The G3 is Dell’s entry level gaming laptop and comes in at a more budget friendly price
point compared to their higher end options, but just how well does it perform in games?
I’ll be testing out 20 games at all setting levels to show you how well it performs, and
also compare it against other gaming laptops afterwards to show you the differences.
Just quickly before we jump into the benchmark results I’ll cover off the specs in my unit.
I’ve got the highest specced option, so there’s an Intel i7-9750H CPU, Nvidia GTX
1660 Ti Max-Q graphics, and 16gb of memory running in dual channel. The G3 is also available
with different specs, including i5-9300H CPU and GTX 1050 or 1650 graphics, so expect different
results with those configurations. You can find examples and updated prices linked in
the description.
The Dell G3 allows you to press the G key, or F7, to enable high performance mode. This
slightly raises the power limit of the CPU and also boosts fan speed, and this is what
I’ve used to test all of these games.
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 20 games at all setting levels, then afterwards
we’ll see how the Dell G3 compares with some other laptops and see how it stacks up.
Battlefield 5 was tested in campaign mode, and even at ultra settings it was still playing
well at above the 60 FPS sweet spot, while the 1% low wasn’t too far behind, so not
really any major noticeable dips in performance, though we could pass 100 FPS at low settings.
Battlefield 1 was also tested in campaign mode, and like always it’s running well
and performing better than the newer Battlefield 5 just shown, with almost 100 FPS at ultra,
so again no problems running this game even at higher 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 was playing alright at
max settings, even the 1% low was right on 60 FPS, though we could boost average FPS
by 42% by dropping down to minimum settings.
The Division 2 was tested with the built in benchmark. The 1% low at ultra wasn’t actually
all that different compared to other higher specced laptops I’ve tested so far, otherwise
the average frame rates were looking pretty fair at all other setting levels in this test.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider was also tested with the built in benchmark, and even at maximum
settings we’re still able to average above 60 FPS, but we’ll see how the G3 and other
laptops compare in this game a bit later.
Far Cry New Dawn was tested with the built in benchmark, and as more of a CPU demanding
test the differences aren’t much below other laptops with higher graphics that I’ve tested
as it mostly comes down to the 9750H.
Far Cry 5 was also tested with the built in benchmark, and the results were ahead of the
newer Far Cry New Dawn just covered, and we’ll see how this one compares to some other laptops
later.
Fortnite was tested with the replay feature, and at max settings it was still running very
well, with over 100 FPS possible with the 1% low not being too far behind, so fairly
stable performance, though we could significantly improve performance at lower setting levels.
Overwatch is another well optimized game and was tested in the practice range, again good
performance, with the highest possible epic settings still hitting above 100 FPS even
for the 1% low, so running nice and smooth.
CS:GO was tested using the Ulletical FPS benchmark, and as is pretty much always the case high
FPS from this test, and in line with most other laptops I’ve tested, given it depends
more on the CPU and most machines I’ve tested have the same CPU that’s expected.
Rainbow Six Siege was tested with the built in benchmark. Even with maximum ultra settings
we’re getting above 100 FPS averages with a 100% render scale while the 1% low isn’t
too far behind, so definitely more than acceptable performance for this test.
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 but does let you perform
the same test to compare against.
PUBG was tested using the replay feature, and while the ultra settings were a little
lower than most other laptops I test due to the lower powered graphics, the rest of the
results aren’t much different, actually at very low settings the frame rate is higher
than most others I’ve tested.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was tested with the built in benchmark and seems to be a CPU
heavy test, so as a result the frame rates aren’t too far behind most other machines
I’ve covered recently, and given the game doesn’t really need a high frame rate to
play anyway I don’t think it’s going to be a problem.
Dota 2 was tested playing in the middle lane with an average amount of action going on,
and the results were quite good here, with above 200 FPS at low settings and still around
150 at ultra without any issues that I was able to notice.
Watch Dogs 2 uses a lot of resources, however I can play it just fine with a stable 30 FPS,
and as we’re getting above this for the 1% low at ultra settings even at maximum it
was playing fine, though I’d probably just use very high settings given the 1% low there
is higher than the average at ultra and you’re not losing much perceivable visual quality.
Ghost Recon is another resource intensive game and was tested with the built in benchmark.
Generally we need quite powerful laptops to hit 60 FPS in this test at ultra, but we’re
still able to hit this with very high settings on this machine so not bad at all.
The Witcher 3 was playable at ultra settings, still above 60 FPS here with fair 1% low performance,
though as a more GPU demanding game that doesn’t really benefit too much from high FPS I’d
probably just stick to high settings.
DOOM was tested using Vulkan, and is a game that pretty much always runs quite well on
modern hardware. While the frame rates at higher settings are lower compared to most
other machines I’ve covered, we’re still playing just fine at ultra settings, with
almost 100 FPS for the 1% low.
Strange Brigade was another game that was tested with Vulkan but was tested with the
built in benchmark, and is another test that generally sees high frame rates and high 1%
lows, and that was no exception here.
Let’s also take a look at how this config of the Dell G3 compares with other 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 Dell G3 highlighted in red near similarly specced machines. It’s
one of the lowest results, as expected, the 1660 Ti Max-Q is the lowest powered graphics
I’ve tested in a long time. With that said though, even at max settings it’s still
delivering above 60 FPS with a solid 1% low result too, it’s playing just fine. The
extra CPU power from the 9750H is able to put it close to the ASUS FX505DU underneath
with Ryzen CPU in terms of average FPS, but is significantly higher in the 1% result as
that CPU is a fair bit better.
These are the results from Far Cry 5 with ultra settings in the built in benchmark.
This is more of a CPU heavy game, so we see a good improvement over the FX505DU just below
it, however the results are otherwise behind the other non Max-Q 1660 Ti machines that
I’ve tested so far. Again this is fair as this is the Max-Q variant and it’s running
with a 20 watt lower power limit too which is worth keeping in mind.
These are the results from Shadow of the Tomb raider with the built in benchmark at highest
settings. Once again the G3 is ahead of the FX505DU below it despite the FX505 not having
a Max-Q 1660 Ti, and this is due to the lower powered Ryzen CPU that it’s paired with.
The other 1660 Ti machines are again ahead as expected, though interestingly the G3 was
hitting the same results as the thermally throttled 2018 Alienware m15 with 1070 Max-Q.
Overall I think this configuration of the Dell G3 is providing a decent result. While
the performance does look lower compared to the rest of the machines I’ve recently tested,
it’s not too far below most other 1660 Ti laptops, and when it comes down to it even
at max settings in many games we’re still getting good performance. The G3 is also available
with the 9300H, GTX 1050 or 1650 graphics, so expect lower results with those models
compared to what I’ve shown here.
Despite the lower powered 60 watt Max-Q graphics, unfortunately the machine was running on the
hotter side, however we’ll investigate that further in the next G3 video which will be
dedicated to thermal testing, so keep an eye out for that one.
Let me know what you thought of the gaming performance from the Dell’s new 2019 G3
gaming laptop down in the comments, and if you’re new to the channel you’ll definitely
want to get subscribed for the full review to see everything this machine has to offer.