MediaTek announced its latest 8000-series chipset with the Dimensity 8300. The new SoC is fabed on TSMC’s second-generation 4nm process and comes as a direct successor to last year’s Dimensity 8200 offering performance upgrades across the board.
MediaTek Dimensity 8300
Dimensity 8300 features 4x Arm Cortex-A715 performance cores clocked at up to 3.35GHz alongside 4x Arm Cortex-A510 efficiency units at up to 2.2GHz clock speeds. All eight cores are based on the Armv9 CPU architecture and MediaTek claims up to 20% faster CPU performance and 30% peak gains in power efficiency...
Qualcomm announced its latest midrange 7 series chipset for mobile devices with the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3. While the naming may imply this is a successor to the SD 7+ Gen 2 or SD 7s Gen 2, the new chip slots between the two aforementioned SoCs. SD 7 Gen 3 is fabbed on TSMC’s 4nm process technology and features a 1+3+4 CPU package. The Kryo CPU brings a prime core clocked at 2.63GHz, alongside 3 x performance cores @2.4 Ghz and 4 x efficiency cores @1.8GHz.
Qualcomm claims a 15% improvement in CPU performance and 50% faster Adreno GPU compared to last year’s Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 chip. The 7...
The latest flagship chipset from MediaTek is here with the Dimensity 9300 and it aims to go head to head with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 powering the incoming crop of Android flagships from Chinese smartphone makers.
Dimensity 9300 brings an all-big core CPU design
Dimensity 9300 is built on TSMC’s third-generation 4nm+ process node and its standout feature is the all-big core CPU design. You get a prime Cotex-X4 core clocked at 3.25GHz alongside 3x Cortex-X4 cores @ 2.85GHz and 4x Cortex-A720 cores @ 2.0GHz all based on the Armv9 architecture. MediaTek claims Dimensity 9300...
The Gigabyte Radeon RX 7700 XT Gaming OC is the best version of a difficult card to recommend generally, but it goes a good way towards ameliorating the biggest issue I had with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT: its price.
The Gigabyte Radeon RX 7700 XT Gaming OC is available for $439.99 (about £360/AU$695), which is only $10 less than AMD's official MSRP for the RX 7700 XT, so it's not the biggest savings here, but it does make this card at least somewhat more competitively priced with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti, which comes in at $399.99 (about £320/AU$630).
However, it's not just a price cut off the reference MSRP from AMD that makes the Gigabyte RX 7700 XT card a good bargain. You also get some extra perks over AMD's reference specs to make it more enticing as well, making it one of the best graphics card options for midrange gamers on a tighter budget.
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Starting with the design, you get a triple-fan design that definitely helps thermal performance, which isn't egregious on the RX 7700 XT to begin with. There is no reference card for the RX 7700 XT, mind you, but given that the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT does have a reference card that sports a dual-fan design, you do get something over the higher-tier AMD card.
That's not nothing, and the card itself isn't so long that it can't fit inside a typical midtower PC case. The RX 7700 XT does require a good bit more power than the RTX 4060 Ti (245W to the 4060 Ti's 160W), so it needs two 8-pin power connectors to run it. On the other hand, it doesn't require a 16-pin power cable like the rest of Nvidia's reference RTX 4000-series cards.
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
The Gigabyte card also lacks any real RGB lighting beyond the Gigabyte logo along the top edge of the card, which is either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your perspective, but it's good to have options regardless. Non-RGB fans will appreciate the more subdued aesthetics of this GPU for sure.
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In terms of ports, you have your standard 2 x HDMI 2.1 and 2 x DisplayPort 2.1 output on most AMD RX 7000-series cards, so you can hook it up to several of the best gaming monitors of your choosing.
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Performance-wise, you can read more about the individual benchmarks in my RX 7700 XT review, and for the most part, the Gigabyte RX 7700 XT Gaming OC card performs a few percentage points better than the XFX Speedster QICK319 RX 7700 XT Black card given that it has about 100MHz higher game clock and a roughly 55MHz faster boost clock.
The difference is only going to be a few fps depending on the game you're playing, but given the Gigabyte card is cheaper, you're really getting extra FPS for less money, which is a fantastic deal no matter how you look at it.
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In the end, then, the Gigabyte Radeon RX 7700 XT Gaming OC makes a strong case for the RX 7700 XT, especially if spending north of $400 is really stretching your budget to the max. My original criticism that the RX 7700 XT is just too close in price to the AMD RX 7800 XT to make it the best 1440p graphics card to buy still applies to this card, but Gigabyte at least offers more than a non-OC card at a better price to make it a much more palatable purchase if you can't go for the RX 7800 XT.
How much does it cost? $439.99 (about £360/AU$640)
When is it available? Available now
Where can you get it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia
The Gigabyte Radeon RX 7700 XT Gaming OC is available now for $439.99 (about £360/AU$695). This is cheaper even than the AMD reference spec's MSRP of $449.99, and offers a better value by giving you some extra performance thanks to its factory overclocking.
It also brings you closer in price to the Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti while generally outperforming it. All in all, this is still too expensive to be the best cheap graphics card on the market, but it's definitely the best cheap midrange graphics card you're going to find.
Gigabyte Radeon RX 7700 XT Gaming OC: Specs
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Should you buy the Gigabyte Radeon RX 7700 XT Gaming OC?
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Buy it if...
You want great 1440p performance on a tighter budget This card offers great 1440p performance for the price, especially if you can't stretch your budget to the RX 7800 XT.
You want some extra overclocked performance for free
Normally, OC cards cost more than the reference card, but this one actually costs less than AMD's official MSRP.
Don't buy it if...
You can stretch your budget to get the AMD RX 7800 XT With the AMD RX 7800 XT offering such incredible performance, if you can stretch your budget to get that card (especially the Gigabyte Radeon RX 7800 XT Gaming OC), you absolutely should.
You want better content creation performance
If you're a content creator working with 3D rendering or other GPU intensive creative workloads, chances are an Nvidia card is going to offer much better performance than anything AMD can offer.
Gigabyte Radeon RX 7700 XT Gaming OC: Also consider
How I tested the Gigabyte Radeon RX 7700 XT Gaming OC
I spent about three weeks with the Gigabyte Radeon RX 7700 XT Gaming OC
I used it to play games, produce and edit creative content, and more
I used our standard battery of benchmarking tools to test it
I spent about three weeks with the Gigabyte Radeon RX 7700 XT Gaming OC, running my standard suite of benchmarks as well as assessing its general performance in real-world use cases.
I paid special attention to its gaming performance, since this is specifically targeting gamers, and paid less attention to its content creation performance since non-Radeon Pro cards are generally not marketed for those purposes.
