I tested the Doom: The Dark Ages path tracing update — the difference is night and day but my GPU got hotter than hell
Doom: The Dark Ages is not just a fantastically frenetic FPS to play, but it's also a graphical masterpiece — blending both the artistic inspiration of so many death metal album covers, and adopting advanced techniques to give your demon-slaying a real cinematic quality.
I didn't think it could look any better, but then I got to try out the path tracing patch and my mind was blown. You see, I've seen advanced ray tracing not really add much to games over the past few months. Cyberpunk is still neon-drenched whether you have it on or off, so what can it possibly add to something as dark as Doom?
Well, as it turns out, a lot. But at what cost to your GPU? I fired up my RTX 5070 Ti gaming tower and got to testing.
Still not near MSRP yet, but definitely heading in the right direction. If you're desperate for an RTX 5070 Ti and you're living in the U.S., this is the best price available right now.
Meanwhile, in the U.K., stock seems to be staying steady and the price is reflecting that with availability at RRP!
Path tracing (sometimes, you'll hear it called full ray tracing) is a new level in simulating light and reflective materials — let's break it down.
With ray tracing that you'd see on the likes of your PS5 Pro, you're getting pretty lights and reflections that simulate the physics of only one bounce of a light ray or reflection. To do more is incredibly taxing, but we're now at a point where gaming PCs are capable of it.
Stepping up to the next level, path tracing simulates how light interacts with objects in a much more complex way — packing multiple rays that bounce directly and indirectly off objects, calculates both reflections and refractions, and even works hand-in-hand with a game shadowing technique called ambient occlusion to provide real visual depth to a scene.
Dark Ages was already a feast for the eyes, but path tracing does indeed take it to a whole new level that I didn't expect.
Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.
The shadows of darker rooms without it could make things a little too dark, but the update brings a new brightness to things without looking like artificially placed lighting.
I was expecting this to be barely noticeable, but in reality the difference can be stark. In brightly-lit scenes, that may be the case, but since a lot of the game is gloomy, this is a real path tracing Tour de Force.
On top of that, the reflections in puddles (be it water or blood) or the refractions of light gleaming off the many weapons in your arsenal add a real cinematic quality to all your chaotic combat moments.
No longer does reflective surfaces or substances look like kitchen foil, and neither do rougher matte surfaces see any light bounce off. Everything interacts realistically, and it is a real sight to behold.
Just a quick heads-up on my time specifically with RTX 5070 Ti, though. Path tracing has a high cost to GPU memory and performance, so you're going to need DLSS 4, multi-frame gen and all the neural rendering techniques to keep the frame rate at a playable level for something fast like Doom.
Without them, this drops sharply to around the 25-30 FPS level, so please AI trickery is a must-use.
During my many hours of testing, I took readings at particularly GPU-intensive moments of the game to gather an RTX 5070 Ti average.
Path tracing setting
Frame rate
Latency
GPU temperature (Fahernheit)
Path tracing OFF
219 FPS
14.6 ms
138
Path tracing ON
136 FPS
24.4 ms
156
That's actually not as bad as I thought it was going to be, but that is still a hefty hit on frame rate in favor of path tracing. So it really becomes up to you on whether you're a detail hog of a frame rate connoisseur.
Based on these numbers, if you are on anything less than an RTX 5070 Ti, it becomes a sliding scale of how much you value that improved lighting and reflection quality vs the performance.
I'll have to continue testing on other GPUs to get a fuller picture, but given the average percentage gaps I've seen across them, you'll see a roughly 22% drop for RTX 5070 (with more of a risk of topping off that 12GB of video memory, and the demand on RTX 5060 Ti would just put too much of a strain on the lesser number of Tensor and RT cores.
One thing that did alarm me slightly were the increased temperatures on the 5070 Ti. It's not hitting my threshold of concern (180 degrees), and it didn't exceed this for any extended session I had of 3+ hours of gaming. But it's starting to wander a little close to it.
In the defense of my GPU, it's gotten unseasonably warm here — like I just came back from LA, and the U.K. is actually warmer than it was the entire week over in Cali! But regardless, that's a dramatic uplift in performance demand and GPU temperatures.
