The ASUS Strix G15 and Radeon RX 6800 graphics are being held back by memory.
I’ve tested this new gaming laptop in 13 different games both with its stock memory
and with my own memory to show you just how much performance is being left on the table,
and I've also compared it against other gaming laptops so you can see how well the 6800M
stacks up against Nvidia.
These are the specs of my Strix G15.
I've got the Ryzen 9 5900HX CPU, RX 6800M graphics, 16 gigs of memory and a 300Hz 1080p
screen, but there is also a 1440p option.
You can check out other specced models as well as updated prices with the links down
in the description.
So why have I spent extra time testing out this laptop with two different sets of memory?
To cut a long story short, I found that the Strix G15 uses the same memory as the Lenovo
Legion 5 Pro, and as I covered in this dedicated video the memory that it ships with isn’t
exactly amazing.
Both memory kits tested in the Strix G15 have two 8 gig sticks in dual channel, both run
at DDR4-3200 CL22 and both are single rank.
The difference is that my kit is 1Rx8 with lower secondary timings compared to the 1Rx16
kit that the laptop comes with.
It’s kind of annoying because these sorts of memory details aren’t listed anywhere
on the spec sheet when you actually go to buy a laptop, so the only way you could know
is by watching videos like this one.
I asked ASUS why they’re using it and was basically told supply issues, which sucks
because this simple change can make a bigger difference compared to buying a more expensive
laptop with a more expensive GPU.
Now gaming laptops like this that use both AMD processors and graphics make use of smart
shift, which is similar to Nvidia’s dynamic boost.
The basic idea is that power is shifted between the CPU and GPU as needed based on the workload
to offer optimal performance.
In a GPU only stress test I found that my 6800M would run up to about 150W, but I found
145 was more common, and then with the CPU also active in stress test the GPU would run
at about 115 watts.
The ASUS Armoury Crate software lets us pick different performance modes, I’ve done all
testing with manual mode because it lets me max out power and fan speed for best results.
Unfortunately there’s no MUX switch, so it’s not possible to disable the integrated
graphics for a speed boost in games, but we can connect an external display which will
connect directly to the RX 6800M graphics.
I’ve tested this too and as you’ll see the results are very impressive.
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Alright let’s find out how well this laptop performs in 13 different games with its stock
memory and with my memory.
After that we’ll see how the 6800M compares against other laptops and then I’ll use
an external screen to push it to the limit.
Cyberpunk 2077 was tested in little China with the street kid life path.
I’ve got the stock RAM shown by the red bars and the new RAM shown by the purple bars.
With ray tracing presets there’s basically no difference, probably because we’re so
GPU heavy here, but at the same time the frame rates with ray tracing on the 6800M in this
game aren’t great.
It’s behind the Nvidia options because I usually test with DLSS, but AMD’s FSR isn’t
here yet.
Otherwise the new RAM offers a 21% boost to average FPS at low settings.
Red Dead Redemption 2 was tested with the games benchmark, again a much smaller difference
at max setting levels here when compared to the lower presets.
Basically no change at ultra settings, while the new RAM was offering a 14% boost to average
FPS at low settings.
Call of Duty Warzone was tested with either all settings at minimum or maximum, as it
doesn’t have predefined setting presets.
This game saw the biggest difference with the new RAM at max settings out of all 13
games tested with a 24% higher average frame rate, quite a big improvement for such a simple
change.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider was tested with the games benchmark, and this game had the
largest difference out of all 13 titles tested at lowest settings, with the new memory offering
28% higher average FPS, or 30 FPS in this case.
Max settings also saw a massive 19% improvement.
For Control I’ve tested with ray tracing enabled and disabled, let’s start with it
off.
Again basically no difference at the highest setting, but this is a GPU heavy game so makes
sense, while low settings was reaching 10% higher average FPS with the new memory.
Like we saw in Cyberpunk, there’s almost no difference with ray tracing enabled, and
again the frame rates aren’t great here because I usually test with DLSS on Nvidia
laptops.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla was tested with the game's benchmark, and although the new
memory was offering a 5% or so boost to average FPS, it’s below average out of the 13 games
tested and on the lower side.
Microsoft Flight Simulator was more of a middle of the pack result, close to the 13 game average
in its differences.
Now max settings was technically reaching 9% higher average FPS, but we can see this
is just 3 frames, so we’ve got to be careful when dealing with percentage values, 9% sounds
nice but 3 FPS, not so much.
The gains in Watch Dogs legion were bigger, a massive 25% boost to average FPS at low
settings which in this case is almost 20 FPS, much more noticeable I’d argue, while max
settings was around 14% higher with the new RAM, or about 8 FPS in this case, though there’s
a larger 21% boost to 1% low at ultra.
Reasonable gains in Battlefield 5 too, about 10 FPS at max settings or about 9%, right
in line with the 13 game average, while low settings was 15% higher with the new RAM,
presumably as processor performance and memory matter more there.
Fortnite was tested with the same replay file with each memory configuration, and the differences
in average FPS were below the 13 game average, but hey in a more competitive game like this
you could argue that every frame counts more compared to some of the others.
