The latest ROG Intelligent Cooling advances take the ROG Strix SCAR 18 to new heights of performance

The ROG Strix SCAR 18 laptop dominates the battlefield with a stunning loadout of cutting-edge hardware. Powered by an Intel Core i9-13980HX processor, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, this beastly machine offers a fast and fluid experience in any game on the market. There’s a lot of engineering that goes into the process of outfitting a laptop with such high-end hardware — especially one that’s prepared to feed its CPU at up to a 65W TDP and its GPU at a 175W max TGP.  

The element that makes it all work is none other than ROG Intelligent Cooling. CPUs and GPUs produce heat under load that must be exhausted from the laptop for these chips to sustain a high level of performance. Great laptop cooling does more than allow these flagship components to run at their very best, though. ROG Intelligent Cooling offers undeniable quality-of-life advantages. It allows the ROG Strix SCAR 18 to operate silently in light usage and unobtrusively when you’re gaming. It keeps the laptop’s surfaces cool and comfortable under your fingers. And when you want to kick the laptop into overdrive with Turbo mode, ROG Intelligent Cooling has the overhead to handle the heat. 

For each new generation of ROG laptops, we refine and improve our Intelligent Cooling systems. The ROG Strix SCAR 18 debuts many of our latest innovations, including a full-width heatsink, tri-fan design, and Conductonaut Extreme liquid metal thermal compound on both the CPU and GPU. Let’s take a look under the hood of this powerhouse gaming laptop to check out the new standard for laptop cooling. 

Putting the pedal to the metal  

ROG Intelligent Cooling’s first layer of defense against heat starts on the very surface of the CPU and GPU. For the ROG Strix SCAR 18, we apply Thermal Grizzly’s cutting-edge Conductonaut Extreme, a liquid metal thermal compound that can keep these vital chips up to 15° Celsius cooler than traditional thermal pastes. This indium- and gallium-based liquid will never dry out, unlike traditional pastes, and it conducts 17 times more heat than traditional thermal pastes, allowing the heat produced by these chips will transfer quickly and efficiently to the cooling solution. 

That heat still has a journey to go on before it’s safely out of the laptop. 7 wide heatpipes move it along to the next step. For the Strix SCAR 18, we designed the heatpipe system to cover 33% of the motherboard, up from 29% in the last generation, so that it can effectively absorb heat from not only the CPU and GPU, but the video memory and power circuitry, as well.  

Heat, meet the heatsink 

The ROG Strix SCAR 18’s heatsink system is where the heat produced by its internal components takes its final step out of the system. Our 2023 Strix SCAR and Strix G laptops boast an absolutely massive full-width heatsink system.  

Running along the entire back end of the laptop — and with two more heatsinks and vents along the right and left sides — this all-copper system provides a total of 195,509mm2 of surface area. That’s an increase of 82.5% from the 2022 Strix SCAR 17. This extra-wide heatsink is bristling with ultra-thin copper fans that are as slim as 0.1mm, allowing for lower air resistance so that the cooling air from the fans can move through unimpeded. Additionally, we moved the heatsinks as close as possible to the vents themselves to keep the hot air moving out of the machine with minimal recirculation. 

Hitting the trifecta  

On their own, the new heatpipe and heatsink system would have been a big upgrade to the Strix SCAR 18. But we went even further by augmenting this laptop’s ROG Intelligent Cooling solution with a third fan. 

Located close to the center of the device, this third fan draws in air through precisely calculated cutouts and across the internal circuitry. We placed this fan specifically to help transfer heat from the GPU directly to the heatsinks to keep the machine cool during long video renders or gaming sessions.  

The three fans are none other than our upgraded Arc Flow Fans. We design these slim units to move a large quantity of air without making much noise. With 84 blades and a variable-thickness design that tapers down to 0.1mm at the tip, these fans move up to 13% more air compared to our previous-gen models while also boasting reduced resonance and turbulence. For truly silent cooling under light workloads, these fans will switch off entirely as temperatures permit. That ensures that you'll have no distractions during everyday web browsing and light entertainment. 

Over time, dust and debris can clog up even the mightiest laptop cooling solution. Dust filters on the intake vents help keep dust out, allowing the CPU and GPU to breathe easier for years of operation.  

Armoury Crate and Scenario Profiles put you in control  

Gamers have different preferences for how they want their machines to run, and their preferences might change depending on the circumstances. If you’re gaming in your room with your headset on, you might not be that concerned about fan noise — but you do want the laptop to stay cool under your fingertips, and you do expect great performance. But if you’re taking notes during class, you don’t want a noisy machine that distracts those around you.  

We ensure that you get the experience you’re looking for in any situation with easy software controls. The operating modes in the Armoury Crate app give you a one-click way to swap to the best settings for the moment. When you want to run under the radar, toggle Silent mode to prioritize quiet operation. Turbo Mode unleashes the full performance of your hardware for those times when noise isn’t a concern, and Performance Mode offers you a fine-tuned balance of power and acoustics. 

You can even configure the ROG Strix SCAR 18 to automatically swap operating modes depending on the app you’re using. A feature called Scenario Profiles automatically applies your preferred system settings whenever you load a particular app or group of apps, ensuring that your PC is always optimized for the task at hand. Check out our full guide to learn how to set up Scenario Profiles on your machine.  

A cool, confident conqueror  

Every year, ROG Intelligent Cooling keeps getting better. As our flagship gaming laptop for 2023, the ROG Strix SCAR 18 boasts our latest innovations to keep your cutting-edge hardware operating comfortably. This system ensures you get great sustained performance from your CPU and GPU, quiet operation when you need to minimize distractions, and comfortable laptop surface temperatures in any scenario. 

The ROG Strix SCAR 18’s cooling system is just one reason that it stands at the pinnacle of our 2023 gaming laptop lineup. It’s built for top-end gaming power with the latest chips from Intel and NVIDIA. A premium 18-inch ROG Nebula display gives you the absolute best motion and image clarity. And with support for up to 64GB of DDR5 RAM and up to 4TB of PCIE Gen4x4 storage, the SCAR 18 has the chops for gaming, streaming, and content creation alike. Click the links below to get your own ROG Strix SCAR 18 laptop today. 

Model	Availability (U.S.)
ROG Strix SCAR 18 G834	ASUS Best Buy Micro Center Newegg