ASUS ROG Flow X13 (2023) GV302XU Review (Ryzen 9 7940HS, RTX 4050)

The ROG Flow lineup is known for its high-performance gaming laptops ASUS produces. Usually, the models in this lineup feature cutting-edge hardware, including NVIDIA graphics cards, AMD Ryzen processors, and high-capacity RAMs. In addition, the laptops are designed with a slim profile and high refresh rate displays for an immersive gaming experience. The ROG Flow lineup also includes innovative cooling systems to prevent overheating and maintain peak performance during intense gaming sessions.

The model we will review today is ASUS ROG Flow X13 (2023), which has all the characteristics mentioned above. It comes with the combo of AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS CPU (with integrated Radeon 780M GPU) and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU and has the following model number: GV302XU. It is worth mentioning that both CPU and GPU are one of the best and most potent combos in the industry at the moment. With it, we are sure that the notebook can easily handle all the heavy gaming apps in addition to high-profile rendering and graphic designing.

Not only the RTX 4050 GPU, but the CPU also got the integrated Radeon 780M GPU, which can compete with the GTX 1050 Ti GPU in terms of performance.

In terms of memory and storage, the ROG Flow X13 (2023) features 16 Gigs of Dual Channel (2x 8GB) LPDDR5 RAM and 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD (2230). With 16GB RAM, the multi-tasking experience on ASUS ROG Flow X13 would be excellent, while there is no tension of low storage as well (thanks to 1TB SSD).

Different aspects of ASUS ROG Flow X13 (2023) including its appearance, display and battery are discussed under the specs table in detail.

ASUS ROG Flow X13 (2023) GV302XU: Specifications

ASUS ROG Flow X13 (2023): Design and Appearance

The ASUS ROG Flow X13 (2023) has 299*212*16.7mm and weighs around 1.30kg (approx: 2.87 lbs). On carrying it, the laptop feels super lightweight compared to other gaming notebooks. Further, it has a thickness of only 16.7mm, making the handling experience very premium. In this thin body, the company still provided high-level specs (Ryzen 9 7940HS and RTX 4050).

On the display shell, we have a textured lines design. At the top left, we have ROG branding; at the bottom of the same side, we have the ROG metal logo shining. The same textured line design is continued on the entire body. While carrying the laptop, the lining texture feels very smooth. On the bottom, we have ventilation holes for heat dissipation.

In addition, the display hinges also support 360-degree flip, allowing the notebook to be used in various modes, such as laptop, tent, stand, and tablet mode. The users can adjust the screen as per their needs.

ASUS ROG Flow X13 (2023): Display

Being a gaming laptop, the 13 inches screen might feel small, but still, the ASUS manages to provide a good display experience by providing flagship-level specifications. The ROG Flow X13 (2023) features a 13.4 inches IPS Glossy touch display (with a 16:10 aspect ratio, screen model is TianMa TL134ADXP01-0) that supports a Quad-HD+ (2560 x 1600, WQXGA) resolution and 165Hz refresh rate and 3ms response time. As officials said, the display has a 100% DCI-P3 color gamut and has the following certifications: G-Sync, Pantone Validated, MUX Switch + NVIDIA Advanced Optimus, and supports Dolby Vision and HDR.

In terms of appearance, it can be observed from the sides that the display is fragile and from the front side, the thin bezels can be judged. On the top bezel, the webcam and microphone are integrated. The webcam hole features a 1080P FHD IR Camera, which supports Windows Hello.

We also did a short display test in order to check the display’s color gamut and brightness contrast of the screen. The test was carried out using the Spyder X. On the test completion, we found the following results: 100% sRGB color gamut, 87% Adobe RGB color gamut, 97% DCI-P3 color gamut, and 84% NTSC color gamut. The maximum brightness level of the screen was 442nit while the contrast ratio was 1100:1. Regarding color accuracy, the average Delta E ΔE was 1.48 (0.71 minimum level and 2.62 peak level). The results showed that the overall display performance is quite decent in ASUS ROG Flow X13 (2023).