I've been a computer hardware reviewer for years now and have tested all the latest graphics cards of the past several generations as well as having nearly a decade of computer science education, so I know my way around this kind of hardware. What's more, as a lifelong gamer, I know what to expect from a graphics card at this price point in terms of gaming performance.
We pride ourselves on our independence and our rigorous review-testing process, offering up long-term attention to the products we review and making sure our reviews are updated and maintained - regardless of when a device was released, if you can still buy it, it's on our radar.
Apple’s scary event saw the arrival of the company’s new chips for personal computers - the M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max. They will be available in the 14” and 16” MacBook Pro laptops, and the entry-level variant is also in the 24” iMac.
The biggest improvement is the GPU, which aims to improve the performance of professional apps and gaming. It will support hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shading, which is a first for Apple silicon. Another first is the 3 nm process, as Cupertino is the first to implement the technology in chips for personal computers.
Story is developing…
The Intel Arc A770 has had quite a journey since its release back on October 12, 2022, and fortunately, it has been a positive one for Intel despite a somewhat rocky start.
Right out the gate, I'll say that if you are looking for one of the best cheap graphics cards for 1440p gaming, this card definitely needs to be on your list. It offers great 1440p performance for most modern PC titles that most of us are going to be playing and it's priced very competitively against its rivals.
Where the card falters, much like with my Intel Arc A750 review earlier this year, is with older DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 titles, and this really does hurt its overall score in the end. Which is a shame, since for games released in the last five or six years, this card is going to surprise a lot of people who might have written it off even six months ago.
Intel's discrete graphics unit has been working overtime on its driver for this card, providing regular updates that continue to improve performance across the board, though some games benefit more than others.
Naturally, a lot of emphasis is going to be put on more recently released titles. And even though Intel has also been paying attention to shoring up support for older games as well, if you're someone with an extensive back catalog of DX9 and DX10 titles from the mid-2000s that you regularly return to, then this is not the best graphics card for your needs. Nvidia and AMD drivers carry a long legacy of support for older titles that Intel will honestly never be able to match.
But if what you're looking for is the best 1440p graphics card to play the best PC games of the modern era but you're not about to plop down half a grand on a new GPU, then the Intel Arc A770 is going to be a very solid pick with a lot more to offer than many will probably realize.
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Intel Arc A770: Price & availability
How much is it? US MSRP for 16GB card: $349 (about £280/AU$510); for 8GB card: $329 (about £265/AU$475)
When was it released? It went on sale on October 12, 2022
Where can you buy it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia
The Intel Arc A770 is available now in the US, UK, and Australia, with two variants: one with 16GB GDDR6 VRAM and an official US MSRP of $349 (about £280/AU$510), and one with 8GB GDDR6 VRAM and an official MSRP of $329 (about £265/AU$475).
Those are the launch MSRPs from October 2022, of course, and the cards have come down considerably in price in the year since their release, and you can either card for about 20% to 25% less than that. This is important, since the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 and AMD Radeon RX 7600 are very close to the 16GB Arc A770 cards in terms of current prices, and offer distinct advantages that will make potential buyers want to go with the latter rather than the former.
But those decisions are not as cut and dry as you might think, and Intel's Arc A770 holds up very well against modern midrange offerings, despite really being a last-gen card. And, currently, the 16GB variant is the only 1440p card that you're going to find at this price, even among Nvidia and AMD's last-gen offerings like the RTX 3060 Ti and AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT. So for 1440p gamers on a very tight budget, this card fills a very vital niche, and it's really the only card that does so.
Price score: 4/5
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Intel Arc A770: Design
Intel's Limited Edition reference card is gorgeous
Will fit most gaming PC cases easily
Intel Arc A770 Limited Edition Design Specs
Slot size: Dual slot Length: 11.02 inches | 280mm Height: 4.53 inches | 115mm Cooling: Dual fan Power Connection: 1 x 8-pin and 1 x 6-pin Video outputs: 3 x DisplayPort 2.0, 1 x HDMI 2.1
The Intel Arc A770 Limited Edition that I'm reviewing is Intel's reference model that is no longer being manufactured, but you can still find some stock online (though at what price is a whole other question).
Third-party partners include ASRock, Sparkle, and Gunnir. Interestingly, Acer also makes its own version of the A770 (the Acer Predator BiFrost Arc A770), the first time the company has dipped its toe into the discrete graphics card market.
All of these cards will obviously differ in terms of their shrouds, cooling solutions, and overall size, but as far as Intel's Limited Edition card goes, it's one of my favorite graphics cards ever in terms of aesthetics. If it were still easily available, I'd give this design five out of five, hands down, but most purchasers will have to opt for third-party cards which aren't nearly as good-looking, as far as I'm concerned, so I have to dock a point for that.
It's hard to convey from just the photos of the card, but the black finish on the plastic shroud of the card has a lovely textured feel to it. It's not quite velvety, but you know it's different the second you touch it, and it's something that really stands out from every other card I've reviewed.
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The silver trim on the card and the more subtle RGB lighting against a matte black shroud and fans really bring a bit of class to the RGB graphics card I typically see. The twin fans aren't especially loud (not any more so than other dual-fan cards, at least), and the card feels thinner than most other similar cards I've reviewed and used, whether or not the card is thinner in fact.
The power connector is an 8-pin and 6-pin combo, so you'll have a pair of cables dangling from the card which may or may not affect the aesthetic of your case, but at least you won't need to worry about a 12VHPWR or 12-pin adapter like you do with Nvidia's RTX 4000-series and 3000-series cards.
You're also getting three DisplayPort 2.0 outputs and an HDMI 2.1 output, which puts it in the same camp as Nvidia's recent GPUs, but can't match AMD's recent move to DisplayPort 2.1, which will enable faster 8K video output. As it stands, the Intel Arc A770 is limited to 8K@60Hz, just like Nvidia. Will you be doing much 8K gaming on a 16GB card? Absolutely not, but as we get more 8K monitors next year, it'd be nice to have an 8K desktop running at 165Hz, but that's a very speculative prospect at this point, so it's probably not anything anyone looking at the Arc A770 needs to be concerned about.
Design Score: 4 / 5
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Intel Arc A770: Specs & features
Good hardware AI cores for better XeSS upscaling
Fast memory for better 1440p performance
Intel's Xe HPG architecture inside the Arc A770 introduces a whole other way to arrange the various co-processors that make up a GPU, adding a third, not very easily comparable set of specs to the already head-scratching differences between Nvidia and AMD architectures.
Intel breaks up its architecture into "render slices", which contain 4 Xe Cores, which each contain 128 shaders, a ray tracing processor, and 16 matrix processors (which are directly comparable to Nvidia's vaunted tensor cores at least), which handle graphics upsampling and machine learning workflows. Both 8GB and 16GB versions of the A770 contain eight render slices for a total of 4096 shaders, 32 ray processors, and 512 matrix processors.
