Which graphics should you pick in your next laptop? The Nvidia RTX 2060, or next step
up, the RTX 2070 Max-Q? In this comparison you’ll see which performs better, how much
difference there is, and if the extra money for the 2070 Max-Q upgrade is worth it.
Let’s take a look at how the laptop RTX 2060 and RTX 2070 Max-Q differ in terms of
specs, note that things like clock speed can vary between different laptops based on other
factors such as cooling and power limits. The clock speed specified by Nvidia for their
RTX Max-Q graphics varies. The 2070 Max-Q does have 20% more CUDA cores though, as well
as 2gb more memory.
I’m only looking at the 80 watt version of the 2070 Max-Q here which seems more common,
but there is a more powerful 90 watt variant with higher clock speeds too.
I’m going to be showing results from six different laptops instead of just two, so
three laptops with RTX 2060 graphics, and three laptops with 80 watt RTX 2070 Max-Q
graphics. All laptops have dual channel memory and an i7-8750H CPU, so you’d think results
should be quite similar. If you’ve seen my other laptop videos, you’ll know the
Intel i7-8750H CPU throttles in all sorts of different ways, so just showing the results
from one laptop doesn’t really give us the full picture, as you’ll see soon.
To try and reduce differences further I’m only looking at highest graphics settings
in the games tested, as lower settings are typically more CPU bound, so higher settings
allow us to better see the differences between graphics. I’ll also note that all six laptops
were tested at different times with different drivers and game updates as I had them at
different times, so while not perfectly comparable this is the best I can do.
Shadow of the Tomb raider was tested using the built in benchmark with highest settings.
Above the red bar I’ve got our three RTX 2060 laptop results, and below the red bar
are the three RTX 2070 Max-Q results, so hopefully from this graph you can see in general the
2070 Max-Q results are higher than the 2060 ones on the upper half. After this graph,
for each game I’ll also show the results when we take the average from the three laptops,
as in theory more data points should allow us to get a more accurate picture of the differences
between the two. In this example, the 2070 max-q is around 9% higher in average FPS when
compared to the 2060.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was tested using the built in benchmark with the maximum ultra
high setting preset, and straight away we can see the Gigabyte Aero 15 X9 bringing down
the 1% low due to CPU throttling that I covered in a previous video. To be fair, the Dell
G5 in our 2060 lineup is also subject to CPU throttling, which I believe is why it has
the lowest average frame rate. While I could have simply not used these two throttling
laptops, that would be cherry picking data, and the reality is that many laptops out there
throttle out of the box. This is why I’m showing both individual laptop results as
well as the averages. In this particular game the average frame rates were actually quite
close together in the end, with the 1% lows actually better on average with the 2060 laptops,
however this seems to be more of a CPU demanding game so we’re probably not really seeing
the differences in graphics here.
Battlefield 5 was tested in campaign mode rather than multiplayer, as it allows me to
consistently perform the exact same test run. Unfortunately I don’t have results from
the Gigabyte Aero 15 here, as the game either wasn’t out when I tested the laptop or I
didn’t own it at that time. In any case, the results from our 2070 Max-Q laptops are
ahead here. Here’s what the average results look like, there was an 8.4% improvement to
average FPS with the 2070 Max-Q on average.
These are the results once we turn RTX on, again with ultra settings in use. The 2070
Max-Q laptops are again out in front. Again I’ve used maximum settings specifically
to show the differences in GPU performance, not to showcase best practical performance.
On average we’re looking at a 9.4% improvement to average FPS in Battlefield 5 with ray tracing
enabled at 1080p ultra settings.
Far Cry New Dawn was tested using the built in benchmark at ultra settings, and was another
game that came out after I had the Aero 15 for testing, so I don’t have results for
it. The Scar II was performing exceptionally well here, with the highest 1% low and second
best average frame rate out of all 6 laptops despite having the lower 2060. When we average
out the results, the 2070 Max-Q graphics was just 3.8% higher in terms of average frame
rate in this test.
Far Cry 5 was also tested with the built in benchmark, though this time I do have data
from the Aero, granted due to the CPU throttling it’s giving us the worst average FPS out
of the 6 laptops anyway, while the other two are out in front. Once we average all the
results together there’s no major differences, with the 2070 Max-Q graphics just 3.2% ahead
in average FPS.
