ASUS has taken the wraps off its latest gem, the ASUS Zenbook Pro 14 OLED (UX6404). This sleek and compact 14.5-inch laptop marks the zenith of the creator-friendly Zenbook Pro series, catering to the needs of users who demand sophistication, portability, and robust performance for their creative endeavours and productivity tasks.
The ZenBook Pro 14 OLED comes with a 16:10 3K 120Hz OLED NanoEdge display, complete with Dolby Vision and HDR technology, which delivers an unparalleled visual experience. It’s PANTONE® Validated for colour accuracy and encompasses a cinematic 100% DCI-P3 gamut.
Under the hood, the Zenbook Pro 14 OLED is powered by the latest 13th Generation Intel® Core™ i9 H-series processor, coupled with studio-grade NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 4070 graphics, a hefty 32 GB of high-speed DDR5 RAM, and a copious 1TB SSD.
The ASUS DialPad which was once only available with the ProArt Line makes its ZenBook debut on the ZenBook 14 Pro OLED allowing more intuitive control within creative apps. The laptop boasts a full set of I/O ports, including Thunderbolt 4™ USB-C®, USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C®, USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, HDMI® 2.1, and an audio combo jack. Moreover, the laptop provides a top-tier audio experience, thanks to the Harman Kardon-certified Dolby Atmos® speaker system and ASUS AI noise-cancelling audio technology, ensuring crystal-clear conference calls.
Furthermore, the laptop supports the optional ASUS Pen 2.0, an MPP 2.0 stylus with 4096 pressure levels and interchangeable tips, offering an unparalleled drawing and writing experience.
To keep these powerful components cool, ASUS has implemented the highly efficient ASUS IceCool Pro cooling system, featuring a dual-fan design and four external exhaust vents. Additionally, the laptop features WiFi 6E enhanced with ASUS WiFi Master Premium technology, ensuring rock-solid WiFi connections.
The ASUS ErgoSense keyboard, boasting a full-size 19.05 mm key pitch, 1.4 mm key travel, and 0.1 mm keycap relief, ensures a comfortable typing experience. Additionally, an anti-fingerprint and hydrophobic coating makes the ASUS ErgoSense touchpad easy to clean.
Pricing & Availability
The ASUS Zenbook Pro 14 OLED (UX6404V) is set to make its debut in Malaysia, starting on September 19, 2023, with a price tag of RM10,999.
It will be available through all authorized ASUS dealers and the official ASUS e-store.
NVIDIA launched their Ada Lovelave architecture technology last year with the rather humungous NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 and RTX 4080 flagship class GPUs. That brought high-end 4K and 8K gaming to the hands of consumers who could afford them. For the ones that could not, they had to be content with the existing NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series set-up. They had to settle for an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 or RTX 3070, since the RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 were still sold at incredibly high prices at the time. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti came rather late to the Ada Lovelace party, but it was still a welcome addition to the RTX 40 series line-up since that means that Ada Lovelace is becoming a little more accessible to normal people. The RTX 4070 Ti is still, by no means, a cheap or affordable GPU to start with though, for those looking to game on a budget, they still must go for NVIDIA’s outdated GeForce RTX 3060. Not anymore.
NVIDIA has just announced that the NVIDIDA GeForce RTX 4060 family is finally seeing the light. This includes the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti variant of the GPU. Alongside the announcement of the latest entry-level RTX 40 series GPU, NVIDIA announces that over 300 games now support DLSS 3 upscaling technology for better gaming performance at higher graphics quality.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060
The regular NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 comes with 3,072 CUDA cores that clocks in at 2.46 GHz, which is curiously less cores than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 that came before it. The GPU is clocked higher than before though, and with Ada Lovelace architecture, should prove to be an improvement over the RTX 3060. Obviously, the GeForce RTX 4060 also comes with NVIDIA’s 3rd generation Ray Tracing cores that also supports DLSS 3.0 and 4th Generation Tensor cores that should prove to perform better than the older 60 class GPU.
The result is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 performing about 1.7x better than the RTX 3060 on average. While you only get the choice of an 8GB GDDR6 memory option, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 should be a better all-around performer for Full HD 1080p gaming natively. Of course, if you want even better performance and higher frame rates, you can upscale your games with DLSS 3.0.
You still can output the GPU to an 8K display at up to 60Hz with either HDMI 2.1 or DisplayPort 2.0 on the Founder’s Edition GPUs. Whether or not we will see a combination of HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 2.0 on partner boards is a guess. Still, it can power up to 4 monitors simultaneously if you need that kind of set-up. It is a 60 class GPU, and it is not meant for higher power consumptions, and therefore it only draws up to 115W in TGP.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti
For those who are looking to spend a little more on their GPU, but not RTX 4070 high, the RTX 4060 Ti should fit the bill nicely. It is technically more powerful than the RTX 4060. It also a large improvement over the GPU it replaces.
Again, Ada Lovelace architecture means that the new GeForce RTX 4060 Ti does not have to have larger amounts of CUDA cores within the GPU. It only has 4,352 CUDA cores over the 4,864 of the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti. There is the 3rd Generation Ray Tracing cores and 4th Generation Tensor Cores too with AV1 support that is making the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti perform about 1.7x better than the old GPU it replaces. Like the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, the RTX 4060 Ti is designed to crush games even better at Full HD resolutions.
You can also drive up to 4 displays with the 4 output ports from the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti reference GPU. One of them would have to be plugged into the HDMI port, but it is HDMI 2.1 so you still can get 8K 60Hz output out from the GPU. Thanks to lower core counts, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti is more efficient than ever with up to 165W TGP over the older 200W even with 16GB of GDDR6 memory on board.
Price and Availability
There is no mention on whether NVIDIA will offer the GeForce RTX 4060 and RTX 4060 Ti with GDDR6X memory or not. With GDDR6X being available for the older GeForce RTX 3060 and RTX 3060 Ti, we can assume that NVIDIA will be planning to bring the new 40 series entry-level GPUS with GDDR6X memory. For now, no other manufacturing partners have showcased their own version of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 and RTX 4060 Ti GPUs. If you plan to get NVIDIA’s Founder’s Edition GeForce RTX 4060 GPU, prices start at US$ 299 (MYR 1,359*), which is not entirely unreasonable. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti starts at US$ 399 (MYR 1,813*) for the 8GB edition and the 16GB edition will set you back MYR US$ 499 (MYR 2,267*). More information on the new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 GPUs can be found on their website.
*Approximately based on exchange rate of US$ 1 = MYR 4.54 as of 22/05/2023 on xe.com
Thin and light isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when you think of cutting-edge technology and laptops. In fact, we’d be thinking the exact opposite! Historically, a high-performance laptop has always been synonymous with thick, bulky laptops. But that would also mean that designers, programmers, and video editors – among others – are stuck putting the breaking back in backbreaking work. However, Dell set out to change that a few years ago with their Precision lineup. Now, with the latest line of Precision laptops, they’ve managed to marry the two and inject some finesse.