The same goes for CS:GO, although all setting levels were scoring basically the same in
terms of average FPS, the new memory was offering at least an 8% boost to average FPS.
This game generally gets bottlenecked by the iGPU, so using an external screen should increase
frame rate dramatically, more on that soon.
Rainbow Six Siege had much larger improvements to the 1% low performance with the new memory
compared to the average frame rates.
Max settings were hitting 7% higher average FPS with the new memory while the 1% low gains
were higher at 21%.
The Witcher 3 doesn’t really need high frame rates, and honestly even the stock RAM at
ultra settings is still giving excellent results with this modern hardware on an older game,
but we can boost average FPS by 6% at max settings or 14% at minimum settings by changing
memory.
These are the differences between the stock RAM and my new RAM in all 13 games tested
at the highest setting levels available.
On average the new RAM was able to offer us a 9% boost to average FPS in games.
Some titles like red dead redemption 2 and cyberpunk saw basically no difference, probably
because they’re GPU bound there, while others like warzone had big gains.
I’ve also compared with all settings at the lowest preset, and now the average difference
with the new memory is closer to 15%.
Even in the worst case we’re looking at at least a 6% improvement to average FPS,
with well above 20% gains possible depending on the specific game.
Now let’s find out how this all AMD configuration of ASUS Strix G15 compares against others.
I’ve tested Battlefield 5 in campaign mode at ultra settings, and the Strix G15 is highlighted
in red.
I’ve got both the stock memory and the new memory results, which in this case offers
a 9% boost to average FPS.
The 6800M can beat the lower power limit 3070 in the Omen 15 with the memory upgrade and
is close to 2080 Max-Q options, though the 1% lows with the Radeon GPU seem lower compared
to most others whether or not we change the memory.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider was tested with the games benchmark with the highest setting
preset.
As we saw earlier, this game had one of the biggest differences out of all titles tested
with the memory upgrade, almost a 19% boost to average FPS.
The Strix G15 can compete with RTX 3070 and 3080 machines with the new memory like AMD
was claiming, while the stock memory puts it closer to the 3060 and under the power
limited 3070 in the omen 15
Far Cry 5 was also tested with the games benchmark at max settings, and this test typically depends
more on processor performance.
The new memory was offering an 11% boost to average FPS here, again moving the Strix G15
closer to some of the Ryzen plus Nvidia 3070 and 3080 options, such as the ASUS Scar 15
which is right above it with the same processor, but RTX 3080 GPU.
I’ve confirmed that many other reviewers that have this laptop for testing have the
same memory as me, so the results other channels have shown could be improved too, and I did
also confirm with ASUS that the stock memory in my unit is what the retail model will actually
ship with if you actually buy this model - it’s not just the review units that are like this.
As mentioned there’s no way of disabling the integrated graphics with the laptop screen,
but if you connect an external monitor to the Type-C port on the back it connects directly
to the 6800M, bypassing the iGPU.
I’ve got the results with an external screen connected shown by the green bars, and I’ve
tested it both with the stock memory and with my memory.
With the stock memory and external screen we’re just a couple FPS behind the RAM upgrade
plus laptop screen.
If we both combine an external screen with the RAM upgrade, the performance uplift is
nothing short of astonishing.
It’s just a few FPS behind MSI’s larger and much more expensive GE76, though this
is just a single game.
I don’t think I’ve ever had an all AMD laptop with both AMD processor and graphics
that lets you disable the iGPU.
Now at the same time there also haven’t been a whole lot of all AMD laptops, so now
that there are higher end options coming it’s possible that this feature is still yet to
come, I’m not sure yet.
At the very least though it’s unfortunate that this feature is not present in the Strix
G15, because as we’ve just seen we can get an exceptional performance increase with it.
I’ll cover thermals and everything else about this laptop in the upcoming full review,
so make sure you’re subscribed for that one.
Now let’s check out the screen response time.
The ASUS Armoury Crate software gives us the option of enabling or disabling panel overdrive,
which affects screen response time.
With overdrive disabled we’re looking at a 7.9ms average grey-to-grey response time,
but we can lower this down to around 5.6ms with overdrive enabled, which is the default,
though this does add a bit of overshoot.
I’ve got a link in the description if you need an explanation on what all these numbers
mean.
Although it’s not the slowest 300Hz screen I’ve tested, looking at you MSI GE66, it’s
not below the 3.33ms needed for transitions to occur within the refresh window, in any
case not too bad compared to others, but could be better, and expect different results with
the 1440p screen option.
There’s a lot more that we need to discuss about the ASUS Strix G15 advantage edition,
so make sure you’re subscribed for the upcoming full review.
Come and join me in Discord and get behind the scenes videos by supporting the channel
in Patreon, and if you need more information on why the memory upgrade improves performance
so much check out this video over here, as I’ve gone into it in depth on the Legion
5 Pro.
It uses the exact same memory as the Strix G15 by default, so all the details are covered
in that one, I’ll see you there next.