ASUS ROG Flow X13 (2023): Keyboard and TouchPad

On the palm rest of ROG Flow X13, we have Chiclet Full-Size Keyboard but lack the numeric pad. In addition, it also supports over stroke technology, which allows for faster and more responsive keystrokes. After measuring the keys of the keyboard, we determined that each key has a keystroke of 1.5mm. Additionally, we found that the keycaps are designed with a 0.2mm curve that follows ergonomic principles, which can fit the fingers perfectly and make them more comfortable to use for extended periods. The keys on this keyboard are rated to withstand up to 20 million presses.

Located at the top of the keyboard are four independent function keys that can be used for various tasks. These function keys are independent and can be used to adjust the volume, mute and unmute the microphone, and switch the operating status of the notebook.

Under the keyboard, we have a large-sized touchpad in the middle area, which provides more precise control, better multi-tasking, and maintains fine comfort standards. The touchpad also supports multi-touch gestures, allowing users to perform actions such as scrolling, zooming, and rotating with multiple fingers. It is worth mentioning that the touchpad surface and side area feature the same lining textured as on the other sides of the notebook.

ASUS ROG Flow X13 (2023): Ports

The ASUS ROG Flow X13 is fully enriched with ports. On the right side of the notebook, we have 1x USB 4 Type-C port (supports DP1.4 and PD charging), 1x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A port, and a power button. While on the left side, the notebook features 1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack, 1x HDMI 2.1 port, 1x TF Card Slot, and 1x USB Type-C 3.2 Gen2 port, combined ROG XG Mobile Interface.

Being the model of ROG Flow lineup, the ASUS ROG Flow X13 GV302XU also supports ROG’s exclusive XG Mobile ecosystem of external GPUs and provide amped-up horsepower with a built-in I/O hub, allowing higher bandwidth to Flow devices with a proprietary PCIe connection. The XG Mobile features the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU with a max TGP of 150W, which helps in getting the best gaming experience.

With these numerous ports, we can say that the user of ROG Flow X13 isn’t required to carry any external dock for extending ports, as all the major ports are already available in this notebook.

ASUS ROG Flow X13 (2023): RAM and SSD

As mentioned in the introduction, the model we are reviewing is equipped with 16 Gigs of LPDDR5 Dual Channel (2x 8GB RAM Modules with 6400MHz frequency) onboard memory and 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD (2230), which is manufactured by WD and carries the following model number: SN740.

It is worth mentioning that the RAM capacity cannot be increased as the max support for RAM is 16GB, and the notebook is already equipped with 16GB RAM. In addition, due to limited space, there is only one M.2 SSD slot. But the ASUS ROG Flow X13 GV302XU is already equipped with 1TB of storage, which is sufficient whether you are using it for gaming or office use.

We also did a performance test of both SSD and RAM. For testing the RAM, the AIDA64 got the following results: 50,622MB/s Read Speed, 90,890MB/s Write Speed, and 68,254MB/s Copy Speed while the latency rate was 111.7ns. It has been observed that reading speed is a bit slow.

For testing the SSD, we used two benchmark applications. The first test was conducted using the AS SSD Benchmark, and the WD’s 1TB SSD scored a total of 5,364. The sequential read speed was 4,100MB/s, and the write speed was 2,400MB/s, while the 4K Random read speed was 50MB/s, and the write Speed was 126MB/s. The second test was conducted using CrystalDiskMark 64 GiB capacity test in which the sequential read speed was 5,189MB/s and write speed was 4,839MB/s.

ASUS ROG Flow X13 (2023): Battery and Charging

In terms of battery, the ROG Flow X13 GX302XU features a 75WHrs, 4S1P, 4-cell Li-ion battery which is usually rare in a 13-inch notebook. However, the battery size is quite sufficient, and a fine battery life is expected if the laptop is being used normally. In addition, the laptop is equipped with Type-C AC Adapter, which supports charging at 130W (20V/6.5A). Due to the Type-C port, the laptop can also be used as a fast charger for mobile phones.

