Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 RTX 5090 comes in slower than many older RTX 4090 laptops

Some of the first laptops with GeForce RTX 5090 graphics would target high TGP values of 160 W or greater to represent the upper-end of what the mobile GPU is capable of. The new Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 GU605CX, pictured above, however, targets a lower TGP of just 120 W to be a "midrange" RTX 5090 option. While still a very capable of gaming machine, graphics performance suffers significantly to the point where most RTX 4090 laptops can outperform the Asus.

As detailed in our recent review of the Zephyrus model and the graphs below, the 120 W RTX 5090 in the 16-inch Asus performs 25 to 30 percent slower than the 175 W RTX 5090 in the 16-inch Schenker Neo 16. The deficit is so wide that even the average RTX 4090 laptop in our database can outperform the Zephyrus by up to 10 percent according to 3DMark benchmarks.

The news becomes worse when running actual games as the mobile RTX 4090 would outperform the RTX 5090-powered Zephyrus by wider margins even at 1080p. Titles like Final Fantasy XV, Baldur's Gate 3, Cyberpunk 2077, Monster Hunter Wilds, and Assassin's Creed Shadows can run anywhere between 5 and 35 percent faster on older RTX 4090 laptops and CPUs when compared to the newer Zephyrus sans any DLSS enhancements.

Of course, it's worth mentioning that the new Zephyrus 16 is slimmer, lighter, and sleeker than many competing 16-inch gaming laptops which necessitated a tighter power envelope for the GPU. Whether or not that justifies the cost to performance, however, depends on the buyer.