In the high-end market, the 12th generation Core Predator Blade 500 SE is a typical all-round gaming notebook. It has very high specifications, but the thickness of the body is controlled at about 19mm. It is a non-brick type that many users are concerned about. Hardcore model.

With the substantial improvement in the core performance of notebooks, game notebooks have also shown a more diverse evolution direction: there are heavy products that pursue the ultimate performance release, and there are all-round products that have both high performance and portability. In the high-end market, the 12th generation Core Predator Blade 500 SE is a typical all-round gaming notebook. It has very high specifications, but the thickness of the body is controlled at about 19mm. It is a non-brick type that many users are concerned about. Hardcore model.

Recently, Uncle Niu got the flagship configuration model in this series of products, which is equipped with the 12th generation Core i9 12900H + RTX 3080Ti core combination, and has a 2.5K resolution 240Hz high-quality screen with very attractive parameters. For this relatively thin gaming laptop, how is its actual performance? Can the noise and surface temperature under high load be satisfactory? Uncle Niu brought the actual combat test of the aircraft.

Configuration and Specifications

■ Processor: Intel Core i9 12900H (14/20, 2.5/5GHz)

■ Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080Ti Laptop GPU 16GB (up to 115W)

■ Screen: 16 inches 2560×1600 resolution 100% P3 color gamut 16: 10 screens

■ Memory: 2×16GB DDR5 4800MHz

■ Hard drive: 2TB PCIe4.0 SSD

■ Network: AX 1675s Wi-Fi6e wireless + Bluetooth + .5G wired

■ Interface: 2 × USB3.2 Gen2 Large port, HDMI2.1, 2×Thunderbolt 4 (Type-C), SD card slot, network cable port, 3.5mm audio port, power port

■Weight: 2.33kg (including 99Wh battery) + 0.876kg adapter (230W)

Reference price:

Advantages: flagship configuration, strong actual performance; excellent screen quality; relatively thin and light body, good portability; rich interfaces

Unfortunately: fully loaded test machine hardware power is average; motherboard flip-up upgrade hardware is more troublesome

metal The body has a good texture

The appearance of the 12th generation Core Predator Blade 500 SE inherits the design concept of the previous generation product: it adopts an all-metal body, weighs about 2.33kg (actual measurement), and the thickness of the body is controlled at about 19mm - this The two values ​​highlight the “relatively thin and light” nature of the machine. As we all know, the current weight of many RTX 3060 gaming laptops is around 2.6kg, and the fuselage is also thick. However, the Predator Blade 500 SE equipped with i9 12900H + RTX 3080Ti is two to three hundred grams lighter. It is considered “slim” and its portability is undoubtedly better. In addition, this kind of design also has a better visual experience: it allows a flagship product to avoid the "silly, big, black and thick" feeling of conventional gaming notebooks.

The body of Blade 500 SE is made of alloy, with solid and reliable workmanship and a good sense of class. Side A adopts a calm business-style design. Only the metal LOGO of the Predator is engraved on the upper corner of the top cover. There are no other elements other than this. This is also the design idea of ​​many high-end gaming laptops at present. It is simple and tough, whether it is It will not look out of place whether placed in a library or an office, and is suitable for use in various environments.

The C-side keyboard has a reasonable layout and a decent feel. There is no numeric keypad. The cursor keys that players value more are full-size and larger. This keyboard supports 3-zone backlighting and can adjust dynamic effects such as breathing/flickering waveforms, making it very playable.