The ACM-G10 GPU in the A770 runs at 2,100MHz base frequency with a 2,400MHz boost frequency, with a slightly faster memory clock speed (2,184MHz) for the 16GB variant than the 8GB variant's 2,000MHz. This leads to an effective memory speed of 16 Gbps for the 8GB card and 17.5 Gbps for the 16GB.
With a 256-bit memory bus, this gives the Arc A770 a much wider lane for high-resolution textures to be processed through, reducing bottlenecks and enabling faster performance when gaming at 1440p and higher resolutions thanks to a 512 GB/s and 559.9 GB/s memory bandwidth for the 8GB and 16GB cards, respectively.
All of this does require a good bit of power, though, and the Arc A770 has a TDP of 225W, which is higher than most 1440p cards on the market today.
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As far as features all this hardware empowers, there's a lot to like here. The matrix cores are leveraged to great effect by Intel's XeSS graphics upscaling tech found in a growing number of games, and this hardware advantage generally outperforms AMD's FSR 2.0, which is strictly a software-based upscaler.
XeSS does not have frame generation though, and the matrix processors in the Arc A770 are not nearly as mature as Nvidia's 3rd and 4th generation tensor cores found in the RTX 3000-series and RTX 4000-series, respectively.
The Arc A770 also has AV1 hardware-accelerated encoding support, meaning that streaming videos will look far better than those with only software encoding at the same bitrate, making this a compelling alternative for video creators who don't have the money to invest in one of Nvidia's 4000-series GPUs.
Specs & features: 3.5 / 5
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Intel Arc A770: Performance
Great 1440p performance
Intel XeSS even allows for some 4K gaming
DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 support lacking, so older games will run poorly
Resizable BAR is pretty much a must
At the time of this writing, Intel's Arc A770 has been on the market for about a year, and I have to admit, had I gotten the chance to review this card at launch, I would probably have been as unkind as many other reviewers were.
As it stands though, the Intel Arc A770 fixes many of the issues I found when I reviewed the A750, but some issues still hold this card back somewhat. For starters, if you don't enable Resizable BAR in your BIOS settings, don't expect this card to perform well at all. It's an easy enough fix, but one that is likely to be overlooked, so it's important to know that going in.
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In synthetic benchmarks, the A770 performed fairly well against the current crop of graphics cards, despite its effectively being a last-gen card. It is particularly strong competition against the Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti across multiple workloads, and it even beats the 4060 Ti in a couple of tests.
Its Achilles Heel, though, is revealed in the PassMark 3D Graphics test. Whereas 3DMark tests DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 workloads, Passmark's test also runs DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 workflows, and here the Intel Arc A770 simply can't keep up with AMD and Nvidia.
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In non-ray-traced and native-resolution gaming benchmarks, the Intel Arc A770 managed to put up some decent numbers against the competition. At 1080p, the Arc A770 manages an average of 103 fps with an average minimum fps of 54. At 1440p, it averages 78 fps, with an average minimum of 47, and even at 4K, the A770 manages an average of 46 fps, with an average minimum of 27 fps.
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Turn on ray tracing, however, and these numbers understandably tank, as they do for just about every card below the RTX 4070 Ti and RX 7900 XT. Still, even here, the A770 does manage an average fps of 41 fps, with an average minimum of 32 fps) at 1080p with ray tracing enabled, which is technically still playable performance. Once you move up to 1440p and 4K, however, your average title isn't going to be playable at native resolution with ray tracing enabled.
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Enter Intel XeSS. When set to "Balanced", XeSS turns out to be a game changer for the A770, getting it an average framerate of 66 fps (with an average minimum of 46 fps) at 1080p, an average of 51 fps (with an average minimum of 38 fps) at 1440p, and an average 33 fps (average minimum 26 fps) at 4K with ray tracing maxed out.
While the 26 fps average minimum fps at 4K means it's really not playable at that resolution even with XeSS turned on, with settings tweaks, or more modest ray tracing, you could probably bring that up into the low to high 30s, making 4K games playable on this card with ray tracing turned on.
That's something the RTX 4060 Ti can't manage thanks to its smaller frame buffer (8GB VRAM), and while the 16GB RTX 4060 Ti could theoretically perform better (I have not tested the 16GB so I cannot say for certain), it still has half the memory bus width of the A770, leading to a much lower bandwidth for larger texture files to pass through.
This creates an inescapable bottleneck that the RTX 4060 Ti's much larger L2 cache can't adequately compensate for, and so takes it out of the running as a 4K card. When tested, very few games managed to maintain playable frame rates even without ray tracing unless you dropped the settings so low as to not make it worth the effort. The A770 16GB, meanwhile, isn't technically a 4K card, but it can still dabble at that resolution with the right settings tweaks and still look reasonably good.
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All told, then, the Intel Arc A770 turns out to be a surprisingly good graphics card for modern gaming titles that can sometimes even hold its own against the Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti. It can't hold a candle to the RX 7700 XT or RTX 4070, but it was never meant to, and given that those cards cost substantially more than the Arc A770, this is entirely expected.
Its maximum observed power draw of 191.909W is pretty high for the kind of card the A770 is, but it's not the most egregious offender in that regard. All this power meant that keeping it cool was a struggle, with its maximum observed temperature hitting about 74 ºC.
Among all the cards tested, the Intel Arc A770 was at nearly the bottom of the list with the RX 6700 XT, so the picture for this card might have been very different had it launched three years ago and it had to compete with the RTX 3000-series and RX-6000 series exclusively. In the end, this card performs like a last-gen card, because it is.
Despite that, it still manages to be a fantastic value on the market right now given its low MSRP and fairly solid performance, rivaling the RTX 4060 Ti on the numbers. In reality though, with this card selling for significantly less than its MSRP, it is inarguably the best value among midrange cards right now, and it's not even close.
Performance score: 3.5 / 5
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Should you buy the Intel Arc A770?
Buy the Intel Arc A770 if...
Don't buy it if...
Also Consider
If my Intel Arc A770 review has you considering other options, here are two more graphics cards for you to consider.
How I tested the Intel Arc A770
I spent several days benchmarking the card, with an additional week using it as my primary GPU
I ran our standard battery of synthetic and gaming benchmarks
Test Bench
These are the specs for the test system used for this review: CPU: Intel Core i9-13900K
CPU Cooler: Cougar Poseidon GT 360 AIO Cooler Motherboard: MSI MPG Z790E Tomahawk Wifi
Memory: 64GB Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB DDR5-6000 SSD: Samsung 990 Pro PSU: Thermaltake PF3 1050W ATX 3.0 Case: Praxis Wetbench
I spent about two weeks with the Intel Arc A770 in total, with a little over half that time using it as my main GPU on my personal PC. I used it for gaming, content creation, and other general-purpose use with varying demands on the card.
