The Aorus 7 is a new gaming laptop from Gigabyte that’s available in a few different configurations.
I’ve got a midrange option with GTX 1660 Ti graphics here, so let’s find out how
it actually performs in a bunch of different games and see how it compares with other laptops.
I’ve got SA version of the Aorus 7, so there’s an Intel i7-9750H CPU, Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti
graphics, 16gb of memory in dual channel, and a 17 inch 144Hz 1080p screen.
The Aorus 7 is also available with RTX 2060, GTX 1650 or 1050 graphics, so expect different
results to what I’m showing with those configurations, and you can find updated prices to different
models linked in the description.
The control center software allows us to swap between four different modes, quiet, power
saving, entertainment and performance. I’ve tested these games with performance mode enabled
for best results. This doesn’t do any overclocking or undervolting, just raises CPU power limits.
I’ve also tested with the fans at highest speed, though even at default they got to
max speed anyway.
We’ll only be covering gaming performance in this video, so if you’re new to the channel,
you'll definitely want to get subscribed for the upcoming thermal testing and full review.
Let’s start out by going through all 21 games at all setting levels, then afterwards
we’ll see how the Aorus 7 compares with some other laptops.
I only recently added Borderlands 3 to my testing, and I’ve tested it with the built
in benchmark using Direct X 11 as 12 is still in Beta. With these specs high settings were
able to reach 60 FPS, while low was able to sit around 100 FPS.
Battlefield 5 was tested in campaign mode, and it played fine maxed out at ultra settings.
There wasn’t much difference to 1% low performance regardless of setting level, as the CPU seemed
to be thermal throttling in this particular game, but again we’ll cover thermals in
depth in a future video.
Battlefield 1 was also tested in campaign mode, but this older title tends to perform
better than the newer Battlefield 5 just shown. It was playing well regardless of setting
level, with above 100 FPS at ultra settings, while medium went above the refresh rate of
the 144Hz screen.
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 was still playing nicely
with everything at maximum, averaging just over 100 FPS, though we could boost average
FPS by 32% with minimum settings.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider was tested with the built in benchmark, and the results here
were pretty good. Highest settings was actually slightly ahead of the Lenovo Y540 with same
processor and graphics, but we’ll see how these results compare to other laptops a bit
later.
Far Cry New Dawn was tested with the built in benchmark, and the results aren’t much
different from other machines with an i7 CPU, as the test seems to lean more on CPU power
than the graphics.
Far Cry 5 was also tested with the built in benchmark, and the results were only just
slightly ahead of the newer Far Cry New Dawn results we just looked at. This is another
game that we’ll use to compare with some other laptops later.
Fortnite was tested with the replay feature, and as a less demanding game even epic settings
was playing fine with above 100 FPS averages, while high settings was pretty close to the
refresh rate of the panel and sitting at 100 for the 1% low.
Overwatch is another well optimized game and was tested in the practice range, again it
was still playing well with max settings, not far off the refresh rate of the screen,
though we could easily surpass this with lower setting presets.
CS:GO was tested using the Ulletical FPS benchmark, and as a game that depends primarily on CPU
power the results aren’t really that different compared to most other laptops I’ve tested
with the same i7 CPU, but different graphics.
Dota 2 was tested playing in the middle lane and is in the same boat, it depends more on
the CPU than the GPU so the results aren’t much different compared to other i7 based
laptops I’ve tested even if they have lower tier graphics. Still though max settings was
getting higher FPS than the refresh rate of the screen, so it was playing very well.
Rainbow Six Siege was tested with the built in benchmark, and in this test high settings
was above the refresh rate of the display, though even ultra would likely still work
just fine, given it was averaging over 120 FPS.
Metro Exodus was 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.
The Division 2 was also tested with the built in benchmark, and 60 FPS was still being reached
with ultra settings, while low settings was just able to match the refresh rate of the
display in this test.
PUBG was tested using the replay feature, even ultra settings wasn’t scoring too badly
here, with 60 for the 1% low and above 80 FPS on average, though taking it down one
setting level saw a big improvement, getting us to a 120 FPS average even at high settings.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was tested with the built in benchmark, and although this
is a CPU heavy test and typically scores lower frame rates, it doesn’t need high results
to play, 60 FPS was still possible in this test at very high settings.
Watch Dogs 2 is a resource heavy game, but still plays well enough for me with a stable
30 FPS, and ultra settings was going fine, though there’s minimal visual difference
between very high settings which significantly improved performance.
Ghost Recon Wildlands is another resource intensive game, generally you need a really
powerful laptop to hit 60 FPS at ultra settings, but 70 at very high should still be pretty
decent.
The Witcher 3 was playing fine with ultra settings, where it still averaged above 70
FPS, though I think high would be a good sweet spot, as it’s just below 100 FPS with above
60 for the 1% low, there wasn’t too much to gain at lower setting levels in terms of
1% low changes either.
DOOM was tested with Vulkan, and this game generally reaches high frame rates no problem.
Even at max settings the average frame rate was close to the refresh rate of the screen,
with well over 100 FPS for the 1% low, so it’s playing very well.
Strange Brigade is another game that was tested with Vulkan, but with the built in benchmark
this time. In this test it was still possible to hit 100 FPS even with the ultra preset,
while medium was right on the refresh rate of the screen.
Let’s also take a look at how this config of the Aorus 7 SA compares with other laptops,
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 Aorus 7 highlighted in red near similarly specced machines. This
game was performing very closely to the Lenovo Y540 just above it in terms of average frame
rate as they’ve got the same specs. The 1% low from the Aorus 7 was lower comparatively
which seemed to be due to CPU thermal throttling, but I’ll cover thermals in depth in a future
video, so look out for that.
These are the results from Far Cry 5 with ultra settings in the built in benchmark.
Again the Aorus 7 was quite close to the Y540 with same specs, though this time in this
game the 1% low was the same, so it’s looking alright here.
These are the results from Shadow of the Tomb raider with the built in benchmark at highest
settings. This time the average frame rate was 1 FPS ahead of the Y540 with same specs,
and 8% ahead of the G3 with 1660 Ti Max-Q. Like the other games though, the Helios 300
with same specs was ahead out of the box as it’s tuned very well.
As I’ve said in the past and as we’ve just seen here, I think the GTX 1660 Ti is
a great sweet spot when it comes to laptop graphics. When combined with the i7 CPU and
dual channel memory we’re able to play basically any modern game with decent frame rates.
Let me know what you thought of the gaming performance from the Aorus 7 gaming laptop
down in the comments. It’s definitely not without its issues, but we’ll test out thermals
in depth in an upcoming video and the full review is still to come, so if you’re new
to the channel consider getting subscribed for those as well as future tech videos like
this one.