake implementation to showcase how these HX platforms are about 2x as fast as the mobile hardware used in thinner, more portable modern products.
comparatie
I also wanted to compare the quieter sub-35 dBA profiles on these platforms. With 5000 points, this Scar delivers 80% of the Turbo performance at much quieter runtimes and with lower temperatures.
Furthermore, the Silent mode on this generation stably runs at higher power than on the past Scar, as well as on the competing devices we’ve tested. Thus, this Scar 18 2026 performs significantly faster in sustained CPU loads than its competitors.
We then further verified our findings with the more taxing Cinebench R23 loop test and Blender – Classroom, with similar findings. We measured sustained TDPs of ~240 W for Manual, ~180W for Turbo, ~125W for Performance, and ~85W for Whisper.
We also ran the 3DMark CPU test on the Manual, Turbo and Silent profiles, to showcase the gap in performance between these modes.
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 passes the test both with the laptop flat on the desk and with it raised on a stand to improve airflow underneath the chassis. More on that in the Gaming subsection further down.
Next, we ran the entire suite of tests and benchmarks, on the Turbo profile with the GPU set to Standard mode (Advanced Optimus), and with the screen set at the native 4K+ resolution.
All these tests are running on Nvidia Game Ready drivers, and on the Armoury Crate software.
Here’s what we got:
3DMark 13 –CPU profile: max – 18538, 16 – 15190, 8 – 9831, 4 – 5230, 2 – 2659, 1– 1341;3DMark 13 – Fire Strike: 42971 (Graphics – 54427, Physics – 55775, Combined – 14702);3DMark 13 – Port Royal: 16613;3DMark 13 – Speed Way: 6577;3DMark 13 – Steel Nomad: 6302;3DMark 13 – Time Spy: 23806 (Graphics – 25164, CPU – 18234);3DMark 13 – DLSS: DLSS Off – 37.12 fps, DLSS On – 133.65 fps, 360% performance difference.
Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Extreme: 15238;Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Medium: 39797;
Aida64 Extreme, memory test – ;PCMark 10: 11925 (Essentials – 11847, Productivity – 21859, Digital Content Creation – 17768);GeekBench 6.6.0: Multi-core: 22579, Single-Core: 3229;GeekBench AI 1.7.0 (ONNX, CPU): Single: 7368, Half: 2728, Quantized: 12830;CineBench R15 (best run): CPU 6103 cb, CPU Single Core 343 cb;CineBench R23: CPU 41489 pts (best run), CPU 41009 pts (10 min loop test), CPU Single Core 2377 pts (best run);CineBench 2024: CPU 2238 (10 min run), CPU Single Core 137 pts;CineBench 2026: GPU – 108147 pts, CPU Multiple Threads – 8971, CPU Single Core – , CPU Single Thread – 569 pts.
And some work-related tests, on the same Turbo profile.
Blender 4.3.2 – BMW Car scene- CPU Compute: 57s ;Blender 4.3.2 – BMW scene – GPU Compute: 8.54s (CUDA), 4.73 (Optix);Blender 4.3.2 – Classroom scene – CPU Compute: 2m 24s;Blender 4.3.2 – Classroom scene – GPU Compute: 16.77s (CUDA), 9.78s (Optix).Blender 5.1.2 – BMW Car scene- CPU Compute: 53s ;Blender 5.1.2 – BMW scene – GPU Compute: 8.10s (CUDA), 4.52 (Optix);Blender 5.1.2 – Classroom scene – CPU Compute: 2m 03s;Blender 5.1.2 – BMW scene – GPU Compute: 16.69s (CUDA), 8.94 (Optix);
SPECviewperf 2020 – 3DSMax 07: 247.20;SPECviewperf 2020 – Catia 06: 118.02;SPECviewperf 2020 – Creo 03: 130.61;SPECviewperf 2020 – Energy: 86.04;SPECviewperf 2020 – Maya 06: 829.73;SPECviewperf 2020 – Medical 03: 65.40;SPECviewperf 2020 – SNX 04: 42.19;SPECviewperf 2020 – SW 07: 556.96.
