The ASUS GX701 is the 17 inch version of the Zephyrus S gaming laptop, but just how well
does it perform in games? I’ve benchmarked 17 different games at all setting levels to
show you how well it runs and help you decide if it’s a laptop you should consider buying.
Just quickly before we jump into the benchmark results I’ll cover off the specs in my unit.
I’ve got the GX701GX version here, so there’s an Intel i7-8750H CPU, Nvidia RTX 2080 Max-Q
graphics and 24GB of memory running in dual channel. The GX701 is also available with
2070 or 2060 graphics too, so expect different results with those options.
I was running Windows 10 with the latest Nvidia drivers available, and just a reminder we’re
only looking at gaming performance here, if you’re new here get subscribed so you don’t
miss the full review of the GX701.
Battlefield 5 was tested in campaign mode and not in multiplayer mode, as it’s easier
to consistently reproduce the test run. The purple bars show the results with ray tracing
disabled, while the green bars show RTX on. The results with RTX off were great, just
able to hit 100 FPS even at ultra, and RTX on was mostly playable at high and ultra too,
though personally for a first person shooter I’d prefer 60 FPS or above.
Apex Legends was tested with either all settings at maximum, or all settings on the lowest
possible values, as it doesn’t have predefined setting presets. Even maxed it out was playing
perfectly fine without any problems, and averaging above 100 FPS.
Metro Exodus was tested using the built in benchmark, which performs worse than actual
game play, making this more of a synthetic test rather than indicative of actual game
performance. Despite this these results seem quite a bit higher compared to the other 2060
laptops I've tested so far.
Far Cry New Dawn was tested with the built in benchmark as well, and almost 100 FPS was
possible at low settings. I haven’t tested this game much yet, but at ultra we’re looking
at about 10 FPS more than a 2060 laptop.
Far Cry 5 was also tested with the built in benchmark, and the results were good in terms
of average FPS for this test, and around 20 FPS higher at each setting compared to the
newer Far Cry New Dawn shown previously.
Fortnite was tested with the replay feature, and due to a recent game update the replay
I’ve used is a fair bit different compared to my previous tests, so these results can’t
really be compared with my past tests. Even at max settings well above 100 FPS averages
were possible, it was running very well.
Overwatch was also performing extremely well, and it was tested playing in the practice
range. The game has a 300 FPS frame cap, which was able to be hit at low and medium settings.
Even maxed out at epic settings 200 FPS was possible with a high 1% low as well.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider was tested with the built in benchmark, and the results were
very nice for a laptop. I find this game to be more graphically intensive, at highest
settings the average frame rate is about 25% above what I’ve seen from a 2060 laptop.
PUBG was tested using the replay feature, and the results were excellent for this test,
with very low settings giving us a high frame rate capable of taking advantage of the 144Hz
display, while maxed out was still capable of above 100 FPS.
CS:GO was tested using the Ulletical FPS benchmark, and we were seeing some very high frame rates
from the GX701, with over 250 FPS averages possible even with all settings at maximum,
with almost 100 for the 1% low.
Rainbow Six Siege was tested with the built in benchmark, and is a game I’ve found to
benefit from Nvidia’s new turing architecture. As a result very high frame rates were possible
in this test, even at ultra the 1% low was above the 144Hz refresh rate of the laptop’s
display.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was another that was tested with the built in benchmark, and
I was seeing some nice results for this test, with almost 60 FPS possible here at very high
settings.
Dota 2 was tested playing in the middle lane with an average amount of action going on,
and even with all settings at maximum 150 FPS averages were possible, it was running
perfectly smoothly with no problems at all.
Watch Dogs 2 is a resource intensive game, however with our excellent specs here the
results are very good, considering I think it’s playable with a solid 30 FPS, there
were no problems even playing maxed out at ultra settings.
Ghost Recon is another demanding game and was tested using the built in benchmark, and
most laptops that I test aren’t able to handle ultra settings in this game. The 2080
Max-Q seems to break this rule though, with 60 FPS averages possible in this test maxed
out at ultra settings.
The Witcher 3 was also running very well with hairworks disabled, and once again even ultra
settings were capable of reaching above 100 FPS averages with much higher possible at
lower settings.
Shadow of War was tested with the built in benchmark, and is another game that I’ve
found to benefit from Nvidia’s new Turing architecture. The results here were also quite
impressive, with over 100 FPS averages possible at ultra settings.
As we’ve seen in all 17 of these games tested there were absolutely no problems getting
high frame rates even with all settings at maximum, however it does come at a cost, you
can find up to date pricing linked in the description. The 90 watt 2080 Max-Q graphics
combined with i7-8750H and 24GB of memory running in dual channel make a powerful combination
in this thin gaming machine, if anything it makes the 1080p screen seem inadequate. As
a 17 inch laptop with these powerful specs I think it would have made sense to also have
a 1440p option available too, otherwise you could always attach an external display for
those higher resolutions.
So how do you guys think the ASUS GX701 gaming laptop did in these games? Let me know your
thoughts down in the comments, and get subscribed so you don’t miss the full review of the
17 inch ASUS Zephyrus S gaming laptop.