Pre-built gaming PC” is a term that gets the average gamer all excited, and it’s largely justified. Unlike gaming consoles, the whole concept of gaming PCs is total control over the hardware. The user owns every single cable that goes into their PC, and likely has a warranty on every single part as well. A “pre-built gaming PC” is, for all intents and purposes, a PC that only comes with high prices and some custom-built parts. However, such pre-built computers are quite desirable when they are made by OEMs that also make custom PC components. ASUS is one such example.
The ROG Strix has a pretty powerful CPU and a mid-range GPU, and its performance goes along the same way. You can do almost any productivity task with ease. In terms of gaming, you can rest assured that you can run most games at 60fps or above in Full HD resolution. If you’re into esports, you can expect above 120fps in most games at 1080p resolution. The PC runs pretty cool and makes almost no noise even under heavy load.
The AMD 3700x crushes almost every consumer-grade Intel processor out there, both in productivity and gaming tasks. In Cinebench R20, the ROG Strix GA15 scored 4,387 points, and in Cinebench R15, the PC scored 1,896 points, coming in the top of the list. In PCMark 10, the machine scored 5,737 points. In 7 Zip benchmark utility, the ROG Strix GA15 scored a total combined score of 64,469 MIPS. The SSD used inside the PC is a mid-range one, and it can reach sequential read and write speeds of up to 1,629MB/s and 1,472MB/s, respectively. Random read and write speeds were around 669MB/s and 646MB/s, respectively.
The case measures 49.8 cm in height, 42.1 cm in depth, and 18.9 cm in width. Although ASUS calls it a compact desktop, it is basically a mid-tower case that weighs 10 kg. On the front, there is a diagonal RGB LED lighting, the power switch with white backlight and the ROG logo. The plastic grille allows for airflow. There is a retractable hook on the top to hang headphones, and ASUS says it can support a weight of up to 3 kg, but it feels pretty wobbly.
The side panel on the left is completely transparent and you can see the RGB light strips inside. The PSU cover runs the entire depth of the tower. Although the Ryzen 7 3700x comes with a Wraith Prism cooler, the GA15 comes with a standard air cooler. The side panel on the right side is made of metal and hides all the cabling. On the top, there are USB Type-A, USB Type-C, headphone and microphone ports. There is also a grille that allows air to flow inside from the top. The entire tower is raised a bit at the front. On the back, there are all the ports mentioned above and a fan.
Wireless connectivity features on the gaming PC include Bluetooth 5.1 and dual-band Wi-Fi b/g/n/ac. On the top, there is a USB 3.2 Gen. 1 Type-A port, a USB 3.2 Gen. 1 Type-C port, a microphone input and a headphone output. On the back, the PC has two PS/2 ports, one DVI-D port, one D-sub port, one RJ45 Ethernet port, two USB 3.2 Gen. 2 Type-A ports, four USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, and three audio ports for 5.1-channel audio. It comes preloaded with Windows 10 Home 64-bit.
As for expandability, you can add three SATA drives for mass storage. There are two PCIe x1 slots that can be used for adding NVMe drives, Thunderbolt cards, or higher-end sound cards. Of course, you can replace the GPU with a newer one in a few years. However, since there is only one PCIe x16 slot, a dual-GPU configuration is out of the question.