SPECviewperf 15 – 3DSMax 08: 102.09;SPECviewperf 15 – Blender 01: 117.98;SPECviewperf 15 – Catia 07: 88.03;SPECviewperf 15 – Creo 04: 131.73;SPECviewperf 15 – Energy 04: 86.22;SPECviewperf 15 – Enscape 01: 4.48;SPECviewperf 15 – Maya 07: 261.42;SPECviewperf 15 – Medical 04: 65.22;SPECviewperf 15 – Solidworks 08: 42.03;SPECviewperf 15 – Unreal Engine 01: 102.87;V-Ray Benchmark: CPU – 29652, CUDA – 3203, RTX – 4328.
On the CPU side, this is a high-power implementation of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus processor and delivers pretty much the best this platform is capable of.
However, since the 290HX Plus is only a “tock” refresh of the previous Ultra 9 275HX/Ultra 9 285HX platforms, the gains in sustained CPU performance are minor, within 5% or so. You can squeeze a little extra from the CPU on the Manual mode that allows for a 240W sustained TDP level, as we’ll discuss below.
But on the default Turbo mode, this 2026 Scar 18 mostly matches the previous-gen Ultra 9 275HX Scar 18 implementation , or the Ryzen 9 9955HX platform in the smaller Strix G16 chassis.
Furthermore, on the GPU side, this is still an RTX 5090 175W TGP, so once more a match for existing RTX 5090 notebooks.
However, this Scar generation tends to have an edge over the competition in the Performance and Silent modes, due to its oversized cooling module. More on that further down. It also comes with faster DDR5-6400 memory by default, which can have a minor impact in specific workloads and games.
Scar 18 generations – 2026 (Ultra 9 Plus + RTX 5090), 2025 (Ultra 9 + RTX 5090), 2024 (i9 + RTX 4090) Here’s a brief comparison of these results on the Ultra 9 290Hx Plus 2026 configuration next to the previous Scar 18 models.
All these are running on their respective Turbo profiles.
Ultra 9 290HX Plus + 5090 175W Ultra 9 275HX + 5090 175W2025 Asus ROG Scar 1 8, BIOS 325 i9-14900HX + 4090 175W2024 Asus ROG Scar 18 , BIOS 312 i9-13980HX + 4090 175W2023 Asus ROG Scar 18, BIOS 321
3DMark – Fire Strike 42971 (G – 54427, P – 55775, C – 14702)
38212 (G – 49229, P – 46690, C – 12950)
33832 (G – 45258, P– 40799, C – 10752
35610 (G – 44374, P – 41564, C – 13209)
3DMark – Port Royal 16613
16298
13323
13564
3DMark – Time Spy 23806 (Graphics – 25164, CPU – 18234)
23475 (Graphics – 25063, CPU – 17276)
20697 (Graphics – 21291, CPU – 17875)
20950 (Graphics – 21583, CPU – 17969
Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Extreme 15269
15325
12485
11978
CineBench R23 (best run) 41489 cb – multi core,
38654 cb – multi core,
31035 cb – multi core,
31664 cb – multi core,
Blender 4, Classroom scene – CPU Compute 2m 24s
2m 30s
3m 06s
3m 02s
Blender 4, Classroom scene – GPU Compute 16.77s (CUDA), 9.78s (Optix)
15.56s (CUDA), 8.91s (Optix)
17.98s (CUDA), 10.11s (Optix)
17.64s (CUDA), 9.81s (Optix)
SPECviewperf 2020 – 3DSMax: 247.20
217.12
205.48
200.05
SPECviewperf 2020 – Catia: 118.02
113.28
112.00
112.91
SPECviewperf 2020 – Maya: 556.96
637.68
653.85
517.80
As mentioned earlier, minor gains on the CPU side, and similar capabilities in GPU-intensive tasks.
Manual mode – higher power, but 53-54 dBA noise levels This Scar 18 runs at about 48-49 dBA on the Turbo profile. Manual mode allows for higher CPU power settings and GPU overclocking, but with higher fan noise – 53-54 dBA at head level, and higher verall temperatures.
Still, if you want to squeeze the best performance out of this device and you’re okay with using headphones to cover up the fan noise, here are the benchmark results for this profile.
