The ASUS Zephyrus G14 is a thinner and lighter 14” gaming laptop, and they’ve made some
nice improvements this year compared to last year’s model.
I’ve compared this new G14 against last year’s model as well as other laptops to
show you the differences, and I’ve also tested it in 13 games at both 1080p and 1440p
resolutions.
These are the specs of my G14.
I've got AMD’s Ryzen 9 5900HS CPU, Nvidia RTX 3060 graphics, 16 gigs of memory and a
120Hz 1440p screen, but there are also lots of other options such as the Ryzen 7 5800HS,
RTX 3050 or 3050 Ti graphics and 1080p screen for instance.
You can check out other specced models of the G14 as well as updated pricing with the
links down in the description.
As a thinner and lighter laptop, the RTX 3060 graphics has an 80 watt power limit with dynamic
boost, but with the CPU also under stress test I found that it would lower down to 60.
Now this is the bottom of the range that Nvidia specifies for the 3060, but that’s just
to be expected with a thinner and lighter design like this.
Higher power limits would equal more heat.
In any case, as I’ll show you soon, the 3060 in the G14 does offer a pretty good improvement
compared to the 2060 in last year’s model.
Another improvement this year is the screen.
Last year the G14 had a 120Hz 1080p screen with a slow 20ms response time, while this
year’s 120Hz 1440p screen with FreeSync has cut the response time in more than half.
Yeah it’s still not quite as good as some of the 15 and 17 inch models, but this is
still a big improvement compared to other 13 and 14 inch alternatives.
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,
and by default Manual mode also applies the following overclock to the RTX 3060 graphics.
Unfortunately there’s no MUX switch, so it’s not possible to disable the integrated
graphics to boost performance in games, but we can connect an external screen to improve
performance, and I’ll show you this later.
Just before we get into those game benchmarks, I've got to thank this video's sponsor Bluetti.
Bluetti specialize in portable power stations that are ideal for camping, outdoor trips,
van life, or any time you need a reliable off-grid power supply.
I've got the AC200P here which has a 2000Wh battery capacity, and with a 2000 watt output
it can power most household appliances like toasters, fridges, microwaves, power tools
- or even a full on desktop PC or laptop while gaming.
There's pretty much every type of power output option you could ask for with both AC and
DC options, as well as two spots for wireless charging on top, so you’ll be able to power
all your devices when travelling no problems.
You can also charge the battery with optional solar panels for a true renewable off grid
experience.
Check out the sponsored link in the video description to find out more about Bluetti
and their AC200P portable power station.
Alright back to the G14, let’s find out how well this new 2021 config compares against
last year’s G14 and other gaming laptops.
After that we’ll check out how well it does in 13 different games at both the native 1440p
and 1080p resolutions, and I’ll also show you what sort of a speed boost we can get
by connecting an external screen and bypassing optimus.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider was tested with the games benchmark.
I’ve highlighted both this year's G14 and last year’s G14 in red so that we can see
how far we’ve come in about a year.
I tested with the highest specced config of G14 in both cases, and a 22% boost to average
FPS in that time is a pretty nice improvement.
The lower wattage 3060 in the G14 is even ahead of the higher wattage 2060 in MSI’s
GL65 just below it, while of course it’s beaten by higher wattage 30 series options
in larger 15” plus designs.
I’ve tested Battlefield 5 in campaign mode at ultra settings, and again this year’s
G14 is reaching 22% higher average FPS compared to last year’s model, and there’s a 14%
boost to 1% low too.
Again the new G14 is able to beat the higher wattage 2060 in MSI’s GL65 just below it,
at least in terms of average FPS.
Meanwhile last year’s 2060 g14 was below GTX 1660 Ti options, so again a nice single
generation improvement.
Far Cry 5 was tested with the games benchmark at max settings, this time the newer G14 was
reaching 9% higher average FPS compared to last year’s model.
This test typically depends more on the CPU, so we might be looking more at Zen 2 vs Zen
3 here, though the 1% lows are essentially the same.
In any case quite impressive when considering the higher specced Strix G15 from ASUS with
5900HX and 6800M is scoring about the same here.
Now that we’ve got an idea of where the new G14 fits in let’s see how well it does
in 13 games at 1080p and 1440p.
Cyberpunk 2077 was tested in little China with the street kid life path.
I’ve got the native 1440p results shown by the red bars, but I’ve also tested 1080p
in purple to boost performance, which still looks alright at the smaller 14” screen
size.
