Alienware m17 R5 with AMD hardware reviewed: Suboptimal drivers unnecessarily slow down strong AMD gamer

We had been fairly excited concerning the all-AMD mannequin from Alienware, which Dell despatched us for a evaluate. After all, we often evaluate gaming laptops with the standard Intel Core i7-12700H, generally additionally a mannequin with i9-12900H and nearly all the time together with an Nvidia RTX graphics card.

As a reviewer, it may be an thrilling event when one thing completely different comes alongside as a substitute of the standard one-size-fits-all. A gamer with an AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX and an AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT, for instance. The latter falls roughly between the RTX 3070 and RTX 3080 within the efficiency class, however our gaming benchmarks reveal that it could even surpass an RTX 3080 Ti in chosen video games.

“Can” is the important thing phrase right here, as a result of the AMD combo is way too hardly ever in a position to unfold its full potential. In varied video games, the AMD group performs considerably beneath common. Sometimes the SmartAccess graphics switching within the m17 R5 would not work correctly and the sport is dealt with by the built-in graphics solely. Immature drivers appear to be one other downside.

All in all, it’s a pity that such a probably strong system is drastically slowed down by the numerous inconsistencies. AMD, alongside with Dell and Alienware, nonetheless has some optimization work and high quality management to do. Because I, as a reviewer and editor, would not less than prefer to see extra selection in gaming hardware sooner or later, which additionally works. 

A C64 marked my entry into the world of PCs. I spent my pupil internship within the restore division of a pc store and on the finish of the day I used to be allowed to assemble my very own 486 PC from “workshop remnants”. As a results of this, I later studied laptop science on the Humboldt University in Berlin, with psychology additionally being added to my research. After my first job as a analysis assistant on the college, I went to London for a 12 months and labored for Sega in laptop sport translation high quality assurance. This included engaged on video games akin to Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed and Company of Heroes. I’ve been writing for Notebookcheck since 2017.

Translator: Jacob Fisher – Translator – 148 articles printed on Notebookcheck since 2022

Growing up in regional Australia, I first turned acquainted with computer systems in my early teenagers after a damaged leg from a soccer (soccer) match quickly condemned me to a predominately indoor life-style. Soon afterwards I used to be constructing my very own techniques. Now I stay in Germany, having moved right here in 2014, the place I examine philosophy and anthropology. I’m notably fascinated by how laptop expertise has basically and dramatically reshaped human tradition, and the way it continues to take action.