ASUS TUF Gaming F17 (FX706) review – big boy with a low price

Usually, the most popular and widespread gaming notebooks out there are not the flagships. Instead, the majority of people are seeking affordable devices, that provide as much as they can. And this is exactly where the TUF Gaming F17 steps in. Battling the likes of Acer’s Nitro 5 series, the Legion 5 of Lenovo, the G5 series of Dell, and the Pavilion Gaming from HP. So, there is a big competition, but the price is getting the lion’s share of the budget gaming market pie.

Obviously, the key selling point of the TUF Gaming F17 (FX706) is its price. However, you get pretty decent hardware as well. This includes quite a powerful CPU, as the series maxes out with the Core i7-10870H – an 8-core processor, which is a bit down on computational power, compared to the latest AMD has on the table. On the bright side, Intel still produces the best CPUs for gaming.

Also, there are two graphics card choices – the GTX 1650 and the GTX 1650 Ti. By the way, they are pretty similar in power, as you can see in our comparison of the two. Obviously, you won’t be enjoying all the latest AAA titles with maxed-out visuals. Despite that, these GPUs feel like a great middle-ground at this price point.

Not on the last place, ASUS was kind enough to provide three display options – a base 60Hz panel, a 120Hz one, and a 144Hz one. They are all 1080p IPS panels, so you will definitely get decent color representation, and comfortable viewing angles. However, we will see how the latter one performs in our tests later on.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/asus-tuf-gaming-f17-fx706/

Contents


Specs Sheet

ASUS TUF Gaming F17 (FX706) - Specs

  • AUO B173HAN04.9 (AUO978F)
  • Color accuracy  4.6  3.8
  • HDD/SSD
  • up to 2000GB SSD + up to 2000GB HDD
  • RAM
  • up to 32GB
  • OS
  • Windows 10 Home, Windows 10 Pro, No OS
  • Battery
  • 48Wh, 3-cell, ASUS TUF Gaming F17, 90Wh, 4-cell, 90Wh, 48Wh
  • Body material
  • Plastic / Polycarbonate, Aluminum
  • Dimensions
  • 399.2 x 268.9 x 23.3 ~ 26 mm (15.72" x 10.59" x 0.92")
  • Weight
  • 2.60 kg (5.7 lbs)
  • Ports and connectivity
  • 1x USB Type-A
  • 2.0
  • 2x USB Type-A
  • 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)
  • 1x USB Type-C
  • 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps), DisplayPort
  • HDMI
  • 2.0b
  • Wi-Fi
  • 802.11ax
  • Bluetooth
  • 5.0
  • Audio jack
  • 3.5 mm combo
  • Features
  • Fingerprint reader
  • Web camera
  • HD
  • Backlit keyboard
  • Speakers
  • 2 Speakers, DTS: X Ultra
  • Optical drive
  • Security Lock slot
  • Kensington lock

What’s in the box?

Inside the package, we found the mandatory paperwork and a 150W power adapter. In addition to that, ASUS has provided some stickers, as well as a connector for a 2.5-inch SATA drive.


Design and construction

When it comes to design, this laptop is nearly identical to the ASUS TUF A17 (FA706). It has the same cuts and lines and bears the same form. Also, it comes in two trims – one with an aluminum lid, and one with a plastic one. In terms of measurements, we see nothing spectacular, as the laptop falls on the average ground for budget 17-inch gaming laptops. We are talking about 23.9-25.2mm of thickness, and a weight of 2.60 kilos. Thankfully, the notebook has decent structural integrity, helped by the honeycomb shape of the chassis on the inside.

Its lid cannot be opened with a single hand and the hinges are a bit sloppy. This results in a wobbly display, even when you slightly shake the device. On the bright side, the bezels around the matte display are pretty thin. Also, you get an HD Web camera – a feature absent from the more premium ROG notebooks.

Next comes the base of the laptop. It has a somewhat aggressive look mainly because of the angular shapes and the grill above the keyboard. Since both the speakers are downwards firing, the aforementioned grill is used mainly for ventilation.