For testing the battery, we used the PCMark 10 software. The test was carried out in modern office mode; all the other processes were closed during the test, the Wi-Fi was disabled, and the screen brightness was set at 50%. With these settings, we got a battery life of 12 hours and 50 minutes, through which we can say that this battery can last an entire day if used in an office scenario.

ASUS ROG Flow X13 (2023): CPU and its Benchmark

As mentioned before, the ASUS ROG Flow X13 (2023) is powered by AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS Mobile Processor. The processor is based on TSMC 4nm FinFET manufacturing process and comes with a total of eight cores and sixteen threads. All the cores have a basic frequency of 4.0GHz, while the peak frequency is 5.2GHz. In terms of cache memory, the processor has 512KB L1 Cache, 8MB L2 Cache, and 16MB L3 Cache, while the default TDP is 35-54W. The CPU also has an integrated Radeon 780M GPU (clocked @ @2800MHz).

Following are the benchmark test of AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS:

CPU-Z: In this test, the CPU scored 698.6 points on Single-Core and 7352.4 points on Multi-Core

Cinebench R15: The single-core score was 287cb, while the multi-core score was 2702cb.

Cinebench R20: On the single core, the CPU scored 705cb, while on the multi-core, it scored 6692cb.

Cinebench R23: The CPU scored 1825 points on Single-Core and 16042 on Multi-Core.

Compared with the last generation CPU model (Ryzen 9 6900HS), the Ryzen 9 7940HS is 14% stronger in single-core performance while 22% stronger in multi-core.

ASUS ROG Flow X13 (2023): Integrated GPU Benchmark and Gaming Test:

The Ryzen 9 7940HS comes with a built-in Radeon 780M GPU. Compared with Radeon 680M, the Radeon 780M is a huge upgrade over its predecessor. It features 12 sets of CUs and 768 stream processors. The chipset now comes with upgraded RDNA3 architecture which uses a stream processor unit with a dual-launch design, and each set of CU units contains 64 FP32 units and 64 INT32 units. Each FP32 and INT32 unit can perform integer or floating-point operations when required.

In the limit state, when all FP/INT32 units perform floating-point operations, a group of CU units is equivalent to having 128 stream processors. We can also say that Radeon 780M is equal to having 1536 stream processors at most, twice as many as in Radeon 680M.

Following is the benchmark test of the Radeon 780M:

3DMark Time Spy: In this test, the Radeon 780M scored 2943 points while the operating frequency was stable at 2800MHz, and the temperature reached a maximum of 67 degrees.

A significant performance gap can be observed compared with its competitors like Radeon 680M and even the external GPU like GTX 1050 Ti.

Then we also did a gaming test which is mentioned below:

CS: GO: At Full-HD (1920*1080) resolution, we got 195 fps.

GTA V: The MASAA was turned on, and the resolution was set to Full-HD, on which we got 35 fps.

Far Cry 5: The TAA was turned on, and the resolution was 1920*1080, on which we got 40 fps.

Far Cry 6: With the same settings as in Far Cry 5, we got 34 fps.

PUBG: On Full-HD resolution, we got 50 fps.

Cyberpunk 2077: The TAA was turned on, and the resolution was at Full-HD; we got 28 fps.

Borderland 3: The DirectX version was DirectX 12, and the resolution was 1920*1080, on which we got 28 fps.

Gears of War 5: We got 28 fps at Full-HD resolution.

After doing benchmark tests on all these games, it has been observed that Radeon 780M has performed the best (if compared with Radeon 680M and GTX 1050 Ti) in most games. On average, we found that Radeon 780M has performed 12% stronger than its predecessor (Radeon 680M) and 6% more than GTX 1050 Ti (desktop GPU).

