The Lenovo L340 is a popular gaming laptop that I first checked out a couple of years ago in 2019,
but how well does the quad core CPU and Nvidia GTX 1650 graphics hold up in 2021 in the latest games?
I’ve tested a few of the latest titles to find out if the L340 is still worth considering,
or if it’s time to upgrade.
My L340 has the Intel i5-9300H quad core processor and Nvidia GTX 1650 graphics,
no max-q here. Mine just has a 60Hz 1080p screen, and 8 gigs of memory running in single channel.
Unfortunately the L340 only has one memory slot available, so dual channel isn’t possible which
will result in less performance compared to other gaming laptops that do let you install two sticks.
Some people have reported that their L340 had some memory soldered to the motherboard, which
means with a single stick installed you can get dual channel. I’m not sure how common that was,
but mine definitely does not have that and it only runs in single channel, but despite it only
being single channel memory, as I’ve shown in the upgrade guide over here, it is possible to get a
performance boost by upgrading that 8 gig stick to a 16 gig stick - just don’t expect miracles.
Anyway let’s get straight into the gaming benchmarks and see how the L340 holds up
in the latest games with the latest Windows updates and Nvidia drivers.
I’ve tested all games at both 1080p and 720p resolutions for reasons you’ll see pretty soon.
A lot of these newer games really seem to benefit from newer hardware, so in some cases lower
resolutions like 720p are going to be required. It’s just a great way to easily boost performance.
Cyberpunk 2077 was tested in little China with the street kid life path. I’ve got 1080p shown in the
red bars, and 720p shown above in the purple bars. I’ve tested all available setting levels
which are listed on the left, with lower down the bottom and highest up top. This newer resource
heavy game wasn’t running too well at 1080p, just above 30 FPS with minimum settings. 720p
max settings was only slightly behind this, but this was still 67% higher when compared to 1080p.
Call of Duty Warzone was tested in the practice battle royale mode. I’ve used either all settings
maxed or at minimum here as there aren’t any built in setting presets. Even 1080p was able
to run above 60 FPS with everything at minimum. Max settings was usable, but there was definitely
much more noticeable stuttering. Things are much better at 720p, in fact with all settings
at max we’re getting similar performance to all settings at minimum with 1080p. Minimum with 720p
definitely felt the smoothest for me, even the 1% lows were above the screens 60Hz refresh rate.
Red Dead Redemption 2 was tested with the games benchmark. It’s not possible to run
with all settings at ultra because of the 4 gig VRAM limitation of the GTX 1650 graphics,
the game just doesn’t let you. Low settings at 720p wasn’t able to hit the PCMR 60 FPS,
but you can definitely play the game without much trouble below this, and again 720p is a
great way of boosting performance if you don’t mind things looking a bit blurrier.
Control has been out for a while now, but it released after I originally tested the L340 so I
hadn’t previously shared any benchmarks with this game on the L340. It was running well at 720p,
even with ultra settings, while 1080p low settings was running fine too. I don’t think this game
needs a super high frame rate to play, same with the other AAA games covered so far,
but I also think it still looks pretty good even with low settings.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla was tested with the games benchmark. Low settings at 720p
was just able to hit 60 FPS, though 1080p wasn’t too far behind either. Based on
these results I’d probably be trying for medium settings with either resolution.
Again not impressive results as this is a resource heavy test,
but still definitely playable if you’re fine with lower setting levels or resolutions.
Watch Dogs Legion was also tested with the games benchmark. For some reason ultra settings kept
crashing at 1080p so we don’t have any data for it, I’m not sure why this was the case,
the VRAM limit was way over so perhaps that was a problem. Otherwise there’s not that big of a
gap between 1080p and 720p here, either would be playing well enough above 30 FPS, I think this
game runs fine as long as you’ve got a relatively stable 1% low that’s not too far behind.
Microsoft Flight Simulator was tested in the Sydney landing challenge. There
wasn’t too much of a difference between the two resolutions here, though 720p
was still able to offer better performance. 1080p low settings was close to 30 FPS,
while 720p only raised this by 17% to almost 35 FPS. Like most of the other games tested though,
this one doesn’t necessarily need a high frame rate to play well.
So for the most part, the GTX 1650 graphics doesn’t do that well in these modern games,
but in most cases they are still fine if you’re happy to use lower resolutions or lower settings.
Now to be fair to the 1650, I have pretty much focused on AAA titles in this video.
Those just generally require more power to run. For less demanding games like esports
titles, the L340 will still be plenty. I haven’t bothered retesting all those sorts
of games as I’ve already covered them in this video over here, and the goal of this
video was mostly to cover newer titles rather than revisiting those older ones.
Now if you’ve already got an L340 with 1650 graphics you’ll need to decide what sort of games
you’re playing. If the 1650 does just fine in what you’re doing, then there’s no point in upgrading,
but if you are looking for something better, or you’re looking at buying the L340 new today,
I’d consider the GTX 1660 Ti as a minimum - that is if these sorts of newer titles are your target.
I’ve shown in the past that the 1660 Ti will pretty much offer 50% better
performance compared to the 1650, and there will also be a bigger performance
gain because pretty much any laptop you get with 1660 Ti graphics will have the
option of dual channel memory. You won’t be limited to single channel like the L340,
and that’s definitely going to be part of what’s holding this machine back.
Don’t get fooled by Nvidia’s marketing by thinking that the 1650 Ti graphics are much better than the
1650. I’ve compared them over in this video, but the summary is basically the Ti is almost a scam,
so definitely worth checking out if you’re looking at the 1650 or 1650 Ti. Otherwise if you’re want
to know absolutely everything about the L340 I’ve got the full review linked over here,
otherwise if you want to get more out of the L340 you can check out the upgrade
guide over here - so I’ll see you over in one of those videos next!