DOOM was tested using Vulkan with ultra settings. The Aftershock Apex 15X which uses the popular
Tongfang chassis was getting the best results in this test, while the throttling Dell G5
and throttling Gigabyte Aero 15 X9 were quite similar to each other despite the differences
in graphics. In terms of averages the results were very close together, with just a small
3.5% improvement to average FPS with the 2070 Max-Q when compared against the 2060.
Ghost Recon was tested with the built in benchmark, and I find this test to be quite good for
testing GPU performance in the sense that it always provides consistent results. For
average FPS all three 2070 Max-Q laptops are ahead of the three 2060 ones, although there
was a significant dip to 1% low for some reason with the Clevo P970EF from Metabox. When we
look at the averages the 1% low outlier with the P970EF seems to be the cause for the 1%
low of the 2060 beating the 2070 Max-Q, again just goes to show the results really depend
on the specific machine. The average frame rates from the 2070 Max-Q were 9.1% ahead
of what the 2060 was able to get us.
Metro Exodus was also tested with the built in benchmark, and is another one that unfortunately
came out after I’d finished testing the Aero 15 X9. I used the ultra preset for this
one, and our two 2070 Max-Q laptops were clearly ahead of the 2060 laptops in this test. When
we look at the averages, we’re seeing the largest improvement with the 2070 Max-Q out
of all games tested, with a 14% higher average frame rate when compared against the 2060.
Overwatch was tested with epic settings in the practice range, as it allows me to perform
the exact same test run, perfect for comparisons like this. The average FPS from the three
2070 Max-Q laptops were all ahead of the 2060 machines, and when we look at the average
frame rate there was an 11.2% improvement with the 2070 Max-Q over the 2060, and a 9%
boost to 1% low.
CS:GO is another less GPU demanding game and was tested with the Ulletical FPS benchmark.
In general I find this to be more of a CPU bound game, which I think shows in the poor
results from the throttled Aero coming in at last place, and interestingly the Aorus
15 was performing the best in average FPS out of all 6 despite having the lower 2060.
When we look at the averages the 2060 results are just slightly ahead in average FPS, though
it’s quite close. In this particular test it really doesn’t seem to matter which graphics
you pick, at least on average, results between specific machine do of course vary as we just
saw.
Watch Dogs 2 is a weird one, we’re seeing better results from the 2060 laptops in general
here. While testing this game it’s always got the CPU maxed out at 100%, so tends to
be more CPU bound. Even at ultra settings I think we’re seeing more differences to
CPU performance rather than the graphics, so it’s another example showing that it
really depends on the game. Looking at the averages we can see that the 2060 laptops
are 4.6% ahead of the 2070 Max-Q ones, the worst result out of all games tested for the
Max-Q.
The Witcher 3 was tested with Hairworks disabled with ultra settings, and in this one the three
2070 Max-Q laptops were clearly ahead of the 2060 machines in average FPS, and I found
it interesting how much the results from the 2060s differed despite the exact same test
run being performed. Looking at the average results this game saw the second highest increase
out of all games tested, with a 13.3% higher average frame rate with the 2070 Max-Q when
compared against the 2060.
I’ve also tested some synthetic benchmarks, let’s start off with 3DMark’s Fire Strike.
I’ve got the overall score shown in red, and the graphics only score in purple, and
in this test there’s a much bigger difference between the two.
Similar deal with 3DMark’s Time Spy, there were consistently better results with the
2070 Max-Q graphics in this test, but we’re expecting better results compared to actual
games here, so take the results with a grain of salt in terms of practicality.
In terms of overall improvement, over these 13 game tests the 80 watt RTX 2070 Max-Q graphics
is performing 6% better in terms of average FPS with the settings maxed out. The performance
difference does of course vary between the games though, for instance the games at the
bottom that are performing better on the 2060 are titles I’ve find to be more CPU bound,
so these sorts of games depend more on the differences in CPU performance, which can
vary quite a bit between different laptops.
