Asus - Asus TUF705

Asus

Asus TUF705: a well-balanced but classic PC

Aprox. 1399€

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Asus returns to the world of affordable gaming with its TUF705, a PC that has the distinction of combining a Ryzen 7 processor with a GTX 1660 Ti graphics card. Good or bad pick?

Our review

Presentation

When it comes to gaming PCs, Asus is betting a lot on its Republic of Gamers (ROG) range, which combines high-level performance and the new latest chassis innovations. Nevertheless, the Taiwanese company also sells gaming PCs under its own name through its TUF range, often more affordable, like the 705 model used in our labs.

The TUF range is intended to be simpler than the ROG range and does not therefore benefit from the bre latest innovations. Thus, Asus goes to the basics with its TUF PCs, offering a simple chassis, but still embedding components tailored for the game. With the TUF705, Asus presents a new configuration, combining a Ryzen 7 processor and a GTX graphics card 1660 Ti.


Construction

With TUF, Asus goes to the basics in terms of design and offers a PC with an old-fashioned charm that could almost pass for a PC dedicated to professionals. Its chassis combines aluminum and striated hard plastic.

If it is not very beautiful, this design has the advantage of being very solid. The plastic does not crack under the fingers and does not bend. For the rest, the PC is not very inventive, sporting a visually sad chassis. We will still appreciate the screen with thin edges (which we will come back to below).

The TUF705's keyboard is the same as that used on the old models of the ROG Strix range. If the typing itself is pleasant, despite a click that we would have liked more present, it is the placement of the keys that annoys here. Asus has chosen to place a long "enter" key which is not very practical, because the user is forced to take a look at his fingers to find it. Likewise, there is no marked space between the left keyboard and the numeric keypad, which may require some adjustment time. If the keyboard is RGB and scrolls a color spectrum, it is however not possible to customize it. You can only adjust the brightness. The trackpad is not very reactive and unpleasant, and the user will have an interest in using a mouse instead.

The connectivity of the TUF705 is content with the minimum, and it is a bit of a shame. The PC has two USB Type-A 3.0 ports, a USB Type-A 2.0 port, an HDMI port, an Ethernet port and a headphone jack. No USB Type-C port, or even an SD card reader, which is lacking on this kind of model. It should also be noted that all of the ports are located on the left side of the device, the user therefore has free rein to maneuver the mouse ... provided that he is right-handed.

It is possible to disassemble the TUF with a precision screwdriver. Once done, you can easily change the 2.5-inch hard drive or the M.2 SSD (256 GB, here). Note also that if the PC is well endowed with 16 GB of RAM, it uses only one bar, which can have an impact on performance. This is all the more regrettable given that a second RAM location is free in the PC. A good point for who will one day want to add RAM, a bad for those who would have preferred to take advantage of optimized performance in dual-channel with a configuration in 2 x 8 GB.

The ventilation grilles of the TUF705 are located between the keyboard and the screen as well as on the right edge, which gives directly on the hand of the user who can therefore have a hot breath on the skin (which is not very pleasant in play) . During our usual test protocol (Metro Last Light benchmark for one hour), the PC chassis is mounted at 53 ° C, which is acceptable for a PC with a graphics card.

Regarding noise, the PC has three modes: balanced, silent and turbo. The first adapts the breath of the fans to the heating. The second keeps the fans to a minimum (39 dB, which is very discreet) in all situations, which is not recommended in game since the temperature of the chassis increases by 5 ° C. Finally, the turbo mode keeps the fans running at maximum , 45 dB, which is understandable. Everything is regulated by the combination of the Fn and F5 buttons, practical and easily accessible.


Screen

The Asus TUF705 has a 17.7-inch non-touch IPS screen, which is becoming less and less common, even for gaming PCs. The definition of the slab is 1,920 x 1,080 px, and Asus puts on thin edges on the sides, but not on the horizontal edges. The screen / facade ratio is 78%, and corresponds to the current average between 75% and 80%.