As for the keyboard, it has decent key travel but pretty soft feedback, which is not ideal for gaming. Also, we are not happy with the tiny Arrow keys. On the bright side, you get a NumberPad segment.

Here, the touchpad offers a pretty smooth gliding experience, while the tracking is accurate and has low latency. As you can see, there is a set of dedicated buttons below the touchpad. Ultimately, they are not the best, since the left button is a bit mushy. Additionally, we observed a slight deck flex.

As we said earlier, the speaker cutouts are placed on the bottom panel. In addition to them, below you will also see some more vents. Even though only a small portion is actually left open, we think that ASUS did so in order to channel the airflow to some essential components.

Ports

Most of the I/O here is situated on the left. This includes the power plug, an RJ-45 connector, an HDMI 2.0b connector, two USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) ports, a USB Type-C 3.2 (Gen. 2) port, and an audio jack. Taking a look at the right side reveals the security wedge slot, and a USB Type-A 2.0 port.


Disassembly, upgrade options, and maintenance

11 Phillips-head screws are holding this notebook’s bottom panel. After you undo them, you need to pry the panel with a plastic tool, starting from the bottom right corner.

Our unit is powered by a 48Wh battery pack. However, some models feature a larger 90Wh one.

Memory-wise, there are two SODIMM slots for upgrades of up to 64GB in dual-channel mode. As for the storage, you get one M.2 PCIe x4 slot, as well as a 2.5-inch SATA drive bay. By the way, ASUS provides a SATA connector in its retail package.

Here, the cooling solution consists of only two heat pipes. One for both the CPU and the GPU, and a second, only dedicated for the graphics card. There is also a metal bracket that dissipates the heat coming from the graphics memory.


Display quality

ASUS TUF Gaming F17 (FX706) is equipped with a Full HD 144Hz IPS panel, model number AUO B173HAN04.9. Its diagonal is 17.3″ (43.94 cm), and the resolution 1920 х 1080 pixels. The screen ratio is 16:9, and we are looking at a pixel density of – 127 ppi, and a pitch of 0.2 х 0.2 mm. The screen turns into Retina when viewed at distance equal to or greater than 69cm (27″) (from this distance one’s eye stops differentiating the separate pixels, and it is normal for looking at a laptop).

Viewing angles are comfortable. We offer images at 45° to evaluate image quality.

The measured maximum brightness of 271 nits in the middle of the screen and 271 nits as an average for the whole area, with a maximum deviation of only 4%. The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen is 6540K – basically matching the optimal for the sRGB standard of 6500K.
In the illustration below you can see how the display performs from a uniformity perspective. In other words, the leakage of light from the light source.

Values of dE2000 over 4.0 should not occur, and this parameter is one of the first you should check if you intend to use the laptop for color-sensitive work. The contrast ratio is good – 1270:1.

To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction to the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy.

Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people on HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors, etc for printing. Colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream notebook.

Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day.

The yellow dotted line shows ASUS TUF Gaming F17 (FX706)’s color gamut coverage.

Its display covers only 50% of the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976.

Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.

We tested the accuracy of the display with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human skin, blue sky, green grass, orange, etc. You can check out the results at factory condition and also, with the “Design and Gaming” profile.

Below you see the scores of ASUS TUF Gaming F17 (FX706) with the “Gaming and Web design” profile.

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

The left side of the image represents the display with stock settings, while the right one is with the “Gaming and Web Design” profile activated. On the horizontal axis, you will find the grayscale, and on the vertical axis – the luminance of the display. On the two graphs below you can easily check for yourself how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display, the calibration, the viewing angle, and the surrounding light conditions.

Response time (Gaming capabilities)

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and vice versa.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 25 ms.

After that, we test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “Gray-to-Gray” method from 50% White to 80% White and vice versa between 10% and 90% of the amplitude.


