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Hands-on with Asus TUF Gaming FX504, an upgraded version surpassing its predecessor FX503 with Core i5 / i7 Coffee Lake processors and is rated to be 20-30% more powerful than the previous generation depending on the variant. Asus TUF Gaming FX504 targets gamers on a budget, offering high-end specifications, sleek design, giving off a rugged and eye-catching appearance to anyone who lays hands on Asus TUF Gaming FX504 for the first time.
In today's article, Mytour gets hands-on with the most powerful Core i7 variant of Asus TUF Gaming FX504. After reading this article, many readers will come to a decision whether to purchase an Asus laptop or, more specifically, whether to buy the Asus TUF Gaming FX504 laptop or not?
Hands-on with Asus TUF Gaming FX504
1. Design of Asus TUF Gaming FX504
Asus TUF Gaming FX504 boasts a new design inheriting the spirit of The Ultimate Force (TUF) found in the brand's renowned motherboards known for their durability and ruggedness. When you get hands-on with Asus TUF Gaming FX504, you can feel its ruggedness with the entire front made of plastic with vertical metallic-like stripes preserved from the FX503 version, four machine-cut corners along with four prominent intersecting lines embossed at the Asus logo creating an X shape.
The logo is chrome-plated in the machine's red color scheme with patterns resembling electronic circuit boards, giving off an extremely impressive appearance.
The back of Asus TUF Gaming FX504 isn't just aesthetically designed, it also aids in more effective cooling from multiple angles. Additionally, developers of Asus TUF Gaming FX504 state that the laptop is designed to facilitate easier RAM and SSD upgrades for gamers.
On the right side of the machine, it is flatly designed, without any connectivity ports on Asus TUF Gaming FX504 except for a single location for laptop locking.
On the left side of the machine, we have connections from left to right including power input, LAN port, HDMI port, 3 USB 3.0 ports, and a 3.5 mm jack. Compared to conventional models, Asus TUF Gaming FX504 lacks one USB port, which is also a limitation of this model.
At the back of the machine, you can see the machine's cooling vents are quite rugged and efficient, revealing four flashing LED lights indicating the laptop is powered on. The machine is equipped with exclusive dual cooling technology and dust-resistant design, a feature no other gaming laptop has.
Upon booting up, you'll notice the familiar gaming keyboard on Asus models with the WASD keys highlighted, a stylized space key, and enlarged directional keys. In the current version of Asus TUF Gaming FX504, it only supports red LEDs, not RGB LEDs. If you desire RGB LEDs, you'll need to opt for the Strix Scar or Strix Hero models.
And don't forget, the power button on the top of the machine has been separated, and there's another cooling vent below it. The keyboard of Asus TUF Gaming FX504 has also been revamped for quicker feedback, firmer key presses, and notably, its longevity can reach up to 20 million keystrokes (per key).
The red LEDs on the FX504 are highly regarded for their excellent quality, providing sufficient brightness for visibility both day and night.
The edges of Asus TUF Gaming FX504 are stylized with red accents, making it more visually appealing and rugged.
Don't mistake this for a speaker, on the FX504, it's actually a special cooling vent. While this area may always be warmer than other areas, it won't affect your overall experience.
The screen of Asus TUF Gaming FX504 is 120 Hz with an IPS panel and a response time of only 3ms. However, according to information received when hands-on with Asus TUF Gaming FX504 and upcoming versions in the Vietnamese market, they will only have a 60 Hz screen, which is quite disappointing for FPS gamers, but perfectly fine for RTS gamers like Dota 2 and Lol.
2. Specifications of Asus TUF Gaming FX504
- Processor: 8th generation Core i5 Coffe Lake 8300H / Core i7 Coffe Lake 8750H
- RAM: 8 GB DDR4 2444 MHz
- GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 or GTX 1050 Ti (2GB or 4GB options)
- Display: 15.6-inch Full HD IPS
- Storage: Firecuda 1TB (+ optional additional 128GB SSD)
- Operating System: Pre-installed genuine Windows 10 Home Single Language
- Battery: 4 Cell, 48 Whr
- Weight: 2.2 kg
Test Configuration in the Article
- Processor: 8th generation Core i7 Coffe Lake 8750H
- RAM: 16 GB DDR4 2444 MHz
- GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB
- Display: 15.6-inch Full HD IPS
- Storage: Firecuda 1TB + Samsung 960 EVO 250GB SSD
- Operating System: Pre-installed genuine Windows 10 Home Single Language
When tested on CPU-Z, the i7 8750H chip operates on a socket 1440, with a 14nm process featuring 6 cores and 12 threads.
The RAM type used is Crucial 8GB (default) with a blazing clock speed of 2666 MHz, more than sufficient for gaming or office work.
This version's GPU is the GTX 1050 Ti 4GB, quite powerful today. The current Asus TUF Gaming FX504 lineup only has two versions: the 1050 and 1050 Ti, with the Ti version being 10-20% more powerful depending on the game.
3. Hands-on Experience with Asus TUF Gaming FX504
During our hands-on experience with Asus TUF Gaming FX504, we tested the new 8th generation Core i7-8750H processor using some evaluation tools, achieving a high score with a minimum speed of 2.2 GHz and a maximum of 4.0 GHz. While this performance is only moderate compared to desktops, it's the most powerful processor currently available on laptops in the market.
The Nvidia GTX 1050Ti GPU performs averagely when compared to desktop GPUs. However, among laptops, it only falls behind the 1060, 1070, and 1080.
In this version, we've made a change to use the Samsung 960 Evo M.2 standard with read and write speeds of 3200 MB/s and 1500 MB/s respectively. Below is the FileCuda drive for faster speeds than traditional drives 20 - 30% faster, but still far behind SSD drives.
With Crucial RAM, there's no need to debate. With today's RAM technology, you don't necessarily need to equip top-of-the-line RAM. With 8 GB DDR4 2666 MHz RAM, it's more than enough.
The machine's temperature runs normally with 1 Photoshop tab open, running 4 - 5 Firefox web tabs, and a Word document.
Here, we've set up PUBG settings as follows to test the temperature during gaming on the Asus TUF Gaming FX504.
Graphics quality is quite good, FPS fluctuates between 50 and 60 frames per second, which is excellent for PUBG fans.
However, during gameplay, the temperature rises quite high to almost 80 degrees, which is understandable for a thin, lightweight laptop weighing only 2.2 kg, thermal dissipation is limited. However, at this temperature, simply adding an additional cooling fan is completely OK.
4. Conclusion
After hands-on experience with Asus TUF Gaming FX504, according to Mytour's evaluation, this is truly a worthwhile product for those who want to own a gaming laptop with powerful processors and strong graphics cards for gaming with prices ranging from around 20 million VND (8th generation Core i5 version + GTX 1050) to 25 million VND (8th generation Core i7 version + GTX 1050 Ti) only.
Furthermore, to fully unleash the potential, finding and downloading Asus laptop drivers is crucial. Refer to the most accurate way to download Asus laptop drivers here and follow the instructions.
