ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16 GU603ZM gaming laptop review: 10-core alignment

Last fall, a review of the ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16 GU603H was released on our website. The now obsolete model features an 11th Gen Intel Core (Rocket Lake) processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 graphics. Today’s 2022 version is the ROG Zephyrus M16 GU603 Z. Externally, the laptop has not changed much, but the editors of 3DNews with great pleasure agreed to take the novelty for a test. Because now these laptops use the latest Alder Lake H processors – and this is definitely worth talking about.

⇡#Specifications, equipment and software

As always, you will find a large number of different ROG Zephyrus M16 GU603Z models on sale: GU603ZX uses GeForce RTX 3080 Ti graphics; in GU603ZW – GeForce RTX 3070 Ti; in GU603ZM – GeForce RTX 3060. We decided to take the younger version of Zephyrus, believing that it would be more popular in Russia. All configurations of the updated ROG Zephyrus M16 are shown in the table below.

Please note that the laptop uses a Core i7-12650H processor. We are dealing with the only 10-core chip in the Alder Lake H series of chips, and it is easy to confuse it with another model with a similar name – the 12-core Core i5-12600H. As you can see, now the status of Intel processors determines the number of high-performance cores. Thus, the Core i7-12650H is equipped with six P-cores and four energy-efficient E-cores. The Core i5-12600H uses the 4P+8E scheme. And there is also the Core i7-12700H model, in which 6 P-cores and 8 E-cores are active. The design features and microarchitecture of the new Intel chips are fully disassembled in the article “Explaining why Intel Alder Lake is the main processor of this fall.”

In addition to the Core i7-12650H, the ROG Zephyrus M16 GU603ZM test build uses a mobile version of the GeForce RTX 3060, 16 GB of DDR5-4800 RAM and a 512 GB SSD. Please note that the maximum power consumption of NVIDIA GPUs in Dynamic Boost mode is now 120W, instead of 100W, as was the case with the previous generation ROG Zephyrus M16.

As already mentioned, at the time of writing, ASUS new items have not yet gone on sale in Russia. However, an ASUS representative clarified that the recommended price of the ROG Zephyrus M16 with Core i7-12700H, GeForce RTX 3060, 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of SSD is 167,990 rubles.

The Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX211 module, which supports the Wi-Fi 6 standard, is responsible for the wireless connection in the ASUS mobile computer. When using a 160 MHz channel, a throughput of up to 2.4 Gb / s is provided.

The laptop comes with a 240W external power supply. With all the wires, its weight is just under 600 grams.

⇡#Appearance and Input Devices

As I said, the brand new “Zephyrus” has not changed outwardly. Interestingly, the 2022 version is made in only one color – dark gray, or Eclipse Gray, as the manufacturer calls it. The case, to be sure, is practical, easy to use and recognizable. The surface on which the keyboard is placed is covered with a special paint that tactilely resembles soft-touch material. It gets noticeably dirty, so we advise you to provide your electronic life partner with decent and regular care.

On the metal cover of the case, a pattern is carved, iridescent thanks to the prismatic film placed a layer below. The presence of 8279 tiny holes still hints that we have a gaming laptop for young people, and not a harsh business model.

Even in the review of the previous version of the ROG Zephyrus M16, we found out that this laptop is smaller and lighter than many competitors equipped with 15-inch displays. This is because the screen area relative to the entire lid area in the ROG Zephyrus M16 is an impressive 94%. Thanks to special hinges that raise the case, it visually seems that the lower display frame is 4-6 mm thick, no more.

Due to the high legs, the case tilts slightly towards the user. At the same time, the working surface rises even more when the lid is opened by 90 degrees or more. The display is easy to lift with one hand, and the maximum opening angle even exceeds 180 degrees. As a result, the M16 operating position provides more comfort to the user and frees up additional space for air circulation under the bottom panel of the case.

On the other hand, it is already clear that most of the heated air blown out by the cooler fans is directed directly at the display lid.

The ROG Zephyrus M16 GU603ZM has few connectors. I present in advance the comments of readers – some are dissatisfied with this fact. For example, on the right side of the Zephyr there is only a MicroSD (UHS-II) card reader and USB 3.2 Gen2 A-type. On the left are the power supply port, HDMI 2.0b video output, RJ-45, 3.5 mm headset jack, USB 3.2 Gen2 A-type and a couple of USB 3.2 Gen2 C-type. One of them is combined with Thunderbolt 4, the other with DisplayPort 1.4 and supports Power Delivery 3.0.

