Lenovo’s Legion Slim 7i has a 2560 by 1600 screen.
That’s more pixels than 1440p, but more pixels need more GPU power to run, and the
RTX 3060 graphics here max out at 100 watts.
So how well does it actually run games at this higher resolution?
We’ve tested 15 games to find out!
Here at the full specs of the Slim 7i we’re testing, so in addition to RTX 3060 graphics
it’s also got Intel’s core i7-12700H processor and 16 gigs of DDR5 memory.
You can customize the specs and check current prices with the link below the video.
Now Nvidia’s mobile RTX 3060 graphics are allowed to run anywhere between 60 and 140
watts, so our 100 watts here puts that right in the middle of this range.
More power does mean more performance, so more FPS in games, but also more heat, which
is why a thinner design like the Slim 7i only goes up to 100 watts.
RTX 3060 laptops also have 6 gigs of VRAM, and higher resolutions like we’ve got here
generally benefit from more VRAM.
The Slim 7i has a MUX switch and advanced optimus, so games were tested without being
limited by optimus for best performance.
We’ve also tested with the Vantage software set to the highest performance mode for best
results, and with the built in GPU overclock setting enabled.
I also need to note that although this Slim 7i has a 2560 by 1600 screen, which is higher
than 1440p, there’s also one that’s closer to 1080p too at 1920 by 1200.
So games would be much easier to run at that lower resolution compared to what we’re
going to look at here.
Alright let’s find out what this thing is capable of.
We’ll start out by comparing 3 games at 1080p and 1440p resolutions to get an idea
of where this laptop fits in compared to others.
Then after that we’ll see how well it runs in 15 games at its native screen resolution,
and that’s what’s really going to show you whether or not a 100 watt 3060 is capable
of powering such a high resolution in modern games.
Cyberpunk 2077 was tested the same on all laptops, and I’ve got this year’s Legion
Slim 7i shown by the red highlight.
It’s still above 60 FPS at high settings, at least at the lower 1080p resolution.
It’s doing better compared to the RTX 3070 in last year’s TUF Dash F15 from ASUS, which
is also a thinner laptop design, though that one only had a quad core CPU.
The Slim 7i is ahead of other lower powered 3060 laptops like Acer’s Nitro 5, and this
year’s Legion 5 with higher GPU power limit was around 10% faster.
We’ve got a different selection of laptops at the higher 1440p resolution, as this level
of hardware is on the border of what we’d actually test here.
It’s at least beating last year’s ASUS Zephyrus G14 which had an even lower powered
3060, granted that is a smaller 14 inch model.
Honestly at under 40 FPS, you’d probably want to make use of features like DLSS or
FSR here to boost performance, and we'll check those soon.
Red Dead Redemption 2 was tested with the games benchmark tool.
The lower wattage 3060 in the Slim 7i is close to the full powered RTX 2070 from a couple
of years ago, not bad.
The Legion 5 was reaching a 10% higher frame rate here too, though its 3060 does also have
a 30% higher GPU power limit.
It’s not far off 60 FPS at 1440p high settings, and don’t forget, we’re not using features
like FSR or DLSS in the comparison tests to boost performance.
We’ll look at what sort of a boost these features give us in a moment.
Control is a GPU heavy game, and the 100 watt 3060 was 10% ahead of the last gen 2070 this
time, granted at 1080p some of that difference may also be due to the jump from Intel 9th
gen to 12th gen CPU.
This year’s Legion 5 with higher powered 3060 was 16% ahead in average frame rate now,
and a number of lower powered 3060s weren’t far behind.
This game seems to favor Nvidia hardware, which is why the Slim 7i is now ahead of the
Radeon 6800S at 1440p for the first time now, and this year’s Legion 5 was 18% faster
now, but don’t forget it’s also a thicker machine to accommodate its higher powered
3060.
Alright now that we’ve got an idea of where the Slim 7i fits in compared to other laptops,
let’s see how well it performs in 15 different games.
As the native screen resolution is quite high, we’ve tested all setting presets available
in these games.
So you can get a good idea of what settings are needed in order to hit a certain FPS target.
We’ve also tested with features like DLSS or FSR enabled where possible, as these are
just objectively great features that you should be using to get the most out of your gaming
laptop.
So let’s get into those results!
Fortnite has DLSS support, and with this on quality the highest epic setting preset was
still above 60 FPS, while high settings was closer to 100 FPS.
