The ASUS ROG Strix G15 (G513QY) Review: Embracing AMD's Advantage
by Brett Howse on May 31, 2021 11:00 PM EST
The 1989 film Field of Dreams offers one of the most memorable quotes in movie history. “If you build it, he will come” was, of course, a reference to a baseball diamond in Iowa, but for AMD, this same quote (gender removed) also succeeds in defining AMD’s success over the last couple of generations. Once the realm of budget-conscious devices, AMD-based products are now the premium in the market and are sought after by consumers looking for the ultimate in performance. With the launch of the Zen 3 based Cezanne laptop processors, AMD now offers the most powerful laptop CPUs available. But that is only a single portion of a successful product. AMD is today announcing the launch of their latest graphics architecture, RDNA2, into the laptop market. AMD has built it. Now they must see who will come.
ASUS has partnered with AMD to launch a premium gaming laptop based on AMD’s Cezanne and RDNA2 solutions. The ASUS ROG Strix G15 AMD Advantage Edition (G513QY) offers the top-tier experience that AMD customers have been asking for, with a great design, and powerful internals. The ASUS Strix featured today is outfitted some with the very best that AMD has to offer, with the AMD Ryzen 5900HX processor, and AMD Radeon RX 6800M graphics. Zen 3 with RDNA2 is a potent combination. The Ryzen 5900HX is an eight-core, sixteen thread processor with a maximum boost frequency of 4.6 GHz, and a 45-Watt TDP. The Raden RX 6800M is AMD’s latest GPU architecture with 40 Compute Units, 12 GB of GDDR6, and up to 145 Watts. With 16 GB of DDR4 and a 512 GB SSD, this 15.6-inch device packs a lot of punch.
| ASUS ROG Strix G15 AMD Advantage Edition (G513QY) |
|
| Component | Strix G513QY |
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX 8-Core 16-Thread 3.3-4.6 GHz Vega 8 / 2100MHz 45W TDP |
| Discrete GPU | AMD Radeon RX 6800M 40 RDNA2 Compute Units 2300 MHz Game Clock 96 MB Infinity Cache 12GB GDDR6 |
| Display | 15.6-inch 1920x1080 IPS 300Hz Refresh FreeSync sRGB Gamut Optional: 15.6-inch 2560x1440 IPS 165 Hz Refresh FreeSync P3-D65 Gamut |
| RAM | 16GB DDR4-3200 Dual-Channel Upgradable Memory |
| Storage | 512GB M.2 PCIe SSD 2 x M.2 (1 free) |
| Network | MediaTek MT7921 Wi-Fi 6 2x2:2 802.11ax Realtek Gigabit Ethernet |
| Left Side | 2 x USB 3 Type A Headset Jack |
| Right Side | No Ports |
| Back | Power Connector HDMI 2.0b USB Type-C w/100W PD USB 3 Type-A |
| Battery | 90Wh Lithium Ion 280W AC Adapter |
| Dimensions | 355 x 260 x 20.7 mm 14 x 10.2 x 0.81 inches |
| MSRP | $1550 - $1700 |
AMD has certainly struggled in the past to land design wins in the premium end of the market, but with new products come new opportunities, and it appears that those days are behind them. The tight product integration of processor and graphics is certainly a benefit that their competition does not yet enjoy. AMD has never really captured much of the gaming laptop segment but is clearly aiming to remedy that with this launch. AMD says that the Radeon RX 6800M should be able to compete with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080L, which will put them in a much better light than the previous mid-range market they targeted before. Coupling that with their Cezanne platform makes for a very strong combination. It also explains their effort to add Wi-Fi to the mix as Intel uses that as a key component of their platform.
As a proper gaming system, the 1920x1080 IPS display offers a refresh rate of 300 Hz, and is coupled with AMD’s FreeSync variable refresh rate technology. There is Wi-Fi 6, courtesy of MediaTek, and for expansion, there are three USB Type-A ports, and a single Type-C on the rear, which can deliver up to 100 watts of power delivery. For video out, ASUS has gone with a single HDMI port as well as DisplayPort via USB-C, and of course there is a headset jack. What is missing though is a webcam of any sort, which is an odd omission in today’s remote world.
