Thundergod ZERO 3060 gaming laptop: The performance is like a walking desktop, but the price breaks the industry bottom line

For a long time, gaming laptops have been regarded as the choice of college students in dormitories, while desktop computers can often have higher configurations than gaming laptops at the same price, so they are more suitable for adults with fixed residences. However, the sudden outbreak of the epidemic has affected chip shipments around the world, and the mining craze has made desktop graphics cards hard to come by. The combination of these two factors has eliminated the price advantage of desktop computers, and even reached a point where you can’t buy them even if you have money.

In this context, gaming laptops have become the choice of more gamers. According to statistics, in 2020, global shipments of gaming laptops reached 24 million units, while shipments of gaming desktops were 16.7 million units. The gap on paper has brought about a change in trend - facing a wider audience, gaming laptops have also begun to gradually develop in a universal direction.

In order to keep up with the trend, hardware manufacturers have been working hard in the field of laptop accessories, making the performance of laptop accessories gradually approach that of desktop products. Nvidia launched the RTX 30 series of laptop GPUs at the beginning of this year, and Intel also recently released the new Core 11th generation processor i7-11800H. The two hardware manufacturers have jointly led another upgrade of gaming laptops, making gaming laptops have gaming performance comparable to or even exceeding that of desktop computers.

Nowadays, most mid-to-high-end gaming laptops have lowered the priority of portability and focused on performance improvements. Therefore, instead of understanding these products as "notebooks that can play games", it is better to think of them as "desktops that can be carried around."

The new gaming laptop Thunderobot ZERO released by the well-known domestic gaming laptop brand Thunderobot on May 11 is the embodiment of this idea. Thunderobot ZERO adopts a new design language and is the first to be equipped with the latest i7-11800H processor and RTX 30 series graphics card, which has made a new breakthrough in performance. With a built-in WiFi-6 network card, downloading and connecting are extremely smooth. In addition, it is also equipped with a 230W power supply to fully unleash the performance. Correspondingly, the weight of the whole machine has reached 2.5 kg, which is not light, but it is also normal in gaming laptops.

The new mold with RGB lighting effects gives it a strong gaming feel

Thundergod ZERO uses a newly designed mold, combining multiple design elements such as texture, stripes, RGB, etc., which is refreshing. Unlike previous products, Thundergod ZERO does not use metal wire technology, but uses a new diamond texture design, giving the body shell a frosted texture. The color of this one in hand is Silver Wing Gray, which is relatively low-key overall. In addition, there is a more flamboyant Phantom Orange version for players who want to show their personality.

Let's look at the B side. Thundergod ZERO uses a curved laser-engraved keyboard with a numeric keypad and supports RGB lighting effects. The built-in driver can also adjust the lighting effects. The WASD keys commonly used by gamers use different fonts, which are very eye-catching. The keyboard feels quite comfortable. One thing to note is that the "0" key and the "." key on the numeric keypad are the same size, which is different from the common full-size keyboard. Therefore, it is easy to touch by mistake when typing, and it takes some time to adapt.

The power button is independent above the keyboard and is designed in the shape of the Thor logo.

The touchpad uses a striped design, and the tracking is average, but most players who choose gaming laptops will definitely pair them with an external mouse, so it has little impact.

The side is the same as many previous Thunder gaming laptops, with a wedge-shaped design, making the body look more capable. There is an air outlet on each side. There is a USB 3.1 port and a 3.5mm headphone jack on the left side of the body, and two USB 3.1 ports on the right side. These ports are plugged in and out more frequently, so they are placed on both sides for easier access. It can be seen that Thunder ZERO took a lot of details into consideration when designing.

The back of the machine has a wired network port, a Mini DP 1.4 port, an HDMI 2.0 port, a Thunderbolt 4 port and a power port, plus three USB 3.1 ports on the side, making it fully expandable and easily meeting the needs of external screens and other devices. At the same time, two air outlets are also designed at the rear. The design of four heat dissipation ports on the side and rear also enables ThunderZERO to achieve all-round heat dissipation.

The rear air outlet is equipped with an RGB light ring, and the Thor Logo on the A-side also supports RGB lighting effects. After turning on the "Shenguan Linkage" function, the lighting effects can be synchronized with the keyboard.