We maxed out the CPU settings (240W TDP) and chose a + 100 MHz Core/+200 MHz memory GPU overclock. We also maxed out the three fans for these tests.
Here’s what we got:
3DMark 13 – CPU profile: max – 19042, 16 – 15226, 8 – 9788, 4 – 5196, 2 – 2652, 1 – 1339;3DMark 13 – Fire Strike: 43929 (Graphics – 56120, Physics – 52990, Combined – 15224);3DMark 13 – Port Royal (RTX): 16824;3DMark 13 – Time Spy: 24061 (Graphics – 25502, CPU – 18229);Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Extreme: 15190;CineBench R23 (10 min loop): CPU 41870 cb, CPU Single Core 2383 cb;Blender 5.1.2 – Classroom scene – CPU Compute: 2m 01s.SPECviewperf 2020 – 3DSMax 07: 245.92;SPECviewperf 2020 – Catia 06: 119.66;SPECviewperf 2020 – Creo 03: 133.55;SPECviewperf 2020 – Energy: 86.86;SPECviewperf 2020 – Maya 06: 836.66;SPECviewperf 2020 – Medical 03: 66.09;SPECviewperf 2020 – SNX 04: 42.05;SPECviewperf 2020 – SW 07: 562.99.
Minor gains in CPU sustained longer-duration loads, as this mode can sustain closer to 240W of CPU power, while Turbo mode only sustains about 180W. But even so, the differences are within a few percent, while temperatures and fan-noise are higher – closer to 100 C on the CPU during these sustained chores, and 53+ dBA fan noise. Not worth it.
On the GPU side, the gains are once more minor to none, even with the extra overclock over Turbo mode.
Overall, not a profile I’d consider, given the noise, thermals, and limited performance gains.
Performance mode – mid level, at ~42-43 dBA Performance mode keeps fans quieter around 42 dBA at head-level, with still solid capabilities.
Here’s how this 2026 ROG Strix Scar 16 scored on the Performance profile:
3DMark 13 – CPU profile: max – 16793, 16 – 14122, 8 – 9447, 4 – 5210, 2 – 2656, 1 – 1335;3DMark 13 – Fire Strike: 38747 (Graphics – 49953, Physics – 47362, Combined – 13111);3DMark 13 – Port Royal (RTX): 15240;3DMark 13 – Time Spy: 21767 (Graphics – 23182, CPU – 16174);Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Extreme: 14002;CineBench R23 (10 min loop): CPU 34304 cb, CPU Single Core 2386 cb;Blender 5.1.2 – Classroom scene – CPU Compute: 2m 19s.SPECviewperf 2020 – 3DSMax: 238.91;SPECviewperf 2020 – Catia: 115.95;SPECviewperf 2020 – Maya: -;SPECviewperf 2020 – SNX: 41.72;SPECviewperf 2020 – SW: 550.67.
We’re looking at 85-90% of the CPU scores on Turbo, due to the 125W TDP cap. But the CPU runs cooler as well, in the 70s C or lower.
On the GPU side, this profile scores about 90-95% of Turbo mode.
An excellent mid-level profile.
Silent Mode – still fast, and quieter at sub 35 dBA Silent mode is quieter at sub-35dBA. Here’s how the laptop scores on this profile.
3DMark 13 – CPU profile: max – 15913, 16 – 11776, 8 – 6977, 4 – 4312, 2 – 2157, 1 – 1093;3DMark 13 – Fire Strike: 34097 (Graphics – 42997, Physics – 46050, Combined – 11591);3DMark 13 – Port Royal (RTX): 9918;3DMark 13 – Time Spy: 16676 (Graphics – 16538, CPU – 17504);Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Extreme: 10277;CineBench R23 (10 min loop): CPU 33651 cb, CPU Single Core 1909 cb;Blender 5.1.2 – Classroom scene – CPU Compute: 2m 29s.SPECviewperf 2020 – 3DSMax: 192.21;SPECviewperf 2020 – Catia: 95.44;SPECviewperf 2020 – Maya: 543.62;SPECviewperf 2020 – SNX: 33.84;SPECviewperf 2020 – SW: 385.58.
