Review Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 Review: AMD Ryzen 9 4900HS Tested

Page 5 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

csbin

Senior member
Feb 4, 2013
838
351
136

On the Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark (highest, 1920 x 1080), the Zephyrus ran at 49 fps, tying it with both the Acer Predator Triton 500 (i7-8750H, RTX 2060) and Dell G7 15 (i7-9750H, RTX 2060).


Asus’ laptop ran Hitman (ultra, 1920 x 1080) at 89 fps, two frames ahead of the Predator and one frame ahead of the Dell.


The Zephyrus outperformed on Grand Theft Auto V’s benchmark (very high, 1920 x 1080) at 115 fps, losing by two frames to the Dell but easily beating the Predator with 87 fps.

We also ran our gaming stress test, in which we ran Metro Exodus 15 times on a loop to simulate half an hour of gaming. In this case, we ran the game at the ultra preset at 1080p. The game ran at an average of 40.5 fps, and with RTX on it dropped to 37.8 fps. The average CPU clock speed was 3.1 GHz, and it had an average temperature of 78.4 degrees Celsius (173.1 degrees Fahrenheit). The GPU ran at an average of 425.1 MHz and a temperature of 64.8 degrees Celsius (148.6 degrees Fahrenheit).


pnYUIDFMoEKSgBH.png



HOjb3NPAuiLXrkt.png


Oz5wAilKQET6Fxj.png






It’s truly incredible how long the Zephyrus lasted on our battery test. Generally, only the best ultraportables last between eight and 10 hours on our test, which continuously browses the web, streams video and runs OpenGL tests, all while connected to Wi-Fi with the display at 150 nits brightness.

The Zephyrus endured for 11 hours and 32 minutes. That’s incredible for a gaming notebook and even for some ultrabooks. The premium gaming average is just under 4 hours. This means the Zephyrus is suitable to use as your everyday system in addition to being your gaming machine.

For comparison, the Acer Predator Triton 500, with an i7-8750H and RTX 2060, ran for 4:24 and the Dell G7 15, with an i7-9750H and RTX 2060, died after 3:12. The Razer Blade Stealth 13, with a 25W Ice Lake processor ( i7-1065G7) lasted 8:53. The Dell XPS 13, with a 6-core/12-thread i7-10710U Comet Lake CPU ran for 7:56, albeit with a more taxing 4K display.

And while it’s not quite the best comparison, the MSI Alpha 15, a budget all-AMD gaming laptop with an AMD Ryzen 7 3750H and a Radeon RX 5500M graphics lasted only 3:53.



oZBe6xafzRNPyku.png
 

uzzi38

Platinum Member
Oct 16, 2019
2,556
5,531
146
View attachment 19252

Probably, the most interesting thing.
That's relatively boring when compared to full testing at several different power draws (all in Cinebench R15):
1586195792945.png


10710U and 9750H below
1586195801972.png

These are all 4c/8t chips.
1586195838988.png

But also some extra important details. For example, FCLK is still a limiting factor, and LPDDR4-4266 likely won't provide much extra bandwidth over DDR4-3200, assuming your laptop ships with FCLK maxed out at around 1800-1900mhz (for power saving reasons the device he had locked it to 1333mhz, but BIOS let him change it).

The 4900U doesn't exist. It became the 4800U around CES and the 4600U came into existence around then too.

The type of memory used between SDP and DDP memory can have a huge effect on iGPU performance of around 20%, and this could very likely be an issue in budget laptops.

And quite a bit more. Just skip past the CPU-z screens.
 

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
21,570
10,762
136
It's impressive, no doubt about that. Hopefully AMD can push 45W 4900H into premium gaming laptops.

Given the bizarre power draw of Intel's latest 14nm -H CPUs and their inability to compete, unless 45W 8c Tiger Lake comes on strong well ahead of schedule, I think the OEMs will have no choice but to use Renoir for their top-performing products.
 
  • Like
Reactions: guachi

uzzi38

Platinum Member
Oct 16, 2019
2,556
5,531
146
Given the bizarre power draw of Intel's latest 14nm -H CPUs and their inability to compete, unless 45W 8c Tiger Lake comes on strong well ahead of schedule, I think the OEMs will have no choice but to use Renoir for their top-performing products.
If only things were so simple...

I don't expect much adoption for Renoir over the next year because unfortunately, OEMs are extremely stuck in their ways and AMD have a bad rep in mobile that sadly isn't changing so quick. Especially not when the Intel platform provides them with just so many benefits.
 

eek2121

Platinum Member
Aug 2, 2005
2,883
3,859
136
If only things were so simple...