There is a separate "turbo" button above the keyboard. Press it to turn on the maximum fan speed and reduce the core temperature under high load; there is a separate predator icon "control sensor key" on the right edge of the keyboard, which can It can realize functions such as customizing keyboard lighting effects, changing performance modes, etc.; in addition, a fingerprint recognition module is added to the upper left side of the touch panel. From this place, it can be seen that the details of the Blade 500 SE are well designed and more user-friendly.

processor performance test: i9 12900H test machine 95W, strong output

Uncle Niu’s review model Blade 500 SE is equipped with Intel’s 12th generation Core i9 12900H processor, with 14 cores and 20 threads specifications, and a maximum turbo frequency of 5GHz. Readers who often read reviews should be familiar with it. It is characterized by high specifications and relatively high power requirements.The room temperature of

is about 24℃. In Aida64, the processor is tested alone (FPU alone, beast mode). The test lasts for 30 minutes. The processor runs stably at 95W. The large core frequency is about 3.8GHz and the small core frequency is about 2.9. GHz, the temperature is about 94℃. This test machine performed very well. The power release of 95W is also a high-power machine among the 12th generation Core models.

In addition: If you enable one-click Turbo to turn on the fan to the highest speed, and at the same time raise the body of the Blade 500 SE, the machine can even run to an ultra-high power of 110W, which is only 5W away from the official maximum turbo frequency power consumption. At this time, the frequency of the large core is about 4GHz, the frequency of the small core is 3GHz, and the temperature is 96°C.

Below we use actual measured data to analyze processor performance. Uncle Niu added the 65W i7 12700H processor for the test machine and the 100W i9 11980HK processor for the test machine as reference objects.

Judging from the benchmark test, the processor performance of the Blade 500 SE is very strong. It ran to 6852pts in Cinebench R20 multi-core and 18041pts in Cinebench R23 multi-core. These are the first-tier test results of the current mobile platform. Generally speaking, if you want to get a score of about 7,000 in Cinebench R20 multi-core, for a 14-core 20-thread Core standard processor, you have to run the test with a very high turbo frequency power consumption.

▲Cinebench R23 multi-core running score exceeds 18,000pts. Generally, the processor with 8 cores and 16 threads is only about 14,000pts, such as Ryzen 7 6800H.

At the same time, compared to the 65W-level 14-core 20-thread processor, the 95W i9 12900H has obvious advantages; in addition, the machine also greatly exceeds the previous generation i9 11980HK processor of about 100W, which is due to the progress brought by the architectural update. , but also due to the powerful release of Blade 500SE itself.

Under full load for a long time, Uncle Niu chose Blender rendering to test the performance of the machine. The test project was the Classroom scene, which took a relatively long time. The Blade 500SE test took 5 minutes and 42 seconds. Uncle Niu turned on the monitoring software during the test, which showed that the machine ran at a power consumption of 100W throughout the entire process! In comparison, the 65W i7 12700H test score was 6 minutes and 39 seconds. It can be seen that with the same specifications of 14 cores and 20 threads, the high-power performance release brings faster rendering efficiency.

processor test summary: From the computer test and data test, the performance of the i9 12900H processor of the Blade 500 SE is very powerful. In the beast mode, the test machine is stable at 95W, and the maximum output can even reach 110W! This kind of performance is well placed in the first echelon of current mobile platforms. It has no problem handling heavy applications such as 3A masterpieces and rendering, editing and modeling. It is a powerful machine that releases high processor performance.

Game test: 115W RTX 3080Ti, supports direct connection of independent graphics

The review model Blade 500 SE is equipped with RTX 3080Ti 16GB independent graphics. This is a new flagship notebook independent graphics launched by Nvidia. It adopts Ampere architecture and has 7424 streams. Processor (tip: last year’s flagship RTX 3080 had 6144 stream processors), 16GB GDDR6 video memory, second-generation RT Core and third-generation Tensor Cores. The official power consumption is 80W-150W (not yet available) Calculate dynamic power consumption). Obviously, this is a top-notch notebook independent graphics card, which can provide users with powerful power whether it is 3A games or creative design.

Specific to the Blade 500 SE, the RTX 3080Ti equipped with it has a maximum power of 115W, which is a medium power. After all, the body of this machine is relatively thin and light, so in terms of independent graphics power, it also adopts a design power that is balanced with the body. In the performance test, Uncle Niu added the 150W RTX 3080 independent graphics, which has higher power but fewer stream processors, as a reference object to facilitate everyone to understand its performance level.

