This article is my detailed review of the 2022 Asus TUF Gaming A15 series, Asus’s updated lineup of AMD-based performance/gaming laptops with a competitive price tag.
For the 2022 generation, Asus have entirely revamped the TUF Gaming series, looking to address the quirks of the previous models, which lacked some of the features available with the competition and took a lot of heat for their cooling capabilities.
With these updates, Asus not just bumped the specs to the latest AMD Rembrandt platforms available to date (or Intel Alder Lake on the matching Intel TUF F15 variants reviewed here ), but they also made the 2022 TUFs smaller and lighter, improved the IO, updated the inputs and screen options, increased the power of the GPUs, added a much needed MUX for uncompromised gaming performance, and oversized the thermal module in order to better cope with the new hardware.
Are these enough to make the TUF series competitive in the mid-tier class? You’ll find out from this detailed review.
Specs sheet as reviewed – 2022 ASUS TUF Gaming A15
2022 ASUS TUF Gaming A15 FA507RM
Display 15.6-inch, 16:9, non-touch, matte, Chi Mei CMN1540 panel
Processor AMD Rembrandt Ryzen 7 6800H, 8C/16T
Video AMD Radeon 680M + Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop 6GB (up to 140W with Dynamic Boost)
Memory 16 GB DDR5-4800 RAM – up to 64 GB (2x DIMMs)
Storage 1 TB SSD (Samsung PM991A) – 2x M.2 PCIe gen4 slots
Connectivity WiFi 6 (Mediatek MT7921) 2×2 with Bluetooth 5.2, Gigabit LAN (Realtek RTL8168)
Ports 2x USB-A 3.2 gen1, 1x USB-C gen2 with data, 1x USB-C gen2 with video, data, HDMI 2.0b, LAN, headphone&mic, Lock
Battery 90Wh, 240 W power adapter, no USB-C charging
Size 354 mm or 13.93” (w) x 251 mm or 10.19 (d) x 24.9 mm or .98” (h)
Weight 2.07 kg (4.56 lbs), .7 kg (1.55 lbs) power brick and cables, EU version
Extras rubber-dome single-zone RGB backlit keyboard with NumPad, dual speakers, HD webcam
Update: Earlier this article mentioned USB-C charging support. I double-checked and that was an error on my part. I apologize for the confusion!
We might follow up with reviews on other GPU configurations if there’s enough interest.
That aside, we’ve also reviewed the Intel-based TUF Gaming F15 series in this separate article , as well as the more portable TUF Dash F15 series , and we’ll refer to them throughout this review when needed.
Design and construction The 2022 15-inch TUF lineup is about 5% more compact than the previous generations, and ~7% lighter, at less than 2.1 kilos for this reviewed configuration with 2x RAM stocks, a single SSD inside, and the 90 Wh battery.
Size aside, Asus have also slightly updated the materials used for the construction and the design lines.
The main chassis and the armest and keyboard deck are still black plastic, but with a simpler, more subtle texture, while the bottom and the sides are this rougher dark-gray gray finishing. The build quality is overall solid, with almost no flex in the keyboard deck or in the lid, and no funny noises when picking this up and using it every day. The black plastic interior does show smudges easily, so you’ll constantly have to clean it off.
The lids have been redesigned as well, with two aluminum options to choose from now: one with an embossed TUF logo, the one that we have here, and another with a laser engraved TUF logo and some vertical lines. Both are a little more refined than the options available before, especially compared to the black plastic variant used for the lower-tier 2021 configurations (the last of the pictures down below).
2022 TUF
TUFs 2022
2021 TUFs
Asus have also redesigned the upper interior part on these 2022 TUF models. This is cleaner looking now and the intake air grill is smaller in size and has been moved to the right of the chassis.
However, I don’t get these big and bright status LEDs implemented on this series. I feel like the person who designed these never used the laptop at night, in a dark room. Bright indicator LEDs right under the screen, in the line of sight, are a big NO-NO for me, and yet someone at Asus keeps thinking otherwise and puts them on all of the Asus lineups, including these TUFs or the 2022 Scars and most of the Zephyrus models. Oh, and have I mentioned that there’s still an always-on white light in the power button, in the right corner?
Anyway, as far as the other practical aspects go, I appreciate the full-size inputs and the larger clickpad on this TUF generation, and I also found the grip on the desk to be very good, thanks to the updated rubber feet, now bigger and taller than before. You’ll also notice unobstructed air intakes over the fans on the bottom of the laptop, various other cuts over the components, and the speaker cuts.
I’ll also mention that the hinges are strong and yet smooth enough on this design to allow easy one-handed adjustments. However, the screen only goes back to about 145 degrees, which is OK for desk use, but I would have preferred a 180 implementation.
Asus went with small bezels on the sides of the display, a reversed notch housing the camera and microphones at the top, and still a hefty chin underneath, with a cut revealing what’s behind the laptop. You’re not going to see any cables back there, though, because there are no ports on the back of this design.