PWM (Screen flickering)

Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an easy way to control monitor brightness. When you lower the brightness, the light intensity of the backlight is not lowered, but instead turned off and on by the electronics with a frequency indistinguishable to the human eye. In these light impulses, the light/no-light time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM.

The backlight of the ASUS TUF Gaming F17 (FX706) doesn’t use PWM to adjust its levels of brightness. This means the display is comfortable for use, without presenting any excessive eye strain in this aspect.

Blue light emissions

Installing our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin, and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light.

Conclusion

ASUS TUF Gaming F17 (FX706)’s 144Hz IPS panel has a Full HD resolution, comfortable viewing angles, and a good contrast ratio. Thankfully, it doesn’t flicker at any brightness level. On the other hand, it covers only 50% of the sRGB color gamut, its pixel response times are a bit slow.

Buy our profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for ASUS TUF Gaming F17 (FX706) configurations with 17.3″ FHD IPS AUO B173HAN04.9.

*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected].

Read more about the profiles HERE.

In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.

Office Work

Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.

Design and Gaming

This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.

Health-Guard

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.

Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount


Sound

ASUS TUF Gaming F17 (FX706)’s speakers produce a sound of good quality. Its low, mid, and high tones are clear of deviations.


Drivers

All of the drivers and utilities for this notebook can be found here: https://www.asus.com/Laptops/For-Gaming/TUF-Gaming/ASUS-TUF-Gaming-F17/HelpDesk_Download/

Battery

Now, we conduct the battery tests with Windows Better performance setting turned on, screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits, and all other programs turned off except for the one we are testing the notebook with. This device’s 48Wh battery pack lasted for 5 hours and 58 minutes of Web browsing, and 4 hours and 21 minutes of video playback.


CPU options

Currently, the TUF Gaming F17 (FX706) can be purchased with the Core i5-10300H, Core i7-10750H, or the Core i7-10870H, consisting of 4, 6, and 8 cores, respectively.


GPU options

This specific model comes with either a GTX 1650 or a GTX 1650 Ti graphics card, with 4GB of video memory.


Gaming tests

Far Cry 5Full HD, Normal (Check settings)Full HD, High (Check settings)Full HD, Ultra (Check settings)
Average fps71 fps65 fps60 fps

rise-of-the-tomb-raider

Rise of the Tomb Raider (2016)Full HD, Lowest (Check settings)Full HD, Medium (Check settings)Full HD, Very High (Check settings)
Average fps127 fps86 fps42 fps

Shadow of the Tomb Raider (2018)Full HD, Lowest (Check settings)Full HD, Medium (Check settings)Full HD, High (Check settings)
Average fps103 fps58 fps54 fps

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon WildlandsFull HD, Medium (Check settings)Full HD, High (Check settings)Full HD, Very High (Check settings)
Average fps63 fps58 fps50 fps

Temperatures and comfort

Max CPU load

In this test we use 100% on the CPU cores, monitoring their frequencies and chip temperature. The first column shows a computer’s reaction to a short load (2-10 seconds), the second column simulates a serious task (between 15 and 30 seconds), and the third column is a good indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as video rendering.

Average core frequency (base frequency + X); CPU temp.

Intel Core i7-10870H (45W TDP)0:02 – 0:10 sec0:15 – 0:30 sec10:00 – 15:00 min
ASUS TUF F17 (FX706)2.60 GHz (B+15%) @ 62°C @ 57W2.56 GHz (B+14%) @ 69°C @ 57W2.49 GHz (B+13%) @ 69°C @ 45W
ASUS TUF F15 (FX506) (Turbo Mode)3.06 GHz (B+39%) @ 73°C @ 82W2.82 GHz (B+28%) @ 75°C @ 68W2.43 GHz (B+10%) @ 73°C @ 50W
MSI GP66 Leopard (High Performance)3.49 GHz (B+59%) @ 95°C @ 85W3.34 GHz (B+52%) @ 95°C @ 76W3.24 GHz (B+47%) @ 93°C @ 70W
MSI GP76 Leopard (High Performance)3.67 GHz (B+67%) @ 95°C @ 103W3.53 GHz (B+60%) @ 95°C @ 94W3.33 GHz (B+51%) @ 90°C @ 80W

This device was running at lower frequencies compared to its smaller brother. Well, this is true for the first two checkpoints, because the last one actually shows better clocks at a lower temperature, and weirdly – lower power consumption.