The Dell Precision Laptop series is getting supercharged with more power in its stylish chassis. The new, extensive lineup will be equipped with Intel’s latest 13th Generation Core processors. Complementing this will be the cutting-edge NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation Laptop GPUs. These systems are configured to empower creatives, data crunchers, engineers and designers to work on the go with little to worry about. Coming with 14-,15-,16- and 17 displays, the laptops are built for immersive productivity. These productivity-focused 16:10 OLED displays can also be professionally calibrated for colour-sensitive workflows covering the sRGB and DCI-P3 gamuts. They also come with 4K resolution with HDR support.
The Precision Laptops are also fitted with the latest when it comes to connectivity with options for WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3 and 5G. They are also augmented with advanced thermals to endure resource-intensive workflows and increased durability with MIL-STD certification.
Diversifying the Dell Precision Setup
In addition to the Dell Precision laptops, Dell’s lineup is also available for desktops and server-grade setups. The Precision Tower brings all the ethos and performance of Dell’s Precision laptops into a familiar desktop tower. Fully equipped with the best in connectivity, the Precision Tower skews away from Intel Cores to more capable Intel Xeon processors for an extra kick when it comes to power. They also come with NVIDIA RTX professional or AMD Radeon Pro graphics prepared for higher performance.
Together with the Tower, Dell is also bringing the Precision line up to server racks with an ultra-scalable 2U Precision 7960 rack. With this setup, you can work on- and off-premises with the same power-packed setup while keeping sensitive data securely locked away. They come equipped with Intel’s W790 chipset with Intel Xeon Processors and professional grade NVIDIA RTX and AMD Radeon Pro graphics.
Pricing & Availability
The Precision lineup will be available starting on March 23, 2023. Detailed dates and prices are as listed:
Model
Availability
Price (USD$)
Price (MYR)*
Precision 3480 Mobile Workstation
March 23, 2023
starting from $1,439.00
starting from MYR6,344.87
Precision 3580 Mobile Workstation
March 23, 2023
starting from $1,459.00
starting from MYR6,433.95
Precision 3581 Mobile Workstation
March 23, 2023
starting from $1,699.00
starting from MYR7,492.31
Precision 5480 Mobile Workstation
April 20, 2023
TBA
–
Precision 5680 Mobile Workstation
May 18, 2023
TBA
–
Precision 7680 Mobile Workstation
March 23, 2023
starting from $2,529.00
starting from MYR11,152.47
Precision 7780 Mobile Workstation
March 23, 2023
starting from $2,829.00
starting from MYR12,475.42
Precision 5860 Tower
April 18, 2023
TBA
–
Precision 7960 Tower
April 18, 2023
TBA
–
Precision 7960 Rack
April 18, 2023
TBA
–
*Prices in MYR are converted using XE.com with the rate of 1 USD = 4.40942 MYR.
NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 30 series, which they fondly refer to as the Ampere architecture processors, were rather potent. At its introduction, it presented the largest generation leap in performance from its predecessors. There were a lot of excitement for the Ampere built GPUs because of the generational gap presented between it, and the older GeForce RTX 20 series GPUs. Then there is the GeForce RTX 40 series that was just introduced by Jensen Huang last night.
NVIDIA calls it the Ada Lovelace, and it builds upon the technologies presented in its predecessor, the Ampere platform. It is even more capable in its real-time ray tracing functions. It also packs enough power to run an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm of its own for 3D rendering and processing. That also means this time, AI is involved in rendering the pixels you see on your display.
2X Performance
First up, you want to know how much faster the new RTX 40 series is compared to the RTX 30 series. In terms of ray tracing performance, the RTX40 is capable of up to 191 teraflops, nearly threefold of its predecessor. Its tensor cores are also capable of up to 1.32 petaflops, about five times the previous generation. But it is not just 3D rendering and ray tracing the gets the performance bump, you also get twice more NVENC decoders that allows the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 series to half video workload times.
How NVIDIA achieved these numbers is a little technical, so we might have to explore that in a different story. In short though, it is not like NVIDIA slapped twice more cores into their chip. They did put more cores into their processing chip, but they have also improved their RT cores with 4nm architectures (hence Ada Lovelace architecture). That results in an improved energy and thermal efficiency of their chips in their GPUs which also means they can push their cores even more than before. That also means that ray tracing performance is doubled over whatever that came before. Thanks to the new Micro-Mesh Engine, the new cores can also generate textures in greater detail than ever before without taking up performance and storage resources.
DLSS 3.0
DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling), we think, was a rather clever technology when it was introduced. While plenty of electronic giants in the home entertainment industry spoke at lengths about how upscaling is the future of television, NVIDIA took it to the next level with DLSS in gaming. You could, for example, play your games in 4K resolution while the GPU only needs to render the graphics in 1080p Full HD, for example. DLSS 2.0 was a major upgrade to the clever feature and made DLSS properly good and reliable. DLSS 3.0 make DLSS a must have feature.
Where the previous iterations of DLSS lack is speed. While DLSS 2.0 was fast, it lagged behind when you compare it to playing games at native resolution. The AI still must take its time to render each texture from each frame and upscale them to whatever higher resolution you want your games to play in. DLSS 3.0 allows the GPU to now render entire frames for an improved gaming experience, much faster than before. This is thanks to a rather powerful and clever neural engine packed into the GPU.
Source: NVIDIA
2X Video Rendering
Like we pointed out earlier, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 is not just made for gaming. It is a powerful GPU made for the modern content creator too. For 3D artists, the added power and improved DLSS 3.0 makes rendering scenes and graphics on-site much faster than before. Ray tracing is much more accurate than before as well, allowing textures to be rendered more accurately and more lifelike over previous generation GPUS, and all of it can be done in real time, cutting production times.
Thanks to the inclusion of two eighth generation AV1 encoder, video editing suites gets an extra boost in power. That also means smoother real time rendering and scrubbing. It also means that videos gets rendered twice as fast now.
NVIDIA Broadcast also benefited from the dual encoders. Partners now have access to features like Face Expression Estimation, Eye Contact, and even more realistic Virtual Backgrounds. That also means you get better, more interactive video calls, or even better streaming graphics.
Introducing the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 and RTX 4080
Source: NVIDIA
For now, NVIDIA has only introduced the flagship GeForce RTX 4090 and high-end GeForce RTX 4080. They say that the GeForce RTX 4090 is about twice as fast as the RTX 3090 Ti while maintaining the same TDP at 450W. There are 76 billion transistors and 16,384 CUDA cores you can find on the silicon fitted on the flagship GPU. It is fitted with 24GB of the latest, fastest GDDR6X memory too.
The GeForce RTX 4080 packs up to 9,728 CUDA cores and up to 16GB of GDDR6S memory. There is also a 12GB edition with 7,680 CUDA cores and 12GB in GDDR6X memory. They say that the 16GB variant is twice more powerful than the current GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and more powerful than the current GeForce RTX 3090 Ti while maintaining a lower power consumption.
