DELL G5 5505 Review: An All-AMD Gaming Laptop (Ryzen 7 4800H / 16GB / Radeon RX 5600M), Tested in VR
Dell lent me a DELL G5 5505, a laptop from its lightweight-gaming G-series lineup.
With both the CPU and GPU built by AMD, how much VR can this all-AMD machine actually handle?
- 1. Meet the DELL G5 5505
- 2. The Test Setup: DELL G5 5505 Review Unit
- 3. Exterior Design and Build
- 4. Weight and Portability
- 5. VR Performance Results
- 6. Basic PC Performance Benchmarks
- 7. Standard Benchmark Numbers
- 8. Power Draw and Noise Levels
- 9. Connecting HMDs to the DELL G5 5505
- 10. What I Could Not Verify
- 11. In Summary: A Cost-Effective All-AMD Laptop That Struggles in VR
Meet the DELL G5 5505
The DELL G5 5505 is a gaming laptop built around an AMD Ryzen 4000-series CPU and an AMD Radeon RX 5600M GPU.
| DELL G5 5505 | Model Lineup |
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 4600H AMD Ryzen 7 4800H AMD Ryzen 9 4900H |
| GPU | GeForce RTX 2080 with Max-Q |
| Memory | 8GB or 16GB |
| Chipset | Not disclosed |
| SSD | 512GB or 1TB |
| HDD | None |
| Display | 15.6-inch matte LCD 1920×1080 (Full HD) 144Hz or 120Hz |
| Interfaces | mini DisplayPort x1 HDMI x1 USB2.0 (Type-A) x2 USB3.2 (Type-A) x1 USB3.2 Gen2 (Type-C) x1 Mic/headphone combo jack x1 Wired LAN |
| Network | Wireless LAN (Wi-Fi): Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) Bluetooth: Bluetooth 5.1 |
| Webcam | 720p HD camera |
| Battery life | Not specified |
| OS | Windows 10 Home 64bit |
| Keyboard | Full-size (backlit) |
| Size (W x D x H) | 2.0 liters (365.5 x 254 x 21.6mm) |
| Power | 230W |
| Weight | Approx. 2.5kg |
| List price (tax included) | ¥126,478 and up |
*Prices and the model lineup reflect the time of writing. These change frequently, so please check the official DELL site for the latest details.
As of March 5, 2021, DELL’s direct-sales site listed the seven configurations shown above.
The Test Setup: DELL G5 5505 Review Unit
Here’s the spec sheet for the unit DELL sent me. I’ll be testing this exact configuration throughout the rest of this review.
| model | DELL G5 5505 |
|---|---|
| Display | 15.6-inch FHD IPS LCD (1920x1080px) |
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 4800H 8 cores, 16 threads, 2.9GHz (Turbo 4.2GHz) |
| GPU | Radeon RX 5600M 6GB GDDR6 |
| Memory | 16GB |
| SSD | 1TB (NVMe/M.2) |
| HDD | None |
| Power | 230W |
| OS | Windows 10 Home 64bit |
The GPU in this DELL G5 5505 is AMD’s Radeon RX 5600M. Most gaming laptops ship with an NVIDIA GeForce card, so a Radeon-powered machine is something of a rarity. DELL markets the G5 5505 as “VR Ready," but how much VR can it actually deliver?
Exterior Design and Build
Lid
The unit I borrowed comes in “Iridescent Silver." The plastic chassis has a metallic-flecked finish, and the DELL logo on the lid catches the light with a pearl-like shimmer.
Sides and Ports
The port layout is fairly typical for a gaming laptop. The rear is reserved for exhaust vents only, with all the ports arranged along the sides.
There are no ports on the back of the DELL G5 5505.
On the right side, running front to back (left to right in the photo), you’ll find an SD card reader, a mic/headphone combo jack, and two USB2.0 (Type-A) ports.
On the left side, running back to front (left to right in the photo), the ports go: power jack, mini-DisplayPort, HDMI, USB3.2 (Type-A), wired LAN, and USB3.2 (Type-C).