High-quality 2K screen, easy to use for gaming and watching movies

Thundergod ZERO uses a 16-inch 16:10 2K screen produced by BOE, with a screen-to-body ratio of 91%. The width of the side borders is about 5mm, and the width of the bottom border is only 14.9mm. The narrow border design allows players to focus their eyes on the screen, bringing a stronger sense of immersion.

The screen of Thundergod ZERO supports 100% sRGB color gamut and 10-bit color depth, with a contrast ratio of 1200:1. According to software testing, the sRGB color gamut of the Thundergod ZERO display is 103%. However, it should be noted that it may be an adaptation problem. The test software marked the screen size as 15.7 inches, but it is actually 16 inches.

From the actual effect, Thor ZERO can present colorful pictures very well, so in addition to playing games, it is also a good choice to use it to watch animations and movies.

The refresh rate of the ThunderZERO screen reaches 165Hz, which is higher than the 144Hz of mainstream gaming screens. Testing on the UFO Test website shows that the picture is smooth and has no ghosting, indicating that its refresh rate is a genuine 165Hz, which can meet the requirements of gaming players.

Top-level CPU support, performance surges

ThunderZERO was first equipped with Intel i7-11800H processor, which is manufactured with 10nm process and has 8 cores and 16 threads. It was also tested first.

In Cinebench R20, the i7-11800H scored 4880 points in multi-core performance and 572 points in single-core performance. According to statistics from foreign websites, the average multi-core score of AMD R7 5800H is 4694 points and the average single-core score is 553 points; the average multi-core score of Intel i7-108700H is 3673 points and the average single-core score is 473 points.

In Cinebench R23, the i7-11800H has a multi-core score of 12469 and a single-core score of 1479. The AMD R7 5800H has an average multi-core score of 12072 and an average single-core score of 1416; the Intel i7-108700H has an average multi-core score of 9925 and an average single-core score of 1222.

In Geekbench5, the i7-11800H has a multi-core score of 9069 and a single-core score of 1561. The AMD R7 5800H has an average multi-core score of 7867 and an average single-core score of 1434; the Intel i7-108700H has an average multi-core score of 7759 and an average single-core score of 1286.

It can be seen that the i7-11800H of ThunderZERO has been greatly improved compared with the CPUs previously launched by AMD or Intel.

3060 graphics card, the hard currency for gamers

Thunderobot ZERO is equipped with an RTX 3060 graphics card (there are also 3070 and 3080 versions), adopts the Ampere architecture, is equipped with 6 GB of Samsung GDDR6 video memory and a 130W full power consumption design, and supports independent cooling of video memory, which can enhance overclocking performance and fully unleash the performance of the graphics card.

In Time Spy, the RTX 3060 graphics built into the Thunderobot ZERO scored 8723 points, ranking among the best in today's notebook GPUs.

High-speed hard disk, stable reading

Thundergod ZERO is equipped with a 512GB SSD hard drive and supports PCIE-4.0, so the read and write speed is not a problem. There is also an empty PCIE-4.0 interface. The two interfaces do not affect each other, which is convenient for users to expand by themselves. Using CrystalDiskMark for testing, the read speed exceeds 6800MB per second and the write speed is close to 4000MB per second. The overall read and write speed is very ideal.

64 Wh large battery, long battery life

The Thundergod ZERO is equipped with a 64Wh battery, which is not large, but considering that gaming laptops are still connected to the power supply most of the time, it has little impact. Unplug the power supply, switch the computer to office mode to play a movie test, and the battery drops from 89% to 49% after one hour. From this perspective, as a performance-first gaming laptop, the battery still plays a more emergency role.

Excellent design, good heat dissipation

After testing the various components of ThunderZERO, the next step is the stress test. The software used in this test is AIDA 64 and Furmark. The temperature on that day was 30 degrees Celsius and the air conditioner was not turned on.

After more than 30 minutes of double baking test, the CPU power consumption of Thundergod ZERO is stable at around 52W, and the GPU power consumption is stable at around 114W, totaling nearly 170W. This power consumption level is still very good in a 16-inch mold, and the performance is also in place. However, the only drawback is that the CPU temperature is still a bit high, but because the layout design is reasonable enough, players will not have more troubles during use.

The four air outlets of ThunderZERO keep the temperature of the body within a reasonable range even under high load. During the stress test, the three parts with the highest temperature are the air outlets on both sides and the top area of ​​the keyboard, which are parts that hands rarely touch. According to actual measurements, the temperatures of the air outlets on the left and right sides are 46 degrees and 41 degrees respectively, and the temperature of the heat dissipation area above the keyboard is also very reasonable.

