Ryzen AI 9 HX 370-powered all-around small steel cannon! Experience ASUS Tianxua

When assessing the scalability of a hardware platform, we often focus on whether the product forms built on it possess diversity and if they can cover a broader range of users with products of different positionings. Take AMD's new Ryzen AI 300 series processors as an example; in the initial launch models, we have already seen the Pro Art series for creative productivity users, the ZenBook 16 Air for business office users, and the ROG Zephyrus 16 Air for high-end users. Now, ASUS's first 14-inch all-rounder, the ASUS TUF Gaming Air 2024, has also arrived. Among these different types of products, the Ryzen AI 300 series processors can be a high-performance, low-power platform with 28W power consumption, or an ultimate performance beast with 80W power consumption. It is evident that with the right power and thermal tuning, the heterogeneous core design of Zen5+Zen5c can meet the high energy efficiency demands of thin and light laptops and the high-performance needs of gaming laptops, showcasing its scalability and flexibility.

The ASUS TUF Gaming Air 2024 debuts with the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor, paired with the 100W sweet spot power consumption RTX 4060 laptop GPU, earning it the nickname "versatile little cannon." Such a product is highly suitable for friends who frequently use their computers on the go and have gaming needs. With the support of the discrete graphics card, heavy applications requiring CUDA acceleration, such as AI and video processing, are also more manageable.

Advertisement

Let's take a look at the experience of the first 14-inch model in the ASUS TUF Gaming series.

**New Design for Lightweight Experience**

The TUF Gaming Air 2024 features a brand-new mold design, available in two distinct color schemes: Eclipse Gray and Moonlight Silver. With a lightweight design of 1.46kg in weight and 16.9mm in thickness, its positioning within the TUF series is as a portable all-rounder notebook, which aligns with the versatile nature of the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor itself.

The overall design style of this machine is minimalistic, with the A side made of metal and a metal sandblasting paint finish. The top center is adorned with a glossy polished laser TX LOGO. The screen size is 14 inches, but through a three-sided narrow bezel design, the body volume is controlled within the size range of a traditional 13-inch body, thus balancing visual experience and portability. From the side view of the body, the entire machine is slim and compact, making the carrying experience naturally problem-free.

The TUF Gaming Air 2024 features a hinge design on the body, with appropriate damping control allowing for one-handed screen lifting. The entire C side design is also simple and efficient, with four shortcut keys for volume control, microphone switch, and quick access to the Armoury Crate located at the top left corner, and a uniquely designed hexagonal power button at the top right corner, all of which are signature designs of the TUF series products.

The keyboard features full-size keys with a 1.7mm long key travel and supports three levels of brightness adjustment for white backlighting. The key spacing is generous, reducing the likelihood of accidental key presses. The key pressure is slightly higher, resulting in a very noticeable rebound feedback when pressed, quick triggering, and providing a lively rebound feedback experience. The control experience for gaming and text input is very comfortable.

Despite the compact body of the TUF Gaming Air 2024, the touchpad and palm rest area are still maximized as much as possible. When typing, the wrist can be fully placed on the palm rest for a comfortable experience. The glass touchpad surface is smooth to the touch, and the 240Hz sampling rate ensures very precise control positioning. After getting used to it, one can efficiently complete operations without relying on a mouse, and even when traveling for business, there's no need to carry a mouse.Additionally, the interface configuration of the Tianxuan Air 2024 is very comprehensive. On the right side of the body, there is one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, and a MicroSD card reader (UHS-II). The left side is equipped with an ASUS-customized square power interface, a full-blood 8K60Hz/4K120Hz HDMI 2.1 video port, one USB 4, one USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A, and a 3.5mm headphone/microphone jack. Two standard USB-A ports facilitate data transfer and external expansion for users, while the HDMI video port makes it easy to connect to external monitors and projectors. Coupled with the video expansion and high-speed data transfer capabilities provided by USB 4 and USB Type-C, the expandability of the Tianxuan Air 2024 need not be a concern.

• 14-inch 2.5K resolution high-refresh-rate esports screen

Since the popularity of narrow-bezel designs, small sizes with large screens have allowed for a better balance between the visual experience and portability of laptops. The Tianxuan Air 2024 features a 14-inch 16:10 aspect ratio IPS display that supports a 2560×1600 (2.5K) resolution, a 165Hz refresh rate, and an 88.3% screen-to-body ratio. It also supports a 3ms rapid response time, DC dimming, and G-SYNC anti-tearing technology.

Let's take a look at the basic quality of this screen. Tests using a colorimeter reveal that the screen brightness of the Tianxuan Air 2024 reaches 455.4 nits, with a contrast ratio of 1020:1, which is brighter than the average brightness standard of 350 nits for mainstream IPS screen laptops currently on the market.