Real-life gaming

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 TiGPU frequency/ Core temp (after 2 min)GPU frequency/ Core temp (after 30 min)GPU frequency/ Core temp (Turbo mode)
ASUS TUF Gaming F17 (FX706)1529 MHz @ 69°C1525 MHz @ 69°C
HP Envy 15 (15-ep0000)1602 MHz @ 65°C1603 MHz @ 63°C
Lenovo Ideapad Creator 5 (15)1187 MHz @ 65°C1159 MHz @ 67°C
Dell G3 15 35001560 MHz @ 77°C1453 MHz @ 79°C
ASUS ROG Strix G15 G5121647 MHz @ 66°C1626 MHz @ 70°C
Acer Nitro 5 (AN515-55)1628 MHz @ 74°C1601 MHz @ 81°C
Acer Predator Triton 300 (PT315-52)1581 MHz @ 70°C1551 MHz @ 78°C1673 MHz @ 66°C
ASUS TUF A15 (F506)1566 MHz @ 68°C1549 MHz @ 69°C

We monitored an average temperature of 69°C in both checkpoints. And while the clock speed wasn’t record-breaking, the benchmark results proved that the TUF Gaming F17 (FX706) can deliver. Also, the GTX 1650 Ti here was running at 50W.

Gaming comfort

Yes, the fans were spinning quite rapidly, which produces a lot of noise during gameplay. However, the temperature on the outside of the machine was never too hot.


Verdict

Yes, this device does well, what it’s intended to do. It brings AAA gaming on a budget. Albeit it’s not able to handle the latest titles at their maximum visual settings, most people will be satisfied by the performance it offers. On the other hand, some things were sacrificed. Usually, the first thing to be compromised is the build quality, but here, we feel this wasn’t the case.

Despite the fact that ASUS uses plastic for the majority of this build, the notebook is pretty strong and doesn’t feel cheap. However, the battery life is mediocre. If you get the device with the 48Wh unit, it will last for no more than 6 hours of Web browsing, and a bit over 4 hours of video playback. This figure will be a lot smaller if you multitask or add an intensive workload.

ASUS TUF Gaming F17 (FX706)’s 144Hz IPS panel (AUO B173HAN04.9) has a Full HD resolution, comfortable viewing angles, and a good contrast ratio. Thankfully, it doesn’t flicker at any brightness level. On the other hand, it covers only 50% of the sRGB color gamut, its pixel response times are a bit slow.

Well, the comfortability of use is great because of the lack of PWM, but on the other hand, the keyboard is a bit mushy and has super tiny Arrow keys. In addition to that, the I/O lacks an SD card reader, while one of the USB Type-A ports works at only 2.0 speeds.

Ultimately, the price range this notebook comes at is pretty competitive. And although this laptop is not perfect, you should keep in mind that no device in this segment of the market would be.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/asus-tuf-gaming-f17-fx706/

Pros

  • Two SODIMM slots, one M.2 PCIe x4 slot, one 2.5-inch SATA slot
  • Optional RGB backlight
  • Lacks PWM (AUO B173HAN04.9)
  • Comfortable viewing angles and good contrast ratio (AUO B173HAN04.9)
  • Affordable pricing


Cons

  • No SD card reader
  • Slow pixel response times, despite the 144Hz refresh rate (AUO B173HAN04.9)
  • Only 50% of sRGB coverage (AUO B173HAN04.9)
  • Sub-par battery life

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Fletcher Robinson
Fletcher Robinson
2 years ago

I’m pretty sure there is a second M.2 SSD slot. I think there is a label right above the sata HDD slot on the right side. It says “2nd PCIe Slot.” It is is the pictures in the review.