There are no ports on the front of the unit either.
Hinge
The hinge on the DELL G5 5505 sits right at the back of the chassis. Tilting the screen doesn’t shift the keyboard’s position at all.
Exhaust air vents out just below the top edge of the display. Since hot air naturally rises, this is a sensible layout.
Keyboard and Trackpad
As you can see in the photo below, the review unit has a full-size Japanese keyboard layout.
The area around the ENTER key on the right (where the ¥, _, and 」 characters live) has a somewhat unusual layout. That’s because DELL reuses the same chassis as the English-layout keyboard to keep costs down.
I personally use a DELL G5 5500, and in my experience you get used to this layout quickly once you start typing on it.
Typing feel is decent, and the key sound sits on the quieter side.
The trackpad is modestly sized and positioned where accidental palm touches are unlikely.
Lighting
Aside from the keyboard backlight, the DELL G5 5505 has no RGB or other illumination.
Webcam
The webcam is a 720p HD unit mounted just below the display.
Weight and Portability
Chassis Weight
I measured the weight of the chassis itself.
| Item | Weight |
|---|---|
| Unit only | 2.49kg |
| Unit + power adapter | 3.45kg |
At roughly 2.5kg for the unit alone, this is on the heavy side even for a gaming laptop.
Add the power adapter and you’re looking at about 3.5kg total — well beyond a weight you’d want to carry around casually.
Power Adapter
This is a 230W AC adapter, so it’s substantial in both size and weight: 198 x 98 x 26mm and 743g by itself, which is quite large.
Including the cable, it comes in at roughly 1kg.
The laptop together with the full power cable setup weighs about 3.5kg.
VR Performance Results
From here I’ll dig into the DELL G5 5505’s performance. This section estimates VR capability based on the results of benchmark apps.
Comparing Against Oculus’s Recommended Specs
I’m comparing this laptop against a PC that just meets Oculus’s minimum recommended GPU specs.
- CPU: Intel Core i5 4590
- GPU: GeForce GTX 1060-6GB
- Memory: 8GB
The figures below are calculated from measured results.
[kimono_bar title="VR Performance (DELL G5 5505)" color="#4363d8″ max="400″ note="*Relative score with the recommended spec set to 100″]
3Dmark|140
3Dmark FireStrike|133
Cinebench CPU|304
Cinebench SingleCore|145
Memory|200
[/kimono_bar]
*DELL G5 5505 performance relative to Oculus’s recommended spec set at 100
A quick note on what these bars mean: 3Dmark TimeSpy measures DirectX 12 rendering performance relative to Oculus’s recommended GTX 1060 6GB (desktop) baseline, set to 100. 3Dmark FireStrike measures DirectX 12 VR rendering performance — using richer graphics than the TimeSpy test — against that same GTX 1060 6GB baseline. Cinebench CPU measures overall CPU compute power relative to Oculus’s recommended Intel Core i5 4590 baseline, and Cinebench SingleCore measures per-core CPU performance against the same i5 4590 baseline. Memory simply reflects installed RAM relative to Oculus’s recommended 8GB baseline. For the source numbers, see Oculus’s official support page.
On paper, this looks like more than enough performance to clear Oculus’s recommended bar.
Resolution vs. Frame Rate
I ran VRMARK across a range of resolutions. The horizontal axis is pixel count, and the vertical axis is frame rate.
[kimono_cost_table title="Resolution vs. VRMARK Score (DELL G5 5505)"] 3.1|149.9|24.7|76|72 5|133|17|58|72 8.3|108|11|48|72 14.7|71|7|36.4|72 [/kimono_cost_table]A note on reading this chart: the frame rate VRMARK reports is how many frames per second the PC can draw. If that number falls short of the headset’s own refresh rate, the headset interpolates in-between frames — for apps with little head motion, targeting around half the headset’s refresh rate can still feel acceptable. Oculus Quest and Quest 2 changed how they report this back in October 2020; at current defaults, the Oculus Rift S (80Hz refresh) targets roughly 4.9 megapixels on “Performance Priority" or 5.9 megapixels on “Quality Priority," the Oculus Quest (72Hz refresh) targets about 9.4 megapixels at its “1.0x" render-resolution setting, and the Oculus Quest 2 (72/80/90Hz refresh) targets about 8.7 megapixels at its own “1.0x" setting. (These multipliers can shift a bit depending on the PC’s specs.)
