The situation on the laptop market in the last year has not been easy at all. When an interesting piece with a good dose of performance appears on store shelves, it is usually sold out immediately. For cheaper machines, of course, this is doubly true.
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However, the Gigabyte G5 KC is offered several different retailers in the country, and all of them boast that they have a sufficient quantity of this machine in stock. Potential applicants will pay CZK 28,990 for the tested machine, which is relatively low for the proportions of gaming laptops.
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Starring graphics
The most interesting thing about the tested machine is the hardware equipment – especially the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card, which is the most common choice of players due to the good price / performance ratio. This model is located right in the middle of the “food chain”, with two slower models behind it and two more powerful ones above it. For those, however, the price is already significantly higher.
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In addition, the GeForce RTX 3060 card has more than enough power even in the notebook version, it is rich enough to play in Full HD even in maximum detail, as we will show even below in the tests of individual games. This is due to the range of advanced technologies that this card offers.
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Back of the tested model
The lid of the laptop is made of plastic.
The DLSS, which stands for Deep Learning Super Sampling, for example, deserves to be highlighted. It is a technology that uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to increase graphics performance by using dedicated Tensor cores for artificial intelligence in GeForce RTX cards. However, Dynamic boost 2.0 or Resizable bar technologies also increase performance.
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The Reflex technology, which can reduce latency and thus increase the accuracy of focus, also deserves an award. For a number of supported titles, it is also possible to enjoy extremely accurate graphics via ray-tracing, as the cards are able to calculate the exact shadows, reflections and refractions of light according to specific materials and the scene itself.
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You can learn more about the technologies of modern graphics cards in our previous article:
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Ray-tracing ve Fortnitu
Video: archive of creators
How DLSS technology works in practice.
Video: manufacturer’s archive
Easy disk expansion
There is no sharpener in the other parameters in the tested parameters either. In its bowels we find a six-core Intel Core i5-10500H processor, which will offer a basic clock of 2.5 GHz or 4.5 GHz in turbo mode. It is true that there are already 11th generation chips on store shelves, but the machines are a bit more expensive with them. Players will not notice any dramatic difference between the 10th and 11th generations.
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The machine also received 16 GB of DDR4 memory and a 512 GB SSD unit of the M.2 PCIe standard. However, there is another free M.2 slot inside the laptop, and even space to insert a SATA drive. You can easily equip your laptop with two additional disks if needed.
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Thanks to sufficient system resources and especially thanks to the fast SSD unit, the response of the operating system is lightning fast. For the mentioned CZK 28,990, however, you get a laptop without an operating system, the version with Windows 10 costs a thousand times more.
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Of course, the latest Windows 11 operating system can also run on the tested model without any problems.
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There is also a memory card reader.
The headphone jack is on the left.
Performance in practice
The Gigabyte G5 KC features a 15.6-inch display that builds on IPS technology and offers Full HD resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels). The advantage of this panel is the fast refresh rate of 144 Hz, which is really recognizable, especially when playing action shooters. In practice, the monitor offers flawless viewing angles, good color rendering and at the same time even backlighting.
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With regard to the Full HD screen, the components inside the notebook were chosen very sensibly. At present, there is basically no game that would not be possible to play on a given machine. In addition, a number of titles can be played in higher 2K resolution after connecting an external monitor. This is possible via the integrated HDMI connector.
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Example of color rendering of the display
Even various virtual reality systems should not be a problem for this machine, it has more than enough power to run them. See the table below for Gigabyte G5 KC game test results.
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We compared the performance to the Lenovo Legion 5 notebook, which features an Intel Core i5-10300H processor and previous mid-range GeForce RTX 2060 graphics. For completeness, let’s add that all games have been tested in Full HD resolution with the maximum possible detail.