I focused mostly on synthetic and gaming benchmarks since this card is overwhelmingly a gaming graphics card. Though it does have some video content creation potential, it's not enough to dethrone Nvidia's 4000-series GPUs, so it isn't a viable rival in that sense and wasn't tested as such.
I've been reviewing computer hardware for years now, with an extensive computer science background as well, so I know how graphics cards like this should perform at this tier.
We pride ourselves on our independence and our rigorous review-testing process, offering up long-term attention to the products we review and making sure our reviews are updated and maintained - regardless of when a device was released, if you can still buy it, it's on our radar.
The Asus Tuf RX 7900 XTX Gaming OC has been billed as being "optimized inside and out for lower temps and durability", so this partner card features a massive heatsink and a quad-slot design made for overclocking with case space as no option.
Despite its slightly higher price and bigger overall size, I am comfortable considering this variant as not only one of the best 4K graphics cards but also one of the best graphics cards currently available.
It's not as much of a slam dunk as the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX which delivers phenomenal price-to-performance with its sleeker package. However, for those wanting to overclock and really push RDNA 3 to its limits, the Asus Tuf RX 7900 XTX Gaming OC excels in all the right places.
That shouldn't be entirely surprising considering it is built on the foundations of the best AMD graphics card. Given the extra bells and whistles, you're going to pay slightly more than the base AMD MSRP for the 7900 XTX, with the MSRP for Asus's variant running $1,099 / £1,249.98 / AU$1,439. But, if you've got a sizable case and a little extra to spend, Asus's latest offering is something that you should seriously consider.
Asus Tuf RX 7900 XTX Gaming OC: Price & Availability
How much is it? $1,099 / £1,249.98 / AU$1,439
When was it released? November 11, 2022
Where can you get it? The US, the UK, Australia, and other regions
The Asus Tuf RX 7900 XTX Gaming OC was released back in November 2022 around a month after AMD released its RX 7900 XTX reference card. While the RDNA 3 flagship was priced at $999 / £899 / AU$1,789 at launch, Asus' variant ran a little higher in regions such as the US and the UK at the end of last year, however, that has now softened in the passing months.
It's been possible to find the Tuf RX 7900 XTX Gaming OC available in the US and the UK matching the MSRP of the reference model at retailers such as Amazon and Ebuyer. In the UK especially, Asus' model is actually one of the cheapest of the competition, but in the US, you're still paying around $100 more when not discounted.
However, considering that this card is a 24GB GDDR6 4K, and even 8K, graphics card, the price point still undercuts the Nvidia RTX 4090 significantly. Still, if you're on a tighter budget, then you may be better off with AMD's reference card if you can find it.
Value: 4 / 5
Asus Tuf RX 7900 XTX Gaming OC: Design & Features
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One of the largest XTX models available
Excellent heatsink for overclocking
3x 8-pin connectors
Asus Tuf RX 7900 XTX Gaming OC specs
GPU: Navi 31 Stream Processors: 6,144 AI Accelerators: 192 Ray Accelerators: 96 Power draw (TGP): 355W Base clock: 1,895 MHz Boost clock: 2,615 MHz VRAM: 24GB GDDR6 Bandwidth: 960GB/s Bus interface: PCIe 4.0 x16 Output: 1x HDMI 2.1; 3x DisplayPort 2.1 Power connector: 3x 8-pin
Without question, the Asus Tuf RX 7900 XTX Gaming OC is one of, if not the largest of all the current line-up of flagship RDNA 3 graphics cards. Where AMD won favor with its base model (a dual-slot width GPU which only used 2x 8-pin connectors) that's no longer the case with this partner card.
That's because Asus' version uses 3x 8-pin connectors and is actually a quad-slot with its sizable cooler which makes it more comparable in size to Nvidia's RTX 4090 than the original GPU.
The heatsink itself is truly stellar, though. It comes complete with a triple fan setup armed with a vented exoskeleton to really keep those core temps down. It also has RGB with a front badge on the side which looks nice if you've got a see-through case such as my NZXT H9 Flow (an easy contender for one of the best PC cases available,
by the way).
That added bulk and height does have an impact though, even with a sizable mid-tower like mine, one of the biggest available in terms of raw building space, the power connectors themselves nearly bulging up against the tempered glass and that surprised me given its far leaner foundations.
This supercharged heatsink isn't for nothing. As an overclocked card, the Asus Tuf RX 7900 XTX Gaming OC features a base clock speed of 1,895 MHz, which is around a 2% increase over the reference card. It's the fastest base-clocked XTX on the market, as the vast majority of the competition such as ASRock, PowerColor, Gigabyte, Sapphire, XFX, and BioStar don't come close. It may not sound too impressive, but that's just the start. There's an OC mode of up to 2,615 MHz boost clock. You're also getting a Game Clock of 2,395 MHz and a Shader Clock of 2,395 MHz for a 6% increase, and that's just out of the box. If you're someone who really wants to push what the latest RDNA 3 frontrunner can do then you'll be in good hands here.
Speaking of the overclocking functionality itself, this is where Asus' GPU Tweak III software comes in, making it easy for you to push the card as you see fit. The free program, tailor-made for the company's video cards, has profiles for "OC Mode" and "Silent Mode" as well as user-activated sliders to control the GPU voltage, boost and memory clock, and the fans' speed.
Design and Features: 4.5 / 5
Asus Tuf RX 7900 XTX Gaming OC: Performance
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We've gone into the performance extensively what the 7900 XTX can do in our reference card review, so you can check out that review for more extensive data on frame rates and benchmark scores. What I will say here is that this is some of the most consistent 4K performance I've seen from a leading video card. The Asus Tuf RX 7900 XTX Gaming OC made short work of our benchmark titles such as Total War: Warhammer III, Cyberpunk 2077, and Metro Exodus in native 2160p resolution with framerates outclassing the previous 24GB leader, the RTX 3090 and the current Ada high-end RTX 4080.
Realistically, you're looking at around a 2-5fps boost over the original AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX when everything is dialed up which could help with some of the more demanding titles on the market. The crux here is Team Red's choice to go for GDDR6 instead of the newest GDDR6X memory, which has around a 43% data increase means you won't quite be on the bleeding edge, as opposed to the RTX 4090. Considering that this memory type is also hotter on the inside of the card, the extra heatsink here on the Tuf RX 7900 XTX Gaming OC seems like overkill.