The CPU performance is still competitive, at around 80% of Turbo mode.
The GPU capabilities, however, vary between these tests, somewhere between 60% and 75% of Turbo mode, based on the applied TGP limit. Still a fair profile, but you could tweak this further in Armour Crate or GHelper to get a more consistent experience at the desired fan-noise limit (albeit 35 dBA or lower/higher). I have a guide on this matter in a previous article , you can start from there while tweaking this generation as well.
Performance Mode, 100W PD Asus bundles the laptop with a 100W PD charger, and here’s what to expect while using the laptop in this way (on Performance mode).
3DMark 13 – CPU profile: max – 13146, 16 – 10835, 8 – 7651, 4 – 4718, 2 – 2536, 1 – 1301;3DMark 13 – Fire Strike: 23497 (Graphics – 27283, Physics – 37018, Combined – 9077);3DMark 13 – Port Royal (RTX): 5390;3DMark 13 – Time Spy: 8425 (Graphics – 7783, CPU – 15831);Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Extreme: 4764;CineBench R23 (10 min loop): CPU 28728 cb, CPU Single Core 2426 cb;Blender 5.1.2 – Classroom scene – CPU Compute: 3m 01s.SPECviewperf 2020 – 3DSMax: 83.04;SPECviewperf 2020 – Catia: 41.27;SPECviewperf 2020 – Maya: 209.01;SPECviewperf 2020 – SNX: 30.19;SPECviewperf 2020 – SW: 120.73.
It’s no surprise these scores are lower than on Silent plugged in via the main charger, as this is a powerful notebook that needs proper power to run well – it comes with a 450W main charger, and the USB-C charger only goes up to 100W.
Nonetheless, the CPU capabilities are still solid even for sustained loads, within 60% of Turbo mode on the main charger. However, the GPU only delivers about a third of its full potential. Hence, this mode is fine for casual use and multitasking when you don’t want to lug around the bulky main charger, but isn’t meant for serious loads. Especially since there’s no PD power-through, which means the system draws from the battery and discharges it with heavy loads.
Gaming performance – Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus + GeForce RTX 5090 With benchmarks out of the way, let’s see how this Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 top configuration handles modern games.
We tested a couple of games on the various available profiles at4K+ and QHD+ resolutions, with the GPU set on Ultimate dGPU mode. We’re running the latest available Game Ready drivers.
For consistency with other reviews, the laptop is placed on a stand for all tests. The performance is identical with the laptop flat on the desk, but the internals heat up a little more in this case, as shown further down.
Here are the results:
Asus ROG Strix Scar 18, RTX 5090 Laptop 150-175W 4K+ Turbo, QHD+ Turbo, 4K+ Performance, 4K+ Silent, QHD+ Silent,
Black Myth: Wukong 52 fps (44 fps – 1% low)
68 fps (58 fps – 1% low)
–
–
–
Black Myth: Wukong 60 fps (25 fps – 1% low)
98 fps (22 fps – 1% low)
56 fps (24 fps – 1% low)
36 fps (16 fps – 1% low)
68 fps (28 fps – 1% low)
Black Myth: WukongMFG On 4x 110 fps (24 fps – 1% low)
176 fps (36 fps – 1% low)
102 fps (23 fps – 1% low)
66 fps (14 fps – 1% low)
110 fps (18 fps – 1% low)
Cyberpunk 2077 52 fps (41 fps – 1% low)
100 fps (74 fps – 1% low)
–
–
–
Cyberpunk 2077MFG On 2x , Ray Reconstruction On, 68 fps (30 fps – 1% low)
128 fps (56 fps – 1% low)
62 fps (26 fps – 1% low)
40 fps (16 fps – 1% low)
90 fps (38 fps – 1% low)
Cyberpunk 2077MFG On 4x , Ray Reconstruction On, 124 fps (26 fps – 1% low)
222 fps (48 fps – 1% low)