If you’re planning to pair this with an Oculus Quest or Quest 2, look at around the 10-megapixel mark on the chart above to estimate the frame rate you’d get. At the default “1.0x" render-resolution setting, there’s a real risk of the frame rate dropping quite low. Realistically, you’d need to turn the render resolution down significantly to get a comfortable VR experience.
The DELL G5 5505’s VR performance is low, and it may struggle to hit a solid frame rate.
3Dmark, the general-purpose benchmark everyone uses, produces a decent score here, but VRMark doesn’t follow suit. The Radeon RX 5600M seems to struggle with the high resolutions VR apps demand.
VR Score and Value
Against a baseline of 100 for Oculus’s recommended spec, this laptop scores 87.
| Item | Score |
|---|---|
| VR Score Higher is better | 87 |
| VR Cost Performance Higher is better value | 74* |
In terms of VR Score, this puts it on par with the GeForce GTX 1650 series — short of Oculus’s recommended performance level.
Basic PC Performance Benchmarks
Here are the PCMark10 benchmark results, which show how the DELL G5 5505 performs for non-gaming tasks.
I’m comparing it against a desktop PC running an Intel Core i5-10400.
[kimono_bar title="PC Performance (DELL G5 5505)" color="#4363d8″ max="150″ note="*Relative score with the reference PC set to 100″]
Overall|110
Essentials|105
Productivity|100
Digital Content Creation|122
[/kimono_bar]
*DELL G5 5505 performance relative to the Intel Core i5-10400 desktop’s benchmark score set at 100
A quick note on these categories: PCMark10 scores tend to lean heavily on single-core CPU performance. Overall reflects the PC’s all-around performance. Essentials covers everyday tasks such as app launch times and browsing, benchmarked using real app-launch and browser tests. Productivity covers office-app performance (think Word and Excel), benchmarked using OpenOffice-family apps. Digital Content Creation covers creative work such as photo, video, and 3D graphics tasks, benchmarked using apps like GIMP.
It holds its own against the desktop, with no obvious performance gap.
It outperforms a mainstream Core i5 desktop. Whatever task you throw at it, you’re unlikely to feel like you’re short on horsepower.
Standard Benchmark Numbers
Here’s the full rundown of standard benchmark results, including the ones already mentioned above. For general use, this is plenty of performance.
| Benchmark | Score |
|---|---|
| SteamVR Performance Test | Average Fidelity: 10.0 (Very High) Frames Tested: 9357 |
| VRMARK | Orange Room: 6875 Cyan Room: 1132 Blue Room: 1667 |
| 3DMARK | Time Spy: 5533 Fire Strike: 13292 |
| PCMARK10 | OVERALL: 5239 Essentials: 8274 Productivity: 6611 Digital Content Creation: 7136 |
| CINEBENCH R20 | CPU: 3731 Single Core: 463 |
| FINAL FANTASY XV | High Quality: 4272 (Standard) |
| FINAL FANTASY XIV | Maximum Quality: 9937 (Extremely Smooth) |
Even a relatively demanding title like Final Fantasy XV runs fine at high quality settings.
Storage
C: Drive
The unit ships with an SK Hynix “PC611" high-speed SSD supporting PCIe 3.0 x4.
I benchmarked sequential read speeds above 3000MB/s, which puts this comfortably in the fast tier for M.2 SSDs.