The card's 24GB VRAM is going to give you a significant amount of overhead for the next few years when gaming in 4K, though, even if it's slower. We're now at a point where many titles maxed out in 2160p require serious amounts of memory, as is the case with Diablo 4, which needs over 16GB memory for Ultra Textures in the target resolution. You should have a decent amount of headspace to keep maxing games out with the overclocking potential to squeeze those precious few extra frames, too.
Performance: 4.5 / 5
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Should you buy the Asus Tuf RX 7900 XTX Gaming OC?
The Latitude 9440 2-in-1 from Dell is an outstanding laptop. It might just be the best business laptop available right now. For everything I would use this for as a business user, The Latitude 9440 handles it with flying colors. The computer is beautiful, the speeds are quick, and the laptop is excellent.
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Unboxing and First Impressions
Unboxing the laptop was nothing exciting until I pulled the wrapper off the computer. That is when I first felt the matte finish on the 9440 2-in-1, and let me say, I love it. I am a massive fan of matte black and dark greys, so this laptop is a dream finish. While signing in, I noticed the keyboard and the touchpad. The touchpad, first of all, feels enormous. After doing some research, I found out the touchpad is, in fact, over 15% larger than the previous model. Second, the keyboard immediately felt comfortable, which says a lot about a keyboard. It felt natural to type from the first word I wrote.
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The last thing I noticed right away was the need for more ports. If you are fully moved over to the new standard of USB-C with your devices, or if you plug into one of the best Thunderbolt docks at your desk, you're golden. If not, you'll run into the same problem MacBook Air users have where no legacy ports are available, so you'll need to resort to an adapter, dongle, or dock.
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Design and Build Quality
Specs
*as tested
Dimensions: 12.20 x 8.46 x 0.64in CPU: 13th-generation Intel Core processors GPU: Intel Iris Xe Graphics RAM: Up to 64GB Display: 14-inch, 16:10 Resolution: 2560 x 1600 or 2660 x 1600 Storage: Up to 2TB Weight: 3.38 lb
The Latitude 9440 2-in-1 from Dell has a screen that measures 14 inches but feels gigantic. This phenomenon is partially because of the high-resolution screen and partially because of the near bezel-less borders.
The touchpad, as mentioned, is significantly larger than the last generation of Latitude laptops. While not entirely necessary because this is a 2-in-1 laptop and has a full touchscreen, the larger trackpad is greatly appreciated when you need to get things done with a trackpad like a standard laptop.
The keyboard above the trackpad is quite comfortable to type on. This keyboard also has the same matte finish the laptop case does while remaining a very easy-to-use keyboard. While writing this review, my fingers don't feel any sense of discomfort or unfamiliarity, which means that the keys are spaced out well.
As mentioned, this laptop is almost entirely made of a matte dark grey material. Around the computer's edges, a band of slightly shiny material helps it pop visually and gives this computer a bit of a fancy look.
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There are not a ton of ports on this laptop; outside of the three Thunderbolt or USB-C ports, there is only a single headphone jack. I have gotten to the full USB-C or Thunderbolt life, so I have an adapter with me at all times in my laptop backpack just in case I need it, and then my desk setups have Thunderbolt docks. If you don't have a system like that, you should pick up a Thunderbolt dock unless all your peripherals are USB-C or non-existent.
The last thing about this laptop is that the 16:10 aspect ratio is warmly welcomed. I love having a more vertical screen real estate, which boosts business productivity, particularly quite a bit.
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In Use
Using this laptop for the last few weeks has been fantastic. I love this laptop. It hits all my marks in what I would want in a professional business laptop, and it looks good while doing it. Dell's Latitude line has been high-ranking on our lists for quite a while, and with good reason.
The 14-inch screen, as mentioned, feels massive. I can fit plenty of reference documents, websites, productivity tool windows, and so on without feeling like I want more while portable.
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Whenever I grab this laptop, I love feeling the matte texture on my fingers. It's soft yet rugged while feeling premium. It's hard to describe in words, but it's incredible. I've already mentioned that the keyboard and touchpad are both excellent. The touchpad has integrated collaboration features which sadly only work for Zoom. However, when I have been able to use them, having soft buttons pop out of a touchpad feels like something out of a movie.
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One more remarkably impressive part of this laptop is that it can actively be connected to two networks at once and switch between them as needed to keep the strongest and fastest connection. This feature is impressive, especially for power business users who take vital calls and can't risk losing connection. The way the business world is going, dropping a call is as good as losing a sale, contract, or business sometimes. So, being constantly connected to two networks with one as an always-ready, redundant network is incredible.
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Final Verdict
All in all, this laptop is nearly perfect. If the price were lower, it would be perfect. However, some elements make it worth the cost. Regardless, this is an astounding laptop with great features, high build quality, and one of my favorite finishes in a computer to date. That's why I will happily still give this laptop a near-perfect rating.
Going as far back as 2014, the Origin Chronos line of gaming desktops have earned a reputation by providing incredible performance in a relatively compact shell. Throughout the years, design has gotten smaller as chip sets get more and more powerful, and the same goes for the Origin Chronos V3.
Featuring a mid-tower ITX case set-up that’s 11 inches tall and 7 inches wide, the gaming desktop is small enough to pack in dozens of combinations split between various CPUs, GPUs, motherboards, RAM and SSD storage.
It doesn’t matter what side of the Intel, Nvidia and AMD side of the fence one stands on, the amount of personalized options are remarkable. There’s even plenty of ventilation through its steel mesh panels that also allow up to 6 120mm fans to be used as well. This allows high-end gaming performance doesn’t become uncomfortably noisy when pushed to the max.
However, this impressive package does come with some issues. Regardless of which configuration one finds themselves choosing, the Chronos V3 is going to cost a pretty penny. Starting at $1,501 for a build with an AMD Ryzen 5 7600X CPU and no discrete graphics, you can customize your Chronos V3 to the tune of more than $5,500. Of course, the max configuration is a beast of a machine, so the price is absolutely in line with what you're getting.
Meanwhile, the smaller design means port access located at the top instead of the rear may be problematic. Most importantly, upgrading various parts over-time may be problematic due to its mini ITX case. These restrictions won’t make the Chronos V3 any less desirable but may be something potential buyers should take into consideration given how much money they're likely to drop on this bad boy.
Origin Chronos V3: Price & availability
Yes, they ship this thing out in a crate like it's the Ark of the Covenant (if you're into that kind of thing) (Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
How much does it cost? Depending on the configuration, expect to spend between $1,785 and $5,695
When is it available? It is available now in the US only
Where can you get it? From Origin’s online store
Currently only available stateside through Origin’s online store, the Chronos V3 gaming desktop can come in a variety of spec configurations that’s split between two white and black colorways.
Our review setup runs about $3,050 (about £2,830/AU$4,560) and came packed with an Intel Core i7-13700K, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080, 32 GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 1TB SSD with an additional 2 TB SSD storage.
