The Asus ROG Strix G15 (G513RW): A Solid Gaming Laptop with a Focus on Value
Gaming laptop brands have been aggressively releasing new and refreshed models in recent months, fueled by the release of new high-end hardware from Intel, AMD, and Nvidia, starting with the CES trade show in January. These new CPUs and GPUs are now making their way to retail, and we’ve been fortunate to get our hands on some of them. Today, we’re diving into our first experience with AMD’s latest high-performance laptop CPUs, the Ryzen 6000 series. Specifically, we’ll be examining the Asus ROG Strix G15, equipped with the top-of-the-line Ryzen 9 6900HX, to see how it stacks up against Intel’s 12th Gen offerings. This laptop is designed for esports enthusiasts and gamers who desire top-tier performance without necessarily needing a super-slim or lightweight device. It shares many design and hardware elements with the rest of the ROG Strix (2022) family, which you might like or not. If you’re a student or home user searching for a laptop that can handle high-end games for years to come while also providing everyday productivity, this review is for you.
Asus ROG Strix G15 (G513RW) Price and Availability
Asus provides various models and variants featuring slightly different specifications. The unit reviewed here is the Asus ROG Strix G15 (G513RW), which will soon go on sale in India for approximately ₹1,90,000. While this particular model features a 1440p 165Hz display, certain configurations will offer a 300Hz panel option. The remaining hardware is top-of-the-line: an AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX CPU, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti GPU, 16GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 1TB NVMe SSD. The ROG Strix G15 (G513RW) will be available through authorized Asus stores and partners, including Flipkart.
A similar model, the G15RC, boasting a Ryzen 7 6800H CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050, is currently listed at ₹1,12,990, while the G15RM with a GeForce RTX 3060 costs ₹1,53,990.
Asus ROG Strix G15 (G513RW) Design
Asus has opted for a bold aesthetic for its 2022 ROG Strix models. The ROG Strix G15, while sharing similarities with the ROG Strix Scar 17 SE, features a simpler pattern on the lid. Common elements across the family include an RGB LED light strip around the lower front and sides, a raised hinge design with an angular half-cutout below the screen, and narrow screen borders. The ROG logo on the lid boasts white border lighting.
The ROG Strix G15 is relatively compact for a 15.6-inch screen device, measuring just 27.2mm at its thickest point and weighing 2.3kg. Asus describes its aesthetics as "sporty", but the overall design is far from subtle, with a mix of grid patterns, rubbery textures, and bright neon accents. Available in Eclipse Grey, Volt Green, and Electro Punk options, the latter two feature bright green or pink accents and matching accessories.
The lid opens smoothly and the narrow screen borders mean that Asus had to omit the webcam entirely. While the included USB webcam is inconvenient, it’s preferable to being stuck with a bottom-mounted camera that captures awkward angles. The webcam features a foldaway clamp, suitable for most laptops, but unfortunately blocks part of the screen.
The keyboard boasts per-key RGB backlighting with three brightness levels, synced with the RGB light bar running around the base. The island-style keys offer a consistent layout, but lack a number pad. Asus has opted for a vertical column of dedicated media keys on the right side, which may be appreciated by the target audience but feels like wasted space for writers. The arrow keys are separated but small. The generously sized trackpad lacks physical buttons.
Connectivity options are located on the left and rear of the laptop. The left side features two USB 3.2 Gen1 (5Gbps) Type-A ports and a 3.5mm audio jack, while the right side is surprisingly bare. Accessing the two USB 3.2 Gen2 (10Gbps) Type-C ports, one of which supports DisplayPort video output and 100W charging, requires reaching around to the back. The absence of Thunderbolt support is understandable for AMD platforms, but the lack of USB 4 support is surprising. The rear also houses an HDMI 2.0b output, 2.5Gb Ethernet jack, and DC power inlet.
The ROG Strix G15 ships with a large 280W power adapter that significantly impacts portability. The included power cord with a 16A plug might prove inconvenient for many users.
Asus ROG Strix G15 (G513RW) Specifications and Software
AMD has steadily closed the gap against Intel in recent years, ending the latter’s near monopoly over high-end consumer CPUs. The ROG Strix G15 features the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX, an 8-core, 16-thread CPU with a 45W base TDP (adjustable by OEMs based on the laptop’s thermal design) and a 4.9GHz peak boost speed. Built on the Zen 3+ core architecture and using a 6nm node for the core chiplets, this chip promises significant performance and power efficiency gains over the Ryzen 5000 series. It also boasts an integrated Radeon 680M GPU, based on the current-gen RDNA2 architecture.