In terms of color coverage, this screen achieves 96% sRGB, 72% AdobeRGB, and 76% P3 color space coverage, resulting in an overall excellent display effect. Regarding color accuracy, the screen has an average Delta E value of 1.61, with a minimum of 0.53 and a maximum of 5.84, indicating a relatively good overall quality that can easily meet users' daily needs for office work, movie watching, and gaming.

Furthermore, the Tianxuan Air 2024 is equipped with an FHD+IR dual-camera system that supports Windows Hello facial recognition, enhancing the security of the system. In conjunction with the NPU of the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, it can implement numerous AI-based camera and microphone functions, such as background blurring, gesture recognition, and real-time noise reduction for audio and video.

For example, when paired with the powerful Camo Studio camera software, the NPU of the Ryzen AI 9 HX370 processor can be utilized for background blurring, real-time watermark display, and Emoji gesture recognition, achieving a seamless, lag-free, and immediate effect. The lower power consumption of the NPU means that this continuous computation does not require higher power and resources, thereby enhancing the laptop's user experience and reducing energy consumption to extend battery life.**AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 Processor - First Look**

Recently, we tested the performance of the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor under a 28W power consumption state on the ASUS ZenBook 16 Air. This time, with the ASUS TUF Gaming Air 2024, the CPU power consumption has reached 80W, naturally delivering stronger performance, and heightening our anticipation for the peak performance of the new platform. Additionally, this product is equipped with 16GB LPDDR5X memory, a 1TB PCIe 4.0 solid-state drive, and a GeForce RTX 4060 laptop GPU.

Let's first examine the extent of the performance unleashed by the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor.

Although it's a newly released platform, many are already somewhat familiar with the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor, as most of the recently launched products, regardless of power tuning levels, have adopted this model. It features a heterogeneous core design with Zen5+Zen5c, boasting 12 cores and 24 threads, a maximum boost frequency of up to 5.1GHz, a total cache of 36MB (12MB L2 + 24MB L3), and integrates an NPU with 50 TOPS higher computing power and a more powerful Radeon 890M graphics performance.

Despite its slim design, the ASUS TUF Gaming Air 2024 achieves an impressive 80W processor power output. In the enhanced performance mode, the AIDA64 FPU CPU single burn-in test shows a stable power consumption around 80W, with core temperatures reaching 95°C and core frequencies maintaining at 4.2GHz. Coupled with the IPC and energy efficiency improvements of the Zen5 architecture, the full-load performance of the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor is indeed promising.

Referring to the CINEBENCH tests, the R23 single-core score is 2043, and the multi-core score is 24025. In CINEBENCH 2024, the single-core score is 115, and the multi-core score is 1163. Compared to its own 28W Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, the R23 multi-core performance has increased by approximately 38%! It also outperforms the 90W power-consuming Intel Core Ultra 9 185H by about 20% in multi-core performance, demonstrating the strength of the Zen5 architecture in mobile processors.

In the 3DMark CPU Profile test standards, the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor scores 1161 for single-thread, 2091 for two threads, 3932 for four threads, 7366 for eight threads, 10096 for sixteen threads, and 10551 for maximum threads. Compared to the previous generation's processors at the same level, the multi-core performance improvement is significant.

The new generation of Ryzen AI 300 series processors has also seen a substantial increase in video encoding efficiency. In the H.264 Benchmark test, encoding 2500 frames takes only 30 seconds, with an average frame rate of 82.63 fps, a significant improvement over the previous generation.

In terms of V-Ray physical rendering, this processor achieves an unprecedented 24026 vsamples for mobile processors, showcasing excellent efficiency.

It is evident that the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370's outstanding multi-core performance, video encoding capabilities, and physical rendering capabilities make it an excellent fit for the ASUS TUF Gaming Air 2024, a 14-inch portable laptop positioned as a versatile all-rounder.**Equipped with 100W Sweet Spot Power Consumption RTX 4060 Laptop GPU

Although the RTX 4060 laptop GPU has a maximum power consumption of 140W, a sweet spot power consumption of 100W is actually sufficient, with diminishing returns beyond that point, a fact that is well understood by many. The ASUS TUF Gaming A15 2024, as a 14-inch versatile laptop, has less thermal stress with a 100W RTX 4060 laptop GPU. Everyone is already familiar with the basic information of this graphics card, which includes 3072 stream processors and 8GB GDDR6 memory. Let's take a look at its performance.