Power Draw and Noise Levels
For reference, I measured power draw and noise with the battery at 100% and the fan mode set to “Performance."
| State | Power draw | Noise |
|---|---|---|
| Powered off | 0W | 32dB |
| Idle (“Performance" mode) | 60W | 38dB |
| Under load (3DMARK) | 191W | 51dB |
Once the fan spins up, it gets noticeably loud. If you’re not wearing earphones or headphones during a VR session, you’ll be able to tell exactly where the DELL G5 5505 is sitting just from the noise.
Power Measurement
Noise
Measured from the center of the laptop, 15cm above the deck, right at the front edge of the unit.
Connecting HMDs to the DELL G5 5505
I tested frame rates across a range of headsets to see what kind of performance each one gets.
As a stand-in for a heavy VR title, I normally test Asgard’s Wrath — but on the DELL G5 5505, Asgard’s Wrath won’t even launch. It likely doesn’t support Radeon GPUs.
Wiring Up DisplayPort-Based HMDs
The DELL G5 5505 has a mini-DisplayPort tucked at the back-left. Headsets like the Oculus Rift S and the Vive family can be driven through this port.
The USB port on the left also supports USB3.1, so the cabling stays fairly tidy.
Oculus Rift S
The Oculus Rift S has an 80Hz refresh rate. I measured the frame rate each app produces on this headset.
Quality Priority
With the Oculus app’s setting on “Quality Priority," here’s the frame rate for each app.
[kimono_bar title="Oculus Rift S (Quality Priority) x DELL G5 5505″ unit="fps" color="#1e90ff"] Half Life:ALYX max quality|93.8 [/kimono_bar]As noted, Asgard’s Wrath won’t launch. Frame rate clears 80Hz (the Rift S’s native refresh rate), but the image occasionally freezes for a split second. It doesn’t feel as smooth as the raw numbers suggest.
Performance Priority
With the setting switched to “Performance Priority," here’s what I found for each app.
As noted, Asgard’s Wrath still won’t launch. Frame rate again clears 80Hz, and this setting should be putting noticeably less load on the PC.
Even so, Half Life:ALYX still freezes for a split second now and then. Whether it’s a memory-cache issue or something else, moving your head quickly causes the image to briefly stutter.
Again, it doesn’t feel as smooth as the frame rate numbers alone would suggest.
Vive Cosmos Elite
The Vive Cosmos Elite runs at a 90Hz refresh rate. I measured frame rates for each app here as well.
Render Resolution: 100% Setting (4032×2380)
With the render resolution in the video settings set to 100% (resolution: 4032×2380), I measured frame rates for each app.
[kimono_bar title="VIVE Cosmos Elite (SS 100%) x DELL G5 5505″ unit="fps" color="#1e90ff"] Half Life:ALYX low quality|77.5 Half Life:ALYX max quality|53.3 [/kimono_bar]As before, Asgard’s Wrath won’t launch, and the other apps also dip below 90fps here — not what I’d call comfortable.
Pimax 8k Plus
The Pimax 8k Plus lets you choose between 72Hz, 90Hz, and 110Hz refresh rates. I measured frame rates for each app at these settings.
Field of View: Normal (Per-Eye 3080 x 2632)
Here’s the frame rate with the Pimax 8k Plus’s field-of-view setting on “Normal" (per-eye resolution: 3080 x 2632). This is the wide-FOV, high-immersion setting.
[kimono_bar title="Pimax 8k Plus (Normal) x DELL G5 5505″ unit="fps" color="#1e90ff"] Half Life:ALYX low quality|62.6 Half Life:ALYX max quality|48.2 SteamVR Home|81.7 VRChat|72.6 [/kimono_bar]As before, Asgard’s Wrath won’t launch, and the other apps also fall below 72fps here — again, not comfortable.
Enjoying this headset at its wider field of view seems like a stretch on this hardware.
Field of View: Small (Per-Eye 2228 x 2632)
Here’s the frame rate with the field-of-view setting on “Small" (per-eye resolution: 2228 x 2632). Even at this setting, the field of view is still wider than most conventional headsets.