Price and Availability
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 will be available in select regions from the 12th of October 2022 onward. Prices will start at US$ 1,599, US$ 100 more than the RTX 3090 when it was launched. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 16GB variant will retail for US$ 1,199 while the 12GB edition will go for US$ 899. Both NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 variants will be available only in November 2022. For more information on the new GeForce RTX 40 series, you can visit NVIDIA’s website.
The chip shortage is still going strong. In other words, chip production situation has not improved much. That means that CPU and GPUs are sold at extreme premiums still at this time. Of course, that is assuming that you can find and buy one. This is especially true for the newer generation chips.
There was an idea though, when the whole chip shortage started a few years ago. The idea was for manufacturers to continue production and selling older generation chips which were cheaper to produce anyway. That should not only elevate the chip shortage problem, but also to fulfil demands of these chips in one way or another. Sure, people wanted the latest thing, but if they could not get their hands on the new stuff, they would not mind getting the older stuff for a reasonable price.
Source: ASUS
NVIDIA sort of answered to that demand and relaunched their popular GeForce RTX 2060 card. No, this is not some GeForce RTX 2060 Super Ti. Rather, it is a play GeForce RTX 2060 but now with twice the VRAM size at 12GB instead of 6GB. Of course, their card manufacturing partners to make their cards before reaching the customers.
ASUS is one of those manufacturers that made one and they call it the Dual GeForce RTX 2060. No, it does not come with two RTX 2060 dies within the card. Yes, we felt a little cheated too. The ‘Dual’ moniker is due to the doubling of the original 6GB VRAM.
ASUS made two versions of the Dual GeForce RTX 2060 EVO. They made a regular Dual GeForce RTX 2060 EVO and an overclocked variant of the card.
They say that the whole point of the new GPUs is to make gaming more accessible at this point. While that makes sense currently, you are still forking out MYR 2,560 for a regular ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 2060 EVO with 12GB of VRAM.
The added VRAM does help with gaming performance though. Reports show up to 5% in performance increment as well when you put it up against the older GeForce RTX 2060 with 6GB of VRAM. With ASUS 0db fan technology as well, you can have a quiet rig at home without the GPU ever firing up (if you keep it below 55° C).
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
The 2.7-slot card also packs a very clever fan design on top of the 0db technology. The ASUS Axial-tech designed fans feature larger surface area for a much better airflow. The barrier rings around the blades also optimises the airflow. The fan is also an IP5X dust resistance certified item for those who are a little on the lazy side when it comes to cleaning their PC.
The ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 2060 EVO is now available in Malaysia via ASUS’ official retail partners and resellers. As mentioned, the GPU will set you back MYR 2,560 onward. More information on the ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 2060 EVO is available on ASUS’ website.
Like any other good PC brand out there, Acer is one that houses several brands to serve different market segments. Acer houses, of course, Acer itself to sell computers for the general market, the lifestyle people and general office use. It also houses ConceptD, a new concept brand to serve the content creator or the creative industry with super quiet, super powerful, and super industrial computing solutions. Then there is Predator, the skunkworks, as we call it; that serves the gaming industry with souped up machines that looked like they could take you to the moon.
What we are reviewing here is nothing like a Predator machine, at least not in terms of concept or branding perspective. That is because it is not a Predator machine. It is an Acer machine but made for gaming anyway under the Nitro name. Oh yes, Acer has the Nitro namesake for its entry-level gaming line-up of products.
The Acer Nitro 5 has been Acer’s staple entry-level gaming laptop since they launched it a few years ago. In the market, the Acer Nitro 5 was also regarded as one of the best value-for-money machines you can get for gaming and content production. While it does not feature the most powerful components, it was plenty powerful for gaming as long as you do not expect Ultra graphics settings in games.
Here is the thing though, 2021 is a little different for Acer. It is also a different year for AMD. AMD is finally in a leading position in high-performance computing solutions after many years. They have made ultra-powerful CPUs that is loved by both the gaming and creator market. Acer decided that the powerful AMD processors should find a home in the Nitro 5 series and the Acer Nitro 5 for 2021 is born. Is it any good though? Should you buy it? We find out.
Design
The Acer Nitro 5’s shell in 2021 does still resemble the old Nitro 5. The angles are all in the same places, and the vents are largely similar in size and placements. Its dimensions did not change too much too.
Of course, there are some key visual differences between the older model and the new 2021 variant in terms of design. For one, the brushed aluminium look of the display shell is no more. It is now a semi-gloss finish. The power tappers running on both depths of the display shell is also gone. The glossy blacked out Acer logo remains from the previous generation Acer Nitro 5 though.
Instead, on the shell is now a Predator-esque lines that stems out from the bottom of the display shell. We would not call it a power bulge, maybe power lines. Instead of the regular red Nitro branding plate is now the same semi-gloss black finish as the display shell, while the Nitro print is red in colour, true to the Nitro theme colour.
While the keyboard is largely similar to the older Nitro 5, there is now proper RGB on the keyboard. We admit, it is not a per-key RGB, it is a four-zone RGB. Still, any RGB is good. Other than that though, the interior of Acer’s latest “entry-level” gaming laptop has remained very similar to before with the thin bezels and the semi-gloss black plate on the keyboard side.
The vents are also laid out differently now on the Acer Nitro 5. The have moved most of the I/O expansion slots further south of the device to make room for side exhaust vents on both sides. The rear vent however is not a single large vent anymore that stretches the width of the notebook. It is now split in two smaller vents with a quite a large red plate in the middle. It now looks a little bit like a mid-engine supercar, to be honest, especially with the charging port at the back too. We quite like the look, to be fair.
Hardware
The Acer Nitro 5 2021 is a very different beast compared to the ones that came before. We would not call the Nitro 5 that we have at hand “entry-level” anymore. There is no other way to put it, it is a high-end gaming PC, on paper at least.
Specifications
Acer Nitro 5 (2021)
As Tested
Processor (clock)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800H (Octa-Core@3.2~4.4GHz)
GPU
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070
Display(s)
15.6-inch IPS (2560 x 1440 QHD) Narrow Bezel
Memory
512GB NVMe PCIe Gen 3 SSD 16GB DDR4 RAM (8GB x 2)
Networking and Connections (I/O)
1 x USB 3.1 Type-C 3 x USB 3.2 Type-A 1 x 3.5mm AUX 1 x HDMI 2.1 1 x Ethernet Port Killer WiFi Bluetooth 5.0
Operating System
Windows 10 Home (64-bit)
Miscellaneous
2.30kg All-metal body 720p webcam
Features
This Nitro 5 is also one of the most feature packed in its line-up’s history. There is quite a lot to talk about with the Nitro 5 starting with the decision to move the charging port and only the charging port to the back of the device. But there is also a new RGB keyboard on the Nitro 5 now, which is a sign of changing times and a new era in gaming. The Nitro 5 now looks more premium than any other “entry-level” gaming laptops out there.