The TUF705 screen performed well after going through the lab. The contrast was measured at 1,330: 1, which is good for a laptop. The blacks are relatively deep. The color temperature is calculated at 6,870 K, which is relatively close to 6,500 K of the video standard. The screen therefore does not draw towards red or blue. The colors displayed on the screen are also very faithful to the original colors. The average delta E was measured at 3.3, an excellent score. Here, only the light greens displayed are not accurate.

The maximum brightness is correct, since measured at 305 cd / m², with a matte panel that does not reflect light. A very good thing for a gaming PC. The remanence is 13 ms, below the average (around 15 ms). While it is possible to do better on a gaming PC, the panel does not experience unpleasant fuzzy streaks when there are fast movements on the screen.


Performances

The TUF705 has an AMD Ryzen 7 3750H processor, the high-end processor from the American brand, equivalent to Intel's Core i7. It also has a single 16 GB RAM module (which has a slight impact on performance compared to a dual-channel configuration), a 256 GB M.2 SSD as well as a disk 2.5 inch hard drive with a capacity of 1 TB, ideal for storing data and games.

During our usual test protocol (photo editing, video editing, file compression and 3D calculation), the PC reached the index of 80 on our scale of values. This places him behind the TUF765, which has a Core i7-8750H, but still in front of the seventh generation Core i5 of Lenovo's Legion Y520. Nevertheless, a Ryzen 7 3750H remains an extremely powerful processor and makes it possible to operate the most demanding software without difficulty.


Games

The TUF705 has an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti graphics card with 6 GB of memory. This is the first time that we have tested a computer that couples the Ryzen with the new graphics cards from Nvidia and the results obtained are interesting.

During our test protocol (definition of 1,920 x 1,080 px, vertical synchronization disabled, graphics set to ultra), the PC delivered correct results:

Metro: Last Light: 65 i / s Rise of the Tomb Raider: 48 i / s Assassin's Creed Origins: 44 i / s Far Cry 5: 39 i / s The Witcher 3: 53 i / s Star Wars Battlefront 2: 50 i / s Civilization VI: 43 fps

As our panel shows, the 1660 Ti is doing pretty well, if not very well on certain games. If the gap of 60 fps is not necessarily reached, its performance remains correct. It will however be necessary to make some small graphic concessions on certain games. Compared with the Nvidia GeForce found in this range, the 1660 Ti - here coupled to a Ryzen 7 - is placed above the 1650, but remains below the GTX 1060.


Mobility / Autonomy

The TUF705 is a 17 inch gaming PC. With such a screen format, difficult for Asus to play on mobility, the laptop being more portable than portable. It weighs 2.7 kg, expected weight for a 17 inch, and adopts dimensions of 279 x 399 x 26 mm, which is not surprising either. Asus ships the PC with an extremely heavy 620g two-part charger, even for a gaming model.

During our usual test protocol (Netflix in Chrome, backlight off, brightness set to 200 cd / m² and headphones connected), the TUF turned off after 6 h 43 min. A high score, especially for a PC dedicated to games, which will have to be halved in game (even if it is more advisable to play on sector). A good surprise.


Audio

The sound delivered by the TUF speakers does not convince. Focusing only on the high-midrange, it is logically bad in listening to music, but also in simple voice communications. The voices are nasal and it becomes difficult to distinguish their timbre when several interlocutors intervene. Typically, it is complicated to recognize the different participants during a Skype conversation, for example.

The PC embeds by default a well hidden DTS X software that must still be left activated to limit the breakage. It has the merit of adding a bit of bass and balancing the sound, thus attenuating the megaphone effect without it.

This software, precisely, must be activated when using the PC with a headset. The headphone jack is indeed completely restrained when it is deactivated, giving a ridiculous measured level of 70 mV RMS. Activation of the software remains the solution to this problem, but however treats the frequency response, which in the end has little interest.


Conclusion

The TUF705 offers the correct experience, without sparking. If we can welcome the presence of a powerful processor and a well calibrated screen, the chassis of another age is hard to convince, just like the GTX 1660 graphics card coupled to the Ryzen CPU. Nevertheless, the TUF705 does what is expected of it: it is a decent and flawless gaming machine that is truly unacceptable.


Specifications