Asus Strix GL502VM-DB71 Gaming Laptop Review

Synthetic And Productivity Benchmarks

We compared the Asus Strix GL502VM-DB71 to other similarly-equipped laptops in the same price range. We included statistics from the MSI GP62MVR Leopard Pro, which sports the same Intel Core i7-6700HQ processor and a similar memory configuration. However, the Asus is slightly different, with 8GB of RAM onboard and a single SO-DIMM slot occupied with 8GB DDR4-2133, for a total of 16GB. MSI also chops the VRAM capacity of the Leopard in half with a 3GB GTX 1060.

The Alienware 15 features an Intel Core i5-6300HQ processor, 8GB of DDR4-2133, and a 6GB version of the GTX 1060 (same as the Strix). We also included the Gigabyte P37X v6 (Core i7-6700HQ, 16GB DDR4-2400) to see the performance difference between GTX 1060 and GTX 1070-equipped gaming laptops.

3DMark

The Asus Strix GL502VM-DB71 performs admirably in 3DMark Fire Strike, overpowering the Alienware 15 and coming close to the Leopard Pro with its Overall score. The Alienware narrowly outperforms the Strix and Leopard in the Graphics test, but the i5-6300HQ processor inside hinders its Physics performance, which tanks the Combined and Overall score compared to the other GTX 1060-equipped laptops. Although it was by a negligible margin, the Asus Strix GL502VM bested the Gigabyte P37X v6 in the Physics test. Otherwise, the P37X is unchallenged in the 1080p benchmark.

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Fire Strike Extreme cranks the resolution up to 2560 x 1440, and the Strix overtakes the Leopard in the Overall and Graphics tests thanks to a larger GPU frame buffer (the Leopard only has 3GB VRAM). The Physics scores line up similarly to the Fire Strike (1920 x 1080) results, with the Strix beating out the P37X. Time Spy follows suit in this trend, with the Strix achieving the highest CPU score and beating out the other GTX 1060-equipped laptops in the Overall score.

Cinebench R15

The Strix outperforms the other GTX 1060s on our chart across the board in the Cinebench R15 test. It even bests the Gigabyte P37X (with a GTX 1070) in the OpenGL shading test. Similar to the Physics and CPU results in the 3DMark benchmarks, the Strix surprises us with scores coming within striking distance of the P37X. However, in our thermal tests with the Gigabyte laptop, it ran quite hot, so thermal throttling comes into play here.

CompuBench

CompuBench measures your system with three computer vision tests: two physics tests, one graphics test, and one throughput test. The Video Composition and Bitcoin results measure video processing and integer performance of the CPU and GPU.

The Strix is once again on top of the GTX 1060 heap, besting the Leopard and Alienware laptops. The results also show a negligible performance difference between the Strix and the Leopard (20.23 MHash/s), which both sport a Core i7-6700HQ. They both perform better than the Alienware 15, but the Gigabyte P37X sits at the top of the chart.

Disk Speed

The Asus Strix GL502VM finishes on top in the 4K random read tests, but it falls to the bottom in the sequential read/write benchmark. However, all of these laptops perform within the same ballpark, especially since each sports a 7,200RPM HDD. With its SSD storage outperforming the HDD-equipped notebooks by over a factor of 10, the Gigabyte P37X is excluded from this chart.

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PCMark 8

The PCMark 8 results are neck and neck, with the Strix narrowly falling short of the Leopard Pro in the Creative tests. However, the Strix GL502VM scores the highest in the Office test, with the Gigabyte P37X falling behind the GTX 1060-equipped laptops (we've touched on this in our previous reviews, noting that we've re-tested and accounted for variables like base and boost clock frequency, vendor drivers, and thermal throttling). However, the difference in scores doesn't equate to huge performance gains, and all of the systems on this chart (with the exception of the Alienware 15) perform in the same ballpark.