Here’s the difference if we add in the synthetic benchmarks, so Time Spy is now first and Fire
Strike third, boosting the average performance increase to the 2070 Max-Q to just over 7%
if you want to count those, I generally don’t as I rarely find them to mirror real game
performance, but there they are.
Don’t forget these are just laptop results, it’s a different story when we look at desktop
PC graphics which are a fair bit more powerful. I’d also expect higher resolutions like
1440p to show a larger difference between the two, as this should be more GPU demanding,
though realistically that resolution is still quite uncommon in laptops today and I don’t
have enough game data with it to compare.
I’ve also got the clock speeds from running the Heaven benchmark at maximum settings for
an extended period. As expected, we’re seeing higher clock speeds from the 2060s, if you
recall the specs at the start of the video the 2060 does have higher clock speeds, however
the 2070 Max-Q has 20% more CUDA cores and 33% more memory, granted that memory may be
of more use if we start going above 1080p.
Unfortunately I’m unable to compare temperatures and power draw at this time. As I used completely
different laptops from different companies the cooling solutions are different and can’t
accurately be compared against each other. I do discuss these results in depth in the
full review videos for each laptop if you’re interested, I’ll have some links in the
description.
Now for the final difference, the price, you can check the links in the description for
up to date laptop prices with either graphics card, as prices will change over time. This
will depend on where you live, but in general the 2070 Max-Q does cost more money, let’s
check some examples.
The Razer Blade Advanced is currently going for $2450 USD with 2060 graphics, 16gb of
memory and a 512GB SSD. If we only change to look at the RTX 2070 Max-Q version, it’s
an extra $330, or 13.5% more money for an average 6% improvement to average FPS out
of the games I tested here.
For another example let’s check out the Eluktronics Mech 15, this uses the Tongfang
chassis, same as the Apex 15X from Aftershock in my results. The 2060 model is $1600 USD,
while the 2070 Max-Q model is $200 more at $1800, though both appear to be on sale at
the moment, but in this example it’s 12.5% more money to get the 2070 Max-Q, similar
to before.
For another example let’s look at the Gigabyte Aero 15, another model I demonstrated here.
The 2060 model is $1900 USD and for $300 more you can get the 2070 Max-Q version for $2200,
which is this time 15.8% more money, so it seems to vary from $200 to $300 to upgrade,
but is that worth it?
Honestly, in most cases, probably not. The RTX 2060 is quite a good laptop GPU from my
experience, and while you can get more from the 2070 Max-Q in most cases, it depends on
the specific laptop and game, as we’ve seen here it can vary quite a bit due to other
issues like CPU throttling, so you’ll have to do some research before buying, it’s
not always as clear cut as one GPU over another. I’ve got lots of in depth laptop reviews
on the channel if you’re after that information, so if you’re new be sure to subscribe for
those.
The 2070 Max-Q could in theory last you longer, as it’s got that extra 2gb of memory, but
for the moment 6 seems to be fine for pretty much all games at 1080p and likely will be
fine for a while to come, unfortunately I can’t predict how that will change in the
future, but it’s worth noting. You should also see some further improvements with the
90 watt variant of the 2070 Max-Q, but as mentioned that seems to be less common and
I haven’t had it for testing yet.
Personally I’d be satisfied with the performance the 2060 provides, at least outside of ray
tracing, but if you can afford it generally I recommend going for the best graphics you
can get. As the GPU is soldered to the motherboard there’s no upgrade path unless you either
replace the whole machine, or have Thunderbolt 3 and are willing to spend even more money
for an external GPU setup, which can get quite expensive and has its own downsides.
Due to the low performance difference I don’t think the 2070 Max-Q is worth the extra money
for most people, it really depends if you’re willing to pay more for a little improvement.
In the end I don’t think you’ll see a noticeable improvement in terms of game FPS
in most titles between them, and would lean towards the 2060 unless you want the peace
of mind of having the extra 2gb of memory from the 2070 Max-Q. Hopefully this comparison
has showed you what to expect between the two and help you decide which to get.
Let me know which graphics you’d pick down in the comments for your laptop, and get subscribed
for more upcoming laptop comparisons as well as future tech videos like this one.