[kimono_bar title="Pimax 8k Plus (Small) x DELL G5 5505″ unit="fps" color="#1e90ff"] Half Life:ALYX low quality|79.6 Half Life:ALYX max quality|60.7 [/kimono_bar]As before, Asgard’s Wrath still won’t launch. Some other apps do clear 72Hz, but there’s a slight stutter here and there, so it doesn’t feel comfortable.
Field of View: Potato (Per-Eye 1776 x 2632)
Here’s the frame rate with the field-of-view setting on “Potato" (per-eye resolution: 1776 x 2632). This setting narrows the field of view enough that it doesn’t really make full use of what the Pimax 8k Plus can do.
[kimono_bar title="Pimax 8k Plus (Potato) x DELL G5 5505″ unit="fps" color="#1e90ff"] Half Life:ALYX max quality|71.3 [/kimono_bar]As before, Asgard’s Wrath won’t launch.
Other apps do exceed 72Hz, but moving your head quickly still introduces stutter.
Wiring Up Oculus Quest-Family Headsets
The DELL G5 5505’s integrated GPU is also a Radeon part. Worth noting: the laptop’s own screen is actually wired to that integrated GPU, not the discrete one.
As you can see in the screenshot above, it shows up as “AMD Radeon(TM) Graphics." Launch the Oculus PC app in this state, and it starts up using that integrated “AMD Radeon(TM) Graphics" GPU.
To get Oculus Quest-family headsets running on the “AMD Radeon(TM) RX 5600M Series" GPU instead, you need to connect a second monitor via HDMI and set that second monitor as the primary display.
Do that, and the Oculus app launches on the “AMD Radeon(TM) RX 5600M Series" GPU instead, which lets you use Oculus Quest-family headsets.
Oculus Quest
The Oculus Quest runs at a 72Hz refresh rate. I measured frame rates for each app here too.
Default Setting (4128 x 2272)
I measured frame rates with the PC-side Oculus app’s render-resolution setting left at the default “1.0x" (resolution: 4128 x 2272).
[kimono_bar title="Oculus Quest (Resolution 1.0x) x DELL G5 5505″ unit="fps" color="#1e90ff"] Half Life:ALYX max quality|76.7 [/kimono_bar]As before, Asgard’s Wrath won’t launch. Frame rate clears 72Hz (the Quest’s refresh rate). Half Life:ALYX does still freeze momentarily every so often — again, it’s less comfortable than the numbers imply.
Frame-Rate-Focused Setting (3104 x 1712)
I set the render-resolution slider to its minimum, “0.8x" (resolution: 3104 x 1712), to measure frame rate at its highest achievable point. Visually, this looks a bit like watching a heavily compressed video — soft and hazy — but motion stays stable.
[kimono_bar title="Oculus Quest (Resolution 0.8x) x DELL G5 5505″ unit="fps" color="#1e90ff"] Half Life:ALYX max quality|85.5 [/kimono_bar]This is the setting that squeezes the most frame rate out of the Oculus Quest.
As before, Asgard’s Wrath won’t launch.
The other apps clear 72Hz (the Quest’s refresh rate) here too. Half Life:ALYX, though, still freezes momentarily now and then — comfort still lags behind the raw frame rate.
Image-Quality-Focused Setting (5408×2976)
I set the render-resolution slider to its maximum, “1.3x" (resolution: 5408×2976), for the highest achievable image quality, and measured frame rate there.
[kimono_bar title="Oculus Quest (Resolution 1.3x) x DELL G5 5505″ unit="fps" color="#1e90ff"] Half Life:ALYX low quality|61.2 Half Life:ALYX max quality|49.9 SteamVR Home|78.3 VRChat|81.1 [/kimono_bar]This setting delivers the sharpest image, but at the cost of frame rate.
As before, Asgard’s Wrath won’t launch.
The other apps also fall below 72fps here, so it’s not what I’d call comfortable.