108 fps (25 fps – 1% low)
80 fps (16 fps – 1% low)
164 fps (38 fps – 1% low)
Far Cry 6 95 fps (76 fps – 1% low)
144 fps (116 fps – 1% low)
89 fps (74 fps – 1% low)
64 fps (52 fps – 1% low)
112 fps (88 fps – 1% low)
Horizon Forbidden West 108 fps (86 fps – 1% low)
140 fps (110 fps – 1% low)
104 fps (80 fps – 1% low)
74 fps (52 fps – 1% low)
100 fps (76 fps – 1% low)
Horizon Forbidden West 122 fps (90 fps – 1% low)
164 fps (112 fps – 1% low)
114 fps (84 fps – 1% low)
80 fps (56 fps – 1% low)
122 fps (88 fps – 1% low)
Red Dead Redemption 2 90 fps (58 fps – 1% low)
143 fps (84 fps – 1% low)
85 fps (54 fps – 1% low)
68 fps (42 fps – 1% low)
113 fps (64 fps – 1% low)
Shadow of Tomb Raider 104 fps (82 fps – 1% low)
179 fps (126 fps – 1% low)
100 fps (80 fps – 1% low)
68 fps (52 fps – 1% low)
139 fps (110 fps – 1% low)
Black Myth, Cyberpunk, Horizon FW – recorded with MSI Afterburner fps counter in campaign mode;
Far Cry 6, Red Dead Redemption 2, Tomb Raider – recorded with the included Benchmark utilities;
Red Dead Redemption 2 Optimized profile based on these settings .
These games run smoothly at 2.5K resolution with Ultra settings on all profiles, down to Silent mode and with/without DLSS. The novelty for this generation is the 4K display, and some titles can struggle at this resolution on Silent.
Nonetheless, this is one of the fastest gaming laptops money can buy.
Compared to the previous Scar 18 (Ultra 9 275HX + RTX 5090), though, the new generation shows minor gains in some of the CPU-heavy titles (Red Dead 2, Far Cry 6), while the results in GPU-heavy titles are about on par or lower (Wukong, Cyberpunk). Keep in mind we haven’t retested the 2025 Scar on the existing software versions; thus, software/drivers optimizations might have a say in these differences, especially where they are anomalously different, such as in Wukong.
2026 vx 2025 Scars Scar 2026 Scar 2025 Scar 2026 Scar 2025
Black Myth: Wukong 98 fps (22 fps – 1% low)
100 fps (36 fps – 1% low)
68 fps (28 fps – 1% low)
80 fps (32 fps – 1% low)
Black Myth: WukongMFG On 4x 176 fps (36 fps – 1% low)
182 fps (38 fps – 1% low)
110 fps (18 fps – 1% low)
146 fps (30 fps – 1% low)
Cyberpunk 2077MFG On 2x , Ray Reconstruction On, 128 fps (56 fps – 1% low)
62 fps (26 fps – 1% low)
90 fps (38 fps – 1% low)
94 fps (40 fps – 1% low)
Cyberpunk 2077MFG On 4x , Ray Reconstruction On, 222 fps (48 fps – 1% low)
108 fps (25 fps – 1% low)
164 fps (38 fps – 1% low)
168 fps (36 fps – 1% low)
Far Cry 6 144 fps (116 fps – 1% low)
89 fps (74 fps – 1% low)
112 fps (88 fps – 1% low)
102 fps (68 fps – 1% low)
Horizon Forbidden West 140 fps (110 fps – 1% low)
104 fps (80 fps – 1% low)
100 fps (76 fps – 1% low)
–
Horizon Forbidden West 164 fps (112 fps – 1% low)
114 fps (84 fps – 1% low)
122 fps (88 fps – 1% low)
–
Red Dead Redemption 2 143 fps (84 fps – 1% low)
85 fps (54 fps – 1% low)
113 fps (64 fps – 1% low)
102 fps (52 fps – 1% low)
Let’s go over some performance and temperature logs.
First, Turbo mode with the laptop flat on the desk.
We’re looking at around 255-260W crossload power, with 170-175W on the GPU. The CPU gets more power than on the previous Scar generation.
Despite that, we measured temperatures of around 75-85 °C on the CPU, with 65-72 °C on the GPU, while the fans run at around 48 dBA. For comparison, the previous-gen Scar ran much warmer in a similar scenario: 90-95 °C on the GPU and 82-85 °C on the GPU. This is where the updated cooling module makes the real difference.