ASUS ROG Flow X13 (2023): RTX 4050 GPU Benchmark and Gaming Test:

In addition to the integrated GPU, the ASUS ROG Flow X13 also features the RTX 4050 GPU, which has 6GB GDDR6 video memory and a max power consumption of 60W at 1655MHz frequency (1605MHz Boost Clock+50MHz OC, 45W+15W Dynamic Boost). The GPU is based on a 5nm TSMC manufacturing process, has a bus width of 96 bits, and a bandwidth rate is 216.0 GB/s. The GPU has high power consumption and power release. However, ASUS has limited the performance release of RTX 4050 in its ROG Flow X13.

Following are the benchmark test of RTX 4050:

3DMark Fire Strike Extreme: In this test, the GPU scored 8762, the max power consumption was 64W, the operating frequency was 2370MHz, and the max temperature was 77 degrees.

3DMark Time Spy: The RTX 4050 scored 7291 on this test. The max power consumption rose to 64W, the operating frequency was 2352MHz, and the max temperature was 80 degrees.

After the benchmark test, we also did a gaming test of the RTX 4050:

Shadow of the Tomb Raider: The resolution was set to Full-HD, and the refresh rate was at 60Hz, on which we got 97 fps.

Forza Horizon 5: The resolution was at Full-HD resolution, all the settings were set at the highest, and the MSAA was at 2X. With these settings, we got 49 fps.

Far Cry 5: With Full-HD resolution and all other options closed, we got 85 fps.

Far Cry 6: With the same settings as in Far Cry 5, we got 67 fps.

PUBG: Again, with the same settings, we got 125 fps.

Cyberpunk 2077: The resolution was at Full-HD, the texture quality was high, and all the other options were closed. On these settings, we got 68 fps.

The Witcher 3: With Full-HD resolution, we got 75 fps.

Borderlands 3: With the same settings, we got 58 fps.

Gears of War 5: With 1920*1200 resolution and all the options turned off, we got 70 fps.

Compared with the RTX 4050 115W version, the performance gap isn’t as significant as expected; a little difference in every game has been observed (around 10-15%). However, the overall gaming performance was satisfactory.

ASUS ROG Flow X13 (2023): Cooling System and Stress Testing

As per ASUS, the ROG Flow X13 features the ROG Intelligent Cooling Technology, which still controls the temperature despite having a slim body. The cooling system inside Flow X13 includes dual fans, dual slimmer heat pipes, 3 dedicated heat sinks and liquid metal thermal compound on the CPU, allowing the ROG Flow X13 to run at lower temperatures even in high-stress scenarios.

For testing the Cooling system, we have done stress testing on both CPU and GPU in both scenarios separately and combined.

CPU Stress Test: The CPU stress test was carried out two times. For the first time, we did the AIDA64 FPU test. After running the test for 30 minutes, the power consumption reached 40W, the cores frequency was at 3.7GHz, and the temperature was 73 degrees.

The second test was carried out using Prime95. After running it for 20 minutes, the power consumption was at 57W, and the temperature reached 95 degrees.

GPU Stress Test: For this test, we used Furmark. After running it for 16 minutes, the power consumption of RTX 4050 was at 60W while the GPU frequency was 2028MHz, and the temperature reached 80 degrees.

Combined Stress Test: We used the Furmark CPU and Furmark GPU tests for the combined stress tests. After running the test for 1 hour, the power consumption was stable at 25W, and the cores frequency was at 3.1GHz. The power consumption of the GPU was at 45W while the temperature reached 80 degrees.

Conclusion

The ASUS ROG Flow X13 (2023) GV302XU is a high-performance gaming laptop that offers a great combination of hardware (including Ryzen 9 7940HS and RTX 4050) and a compact design. It features a slim profile, a high refresh rate display (165Hz), and powerful hardware that makes it suitable for gamers and content creators.

The laptop also features a unique cooling system with the all-new liquid metal compound that helps to maintain peak performance during intense gaming sessions. With a battery life of up to 12 hours, the notebook is also ideal for users who need to work on the go. Overall, the ROG Flow X13 (2023) is a great choice for anyone looking for a high-end gaming notebook with excellent performance and design.