I turned on path tracing thinking it would just be like a 5% improvement for a big performance hit — flashier lights and nicer reflections that slowed down my demon-slaying antics a little too much. However, I couldn't have been more wrong.
Path tracing is the real deal and the difference is stark in terms of adding impressive levels of depth and drama to each scene. The way the lighting realistically illuminates and reflections bounce make every bloodsoaked moment look like the most epic metal album cover you've seen.
With all this in mind, is it worth the average 40% hit on your GPU's performance? The answer very much comes down to how important frame rate is to you. I do appreciate that uber-smoothness without path tracing turned — especially when parrying attacks.
But for what it does bring to the table, this is a gorgeous, gory glimpse of graphics going forward.
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Tom's Guide
3 days ago
- Tom's Guide
I tested the Doom: The Dark Ages path tracing update — the difference is night and day but my GPU got hotter than hell
Doom: The Dark Ages is not just a fantastically frenetic FPS to play, but it's also a graphical masterpiece — blending both the artistic inspiration of so many death metal album covers, and adopting advanced techniques to give your demon-slaying a real cinematic quality. I didn't think it could look any better, but then I got to try out the path tracing patch and my mind was blown. You see, I've seen advanced ray tracing not really add much to games over the past few months. Cyberpunk is still neon-drenched whether you have it on or off, so what can it possibly add to something as dark as Doom? Well, as it turns out, a lot. But at what cost to your GPU? I fired up my RTX 5070 Ti gaming tower and got to testing. Still not near MSRP yet, but definitely heading in the right direction. If you're desperate for an RTX 5070 Ti and you're living in the U.S., this is the best price available right now. Meanwhile, in the U.K., stock seems to be staying steady and the price is reflecting that with availability at RRP! Path tracing (sometimes, you'll hear it called full ray tracing) is a new level in simulating light and reflective materials — let's break it down. With ray tracing that you'd see on the likes of your PS5 Pro, you're getting pretty lights and reflections that simulate the physics of only one bounce of a light ray or reflection. To do more is incredibly taxing, but we're now at a point where gaming PCs are capable of it. Stepping up to the next level, path tracing simulates how light interacts with objects in a much more complex way — packing multiple rays that bounce directly and indirectly off objects, calculates both reflections and refractions, and even works hand-in-hand with a game shadowing technique called ambient occlusion to provide real visual depth to a scene. Dark Ages was already a feast for the eyes, but path tracing does indeed take it to a whole new level that I didn't expect. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. The shadows of darker rooms without it could make things a little too dark, but the update brings a new brightness to things without looking like artificially placed lighting. I was expecting this to be barely noticeable, but in reality the difference can be stark. In brightly-lit scenes, that may be the case, but since a lot of the game is gloomy, this is a real path tracing Tour de Force. On top of that, the reflections in puddles (be it water or blood) or the refractions of light gleaming off the many weapons in your arsenal add a real cinematic quality to all your chaotic combat moments. No longer does reflective surfaces or substances look like kitchen foil, and neither do rougher matte surfaces see any light bounce off. Everything interacts realistically, and it is a real sight to behold. Just a quick heads-up on my time specifically with RTX 5070 Ti, though. Path tracing has a high cost to GPU memory and performance, so you're going to need DLSS 4, multi-frame gen and all the neural rendering techniques to keep the frame rate at a playable level for something fast like Doom. Without them, this drops sharply to around the 25-30 FPS level, so please AI trickery is a must-use. During my many hours of testing, I took readings at particularly GPU-intensive moments of the game to gather an RTX 5070 Ti average. Path tracing setting Frame rate Latency GPU temperature (Fahernheit) Path tracing OFF 