I'm going to show you how well the new Asus Zephyrus M16 gaming laptop performs in games
at different resolutions and compares against other laptops, oh and stick around for the
giveaway!
I’ve got the highest specced M16 here, so 8 core Intel i9-11900H processor, Nvidia RTX
3070 graphics, 16 gigs of memory in dual channel and a 16” 165Hz screen with a resolution
higher than 1440p.
There are of course lower specced models that are also cheaper too, you can find examples
and check updated prices with those links down in the description below.
Just before we get into the laptop benchmarks though, do you want the chance to win an RTX
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enter the global competition and join the community, and now back to the M16.
The screen has a relatively fast 4.4ms average grey-to-grey response time with panel overdrive
enabled, which is the default.
It’s doing quite well when compared against others, one of the faster results I’ve recorded,
and is right in line with other 165Hz 2560 by 1600 panels measured in the Lenovo Legion
5 Pro and Legion 7 laptops.
The total system latency is also on the lower side compared to other laptops tested.
This is the total amount of time between a mouse button press and when the gun shot fires
in CS:GO.
ASUS advertises the RTX 3070 model with an 80 watt power limit, but with up to 100 watts
with dynamic boost.
Now I found my M16 would run its 3070 up to 100 watts in a GPU only stress test as specified,
but at times with the CPU also under heavy stress test the GPU would drop down to 65
watts, though 80 was more common, it just depends on the workload.
Lower power limits are a tradeoff with the Zephyrus series in order to get that thinner
design.
The ASUS Armoury Crate software, the control panel for the laptop, offers different performance
profiles, I’ve done all testing with the highest manual mode with power sliders maxed
out and fans set to full speed for best results, and this also applies the following overclock
to the graphics, but you can modify it.
Unfortunately there’s no MUX switch, so it’s not possible to disable optimus and
get a speed boost in games, but we can still bypass optimus and the integrated graphics
by connecting an external screen to the front most Type-C port, so I’ll test this as well
and show you what sort of a speed boost that gives us.
Alright so let’s start out by seeing how well the M16 actually compares against other
laptops in a number of games at different resolutions, we’ll be comparing with standard
1080p and 1440p resolutions as that’s what I’ve got data for, but stick around until
after the comparisons because I’ll also show you how well the M16 performs with its
native 2560 by 1600 resolution.
Cyberpunk 2077 was tested in little China with the street kid life path, and I’ve
got the M16 highlighted in red.
Let’s start with 1080p results.
I’ve pretty much only got current gen laptops to compare with as this is a newer game and
I’m not able to keep the laptops I review.
In any case it’s actually ahead of some other RTX 3070 laptops that have higher GPU
power limits and a MUX switch, like the MSI GP76, though that does also have a 6 core
Intel CPU.
Unfortunately I’ve got less data at the higher 1440p resolution because those screens
are still relatively new for laptops.
The M16 is one of the lower results now relative to the other laptops, but hey it’s still
ahead of the Zephyrus G15 with similar wattage RTX 3080 graphics just below it, while the
much smaller Blade 14 is a couple of FPS ahead.
Red Dead Redemption 2 was tested with the game’s benchmark.
At 1080p the M16 is one of the lowest scores I’ve got in this game.
The much cheaper HP Omen 15 with a similar wattage RTX 3070 is nearby though, and hey
it’s still ahead of the quad core TUF Dash F15 a couple of positions below, which also
has 3070 graphics.
Stepping up to 1440p and things don’t really change, the M16 is still below most of these
other laptops, granted most of the results are also from 3080 laptops as those just happen
to be the specs I’ve gotten that have actually been paired with screens that can support
this resolution.
Control was tested running through the same part of the game on all laptops.
At 1080p we’re looking much better compared to red dead redemption 2 just before it.
The M16 is slightly ahead of the higher wattage 3070 in Alienware’s m15 R5, and some of
the lower wattage 3080 options are only just a few FPS ahead - again all options without
MUX switch.
Moving up to 1440p and once more the M16 is lower compared to others, but almost 60 FPS
in Control at max settings before activating DLSS sounds alright to me at this higher resolution.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider was tested with the games benchmark, and as an older game
now I’ve got results from older generations of hardware for comparison.
