Verdict and Conclusion
Congrats to Asus for producing a mini gaming PC that not only looks great, also performs just as well. The 4-liter size ROG GR8 II is compact and sleek, and it comes with an eye-catching two-tone design. I especially like the Aura RGB lighting effects on the front of the chassis. There’s no other mini gaming PC on the market that can offer these great aesthetics.
Hardware-wise, the GR8 II packs a pretty powerful punch. It’s powered an Intel Core i7-7700 (Kaby Lake, non-K version) running at 3.6GHz (4.1 Turbo Boost), and comes with some great features including, built-in AC wifi, SupremeFX audio, 16GB of DDR4-2400 ram, an Intel 256GB SSD, and a GeForce GTX 1060 (3GB GDDR5) graphics card.
The only thing I wished the GR8 II had … was a better graphics card, possibly an overclocked GTX 1060 (with 6Gb) or even a GTX 1070 (8GB). Remember, Zotac has already released mini gaming PCs with GeForce GTX 1070 and GTX 1080 in them. Another thing Asus could have done was to replace the existing Intel SSD with a faster PCIE/M.2 NVMe SSD.
In terms of performance, the ROG GR8 II is pretty impressive, there’s plenty of processing power especially with an Intel Core i7-7700 at its heart. However, I do feel that it’s being held back by the graphics card (or should I say it’s being bottlenecked), as it’s only a GTX 1060 with 3GB of vram. I suppose Asus is trying really hard to balance the price and performance … and I get it. Swapping the GTX 1060 with a GTX 1070 will probably add another USD $200-$250 to the price.
The scores and results obtained from our benchmark tests, fall in line with other gaming systems that uses the GeForce GTX 1060. It’s no head turner, but should be good enough to play all of the latest games.
So what about future expansion? There doesn’t appear a way to easily upgrade the graphics card or the processor, so you’re out of luck there. However, you do have the option to upgrade the SSD. There’s also a M.2 slot for an additional NMVe storage, but only 1 x SODIMM slot … which means that if you want to upgrade to 32GB of ram, you’ll need to replace the existing module.
Like most mini gaming PCs, the Asus ROG GR8 II won’t be cheap. Expect to pay upwards of USD $900 plus. One might think … for $900, I can actually build my own kick-ass gaming rig. Yes, that might be true, but this is “mini” gaming PC that is portable, and you carry with you easily … anytime, anywhere. Plus it’s a ROG branded unit that comes with all the bells and whistles.
Buy the Asus ROG GR8 II
Pros:
- Compact and sleek design
- Powerful 4 core/8 thread Core i7-7700 processor
- GeForce GTX 1060
- Aura Sync and SupremeFX audio
- Built-in AC wifi
- VR-ready
Cons:
- Nothing I can think of really
- Could improve on the graphics card department
Final words:
If you’re after a feature-packed mini gaming PC that’s pre-built, and comes with all the bells and whistles of a ROG branded product, then you might want to consider the ROG GR8 II. It has everything you’ll need to start playing the latest games… anytime, anyplace, anywhere.
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