Bump the laptop off the desk by a few cm (raise it on its power brick, or place it on a stand), and the internal CPU/GPU temperatures drop further by around 3-5 °C. At this point, the fans even sometimes slow down to around 45 dBA.
Manual mode with maxed-out fans allows for a further decrease in temperatures, but with louder fan noise at 53-54 dBA. Not worth it.
Performance mode is where this notebook excels, at 42 dBA fan noise and with a minor loss in framerates, of sub 10%.
With the laptop raised up, we measured sub-70s °C on both the CPU and GPU across the tested titles, and sometimes levels closer to 60s °C. Impressive, all things considered.
Finally, there’s Silent mode, with quiet fans at sub-35 dBA. This limits the CPU/GPU power quite notably, but still allows for about 100W TGP by default, while the temperatures average around 65 °C on both the CPU/GPU.
There’s plenty of room to further tweak an optimized Quiet-mode on this platform, which should ensure about 80% of the framerates possible on Turbo mode with still sub 35 dBA fan noise and comfortable temperatures in the mid 70s.
And here are the logs for running games on PD and battery power, with the lower power settings.
All in all, this ROG Scar 18 2026 generation is the best-cooled gaming laptop I’ve tested in a long while. It doesn’t run significantly faster than the previous Scar 18 2025 or other notebooks in its tier, but it keeps internals cooler, which allows for an excellent blend of capabilities, thermals, and noise levels. Few to no other notebooks we’ve tested can match this, with the Lenovo Legion 9i being the contender .
Heat, Noise, Connectivity, Speakers, Camera This 2026 ROG Scar 18 implements an advanced thermal module design, with a large vapor chamber, two high-capacity fans, and an extra smaller fan in the middle of the chassis, an ample heatsink that covers the entire rear edge of the laptop, and Conductonaut Extreme liquid metal on both the CPU and GPU.
That’s similar to the previous Scar 18 thermal module, but Asus implemented taller and 90% higher-capacity fans for the 2026 model, an updated 20% thicker vapor chamber, and a thicker rear heatsink. All these are “responsible” for the cooler-running internals on this generation.
This cooling module is perfectly suited for this chassis and the implemented hardware. All modes are well optimized for their purpose, providing solid performance with solid thermals and fair noise levels.
As far as the fan noise levels go with demanding loads, we’re looking at ~53-54 dB at head-level on the Manual mode with max-fans, 45-48 dBA on Turbo mode, 42 dB on Performance mode, and sub-35 dB on Silent mode.
With daily use, you’ll hardly hear the fans at all. They stay idle with casual use as long as you use the laptop in Silent mode, and while they can kick in with multitasking, they don’t seem to go over 30 dBA. I also haven’t noticed any coil whining or electronic noises on this unit.
Chassis temperatures keep low as well with casual use, in the low-30s in the hottest spots on the main chassis.
*Daily Use – streaming Netflix in EDGE for 30 minutes, Silent profile, fans idle or <30 dB
With sustained loads and games, the chassis warms up, but still remains comfortable to the touch.
However, the hottest point around 45 C is in the middle of the chassis, around the Space key, an area you’ll often come in contact with. That can be quite uncomfortable to the touch, and it’s on top of the memory modules. Rather weird.
For comparison, the 2025 Scar 18 generally ran warmer, but the middle of the keyboard stayed lower in the mid to low 30s.
*Gaming – Turbo – playing Cyberpunk for 30 minutes, fans at ~47-48 dB *Gaming – Performance – playing Cyberpunk for 30 minutes, fans at ~42 dB *Gaming – Silent – playing Cyberpunk for 30 minutes, fans at <35 dB
For connectivity, there’s latest-gen WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 through an Intel BE200 module on this device, which performed fine during all these weeks. 2.5 GB wired Internet is also available. The LAN port is on the left side of the chassis, near the power port.
Audio is handled by a set of four speakers, with two main bottom speakers and two tweeters that fire from under the display. Sound quality is alright, with good volumes (~85 dBA) and decent bass. It’s louder and more refined than on the previous-gen Scar and most other gaming laptops, but not up next to premium all-purpose designs such as a MacBook Pro or a Zephyrus G16.