In 3DMark testing, the RTX 4060 Port Royal ray tracing performance scores 6019 points, TimeSpy DX12 GPU performance rating is 10463, and FireStrike Extreme DX11 mode GPU performance rating is 12713. It has no problem handling various heavy-load productivity tasks and gaming applications, providing excellent graphic performance support and efficient CUDA acceleration capabilities.

From the Furmark GPU single stress test, it can also be seen that the TUF Gaming A15 2024 has a very good power release, with a stable 100W and a GPU core temperature of 84°C, achieving a good balance between power consumption and thermal management.

In the CPU+GPU dual stress test, the CPU power consumption is stable around 35W, and the GPU power consumption is stable around 75W, with a dual stress power release of 110W. The average CPU core temperature is 85°C, and the GPU average is 81°C. The overall thermal tuning is very impressive, ensuring efficient performance output while achieving excellent thermal performance.

·Smooth gaming experience at over 60fps for AAA games

Lightweight gaming laptops are a form factor desired by many users. In the past, due to constraints such as power consumption and chip size, it was either not truly portable or could not balance performance and thermal management. Nowadays, the Ryzen AI 300 series processors, with the Zen5 architecture, have achieved a very high energy efficiency ratio, and the sweet spot power consumption of the RTX 4060 laptop GPU is also around 100W. Naturally, this allows OEM manufacturers to create versatile laptops like the TUF Gaming A15 2024 that are both portable and high-performance, which is the significance of continuous technological development.

For the gaming performance test of this product, we selected five AAA masterpieces with different performance levels: "Shadow of the Tomb Raider," "Forza Horizon 5," "Red Dead Redemption 2," "Cyberpunk 2077," and "Black Myth: Wukong." Here are the specific Benchmark test results:

For the five game tests, we chose a resolution of 2560×1600, with the first three games set to the highest quality, and DLSS enabled in balanced mode where supported. "Shadow of the Tomb Raider" has an average frame rate of up to 119fps, running without any pressure; "Forza Horizon 5" has an average frame rate of 70fps, running extremely smoothly; "Red Dead Redemption 2" has an average frame rate of 68fps, running smoothly. "Cyberpunk 2077," with ultra ray tracing and frame generation enabled, can also achieve an average frame rate of 60.38fps. In addition, the recently released "Black Myth: Wukong" Benchmark, using the game's self-check recommended quality (high quality + global ray tracing low + DLSS), can achieve an average smoothness of 68fps. Therefore, the configuration of the TUF Gaming A15 2024 can easily handle various current AAA games without much pressure, basically achieving high-quality graphics and a frame rate of over 60fps through DLSS.

·High-performance memory and hard drive ensure a smooth experienceIn terms of storage, the Tianxuan Air 2024 is equipped with 16GB LPDDR5X 7500MHz memory. AIDA64 memory performance tests reveal that it has a read speed of 75,702 MB/s, a write speed of up to 106.37 GB/s, a copy speed of 84,886 MB/s, and a latency of 118.7 ns, demonstrating excellent overall memory performance.

This product also features a 1TB PCIe 4.0 solid-state drive, with measured sequential read speeds of 5,018.2 MB/s and write speeds of 3,435.95 MB/s; 4K random read speeds of 53.86 MB/s and write speeds of 125.27 MB/s, indicating good performance. A significant portion of the smooth experience for systems, software, games, and AI applications stems from this.

**Efficient Productivity Performance Experience**

With a robust processor and storage performance, productivity applications naturally become more efficient. Referring to the PCMark 10 Extended test standard, it scores 10,019 points in common basic functions, including web browsing, video conferencing, and application launching, indicating no issues with completing these basic office tasks. In the productivity project test, it scores as high as 10,496 points, showing exceptional performance in spreadsheet and document work. The digital content creation score reaches 12,357 points, indicating that it can very efficiently handle tasks such as image and video editing, and graphic rendering. The gaming performance score is 20,239 points, corroborating the actual gaming performance mentioned earlier. With a comprehensive score of 9,932 points, it is definitely a "great hand" for productivity applications.

After understanding the theoretical performance, let's look at the actual application performance, mainly referring to the UL Procyon photo editing and video editing benchmark tests.

Photo editing primarily utilizes Photoshop and Lightroom to truly test image editing capabilities, and the Tianxuan Air 2024 scores 7,925 points in this category, efficiently handling 4K and even 8K ultra-high-definition RAW format photos, meeting the needs of professional photographers and designers without any issues.

Video editing mainly examines the video processing capabilities of Adobe Premiere Pro, and the Tianxuan Air 2024 also achieves a score of 5,976 points, fully showcasing the advantages of its dedicated graphics card. This means that the Tianxuan Air 2024 can provide excellent efficiency support for editing 4K ultra-high-definition medium to long videos, and even 4K HDR or 8K video editing.