The M16 is looking quite good here, above 100 FPS at max settings, though again I’m
testing 1080p as this is the resolution I’ve got the most data for and we do have a much
higher 2560 by 1600 resolution.
I’ve tested Battlefield 5 in campaign mode at ultra settings.
The M16 was doing well here too, perhaps the newer 11th gen Intel CPU is making more of
a difference here compared to the GPU, given the M16 is ahead of some 3080 laptops.
Far Cry 5 was tested with the games benchmark at max settings, and this test definitely
depends more on the processor, though the 11900H isn’t able to match the same processor
in the Zephyrus S17, granted that one does also have a higher wattage GPU.
As mentioned earlier, it is possible to boost gaming performance of the M16 by connecting
an external screen to the Type-C display port down the front as this bypasses optimus and
the integrated graphics.
We’re almost looking at a 15% boost to average FPS in Shadow of the Tomb Raider with this
simple change, putting it a couple of FPS ahead of the larger and higher specced S17
just below it, though my S17 was also constrained by optimus and could also receive a performance
boost with an external screen too.
Alright so now that we’ve got an idea of where the Zephyrus M16 compares against other
laptops, let’s find out how well it actually performs in games with its native 2560 by
1600 resolution, as this is the resolution that you would actually run games at if you
bought this laptop.
Cyberpunk 2077 was only above 60 FPS at the lowest setting preset, though medium settings
are close and like most modern AAA games you don’t necessarily need high FPS to play
them well, high settings wouldn’t be bad either.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla was tested with the games benchmark and was around 60 FPS
at high to very high settings, which I think is plenty given I played through the whole
game without issue below this.
Red Dead Redemption 2 was still above 60 FPS with the high setting preset despite the higher
resolution that we’re running at, a decent result.
Call of Duty Warzone was tested with either all settings at minimum or maximum, as it
doesn’t have predefined setting presets.
There wasn’t that much difference between the different settings though, but max settings
was still playing well enough for me.
For Control I’ve tested with ray tracing on in the green bars, which is much lower
than the others, with ray tracing plus DLSS in the red bars, which is doing much better
and around 60 FPS regardless of setting preset, or with both ray tracing and DLSS disabled
in the purple bars, which can reach higher FPS at lower settings if this is your preference.
Microsoft Flight Simulator was tested in the Sydney landing challenge.
The frame rates are looking much lower compared to others, but again like a lot of AAA games
we don’t need super high FPS to play fine, plus turning down the resolution is always
an option, though it won’t quite be as clear.
Watch Dogs Legion was tested with the game's benchmark.
60 FPS was possible around high settings, while very high wasn’t much different, so
still looking good while being able to run well enough at this higher resolution.
Fortnite was tested with the replay feature, no problems at all as an esports title, still
nearly 100 FPS even at max settings, though technically if you wanted the average frame
rate above the screen’s 165Hz refresh rate you’d need to drop down to medium settings.
CS:GO is hitting high frame rates too, even with the higher resolution, but as we’ve
seen in the past, this game is heavily bottlenecked by the iGPU so with a MUX switch or an external
screen I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a 100 FPS boost.
Rainbow Six Siege was tested with the games benchmark using Vulkan.
Like always, no difference between the top three settings, which are all hitting average
FPS near the screen’s refresh rate.
I showed Battlefield V earlier at lower resolution, but this older game is still running pretty
well even at this higher resolution.
Likewise Shadow of the Tomb Raider is also doing fairly well at this higher resolution
too, easily above 60 FPS even at max settings.
Speaking of older games, The Witcher 3 is also running well even at max settings, though
as is always the case, we can get significant performance gains just by lowering one setting
preset to high.
So even with the native resolution, which is above 1440p, the M16 is still performing
quite well in all of the games tested, at least with the higher specs I’ve got in
my unit.
Again there are also lower specced alternatives linked down in the description below.
Now there’s still a lot more I need to cover about the M16 like thermals and battery life
for example, and all of that will be covered in the upcoming full review video, so if you’re
new to the channel then make sure you’re subscribed for that upcoming content, and
I’m also hoping to compare the M16 against the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro to find out who does
the better 16” laptop.
Come and join me in Discord and get behind the scenes videos by supporting the channel
on Patreon, and come and check out some of my other videos over here next, I’ll see
you over in one of those.