The Chronos V3 is going to be an all around expensive purchase regardless of what options you go for, but it is still reasonable on the lower end and not out of step with the best gaming PCs from manufacturers like Dell or Lenovo.
Still, if you're looking for something much more on this side of affordable, do check out our best budget gaming PC page for more affordable alternatives.
Though the front case design comes with two USB-A and one USB-C ports alongside a 3.5 mm headset jack across all configurations, port selection may differ due to the amount of motherboards available as well. This review configuration was an MPG Z790I Edge Wifi that granted four USB-A ports, a singular USB-C, RealTek 7.1 Audio Out capabilities, 2.5 LAN Ethernet port in addition to Intel Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3.
At the cheaper end of the spectrum, users can get a viable build with an AMD Ryzen 5 7600X CPU, Nvidia RTX 4060 GPU, 32GB DDR5 RAM and a 500GB SSD. That’ll cost around $1,785 (about £1,425, AU$2,675).
On the high end, for around $5,521 (about £4,420/AU$8,280), individuals can blow up their specs to a 24-core Intel i9-13900KS, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080, 64GB DDR5 RAM, 8GB PCIe SSD storage alongside an extra 8GB SATA SSD and a bay-mounted, low-profile Blu-Ray writer because why the hell not?
Value score: 3.5 / 5
Origin Chronos V3: Specs
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The Origin Chronos V3 currently comes in any number of configurations, letting the number of potential builds run well over 100.
Origin Chronos V3 : Design
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Has a very small footprint
Ports are arranged at the top of the unit near a ventilation fan
Design isn’t completely future proof
The Origin Chronos V3’s design is rather svelte, meaning it won’t take up much space and may remind many of the Xbox Series X. The case alone is around 5 lbs as additional components shouldn’t make the gaming desktop a heavy lift. Moving the Chronos V3 around didn’t take much effort at all.
When it comes to aesthetics, the desktop looks great while offering a premium design. It doesn’t matter if buyers go with the white or black colorway either as the customizable RGB lighting makes it visually pop. Despite the small design and power it contains, there’s plenty of ventilation through the steel mesh panels that can easily be removed for cleaning eventual dust build-up.
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Due to the design of the Chronos V3, ports are placed at the top instead of the rear. To keep things cleaner, they are accessible through a removable panel with an opening at rear for cable management.
Some may have an issue with ports being placed at the top instead of the back, as well as the ports being so close to a ventilation fan. As mentioned previously, there are various motherboard options which will lead to different port configurations, but our review set up had enough ports at the top alongside the two additional USB-A and single USB-C near the power bottom at the front panel’s lower portion.
By default, the biggest issue with the design will be upgradability. Replacing CPU, RAM and Storage won’t be much of an issue but the cramped space is going to make upgrading GPUs and motherboards in the future a problem. At the very least, Origin does offer options to send the gaming desktop back to have them upgraded if it becomes too much of a hassle.
Design score: 4 / 5
Origin Chronos V3 : Performance
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Our review configuration provided respectable 1440p gaming at max settings
Quiet fans despite the performance specs and small design
Lack of flagship GPU options limiting native 4K performance
Considering the smaller case design of the Origin Chronos V3, there’s some serious horsepower packed in. During testing, our Intel Core i7-13700K and RTX 4080 combo provided great native 1440p performance at high frame rates. Games ranging from Cyberpunk 2077, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Need For Speed Unbound and Diablo IV ran buttery smooth without issue.
At those settings, there wasn’t a game the Chronos V3 couldn’t handle even with the addition of ray-tracing. Our standard test from Total War: Warhammer III and Dirt 5 provided frame rates that all went above 200 when using Ultra settings. If 1440p gameplay is all one is concerned about, this gaming desktop is more than enough.
Just be mindful that the case will limit which GPUs the Chronos V3 can hold, and there aren't any options to preconfigure the PC with AMD and Nvidia's flagship GPUs, the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090. This means that native 4K performance will be a problem depending on the game, but thankfully, upscaling measures like Nvidia DLSS or AMD FSR can deliver 4K resolutions at high frame rates with some of the GPU options for the build. Those can come with issues like loss of visual details and input delay, though, so it's not a perfect substitute.
Individuals who want native 4K or even 8K performance may want to stay clear of this particular gaming desktop as the case understandably prevents bigger GPU sizes. One thing that is consistent is that fan cooling doesn’t get very loud during intense performance.
We also found the Chronos V3 to be a great workstation for creative tasks. Our PugetBench test for Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Pro delivered fantastic performance as well. Running Photoshop with high resolution photo files and multiple layers wasn't a problem at all while 4K video exports could be considered relatively snappy.
Performance score: 4.5/ 5
Should you buy the Origin Chronos V3?
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Buy it if...
Don't buy it if...
How I tested the Origin Chronos V3
I spent two weeks with the Origin Chronos V3, playing the latest PC games, used it for general computing tasks, and using various creative apps like Adobe Photoshop.
Pushing the compact gaming desktop to its limits, I played games including Cyberpunk 2077, Need For Speed Unbound, Forza Horizon 5, and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.
More general computing use included using Google Chrome for various tasks ranging from Google Docs to utilizing various social media platforms. Outside of PugetBench tests, we also used Adobe Photoshop and Premier as well.
The iQoo 11 probably won’t be launching in the west, but as one of the first ever phones to run on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, it's worth acknowledging, even now some more widely available handsets use this chipset too.
While this Vivo sub-brand sells largely to the Asian market, it’s clearly mulling over a push into new territories at some point. There aren’t many Chinese brands that bother to supply their pre-launch test handsets with a UK power adapter, but iQoo did, which has to signify something.
Given the strength of the iQoo 11 package, we would welcome it (or a future handset) to our shores. Maybe the brand could take up OnePlus’s former role as market disruptor and flagship killer-in-chief.
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iQoo’s customary team-up with BMW sees a fairly generic design lifted by a white vegan leather back with a three-stripe decal. There’s a black option, but this themed one is way more fun.
The headline feature here, however, is that cutting-edge chipset, which instantly makes the iQoo 11 one of the most powerful smartphones on the market. The iQoo brand presents itself as gamer-friendly, and its latest phone certainly flies through demanding games like Wreckfest and Genshin Impact on maxed-out settings.
This gaming-friendly status is further enhanced by a 6.78-inch AMOLED display that’s similarly cutting-edge. Besides using the very latest Samsung E6 panel, it sports a rare combination of QHD sharpness and a 144Hz refresh rate, as well as getting really bright.
While the iQoo 11 won’t be joining the iPhone 14 Pro, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, and the Google Pixel 7 Pro at the top of the camera phone tree, it does a creditable job of turning out bright, balanced shots across its three cameras. It could use a little work when the light drops, though.
