AMD's RDNA-2 GPU architecture has also been available in notebooks since June. After samples for Europe were delayed, ComputerBase was able to test the Radeon RX 6800M extensively in a dozen games. The performance of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3000 laptop GPUs is high, but no comparison to desktop PCs.
Table of contents
- 1 AMD's fastest mobile RDNA-2 graphics card in the benchmark
- These are the first notebooks with RX 6000M
- The Asus ROG Strix G15 with Radeon RX 6800M at a glance
- The topic of RAM in the Asus ROG Strix G15
- 2 test results
- A few words about notebook benchmarks
- Classification in old test results
- Benchmarks in Full HD
- Benchmarks in WQHD
- Benchmarks with ray tracing
- CPU benchmarks with Ryzen 9 5900HX
- 3 Conclusion
- Also competitive in the notebook
- The Asus ROG Strix G15 offers a lot of FPS for the money
- Availability? Nothing!
These are the first notebooks with RX 6000M
Mobile Ryzen processors took years to establish themselves on the market. Only since the quasi-notebook standard Intel has been weakening and Ryzen 5000H (test) has been better positioned, especially in gaming notebooks or mobile workstations, has AMD been celebrating one design win after another. The time seems good to celebrate successes with the Radeon RX in the notebook. But the way in this category is also rocky and long.
The Radeon RX 5000M was a flop in the Windows PC
< p class = "p text-width">The Radeon RX 5000M based on RDNA was a flop on the market for PCs with Windows. In Germany it is only available in three series. Things looked different at Apple: RDNA GPUs had been used in the 16-inch MacBook Pro since 2019.
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The new Radeon RX 6000M with Navi 22 and Navi 23 for gaming notebooks (Image: AMD)
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The new Radeon RX 6000M with Navi 22 and Navi 23 for gaming notebooks 
Radeon RX 6800M, 6700M and 6600M with up to 145 watt TDP 
The new Radeon RX 6800M with 40 CUs 
The new Radeon RX 6700M with 36 CUs 
The new Radeon RX 6700M with 36 CUs. > The new Radeon RX 6600M with 28 CUs 
Asus ROG Strix G15/G17 with Radeon RX 6800M 
First notebooks from OEMs in June 
AMD delivers the RX 6800M and RX 6600M immediately, RX 6700M later The RDNA architecture also had a difficult time against Nvidia's Windows notebook offers with high performance: It did not offer top performance and could only score points in the middle class in the end because of the price. But for a lower price point, developing a new notebook platform is usually not worthwhile if there are alternative models with GPUs from Nvidia that can also be bought at a higher price.
The Radeon RX 6000M has what it takes for more
The signs are different for the Radeon RX 6000M (presentation): Derived from the presentation in the desktop PC, the 6800M, 6700M and 6600M should stand up to the respective high-end offshoots from Nvidia. With Asus and HP, only two OEMs accompany the market entry: Asus uses the Radeon RX 6800M in the ROG Strix G15 and G17, HP uses the Radeon RX 6600M in the Omen 16. The following test of the Radeon RX 6800M in the Asus ROG Strix G15 should find out whether there are technical reasons for this cautious adaptation. The system was made available to the editors by AMD.
The Asus ROG Strix G15 with Radeon RX 6800M at a glance
The Asus ROG Strix G15/G17 Advantage Edition not only uses Ryzen CPU and Radeon GPU, it also fulfills them Requirements of AMD's new Advantage program – is therefore an end device approved by AMD through and through.
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Asus ROG Strix G15 with Radeon RX 6800M
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Asus ROG Strix G15 with Radeon RX 6800M In Germany there is currently only the 15.6-inch model, which apart from the display size has no effect on the equipment. Asus is asking for 1,799 euros for the base model, which is lavishly equipped with Ryzen 9 5900HX and Radeon RX 6800M; the entire series is not yet available in German retail stores. Theoretically, there are adjusting screws for customers with RAM (up to 32 GB), SSD (up to 1 TB) and display. You can choose from Full HD with 300 Hz and 100 percent sRGB and WQHD with 165 Hz and 100 percent DCI-P3. The ROG Strix G17 Advantage Edition, which is not available in this country, offers the same options, only in 17.3 instead of 15.6 inches.