The webcam on this laptop is 2MPx, and supports IR with Windows Hello. The image quality is still poor, though – not as bad as on the 2025 Scar 18 tested last year, but also quite similar to the 720p cameras in the older Scars. Asus should update their cameras across the ROG range.
Battery life There’s a 90Wh battery inside this 2026 Scar 18, identical to all other ROG notebooks of recent generations.
Here’s what we got in terms of battery life on our unit, with the screen set on the One-Zone lighting mode , brightness set at around 120 nits (~60% brightness), and 60Hz refresh (the system automatically switches to 60 Hz when unplugging the laptop).
20-25 W (~4-5 h of use) – text editing in Google Drive, Silent Mode, screen at 60%, WiFi ON;~25 W (~4 h of use) – 4K SDR fullscreen video on Youtube in Edge, Silent Mode, screen at 60%, WiFi ON;~30 W (~4 h of use) – Netflix 4K SDR fullscreen in Edge, Silent Mode, screen at 60%, WiFi ON;20-25 W (~4-5 h of use) – browsing in Edge, Silent Mode, screen at 60%, WiFi ON, RGB elements and Anime switched off;80 W (~1 h of use) – Gaming – Witcher 3, Performance Mode, screen at 60%, WiFi ON, no fps limit.
And here are some results when activating the multi-zone lighting settings:
~20-22 W (~4-5 h of use) – Multi-Zone Balance – 4K SDR fullscreen video on Youtube in Edge, Silent Mode, screen at 60%, WiFi ON;~22-26 W (~4 h of use) – Multi-Zone Strong – 4K SDR fullscreen video on Youtube in Edge, Silent Mode, screen at 60%, WiFi ON;~33 W (~3 h of use) – Multi-Zone Balance – Netflix 4K SDR fullscreen in Edge, Silent Mode, screen at 60%, WiFi ON;~35-40 W (~2-3 h of use) – Multi-Zone Strong – Netflix 4K SDR fullscreen in Edge, Silent Mode, screen at 60%, WiFi ON;
Not great runtimes by today’s standards, but that shouldn’t surprise anyone on this sort of platform and on a laptop with a 4K miniLED display.
The screen itself pulls a fair bit of power. Here are some readings at different brightness levels and zone settings:
~12-13 W (~6-8 h of use) – One-Zone – idle, Silent Mode, screen at 0%, WiFi ON;~20 W (~4-5 h of use) – One-Zone – idle, Silent Mode, screen at 60%, WiFi ON;~20 W (~4-5 h of use) – One-Zone – idle, Silent Mode, screen at 60%, WiFi ON;~22 W (~3-4 h of use) – Multi-Zone Balance – idle, Silent Mode, screen at 60%, WiFi ON;~25 W (~3-4 h of use) – Multi-Zone Strong – idle, Silent Mode, screen at 60%, WiFi ON;~30 W (~3 h of use) – One-Zone – idle, Silent Mode, screen at 100%, WiFi ON;
However, other brands squeeze better efficiency from similar hardware and 4K display, as showcased in our review of the MSI Titan lineup (haven’t tested other 4K miniLEDs for comparison). Thus, I would have expected around 5-6 hours of video streaming and light use on this Scar as well, as MSI offer on that Titan.
I tried running battery tests on GHelper, after uninstalling Armoury Crate, but that hasn’t changed things significantly. I also manually switched the GPU to ECO mode, to make sure the dGPU is not summoned by mistake, and this can sometimes offer more consistent runtimes with mixed use.
For comparison, here’s what we measured on last year’s Scar 18 G835 with the 2.5 K mini-LED display:
15-18 W (~5-6 h of use) – text editing in Google Drive, Silent Mode, screen at 50%, WiFi ON;15.5 W (~6 h of use) – 1080p fullscreen video on Youtube in Edge, Silent Mode, screen at 50%, WiFi ON;22 W (~4 h of use) – Netflix 4K SDR fullscreen in Edge, Silent Mode, screen at 50%, WiFi ON;18-22 W (~4-5 h of use) – browsing in Edge, Silent Mode, screen at 50%, WiFi ON, RGB elements and Anime switched off;23-25 W (~4 h of use) – browsing in Edge, Silent Mode, screen at 50%, WiFi ON, RGB elements and Anime switched on;80 W (~1 h of use) – Gaming – Witcher 3, Performance Mode, screen at 50%, WiFi ON, no fps limit.