In my opinion, the ROG Zephyrus M16 GU603ZM has more than enough connectors for home use. In addition, we see that the new version of the laptop has more USB 3.2 Gen2 ports. It is not possible to place more interfaces on the laptop case due to the peculiarities of the display lid fastening to the case and the presence of grilles for the heated air outlet.

The keyboard and touchpad of the 2022 ROG Zephyrus M16 have not changed. Digging deeper, they are exactly the same as the HIDs used in the ROG Zephyrus G15. There is no number pad here, which makes the keyboard look large and spacious. But those who will use Zephyrus for the first time will have to get used to the small arrow keys and the narrow row of F1-F12 buttons. And I did not immediately get used to the complete absence of Insert and Print Screen. But the main buttons (I’m talking about Ctrl, Shift, Tab, Backspace and Enter) are large and comfortable.

The travel of each key is 1.7 mm, but the actuation occurs at half the travel. Naturally, ROG’books have backlighting. And the manufacturer also declares support for combinations of any number of keys and a resource of more than 20 million keystrokes. The power button is located where it should be – away from the rest of the keys. It has a built-in fingerprint sensor that allows you to quickly unlock the system when using the Windows Hello function. Four more keys are placed separately from the main keyboard: with their help, the volume of the speakers is adjusted, and the built-in microphone is turned on and off. Pressing the brand logo button launches the Armory Crate app. The fan button switches between the profiles of the laptop’s cooling system: Silent, Performance and Turbo.

The touchpad measures 13 x 8.5 cm and is large and comfortable. According to ASUS, the sensor has become 40% faster – this is achieved using the new controller.

Alas, even cool laptops in 2022 still put webcams with support for 720p resolution – and this fate has not passed and the new ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16 GU603ZM.

⇡#Internal design and upgrade options

The bottom of the laptop is very easy to remove. Just keep in mind that a few screws are hidden under rubber plugs. Gently removing them is not a problem, but the second time the corks will no longer hold so well and will probably peel off over time.

The cooling system of the updated ROG Zephyrus M16 has not changed: a massive cooler, consisting of two fans, four copper radiators and six heat pipes, is still responsible for removing heat from the graphics, CPU and their power subsystem. With a metal thickness of just 0.1 mm, the number of ribs has been increased to 256, and their shape is now optimized for the ErgoLift hinge that lifts the laptop case. Each Arc Flow fan received 84 blades. The Carlsons are made of liquid crystal polymer, which allows them to be strong but thin. As a result, the engineers were able to increase the airflow by 5% with the same noise level as the previous generation of fans.

Thermal Grizzly liquid metal is applied between the sole of the CO and the Core i7 – according to ASUS, it reduces the temperature of the chip by 10 degrees Celsius compared to using conventional thermal paste. This, one might say, is already the hallmark of ROG laptops of the latest generations.

The laptop received 16 GB of DDR5-4800 RAM. Half of the volume is soldered directly on the motherboard – apparently, this is the only way ASUS engineers cleared a place for an impressive cooling system. If desired, the amount of RAM can be increased from 16 to 40 GB.

Of the pleasant things, I note the presence of two M.2 slots at once. One of them has a Samsung MZVL2512HCJQ solid state drive. Over time, another 1-2 TB SSD can be installed in the laptop to expand the available volume and not suffer from transferring the operating system to another storage device.

⇡#Test Methodology

Laptop performance is measured using various software that focuses on computer games. This year we are testing with the following games and graphics quality settings [Full HD, WQHD and Ultra HD (if supported) for 16:9 laptops; WUXGA and WQXGA – for laptops with 16:10 format displays]:

