Gigabyte G5 GD in review: Affordable gaming laptop without Windows

Its configuration (Core i5-11400H, GeForce RTX 3050) and pricing (around 750 Euros (~$848)) position the Gigabyte G5 GD as an entry-level gaming laptop. Competitors include devices like the Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH, the MSI GF65 Thin 10UE, and the Dell G15 5515.
We won't go into further details regarding the case, connectivity, input devices, and speakers in this review. The corresponding information can be found in the review of the identically built Gigabyte G5 KC.
Possible contenders in comparison
Rating | Date | Model | Weight | Height | Size | Resolution | Price |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
81.7 % v7 (old) | 11 / 2021 | Gigabyte G5 GD i5-11400H, GeForce RTX 3050 4GB Laptop GPU | 2.1 kg | 31.6 mm | 15.60" | 1920x1080 | |
82.7 % v7 (old) | 10 / 2021 | Dell G15 5515 R7 5800H, GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU | 2.4 kg | 24.9 mm | 15.60" | 1920x1080 | |
83.4 % v7 (old) | 09 / 2021 | Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH-82JU00C6GE-FL R7 5800H, GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU | 2.5 kg | 26 mm | 15.60" | 1920x1080 | |
80.4 % v7 (old) | 03 / 2021 | MSI GF65 Thin 10UE i7-10750H, GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU | 1.9 kg | 21.7 mm | 15.60" | 1920x1080 |
SD Card Reader | |
average JPG Copy Test (av. of 3 runs) | |
Average of class Gaming (19 - 197.3, n=78, last 2 years) | |
Gigabyte G5 GD (AV PRO microSD 128 GB V60) | |
Gigabyte G5 KC (AV PRO microSD 128 GB V60) | |
maximum AS SSD Seq Read Test (1GB) | |
Average of class Gaming (25.8 - 269, n=78, last 2 years) | |
Gigabyte G5 GD (AV PRO microSD 128 GB V60) | |
Gigabyte G5 KC (AV PRO microSD 128 GB V60) |

Display - 144 Hz IPS
While the contrast (1,374:1) of the matte 15.6-inch display (1920x1080 pixels) meets the target (> 1,000:1), the average brightness (245.7 cd/m²) is too low. We consider values beyond 300 cd/m² to be good. The 144 Hz panel has poor response times. PWM flickering was not observed.
|
Brightness Distribution: 87 %
Center on Battery: 261 cd/m²
Contrast: 1374:1 (Black: 0.19 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 3.9 | 0.5-29.43 Ø4.89, calibrated: 3.24
ΔE Greyscale 2.7 | 0.5-98 Ø5.1
43.2% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
62.3% sRGB (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
41.8% Display P3 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
Gamma: 2.248
Gigabyte G5 GD Chi Mei N156HRA-EA1, IPS, 1920x1080, 15.6" | Dell G15 5515 BOE092A, IPS, 1920x1080, 15.6" | Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH-82JU00C6GE-FL B156HAN12.H, , 1920x1080, 15.6" | MSI GF65 Thin 10UE AU Optronics B156HAN08.4, IPS, 1920x1080, 15.6" | Gigabyte G5 KC LM156LF-1F02, IPS, 1920x1080, 15.6" | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Display | -7% | 56% | -10% | 60% | |
Display P3 Coverage | 41.8 | 39.1 -6% | 65.4 56% | 37.65 -10% | 68.2 63% |
sRGB Coverage | 62.3 | 56.9 -9% | 96.3 55% | 56.3 -10% | 96.7 55% |
AdobeRGB 1998 Coverage | 43.2 | 40.4 -6% | 67.5 56% | 38.9 -10% | 69.6 61% |
Response Times | 28% | 60% | -22% | 63% | |
Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% * | 34.4 ? | 25.2 ? 27% | 13.6 ? 60% | 36.8 ? -7% | 10 ? 71% |
Response Time Black / White * | 23.2 ? | 16.8 ? 28% | 9.2 ? 60% | 31.6 ? -36% | 10.4 ? 55% |
PWM Frequency | 200 ? | ||||
Screen | -26% | 2% | -12% | -24% | |
Brightness middle | 261 | 278 7% | 350 34% | 266.5 2% | 295 13% |
Brightness | 246 | 262 7% | 350 42% | 262 7% | 275 12% |
Brightness Distribution | 87 | 83 -5% | 96 10% | 91 5% | 86 -1% |
Black Level * | 0.19 | 0.36 -89% | 0.3 -58% | 0.18 5% | 0.23 -21% |
Contrast | 1374 | 772 -44% | 1167 -15% | 1481 8% | 1283 -7% |
Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 3.9 | 5.74 -47% | 3.9 -0% | 5.33 -37% | 5.21 -34% |
Colorchecker dE 2000 max. * | 19.26 | 19.63 -2% | 8.2 57% | 18.28 5% | 14.03 27% |
Colorchecker dE 2000 calibrated * | 3.24 | 4.7 -45% | 1.6 51% | 4.36 -35% | 1.73 47% |
Greyscale dE 2000 * | 2.7 | 3.1 -15% | 5.5 -104% | 4.5 -67% | 9.4 -248% |