I don't expect much adoption for Renoir over the next year because unfortunately, OEMs are extremely stuck in their ways and AMD have a bad rep in mobile that sadly isn't changing so quick. Especially not when the Intel platform provides them with just so many benefits.

By “ways” you mean contracts. There are certainly some OEMs stuck in their ways, but most I would wager are bound by contractual agreements.
 
  • Like
Reactions: lightmanek

dacostafilipe

Senior member
Oct 10, 2013
771
244
116
If only things were so simple...

I don't expect much adoption for Renoir over the next year because unfortunately, OEMs are extremely stuck in their ways and AMD have a bad rep in mobile that sadly isn't changing so quick. Especially not when the Intel platform provides them with just so many benefits.

Yes, this seems plausible.

But, have you noticed that most 10then Gen previews mentioned Renoir? I don't think I watched a single Zephyrus Duo preview where there was no mention of how great a Renoir version would be. Not even talking about the new SUPER mobile GPUs where reviewers were asking when a Renoir version would launch ....

The pression certainly is growing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: moinmoin

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
21,570
10,762
136
If only things were so simple...

Asus is already using AMD. If anyone wants to compete with their product, they have to use an AMD chip. It's really that simple. I can see AMD being shut out of a lot of lower-end notebooks on a cost basis, but in the halo laptop sector, for now, it's AMD or bust. Even the DTRs are having problems beating the 4900HS.
 

uzzi38

Platinum Member
Oct 16, 2019
2,556
5,531
146
By “ways” you mean contracts. There are certainly some OEMs stuck in their ways, but most I would wager are bound by contractual agreements.

I wish.

Yes, this seems plausible.

But, have you noticed that most 10then Gen previews mentioned Renoir? I don't think I watched a single Zephyrus Duo preview where there was no mention of how great a Renoir version would be. Not even talking about the new SUPER mobile GPUs where reviewers were asking when a Renoir version would launch ....

The pression certainly is growing.

Yes, I did. 3/3 in term of "Wish they had a Renoir version" complaints, and we haven't even seen any actual proper reviews yet. Pressure is growing, but we're going to be saying "Not Renoir, not interesting" all year.

Asus is already using AMD. If anyone wants to compete with their product, they have to use an AMD chip. It's really that simple. I can see AMD being shut out of a lot of lower-end notebooks on a cost basis, but in the halo laptop sector, for now, it's AMD or bust. Even the DTRs are having problems beating the 4900HS.

ASUS are using AMD's best chips as an exclusive, they've got AMD on board for design with AMD popping engineering manpower over to them and what do AMD get out of it?

This treatment.

Don't put your expectations of OEMs too high.
 

coercitiv

Diamond Member
Jan 24, 2014
6,137
11,617
136
Intel is their biggest CPU supplier, and probably (still) has the better image for the average consumer too. What Asus did is normal in the context of 2020.

Look at AM4 and the way motherboard makers invested in the platform, it was only with Zen2 that they really went all in with comparable model numbers & variety to Intel. The same goes here, we will see gradual adoption in their premium tiers. A platform shift from Apple & Microsoft might help speed things up though.

Look at this the other way around: Intel is probably fuming that Asus made the exclusive Zephyrus G14 at all. They are probably pushing very hard behind the scenes to keep AMD away from their precious mobile market, and the G14 got dangerously high media attention and praise levels. I can only imagine the level of internal tension in other major OEMs, Dell comes first to mind.
 

moinmoin

Diamond Member
Jun 1, 2017
4,926
7,608
136
But, have you noticed that most 10then Gen previews mentioned Renoir? I don't think I watched a single Zephyrus Duo preview where there was no mention of how great a Renoir version would be. Not even talking about the new SUPER mobile GPUs where reviewers were asking when a Renoir version would launch ....

The pression certainly is growing.
And that's exactly what AMD needs, pressure from and demand by the press and general public for more of their products. It's easy to say OEMs should switch faster, but as...
Intel is their biggest CPU supplier, and probably (still) has the better image for the average consumer too.
...that's the case existing OEMs will continue to feel like facing a balancing act not worth doing.

AMD is going in the right direction, but there is still a long way ahead to competitive parity in the market.
 

LikeLinus

Lifer
Jul 25, 2001
11,518
670
126
RIP Intel's gaming lead in mobile.

4900HS looks like an awesome mobile CPU. Although, it's a very flawed test. The biggest issue is he isn't testing the 8-core i9-9980HK. He was using a 6 core vs 8 core. Simply because he couldn't source one (but amazingly he has a referral link to buy them in his comments!!).