One other complaint worth mentioning here are the rather rugged interior lips and corners; I would have preferred something smoother and friendlier on the wrists, as on the previous TUFs or the ROG models.
As far as the thermal module goes, Asus have transitioned the TUF series to a much expected 4-radiator design, at least for the 3060/3070Ti configurations, such as this one that we have here. That means there are now radiators on the back edge and on both sides of the laptop, which will help with the overall cooling capabilities. This change does negatively impact the IO placement to some extent.
The majority of the IO is grouped on the left side of this laptop, all the way to the front, a design we’ve complained about on other Asus notebooks, such as the Zephyrus G15s/M16s, and that’s because it is not a very practical approach if you’re planning on hooking up multiple peripherals. Most other laptops in this class do a better job spreading the IO around the chassis and especially utilizing that back edge for the DC-in, HDMI and LAN connectors, but not this TUF. Up to you if this is going to be acceptable or not.
On a positive note, there are now two USB-C ports on this A15, and one of them supports video (dGPU connection). The HDMI port hooks into the dGPU as well, but is only a 2.0b variant, not 2.1 .
Overall, the TUF Gaming 2022 series refines some of my issues with the previous generation, but still leaves room for improvement here and there.
I appreciate the smaller and lighter chassis, the cleaner looks, the added IO functionality, and the fact that they updated the thermal module to a 4-radiator design, the same kind offered by most other alternatives in this segment. At the same time, though, I wish they would have better spread the IO around the sides, they would have implemented a 180-degree hinge system and friendlier lips and corners. And don’t even get me started again on those indicator LEDs under the screen!
Keyboard and trackpad Asus have slightly updated the inputs on this 2022 TUF Gaming series, revamping the layout, adding an extra set of media keys at the top-left which were previously only available on ROG laptops, as well as a larger clickpad.
They still went with a full layout with a NumPad section, and mostly everything is in the right place. The NumPad keys are narrower than the main deck of keys, and the arrows keys are wider than before, but at the same time shorter and more cramped within everything else. Overall, though, this is a fair layout.
The keys are still smooth to the touch and somewhat smudgy, and the feedback is firmer than on previous TUFs, but still takes some time to get used to. I preffer the crisper response of the ROG Strix models, but I can see myself getting used to this implementation just fine. I also found the actuations to be quiet, with the exception of the Space key.
The keys are RGB backlit, with single-zone control through the AURA software, part of the Armory Crate app. The illumination is uniform and bright enough at the maximum level. Some light creeps out from underneath the keycaps, though, especially because they are designed with translucent sides meant to allow the light to shine through.
Asus also allow the ability to reactivate the lighting with a swipe over the clickpad once it times off, and made sure to implement a dedicated Caps-Lock indicator.
For mouse, they implemented a 25% larger clickpad-style surface on this TUF generation, instead of the immovable touchpad with dedicated buttons used in the past. This feels a lot like the clickpads on the higher-tier Asus products, but is made out of smooth plastic, not glass, and I found it snappy and consistent during my time with the laptop. It’s also a sturdy implementation that doesn’t rattle with taps, but the physical clicks in the corners are rather clunky and loud.
As for biometrics, there are still none on the TUFs.
Screen Asus offers a couple of screen options for this 2022 TUF Gaming A15 lineup, all 15.6-inch, 16:9, matte and non-touch:
FHD 144Hz with 300+ nits of brightness and 65% sRGB colors;
FHD 300Hz 3ms with 300+ nits of brightness and 100% sRGB colors;
QHD 165Hz 3ms with 350+ nits of brightness and 100% DCI-P3 colors.
Stay away from the base-level option, that’s most likely the dull and slow Panda panel available with past entry-level TUFs. The FHD 300Hz is a balanced budget option, while the QHD model is actually a solid choice in this class of notebooks.
We have the QHD display on our test unit, which is a solid panel by today’s standards, aside from the fact that it doesn’t get very bright and it would require some further calibrating for professional use. I found it excellent for daily and creative use, thanks to the wide gamut coverage and good color accuracy. This is also a solid option for gaming, with fast refresh rates and response times; there’s no GSync implemented, only Adaptive-Sync to prevent tearing.
Here’s what we got in our tests, with an X-Rite i1 Display Pro sensor :
Panel HardwareID: Chi Mei CMN1540 (NE156KME-GNA);
Coverage: 99.8% sRGB, 84.0% AdobeRGB, 97.4% DCI-P3;
Measured gamma: 2.07;
Max brightness in the middle of the screen: 350.39 cd/m2 on power;
Min brightness in the middle of the screen: 8.52 cd/m2 on power;
Contrast at max brightness: 1043:1;
White point: 6800 K;
Black on max brightness: 0.33 cd/m2;
PWM: No.
You’ll need to calibrate this for color-accurate work, as the Gamma and White Point are skewed out of the box. Once calibrated, this ended up uniform in luminosity and color, and I also haven’t noticed any obvious screen-bleeding on black backgrounds.