219 FPS 14.6 ms 138 Path tracing ON 136 FPS 24.4 ms 156 That's actually not as bad as I thought it was going to be, but that is still a hefty hit on frame rate in favor of path tracing. So it really becomes up to you on whether you're a detail hog of a frame rate connoisseur. Based on these numbers, if you are on anything less than an RTX 5070 Ti, it becomes a sliding scale of how much you value that improved lighting and reflection quality vs the performance. I'll have to continue testing on other GPUs to get a fuller picture, but given the average percentage gaps I've seen across them, you'll see a roughly 22% drop for RTX 5070 (with more of a risk of topping off that 12GB of video memory, and the demand on RTX 5060 Ti would just put too much of a strain on the lesser number of Tensor and RT cores. One thing that did alarm me slightly were the increased temperatures on the 5070 Ti. It's not hitting my threshold of concern (180 degrees), and it didn't exceed this for any extended session I had of 3+ hours of gaming. But it's starting to wander a little close to it. In the defense of my GPU, it's gotten unseasonably warm here — like I just came back from LA, and the U.K. is actually warmer than it was the entire week over in Cali! But regardless, that's a dramatic uplift in performance demand and GPU temperatures. I turned on path tracing thinking it would just be like a 5% improvement for a big performance hit — flashier lights and nicer reflections that slowed down my demon-slaying antics a little too much. However, I couldn't have been more wrong. Path tracing is the real deal and the difference is stark in terms of adding impressive levels of depth and drama to each scene. The way the lighting realistically illuminates and reflections bounce make every bloodsoaked moment look like the most epic metal album cover you've seen. With all this in mind, is it worth the average 40% hit on your GPU's performance? The answer very much comes down to how important frame rate is to you. I do appreciate that uber-smoothness without path tracing turned — especially when parrying attacks. But for what it does bring to the table, this is a gorgeous, gory glimpse of graphics going forward.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
This Asus ROG Strix G16 is the most powerful, affordable gaming laptop I've seen yet
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The Asus ROG Strix G16 (G614FR) brings something to the table that we haven't seen yet in this generation of gaming laptops, and it gave me high hopes as I booted it up for the first time. Powered by AMD's X3D variant CPU, it promises boosted gaming performance thanks to the company's clever 3D caching tech. You may not care about the how, but you will care about the results, and when the Strix G16 testing emerged from our labs, we were pleased to see its strong overall performance and solid Nvidia RTX 5070Ti graphics. The best gaming laptops have to deliver excellent performance, but it can't stop there, and the Strix has plenty more to back it up with a bouncy keyboard, ports aplenty, and a bright and reasonably vibrant IPS display. If you've been paying attention to the early RTX 50 series gaming laptops, you're waiting for the other shoe to drop, with a price tag north of $3,000. While the Strix isn't cheap, starting at $2,399, it's a value among its competitors, and upgrades aren't prohibitively expensive either. So, is the Asus ROG Strix G16 (G614FR) one of the best gaming laptops of this generation? Let's find out. Price: $2,399 starting, $2,499 as configured CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D GPU: Nvidia RTX 5070Ti with 12GB VRAM RAM: 32GB Storage: 1TB Display: 16-inch, 2560 x 1600, 240Hz, IPS Battery (HH:MM): 5:22 Dimensions: 13.94 x 10.39 x 0.89~1.20 inches Weight: 5.51 pounds Click to view full benchmark test results Asus ROG Strix G16 (G614FR) Geekbench 6 (Higher is better) 20,113 Handbrake conversion (Lower is better) 2:17 25GB File Transfer Test (Lower is better) 14.1 25GB File Transfer Test (SSD speed) 1,904 Heat (Degrees Fahrenheit) 100.8 Gaming Heat (Degrees Fahrenheit, 95 comfort threshold) 127.1 Battery life (Higher is better) 05:22 PCMark 10 Gaming Battery life (higher is better) 01:22 Display brightness (Higher is better) 449 sRGB color gamut (Higher is better) 112.5% DCI-P3 color gamut (Higher is better) 79.7% Color accuracy (Lower is better) 0.4 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra (Higher