The temperature of the palms is controlled within 35 degrees and there is no feeling of heat.

The temperature of the WASD key area of ​​the keyboard is 39 degrees, which is almost warm.

Thundergod ZERO supports one-button strong cooling, the effect is very significant, but the corresponding noise is relatively loud. The noise reaches 60 decibels during the copy process. If it is not turned on all the time, the noise is within an acceptable range for a short startup.

In general, the performance of Thundergod ZERO is very good, and the heat dissipation is also good. If the player raises the foot pads by himself when using it, the heat dissipation performance can be improved.

3A masterpiece, ray tracing is so easy

Next is the game test. We chose three games for this test, namely "The Witcher 3", "CS:GO" and "Watch Dogs: Legion". It should be noted that considering the actual usage scenarios of most users, the strong cooling was not turned on during the test.

First, let's look at The Witcher 3. Although it is a game from 2015, its graphics are still not outdated today, and turning on full HD special effects still tests the computer configuration. In the test, Thor ZERO can run the game at 60 frames per second at 2K resolution and full HD special effects. Whether it is the details of the plants in the near distance or the scenery in the distance, the temperature of the CPU and GPU are also controlled within a reasonable range.

When testing CS:GO, the resolution was still native 2K, but the image quality was appropriately lowered. This is because as an e-sports game, the image quality in CS:GO is far less important to players than the frame rate. During the test, the game was able to run at around 300 frames most of the time, and the test was in the casual mode with a maximum of 20 players, so there is still room for improvement in the competitive mode with 10 players.

The last game, Watch Dogs: Legion, tests the ray tracing effect of Thor ZERO. Watch Dogs: Legion also runs at 2K resolution, with special effects and ray tracing set to "high". At this time, the picture is maintained at more than 50 frames, and you can see that the water on the ground can reflect the sign in the distance, showing an excellent ray tracing effect. At the same time, the temperature of the CPU and GPU are also controlled within 80 degrees.

It can be seen that when running 3A masterpieces with high configuration requirements, Thundergod ZERO can control the temperature of the CPU and GPU while ensuring picture quality and frame rate. This is thanks to its Wind Tunnel Pro cooling architecture 2.0. In addition to two through-type large-diameter cooling copper tubes and independent cooling of video memory, it is also equipped with a 12V LCP LCD cooling static fan, widened high-density fins and four omnidirectional air outlets.

Nvidia launched the Dynamic Boost 2.0 feature on RTX 30 series notebooks this year, which uses multiple AI networks to transfer power between the CPU and GPU. The Thunderobot ZERO's Wind Tunnel Pro Cooling Architecture 2.0 can adapt to Dynamic Boost 2.0's adjustment of CPU and GPU power consumption to achieve flexible cooling.

Overall, the 3060 version of ThunderZERO can run mainstream e-sports games and 3A masterpieces smoothly, which is enough to meet the needs of most players. However, when running some masterpieces with ray tracing effects, it is still a bit difficult to achieve 60 frames with full special effects. Players need to make some trade-offs between frame rate and picture quality, or choose the higher-configuration 3070 or 3080 versions.

A sincere and cost-effective choice

The tough and capable appearance coupled with RGB lighting effects make Thundergod ZERO look fashionable and cool, especially suitable for young players.

As a gaming laptop equipped with Intel's latest CPU, the performance of Thunderobot ZERO is generally satisfactory. Its powerful performance, excellent performance release and good heat dissipation performance all show Thunderobot's sincerity. It also has solid performance when running mainstream e-sports games and 3A masterpieces. The price of 9299 makes it a sufficiently cost-effective product, directly breaking through the industry's price bottom line.

In addition, in addition to the 3060 version, Thundergod ZERO also has 3070 and 3080 versions, which players with higher configuration requirements can also consider. Overall, in the industry trend of "price increase" and "out of stock", Thundergod was able to launch such a product in a timely manner, which not only reflects its strong appeal on the supply chain side, but also demonstrates its enthusiasm for players. In fact, for such a product with powerful performance and attractive price, players often have only one requirement - to work hard on production and strive to ensure that every player who loves Thundergod can successfully buy it.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.