Hardware and performance Our test model is a mid-specced configuration of the ASUS TUF Gaming A15, code name FA507RM, built on an AMD Ryzen 7 6800H processor, 16 GB of DDR5-4800 memory in dual channel, 1 TB of middling SSD storage, and dual graphics: the Nvidia RTX 3060 dGPU with 6 GB of vRAM and the Radeon 680M iGPU integrated within the AMD processor .
Disclaimer: Before we proceed, keep in mind that our review unit was sent over by Asus and it runs on the software available as of mid-April 2022 (BIOS 307, Armoury Crate 5.1.4, GeForce 511.69 drivers). This is a mature software package, as the laptop has been available in stores for a few months now, but some aspects might still change with later updates.
Spec-wise, the 2022 ASUS TUF Gaming A15 series is built on the latest AMD and Nvidia hardware available to date. The Ryzen 7 6800H is the mainstream offer in the AMD Rembrandt 6000 platform, with 8 Cores and 16 Threads. It’s a revision of the Ryzen 7 5800H from last year , built on the updated Zen3+ 6 nm technology, with improvements in design, IPC, and efficiency, as well as an updated Radeon iGPU.
The design of this TUF Gaming series allows the processor to run at 80+W of sustained power in demanding loads, ensuring the maximum multi-threaded performance that this AMD CPU is capable of. We’ll get to that in a bit.
Update: If interested, a detailed comparison of the AMD Ryzen 7 6800H and the Intel Core i7-12700H platforms in the TUF Gaming chassis is available here .
For the GPU, the 2022 TUF Gaming series is available with RTX 3000 and RTX 3000 Ti graphics chips. What we have on this sample is the mid-range RTX 3060 dGPU running at up to 140W with Dynamic Boost in supported games and applications. As a novelty for this generation, Asus also implemented a MUX on the TUF Gaming lineup.
For the RAM and storage options, the laptop offers two accessible memory DIMMs and two M.2 SSD slots. Our unit shipped with 16 GB of DDR5-4800 RAM (2x sticks) and a middling Samsung PCIe gen3 SSD. This is still alright for everyday use, and upgrades to faster gen4 drives are possible, if needed.
Accessing the components requires removing the back panel, which is held in place by a couple of Philips screws. The screws are of different sizes, so careful about putting them back. You’ll need a prying tool, as the back panel is attached very snugly with strong plastic clips. I suggest starting from the front corner where the pop-out screw is placed, and then work your way around the edges.
Inside you’ll find all the components, the big battery, and the thermal module. Everything is packed tightly on this compact 15-inch chassis, without any space left unused.
Specs aside, Asus offer their standard four power profiles in the Armoury Crate control app for this laptop: Silent, Performance, Turbo, and Manual, with various power settings and fan profiles between them.
Silent – quite fan-noise at under 35 dB, limited CPU/GPU speeds and power;
Performance – balanced profile with stock CPU/GPU settings and ~40 dB fan noise;
Turbo – High-Performance profile with increased CPU power allocation, faster-spinning fans at ~49-50 dB, and overclocked GPU (+50 MHz Core/+100 MHz Memory, up to 140W TGP).
Manual – like Turbo, but with the ability to custom tweak the CPU’s PL1/PL2 power levels and GPU’s power/clocks, plus create custom fan profiles based on temperature limits.
Manual mode has been added to the TUF Gaming lineup this generation, allowing for extra control over the fans and CPU/GPU power settings, just like on the Asus ROG devices. This was not available for the TUFs in previous years.
Turbo is only available with the laptop plugged into the wall and is meant for gaming and other demanding loads. Performance is a jack-of-all-trades, while Silent is made for light daily use. The system is able to idle the fans on the Silent profile as long as the CPU/GPU stay under 60 degrees C, leading to a mostly noiseless daily-use experience.
Here’s what to expect in terms of performance and temperatures with everyday multitasking, browsing, and video.
Performance and benchmarks On to more demanding loads, we start by testing the CPU’s performance by running the Cinebench R15 test for 15+ times in a loop, with a 1-2 seconds delay between each run.
The Ryzen 7 processor stabilizes at ~80W of sustained power on the Turbo setting, which translates in frequencies of 4.2+ GHz, temperatures of ~92 C, and scores of ~2250 points. The fans spin at ~49 dB at head-level in this mode. The CPU runs at high temperatures, but is not thermally limited on this design and profile.
Opting for the Manual mode with max rpm fans allows for marginally lower temperatures with a slight increase in fan noise, but with no impact on the performance.
Switching over to the Performance profile translates in the CPU stabilizing at ~65W and temperatures in the mid-90s, but with the fans spinning much quieter at only ~35 dB at head-level. The CPU is power and thermally limited in this mode, but still returns scores of ~2150 points, just 5% lower than on Turbo/Manual.