is better) 10,794 3DMark Time Spy Extreme (Higher is better) 8,577 Assassin's Creed: Mirage (1080p, fps) 132 Black Myth: Wukong (Cinematic, 1080p, fps) 53 Cyberpunk 2077 (1080p, fps) 53.75 Far Cry 6 (1080p, fps) 143 Monster Hunter Wilds (1080p, fps) 69.23 Red Dead Redemption II (Ultra, 1080p, fps) 51.697 Shadow of the Tomb Raider (1080p, fps) 151 Asus has multiple configurations of the Strix G16 available this year. From Intel to AMD models, with both new and older chipset variations, there is a Strix G16 that can suit your budget. But if you're looking for the Strix G16 (G14FR), there are two main configuration options, and they're not too different in price. The starting configuration costs $2,399 and gets you an AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX processor with an Nvidia RTX 5070Ti GPU with 12GB of VRAM, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 16-inch, 2560x1600, 240Hz, IPS display. Upgrading to the Ryzen 9 9955HX3D processor variant jumps the price up to $2,499. Our review configuration comes with the Ryzen 9 9955HX3D processor and upgraded memory to 32GB for a total of $2,499. Essentially getting the RAM upgrade for free. The Asus ROG Strix G16 is a thick, high-end gaming laptop with the aesthetics to match. While the Strix G16 doesn't have the wild AniMeVision cover panel LEDs of the Strix Scar models, but it does have a flashy RGB lightbar below the keyboard deck, and full RGB on the keyboard. The top panel and keyboard deck feature classic Republic of Gamers branding, including a darkened ROG logo and 'For those who dare' tagline on the top cover and ROG badging along the top of the keyboard deck. Outside of the aesthetics, the ROG Strix G16 is a bit on the chunky side, which, from a thermal perspective, is ideal for getting the best performance out of its hardware, but it makes it less portable than thinner 16-inch gaming laptops like the Razer Blade 16 (2025). Measuring 3.94 x 10.39 x 0.89~1.20 inches and weighing 5.51 pounds, the Strix G16 edges into that desktop replacement class of laptops, though it still maintains the portability of a 16-inch laptop chassis. So it can fit into most laptop backpacks for transport to your next in-person gaming session. While the Strix G16 isn't the lightest or thinnest 16-inch gaming laptop we've reviewed, it fits nicely in the same size range as other 16-inch gaming laptops like: Alienware 16 Area-51: 14.37 x 11.41 x 0.85~1.12 inches, 7.13 pounds Gigabyte Aorus Master 16: 14.05 x 10 x 0.91~1.18 inches, 5.5 pounds Lenovo Legion 7i Gen 9: 14.08 x 10.33 x 0.69 inches, 5.1 pounds Image 1 of 2 Image 2 of 2 Asus has made sure to include plenty of ports on the Strix G16, which should be more than enough for all your gaming accessories: 1x USB 4 Type-C (DisplayPort, Power Delivery, Nvidia G-Sync) 1x USB 4 Type-C (DisplayPort, Nvidia G-Sync) 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A 1x HDMI 2.1 FRL 1x RJ45 ethernet 1x audio combo jack This should be enough ports for most people, though streamers may still want to invest in one of the best laptop docking stations or USB-C hubs to connect additional monitors, a professional webcam, a studio microphone, or a Stream Deck in addition to any gaming accessories. Thanks to Nvidia's investment in its BatteryBoost tech, the Strix G16 lasts a bit longer than previous generations while gaming. As we usually see with high-powered gaming laptops, the Strix G16 isn't a threat to the laptops with the best battery life, but it does last long enough for you to work on battery power before needing to find an outlet. I didn't have much hope the Strix G16 would last more than a handful of hours when unplugged, at best. Just going about my usual workday meant I needed to hunt down a charger after just over three and a half hours of writing and video call meetings. The Strix G16 lasted just 5 hours and 22 minutes on the Laptop Mag web surfing test, which is about what I expected from my hands-on testing. Thanks to Nvidia's investment in its BatteryBoost tech, the Strix G16 lasts a bit longer than previous generations while gaming. The Strix managed to survive for 1 hour and 22 minutes on the PCMark 10 gaming battery test, which is more competitive compared to other 50-series laptops, like the Alienware Area-51 compared to its 40-series counterparts. Click to view chart data in table format Asus ROG Strix G16 (G614FR) Alienware 16 Area-51 Gigabyte Aorus Master 16 Lenovo Legion 7i Gen 9 Battery