We challenge all gaming systems’ graphics with a quintet of animations or gaming simulations from UL’s 3DMark test suite. The first two, Wild Life (1440p) and Wild Life Extreme (4K), use the Vulkan graphics API to measure GPU speeds. The next two, Steel Nomad’s regular and Light subtests, focus on APIs more commonly used for game development. And we turn to 3DMark Solar Bay to measure ray tracing performance in a synthetic environment.
Our real-world gaming testing comes from the in-game benchmarks of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Cyberpunk 2077, and F1 2024. These three games—all benchmarked at the system’s full HD (1080p or 1200p native) resolution—represent competitive shooter, open-world, and simulation games, respectively. Each game runs at two sets of graphics settings per resolution for up to four runs total on each game.
We run the Call of Duty benchmark at the Minimum graphics preset—aimed at maximizing frame rates to test display refresh rates—and again at the Extreme preset. Our Cyberpunk 2077 test settings aim to push PCs fully, so we run it on the Ultra graphics preset and again at the all-out Ray Tracing Overdrive preset, both without DLSS or FSR. Finally, F1 represents our DLSS effectiveness (or FSR on AMD systems) test, demonstrating a GPU’s capacity for frame-boosting upscaling technologies. The ability of these frame-rate boosts changes with the version of frame generation tech available, with DLSS 2 and 3 stitching in one AI-generated frame for every originally rendered frame, and the latest (DLSS 4) inserting up to three additional frames.
In the synthetic 3DMark tests, the Victus trailed well behind the Nitro, underscoring the advantage of having 50% more GPU wattage on tap. However, neither could match the performance of the Dell, Gigabyte, or Omen, all of which utilized the more powerful RTX 4060. In real-world gaming tests, the Victus closed the performance delta with the Acer, trailing by only a few frames per second in F1 24 and Cyberpunk—likely thanks to its more modern CPU kicking in. Nevertheless, the RTX 4060 laptops maintained a clear lead.
Overall, the Victus’ numbers suggest it’s a dependable choice for entry-level 1080p gaming, though demanding titles like Cyberpunk 2077 will likely require dialing down the settings for the smoothest performance. The Victus’ cooling fans were audible but not annoying while I tested, and well-behaved at idle. The chassis remained impressively cool to the touch, both top and bottom.