• World of Tanks EnCore RT. DirectX 11. Benchmark. Ultra mode, RT off
• Counter Strike: Global Offensive. DirectX 9. FPS Benchmark map. Multi-core processing – incl. Maximum quality.
• The Witcher III: Wild Hunt. DirectX 11. Novigrad and surroundings. Maximum quality.
• GTA V. DirectX 11. Built-in benchmark. Maximum quality, FXAA + 2x MSAA, advanced quality settings – on, 16x AF, image resolution scaling – off. In 4K – no AA.
• PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. DirectX 11. Training mode. Ultra Mode
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider. DirectX 12. Built-in benchmark. Maximum quality, DXR – off, TAA.
• Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. DirectX 12. Built-in benchmark. Quality mode “Ultra”, DXR – off
• Red Dead Redemption 2. Vulkan. Built-in benchmark. Maximum quality (advanced settings – off), TAA.
• God of War. DirectX 11. The beginning of the game. Ultra Mode
• Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition. DirectX 12. Taiga. Quality settings Ultra, MB High, RT Normal, DLSS Balance, REF Hybrid, 2x VRS, HW On, PhysX On, Tessellation On, 16x AF.
• Horizon Zero Dawn. DirectX 12. Built-in benchmark. Top quality, TAA.
• Far Cry 6. DirectX 12. Built-in benchmark. Quality mode “Ultra”, TAA, HD textures, DXR – off
• DOOM Eternal. Vulcan. Beginning of the game. Ultra mode (for video cards with 6 or less GB of video memory). For everyone else – “Absolute Nightmare”.
• Watch Dogs: Legion. DirectX 12. Built-in benchmark. Ultra mode, TAA, DXR off, DLSS off
• Cyberpunk 2077. DirectX 12. City trip. Impressive quality mode, DXR off, DLSS off
• DEATHLOOP. DirectX 12. Downtown. Quality mode “Ultra”, HBAO +, DLSS – off, DXR – off, sharpness – standard, highlights and rays – yes, anti-aliasing post-processing – temporal.
• HITMAN 3. DirectX 12. Chongqing. Ultra Mode, 16x AF, Super Sampling 1.00, Simulation Quality – Best.

Gaming performance was measured using the well-known CapFrameX program. It allows you to get the rendering time of each frame. The use of the 99th percentile instead of the minimum frames per second is due to the desire to clean up the results from random performance fluctuations that were provoked by reasons not directly related to the operation of the main components of the platform.

Testing the laptop in games and applications was carried out with the activation of the fastest mode suitable for these tasks.

Applications:

• Corona 1.3. Testing rendering speed using the renderer of the same name. Measures the build speed of the standard BTR scene used to measure performance.
• Blender 2.93.1. Determination of the final rendering speed in one of the popular free packages for creating three-dimensional graphics. The duration of building the final model pavillon_barcelona_v1.2 from Blender Benchmark is measured.
• x265 HD Benchmark. Testing the speed of video transcoding to H.265/HEVC format. The tables and graphs show the average integer value obtained after five runs of the test.
• CINEBENCH R23. Performance measurement of photorealistic 3D rendering in CINEMA 4D animation package, CPU test. The tables and graphs show the average integer value obtained after five runs of the test.
• Adobe Premiere Pro 2020 – Rendering a project in 4K resolution.

Comprehensive benchmarks:

• Futuremark PCMARK10 Professional Edition 2.1.2177. Testing in Essentials scenarios (typical work of an average user: launching applications, surfing the Internet, video conferencing), Productivity (office work with a text editor and spreadsheets), Digital Content Creation (creation of digital content: photo editing, non-linear video editing, 3D rendering and visualization -models).
• 3DMark Professional Edition 2.11.6846. Testing in Time Spy and Fire Strike scenes.
• Unigine Superposition Benchmark. 1080p Extreme testing.

Notebook testing in resource-intensive applications was carried out in the default mode without any adjustment of the parameters of the central processor and cooler.

Display testing is performed using the X-Rite i1Display Pro colorimeter and the DisplayCAL 3 application.

The battery life of the laptop was tested in two modes. The first load option – web surfing – involves alternately opening and closing the tabs of the 3DNews.ru, Computeruniverse.ru and Unsplash.com sites with an interval of 30 seconds. For this test, the current version of the Google Chrome browser at the time of testing is used. In the second mode, video in .mkv format and Full HD resolution is played in the built-in player of Windows OS with the repeat function activated. In all cases, the same display brightness was set to 200 cd / m², and the keyboard backlight (if any) and the sound were turned off.