The Silent profile limits the sustained power at 30W, with barely audible fans (sub 30 dB) and middling temperatures (low-70s C). The Ryzen 7 scores ~1650 in this mode, roughly 70% of the Turbo performance, which is fine for this kind of a profile, and showcases the AMD platform’s efficiency and capabilities at lower power settings.
Finally, the CPU runs at ~45 W on battery, on the Performance profile, with stabilized scores of around 2000 points. That’s solid for battery use. Details below.
To put these in perspective, here’s how this Ryzen 7 6800H implementation fares against other modern laptops in this test, both Intel and AMD. The 2022 Ryzen 9 6900HS is up to 5% faster, while the Intel i9-12900H and i7-12800H end up about 15-25% faster. At the same time, the 2022 Ryzen 600 hardware is a 5-10% step-up from the 2021 AMD platforms at similar power.
Update: If interested, a detailed comparison of the AMD Ryzen 7 6800H and the Intel Core i7-12700H platforms in the TUF Gaming chassis is available here .
We then went ahead and further verified our findings with the more taxing Cinebench R23 loop test and Blender – Classroom, which resulted in similar findings to what we explained above, and only a slightly lower sustained CPU power in the Performance mode, as a result of heat building-up with the slow-spinning fans in this case.
We also ran the 3DMark CPU test on the Turbo profile.
Finally, we ran our combined CPU+GPU stress tests on this notebook. 3DMark stress runs the same test for 20 times in a loop and looks for performance variation and degradation over time, and this unit passed it just fine, which means there’s no performance throttling with longer-duration sustained loads.
Next, we ran the entire suite of tests and benchmarks, on the stock Turbo profile in Armoury Crate, the MUX set on Hybrid mode, and on FHD screen resolution for consistency with our other tests.
3DMark 13 – Fire Strike: 21302 (Graphics – 23003, Physics – 26992, Combined – 11388);3DMark 13 – Port Royal: 5156;3DMark 13 – Time Spy: 9085 (Graphics – 8888, CPU – 10396);Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Extreme: 5312;Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Medium: 16256;Handbrake 1.3.3 (4K to 1080p encode): 53.29 average fps;PassMark 10: Rating: 6037 (CPU: 26231, 3D Graphics: 17067, Memory: 2832, Disk Mark: 15464);PCMark 10: 7073 (Essentials – 10407, Productivity – 9587, Digital Content Creation – 9625);GeekBench 5.4.3 64-bit: Single-Core: 1598, Multi-core: 9847;CineBench R15 (best run): CPU 2359 cb, CPU Single Core 247 cb;CineBench R20 (best run): CPU 5596 cb, CPU Single Core 599 cb;CineBench R23: CPU 14535 cb (best single run), CPU 14396 cb (10 min run), CPU Single Core 1556 cb;x265 HD Benchmark 64-bit: 25.46 s.
And here are some workstation benchmarks, on the same Turbo profile:
Blender 3.01 – BMW scene – CPU Compute: 2m 48s (Turbo);Blender 3.01 – BMW scene – GPU Compute: 27s (CUDA), 15s (Optix);Blender 3.01 – Classroom scene – CPU Compute: 6m 12s (Turbo);Blender 3.01 – Classroom scene – GPU Compute: 55s (CUDA), 30s (Optix);Pugetbench – DaVinvi Resolve: 1040;Pugetbench – Adobe Afert Effects: 793;Pugetbench – Adobe Photoshop: 889;Pugetbench – Adobe Premiere: 729;SPECviewperf 2020 – 3DSMax: 83.45 (Turbo);SPECviewperf 2020 – Catia: 51.24 (Turbo);SPECviewperf 2020 – Creo: 79.98 (Turbo);SPECviewperf 2020 – Energy: 19.25 (Turbo);SPECviewperf 2020 – Maya: 288.25 (Turbo);SPECviewperf 2020 – Medical: 27.9 (Turbo);SPECviewperf 2020 – SNX: 16.36 (Turbo);SPECviewperf 2020 – SW: 192.42 (Turbo).V-Ray Benchmark: CPU – 10122 vsamples, GPU CUDA – 872 vpaths, GPU RTX – 1115;
Compared to the R9 + RTX 3070Ti 150W configuration in the ROG Strix G15 , this R7 + RTX 3060 140W TUF A15 ends up within up to 5% slower in the CPU tests, and 20-25% slower in the GPU loads, which makes perfect sense considering the class difference between the two implemented graphics chips. The RTX 3060 Strix G15 is going to perform very similarly to this A15 3060.
As for the Intel options, we haven’t yet reviewed the TUF Gaming F15 series built on the Core i7-11800H processor, but we have reviewed a couple of other similar products. Expect 10-15% higher scores in CPU tests at max power, and 15-20% in single-core and burst loads. The AMD platform is going to have an edge in the lower-power profiles, though, something to consider if you’re aiming for a quiet fan experience.