This generation introduces DDR5 RAM support and PCIe 4.0 connectivity for SSDs. The ROG Strix G15 features 16GB of DDR5-4800 RAM (fully socketed and replaceable), a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD, and an empty M.2 slot for additional storage. Asus utilizes a liquid metal interface material between the CPU and cooler for improved heat transfer, along with enhanced fans that maximize airflow despite the slim design. The fans can completely spin down when not needed, resulting in silent operation.
The ROG Strix G15 is equipped with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti GPU, with a 125W TDP, capable of utilizing an additional 25W provided by Asus. All 2022 ROG laptops feature a Mux (multiplexer) switch, enabling the discrete and integrated GPUs to directly feed the display, reducing latency. Users can choose between a full-HD 300Hz panel or a 2560×1440 165Hz panel, the latter being featured in the review unit. Other key features include a 90Wh battery, stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos, Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 5.2.
Asus’s Armoury Crate control panel allows customization of RGB colour effects, syncs compatible accessories, adjusts display settings, and sets up profiles for these settings based on the running games or programs. The application also monitors system resource usage and temperatures. The app contains promotional content, but it’s not intrusive. The MyAsus app offers access to customer support, a warranty extension option, and a separate set of systemwide controls for battery health and network traffic prioritization.
MyAsus further allows file transfer between the laptop and Android phones, managing phone functions, and provides a new feature called GlideX, enabling the use of a phone or tablet as an external monitor. Asus Switch facilitates the import of settings and files from an older laptop. The included software also offers a one-year McAfee LiveSafe subscription, a full license for Office 2021 Home & Student, and a one-month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership.
Asus ROG Strix G15 (G513RW) Performance
The ROG Strix G15 delivers a pleasant everyday experience. The 2560×1440 display resolution enhances both productivity and gaming, especially after adjusting Windows’ default 150 percent scaling down to 125 percent. The screen density is ideal for reading and productivity tasks. The non-reflective screen, though not the most vibrant for video playback, provides good viewing angles, brightness, sharpness, and colour reproduction.
The surprisingly good speakers produce a deep, rich, and spacious sound across various media types. Sound effects in fast-paced games are particularly impressive, barring any fan noise interference.
The ROG Strix G15 runs relatively quiet, with fans only spinning up when a game or heavy test is running. Under heavy load, the fans produce a dull whoosh, but they quickly spin down upon returning to the Windows desktop. The keyboard and surrounding area can become warm during basic use, and the WASD key area heats up while gaming, though it remains comfortable. Hot air is noticeable blowing out of the sides and rear of the laptop under stress.
One minor annoyance is the placement of USB Type-A ports only on the left side of the laptop, necessitating the mouse cord to be run all the way around during gaming. While Type-C ports may not be frequently required, the lack of ports on the sides is inconvenient for using portable SSDs. An SD card slot would also be beneficial, given the potential for creative work alongside gaming.
Benchmarks
Synthetic benchmarks objectively measure the laptop’s performance. PCMark 10 standard and extended run-throughs yielded scores of 6,737 and 8,906, respectively, indicating solid performance in everyday tasks. The more demanding UL Procyon Office Productivity and Photo Editing test runs achieved scores of 5,571 and 6,943, respectively. These scores trail behind the MSI Raider GE76-12UHS, based on Intel’s top-end Core i9-12900HK, but that laptop is far more expensive with a more powerful discrete GPU. These scores also demonstrate a significant improvement over the Asus ProArt StudioBook 16 OLED, equipped with the previous-gen Ryzen 9 5900HX.
Cinebench R20’s single-core and multi-core render tests produced scores of 577 and 4,351, respectively, while POV-Ray’s render benchmark completed in 1 minute, 7 seconds. The newer V-Ray test showed CPU and GPU render scores of 12,370 and 402, respectively, with the Corona benchmark completing in 1 minute, 58 seconds. While Intel seems to hold the advantage in multi-threaded workloads due to its heterogeneous core architecture boosting total thread count, the ROG Strix G15 still delivers admirable performance.
Common workloads reveal the ROG Strix G15’s capabilities. Compressing a 3.24GB folder of assorted files using 7zip took 1 minute, 28 seconds, and transcoding a 1.3GB AVI file to H.265 required 41 seconds. CrystalDiskMark revealed somewhat middling SSD performance, with sequential reads of 2,879.3MBps and writes of 1,487.9MBps. Random reads and writes were measured at 988.2MBps and 1,490.4MBps, respectively.
