The new ASUS TUF FX505DU gaming laptop is a bit different, it’s got an AMD CPU with
Nvidia graphics, but just how well does it perform in games? In this testing I’ve benchmarked
19 different games at all setting levels to show you how well it runs, and compared it
against some other gaming laptops to see how it stacks up.
Just quickly before we jump into the benchmark results I’ll cover off the specs in my unit.
I’ve got the DU model, which means there’s an AMD Ryzen 7 3750H CPU with Nvidia GTX 1660
Ti graphics, an unusual combination. I’ve also got 16gb of dual channel memory, though
my unit did come with single channel out of the box, but it looks like you can purchase
it with either. It’s available with some different configurations, you can see examples
and check updated prices linked in the description.
I was running Windows 10 with the latest Nvidia drivers available, and I’ve got turbo mode
enabled for best performance, however I didn’t find this to overclock the 1660 Ti.
Just a reminder we’re only looking at gaming performance here, if you’re new to the channel
get subscribed for the upcoming full review which will cover everything. We’ll start
off with the results from all 19 games at all setting levels, then compare with some
other gaming laptops afterwards to see how the FX505 stacks up.
Battlefield 5 was tested in campaign mode and not in multiplayer mode, as it’s easier
to consistently reproduce the test run. The results here seemed fair, and it was definitely
playable with ultra settings with above 60 FPS averages possible.
Battlefield 1 was also tested in campaign mode, and was performing very well, with ultra
settings getting us closer to 100 FPS now, and while the 1% low was a little inconsistent
it was still above 60 for all settings.
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. It played fine even with
everything at maximum, though dropping down to minimum boosted FPS by 41%.
Far Cry New Dawn was tested with the built in benchmark. In this test 55 FPS averages
were hit at ultra settings, honestly not all that far behind some higher specced options.
Fortnite was tested with the replay feature, and this game runs well on pretty much anything.
At ultra settings it was still possible to reach above 100 FPS in this test with decent
1% lows, with higher still possible at lower settings.
Overwatch is another well optimized game and was tested in the practice range, as other
players, bots and even different maps in actual gameplay affect the frame rate and this allows
for consistent testing. .Again even at epic settings the average FPS is great for the
120Hz panel, with above 100 for the 1% low.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider was tested with the built in benchmark, I don’t have too
much 1660 Ti laptop data yet, but even the Infinity S7 I recently tested which was hampered
with single channel memory was a little ahead here, showing that the more powerful i7-9750H
is going to make a difference in many titles. I’ll be doing many different CPU comparisons
with the Ryzen 7 3750H though so make sure you’re subscribed for those.
Metro Exodus was also tested using the built in benchmark, most parts of the game perform
a fair bit better than this, so don’t take these results as a good indication of what
to expect throughout the entire game, it’s more of a worst case but does let you perform
the same test to compare against.
CS:GO was tested using the Ulletical FPS benchmark, and like always high frame rates were coming
out of this test, however the results were noticeably lower when compared against the
Intel based laptops I usually test, though it seems to be well known that this game favours
Intel CPUs, so if CS:GO is your focus this may not be best for you.
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. Like some of the other well performing games
this one generally always does pretty good on modern hardware.
PUBG was tested using the replay feature, and in this game I saw no major differences
between the different setting levels. In terms of average FPS there was only around a difference
of 5 between very low and ultra, with inconsistent 1% low results.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was tested with the built in benchmark, and seems to be quite
a CPU heavy test, so overall results are a little down over the recent Intel laptops
I’ve covered.
Dota 2 was tested playing in the middle lane with an average amount of action going on,
and it played well without any noticeable issues. 144 FPS averages were possible with
low settings, while ultra was still above 90.
Watch Dogs 2 is a resource intensive game, however with a solid 30 FPS to me it plays
fine, so even with ultra settings with our 31 1% low I had no trouble playing, though
personally I have a hard time seeing the difference between ultra and very high anyway.
Ghost Recon is another demanding game and was tested using the built in benchmark. Unless
you’ve got a top of the line thick laptop, 60 FPS at ultra in this test is basically
not possible, though was achieved with very high settings here.
The Witcher 3 was running well with hairworks disabled, even with ultra settings to me it
was playing perfectly fine with an average 70 FPS while still also looking great.
DOOM was tested using Vulkan, and this game saw the first problem with the AMD and Nvidia
hybrid laptop. By default Vulkan games seem to want to use the Vega 10 graphics instead
of the GTX 1660 Ti, so I could only get Vulkan to work by disabling the Vega 10 graphics
in device manager. Anyway once I got it working we’re able to hit around 100 FPS at ultra
settings, it was running very well.
Strange Brigade was another game that was tested with Vulkan, and like DOOM this one
would error and not run unless I disabled the Vega 10 graphics on the AMD CPU through
device manager. After that it worked without issue, with 90 FPS averages at ultra possible
in this test.
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. Even ultra settings was able
to average above 60 FPS in this test, so not too bad.
Let’s also take a look at how this config of the ASUS TUF FX505DU compares with other
gaming laptops to see how it stacks up, use these results as a rough guide only as they
were tested at different times with different drivers.
In Battlefield 5 I’ve got the FX505DU up the top in red, and like I said before it’s
performing quite well, still above 60 FPS at ultra. While it doesn’t look too good
here comparatively, keep in mind the newer 16 series graphics only just launched for
laptops, so I don’t yet have that much other data to compare with. Again it’s worth remembering
the Infinity S7 was tested with single channel memory, but despite this it’s performing
better, presumably due to the higher tier 9750H CPU.
These are the results from Shadow of the Tomb raider with the built in benchmark at highest
settings, and well yeah again it’s in last place but that’s only because I’ve been
sent higher specced machines lately. I know you guys want to see lower to mid range options
and I’m trying to get them, unfortunately I don’t have too much say and just get what
I’m given, but there are more 1650 and 1660 Ti laptops here to test, so don’t worry!
Overall the gaming performance from this machine was quite good. This is the first time I’ve
tested the 1660 Ti in a laptop with dual channel memory, so I don’t yet have much other data
to compare with, but I’ll build up more data over time so stay tuned.
Sure the performance in many games here aren’t quite as high when compared to many other
laptops I’ve recently tested, but you’ve got to factor in that lately I’ve only been
sent higher end models. While I was skeptical of the AMD and Nvidia hybrid, overall it worked
well and I admit better than I was expecting, with the exception of my two vulkan titles
as previously discussed, though even without my work around both games still ran fine without
Vulkan, so hopefully that bug gets fixed.
I’ll have comparisons between the Ryzen 7 3750H and Intel CPUs once I get back from
Computex, let me know what other comparisons you’d like to see with the FX505DU, and
let me know your thoughts on this strange AMD and Nvidia hybrid gaming laptop down in
the comments. From what I’ve seen so far It’s performing pretty well, make sure you’re
subscribed for the upcoming full review.