Throw in a full day of battery life from its 5,000mAh cell and rapid 120W wired charging (but not wireless, alas), and you have a fine entry-level flagship phone.
iQoo 11 review: price and availability
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Arrived December 8, 2022
No western availability
Price works out to around $700 / £580 / AU$1,050
The iQoo 11 hit Indonesia and Malaysia on December 8, 2022, and Thailand on December 15, followed by India on January 13, 2023.
There are no plans for the iQoo 11 to hit the US, UK, or Australia, which is a real shame. With an Indonesian launch price of IDR10,999,000 working out to around $700 / £580 / AU$1,050, it could very well have undercut – or at least provided genuine competition for – the Pixel 7 and the OnePlus 10T.
We’re hopeful of a wider rollout for the brand in future. The company supplied a UK power brick with our test iQoo 11, so it’s clearly thinking about branching out.
Value score: 4.5 / 5
iQoo 11 review: specs
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iQoo 11 review: design
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Typical design, lifted by vegan leather/three stripe finish
No IP rating
Camera module scratches easily
The iQoo 11 has a pretty generic Android design, with a flat display, a subtly curved back, and a metal frame.
However, it’s rescued from bland uniformity by the Legend model we’ve been sent. This sports a mixture of fiberglass and vegan leather on the rear, rendered in brilliant white, and with a colorful triple stripe running down the entire length of the phone.
The latter is courtesy of a longstanding brand partnership with BMW M Motorsport. It’s just as effective a design flourish here as it was on the likes of the iQoo 7.
If you opt for the Alpha edition, you’ll receive an altogether more sober black shade and a glass back. iQoo calls this a “classic, premium aesthetic”, but others might call it boring.
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One negative point we did notice towards the end of our time with the phone was that the black paint coating the thin metal frame surrounding the camera module had begun to scratch off along the bottom edge. Presumably this was where the phone made contact with whatever surface it was laying on, but it started to give the phone a somewhat scruffy edge after just a week or two of usage.
This isn’t a small phone at 8.7mm thick and 205g, but nor is it distractingly hefty. We found it very easy to live with, and that vegan leather has proved both grippy and mercifully non-freezing-to-the-touch when taken out on cold days.
The lack of an IP rating – meaning no official water resistance – is a bit of a downer, and one sign that we’re not dealing with an out and out flagship phone here. So too is a chin bezel that’s slightly thicker than the forehead, which is always a dead giveaway that a phone isn’t gunning for the elite league, regardless of what its spec sheet might say.
There’s stereo sound provided by a pair of speakers, but one is positioned on the bottom edge of the phone, and proves a little too easy to cover during landscape gaming. This is a common concession on phones of all price ranges, but when a phone claims to be geared towards gamers it’s worth calling out.
Design score: 4 / 5
iQoo 11 review: display
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6.78-inch AMOLED screen
Next-gen Samsung E6 panel
QHD+ and 144Hz in one package
While the iQoo 11’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip is getting most of the headlines, its display is similarly cutting-edge and just as worthy of attention.
Where most flagship Android phones in 2022 featured Samsung’s E5 panel, this phone switched up to the E6.
The baseline stats are strong. It’s a 6.78-inch AMOLED with a QHD+ (1440 x 3200) resolution, though you’ll need to activate that in the settings menu. We experienced some issues with font sizing following this switch, but that’s an issue with iQoo’s software.
Two other specs stand out here. One is a higher-than-usual 144Hz maximum refresh rate, though again, you’ll need to crank this up in the settings. It really is very responsive indeed.
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We’ve seen 144Hz (and higher) refresh rates before, but never in conjunction with a QHD resolution.
The other stand out spec is a peak brightness of 1800 nits. That’s beyond even the mighty Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, and just a little shy of the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
One other gaming-focused feature is a pressure-sensitive screen, which can be mapped to controls in certain games. Pressing both sides firmly in landscape serves as a shortcut to booting up the phone’s Game Space gaming UI, which is a nice touch.
We haven’t seen too much of this pressure-sensing technology since Apple removed it from its iPhones, so it’s good to see it implemented here – even if it’s not as deeply integrated into the UI as Apple’s 3D Touch was to iOS.
Display score: 4.5 / 5
iQoo 11 review: software
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Funtouch 13 is busy and full of bloat for local markets
Somewhat buggy UI
Only 2 years of Android updates
Software is arguably the weak point with the iQoo 11, with Funtouch 13 proving to be a rather busy custom UI layered over Android 13.
It’s worth mentioning that there are mitigating circumstances here. As discussed, this is a phone that’s intended for the Indonesian market, which explains why it comes laden with so much bloatware, including local apps like Lazada and Viu.
Even setting the matter of pre-installed apps aside, though, Funtouch 13 feels somewhat buggy and unfinished. There’s the UI’s apparent inability to adjust to bumping up the display resolution to full QHD+, resulting in comically small text in the Messages app and the clock widget. Adjusting the system font size didn’t seem to help here.
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Then there’s the fact that WhatsApp notifications continued to break through for us when the phone was in Do Not Disturb mode, which spoiled a couple of attempted weekend lie-ins.
All of this can be fixed in future software updates, of course. However, that just brings into focus iQoo’s two-year Android update promise, which is looking rather stingy and outdated compared to many other high-end handsets.
Software score: 2.5 / 5
iQoo 11 review: cameras
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Same 50MP main camera sensor as Galaxy S22
13MP telephoto, 8MP ultra-wide
Slightly artificial but even tone across the three cameras
If the iQoo 11 is mixing it with the big boys in terms of power and display technology, then it steps back into the second tier with its camera offering.
That still makes it a decent photography tool however, and it does some things we like a lot. We particularly appreciate the provision of a dedicated telephoto camera to accompany the wide and ultra-wide. That’s often one of the first features on the chopping block when putting together a more affordable flagship.
This is a nicely balanced setup too. The main camera uses the same 50MP sensor as you’ll find in the Samsung Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S22 Plus, as well as a number of previous iQoo models. It’s not exactly a cutting-edge component, but it’s a decent-sized 1/1.57" sensor, and it produces punchy shots in good lighting.
This is accompanied by an 8MP ultra-wide and a 13MP telephoto sensor, both also from Samsung. These support sensors aren’t up to the standard of the main sensor in terms of color depth, detail, or dynamic range, but they’re perfectly serviceable – especially that telephoto.
iQoo 11 camera samples
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The overall tone can be rather cool.
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The telephoto does a good job matching the main sensor’s tone.
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The ultrawide lacks detail, but again matches the tone of the others.
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Not much in the way of noise or artifacts here.
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Again, the telephoto matches up well.
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Edge distortion, but a consistent tone.
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Indoor shots can look a little murky.
