Behind the beast: how the ROG GX800 sets a new benchmark for gaming laptops

Good, better, beast. When you’re looking for a gaming laptop, sometimes you don’t just want to go big – you need to. And that’s where the ROG GX800 comes in.

When we first envisioned the GX800’s predecessor, the GX700, we knew we wanted to do something that hadn’t ever been done before. Something like an overclocked gaming leviathan that could handle the most heavyweight games without breaking a sweat. A serious laptop that’s still light enough to tuck into a backpack for a friend’s LAN party. A powerhouse that’s as amazing to look at as it is to use.

All of these goals led us to the GX700, the world’s first liquid-cooled gaming laptop. Its proprietary, detachable liquid-cooling dock uses liquid pipes to remove excess heat from the laptop’s CPU and GPU.

The ROG GX800 on its liquid-cooling dock

So, when it came time to create the GX800, we improved upon our original concept even further. We began by overhauling its graphics, adding not just one, but two NVIDIA GeForce 1080 GTX graphics cards running in SLI. To complement these blistering-fast GPUs, we picked the perfect CPU: the K-series Intel Haswell. We love this processor because the K-series is already factory overclocked. Combine this with the overclocking you can accomplish with the GX800’s improved liquid-cooling dock, and you’ll get even more beast-mode performance. The result? An incredible laptop whose benchmarks in 3DMark 11 and Fire Strike Ultra are 76% higher than other gaming laptops in the market. And all this power is just a tap away thanks to a dedicated keyboard button that launches our Gaming Center, where you can manage all your overclocking settings with ease. 

The ROG GX800 Gaming Center

The GX800's amazing graphics call for an equally amazing display: that’s why we upgraded the monitor to an utterly stunning 18.4” screen with true, 4K UHD graphics. UHD means you get four times as many pixels as a 1080p HDTV, all packed into your gaming laptop monitor for razor-sharp visuals. Plus, the buttery smooth frame rates offered by those dual GTX 1080s mean you can hook up your Oculus Rift and jump straight into your favorite virtual reality world.

Last, but certainly not least, we know how important look and feel is for your gaming machine of choice; it’s not just about the performance, but the overall experience. From top to bottom, it should be a joy to use. So, for the very first time, the GX800 features a mechanical keyboard with custom Aura RGB backlighting. Technophiles and gamers alike agree: mechanical keyboards offer a far better typing experience, from superb tactile feedback and increased speed to the satisfying clack of the keys. The GX800's MechTAG keys provide just 2.5mm of travel distance, so you can say goodbye to mushy, dissatisfying laptop keyboards once and for all. And with Aura, you can customize the lighting effects for the entire keyboard or each individual key, including emphasizing WASD or the hotkeys in your favorite game. 

Another angle of the ROG GX800 on its liquid-cooling dock

For all these reasons and more, the GX800 is our hero device: we took our vision for an innovative new laptop – one that packs the unfettered power and pure joy of an overclocked gaming desktop – and turned it into a reality. This milestone device pushed the performance of laptop computers to the absolute extreme. Without a doubt, the innovations and lessons learned from this machine will also make their mark on the rest of our ROG lineup, allowing us to continue our history of constant iteration and improvement.

We’re currently celebrating 10 years of the incredible Republic of Gamers community. To commemorate the occasion, we’re offering a special Australia-only bundle for pre-order from the ASUS Shop: the GX800 Domination Pack. If you’re the lucky buyer you’ll not only get the awesome goodies that come with the laptop, but also a Noble gaming chair, an ROG gaming headset, and a trip to Taiwan with an exclusive invitation to Computex 2017. The invite-only trip also gives you a chance to meet members from ASUS, ask your burning questions, and learn more about everything that went into designing this incredible machine.

With the GX800, we showed that our vision for a game-changing laptop can become reality. So, whether you’re using the GX800 at home or sliding it into its sleek custom case for your next epic LAN, we think you’ll agree: this portable powerhouse is a complete dream to use. Because why just settle for good when you can choose the beast?

 

By Kimberly Koenig