All about ROG STRIX G15 (G15CF)

Prebuilt gaming PCs can be cheaper than building one yourself. But is it worth buying one of these from a brand like Asus, which is known for its gaming laptops? We had the ROG STRIX G15 (G15CF) for review and it has all that you can expect from a top brand.

It’s a promising machine. There’s enough ventilation on the front, on the side there’s more ventilation and, of course, on the back. There’s a top handle which means that gamers will have some ease moving the machine around the house. Of course, it’s not a light device to have.

The cabinet that Asus has provided is of good quality and measures around 18.5 cm in width, 42 cm in depth, and 49.9 cm in height. On the cabinet is a small headphone hanger, which is a pretty good idea although it appears flimsy. Apart from that, there’s nothing to complain about, be it the number of ports on the top as well as the rear.

The keyboard that comes with the PC is click-y enough

It does look very gamer-y with a lot of emphasis on RGB LEDs. It’s all over the machine and if you turn off the lights in your room, it’s very impressive. Taking care of one side of the cabinet is a glass panel through which you can check out the G15’s internal RGB lighting, complete with AURA Sync support. From the ROG Armoury Crate software, you can tweak all the performance setting, allowing a certain degree of personalisation. A quibble: some RGB lighting on the CPU cooler and the exhaust fans would have been great.

The keyboard that comes in the box is quite click-y and perfect for gaming. I wish the mouse was a slightly more expensive one but it gets the job done.

Like I mentioned, this is a pre-built desktop, something that has been around for years. It makes life easier for those who don’t want to build a PC from scratch, which requires a fair bit of researching. There are advantages as well as drawbacks when it comes to pre-built desktops. First, buying from a reputed company like Asus ensures that the machine is perfectly optimised and there won’t be any mismatch between components. Second, you know who to get in touch if an issue crops up. On the other hand, pre-built PCs can be slightly costly because of after-sales service that comes with them.

The port set-up on the back of the PC

Let’s talk about performance

The case has good airflow even though it only has one exhaust fan. The machine we received for review is powered by Intel Core i5-12400F. There is another variant available that comes with Intel Core i7-12700F. The Intel CPU in question offers good gaming performance at less money. The CPU, paired with the RTX 3060Ti, offers consistent performance beyond gaming. Sure, you can play whatever video game you want on this but you can also use it for editing videos.

The power delivery handled the CPU very well and temperatures weren’t getting too hot. Even when you give serious workload, the system doesn’t sweat. The ‘Wind Shear’ chassis has been designed to enhance airflow inside and out while the dual-chambered interior keeps the CPU, GPU, and motherboard in one zone and the storage bays and power supply in another to make cooling the hottest components easier. The noise level on this is quite manageable even when you push the CPU.

Cinebench R23 CPU score (single core) is 1,714 while multi-core result is 11618. For game rendering performance, let’s turn to 3DMark Time Spy Extreme: CPU score is 4,168, graphics score is 5,315 while main score is 5,104. Now, what matters is actual usage of the machine and it has performed without stuttering.

Storage options include M.2-based NVMe SSDs of up to 1TB and for larger game libraries, the system comes equipped with 1TB of mechanical storage. What we like about desktop PCs is the ability to change components anytime. If you don’t like the graphics card, change it. Or add more RAM sticks (just ensure the make and model are the same).

Should you buy it?

Laptops, of course, are something most would choose but there’s something special about desktop PCs — the comfort and ease with which you can type, play games or sit back and do your office work. Daily tasks on this machine can be done easily. There is no overheating when you run AAA titles and even for some video editing, this is a good machine. Most importantly, the machine can be tweaked anytime. Overall, ROG STRIX G15 (G15CF) is that gaming desktop PC that performs well without breaking into a sweat.

At a glance