Its a busy time for AMD since Intel, AMD, and Nvidia have all recently released brand new high-end processors, starting at the CES trade show in January this year. Laptops based on the Ryzen 9 6900HX processor are now coming to retail, and we''ve been lucky enough to get our hands on a few of them. Today, we''ll discuss how AMD''s high-end 12th Gen offerings compare.
The Asus ROG Strix G15series is intended for esports enthusiasts and gamers who want high-performance but no longer need a super-slim or light device. It includes a lot of design and hardware features, which you may or may not like. If you are a student or business owner who wants to keep up with top-end games for a few years and also serve as productivity, heres how to get it done.
Asus ROG Strix G15 (G513RW) price in India
The Asus ROG Strix G15 (G513RW) will be available on the market in India for around Rs. 1,90,000. Although this unit has a 1440p 165Hz display, some configurations will have an option for a 300Hz panel. Another benefit of this feature is the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX GPU, 16GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 1TB NVMe SSD.
The ROG Strix G15 (G513RW) will be sold through Asus authorized stores and partners, including Flipkart. A similar model, the G15RC, with a Ryzen 7 6800H CPU and a Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050, is currently listed at Rs. 1,12,990, while the G15RM with a GeForce RTX 3060 costs Rs. 1,53,990.
The lid of the mirror and edge-illuminated ROG logo looks striking.
Asus ROG Strix G15 (G513RW) design
The ROG Strix Scar 17 SE isn''t quite a stylish design, but it has a simpler design on the lid, but it has the same RGB LED light strip on the lower front and sides, and the same raised hinge design with a horizontal half-cutout below the screen, while no room for a webcam.
The ROG Strix G15 is relatively compact considering its 15.6-inch screen. It is only 27.2mm wide at its thickest point and weighs 2.3kg. Asus describes its aesthetic as sporty, but there''s quite a lot going on, from a grid of triangles and squares on half the lid and keyboard deck, to a random paint-speckle pattern and rubbery texture on the part of the raised lip behind the hinge, to a bright neon rubber patch on the bottom.
The finish of the Eclipse Grey series is complemented by Volt Green and Electro Punk options, which have bright neon green or pink accents. The latter also has pink lighting around the ROG logo on the lid and a random text on the lid that is expected to appeal to gamers, and will have a matching mouse and mousepad.
The lid opens smoothly with only one finger. Asus decided to drop the webcam completely in favour of narrow borders. This isnt very convenient, but it is better than being stuck with one below the screen that captures awkward angles. The webcam should be able to sit on top of any laptop, however it does damage a bit of the screen.
Having a media control key in the column is perhaps not the best way to spend space.
The effects are reflected in the RGB light bar that wraps around this laptop''s base. Asus has gone with island-style keys and a smooth layout. Some people may have gotten annoyed by this but the target audience will appreciate it. The arrow keys are fairly generously sized and don''t have physical buttons.
Two USB 3.2 Gen1 (5.5GB) Type-A ports and a 3.5mm audio jack are on the left, and the right is surprisingly blank. AMDs platforms do not work natively with Thunderbolt, although USB4, which mostly subsumes the standard, hasn''t been implemented. You''ll also find an HDMI 2.0b output, 2.5Gb Ethernet jack, and a DC power inlet at the back.
The ROG Strix G15 comes with an enormous 280W power adapter, and if you''re considering portability, you''ll need to consider this weight. My review unit came with a power cord with a 16A plug which seems to be unnecessary and might be inconvenient for many users.
The upper half of the ROG Strix G15 has a noticeable cutout below the display panel.
Specifications and software for the Asus ROG Strix G15 (G513RW)
AMD''s Ryzen 9 6900HX, an 8-core, 16-thread processor, has a 45-bit ratio (which OEMs may tweak based on their laptop chassis thermal designs) and a 4.9GHz peak boost speed. This processor is based on the Zen 3+ core architecture and uses a 6nm node for the core chipslets. AMD has also developed a new Radeon 680M GPU that is optimized for the current-gen RDNA2.
