This small 14” gaming laptop has Nvidia’s RTX 3080 Ti graphics inside, the best GPU
you can currently get in any laptop.
It’s Razer’s Blade 14, and with a thinner and smaller design like this, there’s less
room for cooling.
But despite it being so small it can still beat larger 15 and 16 inch gaming laptops
that have the same graphics!
The 3080 Ti in the Blade 14 can run up to 100 watts with Nvidia’s dynamic boost, but
with the CPU also loaded up, so like in a game for example, it maxes out at 90 watts.
This is only a little above the minimum 80 watts specified by Nvidia.
Thicker laptops can run this same GPU up to 175 watts which means more performance.
This year’s Blade 14 has the same power limit range as last year’s version, but
unlike last year's version this one adds a MUX switch, which means we can disable optimus
to boost FPS in games.
The 1440p 165Hz screen is using the exact same panel as last year, so it's no surprise
that the response time is about the same.
The Zephyrus G14 from ASUS, another 14” gaming laptop, was faster despite having a
lower refresh rate.
The total system latency is the amount of time between a mouse click and when a gunshot
fire appears on the screen in CS:GO.
This year’s model is faster than last year’s thanks to the addition of the MUX switch,
but again the G14 was still a little faster.
This year’s Blade 14 also has AMD’s new Ryzen 9 6900HX CPU and 16 gigs of DDR5 memory,
but there are lower configurations for less money too.
You can check out all options and current prices with the link below.
We’ll start out by seeing how the Blade 14 compares with other laptops in 3 games
at 1080p and 1440p resolutions, then after that we’ll look at 14 games at all setting
levels with features like DLSS, FSR and ray tracing.
Let’s get into it!
Cyberpunk 2077 was tested the same on all laptops, and I’ve got this year’s Blade
14 shown by the red highlight.
We’re looking at an 8% boost to average FPS compared to last year’s Blade 14 with
3080 non-Ti graphics.
What I was more impressed with though was the fact that it’s basically the same as
the larger Blade 15.
Both had the same GPU, but the larger 15 can boost 10 watts higher on the GPU in some workloads.
The Blade 14 was still slightly ahead of its bigger brother in average FPS at the higher
1440p resolution, which is also the native resolution of the screen.
They’re basically the same, this isn’t a difference you’re actually going to notice
in practice, I just thought it was cool that you’re not sacrificing gaming performance
with the smaller 14” version.
It’s even ahead of other larger laptops like the Zephyrus M16 from ASUS, a 16” device,
granted mine had a 3070 Ti.
The Blade 14 was beating the larger 15” model in Control at 1080p too.
There aren’t a whole lot of other 14” gaming laptops out there, but compared to
the best Zephyrus G14 from ASUS we’re reaching a 44% higher average FPS on the Blade.
This is a huge difference, but I’ll compare both 14” laptops in a dedicated comparison
video soon, make sure you’re subscribed.
At 1440p the 2022 Blade 14 was just 5% higher compared to last year’s top spec Blade 14,
so not a massive difference, but I suspect there’s only so much you can do in 14 inches.
The fact that it’s still coming out ahead of the bigger Blade 15 is impressive.
Of course it can’t match the same 3080 Ti GPU in the even larger Blade 17 because Razer
gives that one a much higher GPU power limit.
Red Dead Redemption 2 was tested with the game’s benchmark.
The Blade 15 was finally a little ahead of the smaller 14 in this one, but hey the Blade
14 still isn’t the slowest 3080 Ti result.
This game seems to run better on AMD Radeon graphics, which is why for the first time
the Zephyrus G14, another 14” gaming laptop, was now coming out ahead instead of being
significantly behind.
That was only at 1080p though, because at the higher 1440p resolution the 6800S in the
G14 was now a little behind.
The difference is within the margin of error, but this is a pattern I’ve seen many times
in the past.