Charging From the Rear
Instead of the usual placement of the regular laptop at the furthermost possible part of a notebook’s side, the Nitro 5 moved its proprietary charging port completely to the rear of the device. We saw Lenovo making the first move to put charging ports at the back of the device, and we are pretty much fans of the idea.
We do have a little complain on the backplate that houses the charging port though. The plate is so large that it covers nearly half the back of the device which could be used for more cooling vents. If the plate had to be this large, we would also prefer some expansion slots to occupy the rear of the notebook.
We also had a problem with the charging port in the New Nitro 5 when we first unpacked it and was going to get it to boot. The charger plug is a sort of a “two-stage” plug. You have to line it up with the charging port, and then slide it in. Usually, that is job done. It is not in this case, you have to push it into the charging port until the charger goes deeper in with a noticeable ‘click’. This, we do not like. What is wrong with using magnets to secure the charger?
4-Zone RGB Keyboard – Finally
The 2021 version of the Acer Nitro 5 houses a 4-zone programmable RGB keyboard. While it is a fresh change to the keyboard, the keyboard is physically the same keyboard you find on the previous Nitro 5 though. It feels the same, it types the same, it works the same so we are not going to talk about that.
Because it is 4-zone RGB though, you cannot program the keys to do a ripple effect from the Nitro Sense software bundled in the Acer Nitro 5. You can set four different colours on the four different RGB quadrants on the notebook with Nitro Sense to make it look a little more unique. We prefer the rainbow wave effect though, cos that makes the notebook look like it has per-key RGB.
Nitro Sense – Not Quite Predator Sense
The Nitro Sense is very much a stripped down, red toned version of Predator Sense. There is no Predator ‘Turbo’ function on the Nitro 5’s Nitro Sense. That also means that you do not get to overclock your CPU or GPU. Might as well anyway, the AMD Ryzen 7 5800H (as tested) is a locked unit which also means you cannot really overclock the CPU. We would still appreciate some overclocking capabilities on the GPU though.
Instead, what you get are fan speed and RGB control app. Of course, you can monitor your system temperatures as well from the app. Just keep in mind that because the air intake is at the bottom of the notebook, your thermals could be greatly improved if you could just lift the Nitro 5 a little bit.
Via the app though, you can customise or maximise your fan speed depending on the apps you launch. You could tie the settings to Adobe Premiere Pro for example, to max out your fan speed when the app launches to keep the Nitro 5 from thermal throttling when you start rendering videos. You can also automatically throttle the fan speed when you launch certain games too if you want.
In terms of RGB, there is obviously a limited number of things that you can do with 4-zone lighting instead of per-key lighting. You cannot set individual colours to each key for example. You cannot even set ripple effects or rain drop effects on the keyboard with 4-zone RGB. Still, a programmable RGB is always a welcome addition to the Nitro 5.
Performance
We mentioned earlier that the Acer Nitro 5 is not what we would consider entry-level on paper. On paper, this is a damn good gaming PC. The Nitro 5 with AMD’s Ryzen 7 5800H is really “entry-level” only by name.
The Productivity and Creativity Stuff
The keyboard on the Nitro 5 is pretty much the same Keyboard you get from before. It also feels pretty much like any other keyboard that you get from Acer’s Predator gaming laptops. Then again, keyboard technology on notebook PCs have not changed or progressed all that much.
Key travel is expectedly shallow, like any regular laptop keyboard you would be used to. Still, it is not an uncomfortable keyboard to use. While key travels are short, there is enough travel in the keyboard that typing feels a little more natural.
The keys bottom out with a soft touch too. It does not feel like you are hitting your fingers against a solid block when you type out long emails or essays with the Nitro 5. There is also enough tactile feedback to each key press to help with precision and speed once you get used to the keyboard.
You would be more interested in its work performance though, in its horsepower in editing videos and even photos. With a spec like the Nitro 5 that we have here, browsing the internet is really a breeze; nothing to shout about or even criticize there. At some point we have more than 40 tabs open on Mozilla FireFox, three Microsoft Word instances open, Adobe Acrobat with about 3 tabs open at the same time as well, and the Nitro 5 has not even broken a sweat.
We use a lot of Adobe Creative Suite apps in our line of work too. We heavily rely on Adobe Premiere Pro, Audition, Acrobat, Photoshop, and even Lightroom for most of our day-to-day operations. Obviously, the most taxing app of all in our selection of apps is Adobe Premiere Pro.
On that end, it took the Acer Nitro 5 xx minutes to render a 1:30 minute video. The video was shot in 4K resolution and was rendered directly to H.VEC 264 MPEG-4 format in Full HD resolution with AAC format audio. Video rendering is AMD’s territory anyway, we expected the Nitro 5 to do well here.
Scrubbing through the 4K footage feels smooth too without too much trouble. Smooth and quick scrubbing also means accelerated workflow and less downtime. The downside here is that you have less excuses for not completing your video projects on time now.
Gaming
A gaming PC is built to game though, and game we did. We played titles like GTA V, Horizon Zero Dawn, Two Point Hospital, Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, Evil Genius 2, and A Way Out with the Nitro 5. We let the games decide the best resolution for each game when we first ran the game, and later crank the graphics settings all the way up.
You can expect most modern games to run on either ‘high’ or ‘ultra’ settings on the Acer Nitro 5. Remember we are running the AMD Ryzen 7 5800H with NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3070 variant, far from an entry-level spec sheet this. In that case, ‘high’ and ultra’ graphics on certain games are quite expected.
With Horizon Zero Dawn, the game defaults to Full HD in resolution for some reason. Although, graphics settings are set to ‘Ultra’ by default. Once we set the resolution to the correct size at 1440p, the game ran at about 70fps consistently without dropping a beat. Two Point hospital defaults to ‘high’ resolution and at times scored as low as 28fps. Once you zoom down into the littler details though you get about 50-60fps easily.
With GTA V, we expect graphics to run at up to ‘Ultra’ by default. By default, you do not get ‘Ultra’ settings from GTA V. In fact, even fps is limited to 60 fps by default. We corrected that to project at 165Hz and you automatically free up some horsepower from the Nitro 5 to get up to 100fps at times. Of course, not every setting on default was at ‘Very High’ or ‘Ultra’, Most of them were just below the highest settings available though, so it is just a single toggle away. Once we turned all of that up with MSAA off, we still got about 90fps. With MSAA is a little different though. We could turn it up to 4X without losing too much performance in terms of FPS. Once we get it to its max settings though, fps dropped to as low as 53fps at times and remains at about 65-70fps most of the time.
With these games, you are not really hitting the 165Hz of the QHD display at all though, which is a little bit of a waste. If you want to hit 165fps to fully take advantage of the 165Hz refresh rate though, you can play Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) and easily hit that much frames in a second.
Still, the Acer Nitro 5 is a formidable gaming PC that can hold itself against the sea of gaming PCs you find in the market currently. In fact, we do think it can hold itself against its more premium cousins in the Predator family. We believe that it could even outperform some of them in similar spec sheet with an Intel processor in fact.
Battery Life
The Nitro 5 lasted nearly 2.5 hours with its display on full brightness and power mode set to high-performance. We were using the Acer Nitro 5 for web browsing, typing a Word document (this review, in fact), and listening to some music (50% volume) at the same time. There were also a few browser tabs that was open at the same time on Mozilla Firefox.
We have to point out that we still could get GTA V running at about 30fps while on battery on its default settings. While it was our own careless mistake in forgetting to plug the charger in, this is also an indication that you should never game on battery. Still, we were quite impressed.
Putting the Acer Nitro 5 in battery saving mode via Windows turns the brightness down a little and limits background applications like OneDrive auto-sync. It does extend your battery life to 2 hours 45 minutes hours though. In that case, you might want to consider leaving your Acer Nitro 5 on battery saving mode to extend its battery life for the long meetings.
You may also use Nitro Sense to sip battery life with even smaller straws too. Putting the Nitro 5 on power saving mode on Nitro Sense decreases the brightness of the display even further and limits power draw by both the GPU and CPU. Plenty of times then, the GPU is not used at all for regular operations like web browsing, document editing, and even emails. In that case you can push the battery life of the Acer Nitro 5 from 2.5 hours to a little over 3.5 hours in our use case.
We believe that if you skim on the music playing part, turn the RGB on the keyboard off, and dim down the display all the way with both Nitro Sense and Windows on Power Saving mode, the Acer Nitro could go the distance and last over 4 hours. 4 hours in our books is usually more than what more gaming laptops could offer, even in the same conditions.
2K Display and DTS: X Ultra
In our test unit, we got the best possible display for the Acer Nitro 5. We have here a Quad HD 1440p display at 2,560 x 1,440 resolution. It refreshes at 165Hz for a maximum of 165fps that would really help in competitive titles. The IPS display also covers up to 100% sRGB colour gamut. That would help plenty in colour grading use cases, or even photo editing. But that also means that the 2K display looks good in any gaming or movie situation. It is the perfect display for entertainment, and a far cry from the Acer Nitro 5 displays we are used to in the older generation devices.
The display is now something that we can enjoy and rely on for work and play. While it is a little on the small side for a 2K monitor, the 15.6-inch display is fully capable of what we want it to do. We could use the display to reliably colour grade and edit videos, and even photos when we need to. We could do them on-the-go if we really have to. The lockdown that was enforced because of the pandemic though did not allow us to take this Acer Nitro 5 to the streets; we would have loved to do so though.
The speakers are DTS:X Ultra speakers that you should be used to with Acer’s gaming line-up in the modern era. On the Acer Nitro 5, you only get two speakers that fires outward and downward at both sides of the laptop. That is also quite a standard arrangement with laptops these days. There is a while science on why manufacturers designed speakers this way, but we will get into that another time.
We do have to say that laptop speakers have come a long way though. On the Acer Nitro 5 at least, the speakers do sound great. Audio sounds clean and clear throughout its volume range. Of course, low frequencies could benefit from having a dedicated sub-woofer. The mid and high frequencies are excellent and clean though. That also means that you should be able to enjoy your movies with the built-in speakers. Unfortunately, we do suggest you get a decent pair of headphones for games though. While sound is good and clear, the fan noise can overwhelm the speakers (even at full chat) a little bit especially when it spools for gaming and video editing purposes.
The Acer Nitro 5 – Finally, a gaming Laptop You Can Be Proud Of
You pay MYR 6,399 for this piece of kit we test. You get a brilliant AMD Ryzen 7 5800H processor and NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3070 to boot. The combination of these hardware alongside 16GB of RAM are in no way “entry-level”. It is a high-performance gaming machine that fits the bill when you need some power in LAN parties.
While prices are not to say in the budget-friendly range, MYR 6,399 is still less than most laptops boasting similar hardware in the current market. In some sense, you are getting a more powerful PC than plenty of gaming PCs of the same price in 2021. With all that considered, this is still the more budget-friendly version of a high-performance gaming laptop.
In 2021, the Acer Nitro 5 has matured into something else. It is not sitting at the bottom of the pile anymore. It can stand and sit alongside the greats in the industry, oddly enough. It sort of pushes the Acer Nitro brand into a brand that could stand on its own with AMD. Sadly, that is not the case because there are Intel based Acer Nitro 5 out there. This also brings another problem to Acer, what are they going to do when the Predator gaming products cannot compete at the same prices?
The question we set out to answer though is whether or not the Acer Nitro 5 with AMD’s Ryzen 7 5800H and NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3070 worth your money, whether or not you should buy it. Our answer is yes to both, but only if you have the budget to work with. While the Acer Nitro 5 for 2021 has been the most expensive Acer Nitro 5 of all that came before, the kind of power that is offered within the AMD variant of the Acer Nitro 5 is quite irresistible if you are in-need of a powerful laptop right now.
Last year NVIDIA announced their next generation GPUs, the GeForce RTX 30 series GPUs that they claim to have the largest generational gap over the older series. It is inevitable then for fans to be asking for the mobile variant of the GPUs to be put in the ever popular and growing gaming notebook market. They are also asking for more budget friendly variants like the RTX 3060 Ti and updated variant of the GTX 1650 and GTX 1660 Ti.
That is not all though, new CPUs are also introduced in 2020 and early 2021. AMD came swinging hard with the new AMD Ryzen 5000 series CPUs with Zen 3 architecture making them the most powerful consumer level CPU overall currently on sale. Intel pushed their own boundaries with their 10nm architecture 11th Generation CPUs early in 2021 too. To be fair though Intel came with the mobile variant of the 11th Generation Core processors early in 2020 before the desktop variants were introduced in 2021.
TUF Gaming F15 and F17 (FX506H-CHN021T, FX706H-CHX065T, FX506H-MHN103T)
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
ASUS kicks of with the new TUF Gaming notebooks, both in 15-inch and 17-inch flavours. You get to choose between an Intel Core i5-11400H and an Intel Core i7-11800H for the ASUS TUF Gaming F15’s (FX506H) processor. That powerful GPU also comes paired with either an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 or an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 GPU with 6GB of GDDR6 RAM.
To ensure that you get a smooth gaming performance too, RAM is at up to 16GB for the top-of-the-line TUF Gaming F15 with room to spare. For storage you get a single SSD with 512GB in capacity. The storage is also expandable still with free extra NVMe PCIe 3.0 M.2 slot.
The 15-inch and 17-inch variants both get a 144Hz IPS display that pushes Full HD in resolution. For even more immersive gaming, the TUF Gaming F15 and F17 packs DTS Audio and speaker calibration. Of course, a great gaming experience today also means stable internet connection, and the ASUS TUF Gaming F15 and F17 packs WiFi 6 capabilities alongside Bluetooth 5.2 for extra stable wireless peripheral connection. With 90WHrs 4-cell battery, the TUF Gaming F15 and F17 may not last a whole day, but at least a few hours of use away from the wall socket should be enough for you to get your emails and whatever else done.