Gamma | 2.248 98% | 2.011 109% | 2.15 102% | 2.35 94% | 2.046 108% |
CCT | 6828 95% | 6207 105% | 7414 88% | 6289 103% | 8002 81% |
Color Space (Percent of AdobeRGB 1998) | 35.6 | ||||
Color Space (Percent of sRGB) | 55.8 | ||||
Total Average (Program / Settings) | -2% /
-14% | 39% /
22% | -15% /
-13% | 33% /
7% |
* ... smaller is better
Out of the box, color reproduction deviates slightly from the target. However, this is not noticeable. Calibration only provides minor improvements. Furthermore, the panel doesn't suffer from a blue tint. The display can't represent the AdobeRGB (43%), sRGB (62%), and DCI-P3 (42%) color spaces.
Display Response Times
↔ Response Time Black to White | ||
---|---|---|
23.2 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 13.2 ms rise | |
↘ 10 ms fall | ||
The screen shows good response rates in our tests, but may be too slow for competitive gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.1 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 49 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (20.9 ms). | ||
↔ Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey | ||
34.4 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 16.4 ms rise | |
↘ 18 ms fall | ||
The screen shows slow response rates in our tests and will be unsatisfactory for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.165 (minimum) to 636 (maximum) ms. » 44 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is similar to the average of all tested devices (32.7 ms). |
Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)
Screen flickering / PWM not detected | |||
In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 8619 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 343500) Hz was measured. |
Performance - Gigabyte laptop with full RTX 3050 performance
The Gigabyte G5 GD is a 15.6-inch gaming laptop that brings every modern game smoothly onto the screen.
Test conditions
The preinstalled Control Center allows choosing a performance profile (see table), among other things. We used the "Entertainment Mode" profile including automatic fan control. We also performed some benchmarks under the "Performance Mode" and "Power Saving Mode" profiles. The results can be found in the comparison tables.
Performance Mode | Entertainment Mode | Power Saving Mode | Silent Mode | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Power Limit 1 | 60 watts | 45 watt | 30 watts | 15 watts |
Power Limit 2 | 135 watts | 109 watts | 30 watts | 30 watts |
Self-help advice: BIOS problems with the G5 GD
The test device provided to us exhibited a problem: CPU throttling while running 3D applications. This was reflected in choppy games - sometimes to a greater extent, sometimes to a lesser extent. It was possible to trace the problem back to the BIOS: Out of the seven BIOS versions released so far, only the first three versions (FB01 to FB03) work without problems - our test device was shipped with BIOS version FB07. Therefore, we ultimately chose to install BIOS version FB03 to carry out our testing.
Windows 10 or Windows 11 - It depends on the BIOS version
The G5 is only compatible with Windows 11 starting with BIOS version FB06. Earlier versions cause the laptop to freeze even before the actual boot of a previously installed Windows 11 OS. Windows 10 works with all BIOS versions.
Processor
The Core i7-11400H hexa-core processor (Tiger Lake) reaches clock rates of 4.1 GHz (six cores) to 4.5 GHz (one core). Hyper-Threading (two threads per core) is supported. The CPU tests of the CB R15 benchmark are run at 4.1 GHz (multi) and 4.1 to 4.5 GHz (single). The clock rates are 1.9 to 2 GHz (multi) and 3.1 to 4.5 GHz (single), respectively, on battery power.
The Cinebench R15 multi endurance test (min. 30 minutes) shows that the CPU Turbo is used continuously - at a medium level. A slight increase of the Turbo clock rate is achieved by selecting the "Performance Mode" profile.
Odd: While the "Performance Mode" profile increases multithread performance a bit, single-thread performance drops at the same time. This might be related to the outdated BIOS version that we had to install.