In games and other applications, the results of the following laptops are considered:

⇡#Display and Sound

In the ROG Zephyrus M16 GU603HR review, I specifically focused your attention on the laptop’s display. Because there are more and more models supporting 16:10 format matrices. In the same review, I focus on other advantages of Zephyrus, but it should be noted that in the 2022 version, the WQXGA matrix has not gone away and is still the hallmark of any ROG Zephyrus M16.

The laptop screen is equipped with an anti-reflective coating, supports a resolution of 2560 × 1600 pixels, as well as a frequency of 165 Hz and a response time of 3 ms. Support for Adaptive-Sync is declared for all configurations. The GU603HR version used the B156QAN02.2 IPS panel from AU Optronics. Here, in GU603ZM, there is a B160QAN02.Q panel from the same manufacturer. By the way, it is part of the ROG Nebula display, a category of gaming screens with a number of notable advantages.

Nevertheless, the color quality in the case of the B160QAN02.Q turns out to be slightly worse, but, as always, we are talking about a comparison of two specific laptops tested by the 3DNews laboratory, and it is impossible to draw unambiguous conclusions about the screen quality of any other specimen from these data. And yet, for entertainment, the display of the hero of the review is very well suited.

The sound in the ROG Zephyrus M16 GU603ZM, in my opinion, has not changed. It is still good – with the traditional clarification that we are still dealing with a fairly compact and lightweight mobile computer and evaluate by the appropriate standards.

⇡#Efficiency of the cooling system

The Armory Crate program has three manufacturer-prepared modes of operation for the laptop: Silent, Performance and Turbo.

Silent mode is more designed for laptop battery operation. The results of testing in gaming benchmarks clearly show that the performance of the ROG Zephyrus M16 in silent mode sags a lot. At the same time, I do not rule out that some games that are simple in terms of graphic settings will work in it with a consistently high FPS.

In Performance mode, the laptop is quite loud, but within tolerable limits. In Turbo mode, you already want to put on a headset. We see that in all three cases, the cooling system does its job, in the most difficult of them successfully removing more than 150 watts of energy. At the same time, the difference in performance between the Performance and Turbo modes is quite noticeable – 11-13%, depending on the benchmark. It turns out that in a number of games it will be easier to keep the coveted FPS when you turn on the Turbo preset.

As already mentioned, the heated air is partially ejected directly onto the laptop display. This is clearly seen on the image of the thermal imager, as well as the fact that in general the upper area with the keys (row F1-F12) also noticeably heats up.

I will also draw your attention to the fact that in Cyberpunk the GeForce RTX 3060 in Turbo mode does not produce the 120 watts declared by the manufacturer. It is important to understand that the declared power for the GPU is the maximum value that is not achieved in all games. Much here depends on the software, laptop settings and features of its cooling system. While testing the ROG Zephyrus M16 GU603ZM, GPU power consumption in some games still occasionally increased to 120W.

And one more interesting observation: even when the Turbo mode is enabled, the PL1 value for the Core i7-12650H does not change and is 45 watts. In last year’s version of Zephyrus, this parameter was actively changed in the range from 45 to 90 watts for Rocket Lake processors. The ROG Zephyrus M16 GU603ZM 10-core received more severe power restrictions. With temporary activation of PL2 (115 W), the frequency of the P-cores is kept at 3.7 GHz, and the E-cores at 3.5 GHz. But when switching to PL1 mode, the frequency of productive and efficient cores drops to 2.8 / 2.3 GHz, respectively. It is clear that the Core i7-12650H in the ROG Zephyrus M16 GU603ZM is not able to constantly operate at a power of 115 W – the laptop’s cooling system simply does not pull such a load. However, the Zephyrus cooler would definitely cope with a 10-core Alder Lake with a power limit of about 70-80 W – albeit at the cost of high heat and noise.

Switching between Armory Crate modes in this case regulates the heating of the chip and the noise level of the cooler.

⇡#Performance

The performance of the GeForce RTX 3060 is already a well-explored phenomenon. The ROG Zephyrus M16 GU603ZM uses a GPU that runs almost at its maximum. Plus, the GDDR6 memory is not cut in frequency either (in some models, chips with a bandwidth of only 12 Gb / s are used). And yet we got very interesting test results.