Somewhat more efficient runtimes with light use and video streaming on this previous generation.
Asus pairs this configuration with an updated 450W charger, a dual-piece design with long cables and a hefty power brick. In total, they weigh around 1.1 kg, a little heavier than the 380W charger on the previous Scars.
A 100W ROG PD USB-C charger is also included in the box with this configuration (on some markets, though, not everywhere). That can be useful at times; just make sure you understand that this laptop is nowhere near its full potential on PD power.
Price and availability- Asus ROG Strix SCAR 18 The refreshed 2026 ROG Scar 18 G835 lineup is listed in stores around the world at the time of this article.
The Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX + RTX 5090 configuration starts at $4999 in US stores, with 32 GB of RAM and 1 TB SSD, while 64 GB RAM / 2 TB SSD configurations go for $5499. More RAM and storage come as extras. Over here in Europe, it goes for around 6000 EUR with 64 GB of RAM and 2 TB SSD storage.
The RTX 5080 model starts at $4299 in the US and 5000 EUR over here. Both are about 700-1000 USD/EUR more than the 2025 generations at launch, which on their own were 700-1000 USD/EUR more expensive than the 2024 generations. So we’re looking at a roughly 1.5-2K (40%) increase in price over the last two years for these notebooks. Crazy, but we’re seeing similar or even higher prices with competing options as well, such as the MSI Titan 18 or the Alienware 18.
Follow this link for updated configurations and prices in your region at the time you’re reading this article.
Final thoughts- Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 review, 2026 generation We’re living in times where a high-end high-performance notebook starts at at least 5K USD/EUR or your local equivalent, and can go up to 7K when specced with 128-192 GB of RAM and SSD.
If that’s unacceptable to you, perhaps you can still find some previous-gen notebooks in stores somewhere, or maybe settle for a lower-tier GPU variant. Of course, you could always postpone buying a new device, although I’m not expecting things to change over the next year or so, with the current state of RAM/SSD fields.
With that elephant out of the room, the 2026 Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 is a solid year-over-year update, especially considering it’s only a refinement of the 2025 chassis and not a brand new design.
Performance-wise, however, things don’t change in any significant way. Sure, the 290HX Plus CPU with the ability to run at higher power can squeeze out a 10% boost in sustained performance over the 275HX in the previous Scar 18, but with mixed use and graphics loads, the gains are minimal to none. After all, this generation implements the same RTX 5090 GPU as last year.
What has changed in a significant way is the overall experience provided by this update: much lower internal temperatures due to the updated, beefier cooling module. This allows for better thermals and potential improved long-term reliability, but also for a convenient balance of performance, quieter fans, and lower temperatures on the mid-range profiles. This laptop works and games really well at sub-40 dBA, and is arguably the best option out there for that use case. The Legion 9i runs cool as well, but it has its other quirks, especially with the mediocre screen option.
The refreshed 4K mini LED panel adds up to the overall experience as well, both with general and professional use with its 4K resolution, and with multimedia and gaming with its particularities and implemented anti-glare/anti-blur technologies that you won’t find with other brands.
So all in all, this 2026 Asus ROG Scar 18 is my favorite 18-inch full-size laptop of its time. Would I rather spend at least 1000 USD/EUR less and get a 2025 variant instead, while those are still available? Well, the price-conscious part of me says most likely yes. What do you guys think?
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Review by: Andrei Girbea
Andrei Girbea is a Writer and Editor-in-Chief here at Ultrabookreview.com . I write about mobile technology, laptops and computers in general. I've been doing it for more than 15 years now. I'm a techie with a Bachelor's in Computer Engineering. I mostly write reviews and thorough guides here on the site, with some occasional columns and first-impression articles.