Cinebench R15 Multi endurance test
CPU Performance Rating - Percent | |
Average of class Gaming | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH-82JU00C6GE-FL | |
Dell G15 5515 | |
Gigabyte G5 GD | |
Gigabyte G5 GD | |
Average Intel Core i5-11400H | |
Gigabyte G5 GD | |
MSI GF65 Thin 10UE | |
Gigabyte G5 KC |
Cinebench R23 | |
Multi Core | |
Average of class Gaming (5668 - 36249, n=168, last 2 years) | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH-82JU00C6GE-FL | |
Dell G15 5515 | |
Gigabyte G5 GD (Leistungsmodus) | |
Gigabyte G5 GD | |
Average Intel Core i5-11400H (6674 - 9406, n=7) | |
MSI GF65 Thin 10UE | |
Gigabyte G5 KC | |
Gigabyte G5 GD (Stromsparmodus) | |
Single Core | |
Average of class Gaming (1136 - 2235, n=168, last 2 years) | |
Gigabyte G5 GD | |
Gigabyte G5 GD (Stromsparmodus) | |
Average Intel Core i5-11400H (1349 - 1472, n=6) | |
Dell G15 5515 | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH-82JU00C6GE-FL | |
Gigabyte G5 GD (Leistungsmodus) | |
MSI GF65 Thin 10UE | |
Gigabyte G5 KC |
Cinebench R20 | |
CPU (Multi Core) | |
Average of class Gaming (2179 - 13832, n=168, last 2 years) | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH-82JU00C6GE-FL | |
Dell G15 5515 | |
Gigabyte G5 GD (Leistungsmodus) | |
Gigabyte G5 GD | |
Average Intel Core i5-11400H (2550 - 3740, n=7) | |
Gigabyte G5 KC | |
MSI GF65 Thin 10UE | |
Gigabyte G5 GD (Stromsparmodus) | |
CPU (Single Core) | |
Average of class Gaming (439 - 856, n=168, last 2 years) | |
Gigabyte G5 GD | |
Gigabyte G5 GD (Stromsparmodus) | |
Average Intel Core i5-11400H (522 - 569, n=6) | |
Dell G15 5515 | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH-82JU00C6GE-FL | |
Gigabyte G5 GD (Leistungsmodus) | |
MSI GF65 Thin 10UE | |
Gigabyte G5 KC |
Cinebench R15 | |
CPU Multi 64Bit | |
Average of class Gaming (905 - 5663, n=174, last 2 years) | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH-82JU00C6GE-FL | |
Dell G15 5515 | |
Gigabyte G5 GD (Leistungsmodus) | |
Gigabyte G5 GD | |
Average Intel Core i5-11400H (1014 - 1532, n=7) | |
Gigabyte G5 KC | |
MSI GF65 Thin 10UE | |
Gigabyte G5 GD (Stromsparmodus) | |
CPU Single 64Bit | |
Average of class Gaming (191.9 - 318, n=171, last 2 years) | |
Dell G15 5515 | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH-82JU00C6GE-FL | |
Gigabyte G5 GD (Stromsparmodus) | |
Gigabyte G5 GD | |
Average Intel Core i5-11400H (202 - 219, n=6) | |
MSI GF65 Thin 10UE | |
Gigabyte G5 GD (Leistungsmodus) | |
Gigabyte G5 KC |
Blender - v2.79 BMW27 CPU | |
Gigabyte G5 GD (Stromsparmodus) | |
MSI GF65 Thin 10UE | |
Average Intel Core i5-11400H (340 - 483, n=6) | |
Gigabyte G5 KC | |
Gigabyte G5 GD | |
Gigabyte G5 GD (Leistungsmodus) | |
Dell G15 5515 | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH-82JU00C6GE-FL | |
Average of class Gaming (87 - 555, n=163, last 2 years) |
7-Zip 18.03 | |
7z b 4 | |
Average of class Gaming (23795 - 140932, n=167, last 2 years) | |
Dell G15 5515 | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH-82JU00C6GE-FL | |
Gigabyte G5 GD (Leistungsmodus) | |
Gigabyte G5 GD | |
Average Intel Core i5-11400H (27615 - 40268, n=6) | |
MSI GF65 Thin 10UE | |
Gigabyte G5 KC | |
Gigabyte G5 GD (Stromsparmodus) | |
7z b 4 -mmt1 | |
Average of class Gaming (4199 - 7581, n=167, last 2 years) | |
Dell G15 5515 | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH-82JU00C6GE-FL | |
MSI GF65 Thin 10UE | |
Gigabyte G5 GD | |
Gigabyte G5 GD (Stromsparmodus) | |
Average Intel Core i5-11400H (4802 - 5343, n=6) | |
Gigabyte G5 KC | |
Gigabyte G5 GD (Leistungsmodus) |
Geekbench 5.5 | |
Multi-Core | |
Average of class Gaming (4557 - 23194, n=167, last 2 years) | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH-82JU00C6GE-FL | |
Dell G15 5515 | |
