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In 2020 we loved the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 with an AMD Ryzen 4000 CPU and Nvidia RTX 2060 graphics. Today we have the ASUS ROG Strix G15 Advantage with AMD Ryzen 5000 CPU and AMD Radeon RX 6800M graphics, and not a hint of Nvidia anywhere to be seen. This is pure AMD from end to end and the discrete graphics deliver a slice of the RDNA 2 technology we saw in desktop RX 6800.
The ASUS ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition is built, as the name suggests, around the AMD Advantage framework. This is a guide for laptop manufacturers to ensure they marry an AMD CPU with AMD RDNA 2 graphics and other high end components such as a decent display panel, fast SSD and fast Wi-Fi.
Specification
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX 3.3GHz up to 4.6GHz
- Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 6800M 12GB GDDR6
- Display: 15.6-inch FHD, 300Hz Refresh, 3ms Response, IPS-level, FreeSync
- Memory: 16GB DDR4-3200 SO-DIMM dual channel, Max Capacity 32GB
- SSD: 512GB Samsung PM991a M.2 NVMe PCIe Gen 3.0
- I/O Ports:
- 1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack
- 1x HDMI 2.0b
- 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C support display/power delivery
- 3x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A
- 1x RJ45 LAN port
- Networking: Realtek Gigabit
- Wi-Fi: MediaTek Wi-Fi 6 MT7921+Bluetooth 5.1
- Speakers: 2x 4W speaker with Smart Amp Technology
- Battery: 90Wh, 5675mAh, 4-cell Li-ion
- Power Supply: 280W
- Weight: 2.3kg plus 1.0kg for power adapter and mains cable
- Dimensions: 354mm (W) x 259mm (D) x 22.6-27.2mm (H)
- Operating System: Windows 10 Home
The external appearance of the ASUS ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition is very smart with red accents and highlighted WASD keys that act as prompts for gamers. Internally it is a completely different matter as the vapour chamber cooling system on the CPU and GPU looks amazing. We have never before seen a laptop cooler that uses graphics to mark out the CPU and GPU with their associated components and feel it is a crying shame most owners of this laptop would be oblivious to this detail.
The ports and connectors are mainly arranged on the rear of the chassis. On the left hand side we find two USB ports and a headset jack, while the right hand side is unused. Glance back to that photo inside the chassis and you will see this means most of the connections are very close to the CPU and GPU while the slower USB and headset connections are located much further away. We prefer it when laptops have the connections conveniently located on the sides but once you look inside the chassis it is crystal clear why ASUS has adopted this particular layout.
CPU Performance and Testing: 3D Mark and Blender
CPU Performance and Testing: 3D Mark and Blender Overview
It is plain to see the AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX is a powerful CPU that delivers performance at a comparable level to the new Intel Core i7-11800H.
CPU Performance and Testing: Cinebench
Performance and Testing: Cinebench Overview
In Cinebench R15 and R20 the AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX does a fine job inside the ASUS ROG Strix G15 Advantage. The key point to remember is that in multi-core Cinebench R20 the AMD Ryzen 9 CPU is running at 4.0GHz on all cores and drawing 74W while the 8-core Intel Rocket Lake requires 95W to run at the same 4.0GHz.
Performance and Testing: Gaming
Performance and Testing: Gaming Overview
We had every confidence the AMD Ryzen 9 5900Hz CPU would do a good job but as you will have seen in our video, the new AMD Radeon RX 6800M graphics are a completely unknown quantity. We are able to deduce from the specification that the mobile graphics have between 2/3 and 3/4 the hardware of the desktop RX 6800 while running at a significantly higher clock speed and using about half the power. Clearly the RX 6800M will operate at a disadvantage compared to the full-on desktop graphics but the big question is how well the RX 6800M compares to Nvidia's laptop chips.
We recently reviewed the Gigabyte Aorus 17G with Intel Core i7-11800H and Nvidia RTX 3080 graphics which is a reasonable point of comparison for the ASUS ROG Strix G15 Advantage. The ASUS with AMD RX 6800M graphics gets beaten repeatedly by RTX 3080 however – and it's a big ‘however' – the gaming experience is very good and the price of the ASUS is considerably lower than the Gigabyte. It would probably have levelled the playing field if we had compared the ASUS with a laptop using RTX 3070 graphics. Our takeaway here is that RX 6800M does a fine job and we are mightily impressed.
Temperatures
The temperatures we observed inside the ASUS ROG Strix G15 Advantage were higher than expected, however it is clear that AMD's power management software is taking full advantage of the ASUS vapour chamber cooling system to maximise performance.
Battery Life
The battery in this laptop is a middling 5,675mAh unit rated at 90Wh yet it manages to deliver exceptional battery life with a PC Mark 8 result that translates to 12 hours of general purpose duties.
Since we made our video about the ASUS ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition G513QY, it has become clear we Brits are suffering significantly when it comes to pricing. In the US you can find the ROG Strix G15 Advantage for US$1,650 while here in the UK the price is £1,899 and while we initially thought that was very reasonable we now want to see it on sale at £1,499.
We have a couple of quibbles over the sample we were sent such as the choice of FHD screen panel when we would much prefer 1440p. Also, the SSD deserves to be bumped up to 1TB.
We were deeply unhappy about the lack of a webcam but it is clear from the comments below our video that a great many of you are perfectly happy with that situation. Fair enough, we acknowledge that is your view and while we disagree we must also recognise it is a move that is unlikely to hurt sales.
We should also address the point about the slow memory timings in AMD's choice of DDR4 memory and their impact on performance. Many commenters have suggested this is a bad situation and that AMD has missed a trick. We take the opposite view as we feel it would be far worse if we tested a reviewer's special and then found the laptops on sale had an inferior specification. This laptop performs very well and yet it can be made to perform even better with a simple upgrade when supplies of DDR4 improve.
The ASUS ROG Strix G15 Advantage is a conventional laptop that has been built around an efficient CPU and GPU that can work in harmony to improve efficiency and performance to a higher level than you can hope with AMD/Nvidia or Intel/Nvidia. The result is greater than the sum of the parts and that makes us very happy. It also gives us hope that Intel might deliver something special when 12th Gen Alder Lake rolls down the road.
The ASUS ROG Strix G15 is the first AMD Advantage laptop we have seen and we look forward to other brands such as Lenovo and MSI delivering AMD Advantage soon.
You can order the ASUS ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition G513QY for £1,899 HERE.
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Pros:
- Screen looks good.
- 8 cores of AMD Ryzen 9 power.
- RDNA2 graphics.
- Very good battery life.
Cons:
- You don’t get a webcam.
- This review sample ships with a 1080p display, rather than the optional 1440p.
- Only 512GB SSD capacity and Gen 3 rather than Gen 4.
- MediaTek Wi-Fi 6 lags behind Intel’s AX200.
- The finish picks up fingerprints.
KitGuru says: ASUS ROG Strix G15 Advantage is an impressive showcase for AMD Mobile RDNA 2 graphics.
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