The ASUS ROG Strix G513QY packs into this 15.6-inch chassis, without the device seeming heavy or bulky, especially by gaming notebook standards. First up, let’s take look at the design.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
146 Comments
View All Comments
WaltC - Friday, June 4, 2021 - link
I'm almost positive I read the laptop offers an HDMI and DP (USB-C) output, for external monitors/TVs one would presume--too bad the reviewer here forgot to test a 1440P external monitor--which is likely considering the target market for this monitor. The reviewer kept talking about the absence of a web cam and a limit of 1080P (which doesn't exist) as if either was an insurmountable design flaw--oh, gee, I guess thinking just a little bit out of the box is difficult for people these days. He could have tested with an external monitor at > 1080P--and if he looked hard enough he might even have found one with a built-in web cam. Do tell. But that would have prevented the negative observations, I guess--so we can't have that, eh? BTW, 1080P is nice indeed when you are running on batteries--but I guess that was a bit too obvious to get his attention. Many, many people with laptops plug them into the wall at home and attach monitors/TVs/ whatever else they might want. No sense in writing a review which pretends otherwise.bejito81 - Tuesday, June 1, 2021 - link
why is this not compared with a RTX G15 (3070 or 3080 (the one matching the price the closet)) ?Ryan Smith - Tuesday, June 1, 2021 - link
AMD only sampled the AMD system. They did not sample the NVIDIA systems.Spunjji - Monday, June 7, 2021 - link
It matches a 3070 most closely in pricing, performance sits in the range of high-TDP 3070 models and low-to-medium-TDP 3080 models. Apparently it's held back a little by RAM that has slow timings - with that resolved, it's right up there with the 3080.yeeeeman - Tuesday, June 1, 2021 - link
Nice review, but I would have liked to see a bit more details on the GPU side of things, that is some 4k comparisons with rtx 3080, since that is the target competitor.I look forward to see how the 6600m fares. If that is similar or better than 3060, I could give it a shot.
Alistair - Tuesday, June 1, 2021 - link
actually the AMD laptop is cheaper than the 3070 version, it beats all in performance per dollarET - Tuesday, June 1, 2021 - link
Nice to see AMD back in the game. For the keyboard, I have one of these ASUS laptops (with a 3080) for work, and the position of the F keys really annoys me. As a programmer I use them quite a bit, and because they're shifted by 1 for the first four (F1 is above 2, F2 above 3, etc.) and half for the next four, I keep hitting the wrong one.Anyway, I'm really looking forward to seeing what the 6600M brings to the table, and if it could provide reasonable gaming performance on battery with a bit of battery life. A smaller gaming laptop that's still reasonably capable would be very nice.
ads295 - Tuesday, June 1, 2021 - link
I love this thing to bits.I wish there was a way to control the charge rate though, since pushing that crazy amount of power through the battery cannot be good for the long term. I guess you can limit the charge rate by using USB-PD but 100W means you can only slow down the discharge of the battery rather than actually charge it...
Amazing product. ASUS' work on the cooling system is commendable too. Up till now I've seen that they do not compromise on size if they feel it will affect the cooling performance. Now they've delivered cooling performance even after downsizing.
As an aside, my sisters' ASUS FX553VD suffered two major hardware issues during her ownership for which the authorised service outlet asked for INR50k+ to fix. I luckily found a guy who does low level repair and we managed to avoid buying a new laptop. Hopefully that was a solitary incident...
supdawgwtfd - Tuesday, June 1, 2021 - link
Get a 65w charger.No more worries about "to faster charging"..
You know that technology improves over time right?
It might be strange but things get better over time...
What used to be "oh my this is really bad" is now "it's fine".
ads295 - Tuesday, June 1, 2021 - link
Using a 65W charger on a system that draws over 230W at the wall?