We’ve got a 165Hz screen, and low settings could be used to give us a higher average
frame rate than this for a smoother experience.
Apex Legends doesn’t have built in setting presets, so we’ve tested with either all
settings maxed out or at minimum.
It’s running nicely at minimum settings, with a frame rate close to the screen’s
refresh rate, and although max settings is still close to 60 FPS, in a competitive game
like this you’re probably not going to want to run at max settings.
Call of Duty Warzone was tested this way too for the same reason - no default setting presets.
This one has DLSS support though, and with that on even max settings was running smoothly
above 100 FPS.
There’s only a 14% FPS boost at minimum settings, so you don’t have to have the
game looking like a potato to get it performing well.
Speaking of potatoes, that’s something even Rainbow Six Siege has no problems running
on.
Even max settings is well above 100 FPS, so let’s move on from the eSports games to
titles that will be more of a challenge for our 3060.
Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered was still running well enough at high settings with
DLSS enabled, but there’s a big dip going to the highest very high level.
Simply lowering one setting level was enough to boost average FPS by 65%, so definitely
not worth trying max settings.
Max settings really aren’t needed to have a fun time in games, which is lucky because
Microsoft Flight Simulator was having a tougher time.
Medium settings weren’t quite able to get us above 60 FPS, but that said this game doesn’t
really need a super high frame rate to play.
Forza Horizon 5 was tested with the game’s benchmark if you want to compare our results
with your own laptop.
The second highest ultra preset was close to 60 FPS, while medium settings was enough
to push us above 100 FPS.
Again probably not worth trying to max out the settings in this one as 43 FPS is lower
than I’d like for this.
Far Cry 6 was also tested with the game’s benchmark tool, but with FSR enabled.
There’s not that much of a performance difference between the different setting presets, and
ultra was still above 80 FPS in this test.
God of War came to PC from console, so it generally runs fairly well without needing
super powerful hardware.
That said, ultra settings still weren't great even with DLSS enabled.
We can easily boost average FPS by 47% simply by lowering to high settings, which in my
opinion still look great.
Watch Dogs Legion is a game that frequently complains about there not being enough VRAM
at higher setting presets.
It suggests 8 gigs, which would require an RTX 3070 or higher.
This is probably why very high settings were running 52% faster than ultra.
Even with DLSS on I wouldn’t bother with ultra settings here, and forget ray tracing.
Speaking of tracing rays, Dying Light 2 was struggling with the built in RT presets.
Medium settings without RT was above 60 FPS, even with DLSS on.
We could of course lower the DLSS level down from quality to further boost FPS, but at
the expense of lower visual quality.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla doesn’t have DLSS or FSR, but it’s one of those games
that I don’t think needs a high frame rate to play.
I mean I’m 100 hours into my second playthrough on a low powered 3070 Ti at 4K max settings,
so I think these results are playable.
Warhammer III was tested as more of a CPU heavy title to see if the 12700H would collapse.
Honestly we haven’t tested this game at all setting levels before so I don’t know
what to expect, but given the big dip at high and ultra settings, it might be worth sticking
to medium if you want things to look smoother.
We tested Cyberpunk 2077 earlier in the comparison section, but now we’ve also got ray tracing
and DLSS results.
Even with DLSS, the ray tracing presets weren’t doing very well at this high resolution.
If you really want ray tracing, I’d seriously suggest at least RTX 3070 graphics, if not
higher.
Even without RT, only low settings gets us above 60 FPS.
Red Dead Redemption 2 was also compared earlier, but now DLSS on high settings was able to
get us above 60 FPS.
Again like many of the other resource heavier titles, I wouldn't bother with max settings
on the 3060, even with DLSS.
The RTX 3060 graphics are doing fairly well when combined with features like DLSS and
FSR, especially at this higher resolution.
And even in many games that didn’t have DLSS or FSR, we still saw playable frame rates
at around high settings.
Just keep your expectations in check and don’t assume that you’ll be playing at max settings
outside of eSports titles.
6 gigs of VRAM was a bit of a limit in some games, but if we turn the setting levels down
one to two levels, generally speaking the average frame rates were still fine in all
games.
So then, is it worth spending more money to get 8 gigs of VRAM?
Find out in this video over here next, where I’ve compared the RTX 3060 against the next
level up, the RTX 3070 which has 8 gigs of VRAM.
You’ll definitely want to watch that one next before buying your next gaming laptop
with a high resolution screen.
Alright, I’ll see you over in that one next.