AMD’s Mobile Revival: Redefining the Notebook Business with the Ryzen 9 4900HS (A Review)
by Dr. Ian Cutress on April 9, 2020 9:00 AM ESTGPU Benchmarks
Graphics is going to be a bit more challenging than the CPU tests. Games that test both the CPU and the GPU to the limits are going to find different tradeoffs with each of these systems.
The ASUS Zephyrus G14 is smaller and more thermally limited. It doesn’t have an AMD GPU, so it can’t take advantage of AMD’s new features like SmartShift that can manage power between the CPU and GPU. It technically has the stronger CPU, and while the graphics card is the same, ASUS has the Max-Q version of the RTX 2060, which is optimized for power and efficiency, and exhibits lower clocks. Technically the base frequency of this configuration is higher, at 975 MHz, the turbo is lower at 1185 MHz, and the GDDR6 memory is a lot lower at 1375 MHz (11Gbps/pin).
The Razer Blade 15 has the bigger chassis, and we assume is built for a larger overall TDP. While it has the ‘weaker’ CPU of the two, with fewer cores and lower frequency, it is paired with a full-fat GTX 2060 graphics card. We looked at the data for this card, and it exhibits a lower 960 MHz base frequency, it has the higher 1200 MHz turbo, 1750 MHz memory, and has a direct PCIe 3.0 x16 connection with the processor, while the ASUS system is only an x8.
For our tests, I’ve taken an older test (CS:Source), a couple of modern tests (Civ 6, FFXV) and a new test in Borderlands 3. We used the following settings:
- Final Fantasy, 1080p Fullscreen, Standard Quality
- Borderlands 3, 1080p, Medium Pre-Set
- Civilization 6, 1080p Maximum Preset No MSAA / 1K Occlusion Textures
- Civilization 6, 1080p Maximum Preset 8x MSAA / 2K Occlusion Textures
- Counter Strike Source, 1080p Maximum
In Final Fantasy, the results were around 10% different, favoring the AMD system.
Borderlands 3 was actually fairly close, with less than 5% between them, but still favoring AMD. I did notice that we were fairly close to the cutoff here between being CPU limited and GPU limited.
Civilization 6 is well known for constantly updating and being optimized, and here it seems the more powerful GPU wins out by a large 10 FPS margin.
However, if we add in some more compute and detail, we move to a more GPU limited scenario where the results are essentially equal.
Counter Strike is an odd one, given how old the game is. Here the game favors the Intel machine, with a ~10% advantage.
Like in the CPU tests, I did some of these gaming tests with the power cord removed and on battery saver mode. Results were interesting, to say the least, and can be found on the next page.
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alufan - Friday, April 10, 2020 - link
As an it pro you should know betterhttps://www.amazon.co.uk/Anker-Ethernet-Including-...
Cooe - Thursday, April 9, 2020 - link
Because sticking a cheap USB adapter on the end of the Ethernet cable you plug into is just too much work? That problem is really minor to fix tbh.Icehawk - Sunday, April 12, 2020 - link
Agreed, for a home user - which this is aimed at I think it’s NBD but for enterprise machines I much prefer an integrated NIC so I don’t need to rely on a customer having a dongle (they won’t) or remembering to bring one. Sadly they are hard to find these days in this size laptop.At least this machine has a DIMM slot instead of soldered only.
GreenReaper - Monday, April 20, 2020 - link
Sure, but having to mod your memory because they didn't enable XMP profiles is not super-convenient. I'm sure Asus would like you to buy their RAM, but still. (Or perhaps it's an issue of Intel not giving the necessary data?)1_rick - Thursday, April 9, 2020 - link
What do you need a webcam for? I've seen a bunch of people here and at other sites call the lack of a webcam a hard pass.I use teleconferencing software extensively at my day job, both for meetings among people in different offices (and at home) and for meetings with clients, and nobody uses a webcam, although we're all far more interested in screen sharing, either to show someone how to do something, or to show a document of some kind, or whatever.
schujj07 - Friday, April 10, 2020 - link
^ThisTotally agree with this. I do the same thing and screen sharing is far more important for me in the IT world than a webcam. If you need a webcam go out and get a good one from Logitech instead of the included garbage on most laptops.
1_rick - Friday, April 10, 2020 - link
Yeah, that's the other thing--why wouldn't you want a better camera than the potato 720p you'll get with a laptop, if you do need one?haukionkannel - Saturday, April 11, 2020 - link
Webcams Are useful for personal contacts. At work I keep webcam mostly closed.And there Are/will be Also models with it, so people can chose what They pay for. So no worry if one Gaming laptop does not have it :)
Deicidium369 - Sunday, April 12, 2020 - link
People making imaginary purchases....sonny73n - Saturday, April 11, 2020 - link
That and privacy issue too. I have a piece of black electrical tape cover my laptop webcam. I would not know when it turns on by itself and snoops on me like those Samsung TVs a while back.The aholes would say I got something to hide. I would like to let them know that I’d rather break the law or break their faces than letting myself caught in my most embarrassing moments.