Would have much rather seen those two CPUs compared.
 

teejee

Senior member
Jul 4, 2013
361
199
116
4900HS looks like an awesome mobile CPU. Although, it's a very flawed test. The biggest issue is he isn't testing the 8-core i9-9980HK. He was using a 6 core vs 8 core. Simply because he couldn't source one (but amazingly he has a referral link to buy them in his comments!!).

Would have much rather seen those two CPUs compared.

It is not flawed if you look at the pricing. All 10980/9980HK laptops are much more expensive than ASUS G14.
But of course, a comparison with 9980HK is still very interesting, for example hardware unboxed did that.
 
Last edited:

LikeLinus

Lifer
Jul 25, 2001
11,518
670
126
It is not flawed if you look at the pricing. All 9980HK laptops are much more expensive than ASUS G14.
But of course, a comparison with 9980HK is still very interesting, for example hardware unboxed did that.
They don't even tell what laptops they are using to test for Intel. So we have no idea. But price isn't the objective here. It's CPU performance.
 

ZGR

Platinum Member
Oct 26, 2012
2,052
656
136
4900HS looks like an awesome mobile CPU. Although, it's a very flawed test. The biggest issue is he isn't testing the 8-core i9-9980HK. He was using a 6 core vs 8 core. Simply because he couldn't source one (but amazingly he has a referral link to buy them in his comments!!).

Would have much rather seen those two CPUs compared.

I have no doubt the 8 core i9 would be a bit faster in a DTR enclosure. The power efficiency Ryzen has over Intel's offerings makes it far more appealing in a typical laptop form factor. It makes it an easy decision in my eyes. That isn't going to be changing any time soon either.
 

LikeLinus

Lifer
Jul 25, 2001
11,518
670
126
I have no doubt the 8 core i9 would be a bit faster in a DTR enclosure. The power efficiency Ryzen has over Intel's offerings makes it far more appealing in a typical laptop form factor. It makes it an easy decision in my eyes. That isn't going to be changing any time soon either.

Moot point, the question isn't who has the best battery life. The video is specific to CPU usage in gaming. I realize everyone is going to come up with all these "but, but" and everything, but saying one is faster than the other, when they test a lower class CPU, doesn't make much sense. Either way, it was a very flawed test and silly to say one wins vs the other in this instance.
 

coercitiv

Diamond Member
Jan 24, 2014
6,137
11,617
136
Moot point, the question isn't who has the best battery life.
Form factor, not battery life. And @ZGR already told you what you wanted to hear - as we take bigger laptops into consideration, especially desktop replacement units, the Intel CPUs will start winning.

The jump for 6 to 8 core for Coffee Lake in gaming is not that relevant. (the 8-core 9900K @ 95W TDP is barely faster than the 6-core 8700K). What matters the most is TDP configuration, since it will allow for higher sustained clocks.
 

Gideon

Golden Member
Nov 27, 2007
1,598
3,520
136
Form factor, not battery life. And @ZGR already told you what you wanted to hear - as we take bigger laptops into consideration, especially desktop replacement units, the Intel CPUs will start winning.

The jump for 6 to 8 core for Coffee Lake in gaming is not that relevant. (the 8-core 9900K @ 95W TDP is barely faster than the 6-core 8700K). What matters the most is TDP configuration, since it will allow for higher sustained clocks.

What I would personaly like to see is a 4900H with a chassis equal to those Intel monsters ( and in the future hopefully with a 2080 Super as well) that will help significantly in multithreaded games e.g. Assassins Creed, BF5, etc. Would be more apples-to-apples
 

LikeLinus

Lifer
Jul 25, 2001
11,518
670
126
Form factor, not battery life. And @ZGR already told you what you wanted to hear - as we take bigger laptops into consideration, especially desktop replacement units, the Intel CPUs will start winning.

The jump for 6 to 8 core for Coffee Lake in gaming is not that relevant. (the 8-core 9900K @ 95W TDP is barely faster than the 6-core 8700K). What matters the most is TDP configuration, since it will allow for higher sustained clocks.
The CPU we are talking about is a Coffee Lake mobile CPU. Not talking, at all, about desktop CPUs in laptops. Chassis design has nothing to do with it. Again, the review was strictly on CPU performance.

 
  • Like
Reactions: Tlh97

LikeLinus

Lifer
Jul 25, 2001
11,518
670
126
What I would personaly like to see is a 4900H with a chassis equal to those Intel monsters ( and in the future hopefully with a 2080 Super as well) that will help significantly in multithreaded games e.g. Assassins Creed, BF5, etc. Would be more apples-to-apples

That and with the better dGPU, would be an awesome machine. I do wish they would actually do battery test while gaming.
 
Last edited: