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AMD Strix Halo

ASUS ROG Flow Z13 (2025) Gaming Review: What Strix Halo Can Run

The ROG Flow Z13’s integrated Radeon 8060S is powerful for a compact gaming hybrid, but game performance ranges from smooth to poor and often depends on resolution and upscaling.

By VGSources Team 5 min read
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The 2025 ASUS ROG Flow Z13’s Radeon 8060S makes demanding PC games viable on a compact 13-inch detachable, but results depend heavily on the game, resolution, settings and upscaling. In HotHardware’s February 18, 2025 review, it kept pace with some mobile GeForce RTX 4070 systems in selected benchmarks—not as a universal equivalent—and ran several demanding games well while struggling with others.

What system did HotHardware test?

The review tested a ROG Flow Z13 with AMD’s Ryzen AI MAX+ 395, 32GB of LPDDR5X memory rated at 8000 MT/s, and a 1TB NVMe SSD. Its Radeon 8060S graphics are integrated into the processor, not a separate graphics card. ASUS offers other configurations, so results for this unit should not be assumed to describe every Flow Z13 GZ302 listing. HotHardware’s review is dated February 18, 2025.

ASUS specifies the Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 with 16 Zen 5 CPU cores and 40 RDNA 3.5 GPU compute units. The manufacturer also lists unified quad-channel memory, a 13-inch CNC aluminum chassis, a 70Wh battery, a 2.5K 180Hz display and a 170-degree kickstand. These are ASUS specifications, not independent measurements. ASUS ROG Flow Z13 (2025) specifications

How does the Radeon 8060S compare with laptop GPUs?

HotHardware ran four 3DMark tests to place the Flow Z13 between thin-and-light systems and conventional gaming laptops. The results show unusually strong integrated graphics, but comparisons with mobile GPUs are conditional: laptop makers set different power and thermal limits, so two systems with the same GPU name can perform differently.

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Benchmark What the review found How to interpret it
Night Raid The 8060S led the comparison. This is a lightweight DirectX 12 test aimed at mobile integrated graphics; the comparison included few recent discrete GPUs.
Wild Life Extreme The Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 nearly tripled the next-highest x86 result in the review’s comparison. The test renders at native 4K and puts substantial stress on memory bandwidth.
Fire Strike Extreme The 8060S roughly kept pace with some mobile RTX 4070 and Radeon RX 6800S results. DirectX 11 result; mobile GPU power and thermal configurations vary.
Time Spy The 8060S landed near mobile RTX 4070 results and within reach of an RTX 3070 Ti result. DirectX 12 result; this is a comparison in the reviewed systems, not a fixed equivalence.

The practical takeaway is not that the 8060S replaces every RTX 4070 laptop. It is that a powerful integrated GPU in this particular compact system can enter the same performance conversation in some tests, while results shift with the competing laptop’s configuration and the game being run.

Which games ran well, and where did performance fall short?

HotHardware’s game tests cover different settings and resolutions, so reported results are not directly interchangeable. Where the review gives an exact result, it should be read in the context of that game and test setup.

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Strong results in selected games

  • F1 22: At 1080p High, the review describes performance as very quick. That resolution was chosen to align with the review’s comparison data.
  • Middle-earth: Shadow of War: On High at 2560×1440, the reviewed system produced 105 FPS and ranked among RTX 4070 systems in that comparison.
  • Fortnite: DirectX 12 performance was high, with little of the stutter the reviewer expected.
  • Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The reviewer says it ran well with upscaling from 1080p.
  • Other games noted as running well: Hogwarts Legacy, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and Rocket League.

Playable, but settings matter

  • Cyberpunk 2077: The reviewer calls it playable, but says Ultra settings require considerable upscaling to sustain playable performance. Lowering resolution or using upscaling can help with the integrated GPU’s memory-bandwidth constraint.
  • Red Dead Redemption 2 and Dragon’s Dogma 2: Both are described as playable in the review; no universal frame-rate claim follows from that description.
  • Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy: The game was playable with ray tracing, but ray tracing hurt frame-time stability and minimum FPS. The reviewer recommends turning it off to improve minimums.
  • Shadow of the Tomb Raider: At its highest preset, the system delivered consistent performance at 1080p and 2560×1440, but placed last among the review’s comparison systems at 1440p.

Games that expose a weaker spot

  • Black Myth: Wukong: The review reports poor performance in its test.
  • Monster Hunter Wilds benchmark: In the pre-release benchmark used by HotHardware, enabling ray tracing reduced performance by about 5%. This is a result for that benchmark build, not a general prediction for later releases.

Ray tracing effects were not consistent across games: in the reviewer’s Dragon’s Dogma 2 test, enabling ray tracing had no performance effect while improving ambient occlusion. That game-specific observation does not override the frame-time penalty reported for Guardians of the Galaxy.

Why do resolution and upscaling matter?

The Radeon 8060S shares system memory with the processor rather than using a separate graphics card’s dedicated memory. HotHardware identifies memory bandwidth as a constraint for the integrated GPU. Reducing rendering resolution or using a game’s upscaling option can ease that pressure, though upscaling changes image quality and does not make every demanding workload equally easy to run.

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For example, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle ran well with upscaling from 1080p, while Cyberpunk 2077 at Ultra needed considerable upscaling for playable performance. Wild Life Extreme’s native 4K workload also illustrates how heavily a graphics test can stress the memory subsystem.

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How should you judge the Flow Z13 for your games?

Start with the games you actually play rather than the GPU comparison alone. Check the specific resolution and graphics preset you want, whether you are willing to use upscaling, and whether ray tracing is important. Average FPS is only part of the experience: the review’s Guardians of the Galaxy results show that frame-time consistency and minimums can worsen even when a game remains playable.

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  • Compare like with like: Match game, resolution, preset, upscaling and ray-tracing settings when weighing this system against a gaming laptop.
  • Account for laptop configuration: Mobile GPU results vary with each system’s power and thermal limits; a GPU model name alone does not determine performance.
  • Consider the hybrid design: ASUS lists a 2.5K 180Hz display and adjustable kickstand, but those product features do not remove the performance and image-quality trade-offs of demanding games.
  • Check the specific SKU: The reviewed unit had 32GB of memory and 1TB of storage; confirm the processor, RAM and storage on the configuration you are considering.

ASUS says memory can be reallocated between system RAM and VRAM, with a reboot required. That is a configuration option, not a substitute for comparing actual game performance at the settings you plan to use.

Variable-refresh support can make lower frame rates feel smoother, according to HotHardware’s reviewer, but it does not reduce a game’s workload or eliminate the visual trade-offs of lowering settings or upscaling. The review’s gaming observations date to February 18, 2025; later game patches and graphics drivers may change results.

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