The ASUS TUF Gaming F15 with 11th Generation Intel Core i5 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 will be available mid of June 2021 onward at MYR 4,199. The TUF Gaming F17 with 11th Generation Intel Core i5 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 will be available at the end of June 2021 at MYR 4,299. The TUF Gaming F15 with 11th Generation Intel Core i7 with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 will be available at the end of this month (May 2021) onward at MYR 5,599.
For extra portability, you might want to look at the ASUS TUF Gaming Dash F15, a thinner and lighter TUF gaming notebook like no other. At 2kg, it is no ultrabook. Still, it is a light gaming device with the power to match.
You get the 11th Generation Core i7-11370H processor that also has an Intel Iris Xe Graphics integrated GPU for general usage at lower power draw. For all the high-performance stuff though, this thing packs a powerful NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti GPU. Thanks to the integrated GPU, the notebook draws minimal power from the 76WHrs battery and ensures that the notebook can last longer than your average gaming notebooks.
The powerful NVIDIA GPU though powers the 15.6-inch IPS display to push Full HD into your face. You even get fast 144Hz refresh rate to ensure you still have the necessary competitive advantage in any gaming situation. With up to 8GB of RAM, you can be sure that gaming is a smooth and snappy experience.
The ASUS TUF Gaming Dash F15 will be available in two colour options – Eclipse Grey and Moonlight White. The new gaming laptop will be available this month (May 2021) onward. The thinner and lighter TUF Gaming notebook will set you back MYR 4,799.
ASUS ROG Strix G15 and G17 (G513Q-CHN019T, G512Q-CHN020T, G712Q-CHX022T, G512Q-CHN096T)
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
The new ASUS ROG STRIX G15 and G17 packs up to the highly acclaimed AMD Ryzen 7 5800H processor. With AMD’s processor, the ROG STRIX G15 and G17 is also a powerful creator class GPU. Pair that with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 and you get a capable video editor and gaming notebook that you can take with you anywhere you want.
You get up to 8GB in RAM and up to 512GB in SSD storage. If those are not enough though there is an extra available slot for you to expand your RAM and SSD storage still. An extra 8GB and an extra 512GB of SSD storage would do you nicely for the ASUS ROG STRIX G15 and G17.
You get to choose up between 15.6-inch and 17.3-inch display sizes for the new ASUS ROG STRIX series. Both sizes are IPS displays that churns out Full HD in resolution too. Of course, for the extra smooth feel and edge in competitive gaming, the displays refreshes at 144Hz.
For all your connectivity needs there is the usual WiFi 6 that should be standard today. It also packs Bluetooth 5.1 for an extra stable wireless peripherals experience. You can find a USB Type-C port, but unfortunately Thunderbolt is not supported on the AMD based notebook.
The ROG STRIX G15 and G17 notebooks with either an AMD Ryzen 5-5600H or the AMD Ryzen 7-5800H will be available this month (May 2021) onward. The AMD Ryzen 5 variant of the ASUS ROG STRIX G15 will set you back MYR 4,199. The AMD Ryzen 7 variant of the ASUS ROG STRIX G15 and G17 will sell for MYR 4,499 and MYR 4,599 respectively. There is also an Elctro Punk special edition ASUS ROG STRIX G15 with AMD Ryzen 7-5800H that comes with its own set of colour matching accessories like a mousepad, a gaming mouse, and a backpack for MYR 4,799.
ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (GA401Q-HHZ078TS, GA401Q-CHZ083TS, GA401Q-EK2023TS)
Source: ASUS
The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14, in our books, is one of the notebooks that put AMD’s Ryzen processors name in the gaming laptop map. The first Zephyrus G14 was a brilliant product that received many accolades. That packed the older generation AMD Ryzen 3000 series mind you.
The new one of course packs the new AMD Ryzen 7 5800HS processor to boot. You get to work with up to NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3050 Ti GPU for all of your gaming and content creation needs. Both the CPU and GPU are supported by an 8GB RAM that you can easily expand with an extra RAM slot in the thin and sturdy body with the very recognisable Matrix LED shell. Storage wise, you get 512GB in SSD with an extra expansion slot too.
The powerful CPU and GPU combination pushes games to up to 144Hz (120Hz for WQHD variant) on the 14-inch IPS display that comes with the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14. You get to spec your Zephyrus G14 with up to WQHD display too if you need the extra resolution for content creation purposes. On both the Full HD and WQHD displays, you get 100% coverage of DCI-P3 for a super deep colour accuracy and Pantone validation as the cherry topping.
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 will be available in Eclipse Grey and Moonlight variants. The ROG Zephyrus G14 with NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 1650 GPU will come with a non AniMe Matrix shell while the rest of the variants get the AniMe Matrix panel on the shell of the notebook for extra personalisation. The new AMD Ryzen 7 powered ROG Zephyrus G14 notebook is available this month (May 2021) onward and will start at MYR 4,799 and tops out MYR 6,499.
PC gaming is not cheap. That is pretty much know though. Consider this, the latest gaming console like the Sony PlayStation 5 and the Microsoft Xbox Series X will set you back between MYR 2,500 to MYR 3,000. The latest entry level gaming PC with the latest hardware will set you back about the same amount of money to be fair if you get a desktop. The caveat is that you will not get the same 4K 120fps experience on the desktop compared to the console. If you want to talk about portable gaming, the prices are even higher.
Of course, there is more to a PC than just gaming though. When you get a gaming PC, your PC doubles as your productivity machine. It will be something that accompanies you into your work and your life. It browses the internet, it edits word documents, and it checks your emails. In the case of notebook PCs, there is more than productivity. Notebook PCs are about productivity on-the-go. Of course, gaming notebooks are about gaming and productivity on-the-go.
While gaming is not cheap, it does not have to be bank breaking though. You can get an entry level gaming notebook now from as low as MYR 3,699. Yes, we are talking about the AMD powered Acer Nitro 5 gaming notebook. Well, it is in the title.
The Nitro 5 for 2021 was technically announced in CES 2021 and is just making its way to Malaysia. The new gaming notebook comes with its own sets of cosmetic updates, as usual, and a few internal upgrades too from its previous iteration, as expected. Most of the upgrades are not really what we expected from an “entry-level” perspective though.
The base model is still pretty “entry-level” at MYR 3,699 (AN515-4S-R9RJ). You get an AMD Ryzen 5 5600H 7nm processor with Zen 3 architecture which should unlock a lot more performance from its previous generation. You also get a respectable NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 GPU for all kinds of gaming needs. If you have a 4K display, this could work too. Just do not expect Ultra graphic settings with super high refresh rates at that kind of resolution.
