Asus Republic of Gamers is a huge name in the gaming industry, known over the years for its excellent gaming hardware and accessories. We ourselves have recommended some Asus gaming laptops such as the ROG Strix laptops in the past for its killer performance. That, sadly, hasn’t been the case with the TUF Gaming series, which is fairly new on the scene, and looks to reduce the price point of Asus gaming laptops.

Before I get on with my review, I think it’s best to get the hardware specs out of the way. The version of laptop for review packs 8th-Gen Intel Core i7 processor paired with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 GPU, along with 16GB of RAM. This particular variant is priced at ₹1,29,990. Here’s a quick rundown of the FX505 specifications:

I’d like to point out that you can also buy a relatively cheaper variant powered by Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM and GTX 1050 Ti. That’s priced at ₹79,990. We’ll talk a bit more about it towards the end.

The very first thing I noticed as soon as I pulled the laptop out of the box was its size. I can’t quite describe how refreshing it is to write about a gaming laptop that doesn’t look like, you know, a bulky slab. No, gaming laptops don’t have to be big and bulky as they once used to be. Asus TUF FX505 Gaming top design

Unlike some other laptops that have flashy RGB-lighting all over the body (eyes on you Alienware!), the FX505 sports just an RGB-backlit keyboard. It’s, in my opinion, the right amount of RGB for that any laptop should have. As I said earlier, I don’t want to feel like I stumbled upon an alien artifact, and this is just perfect.

Looking past the weird flexing issues, I have absolutely no complaints with the FX505’s build quality.

Asus TUF Gaming FX505: Connectivity

When it comes to connectivity, the FX505 is decent at best. It features a single USB 2.0 and two USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A ports for your gaming peripherals, as well as HDMI 2.0. You also get a LAN and charging port, and all of them are situated on the left-side of the body, leaving nothing on the other side to interfere with right-handed mousing. Asus TUF Gaming FX505 port selection

The FX505’s predecessor didn’t get much appreciation for its TN panel, so I am glad that Asus went with an IPS panel this time. Better yet, you can even choose to buy a panel with 144Hz refresh rate, which is what I’ve got here. The higher refresh rate enables smoother interface interactions. It’s noticeably better and you can feel the change just while moving the cursor around. Also, in games, it will translate to smoother frame rates when you’re playing with proper settings.

It’s a 15.6-inch LED-backlit FHD display with 72-percent NTSC. I am also glad that Asus has done away with distractingly glossy screens. It’s a matte panel (anti-glare coating) and has excellent viewing angles. Asus claims that the display covers 100% of the sRGB color range. And from what I’ve experienced, the colors are nice and bright, blacks are deep and dark enough to both play games and watch movies. Thin Bezels

Asus TUF Gaming FX505: Keyboard

I am a writer by profession, so laptops with poor keyboards are an absolute deal-breaker for me. Thankfully the keyboard on the FX505 is a good for typists. The keys are quiet and have a decent amount of travel. It has n-key rollover and it’s advertised for 20 million lifetime presses.

As I mentioned earlier, it’s an RGB-backlit keyboard, and the 4-zone illumination can be controlled via the AURA software that comes preinstalled. The WASD keys are made from clear plastic, just like the ones found on some ROG Strix laptops as well.

The Asus TUF Gaming FX505 has an Elan plastic touchpad surface with Windows Precision drivers. It has a decent size and a smooth surface, but it isn’t the best touchpad I’ve used. In fact, at times, I felt it was a bit wonky. There were times when it decided not to register my gestures. It also froze up more often than I would like.

Asus TUF Gaming FX505: Audio and Webcam

The FX505 features a built-in 2W stereo speakers that are, well, just disappointing to say the least. The speakers are fairly loud, don’t get me wrong. However, the sound coming out of the speaker grill on the edges is tiny, and can be easily muffled if/when the laptop is placed on an uneven surface. FX505 has tiny speakers

For ₹1,29,990, the FX505 comes with an Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB RAM, and the GTX 1060 GPU. Not only do these numbers look good on paper, they also translate to smooth overall performance. Of course, I played a lot of games on this laptop to see if I could push it to its limits. But before I dig a little deeper into that, let me give you some numbers. Playing PUBG on TUF FX505

I ran the standard set of benchmarks on the FX505 like Cinebench R15’s OpenGL test, VRMark, etc. Here are the results:

The FX505 clocked 91.39 FPS in Cinebench R15’s OpenGL test, scored 6,704 in 3DMark Fire Strike, and 4,736 in PCMark 10.

I also ran the Geekbench 4 test, in which the FX505 hit 4,718 in the single-core score, and managed to put up 14,499 in multi-core score. In VRMark, I got a score of 4,582, which is on par with most other laptops in this price point.

I also rendered the BMW Benchmark from the Blender demo archive,and the FX505 was able to render the image in 816 seconds, which is again, pretty decent.

Playing games is what the FX505 was designed to do, so how’s the gaming performance? Well, it’s exactly what you’d expect out of a GTX 1060 GPU powered laptop. It can comfortably run most AAA titles with medium – high graphics settings at 1920 x 1080 resolution. In fact, you’ll comfortably hit 60 FPS. Check out these gaming benchmarks:

As you can see, I pushed the FX505 to its limits by throwing in some graphics-intensive titles like Metro: Last Light, Rise of the Tomb Raider, etc. I even tried some newer titles like the Soul Calibur 6, and I was comfortably hitting 60 FPS. For playing online games like PUBG, though, I’d suggest you go easy on the graphics settings, as you may experience some frame drops if you are, say, in the middle of a fierce gunfight.

I always appreciate manufacturers who make it easier for users to crack open the back of their laptop and peek inside the thermals. Sadly, Asus is not one of them. But from what I could gather, the FX505 has two large fans, and several heatpipes running across the CPU and the GPU. FX505 Vents

Asus offers three fan profiles: Silent, Balanced and Overboost. I left mine at Balanced at all times, and never bothered changing it manually again. I found the CPU fan to be active at all times, a phenomena, which is rather rare. I mean, I don’t expect the fans to be active even when I am barely using the laptop. Luckily they don’t get too loud, unless you’re playing a game or performing some resource intensive task. TUF FX505 back

The battery life is where I’d say the FX505 has let me down quite a bit. It packs a 48Wh Polymer battery, which is really small by today’s standards. Add a 144Hz display on top, and I can easily say that battery life is the Achilles heel of FX505. FX505 comes with a 120 Wh power brick

The FX505 comes with a standard 120Wh power brick, and it takes around a hour and a half to charge fully.

Asus TUF Gaming FX505 Pros and Cons

Pros

  • Gorgeous 144Hz screen
  • Thin Bezels
  • Compact Design
  • Thermals
  • Good gaming performance

Cons

  • Sub-par battery life
  • Display seems loosely fixed
  • Flex in keyboard
  • Slightly expensive

Buy Asus TUF Gaming FX505 from Flipkart (Starts ₹79,990)

As you probably know by now, the Asus TUF FX505 has managed to impress me on a lot of grounds. It’s got a compact body that seems to have grown on me. It also has a beautiful 144Hz display and powerful internals for consistently better performance.

As I mentioned earlier, you can also buy the Core i5, GTX 1050Ti version of the FX505, but then you’ll have to give up on things like the 144Hz display and top notch performance. The choice is yours, really.