The new Radeon RX 6800M which integrates the Asus ROG Strix G15 laptop seems to suffer from serious performance issues due to the RAM memory installed factory, as well as when using the integrated display on the team itself. Both can be fixed relatively easily (changing RAM and using an external display), but that certainly doesn’t seem like a good start for the hardware-focused AMD Advantage initiative.
Problems with the first AMD Advantage laptop
Gaming laptop buyers are already used to buying lower, less powerful versions of graphics cards sold under the same name but for desktop, with lower TDP and fewer cores. But in addition to these two factors, AMD’s Radeon RX 6800M appears to be affected by the rest of the computer hardware, and very negatively.
This was demonstrated by the first scans of the Asus ROG Strix G15 laptop, the first of this AMD Advantage initiative, in which serious performance issues were discovered when using the RAM included in the laptop. and the screen of the equipment itself. This Asus laptop, like many other gaming laptops, uses hybrid graphics that allow you to switch between the dedicated and integrated GPU as more or less power is needed to reduce consumption; This saves battery life, but limits bandwidth and limits CPU consumption.
NVIDIA’s Advanced Optimus technology can force a mode to use only the dedicated GPU, but AMD doesn’t offer this option on the Asus G15, which means maximum performance can only be achieved with an external display. Additionally, memory timings appear to significantly affect gaming performance, which has already been seen in other laptops equipped with AMD Ryzen processors… now combining the two factors means performance losses of up to 25%.
Find out what the RX 6800M could have offered in the Strix G15 Advantage Edition if ASUS could get better RAM + let us disable the iGPU 😱 pic.twitter.com/Lgb8LuNLyb
– Jarrod’sTech (@JarrodsTech) June 4, 2021
Replacing the factory-installed RAM and installing an external monitor took the Asus G15 from 102 to 135 FPS in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and this is just one of the many examples we can find. In relative terms, the Radeon RX 6800M achieves on par with the RTX 3060
AMD shoots itself in the foot again for not doing its homework right
This poses a serious problem for potential buyers because although these laptops work great, to get it, users would be forced to change RAM which is standard now use an external monitor, something that might make users decide to buy a desktop instead of a laptop to start with.
Of course, the advertisement that the AMD Advantage initiative is totally contrary to what AMD had in mind, since seeing the analyzes of the first fully AMD devices that have been launched on the market, which gives the impression it is that this equipment has lower performance. compared to Intel + NVIDIA alternatives. Of course, the so-called “benefits” don’t seem to have.
Seeing the Asus ROG Strix G15 with these issues is particularly bad for AMD, as it is said to be the start of the AMD Advantage initiative, a set of targets set by AMD for laptops when working with similar manufacturers. to those of. NVIDIA Max-Q where Intel Evo. Asus’ recent partnership with AMD to bring Ryzen processors to ROG Zephyrus G14 and Flow X13 ultraportables and even leverage the engineering effort liquid metal thermal paste in them it makes these design errors even more confusing.
While none of Advantage’s requirements explicitly cover RAM, graphics switching or even performance as a whole is meant to be something that should be validated by AMD for this initiative, such a poor implementation as it is. the case, which produces the opposite effect, as we have explained. , and all because AMD does not seem to have validated these first teams launched as part of the initiative.