Basically at 1440p and 4K resolutions, Nvidia generally seems to have more of an advantage
compared to Radeon, while Radeon can typically do better at 1080p.
Anyway we’re scoring about the same as the non Ti in last year’s Blade 14, so you’d
be just fine with the older cheaper model too.
Now that we know where the Blade 14 fits in compared to other laptops, let’s also test
it out in way more games at all settings levels with features like DLSS, FSR and ray tracing.
Apex Legends was tested in the latest Season 13 in the World’s Edge map.
This game doesn’t have any built in setting presets, so I’ve tested it with either all
settings maxed out or at minimum.
It still played great at max settings on this laptop, but low settings were able to boost
average FPS by 59%.
Call of Duty Warzone was also tested at either maximum or minimum setting levels for the
same reason - no presets.
But this game has DLSS.
The differences are much closer together in this one, so might as well turn on some graphical
effects to get the eye candy.
Forza Horizon 5 was tested with the game’s benchmark.
This game also isn’t super resource heavy, I mean I know we’ve got an RTX 3080 Ti here,
but you don’t have to run it at max settings.
Regardless, hitting 70 FPS at max settings on a 14” machine is quite impressive.
God of war was around 70 FPS even at max settings, though this one has DLSS available.
You could of course lower the DLSS quality mode to something like balanced to boost the
performance, but personally I prefer better quality with a smaller FPS boost.
There are options though.
Higher FPS in a competitive game like Fortnite is more important, and with DLSS on we’re
able to run above 100 FPS at max settings 1440p.
Medium settings may make better use of the 165Hz screen, but again you could also instead
lower the DLSS quality level to boost FPS too.
Dying Light 2 was also tested with DLSS enabled, but even with it on the two ray tracing presets
up the top weren’t doing super well.
It seems like RT at 1440p even with DLSS can still be a struggle a bit on a 3080 Ti with
mid-range GPU power limit.
Microsoft Flight Simulator doesn’t really need a high frame rate to play.
High settings was close to 60 FPS, so like other games, a decent mixture of performance
and visual quality.
It's not max settings or nothing.
Far Cry 6 was tested with FSR enabled, and it was running well enough even at ultra settings.
Not too surprising from Nvidia’s top end laptop GPU, but still, don’t forget it’s
in a super portable 14” laptop.
Rainbow Six Siege runs on a potato, even the 1% lows which show the dips in performance
were higher than the screen’s refresh rate at 1440p max settings, so absolutely no problems
at all here.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla on the other hand was much lower comparatively, but at 60 FPS
max settings, well I think that’s plenty to run this game without any problems.
I’d probably settle for high settings though for a nice mixture of performance while also
still looking good enough.
Watch Dogs Legion was above 60 FPS at max settings too, though this game benefits from
DLSS.
Like many others tested though it’s possible to get a decent FPS boost by lowering just
one setting preset.
After that though the gains were smaller going to lower levels.
Red Dead Redemption 2 was tested earlier in the comparison section, but now you can see
how the different presets perform and what DLSS adds.
60 FPS at ultra settings is a great result considering we’re running at 1440p on a
14” machine.
Control was also compared earlier, but now we’ve got ray tracing on in the green bars.
RT isn’t performing too badly at all with DLSS enabled, it’s a PowerPoint slideshow
with DLSS off which is why we don’t bother testing it.
Cyberpunk 2077 was also tested earlier, but again now we’ve got some ray tracing results.
Like Dying Light 2 earlier, the RT presets aren’t looking great even with DLSS on at
this higher 1440p resolution.
Again though you could definitely tune this by only using settings you care about or a
lower DLSS mode.
If you’re interested in 14” gaming laptops then check out my full review of the ASUS
Zephyrus G14 over here next!
Otherwise I’ll cover things like thermals, battery life and everything else about the
Blade 14 in the upcoming full review, so make sure you’re subscribed for that, and of
course for that upcoming comparison between the Blade 14 and Zephyrus G14.