The new Gigabyte Aero 15 laptop has some nice improvements over the older models which give
us higher levels of performance, so just how well does it perform in games? I’ve benchmarked
20 different games at all setting levels to show you how well it runs and compared it
against some other laptops to see how it stacks up.
Just quickly before we jump into the benchmark results I’ll cover off the specs in my unit.
I’ve got the XA model, so there’s an Intel i7-9750H CPU, 90 watt Nvidia RTX 2070 Max-Q
graphics, and 16gb of memory running in dual channel. The new Aero 15 is available with
different specs though, you can find examples and updated prices linked in the description.
I don’t think the Aero 15 has been designed with gaming in mind, it’s more of a machine
for content creators, hence the OLED screen and other features. With that said, if it’s
got decent specs like these we can still play games on it and it’s worth seeing how well
it does.
The Control Center software allows us to define the CPU power limits in 5 stages, and 2 stages
for the GPU, however no overclocking or undervolting is done. I’ve tested these games at the
highest limits for best performance, so up to 62 watts on the CPU and 90 watts on the
GPU, along with the latest version of Windows and Nvidia drivers at the time of testing.
We’ll only be covering gaming performance here, so if you’re new to the channel, you'll
definitely want to get subscribed for the upcoming full review. Alright let’s start
out by going through all 20 games at all setting levels, then afterwards we’ll see how the
new Aero 15 compares with some other laptops to see how it stacks up.
Battlefield 5 was tested in campaign mode and not in multiplayer mode, as it’s easier
to consistently reproduce the test run. The game was still playing quite well for me at
ultra settings, with even the 1% low above 60 FPS. As usual with RTX on it was only really
performing well at low or medium settings, and in my opinion it looks better at ultra
with RTX off and performs similarly.
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 over 120 FPS averages achievable
at ultra settings and playing very smoothly.
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 well
with maximum settings, however with minimum settings we could boost average FPS by 52%
and get a higher 1% low than the average maximum could deliver.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider was tested with the built in benchmark, the results from this
test were looking pretty good at lower settings where we’re more CPU bound, while higher
settings still did well with the increased power limit on the GPU, but we’ll see how
this game compares with other machines soon.
Far Cry New Dawn was tested with the built in benchmark. This game seems to be fairly
CPU heavy, so the results are pretty decent thanks to the boosted maximum CPU power limit
of 62 watts.
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 while I have to regularly refresh the
replay I test in the same area of the map. Epic settings still averaged 130 FPS and played
perfectly smoothly without any issues, while medium settings would be a good match if you
get the Aero with 240Hz screen.
Overwatch is another well optimized game and was tested in the practice range, as other
players, bots and even different maps in actual gameplay affect the frame rate and this allows
for consistent testing. Again even at maximum settings very high frame rates were possible
and it played very nicely, while we’re only just below the 300 FPS frame cap at low.
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.
CS:GO was tested using the Ulletical FPS benchmark, and as a game that is pretty CPU bound the
average FPS results are about what I expected from a 9750H, maybe a little higher due to
the boosted power limit though.
Rainbow Six Siege was tested with the built in benchmark, and is a game I’ve found to
benefit from Nvidia’s new turing architecture. Even with maximum ultra settings we’re getting
above 100 for the 1% low, so still perfectly smooth in this test, with up to 200 FPS averages
possible at low settings.
PUBG was tested using the replay feature, and the results between very low and high
settings are higher than what we usually see with most laptops in this test. To be fair
I did have to refresh my replay due to a game update, but I did the exact same test run
as in the past.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was tested with the built in benchmark, and from my experience
seems to be a fairly CPU heavy game. This is why a cheaper laptop like the Acer Helios
300 is able to beat it at all setting levels except ultra, as that machine is undervolted
out of the box while also having a boosted power limit. At ultra settings the higher
GPU power from the 2070 Max-Q puts it ahead though.
Dota 2 was tested playing in the middle lane with an average amount of action going on,
and is yet another game that I’ve found to prefer higher CPU power, which would explain
these fairly high results, and it was running extremely well even at max settings.
Watch Dogs 2 is a resource heavy game, but in my opinion is still playable with a stable
30 FPS, so even at ultra settings with our 60 FPS here it’s playing very well without
any problems.
Ghost Recon is another resource intensive game and was tested using the built in benchmark.
Around 50 FPS at ultra is a pretty decent result from this test in my experience, as
you generally need a very powerful laptop to reach 60 FPS, though much higher is of
course possible at lower settings.
The Witcher 3 was playing great with hairworks disabled, I’ve found this to be somewhat
more GPU demanding at higher settings, so no insanely high frame rates at ultra, but
still respectable results and running smoothly without any problems.
DOOM was tested using Vulkan, and is a game that almost always gets really high frame
rates. There wasn’t really that much difference between the different setting levels, so may
as well just play at ultra and take the better eye candy.
Strange Brigade was another game that was tested with Vulkan, and this one was also
running well with the built in benchmark. Still around 120 FPS at ultra settings, and
above 200 at low settings with relatively high 1% low results compared to averages.
Shadow of War was also tested with the built in benchmark, and is another game that I’ve
found to benefit from Nvidia’s new Turing architecture, and high settings were needed
to reach above 100 FPS in this test.
Let’s also take a look at how this config of the new Aero 15 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 Aero 15 highlighted in red. I’ve got the older Aero just below
it, and we can see there’s a nice performance improvement with the new model despite having
similar specs on paper. It’s worth noting that it’s not quite as high as the Blade
Pro 17 above it, as that undervolts the CPU out of the box, has a higher 100 watt power
limit on the GPU, overclocks the GPU and is a larger . Still though the performance wasn’t
too far behind the non Max-Q 2070 laptops.
Here are the results from Far Cry 5 with ultra settings in the built in benchmark. I’ve
found this to be a pretty CPU heavy test, which I think is why we’re seeing a larger
improvement in this game compared to the older Aero, but also compared to many other machines
likely thanks to that boosted CPU power limit. We’re just a couple FPS behind the non Max-Q
2070s and the 2080 Max-Q in the GS75, while the 1% low is actually slightly ahead, again
due to that boosted CPU power limit.
These are the results from Shadow of the Tomb raider with the built in benchmark at highest
settings. Just a little improvement over the older Aero this time, and a respectable result
overall. Not quite on the same level as the non Max-Q 2070’s this time, but still a
fair bit ahead of the 2060’s and below.
Overall the new Gigabyte Aero 15 laptop is providing higher levels of performance with
essentially the same specs when compared to the older model. This is due to the improved
cooling design, which as I showed in the thermal testing video was quite a nice change over
what they used to have, with better thermal paste, more air vents, more heatpipes and
more fan blades. The improved cooling in turn allows them to run the CPU and GPU with higher
power limits, and of course less throttling also helps boost performance.
While I’ve got a 4K OLED screen in my unit, you can run games at 1080p perfectly fine
as the resolution scales down one to one, so it looks fine though it is stuck to a 60Hz
refresh rate. The new Aero 15 is also available with a 240Hz screen instead, which is probably
going to be a better option if you’re primarily going to be using it for gaming. Purely for
gaming though I’d probably look at a different machine, however if you’re doing a mix of
content creation and some gaming I think it’s looking like a great hybrid option.
Let me know what you thought of the gaming performance from the new Aero 15 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 new machine is offering.