Judging from the benchmark test results of DMark, the 115W RTX 3080Ti equipped with the Blade 500 SE is basically at the same level as the 150W RTX 3080 in the DX12 test scenario, with the latter running slightly higher. In the DX11 test scenario, the running score is lower than that of the 150W RTX 3080. The difference is about 3% for Fire Strike and about 10% for Fire Strike Extreme.So, what will the actual combat situation be like?

FHD game performance comparison test

Let’s take a look at the actual game test. For the powerful RTX 30 series gaming notebooks, the first is the FHD test. Since the Blade 500 SE is equipped with a 2560×1600 resolution screen, the FHD test is set to 1920× 1200 resolution is the highest image quality, and the entire process uses independent graphics direct connection. Uncle Niu added 150W RTX 3080 and 150W RTX 3070Ti as actual game reference.

▲ "Cyberpunk 2077" uses the newly added benchmark test scores. The Blade 500 SE has an average frame rate of 72fps at the highest quality at 1200P, with high smoothness. The 150W RTX 3080 is 64fps (manual test), which is affected by changes in test methods.

▲ "Forza Horizon 5", the average frame rate of Blade 500 SE at the highest quality of 1200P is 82fps, and the smoothness is good. This is a newly added game test.

Judging from the actual 1200P game test, the actual game test of Blade 500 SE and the 150W RTX 3080 gaming notebook and the 150W RTX 3070Ti gaming notebook are both winners and losers. The gap is relatively small. The three are considered to be at the same level of gaming performance. However, it should be noted that the body weight of the Blade 500 SE is much lighter than the latter two, 2.33kg compared to 2.56kg/2.59kg. At the same time, it can also be seen that these three independent graphics can easily cope with the highest quality 3A masterpieces at 1200P. All tested games can basically reach an average frame rate of more than 70fps.

Tip: The RTX 3080 has 6144 stream processors, and the RTX 3070Ti has 5888 stream processors. Therefore, when the power is similar, the actual game performance of the two is relatively close.

600P game performance comparison test

▲" God of War 4", fixed scene manual test, 1600P highest quality average frame rate 69fps, easy and smooth running

▲" Far Cry 6" benchmark test, 1600P highest quality average frame rate frame rate 76fps, smoothness is good.

is more interesting in the actual 1600P game. The measured frame rate of the game of Blade 500 SE is almost slightly ahead of the 150W RTX 3080 and 150W RTX 3070Ti (their frame rates are still very close). It seems that more streams The number of processors shows its power at this stage. Judging from the frame rate of each game, except for the consistently poor optimization of "Cyberpunk 2077", other games can basically reach a smooth level. That is, the 115W RTX 3080Ti of the Blade 500 SE can handle the 1600P highest quality 3A masterpiece. Too big a problem.

As far as games are concerned, the Blade 500 SE can easily handle the highest image quality of 3A games at 1200P. At 1600P, except for a few poorly optimized games, the smoothness is good and the overall performance is strong.

Creative design test

As mentioned earlier, in addition to its strong gaming performance, the RTX 3080Ti can also provide cuda acceleration for creative design software. Therefore, Uncle Niu also ran two simple graphics card professional performance tests on the Blade 500 SE. By the way, RTX The large 16GB video memory of 3080Ti also further enhances the professional performance of the machine.

▲Video transcoding supports different transcoding schemes such as cuda acceleration, pure processor, and integrated graphics acceleration. If the processor scheme is used for transcoding, it will take about five or six minutes for a processor with a standard pressure of 14 cores and 20 threads (in This is already considered the first echelon of efficiency among processors), and if CUDA is used to accelerate, it only takes a little over 2 minutes, which greatly reduces the time required. As you can see from the screenshot, the RTX 3080Ti runs at 90W power.