The display is fast, but not very bright
The Full HD display with 300 Hz installed in the test sample has a matt finish. The maximum luminance measured by the editorial team is 319 cd/m². The average brightness is 305 cd/m² and thus just fulfills the minimum standard to be applied nowadays. The notebook is therefore only suitable to a limited extent for use in bright surroundings outdoors. The contrast is also only an average of 1,060: 1. The homogeneity, on the other hand, can be described as very good with a maximum deviation of 10 percent. Overall, the display gives a satisfactory impression, but it cannot impress with brightness and contrast.
Brightness and homogeneity display ROG, Ryzen and Radeon
The design shows that the notebook is something special for Asus and AMD with subtle references to the newly inspired partnership. On the lid there is a large illuminated ROG logo, lots of small ROG lettering and an AMD logo. The entire case is kept in matt black and is therefore one of the more inconspicuous gaming notebooks, although the RGB lighting in the lid, on the sides and on the entire front as well as with four zones on the keyboard can certainly ensure a colorful appearance.
The so-called armor caps also stand out from the matt black. These are covers for the area – viewed from the front – on the rear left of the hinge, which can be exchanged for official versions from Asus itself (included) or for your own creations from the 3D printer, for which Asus provides the appropriate blueprint. A red armor cap sits on the hinge by default, with a somewhat cryptic lettering “///R.”, Which stands for “Triple-R”, i.e. ROG, Ryzen and Radeon. Two more armor caps in silver and semi-transparent gray, each with ROG lettering, are included with the notebook and can be attached to it magnetically.
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Asus ROG Strix G15 with Radeon RX 6800M
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Asus ROG Strix G15 with Radeon RX 6800M 
Asus ROG Strix G15 with Radeon RX 6800M No space for a webcam
Other features include numerous connections (see table), Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0, speakers behind the keyboard, AI-supported noise canceling for the integrated microphones and a 90 Wh battery for both display sizes. Asus mentions up to 11.4 hours of runtime for video playback, but does not provide any information about gaming. The notebook can be quickly charged to 50 percent in 33 minutes using the power supply unit; alternatively, power delivery via USB Type C, limited to 100 watts, can be used. What is not available is a webcam because there is no space above the display for it. This was recently the case with the ROG Strix Scar 15/17, which combines the Ryzen 9 5900HX with a GeForce RTX 3080 laptop GPU. No webcam is absolutely out of date these days.
Cooling with liquid metal for CPU and GPU
For the first time, liquid metal is responsible for cooling the components on the CPU and GPU, which is supposed to reduce temperatures by up to 14 degrees Celsius compared to traditional thermal paste. A large vapor chamber for CPU, GPU, VRAM and power supply should do its part for cooling. Asus speaks of “gigantic dimensions” for the vapor chamber and can thus dissipate 25 watts more power loss than with the normal Strix cooling system. Two fans, each with 84 propeller blades, are ultimately responsible for removing the heat. The keyboard belongs to the “CoolZone” and should not exceed 40 degrees Celsius surface temperature.
The performance profiles for CPU and GPU
At the request of the editors, Asus announced the maximum power dissipation of Ryzen 9 5900HX and Radeon RX 6800M in the ROG Strix G15/G17 Advantage for each profile.
The Asus Armory Crate tool The Radeon RX 6800M can consume a maximum of 189 watts in the Asus notebook in the “Turbo” profile, although this is only possible within the framework of the maximum platform TDP of 237 watts allowed for a short time. On the other hand, the maximum consumption of the platform consisting of CPU and graphics card in the “Turbo” profile is 190 watts, of which the processor also consumes its share.
2 minimum at high temperature, maximum at low temperature
3 short-term peak consumption of the platform
The platform power consumption published by Asus can be read out with tools such as HWiNFO or CapFrameX. Doom Eternal confirms the permanent upper limits of 180, 155 and 110 watts. The GPU consumes around 145, 130 and 95 watts, respectively, the rest (35, 25 and 15 watts) are used by the CPU. In the “Quiet” profile, the processor is severely limited in terms of performance.
«Previous platform performance exception (Doom) GPU power consumption (Doom) Next»
- Platform power exception (Doom) 04080120160200Watt (W) 191725334149576573818997105113121129137145153161169177185193200Seconds Quiet (Doom) Power (Doom) Turbo (Doom)
Which profile users choose also has an effect on performance. In Doom Eternal, the performance between the quiet and turbo profiles is at least 11 percent different in the FPS. In other titles that place more demands on the CPU, it is sometimes much more, because the CPU runs out of steam with a 15 watt budget in the quiet profile.