Update: Our review of the Intel-based Asus TUF Gaming F15 is available here . The performance gains are significant, especially in CPU loads, and temperatures in demanding loads are overall better as well.
Finally, compared to last year’s TUF Gaming A15 with the Ryzen 7 5800H + RTX 3060 95W configuration , the 2022 update is 10-25% faster in CPU loads, and as much as 20% faster in GPU loads, thanks to the increased power settings. Furthermore, the implementation of a MUX makes an even greater difference in games.
All in all, the TUf A15 is a solid performer on the Turbo profile, but it also runs rather loud, with the fans ramping up to 48-50dB.
If you prefer sacrificing the performance to some extent for quieter fan noise, here’s how this 2022 TUF A15 does on the Performance profile, which limits the fans to somewhere between 35-42 dB at head level.
3DMark 13 – Fire Strike: 19568 (Graphics – 21267, Physics – 2572, Combined – 10275);3DMark 13 – Time Spy: 8336 (Graphics – 8153, CPU – 9551);Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Extreme: 12524;GeekBench 5.4.3 64-bit: Single-Core: 1488, Multi-core: 8964;CineBench R20 (best run): CPU 5139 cb, CPU Single Core 558 cb.
The overall performance takes a ~10-20% hit on this mode, but the internal components end up hotter than on the Turbo mode, as a result of still running at high power and with more limited fan airflow. That means I wouldn’t recommend running sustained demanding chores on this Performance mode on a daily basis.
You can opt for the Silent profile, though, in which case the fans won’t go over 35 dB. Here’s what we got in this case:
3DMark 13 – Fire Strike: 7592 (Graphics – 8267, Physics – 18875, Combined – 3027);3DMark 13 – Time Spy: 3025 (Graphics – 2700, CPU – 9553);Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Extreme: 8063;GeekBench 5.4.3 64-bit: -Single-Core: 1167, Multi-core: 7416;CineBench R20 (best run): CPU 3978 cb, CPU Single Core 446 cb.
The CPU is still a competitive performer on this profile, running within 15-30% of what it can do on Turbo. However, the GPU is significantly limited at about 40% of its capabilities on Turbo. Both components run at adequate temperatures in the 70s, though, so the laptop is safe to use on this mode for longer sustained activities. Up to you if the performance/noise balance is justifiable on this Silent profile.
Gaming performance Let’s see how this 2022 TUF Gaming A15 notebook handles modern games.
We tested several games at QHD and FHD resolution on Ultra settings, on the stock Turbo and Performance profiles. I’ve also included Silent mode, for a quiet sub-35dB gaming experience, and Manual mode with maxed-out fans and a few tweaks that I’ll explain further down.
Here are the raw numbers, all these with the MUX set on the Discrete GPU mode:
Ryzen 7 6800H QHD Turbo QHD Manual QHD Performance FHD Turbo FHD Silent
Battlefield V 110 fps (62 fps – 1% low)
106 fps (66 fps – 1% low)
99 fps (56 fps – 1% low)
137 fps (76 fps – 1% low)
109 fps (62 fps – 1% low)
Cyberpunk 2077 41 fps (31 fps – 1% low)
–
34 fps (28 fps – 1% low)
59 fps (40 fps – 1% low)
36 fps (24 fps – 1% low)
Doom Eternal –
–
182 fps (113 fps – 1% low)
–
Far Cry 6 69 fps (51 fps – 1% low)
69 fps (51 fps – 1% low)
67 fps (50 fps – 1% low)
81 fps (62 fps – 1% low)
–
Far Cry 5 91 fps (76 fps – 1% low)
91 fps (74 fps – 1% low)
82 fps (62 fps – 1% low)
108 fps (72 fps – 1% low)
101 fps (68 fps – 1% low)
Metro Exodus 53 fps (36 fps – 1% low)
–
–
67 fps (45 fps – 1% low)
–
Red Dead Redemption 2 70 fps (53 fps – 1% low)
–
–
92 fps (66 fps – 1% low)
–
Shadow of Tomb Raider 77 fps (61 fps – 1% low)
76 fps (62 fps – 1% low)
71 fps (56 fps – 1% low)
105 fps (72 fps – 1% low)
95 fps (67 fps – 1% low)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 84 fps (62 fps – 1% low)
84 fps (65 fps – 1% low)
73 fps (55 fps – 1% low)
112 fps (74 fps – 1% low)
42 fps (26 fps – 1% low)
Battlefield V, Cyberpunk, Doom, Witcher 3 – recorded with Fraps/in-game FPS counter in campaign mode;
Far Cry 5, 6, Metro, Red Dead Redemption 2, Tomb Raider games – recorded with the included Benchmark utilities;
Red Dead Redemption 2 Optimized profile based on these settings .
Those above are rasterization tests, and here are some results for RTX titles with and without DLSS.