life (Higher is better) 05:22 04:10 05:02 03:01 PCMark 10 Gaming Battery life (higher is better) 01:22 01:51 02:54 00:47 Our Strix G16 (G614FR) review unit features a 16-inch, 2560 x 1600, 240Hz matte IPS panel. Thanks to the Strix's matte panel, it's relatively glare-proof, which is ideal for gaming, so you don't need to worry about missing your next shot because of a poorly placed lamp. In order to test the Strix G16's display, I booted up Avowed to see how well the Strix's IPS panel handles the Fort Northreach beach with its broad color palette. While our lab testing indicated the display wasn't super vibrant, I had no complaints about how well the Strix handled the corals along the shipwrecked shoreline, with bright, crisp reds and oranges bursting against the storm gray skies in a stunning contrast. Our lab testing rated the Strix G16 at 79.7% coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut, with an average peak brightness of 449 nits, which is bright and vibrant enough for most games. While the Strix doesn't have all the high-contrast benefits of an OLED or MiniLED display panel, its IPS-level LCD does have Pantone Validation for color, and supports Dolby HDR so it's far from a disappointment. Click to view chart data in table format. Asus ROG Strix G16 (G614FR) Alienware 16 Area-51 Gigabyte Aorus Master 16 Lenovo Legion 7i Gen 9 Display brightness (Higher is better) 449 516 378 478 sRGB color gamut (Higher is better) 112.5% 115.2% 114.3% 115.2% DCI-P3 color gamut (Higher is better) 79.7% 81.6% 81.0% 81.6% Color accuracy (Lower is better) 0.4 0.2 0.23 0.3 The Asus ROG laptops tend to have good keyboards, and the Strix G16 is no exception. The Asus ROG laptops tend to have good keyboards, and the Strix G16 is no exception. While it is a Chiclet style keyboard, the Strix G16's keys have a nice bounce to them and don't feel mushy, with a satisfying level of key travel to each press, so you don't bottom out your fingers on the keyboard. Chiclet keyboards also tend to be quieter than mechanical switches, which can save your raid team from hearing each individual keysmash during tense encounters. On the advanced typing test, I averaged 86 words per minute (wpm) on the Strix's Chiclet keyboard, which is just below my average of 88 wpm on the Apple MacBook Pro 14. Asus has centered the touchpad on the keyboard deck, rather than on the space bar, which I prefer from an aesthetic point of view. And since the Strix's touchpad is on the large side, measuring 5.4 x 3.4 inches, it's got enough crossover with the spacebar that you shouldn't have any kind of learning curve. The touchpad offers a smooth feel with just the right amount of resistance for precise control. The very top of the touchpad isn't clickable, though you can click just a half-inch down from the top edge, which isn't too bad. Then again, I rarely click the top-half of a touchpad, so I didn't notice it much in my day-to-day use of the Strix. The volume wasn't too explosive, but it was more than enough for some solid gaming immersion. Asus equipped the ROG Strix G16 with a dual-speaker system with Smart Amplifier Technology, to get more volume out of fewer speakers. The sound system also boasts Dolby Atmos tuning, though the Strix's Hi-Res audio certification is applicable for headphones so you might want to invest in a quality pair of the best headphones or an external sound system rather than rely on the built-in audio. That said, the Strix's audio is crisp. I was easily able to discern the individual string instruments that make up the orchestra behind Avowed's title theme with perfect clarity. The volume wasn't too explosive, but it was more than enough for some solid gaming immersion. Though that also depends a bit on the game. Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail is notorious for having a very high default volume, and I ended up having to drop the volume below 45 percent to keep the audio at a sensible level while still covering the sound of the Strix's cooling system. Boasting desktop-quality performance, the Ryzen 9 9955HX3D processor is more than sufficient for just about any task. As for all-around performance, the Strix features AMD's most powerful gaming CPU for this generation, the Ryzen 9 9955HX3D 'Fire Range' chip. Boasting desktop-quality performance, the Ryzen 9 9955HX3D processor is more than sufficient for just about any task. As for my hands-on testing, nothing I threw at the Strix really made the fans kick