AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16-Core CPU Lands in XMG Apex 15 Gaming Laptop

Schenker XMG Apex 15

Schenker XMG Apex 15 (Image credit: Schenker)

German manufacturer Schenker has revealed the company's latest XMG Apex 15, as per a ComputerBase report. The system aims to be one of the best gaming laptops by offering desktop-type performance in a mobile format.

The XMG Apex 15 measures 14.2 x 10.2 x 1.3 inches (361 x 258 x 32.5mm) and weighs up to 5.7 pounds (2.6kg). The device flaunts a robust exterior, including a metal lid and a display frame, top and bottom case made of resin. 

The XMG Apex 15 utilizes AMD's B450 chipset to house the flagship AMD Ryzen 9 3950X desktop CPU. The processor brings nothing less than 16 CPU cores, 32 threads and a whopping 64MB of L3 cache. However, a few sacrifices had to be made to make the Ryzen 9 3950X more mobile-friendly. The XMG Apex 15 operates the Ryzen 9 3950X in its Eco-Mode, which forces to chip to stick to a 2.6 GHz base clock and 4.2 GHz boost clock to run within the 65W envelope, as opposed to its native 3.5 / 4.7 GHz. 

Schenker's gaming laptop features a 15.6-inch IPS panel at 1080p resolution and a 144 Hz refresh rate. To push the high-refresh rate display, the company allows you to choose between the an RTX 2060 or RTX 2070. These aren't the mobile or Max-Q variants either, so you'll get full desktop-level performance from either of the graphics cards.

Schenker XMG Apex 15

Schenker XMG Apex 15 (Image credit: Schenker)

The laptop comes with two SODIMM DDR4 RAM slots and can hold up to 64GB of memory total. 

There are three storage options. The machine has two M.2 2280 ports. One utilizes the PCIe 3.0 x4 interface, and the other uses PCIe 2.0 x4. There's also space for a 2.5-inch hard drive or SSD with a maximum height of 0.3 inch (7mm).

The XMG Apex 15 has one USB 2.0 Type-A port, two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port, one headphone out and one microphone-in jack. Display outputs include one Mini DisplayPort 1.4 output with support for Nvidia G-Sync and one HDMI 2.0 port with HDCP 2.2. There's a Realtek Gigabit Ethernet port for internet connectivity, as well as Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5 functionality.

The laptop's other features consist of a backlit keyboard with a numeric keypad that offers 15 different color options, stereo speakers, Microsoft Precision Touchpad with two buttons, integrated microSD card reader, HD webcam that's compatible with Windows Hello and a fingerprint reader.

The XMG Apex 15 is equipped with a 62 Wh Li-ion battery. Being the powerhouse that it is, the gaming laptop draws power through a 230W power brick.

The base configuration, which features the RTX 2060, 8GB of DDR4-2666 Corsair Vengeance RAM and a 250GB  Samsung 860 Evo M.2 SSD starts at €1,337 (~$1,470). 

Zhiye Liu
RAM Reviewer and News Editor

Zhiye Liu is a Freelance News Writer at Tom’s Hardware US. Although he loves everything that’s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.

  • Dragos Manea
    Too chunky for a notebook. In my opinion this is a useless notebook.
    Reply
  • salgado18
    Dragos Manea said:
    Too chunky for a notebook. In my opinion this is a useless notebook.
    You want a 16-core notebook with desktop-class gpus to be light and thin?
    Reply
  • Chris Fetters
    Author made a mistake. It's a 16-core/32-thread CPU, NOT 8-core/16-thread... That's kind of a big deal.
    Reply
  • OriginFree
    Dragos Manea said:
    Too chunky for a notebook. In my opinion this is a useless notebook.

    It's more of a desktop replacement instead of a Apple Air wannabe.

    I actually prefer real laptops with all the ports and decent cooling that doesn't throttle the system after 30 seconds.

    My issue is the 15" screen. I went 17" 3 laptops ago and won't go back. I wonder why there isn't more 17" gaming laptops as it would give more room for cooling ... for that matter why not 19"+ ultra-wides with a full keyboard?

    I guess I'm that niche guy in the niche market that wants a 20"+ Ultra-wide laptop with huge performance ... ideally for less than $3,000. Ya I know dreaming on that one.
    Reply
  • icedeocampo
    salgado18 said:
    You want a 16-core notebook with desktop-class gpus to be light and thin?

    Yes, of course :-)
    Reply
  • XMG Support
    OriginFree said:
    It's more of a desktop replacement instead of a Apple Air wannabe.

    I actually prefer real laptops with all the ports and decent cooling that doesn't throttle the system after 30 seconds.

    My issue is the 15" screen. I went 17" 3 laptops ago and won't go back. I wonder why there isn't more 17" gaming laptops as it would give more room for cooling ...

    Thank you for your question. We don't have 17" version of this particular AMD chassis planned yet, but there will be a successor to our XMG ULTRA 17 which has already been teased by LinusTechTips.

    If you have more questions about XMG APEX 15, you will find a big FAQ right here.

    Of course we're also happy to answer any of your questions right here at Tom's Hardware.

    Cheers,
    Tom
    Reply
  • MJAU
    I cant understand why they try to cram it into a 15" , its too little room for efficient cooling that also means less noice from fans.
    Give us 17 to 20" options so the 3950x dont have to throttle.
    Reply
  • XMG Support
    Thank you for your feedback, @MJAU.

    Please rest assured, the 15" is perfectly capable to avoid thermal throttling.

    After 15min of Prime95 (Small FTT's), the R9 3900 is still running at 3.5GHz on all 12 Cores with only ~82°C CCD1 temperature.

    In Furmark+Prime with R9 3950X, the CPU Temperature rises to only 90°C which is still below throttling point.

    Or to put this into performance results:


    17" would not make such a big difference on cooling. The empty air volume might increase, but the heatpipes get longer and you don't want to increase the thickness, so you can't use much thicker fans either.

    Currently there is no plan for a 17" on this platform. But if XMG APEX 15 sells well, I'm sure the ODM will consider it when they update their roadmap later this year.

    Cheers,
    Tom

    p/s. Feel free to follow our subreddit at /r/XMG_gg for more in-depth discussion.
    Reply
  • Olle P
    OriginFree said:
    ... I wonder why there isn't more 17" gaming laptops as it would give more room for cooling ...
    That's an idea. Larger screens, still at 1080p to keep GPU requirements, would allow both for more cooling and a full size keyboard.
    Reply
  • JamesSneed
    Dragos Manea said:
    Too chunky for a notebook. In my opinion this is a useless notebook.

    LOL This has more cores than Intel offers outside of server chips and you want it to be light :)
    Reply