1440p isn’t even able to hit 60 FPS at minimum settings, 1080p is doing better at high settings,
not that you need high frame rate in this game.
Red Dead Redemption 2 was tested with the games benchmark, higher FPS was possible at
1440p in this one, with medium settings surpassing that magical 60 FPS, though you’ve got the
option of boosting average FPS by around 29% simply by lowering to 1080p.
Call of Duty Warzone was tested with either all settings at minimum or maximum, as it
doesn’t have predefined setting presets.
Even the 1% lows at 1080p were above the averages from 1440p, though 1440p max settings was
still playing well close to 70 FPS.
For Control I’ve tested with ray tracing enabled and disabled, let’s start with it
off.
Max settings at 1080p is easily passing 60 FPS, while medium settings was a little under
60 at 1440p, though this is yet another game that I don’t think needs a super high frame
rate to play well, and I think it still looks pretty good even with lower settings anyway.
That said I don’t think I’d want to play with just straight ray tracing on as the performance
lowers considerably compared to not using it, but that’s where DLSS comes in and offers
a much more playable experience while still getting the ray tracing eye candy.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla was tested with the game's benchmark, 1440p could hit 60 FPS
at medium settings while high was above this at 1080p, honestly most of these AAA games
don’t need super high frame rates like esports titles, so 1440p should still be usable with
decent settings here.
Microsoft Flight Simulator was tested in the Sydney landing challenge, and this is a test
that I’ve noted in the past sees very little difference whether or not you lower the resolution,
so I suppose might as well just run it at 1440p as the frame rate difference is so minor.
Watch Dogs Legion was tested with the games benchmark, I don’t think I’d be going
for ultra settings at either resolution here, but lower setting levels are able to provide
higher FPS.
At very high settings 1440p we’re able to boost average frame rate by 26% simply by
lowering to 1080p.
Fortnite was tested with the same replay, as more of an esports title compared to the
previous games covered we’re looking at much higher frame rates.
Even 1440p high settings is reaching average FPS that’s close to the screen’s 120Hz
refresh rate.
It’s a similar deal for CS:GO, high frame rates no problem, but we’d be able to boost
performance significantly in titles like this by attaching an external screen, more on that
soon.
Rainbow Six Siege was tested with the games benchmark using Vulkan.
The results at 1440p were a bit strange, medium settings was performing worse than any higher
presets, we double checked this and it was consistent, but regardless still no problems
here given average FPS at max settings 1440p is above the screen’s refresh rate.
The Witcher 3 doesn’t need high FPS, so 1% lows around 60 at max settings 1440p should
be a smooth experience, though if you do want to prefer higher frame rates lowering one
setting preset to high settings can boost average FPS by 32%.
I showed Battlefield V earlier in the comparison graph, but here’s how it looks at different
setting presets and with different resolutions.
Again above 60 FPS at max settings 1440p is to be expected in older titles like this.
Likewise Shadow of the Tomb Raider was above 60 FPS at max settings 1440p as well, while
1080p max settings could boost average FPS by a massive 42%.
As I mentioned earlier, it should be possible to boost gaming performance of the G14 by
connecting an external monitor, as this will bypass optimus.
Unfortunately the HDMI port connects to the integrated Radeon graphics, so we can’t
use that, but the left Type-C port has DisplayPort support and connects directly to the Nvidia
graphics, bypassing the iGPU.
We’re looking at a 7% boost to average FPS in Shadow of the Tomb Raider with this simple
change, so not quite as big compared to some other laptops I’ve tested such as the ASUS
Strix G15 Advantage Edition, but hey still an easy way to get some additional performance
out of the laptop.
Esports games like CS:GO that hit much higher FPS would see bigger gains here.
So far I’m much more impressed with this year’s G14 compared to last years.
The performance improvement with newer Ryzen CPU and Nvidia GPU is allowing it to do quite
well compared to larger and thicker machines.
Sure it’s not performing quite as well as those other bigger laptops, but that’s just
the tradeoff, lower power limits with a thinner and lighter laptop, so really I think it comes
down to how much of a priority it is for you to have a smaller device.
The screen response time isn’t super impressive, but it’s still a big improvement compared
to last year’s model, coming in at more than half as quick.
I’ll cover things like thermals, battery life and everything else in the full review
of the Zephyrus G14, so if you’re new to the channel then make sure you get subscribed
for that upcoming content, as well as future laptop videos like this one.
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on Patreon, and while you wait for the full review come and check out some of my other
videos over here, I’ll see you over in one of those next.