Still, if you just work with the 15.6-inch display on the notebook, you still get a nice Full HD resolution with 144Hz of refresh rate. With the kind of internals you get, you should hit 144fps easily. You also get 8GB of dual channel RAM too. If you want, you can up that to up to 32GB (16GB x 2). You are not trading off too much storage space either with 512GB of SSD storage. Of course, that is expandable as well.
Thing is, the Acer Nitro 5 is not just an “entry-level” gaming notebook anymore. While you do get the entry-level spec with entry-level pricing, you can spec it up to turn it into a beast too.
You can spec your Acer Nitro 5 (AN515-4S-R49W) with an all-powerful AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX processor. With that processor, you can also get a high-end NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 GPU with 8GB of DDR6 memory on board to run games at QHD (2K) resolution at a native 165Hz in refresh rate on the 15.6-inch display. With 16GB of DDR 4 RAM included, the Acer Nitro 5 turns into a beast of a gaming PC. You also get 1TB of storage to ensure that you can keep all your favourite games and still have space to spare for other things as well. All of that for MYR 8,999.
Alongside the Acer Nitro 5 gaming notebook, Acer also launches the Nitro QG1241Y P gaming monitor. The Nitro QG1 is a 24-inch display boasting Full HD resolution at 165Hz refresh rate. The VA panel support up to 1ms of response time as well alongside HDR10 support. Of course, like any modern display, there is a BlueLightShield blue light filter and flicker reduction technology to ensure the display does not strain your eyes.
The Acer Nitro 5 (AN515-4S-R9RJ) is now available for pre-order to 16th April 2021 at Acer’s Official Store on Shopee at MYR 3,699. The other variants of the Acer Nitro 5 will be available for pre-order on a later date from 27th to the 29th April 2021 (AN515-4S-R7QR) and 10th-12th May 2021 (AN515-4S-R4KB, AN515-4S-R5C7, AN515-4SR8XM, AN515-4S-R49W). The Acer Nitro QG1 (QG141Y P) 24-inch Full HD display is now available on pre-order until 16th of April 2021 on Acer’s official store on Shopee and Lazada for MYR 699. It will retail at MYR 749 after the pre-order date. For more information on the Acer Nitro 5 and Nitro QG1 gaming notebook and peripheral, do visit Acer’s website.
Last night, NVIDIA launched their new GPU platform they nickname the Ampere. They also tout that this is their greatest generational leap in performance ever. Welcome to the NVIDIA’s second-generation Ray Tracing GPUs.
For now, they have announced the availability and launch of three new GPUs that is meant to blow even the fastest GeForce RTX 20 series GPU, the GeForce RTX 2080Ti away. We are only talking about the GeForce RTX 3070 mind you. There is still the high-end GeForce 3080 and mind-bending GeForce RTX 3090.
Supposedly the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series are supposed to be about twice as good in performance than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 20 series while offering nearly twice the power efficiency. That puts the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 about on par with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 that was launched two years ago. Which also means that the GeForce RTX 3080 is miles away from the GeForce RTX 2080Ti.
What’s New with Ampere?
Source: NVIDIA
Just saying that it is faster though, may not mean that much to you. In this case, bear with us a little bit as we go a little more technical than usual in identifying what is new with the new GeForce RTX 30 series cards. NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang also did say in the launch that it might be time for you to upgrade your GPUs if you are still on the GTX platform with this second generation Ray Tracing GPU.
New Multiprocessors
If you think of a GPU, it is actually a mini computer on its own that you dedicate on graphics processing. It sort of works on a piggybacking system on top of your main logic board for your PC. By principle, it is just its own processing unit separate to what the CPU and regular RAM does. In layman terms, the GPU is an additional calculator lodged in your PC.
The multiprocessor that is on the GPU is technically its heart, its cores. The new processor on the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series is technically the same size as the older NVIDIA GeForce RTX 20 Series cores. That is to say that Ampere did not gain in size for more performance over Turing.
They simply unlocked more power from the chip itself with new technologies and architecture. We will talk about that a little bit more later though. For now, you just have to know that it is now twice as powerful as before, it is twice faster in calculations.
New Generation Ray Tracing Cores
NVIDIA says that new generation consumer graphics standards is their new Ray Tracing technology that is introduced two years ago. The technology, technically, is not new. It has been a technology used in plenty of 3D rendering applications and even machine learning applications.
With the first-generation Ray Tracing cards, that is the GeForce RTX 20 Series GPUs, ray tracing is used to make graphics even more stunning and realistic by correctly predicting reflection and shading models based on virtual lighting positions. That means that graphic artists do not need to predict where the light is coming from or how it interacts with an object, it just simply does. That is why you do not get great mirror reflections, glass reflections, or water textures in older video games up until the late 2018s.
The said technology requires a separate core to the regular GPU cores that we are used to on older GeForce GTX cards though.
The second-generation Ray Tracing core is technically not that much different from the first-generation. In terms of size and build at least, it is about the same. They managed to extract even more performance out of it, they claim twice more performance out of it too. That allows the GPU to render reflections and shades correctly even faster.
In the previous generation Ray Tracing core, they could render shades, reflections, and even physics correctly at about 720p at 60fps. The new generation that was just introduced is supposed to be able to render smoothly at 1440p at 60fps. That is a large leap, about twice according to NVIDIA.
Even Newer Tensor Cores
Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) and machine learning has been a part of NVIDIA’s repertoire for a long time now. They started looking into implementing A.I. cores in their GeForce GTX 10 Series GPUs. They were successful and the cores worked to a certain degree in GTX GPUs.
In the new GeForce RTX architecture though, A.I. took a bigger stage and Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) was born. The first generation DLSS allowed calculations and processing to be offloaded from the GPU and pushed to a different server. That allows graphics to look even better than what the GPU is actually capable of physically. Of course, that takes a lot of processing power.
At the same time the DLSS technology is used as a prediction model as well, to anticipate calculations and render them beforehand. In terms of gaming, the cores allow your games to render at 720p on your own GPU but deliver 1080p or 1440p graphics to your eyes via the display. This is all part of the NVIDIA RTX IO experience as well though.
NVIDIA RTX IO
So, you have watched the demo of the upcoming Sony PlayStation 5. You saw the next generation console load open world maps and transition between places in no time, with no load screens. That technology is achievable through the clever use of SSD and processing power.
That is what NVIDIA RTX IO is going to replicate though. It allows plenty of the processing loads on the CPU and on board RAM from modern SSDs to be offloaded to the GPU itself. Since the GPU, in some cases, have spare processing capacity anyway, you get an improved processing performance for your games anyway and even improved data transfer and read speeds.
That means that game designers can try to build games with huge amount of detail in their maps while not thinking too much about load times. Of course, for lesser CPs, load screens are always going to be an issue in games. NVIDIA’s RTX IO is built to solve that.
There is another benefit to this though. Every other PC builder will tell you that if you want a great performing gaming machine, it has to be a combination of great GPU and CPU. The GPU will handle the 3D stuff, while the CPU will handle the frame generation. That is because most of the frame generation is done by the CPU, and therefore your framerate greatly depends on how much your CPU can handle itself. With RTX IO offloading that load to the GPU, you technically can have a slightly cheaper CPU and still achieve high frame rate in games.
