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Review: Aorus X3 Plus

by Parm Mann on 20 August 2014, 16:30

Tags: AORUS, Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qachy5

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Test Methodology

Comparison Laptops

System Name Aorus X3 Plus Aorus X7 v2 MSI GS60 2PC-005UK PC Specialist Vortex GT
Form Factor 13.9in 17.3in 15.6in 15.6in
CPU Intel Core i7-4860HQ @ up to 3.6GHz Intel Core i7-4710HQ @ up to 3.5GHz Intel Core i7-4700HQ @ up to 3.4GHz Intel Core i7-4710MQ @ up to 3.5GHz
CPU Cores / Threads 4 / 8 4 / 8 4 / 8 4 / 8
CPU TDP 47W 47W 47W 47W
Memory 16GB DDR3 (2x8GB) 16GB DDR3 (2x8GB) 8GB DDR3 (1x8GB) 8GB DDR3 (1x8GB)
Memory Speed 1,600MHz at 11-11-11-28-1T 1,866MHz at 10-10-10-32-1T 1,600MHz at 11-11-11-28-1T 1,600MHz at 9-9-9-27-1T
Integrated GPU Intel Iris Pro 5200 - Intel HD 4600 Intel HD 4600
Dedicated GPU(s) Nvidia GeForce GTX 870M 6GB 2x Nvidia GeForce GTX 860M 4GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 860M 2GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 870M 6GB
Display 13.9in QHD+ LCD (3,200x1,800) 17.3in AUO219D Full-HD LCD (1,920x1,080) 15.6in SDC324C Full-HD LCD (1,920x1,080) 15.6in CMN15B1 Full-HD LCD (1,920x1,080)
Battery 73.26Wh Lithium Polymer 73.26Wh Lithium Polymer 52.89Wh Lithium Polymer 76.96Wh Lithium Ion
Wireless Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 Intel Centrino Wireless-N 135
Network Killer E2200 Gigabit Ethernet Killer E2200 Gigabit Ethernet Killer E2200 Gigabit Ethernet Realtek Gigabit Ethernet
Primary Storage 2 x 256GB LiteOn LGT-256M6G M.2 SSDs in RAID 0 3 x 128GB LiteOn M6M SSDs in RAID 0 128GB Toshiba THNSNH128G8NT M.2 SSD 120GB Kingston HyperX 3K 2.5in SSD
Secondary Storage - 1TB HGST Travelstar 7K1000 2.5in HDD 1TB HGST Travelstar 7K1000 2.5in HDD 1TB Seagate Laptop 2.5in SSHD
Optical Drive - - - -
Power Supply 180W External 200W External 150W External 180W External
Operating System Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-bit Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-bit Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-bit Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-bit
Dimensions (W x D x H) 330mm x 264mm x 22.9mm 428mm x 305mm x 22.9mm 390mm x 266mm x 19.95mm 376mm x 256mm x 35-43mm
Weight 1.87kg 3.20kg 1.96kg 3.20kg
Standard Warranty Two years Two years Two years Three years
Approx. System Cost £1,549 £1,750 £1,150 £999

CPU Benchmarks

HEXUS PiFast Our number-crunching PiFast test is used to benchmark the computational power of each system's CPU.
Cinebench Using Cinebench's multi-CPU render, this cross-platform benchmark stresses as many cores as possible.
HandBrake Free-to-use video encoder that stresses all CPU cores.

Memory and Storage Benchmarks

AIDA64 Benchmark that analyses memory bandwidth and latency.
CrystalDiskMark Popular free-to-use storage benchmark, used to gauge sequential performance and aggregated 4K QD32 speeds.

System and Gaming Benchmarks

PCMark 8 System-wide examination that uses the Home preset, run with OpenCL acceleration.
3DMark DX11, run at the Firestrike default test.
Aliens vs. Predator 1,920x1,080 resolution, 2xAA, 4xAF, medium quality.

Miscellaneous Benchmarks

Power Consumption Noted for system idling, under HandBrake video-transcoding load, and for GPU playing Aliens vs. Predator.
Temperature Noted for CPU idling, under HandBrake video-transcoding load, and for GPU playing Aliens vs. Predator.

Notes

The Aorus X3 Plus is the first sub-14in gaming laptop to be tested using our new benchmark suite. Yet, going by the specification, it should be a good match for some of the bigger-screened competition.