Graphics and Gaming Performance
Graphics and gaming tests begin with the 3DMark synthetic benchmark. The Port Royal scene, testing ray tracing, achieved 6,204 points, while the more general-purpose Time Spy Extreme test returned 4,903 points. The DirectX Ray Tracing Feature Test ran at 27.28fps, while the DLSS Feature Test showed 29.39fps with Nvidia’s upscaling technology disabled, jumping to 67.72fps with it enabled. Unigine’s Superposition ran at 49.46fps using its 1080p Extreme quality preset and increased to 63.74fps using the 4K Optimised preset.
All gaming benchmarks were performed at the ROG Strix G15’s native panel resolution of 2560×1440 using the highest possible quality presets, unless otherwise stated. The GeForce RTX 3070 Ti can handle this resolution in most games, but enabling ray tracing results in unpredictable performance.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider, an old favourite, managed an average of 88fps in its built-in benchmark at the Highest setting. Enabling ray tracing at Ultra quality significantly lowered the average to 56fps, resulting in noticeable visual jitter. Nvidia’s DLSS upscaling, when set to Balanced quality mode, brought the average back up to 88fps, but image quality may be affected.
Similarly, Metro: Exodus delivered an average of 57.43fps at its Ultra preset without ray tracing, dropping to 45.28fps with RTX effects set to High. While DLSS can be enabled, no quality setting is specified. Enabling DLSS resulted in a marginal improvement to 51.37fps on average.
Far Cry 5 comfortably averaged 86fps at its Ultra preset at 1440p, as did Middle Earth: Shadow of War (89fps at Ultra quality), and Gears Tactics (87.8fps at Ultra quality). In contrast, Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey struggled to maintain 58fps, exhibiting tearing and inconsistent frame delivery using its Ultra High preset.
AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) game upscaling technology, compatible with competitor GPUs, is supported by Anno 1800. Set to Ultra High quality at the native 1440p panel resolution, this game averaged 65.47fps in its built-in benchmark. With FSR set to Quality level, the average increased to 93.62fps. While quality differences might be slightly noticeable, the benefits are amplified at 1440p on a 15.6-inch screen, offering crisp visuals.
Doom Eternal ran smoothly at its Ultra Nightmare quality setting, maintaining over 150fps, even during intense battle scenes. Interestingly, enabling ray tracing drastically reduced the frame rate to below 30fps, resulting in a choppy experience and negatively impacting gameplay. DLSS, in Balanced mode, managed to push the frame rate back up to 60fps, but the tradeoff in image quality may not be worthwhile.
Control, another game that leverages RTX ray tracing effectively, averaged approximately 70fps at its High preset in a section with minimal action. Setting RTX to High drastically reduced the frame rate to around 35fps. With the DLSS target resolution set to 1485×835, that improved to around 60fps.
Compared to the Intel-powered MSI GE76-12UHS, these scores may appear low. However, that laptop features a more powerful GPU, a lower-resolution display, and significant price advantages. Surprisingly, while running on battery power, the ROG Strix G15 achieved 4,130 points in 3DMark’s Time Spy test and 2,424 in the Port Royal test, surpassing expectations. This performance suggests the possibility of playing lighter games at reasonable settings while traveling.
Concerning the battery, it is a pleasant surprise to achieve a full day’s work without risking automatic shutdown. This is relatively uncommon for a gaming laptop, and users can expect around 6-8 hours of casual use per charge. The graphics-heavy Battery Eater Pro test ran for 2 hours, 33 minutes, exceeding expectations.
Verdict
The latest generation of ROG Strix G15 laptops, particularly the G513RW, aren’t striving to be the absolute best gaming laptops but rather strike a balance between cost, features, and performance. This unit benefits from an efficient processor, a high-resolution display, and current-gen standards for components like RAM, storage, and communications. Gaming performance is quite good at 2560×1440, as long as ray-traced effects aren’t pushed to the highest quality. If the budget allows, the ROG Strix G15 packs enough power to keep you satisfied for several years.
While not exactly lightweight, the ROG Strix G15 is compact and portable enough to serve as an everyday laptop and fulfill multiple roles. The keyboard and trackpad are comfortable, and the speakers are a pleasant surprise. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of the styling and would have preferred better port placement and more efficient use of the space dedicated to media playback controls. The clip-on webcam, while not ideal, is preferable to a bottom-mounted camera. It might be advisable to wait and see what other companies launch in this price segment.
While it’s impossible to directly compare the performance of Intel and AMD laptop CPUs due to varying OEM decisions regarding other components, thermal design, and price, it appears that Intel holds a slight edge in terms of absolute performance. Moreover, the recently announced 55W-class Alder Lake HX series further strengthens Intel’s position. However, not everyone can afford top-end components, and if the ROG Strix G15 strikes the right balance of power and price for you, it remains a solid choice.