**AI Application Efficiency is Impeccable**

AI is the hottest application scenario at present, and the AMD Ryzen AI 300 series processor with significantly enhanced AI performance, paired with the GeForce RTX 4060 laptop GPU, is a king combination for AI efficiency today. Some friends may not understand why both the CPU and GPU are important for AI applications, so here is a simple explanation:

Firstly, the CPU, with its NPU, a low-power, high-performance computing module specifically for AI calculations, is more suitable for processing some background, continuous AI applications. For example, the previously mentioned cameras and microphones, applications like background blurring and audio-visual noise reduction, are both background and continuous, and the actual computational power required is not very high. In the past, using the GPU for these tasks would consume more energy, affecting the laptop's battery life. Now, shifting these applications to the CPU or NPU for processing naturally reduces energy consumption without losing efficiency.Secondly, GPUs are well-suited for heavy-load front-end AI applications such as text-to-image, image-to-image, rendering, and video acceleration due to their excellent floating-point performance and powerful parallel computing capabilities. They can provide exceptional execution efficiency, saving users a significant amount of time.

Therefore, the combination of CPU, NPU, and GPU is currently the core hardware configuration that can meet the needs of different AI application scenarios.

Looking back at the 2024 Sky Selection Air, text-to-image and image-to-image applications like Stable Diffusion can achieve a single image generation time of only 4.6 seconds for a 512x512 image and an image-to-image efficiency of 3.4 seconds, leveraging the performance of the RTX 4060 laptop GPU. If the same task were handed over to a professional designer, it would be difficult to complete in 5 seconds.

Rendering applications are also well-suited for products like the 2024 Sky Selection Air. For example, in the D5 renderer, to render the following real-world design image, the calculation of environmental textures, modeling, and lighting requires a significant amount of performance resources, which becomes much simpler when entrusted to the 2024 Sky Selection Air.

It can be seen that after fully utilizing the resources of the CPU, memory, and GPU, rendering a relatively complex architectural scene design image like this only takes 1 minute and 11 seconds, which was unimaginable in the past.

Applications such as Topaz gigapiexl AI image upscaling or video super-resolution can also benefit from the ultra-high efficiency provided by the 2024 Sky Selection Air. For instance, upscaling a 640x480 image to 1280x960 and enhancing the image clarity and details through the Recovery model.

Using the 2024 Sky Selection Air, the corresponding work can be completed in just 23 seconds. If using an older platform or an integrated graphics model, the time would exceed 5 minutes, and if more detailed adjustments were made, it could even reach tens of minutes. For users, the efficiency would obviously be significantly affected, and the 2024 Sky Selection Air is indeed adept at such applications.

• Over 9 hours of battery life

In the past, independent graphics card models rarely exceeded 8 hours of battery life, and even switching to integrated graphics mode through the control panel was difficult to achieve. However, the Ryzen AI 300 series processor's better energy efficiency ratio, combined with the low-power quiet mode in the 2024 Sky Selection Air's AOC center, achieved a battery life of 9 hours and 24 minutes in the PCMark 10 office mode test, making it the best in battery life among the RTX 4060 discrete graphics models tested so far.

The test environment is the same as before: integrated graphics mode, 50% screen brightness, 30% volume, quiet energy-saving mode, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth enabled, and achieving this battery life is quite impressive.Evaluation Summary

The ASUS TUF Gaming A15 2024, as the first 14-inch model in the series, offers an overall experience that is quite impressive, fully living up to its "versatile" positioning.

In fact, after the widespread adoption of 15-inch and 16-inch products, the number of traditional 14-inch models has decreased. However, for users, a 14-inch size can actually strike a good balance between performance, visual experience, and portability. In the past, due to hardware power consumption and other factors, it was indeed challenging to maintain high performance and power output in a thin and portable body while ensuring that the cooling system does not lag. But with the introduction of AMD's Ryzen AI300 series processors, their excellent energy efficiency ratio may rekindle the demand for 14-inch ultra-thin gaming laptops and ultra-thin versatile laptops.

Returning to the ASUS TUF Gaming A15 2024, it is the ideal requirement for an ultra-thin gaming laptop with a dedicated graphics card. It boasts outstanding CPU and GPU performance, excellent cooling performance, and can handle office work, gaming, and AI while being easy to carry. Especially for someone like me who travels frequently and has gaming needs, the ASUS TUF Gaming A15 2024 truly meets all my requirements for a laptop. If you have similar needs, it would be an excellent choice.