The new feature of this AMD processor is DDR5 RAM, and PCIe 4.0 connectivity for SSDs. Asus has released 16GB of DDR5-4800 RAM that is fully connected and replaced, along with a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD and an empty M.2 slot.
For improved heat transfer, Asus has used a liquid metal interface material between the CPU and the cooler, as well as improved fans that can boost airflow despite being too small. The fans can spin down completely when not needed, but for a quiet operation.
These ports on the back of the ROG Strix G15 might be unanswered.
This model has a Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti GPU capable of achieving a 125W TDP of its own, but it can benefit from an additional 25W which Asus says it provides. Asus also claims that all 2022 ROG laptops have a Mux (multiplexer) switch that allows the discrete and integrated GPUs to feed the display directly, rather than being chained through one another, which reduces latency. There is also a 90Wh battery,
The Armoury Crate control panel can detect RGB colour effects and sync compatible devices, modify display settings, and set up profiles for these settings depending on which games or programs are running. This didnt feel invasive at all. The MyAsus app provides support, but it does provide additional features that will benefit from battery health and network traffic prioritization.
You may link to MyAsus, which is said to allow you to transfer files to or from an Android phone and manage its functions from your laptop. A new feature called GlideX allows you to use a phone or tablet as an external monitor. The Asus Switch is suitable for home and student applications, with a one-month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate license.
There are several USB ports and the audio jack on the left, but there is no connectivity on the left.
Asus ROG Strix G15 (G513RW) performance
The ROG Strix G15 is a joy to work with. Especially thanks to the 25601440 display resolution, which has greatly improved my productivity while also improving reading. At this screen size, the density is remarkably low in terms of viewing angles, brightness, sharpness, and color reproduction.
The speakers are fantastic, resulting in a deep, rich, spacious sound across many media types. When fan noise was not interfered with it, the sound effects in fast-paced games were fantastic.
The ROG Strix G15 was relatively quiet, but I didn''t notice the fans moving up unless a game or a heavy test was running. Despite their tough load, they produced a dull whoosh, but they also made a splash out on the Windows desktop, although the keyboard and space around it were a bit hot while gaming, although it wasn''t too uncomfortable. When this laptop is stressed, you''ll be able to feel hot air.
When playing games, I needed to run my mouse cord all the way around this laptop. However, I had a few portable SSDs and would have preferred ports on the sides. An SD card slot would have been nice considering that the hardware you get might be beneficial for creative work as well as games.
Except when dealing with heavy workloads, the ROG Strix G15 runs quite spacily.
Benchmarks are the primary way to objectively understand how a laptop performs. PCMark 10s standard and extended run-throughs averaged 6,737 and 8,906 respectively, although the MSI Raider GE76-12UHS, based on Intel''s current high-end Core i9-12900HK, was significantly increased. We can also compare these scores to those of the previous-gen Ryzen 9 5900HX, to see a substantial rise.
The Cinebench R20s single-core and multi-core render test was completed with 577 and 4,351 points, and the POV-Rays render benchmark was completed within one minute, 7 seconds. Intel seems to have the advantage here in multi-threaded workloads owing to its heterogenous core architecture.
The ROG Strix G15 managed to compress a 3.24GB folder of assorted files in a minute, 28 seconds using 7zip, and transcoding a 1.3GB AVI file to H.265 took 41 seconds. CrystalDiskMark showed a somewhat middling SSD performance, with sequential reads of 2,879.3MBps and write of 1,487.9MBps. Random reads and writes were measured at 988.2MBps and 1,490.4MBps respectively.
The Port Royal scene tests ray tracing, and the DLSS Feature Test, which included Nvidias'' technical limitations, tested 4,204 points, but the DirectX Ray Tracing Feature Test, which included a total of 29.28 percent, was delayed by a few seconds, and the Unigines Superposition, which included a 142.3 million full-length, 1080p Extreme high-quality preset.