For example, the review hero outperforms the MSI Sword 15 by 22%, 18%, and 13% in 3DMark Time Spy, 3DMark Fire Strike, and Superposition Benchmark, respectively. The difference is noticeable, and all because the graphics processor in the MSI laptop runs at a maximum power of 80 watts.
Since the ASUS laptop also uses a faster central processor, it is possible that in processor-dependent games we will get an even more impressive difference. So, according to our tests, MSI Sword 15 A11UE in GTA produces an average of 78 FPS in Full HD resolution, and ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16 GU603ZM – 97 FPS (+24%), but in a larger WUXGA resolution.

We also see the 120W GeForce RTX 3060 almost catching up with the 80W GeForce RTX 3070 in benchmarks and some games.

All in all, the ROG Zephyrus M16 GU603ZM is well suited for today’s games. Is that in Cyberpunk 2077 and Watch Dogs: Legion in WQXGA resolution there is a frankly low frame rate. You will either have to reduce the quality of the graphics even more, or turn on the most “soapy” DLSS modes.

DEATHLOOP constantly complains about the lack of video memory, however, in this game, the picture is quite smooth. However, it is possible that as you progress through the game, FPS drawdowns that are noticeable to the eye will still occur. In Far Cry 6, the low frame rate is due precisely to the lack of video memory – the game twitches noticeably at WQXGA resolution. The cure recipe is simple: you need to turn off HD textures. Finally, DOOM Eternal simply does not allow you to set the Absolute Nightmare graphics quality mode in the application settings – you have to be content with the Ultra preset.

All 2022 ROG laptops support MUX Switch technology. With the help of a multiplexer, the image is output directly from discrete graphics.

The ten-core Core i7-12650H has 16 threads – Hyper-Threading technology is enabled only in the P-cores of the processor, of which there are six, and four more E-cores work exclusively in single-threaded mode. To be honest, I still do not understand which processor this chip came to replace. The test results demonstrate a noticeable superiority of the Core i7-12650H over the Core i7-10870H. But the 8-core Core i7-11800H installed in the MSI Katana GF66 is still faster in most tasks.

However, it should be borne in mind that in the ROG Zephyrus M16 GU603ZM, the 10-core works with an enabled limit of 45 watts. For the same Core i7-11800H in the MSI laptop, the PL1 parameter is 200 W – the central processor operates at the power that the laptop cooler allows it to develop, which is 61-80 W. I’m sure that under the same conditions, the Core i7-12650H will easily outperform the 8-core Rocket Lake. In addition, the official replacement for the Core i7-11800H is still the Core i7-12800H, a 14-core Alder Lake family.

Below are the results of testing the laptop in the PCMARK 10 comprehensive benchmark.

⇡#Offline work

Let’s move on to testing the battery life of the laptop. All ROG Zephyrus M16 models come with a 90Wh battery. The model with Core i7 and GeForce RTX 3060 in Silent mode works for more than seven hours at a fairly high brightness of 200 cd/m². As for me, the result is very good. Plus, the laptop supports USB Power Delivery 3.0 – on business trips, it is not necessary to carry a large and heavy PSU with you.

The device supports the function of accelerated charging – in the off state, using the supplied power supply, you can charge the battery from 0 to 50% in just 30 minutes. A full charge cycle of the ROG Zephyrus M16 battery takes just under two hours.

⇡#Conclusions

Alder Lake mobile chips are definitely going to make a splash this year. Now even the youngest model in the series has at least eight cores, although it is necessary to make allowances for the fact that the cores in all Core 12 laptops have different designs and capabilities. However, it turns out that Intel’s mobile middle peasant – the 10-core Core i7-12650H – confidently competes with the chipmaker’s past flagships. As always, a lot here depends on the build quality of the laptop, and on the efficiency of its cooling system. In the same ROG Zephyrus M16, as we have already found out, the Core i7-12650H works in the default mode, but for sure we will meet laptop models (including from ASUS), in which Alder Lake chips, figuratively speaking, will get more freedom.

But the 2022 ROG Zephyrus M16 has got faster GPUs – together with the new Intel processors, ASUS mobile PCs have definitely become faster in games.

Otherwise, the novelty differs little from last year’s version. The ROG Zephyrus M16 GU603ZM is doing well in terms of build quality, case and materials, as well as functionality, upgradeability and onboard audio. The display is good and original, and the autonomy is sufficient for a gaming system with powerful CPUs and GPUs.