Acer’s Nitro 5 is a budget friendly gaming laptop, but they’ve cut costs so much that
even an RTX 3060 model performs worse than a GTX 1660 Ti from years ago, so let’s test
out some games and see find out why this is the case and what can be done to improve it.
I’ve got two configurations of Nitro 5 here, Intel i5 and Ryzen 5 6 core models with Nvidia RTX 3060
graphics, different single channel memory, more on that soon, and a 144Hz 1080p screen.
There are also both lower and higher specced configurations of the Nitro 5,
you can find examples and check updated prices with those links in the description.
Now the power limits are a little different between these two laptops.
The RTX 3060 graphics in both can run up to 95 watts when only the GPU is active,
but once the processor is also under load, like when playing an actual game,
I found the Intel system’s GPU could go a bit lower worst case, so it would appear that for
some reason Acer are giving the Ryzen model a little extra GPU power limit.
Acer’s Nitro Sense software is pretty basic,
none of these modes directly affect performance in terms of controlling things
like power levels. I’ve done all testing with max fans enabled for best results.
Unfortunately there’s no MUX switch in the Nitro 5,
so it’s not possible to disable optimus to get a speed boost in games,
however the HDMI port on the right hand side connects directly to the Nvidia GPU,
so I’ll also show you how much of a speed boost we can get in games by connecting an external screen.
You might want to use an external screen too, because despite having a 144Hz panel,
the actual response time is on the lower side compared to others at around 17.3ms for both,
as both the Intel and AMD models use the same screen.
They’re both also the slowest results I’ve recorded so far in terms of total system latency,
which is the total amount of time measured between mouse click and a gun shot fire in CS:GO,
and the AMD system was a little faster compared to Intel here.
Now there are some important memory differences between these two laptops that I need to discuss.
I’m borrowing this Intel i5 model from Acer, and it came with one 8gb stick of x16 memory.
Now the Ryzen 5 model on the other hand was purchased with my own money, and it
also came with just one memory stick, but the one in that model was 16gb of faster x8 memory.
I’ve shown in past videos that the differences between
x8 and x16 memory can be quite significant in some games, so just based on those memory
differences alone I would expect my Ryzen model to have an advantage there.
Now I know the Nitro 5 is meant to be a more budget friendly option,
so it makes sense for them to cheap out and only go with one stick of memory,
but at the same time by simply not using two sticks we’re missing out on dual channel memory
and leaving performance on the table, so I’ve tested all of these games on both
laptops both with the stock memory that they actually shipped with and I’ve also tested
with two 8gb x8 sticks in dual channel to show you what sort of a performance boost
is on offer if you did upgrade the memory, so let’s get into those game benchmarks.
Cyberpunk 2077 was tested in little China with the street kid life path on all laptops. I’ve got
the AMD Nitro 5 highlighted by the red bars and the Intel Nitro 5 highlighted by the blue bars.
There are two results for each, with stock single channel memory and my upgraded dual
channel memory. There’s a bit to unpack here. I suspect the Intel model with the stock RAM is
significantly behind the other results because it’s both lower capacity at just 8 gigabytes,
but also the slower x16 memory. Upgrading to dual channel with
double the capacity and x8 sticks boosts average FPS by almost 24% to the intel
model. There’s not much of a difference to the AMD machine in terms of average FPS,
however upgrading the memory boosted the 1% low by around 20%, so a much more stable experience
with the dual channel memory configuration. Technically AMD was ahead of Intel with the
same memory here, but it’s close and honestly not a difference you’d be likely to notice.
Red Dead Redemption 2 was tested with the game’s benchmark, and this time Intel was in the lead
here with the memory upgrade, however again the difference is small, with just a 1 FPS lead over
Ryzen with the memory upgrades. Upgrading the memory on the Ryzen model only improved average
FPS a bit, as per the red bars, but the difference to Intel is huge in the blue bars with a big 35%
improvement to average FPS by going to dual channel and x8 memory.
Again the difference is bigger for Intel because my review unit came with just
8 gigs of slower memory, whereas my AMD one came with 16 gigs of faster memory already.
Control was tested running through the same part of the game on all laptops,
and as this is a GPU heavy game, the memory difference is making the smallest change out
of all games so far, to the point where for some reason the upgraded AMD system was slightly behind
the stock configuration, so it didn’t really seem to matter there. At the end of the day though,
with the same memory kit installed once more the difference is only a
couple of FPS, so again probably not a big difference given both have 3060 graphics.
The processor difference would matter more at lower setting levels though, make sure you’re
subscribed for my upcoming comparison between the i5-11400H and Ryzen 5 5600H processors.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider was tested with the games benchmark. The AMD Nitro 5 was back in
front here, but with the exact same memory it’s only by a single frame. The AMD laptop gets a 14%
boost to average FPS here with the simple memory change, while the Intel laptop has
a much larger 62% boost. Seriously, the stock result from the 3060 with the stock
memory is just embarrassing, it’s below the older 1660 Ti machines by a fair amount.
Battlefield V was tested in campaign mode on all laptops. There was basically no difference
to the Ryzen Nitro 5 here, just a couple of FPS going from single channel to dual channel,
though there would likely be a much bigger gain at lower setting presets that are less
GPU bound. The difference is bigger for the Intel system because there are more changes,
including more capacity and just faster memory in general.
Again RTX 3060 graphics should not be doing worse than last gen 1660 Ti laptops,
but at least we could boost average FPS by 37% by going to dual channel with better memory.
As I mentioned earlier, it is possible to boost gaming performance of the Acer Nitro
5 by connecting an external monitor to the HDMI port,
as this connects directly to the Nvidia GPU bypassing optimus.
Just like before the external screen, AMD is just one FPS ahead of the Intel Nitro 5, and both are
now closer to the Lenovo legion 5 and MSI GS76, which are two other RTX 3060 laptops that I’ve
tested that aren’t limited by optimus as they have a MUX switch built in. Either way though,
the performance boost wasn’t that big compared to not using the external screen, just a 5 FPS
gain which equates to about a 5% boost, but hey still an easy way to get an improvement,
and other games that can hit higher FPS like esports titles will see larger improvements.
In some GPU heavy games like Control, both laptops even with their stock memory
weren’t performing too badly compared to the upgraded memory, but that said
in most of the games tested with the stock memory the Intel system was honestly just
pathetic for an RTX 3060 gaming laptop. It simply shouldn’t be performing worse than a GTX 1660 Ti.
Results will of course vary based on the RAM the Nitro 5 is sold with
in your region. As I’ve shown here it looks like there are different options out there,
so performance variations are going to be expected based on this.
If you’ve got a new Nitro 5 or you’re otherwise looking at buying one of these,
it’s definitely worth looking at the memory and seeing what it comes with,
as a memory upgrade might be an easy way to boost performance.
Now I’m going to compare both of these laptops way more games at all setting
levels in an upcoming i5-11400H vs Ryzen 5 5600H comparison, so if you’re new to the
channel make sure you’re subscribed for that as well as for the full review of the Acer Nitro 5,
as that’ll cover everything else like thermals, battery life and more. Come and
join me in Discord and get behind the scenes videos by supporting the channel on Patreon,
and check out some of my other videos over here next, I’ll see you in one of those.