▲Blender’s latest benchmark test, the bigger the value, the better. The test scores of RTX 3080Ti are 1626/907/811 respectively; while the test scores of the 14-core standard pressure processor are 122/70/57. You can calculate the efficiency. gap.

Test machine and noise test

The room temperature is about 25℃, and the dual test is performed on the Blade 500 SE. The stable situation is as follows: The package power consumption of the i9 12900H processor is about 34W, and the large core frequency is about 2.2GHz. The core frequency is about 1.9GHz and the temperature is about 77℃; the power consumption of RTX 3080Ti is about 101W and the temperature is about 72.6℃. The total power of the dual core is about 135W, which is not high, but it ensures a higher power distribution for independent graphics. At the same time, the temperature of both the processor and the independent graphics is relatively low.

Internal disassembly diagram, the Blade 500 SE uses a combination of dual fifth-generation 3D blade fast-cooling metal fans (three fans in total, one more than a regular gaming laptop) + liquid metal + large-area vapor chamber, but the motherboard is It is a flip-chip design, so it is troublesome to upgrade SSD and replace the memory. However, as far as the evaluation machine is concerned, the combination of 32GB memory + 2TB SSD basically does not need to be upgraded.

Surface temperature and noise: The heat in the keyboard area is accumulated in the KL key area in the middle of the right side. The maximum temperature is around 48℃. The heat is obvious in this area. The W and S key areas are 43℃ and there is a certain heat feeling. In terms of fan noise, because it is in performance mode and turbo is not turned on, the fan speed does not reach the maximum at this time. It is obvious but not particularly noisy. The user level is about 53 decibels.

Excellent screen, high interface specifications, large battery capacity

In terms of configuration details, the Blade 500 SE is equipped with a 2560×1600 resolution, 100% P3 color gamut, 240Hz high-quality gaming screen, with a maximum brightness of 500 nits , regardless of resolution Both the refresh rate and refresh rate are excellent in gaming notebooks, especially the 240Hz refresh rate, which is rare in gaming notebooks, highlighting the flagship configuration positioning of the machine, and this screen has NVIDIA G-SYNC certification - completely Meet users’ needs for gaming and creation.

The standard SSD of the Blade 500 SE is worth mentioning. The evaluation model is equipped with a 2TB PCIe 4.0 specification solid state drive , and has been configured with RAID 0. The continuous reading speed exceeds 12509MB/s, and the continuous writing speed exceeds 9415MB/s. Very responsive for everyday use.

The interface specifications of this machine are also quite high, including two USB3.2 Gen2 ports, two Thunderbolt 4, one HDMI2.1 and an SD card slot. Two large USB ports ensure convenience for daily use, two Thunderbolt 4 ports provide extremely generous expandability, and the SD card slot facilitates file transfer for visual design users.

In addition, the battery design capacity of the Blade 500 SE has reached an extremely exaggerated 99Wh in a notebook. However, aviation regulations stipulate that lithium battery capacity does not exceed 100Wh and can be carried or checked in without declaration. In other words, this is basically the maximum battery capacity in a notebook. , local video playback lasts about 12 hours.

Conclusion

The most outstanding feature of the 12th generation Core Predator Blade 500 SE is that it is equipped with flagship configuration and strong practical performance, and it also has a strong texture and relatively thin and light body. In addition, its detailed configuration specifications are also very high. It not only has a combination of 32GB DDR5 memory + 2TB SSD, but also a 2.5K screen with an ultra-high refresh rate of 240Hz, which can provide users with powerful functions whether for daily use, gaming, entertainment or creative production. motivation.

As for the small regrets about this machine, one is that the hardware power is average when it is fully loaded for exams; the other is that the motherboard adopts a flip-chip design, which takes time to upgrade the configuration or clean out the dust.

In terms of purchasing advice, the 12th generation Core Predator Blade 500 SE is suitable for users with a generous budget and extremely demanding requirements on performance output, screen refresh rate, appearance design, body portability, etc. This machine can be called a A good high-end all-around product.