New Faster, Nay, Fastest Memory Module in the World
As we mentioned earlier, a GPU is a little bit like a mini computer that piggybacks on top of the main board. It is a calculator that hops on another calculator to make that calculator faster and more powerful. In that sense, the GPU also needs its own memory module, its own RAM unit.
In that, they have worked with Micron to build the world’s fastest discrete graphics memory unit, the GDDR6X. You get up to 1TB/s in bandwidth for any graphics applications. This is where that minimised load times come into play too.
Samsung 8nm Transistors and NVIDIA
Every other tech familiar person knows that there are only a few manufacturers that really know what their doing when it comes to semiconductors and chip making. Samsung is one of those manufacturers in the circle of ‘the best of the best’. The new GeForce RTX 30 Series GPU benefits from Samsung’s know how in chip making.
The new GPU multiprocessing chips are built with 8nm standards and technology by Samsung. Smaller transistors also mean that you can fit more in a certain surface area. More transistors mean more power naturally.
This is technically how NVIDIA managed to achieve double the power from the previous generation GeForce RTX 20 GPUs while still retaining the sizes, just about. Less space and size also means that there is less power requirements from the transistors themselves, which leads to a much higher power efficiency. Hence, double the power, double the efficiency.
Better Technology, Better Experience
With more power, comes more enhancements from NVIDIA. They have done audio before already with RTX noise cancelling, which never cease to amaze us. This time though, they are turning their focus toward competitive gaming and other parts of content creation.
Source: NVIDIA
NVIDIA Reflex
It is exactly what it sounds like. It measures reflex. It does not measure your reflexes though.
Instead, NVIDIA Reflex measures latency between your input and the display’s output. From that measurement, NVIDIA’s Reflex algorithm will then optimise the game’s latency. In some sense, it is meant to reduce the latency between your input and the PC’s output.
This impacts eSports titles mostly. In video games with built in NVIDIA Low-Latency Mode, the technology reduces latency by about 50 percent. Every millisecond counts in eSports environment. That is also why NVIDIA’s Reflex Analyser also can calculate and tabulate the time it takes for you input to be translated into output. The Reflex Analyser is coming to most of the new 360Hz NVIDIA G-Sync eSports displays from its partners later this year.
NVIDIA Broadcast
Streaming is a huge business. It is gaining in popularity as well. As such, it would not be right for NVIDIA to ignore the market completely. In the sense of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series, the extra power can also help with a single PC stream set up with NVIDIA Broadcast. The A.I. noise cancelling is already clever enough. NVIDIA Broadcast though is much cleverer than that with webcam auto framing and even virtual background effects for your stream.
NVIDIA Omniverse Machinima
Forget trying to create new stories with game engines. Forget spending hours on character creations and animations codes. Now, you could do all that for storytelling via NVIDIA Omniverse Machinima. You can use existing models or assets and even create your own via a webcam, amazingly. This is the power of NVIDIA’s new GeForce RTX 30 Series, and NVIDIA’s new storytelling tool.
Well, then again, this is still an early access tool. You might want to check back on this. If not, you can be a part of it by signing up for early access.
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, GeForce RTX 3080, and GeForce RTX 3090 is Here!
Source: NVIDIA
The first GPUs that comes out from the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, a technical replacement of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070. Thanks to the technological advancements, the GeForce RTX 3070 is way more powerful than the GPU it replaces. In certain benchmarks it is more powerful than the GeForce RTX 2080. With up to 8GB of GDDR6X RAM, 4K and 1440p resolution should be comfortable enough.
Then there is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 which is way more powerful than the current generation GeForce RTX 2080Ti. It just blows the older GPU away. All that, while costing less than the GeForce RTX 2080Ti. It has up to 10GB of GDDR6X RAM to deliver 4K resolution at 60fps.
The daddy of the lot is what NVIDIA refers to as the “BFGPU” – Big Ferocious GPU. We would expand it to a different thing, but that is just us. This is the spiritual successor to the NVIDIA GeForce TITAN RTX, technically. This is supposed to be 10x quieter, and up to 30°C cooler. Of course, it is a big one, occupying three PCIe slots. Within the large body is an enormous 24GB of GDDR6X RAM and performs up to 50% faster than the TITAN RTX. It can easily support 8K resolution up to 60 fps in Control.
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is priced at US$ 499 (MYR 2,399*) and will be available in October 2020 onward. The GeForce RTX 3080 is priced at US$ 699 (MYR 3,360*) and will be available 17th September 2020 onward. The GeForce RTX 3090 is priced at US$ 1,499 (MYR 7,208*) and is available 24th September 2020 onward. Keep in mind that these are release dates for the Founders Edition cards. Of course, partner manufacturers will have their custom boards and own clocks later on or the same date.
Dell’s gaming laptops have been the company’s offering for those who want gaming level performance but can’t jump for the Alienware line up. The Dell G line up has inherited many of the award winning designs that have made Dell laptops a force to be reckoned with.
The new Dell G7 Gaming laptops are pushing the boundaries when it comes to aesthestics as Dell continues to refine the chassis of the G7. This year, the G7 sheds its pounds for a more thin, svelte silhouette completed by a customizable RGB strip. The once thick laptop comes in at only 18.3mm thin. Aside from the thinner silhouette, the Dell G7 Gaming comes with a Mineral Black finish with iridescent silver accents that allows you to go from gamer to corporate professional without batting an eye.
The refreshed gaming laptop is going to be packing a punch when it comes to performance. Packing the 10th Generation Intel Core i processors ranging all the way up to the i9, the G7 is built for performance both in gaming and heavy workloads. On the graphics side, it’s equipped with NVIDIA’s GeForce graphics cards ranging from the GTX1650 Ti to the RTX2070 with Max-Q design.
Like all things Dell, the G7 comes with options for it’s display which include a UHD 4K OLED display with 60Hz refresh rate, a FHD 1080p antiglare LED display with 300Hz and a FHD 1080p antiglare LED display with 60Hz refresh. It supports up to 32GB of RAM with options of 8GB and 16GB out of the box. Storage options range from 128GB to 1TB. Of course, these are PCIe M.2 SSDs.
Connectivity wise, the Dell G7 gaming supports HDMI 2.0, USB 3.2 Gen 1, PowerShare and more. It has support for up to Bluetooth 5.0 and WiFi 6 with Killer Wireless. All of these beefed out specs will be powered by either a 56WHr batter or a 86WHr battery.
Pricing & Availability
The Dell G7 Gaming Laptop will be available starting June 29, 2020 with prices starting at USD$1,429.99 (MYR 6,113.62) worldwide. There are two models that will be released: Dell G7 15 and Dell G7 17. The main difference between the two is the size of the display.
Malaysia will be getting the Dell G7 15 (7500) starting 14 July 2020 for MYR6,499.