on. From e-mail and spreadsheet management with 20+ Chrome tabs open to Photoshop object selection, I had no hangups of slowdowns with the Strix G16. With its powerful Ryzen 9 and RTX 5070 Ti combo, the Strix is capable of handling any photo or video editing you might need, and it can also double as a solid choice for handling your STEM data sets if you need to use it for any engineering classes. Once the fans do kick on, the Strix G16 can be a bit loud, but not to the same level as the MSI Raider 18 HX. But those fans are needed, as the Strix runs hot under pressure. While gaming, the Strix G16 hit a peak temperature of 127.1 degrees Fahrenheit near the F4 key while the center of the keyboard hit 92.8 degrees, which means you'll want to be careful of your fingertips during long gaming sessions. Click to view chart data in table format. Asus ROG Strix G16 (G614FR) Alienware 16 Area-51 Gigabyte Aorus Master 16 Lenovo Legion 7i Gen 9 Geekbench 6 (Higher is better) 20,113 20,498 19,175 17,261 Handbrake conversion (Lower is better) 2:17 02:00 2:18 03:08 25GB File Transfer Test (Lower is better) 14.1 23.36 40.4 15.75 25GB File Transfer Test (SSD speed) 1,904 1,150 665 1,705 Heat (Degrees Fahrenheit) 100.8 92.9 94.3 89 Gaming Heat (Degrees Fahrenheit, 95 comfort threshold) 127.1 118.7 116.8 100 The ROG Strix G16 is a 280W system, so it can drive plenty of power... The ROG Strix G16 is a 280W system, so it can drive plenty of power to its onboard AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D processor and Nvidia RTX 5070Ti GPU, which offers a smooth, solid gaming experience, especially at the Strix's max resolution of 1600p. The Strix G16 gets framerates well above 100 fps at 1080p resolution on games like Assassin's Creed Mirage, Borderlands 3, and DiRT 5. More demanding titles like Black Myth: Wukong and Cyberpunk 2077 will see those frame rates drop to 53 fps. With the Strix's RTX 5070Ti GPU, you can also enable software upscaling like DLSS 4 and frame generation, which can offer a smoother experience with poorly optimized games like Avowed and Monster Hunter Wilds. This is especially useful if you're gaming at max resolution, or if you use the Strix to power a high-res gaming monitor With DLSS 4 enabled at max 1600p resolution and the Ultra graphics presets, I was easily able to keep a stable 85 fps in Doom: The Dark Ages. That rate jumped up to 187 fps with frame generation enabled. While 85 fps is certainly playable, it's nowhere near as smooth as 187 fps. I saw similar improvements in Avowed, going from 70 fps at 1600p on Epic settings with only DLSS 4 to 114 fps with frame generation also toggled on. Without either, the game was hitting about 43 fps in terms of just pure Silicon performance. Of course, if you plan to play a lot of competitive games where super sampling tech like DLSS 4 or FSR can be problematic, dropping your game resolution down to 1200 or 1080p will get you better framerates, as will opting for more mid-range graphics presets. Click to view chart data in table format. Asus ROG Strix G16 (G614FR) Alienware 16 Area-51 Gigabyte Aorus Master 16 Lenovo Legion 7i Gen 9 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra (Higher is better) 10,794 14,073 13,695 6,423 3DMark Time Spy Extreme (Higher is better) 8,577 10,558 10,097 5,526 Assassin's Creed: Mirage (1080p, fps) 132 149 145 98 Black Myth: Wukong (Cinematic, 1080p, fps) 53 58 52 Cyberpunk 2077 (1080p, fps) 53.75 62.94 61.52 34.51 Far Cry 6 (1080p, fps) 143 121 120 96 Monster Hunter Wilds (1080p, fps) 69.23 82.82 85.67 Red Dead Redemption II (Ultra, 1080p, fps) 51.697 78.348 41.806 Shadow of the Tomb Raider (1080p, fps) 151 183 185 162 As the Strix G16 features an AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D CPU rather than a Ryzen AI 300 series processor, it doesn't meet the requirements for Microsoft's Copilot+ suite of AI features. In fact, the Ryzen 9 9955HX3D doesn't have an integrated NPU at all, so any AI you run off the Strix G16 will be using either the CPU or GPU to run the workload. That doesn't mean the Strix G16 can't run AI. It has access to Nvidia's various RTX AI features like ChatRTX and RTX Remix with its 50-series GPU after all. But it does mean the Strix won't bother you with a chatbot unless you go out of your way to install one. The ROG Strix G16 features a 1080p webcam, so it's suitable for Windows Hello sign-in, and can handle the occasional video call or virtual meeting. The camera feed