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A reasonably sharp, if dark, food shot.
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Shots can look a little washed out.
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The dedicated telephoto is way better than cropping in.
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The ultrawide struggles for detail.
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Night mode isn’t up there with the best.
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Good low light shots are possible if you keep movement to a minimum.
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A shot showing the iQoo 11’s performance in low indoor lighting.
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Showing the main camera’s cool tone and exaggerated greens.
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The 2x telephoto is a solid performer.
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Selfies are fine, once you deactivate beautification.
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The camera is least impressive in middling/indoor lighting situations.
One of the best things about this camera setup is that the tone of the shots stays relatively consistent across all three sensors. Take three shots of the same scene, one with each camera, and they all look more or less of a piece.
True, that shared tone can be a little too cool and icy for our liking, with slightly punched up greens and a hint of overexposure. But that’s a color science choice that some will be more fond of than others, especially if you’re mainly in the business of sharing your shots on social media.
What’s more, there’s a toggle on the main camera UI that switches to a more natural, restrained look should you prefer it, which we did. It’s a shame this isn’t the default selection, but at least the camera app remembers your choice should you choose to activate it.
Low light performance is decent, if not among the best. Taking pictures of static scenes with a suitably steady hand yielded some clear results, but we also shot the odd dud that didn’t quite lock on properly, or which yielded excessive noise, while any form of movement in the shot tended to be picked up.
Shots in artificially lit indoor environments, and those in that murky zone between light and dark, could be a little hit and miss on the focusing front, and sometimes looked a little flat and washed out. This is a camera that rewards a steady hand and a little patience once the light drops.
The 16MP front camera does a reasonable job with selfie skin tones, though you’ll want to turn off the default beautifying effect, which smooshes and smudges facial textures in that disconcerting way that certain manufacturers seem to favor.
Overall, this is a solid camera setup, and none of the traits we mention are egregious given what appears to be the competitive pricing of the device. They merely illustrate that the iQoo 11 isn’t in the conversation with the genuinely top tier camera phone crowd like it is in other departments. With the Pixel 7 and the Google Pixel 6a both available for a very reasonable price, that’s worth mentioning.
Camera score: 3.5 / 5
iQoo 11 review: performance
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One of the first Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 phones
Extremely impressive CPU and GPU performance
Stays cool and fast under gaming load
While it doesn’t make gaming phones in the strictest of senses, gaming prowess is undoubtedly a core component of the iQoo brand. The iQoo 11 is no different, standing as one of the very first instances of the flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip being used.
The resulting benchmarks are suitably impressive, with an average Geekbench 5 single-core score of 1,462 and a multi-core score of 4,855. That beats a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 phone like the Samsung Galaxy S22 by around 200 points in single-core and a whopping 1,500 points in multi-core.
The Asus Zenfone 9 with its Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset gets a little closer, but still falls short by around 100 points single-core and 500 points multi-core.
On the GPU front, an average Wild Life Extreme score of around 3,750 (with an average frame rate of 22.50fps) is very strong indeed, outgunning even the mighty iPhone 14 Pro. Just as impressive is the fact that this level of graphical performance remains relatively stable over time in the extended Wild Life Extreme Stress Test, which runs the same high-intensity GPU workout 20 times in a row.
There’s a slight dip for the final few loops, but not by much, indicating that the iQoo 11 has its thermals in order. That can be attributed to the efficiency of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, but also to a multi-layer vapor chamber that iQoo has implemented.
In practical terms, we were able to play Genshin Impact and console-quality racer Wreckfest on maxed out graphical settings, with performance remaining silky smooth. We didn’t observe any serious thermal build-up or throttling over the space of a 20-minute gaming session, either.
Another performance point we should note is the inclusion of iQoo’s V2 chip, which apparently inserts frames to keep gameplay nice and smooth, even when the game itself doesn’t support higher frame rates of 90 or 120fps (as most games don’t). All in all, the iQoo 11’s level of performance is extremely impressive.
Performance score: 5 / 5
iQoo 11 review: battery
(Image credit: TechRadar)
5,000mAh battery
Comfortable all-day battery life, even with heavy usage
Rapid 120W wired charging but no wireless
The iQoo 11 has been fitted out with a 5,000mAh battery. That’s not an uncommon sight in an Android flagship, but it’s reassuring nonetheless, especially when combined with that efficient Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset.
We were able to get through a full 15-hour day of heavy usage (just shy of 6 hours of screen-on time) with the screen set to QHD and 144Hz, and the iQoo 11 still had around 30% left in the tank.
On days with more moderate usage, it wasn’t uncommon to be left with around half a tank left. That’s a very solid showing.
Charging is also extremely rapid, with a 120W charging brick bundled in. We found that a 15-minute charge would get the phone from empty to 74%, while it hit 100% in around 25 minutes.
The only real disappointment here is that the iQoo 11 doesn’t support wireless charging. This isn’t a given at less-than-flagship prices, of course, but the Pixel 7 and Nothing Phone 1 show that such an inclusion isn’t outside the realms of possibility.
Battery score: 4 / 5
Should you buy the iQoo 11?
Buy it if...
You want top power for a reasonable price The iQoo 11 packs the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, and it knows what to do with it, while undercutting many rivals in terms of price.
You want an outstanding display for less The iQoo 11 uses the latest Samsung E6 AMOLED panel - it’s big, bright, sharp, and at 144Hz it’s also unusually fluid.
You don’t mind importing The iQoo 11 isn’t coming to western markets, so you’ll need to be comfortable with importing if you want to buy it.
Don't buy it if...
You highly value the camera The iQoo 11’s main camera isn’t bad by any means, but nor is it the best you can get for the money, and it struggles with indoor lighting.
You like a clean or stock Android experience The Funtouch 13 overlay here is far from unusable, but it is busy, buggy, and bloated. It's one of the very weakest points of the iQoo 11.
You want high-end extras Water resistance and wireless charging are fairly standard high-end smartphone features, yet neither are present here.
iQoo 11: Also consider
The iQoo 11 isn't the easiest phone to get hold of in most regions, so for alternatives, consider the following options.
Available for about the same price – and in more markets – the Pixel 7 might not have the impressive performance and display specs of the iQoo 11, but it’s an altogether classier phone with a superior main camera.
Also similarly priced, the OnePlus 10T lacks the cutting edge specs of the iQoo 11, but isn’t lacking in the performance or display stakes. It’s also available in more markets, features cleaner software, and charges even faster.
If it’s a pure-bred gaming phone you’re after for this sort of money, then the Nubia Red Magic 7 goes above and beyond what the iQoo 11 has to offer. While its processor isn’t quite as impressive, its thermal system is even more extensive and its display is even more fluid, while dedicated physical controls will further enhance your gaming performance.