AMD Ryzen 7 6800H QHD Turbo FHD Turbo
Battlefield V 61 fps (45 fps – 1% low)
83 fps (63 fps – 1% low)
Battlefield V 71 fps (56 fps – 1% low)
98 fps (77 fps – 1% low)
Cyberpunk 2077 15 fps (11 fps – 1% low)
30 fps (23 fps – 1% low)
Cyberpunk 2077 40 fps (32 fps – 1% low)
58 fps (48 fps – 1% low)
Doom Eternal N/A
N/A
Far Cry 6 51 fps (28 fps – 1% low)
60 fps (40 fps – 1% low)
Shadow of Tomb Raider 40 fps (28 fps – 1% low)
58 fps (39 fps – 1% low)
This configuration can handle most modern games at QHD resolution and Ultra settings, with some exceptions, especially once you active RT, due to the limited capabilities and the lesser amount of VRAM on the RTX 3060 chip.
Compared to the R9 + RTX 3070Ti 150W configuration in the ROG Strix G15 , this R7 + RTX 3060 140W TUF A15 ends up 10-25% slower in games between the tested titles.
However, compared to last year’s TUF Gaming A15 with the Ryzen 7 5800H + RTX 3060 95W configuration , the 2022 update is a 10-20% faster gamer, thanks to the implemented MUX and the much higher GPU power on this generation.
I can’t properly draw conclusions on how will this AMD-based model compare against an Intel 12th gen implementation with the same kind of memory, storage, and GPU. I’d expect the two to be close, but with an advantage for the Intel model. We’ll know more once we get to review the TUF Gaming F15 series.
With these out of the way, let’s go over some performance and temperatures logs, which are going to better explain some of our findings above.
On Turbo and with the current BIOS settings, this laptop runs the CPU at ~20W in the titles that scale well onto the GPU with Dynamic Boost, such as Witcher, Cyberpunk on Red Dead, and 30-40W in those that don’t, such as the Far Cry titles or Battlefiled V. As a result, the CPU averages temperatures in the low 80s at 20W, but goes in the 90s at 40W.
Since the Turbo mode is designed to offer ~155W of sustained combined CPU+GPU power, that means the GPU scales in power between up to 140W in Witcher and Red Dead, and down to 115W of power in Far Cry. We’re looking at temperatures between 80-86 degrees Celsius at the higher power settings, and around 80s in the other titles.
All in all, these are still rather high internal temperatures, but they should come as no surprise considering the massive power increase over the 2021 generation. At the same time, we’re hardly looking at any thermal throttling here. Check out the logs for more details.
Bumping up the back of the laptop from the desk in order to improve the airflow helps shed 3-5 degrees off the components. That’s because the low-profile rubber feet implemented on this laptop choke the intakes to some extent. Opting for an active cooling pad will help even more.
As a novelty for the 2022 TUFs, there’s now the Manual mode available in Armoury Crate, which allows customizing the fan profiles and CPU/GPU settings. I’ve set the fans at max 100% rpms, as well as applied these CPU and GPU settings:
CPU: SPL – 22W, FPPT – 35W (to encourage power shifting to the GPU), fans set at 100% rpm for temperatures over 50C.
GPU: the same +50MHz Core and +100 MHz memory overclock (there’s room for further tweaking here), fans set at 100% for temperatures over 50C.
Don’t expect more than just minor differences over the Turbo profile, and that’s because the fans are already running at 95% rpms in that case, and the system does a fair job adjusting the CPU power on its own. This mode would allow for higher GPU overclocks, but I’ll let you try that out for yourselves. One other aspect this Manual mode allows is to set a GPU thermal limit and the system will adjust the GPU frequencies and power to make sure the chip doesn’t go above that.
Here are the logs for Manual mode with the laptop on the desk.
And with the back bumped up to improve the airflow.
With all these high-performance profiles out of the way, if you’re looking for quieter noise levels when running games , your options are either the Performance mode, the Silent mode, or a further tweaked Manual profile with custom fan profiles and a GPU thermal limit setting.
On Performance, the fans spin much quieter at up to 42 dB, and the framerates only take a ~10% hit compared to the Turbo mode. However, the internal components end up running at higher temperatures. You’ll have to accept CPU temperatures in the 90s, GPU temperatures in the 85-87 C, and GPU power throttling in most titles, as well as somewhat higher surface temperatures than on the Turbo mode.
Bumping the back of the laptop from the desk helps in this Performance mode as well.
The Silent mode aggressively limits the GPU on this laptop, leading to CPU/GPU temperatures of 70-75 C and fan noise levels of sub 35 dB. Most games are still going to run OK with Whisper Mode activated, with or without a fps limit, but you’ll want to switch to FHD resolution and medium settings for 60+ fps in the recent titles.
Lastly, this laptop can also run games on battery on the Performance profile, with a 60 fps limit set in the settings. It performs much as on the Silent plugged-in mode detailed above. Don’t expect more than one hour of gameplay at full details, or perhaps longer with a 30 fps cap and lower settings.