FPS according to profiles (Doom) Unit: frames per second (FPS)
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- Turbo ( Doom) 64.4
- Achievement (Doom) 63.8
- Quiet (Doom) 58.1
Not only the performance, but also the volume differs depending on the selected profile: In the “Quiet” profile, the notebook is in fact exactly that, while “Turbo” is significantly louder than “Performance” for the last percent of performance.
Volume according to profiles (Doom) Unit: dB (A)
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- Turbo (Doom) 42.0
- Performance (Doom) 37.0
- Quiet (Doom) 34.0
A look at the GPU clock rates under load finally provides the basis for the large bandwidth in performance: There is a difference of almost 400 MHz between “Turbo” and “Quiet” in Doom Eternal (UHD). A look at the temperatures shows that “Turbo” is not only louder because of the increased power consumption compared to “Performance”, but also because the GPU is kept a little cooler.
«Previous GPU clock (Doom) GPU -Temperature (Doom) Next »
- GPU clock (Doom) 06001.2001.8002.4003.000MHz 16111621263136414651566166717681869196101106111116120Seconds Quiet (Doom) Power (Doom) Turbo (Doom)
- GPU temperature (Doom) 5060708090 100 ° C 16111621263136414651566166717681869196101106111116120Seconds Quiet (Doom) Power (Doom) Turbo (Doom)
The GPU draws the available watts -Budget not always completely exhausted. In FHD in Hitman 3, for example, it is only 135 watts in the turbo profile, the rest (55 watts) in this case goes to the CPU.
Overview of technical data
The final table contains an overview of the technical data of the Asus ROG Strix G15 and the G17 variant not planned for Germany.
Zen 3, 8 cores/16 threads, 3.30/4.60 GHz, 45+ watt GPU AMD Radeon RX 6800M
RDNA 2, 40 CUs, 2.3 GHz, 12 GB GDDR6, 96 MB Infinity Cache, 145 Watt RAM up to 32 GB DDR4-3200 SSD up to 1 TB PCIe display 15.6 “, FHD, IPS, 300 Hz, 3rd ms, 100% sRGB, FreeSync Premium 17.3 “, FHD, IPS, 300 Hz, 3 ms, 100% sRGB, FreeSync Premium 15.6”, WQHD, IPS, 165 Hz, 3 ms, 100% DCI-P3, FreeSync Premium 17.3 & quot ;, WQHD, IPS, 165 Hz, 3 ms, 100% DCI-P3, FreeSync Premium connections 3 × USB 3.2 Gen 1 type A, 1 × USB 3.2 Gen 2 type C, 1 × Ethernet, 1 × HDMI 2.0b, 1 × audio combo, 1 × power battery 90 Wh Wireless connectivity Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0 cameras no Dimensions 354.9 × 259.9 × 22.69 to 27.2 mm 395 × 282.1 × 23.4 to 27.5 mm Weight 2.4 kg 3.0 kg Windows 10 Pro operating system Price from 1,799 euros * * Not currently planned for the German market
The topic of RAM in the Asus ROG Strix G15
The test by Jarrod & apos; s Tech from the USA attracted attention to the case of the embargo. Jarrod had sharply criticized Asus for choosing the DDR4-3200 because the modules built into his test sample had very high latencies, especially in the secondary timings. After switching to other DDR4-3200CL22 modules with significantly sharper secondary timings, the performance in selected benchmarks increased in some cases significantly.
Left: the RAM in the pattern of Jarrod & apos; s Tech, right: the alternative memory (Image: Jarrod & apos; s Tech) The RAM in the ComputerBase pattern is faster
The SO-DIMM used in the ComputerBase pattern is different from that in the pattern of Jarrod's Tech. The clock and primary timings are the same, but the secondary timings are better. Roughly speaking, they correspond to a cross between the two patterns used by Jarrod & apos; s Tech.
The RAM according to the editorial team With the CL22, the modules still lag far behind what gaming PC enthusiasts are used to. The editorial team therefore also used alternative modules in the test, which are addressed with CL19. However, because an XMP profile has to be loaded for the correct clock rate, which the BIOS of the Asus ROG Strix G15 does not allow, the bars only ran with DDR4-2666. The results on the next page are nonetheless interesting.
The RAM alternatively used by the editors The same memory is in the Razer Blade 14
It is also interesting that the memory built into the editor's pattern offers exactly the same timing as the memory in the pattern of the Razer Blade 14 with Ryzen 9 5900HX and GeForce RTX 3060 laptop GPU.
The RAM in the pattern of the editorial team ⇔ RAM in the pattern of the Razer Blade 14 On the next page: Test results