Gigabyte G5 GD (Leistungsmodus) | |
Gigabyte G5 GD | |
MSI GF65 Thin 10UE | |
Gigabyte G5 KC | |
Gigabyte G5 KC | |
Average Intel Core i5-11400H (4679 - 7018, n=7) | |
Gigabyte G5 GD (Stromsparmodus) | |
Single-Core | |
Average of class Gaming (986 - 2210, n=167, last 2 years) | |
Gigabyte G5 GD (Stromsparmodus) | |
Gigabyte G5 GD | |
Average Intel Core i5-11400H (1396 - 1528, n=7) | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH-82JU00C6GE-FL | |
Dell G15 5515 | |
Gigabyte G5 GD (Leistungsmodus) | |
MSI GF65 Thin 10UE | |
Gigabyte G5 KC | |
Gigabyte G5 KC |
HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2 - 4k Preset | |
Average of class Gaming (6.72 - 38.9, n=167, last 2 years) | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH-82JU00C6GE-FL | |
Dell G15 5515 | |
Gigabyte G5 GD (Leistungsmodus) | |
Gigabyte G5 GD | |
Average Intel Core i5-11400H (8.19 - 11.3, n=6) | |
MSI GF65 Thin 10UE | |
Gigabyte G5 KC | |
Gigabyte G5 GD (Stromsparmodus) |
LibreOffice - 20 Documents To PDF | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH-82JU00C6GE-FL | |
Dell G15 5515 | |
Gigabyte G5 KC | |
Average of class Gaming (19 - 96.6, n=164, last 2 years) | |
Average Intel Core i5-11400H (41.4 - 53, n=6) | |
MSI GF65 Thin 10UE | |
Gigabyte G5 GD (Leistungsmodus) | |
Gigabyte G5 GD | |
Gigabyte G5 GD (Stromsparmodus) |
R Benchmark 2.5 - Overall mean | |
Gigabyte G5 KC | |
Gigabyte G5 GD (Leistungsmodus) | |
Average Intel Core i5-11400H (0.581 - 0.644, n=6) | |
MSI GF65 Thin 10UE | |
Gigabyte G5 GD | |
Gigabyte G5 GD (Stromsparmodus) | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH-82JU00C6GE-FL | |
Dell G15 5515 | |
Average of class Gaming (0.3609 - 0.759, n=168, last 2 years) |
* ... smaller is better
Performance Rating - Percent | |
Average of class Gaming | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH-82JU00C6GE-FL | |
Dell G15 5515 | |
Gigabyte G5 GD | |
Gigabyte G5 GD | |
Average Intel Core i5-11400H | |
Gigabyte G5 KC |
System performance
PCMark 8 Home Score Accelerated v2 | 4312 points | |
PCMark 8 Creative Score Accelerated v2 | 5850 points | |
PCMark 8 Work Score Accelerated v2 | 6010 points | |
PCMark 10 Score | 5895 points | |
Help |
PCMark 10 / Score | |
Average of class Gaming (5776 - 9852, n=151, last 2 years) | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH-82JU00C6GE-FL | |
Dell G15 5515 | |
Gigabyte G5 KC | |
Gigabyte G5 GD | |
Average Intel Core i5-11400H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4GB Laptop GPU (5136 - 5895, n=2) | |
MSI GF65 Thin 10UE |
PCMark 10 / Essentials | |
Average of class Gaming (9057 - 12600, n=151, last 2 years) | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH-82JU00C6GE-FL | |
Dell G15 5515 | |
Gigabyte G5 GD | |
MSI GF65 Thin 10UE | |
Gigabyte G5 KC | |
Average Intel Core i5-11400H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4GB Laptop GPU (8610 - 9155, n=2) |
PCMark 10 / Productivity | |
Average of class Gaming (6662 - 14612, n=151, last 2 years) | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH-82JU00C6GE-FL | |
Dell G15 5515 | |
Gigabyte G5 GD | |
Average Intel Core i5-11400H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4GB Laptop GPU (8149 - 8506, n=2) | |
Gigabyte G5 KC | |
MSI GF65 Thin 10UE |
PCMark 10 / Digital Content Creation | |
Average of class Gaming (6807 - 18475, n=151, last 2 years) | |
Gigabyte G5 KC | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH-82JU00C6GE-FL | |
Dell G15 5515 | |
Gigabyte G5 GD | |
Average Intel Core i5-11400H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4GB Laptop GPU (5242 - 7140, n=2) | |
MSI GF65 Thin 10UE |
AIDA64 / Memory Copy | |
Average of class Gaming (21842 - 94222, n=164, last 2 years) | |
Gigabyte G5 GD | |