All in all, this AMD-based 2022 Asus TUF Gaming A15 series is a capable performer within its class and a significant step-up from the previous generation. With the increased power settings, though, the components are still going to run in the 80s and 90s in long gaming and work sessions, even if the thermal module has been slightly revamped. We’re looking at rather similar thermal readings to the previous generation, which is not bad at all considering the 40+ extra wattage on the 2022 generation.
As a result, I would recommend either bumping up the back of the laptop in order to increase the airflow into the fans, or buying yourself a proper cooling pad to further help keep those temperatures at bay. Both are going to make a significant difference here.
Noise, Heat, Connectivity, speakers, and others Asus have updated the thermal design of the 2022 TUF Gaming A15 compared to the previous generation, adding an extra heat pipe and radiators on the CPU side, but there’s nothing new on the GPU side, despite the much higher GPU power settings. They’re also still using regular thermal paste for this series, and not liquid metal as on the ROG models.
At the same time, Asus have also updated the bottom panel design and the way the airflow is channeled over the components and into the fans.
As discussed in the previous section, the CPU and the GPU both run in the high-70s to mid-90s in this 2022 TUF Gaming series, based on the amount of power allocated to each component and how the system scales between the CPU and GPU with Dynamic Boost.
Much like with the Strix and Scar series, the cooling module is still somewhat choked here by the slim rubber feet and their design that forces the fans to draw fresh air from the middle of the laptop, and not from the laterals where it would be able to access cooler air. As a result, lifting up the back of the laptop from the desk leads to a noticeable decrease in the internal temperatures, both on the CPU and on the GPU. Ramping up the fans to max rpms in Manual mode doesn’t help much here, as the fans are already running close to their max potential on Turbo. Furthermore, the Performance profile is hardly usable, as it leads to even higher internal temperatures and thermal throttling on the GPU.
Now, as far as the outer case temperatures go, these are solid on Turbo, with only a hotter spot in the middle of the chassis and temperatures in the mid-30s on the keyboard deck. The laptop heats up a little more on Performance, but not to the point where anything gets too hot or any surfaces that you’ll normally get in contact with get unpleasant to touch.
*Gaming – Performance – playing Far Cry 5 for 30 minutes, fans at ~40-42 dB
At the same time, this laptop is a breeze with everyday use, multitasking, browsing, or video streaming. The 0dB Technology allows the two fans to completely switch off with light use as long as the hardware stays under 60 C on the Silent profile, which is most of the time. And that’s both on battery or when plugged in.
*Daily Use – streaming Netflix in EDGE for 30 minutes, Silent profile, fans at 0 dB
For connectivity, there’s Wireless 6 and Bluetooth 5 on this unit, as well as Gigabit Lan, but not Wifi 6E or 2.5G Lan as on the 2022 ROG products. Not a problem IMO, and I have nothing to fault with the included Mediatek chip, which proved fast and reliable for everyday use.
The audio quality here is alright for this class of budget performance laptops, with two speakers firing on the bottom and to the sides. The sound lacks plenty in the lows, but it’s OK for daily use, especially if you make sure to tick the “Enhanced Optimus” option in the Speakers menu in Windows 11. The volumes peak at about 75-76 dB at head level, and I haven’t noticed any annoying distortions or vibrations in the chassis at high volumes.
Finally, the camera is placed on top of the screen, flanked by microphones. It’s the same HD options from last year and is OK for occasional calls in a well-lit room, but don’t expect much in quality.
Battery life There’s either a 56Wh or a 90Wh battery inside the 2022 TUF Gaming models, and our unit is the 90Wh version.
The system automatically switches the screen’s refresh to 60 Hz when using the laptop on battery, to increase efficiency, and that’s the quick screen flicker that you’ll notice when disconnecting the laptop from the wall. Also, if you’re looking to maximize runtimes, make sure to use the laptop in the Hybrid MUX mode.
Here’s what we got on our review unit in terms of battery life, with the screen’s brightness set at around 120 nits (~60 brightness) and on Hybrid mode.
14 W (~5-7 h of use) – text editing in Google Drive, Silent Mode, screen at 60%, WiFi ON;12 W (~7-8 h of use) – 1080p fullscreen video on Youtube in Edge, Silent Mode, screen at 60%, WiFi ON;11.5 W (~8-9 h of use) – Netflix fullscreen in Edge, Silent Mode, screen at 60%, WiFi ON;18 W (~4-6 h of use) – browsing in Edge, Performance Mode, screen at 60%, WiFi ON;85 W (~1 h of use) – Gaming – Witcher 3, Performance Mode, screen at 60%, WiFi ON, no fps limit.
These are fair runtimes, but not really what I was expecting from a Ryzen build. The 2021 A15s ran much more efficiently with light use and streaming, and I’d expect the same on this 2022 generation with later software tweaks. Even as they are, these runtimes are better than what you can get with the Intel TUF models.