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| PROCESSOR TESTS | ||
| Test | Gigabyte G5 KC | Lenovo Legion 5 |
| Cinebench R23 (Multi) | 6820 points | 4863 points |
| Cinebench R23 (Single) | 1165 points | 1106 points |
| 3DMark 06 (CPU) | 11 132 points | 9731 points |
| Super Pi mod 1.5 XS 1M | 8,6 s | 8,7 s |
| Super Pi mod 1.5 XS 2M | 19,1 s | 19,8 s |
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| GRAPHIC CARD TESTS | ||
| Test | Gigabyte G5 KC | Lenovo Legion 5 |
| 3DMark (Time Spy Score) | 7811 points | 5682 points |
| 3DMark (Ice Storm Extreme Graphics) | 208 812 points | 163,320 points |
| F1 2021 | 179 fps | 126 fps |
| Days Gone | 81 fps | 64 fps |
| Mass Effect Legendary Edition | 106 fps | 99 fps |
| Resident Evil Village 2 | 117 fps | 91 fps |
| Hitman 3 | 114 fps | 94 fps |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 67 fps | 45 fps |
| Assassin´s Creed Valhalla | 57 fps | 44 fps |
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Processing quality, operating noise
For the tested piece, the relatively compact proportions – at least to the proportions of gaming machines – take a look at first glance. Specifically, these are the dimensions 361 x 258 x 27.9 mm and the weight is 2.2 kg. Thanks to the bevelled sides, the notebook also has an even thinner impression.
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The design also looks very interesting with massive cooling vents in the rear and around the sides, because they resemble the mask of a supersport. However, the construction itself is otherwise plastic, so the display in particular definitely deserves more gentle handling.
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Even with regard to the powerful components inside, the tested machine is relatively noisy, it is simply a tax to cool all the internal components exactly as needed. In practice, the noise climbs above 55 dBA at full load, processor temperature and graphics above 90 ° C, which is definitely not a small amount. During the tests, however, it never happened to us that cooling was not enough for powerful hardware, and the laptop turned off.
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Massive cooling vents resemble a supersport mask.
In addition, during office work, the gaming machine is very quiet, with a processor, the fan runs at a very low speed, in which case it switches off completely in graphics.
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In addition to solid performance, a relatively successful keyboard with a pleasantly secure press, which is backlit, also contributes to a good feeling of playing. The response of the large touchpad is also very decent, but most players will probably use a mouse instead.
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Overall battery life is rather average, when playing games it is less than two hours. On the other hand, with regard to the performance offered, this is quite understandable. During normal work, the endurance is around four hours, in the case of extremely economical operation, it is possible to exceed five hours on a single charge.
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The keyboard is backlit.
The touchpad is spacious enough.
Final evaluation
Lots of music for little money. In short, all the pros and cons of the Gigabyte G5 KC notebook can be summarized. For the price of CZK 28,990, potential buyers will get a very well-equipped machine with a good dose of performance for playing virtually all modern games, the advantage is a successful display with a high refresh rate or the possibility of easy expansion of disk space.
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The tax on the lower price tag, on the other hand, is rather the average quality of the plastics used. Potential applicants must also take into account that at maximum load, the tested machine is one of the noisier ones.
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Technical parameters of the Gigabyte G5 KC model:
- Display: 15.6″ 144Hz, IPS, Full HD (72% NTSC)
- Processor: 6jádrový čip Intel Core i5-10500H (2.5GHz, TB 4.5GHz, HyperThreading)
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 6GB GDDR6 (Boost 1425 MHz, MGP 105W)
- Operation memory: 16GB RAM DDR4
- Disk: 512GB SSD M.2 PCIe
- Multimedia equipment: memory card reader, RGB backlit keyboard, Nahimic 3 sound, HD camera
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi ax, Bluetooth 5.0, GLAN
- Connectors: USB (1x 3.0/3.1/3.2 Gen 1, 1x 3.1/3.2 Gen 2, 1x Type-C 3.1/3.2 Gen 2, 1x 2.0), , HDMI, mini DisplayPort
- Operating system: without operating system
- Dimensions: 361 x 258 x 27,9 mm
- Mass: 2,2 kg