Dell G15 5515 | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH-82JU00C6GE-FL | |
Gigabyte G5 KC | |
Average Intel Core i5-11400H (20513 - 42471, n=4) |
AIDA64 / Memory Read | |
Average of class Gaming (23681 - 99713, n=164, last 2 years) | |
Gigabyte G5 GD | |
Dell G15 5515 | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH-82JU00C6GE-FL | |
Gigabyte G5 KC | |
Average Intel Core i5-11400H (23172 - 48221, n=4) |
AIDA64 / Memory Write | |
Average of class Gaming (22986 - 108954, n=164, last 2 years) | |
Gigabyte G5 GD | |
Gigabyte G5 KC | |
Dell G15 5515 | |
Average Intel Core i5-11400H (21862 - 45893, n=4) | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH-82JU00C6GE-FL |
AIDA64 / Memory Latency | |
Average of class Gaming (59.5 - 259, n=164, last 2 years) | |
Gigabyte G5 GD | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH-82JU00C6GE-FL | |
Dell G15 5515 | |
Average Intel Core i5-11400H (73.3 - 95.9, n=5) | |
Gigabyte G5 KC |
* ... smaller is better
DPC latencies
Our standardized latency monitor test (web browsing, 4K video playback, high-load Prime95) revealed irregularities with DPC latencies. The system doesn't seem to be suitable for real-time video and audio editing. Future software updates could lead to improvements or even to worse performance.
DPC Latencies / LatencyMon - interrupt to process latency (max), Web, Youtube, Prime95 | |
MSI GF65 Thin 10UE | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH-82JU00C6GE-FL | |
Dell G15 5515 | |
Gigabyte G5 KC | |
Gigabyte G5 GD |
* ... smaller is better
Storage
A 512 GB NVMe SSD (M.2 2280) from Phison serves as system drive. The connection via PCIe 4 makes for very good transfer rates. Storage space could be expanded through a second M.2 SSD (PCIe 3/SATA) and a 2.5-inch storage drive. Both M.2 slots can accommodate SSDs in the 2242, 2260, and 2280 formats.
Drive Performance Rating - Percent | |
Average of class Gaming | |
Gigabyte G5 GD | |
Gigabyte G5 KC | |
Average ESR512GTLG-E6GBTNB4 | |
MSI GF65 Thin 10UE | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH-82JU00C6GE-FL | |
Dell G15 5515 |
* ... smaller is better
Continuous load read: DiskSpd Read Loop, Queue Depth 8
GPU performance
Gigabyte grants the GeForce RTX 3050 laptop GPU (overview of all RTX 3050 laptops including their TGPs) a maximum TGP of 85 watts. Consequently, it delivers the best 3DMark results that we have been able to determine with the RTX 3050 so far. The "Performance Mode" profile leads to a slight increase in graphics performance.
The RTX 3050 can access fast GDDR6 graphics memory (4,096 MB). The UHD Graphics Xe 16EUs graphics core that's integrated into the processor is active, and the laptop works with Nvidia's Optimus graphics-switching solution.
3DMark 06 Standard Score | 42599 points | |
3DMark 11 Performance | 16190 points | |
3DMark Cloud Gate Standard Score | 37239 points | |
3DMark Fire Strike Score | 11967 points | |
3DMark Time Spy Score | 5406 points | |
Help |
3DMark Performance Rating - Percent | |
Average of class Gaming | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH-82JU00C6GE-FL | |
Gigabyte G5 KC | |
MSI GF65 Thin 10UE | |
Dell G15 5515 | |
Gigabyte G5 GD | |
Gigabyte G5 GD -1! | |
Average NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4GB Laptop GPU | |
Acer Nitro 5 AN517-53-54DQ | |
Gigabyte G5 GD -1! |
3DMark 11 - 1280x720 Performance GPU | |
Average of class Gaming (1029 - 72178, n=164, last 2 years) | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH-82JU00C6GE-FL | |
Gigabyte G5 KC | |
MSI GF65 Thin 10UE | |
Dell G15 5515 | |
Gigabyte G5 GD (Leistungsmodus) | |
Gigabyte G5 GD | |
Acer Nitro 5 AN517-53-54DQ | |
Average NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4GB Laptop GPU (11980 - 18557, n=23) |