Unless otherwise stated, all gaming tests were performed at the ROG Strix G15s native panel resolution of 25601440. The GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is capable of pushing this resolution in most games, but turning on ray tracing has very different consequences.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider was able to 88fps on average in its built-in benchmark at the Highest setting. With ray tracing enabled and set to Ultra, the average decreased quite a bit to 56fps, and visuals were noticeablely jittery in parts. Nvidias DLSS upscaling reduced the average back to 88fps when set to Balanced quality mode, but there is a possibility of a compromise in image quality at this stage
The ROG Strix G15''s RGB LED light strip is synchronised with keyboard backlighting.
Exodus slid out 57.43fps on average at its Ultra preset without ray tracing, and that fell to 45.28fps with RTX effects set to High. DLSS can be enabled, but no quality setting is specified. This resulted in a modest increase to 51.37fps on average.
Far Cry 5 averaged a smooth 86fps at its Ultra preset at 1440p, and Middle Earth: Shadow of War also averaged 89fps at Ultra quality. Gears Tactics came in at 87.8fps at Ultra quality as well. On the other hand, Assassins Creed: Odyssey managed roughly 58fps with a little tearing and inconsistent frame delivery using its Ultra High preset.
The FidelityFX Super Resolution processor supports its competitors GPUs, and the Anno 1800 is one of the games that supports it. FSR is set to Ultra High at the Quality level, and it has increased to 93.62fps. The advantages of this software are magnified because 1440p on a 15.6-inch screen is quite crisp anyway.
Even in tense battle scenes, Doom Eternal climbed above 150fps. Surprisingly, enabling ray tracing absolutely reduced the frame rate to below 30fps. However, the experience was extremely choppy and tampered gameplay. However, the tradeoff did not appear to be worthwhile.
Control is another form of motion that can be used well in tandem with RTX ray tracing. At its High preset, this game averaged roughly 70fps in a section that was not too intense on action. That dropped drastically to just around 35fps, with the DLSS target resolution set to 1485835, which increased to over 60fps.
Compared to the Intel GE76-12UHS, these scores might seem small. However, the laptop''s processor and lower resolution display have a significant impact considering its far superior performance. In the 3DMarks Time Spy test, the ROG Strix G15 scored 4,130 points and 2,424 in the Port Royal test, which is fairly good when it comes to battery power. While traveling, you might be able to play lighter games at reasonable speeds.
I was pleasantly surprised that I could complete a day of work and wasn''t in danger of the ROG Strix G15 shutting down automatically. This is fairly uncommon for a gaming laptop and you should be able to get roughly 6-8 hours of casual use per charge. The Battery Eater Pro test was conducted for two hours, 33 minutes, and was also longer than predicted.
Asus has tried several different designs, but the overall effect is far from astounding.
Verdict
The modern ROG Strix G15 laptops, and the G513RW in particular, are not striving to be the absolute best gaming laptops out there, but rather to balance cost, features, and performance. This unit is impressive, thanks to a robust processor and high-resolution display, for everything from RAM to storage and communication. Gaming performance is pretty good at 25601440 as long as you don''t want the effects to be high quality. There is also enough power here to keep you happy for a few
The ROG Strix G15 is compact and portable enough to fit any particular situation. The keyboard and trackpad are comfortable, but the speakers are a pleasant surprise. Im not a huge fan of the styling, and I would have liked better port placement as well as enhanced media playback controls. It''s not that great, but that it''s better than having one below the screen. It''s worth waiting a while to see what other businesses are offering in this price segment.
Intel''s and AMD laptop processor performance isn''t possible directly, since laptop OEMs are making choices about other components, thermal design, and price. Despite this, Intel appears to have a strong foundation for superior performance, and it''s not even counting the 55W-class Alder Lake HX series. If this sounds like the right balance of power and price, the ROG Strix G15 is a solid choice.