is, as usual, on the dim and grainy side, with a tendency to drop a pink cast over skin tones, but it's far from the worst we've seen. Most colors appear as they should on the webcam feed, just darker than I'd prefer. If you plan to use the Strix for a lot of video calls or streaming, we'd recommend using one of the best webcams instead of the onboard camera. The Strix G16 comes with Windows 11 Home installed, which includes a number of standard Windows apps already installed, like Microsoft Copilot, Office 365, and the Xbox App. Asus has included the ArmouryCrate app to control your power profiles and settings and the MyAsus App for more general controls. Asus has also pre-installed the ROG Aura software for controlling your RGB customization, and the Aura Wallpaper Generator to create custom desktop backgrounds. The number of pre-installed Windows applications is constantly growing, and Asus has installed a decent chunk of proprietary software. Between Microsoft, AMD, Nvidia, and Asus there are a lot of programs pre-installed. Most are utility-based, however, so this doesn't really count as bloatware, but it's far from a clean Windows installation. The Strix includes a 1-year service warranty. The ROG Strix G16 is the kind of gaming laptop that makes you wonder why other gaming laptops even bother. The ROG Strix G16 is the kind of gaming laptop that makes you wonder why other gaming laptops even bother. Sure, we've seen stronger performance from some of the other gaming laptops this gen, but many of those were nearly twice the price of the ROG Strix G16. While the Alienware 16 Area-51 is our most affordable RTX 5080 laptop, it's still a good $500 more expensive than the Strix G16. And the Strix weighs two pounds less, making it a much better choice if you need to travel with your gaming laptop occasionally. Of course, if portability is your key requirement and you've got the cash to spare, then the Razer Blade 16 (2025) is still the way to go. After all, the Blade 16 is ultra-lightweight and sports a more powerful GPU, up to the Nvidia RTX 5090. And it gets far better battery life than the Alienware or the Strix. But if you're looking for the best balance of performance, price, and portability, it's hard to do better than the ROG Strix G16 (G614FR).
Newsweek
13-06-2025
- Newsweek
PS5 Finally Has More Players Than PS4, Almost Five Years After Launch
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Entertainment gossip and news from Newsweek's network of contributors The current console generation has been a bit different than those that came before. While previous generations have seen releases for older consoles gradually discontinued, the current generation still sees a lot of high-profile games get PS4 versions, despite PS5 being far more powerful. A PS5 on display A PS5 on display Photo byWe finally have a sense of why that is, as in a new business report from Sony, it has been revealed that the PS5 has more monthly players for the first time since the console's launch in November 2020, as reported by VGC. This is a step up from last year, where a similar report showed that the PS5 to PS4 monthly player ratio was an almost perfect 50/50 split at 49 million players each. A slide from Sony showing a graph of PS5 vs PS4 monthly players and their spend per console. A slide from Sony showing a graph of PS5 vs PS4 monthly players and their spend per console. Sony There are a lot of possible reasons behind this. Some critics say that Sony's lineup of PS5 exclusive titles has been weaker than previous generations, with plenty of PS4 versions of games, meaning older players don't feel the need to make the upgrade. Price is also a potential issue, as both games and consoles are getting more expensive as time goes on, with Sony most recently releasing the PS5 Pro at an eye-watering price point of $699.99, and prices are only expected to go up as we approach the PS6 in the next few years. Either way, Sony is viewing a multi-generational player base as a positive, as CEO and SIE president Hideaki Nishino explained during the presentation, "We now have a large ecosystem of highly engaged players across both the PlayStation 5 and the PlayStation 4 generations, so naturally, therfore, there's a huge interest in our next generation console strategy." This gives the impression that even when the PS6 does get revealed, Sony still has every intention of continuing to invest in the PS5, and possibly even the PS4 as well.