This A15 FA507RM configuration comes with a fairly compact 240W power brick, the version with two long thick cables. The battery fills up in about 2 hours, with fast charging for the first half an hour.
USB-C charging is not supported for the TUF 2022 series. An earlier version of this article claimed otherwise, but that was a mistake on my part and has been corrected in the meantime.
Price and availability- 2022 ASUS TUF Gaming A15 The 2022 Asus TUF Gaming lineup is listed in a few regions at the time of this article.
The A15 FA507RM configuration tested here, with the Ryzen 7 + RTX 3060 + QHD display, is available for 1700 EUR in Germany/France, 1500 GBP in the UK, and about 1450 EUR over here in Eastern Europe.
I couldn’t find the series in the US or North America for now.
We’ll update you when we know more. In the meantime, follow this link for updated configurations and prices in your region at the time you’re reading this article.
Final thoughts- 2022 ASUS TUF Gaming A15 review There’s no doubt the 2022 TUF Gaming series is a major step-up from the previous generation, both in terms of performance and overall capabilities in demanding loads and games, but also when it comes to the design, ergonomics, and the features available with this series. Among those, the 2022 generation gets better screens, updated inputs and ports.
Throw in the updated hardware with increased power settings, the updated thermal module, and the addition of a MUX for the un-limited gaming experience, alongside the efficiency of the Ryzen 6000 hardware platform paired with a 90Wh battery inside, and the 2022 A15 is going to be an interesting option in the lower and mid-budget segment of all-purpose computers with a strong gaming pedigree.
At the same time, though, I still have some nits with the ergonomics of this series, and with the rather high internal temperatures in demanding loads with the laptop sitting on a desk.
Furthermore, the competition has also been updated for this year, and the 2022 Lenovo Legion 5 or the Acer Nitro 5 are now better than ever before, and able to at least match the TUF on most of the important angles. Add in what looks like a higher price tag for the TUF Gaming notebook now, with all the updates, compared to past TUFs, as well as the internal competition from the superior ROG Strix G15 design , and the TUF A15 might not be an obvious recommendation in its class. It is an option worth shortlisting and considering, but pricing needs to play an important role as well if this is going to win you over everything else out there.
This pretty much wraps up our review of the 2022 Asus TUF Gaming A15 FA507RM notebook. I’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback down below, so don’t hesitate to get in touch for any feedback or questions.
Review by: Andrei Girbea
Andrei Girbea is a Writer and Editor-in-Chief here at Ultrabookreview.com . I write about mobile technology, laptops and computers in general. I've been doing it for more than 15 years now. I'm a techie with a Bachelor's in Computer Engineering. I mostly write reviews and thorough guides here on the site, with some occasional columns and first-impression articles.
Joseph R.
April 25, 2022 at 3:44 am
When I bought my new laptop, the first thing that came to mind was “how can I make it as fast and powerful for gaming?” Well if you're looking into computers then there's no better place than Amazon. They have tons of reviews from people who actually own these products so all your questions will be answered before purchase! Plus their customer service team is always available which makes life easier when things go wrong or need fixing later down road.
This laptop is literally perfect for my needs when I am around the house. I would not travel with this thing, although I could, but I already have to lug a work laptop around.
I do lots of encoding of audio files, no video editing, and some gaming… I'm big on RPGs, dont like FPS at all.
Battery life is insane…. like 8-9 hours. Very happy with my purchase.
Zoi
April 30, 2022 at 5:05 am
Hey ! Thanks for nice review !
I have 1 little q: do you sure this laptop supports usb-c charging ?
Specs says it is only data and displayport
Andrei Girbea
April 30, 2022 at 9:47 am
What specs? I talk about it in the article, go ahead and read it.
Zoi
May 8, 2022 at 10:39 am
are you sure? asus official site mention only ubs-c support DisplayPort™ / G-SYNC, and no power delivery : asus.com/Laptops/For-Gaming/TUF-Gaming/ASUS-TUF-Gaming-A15-2022/techspec/
also in other review mention no usb-c charging on this laptop: laptopmedia.com/review/asus-tuf-gaming-a15-fa507/#specs-sheet
Sorry, it is just important info for me so i am aksing
Andrei Girbea
May 10, 2022 at 6:51 pm
That's weird, I remember trying this laptop with a USB-C charger and it worked. I no longer have this around, but I'll try to double check with Asus about it
Alex
June 23, 2022 at 10:46 pm
Did you guys establish if this laptop has USB-C charging?
That's basically the only info I need before I just go ahead and buy it.
Everything else sounds awesome.
Andrei Girbea
June 24, 2022 at 9:11 am
it does, as far as I remember
JPQ
October 16, 2022 at 1:19 pm
Is this confirmed that it is upgradeable to 64 GB RAM?
The ASUS spec page states 32 GB
Thank you.
Andrei Girbea
October 17, 2022 at 8:37 am
haven't tried it, but 64 GB should work.