Oculus Quest 2
The Oculus Quest 2 lets you pick between 72Hz, 80Hz, and 90Hz refresh rates. I measured frame rates for each app at these settings too.
Default Setting (4128 x 2096)
With the render-resolution setting left at the default “1.0x" (resolution: 4128 x 2096), here’s what I measured.
[kimono_bar title="Oculus Quest 2 (Resolution 1.0x) x DELL G5 5505″ unit="fps" color="#1e90ff"] Half Life:ALYX low quality|77.7 Half Life:ALYX max quality|65.2 [/kimono_bar]As before, Asgard’s Wrath won’t launch.
Even at the low-quality setting, Half Life:ALYX still freezes momentarily now and then. Comfort again lags behind the numbers.
Frame-Rate-Focused Setting (2784 x 1408)
I set the render-resolution slider to its minimum, “0.7x" (resolution: 2784 x 1408), for the highest achievable frame rate. As with the Quest, this produces a soft, hazy image reminiscent of heavily compressed video, but motion stays stable.
This setting squeezes the most frame rate out of the Oculus Quest 2.
As before, Asgard’s Wrath won’t launch.
The other apps clear 72Hz (the Quest 2’s refresh rate) here. But even at this setting, Half Life:ALYX still freezes momentarily now and then — comfort still trails the raw numbers.
Image-Quality-Focused Setting (5408×2736)
I set the render-resolution slider to its maximum, “1.3x" (resolution: 5408×2736), for the highest achievable image quality, and measured frame rate there.
[kimono_bar title="Oculus Quest 2 (Resolution 1.3x) x DELL G5 5505″ unit="fps" color="#1e90ff"] Half Life:ALYX low quality|59.9 Half Life:ALYX max quality|48.5 SteamVR Home|81.1 VRChat|83.8 [/kimono_bar]As with the Quest, this delivers the sharpest image but at the cost of frame rate.
As before, Asgard’s Wrath won’t launch, and the other apps also fall below 72fps here — not comfortable.
What I Could Not Verify
This is a single review unit on loan from DELL, so unit-to-unit variation in fan noise, thermals, or SSD binning can’t be ruled out. I also wasn’t able to check whether a later AMD or Oculus driver update changes the stuttering behavior described above — Radeon VR driver support was still fairly young in early 2021, and it’s plausible that newer drivers move these numbers. And I only tested the specific apps and headsets listed here, not the full VR library.
In Summary: A Cost-Effective All-AMD Laptop That Struggles in VR
I’ve now gone through the performance of DELL’s all-AMD, high-value gaming laptop, the DELL G5 5505.
· The novelty of a genuinely all-AMD build
· Strong performance for the price, i.e. excellent value
· At roughly 2.5kg, it’s heavy even by gaming-laptop standards
· The specs make VR a tough sell
The DELL G5 5505 is one of the rare laptops that pairs an AMD CPU with an AMD GPU. In general benchmarks, it punches well above its price — a genuine high-value model.
When it comes to VR, though, that value proposition doesn’t hold up.
| HMD | Assessment |
| Oculus Rift S | Rendering can’t keep up with fast head movement. |
| Oculus Quest | Rendering can’t keep up with fast head movement. |
| Oculus Quest 2 | Rendering can’t keep up with fast head movement. |
| Vive Cosmos Elite | Rendering can’t keep up with fast head movement. |
| Pimax 8k Plus | Rendering can’t keep up with fast head movement. |
Judging by VR app frame rates, the Radeon RX 5600M performs roughly on par with a GeForce GTX 1650.
VR apps need to render at higher resolutions than typical 2D games, and the Radeon RX 5600M seems a bit underpowered for that job. It doesn’t just fall short of what its on-paper specs suggest — the rendering visibly can’t keep up in places. Notably, this stuttering doesn’t show up on a GeForce GTX 1650.
The image freezes when you move your head quickly. My best guess is that it’s some kind of memory-cache issue — it feels like the loading simply can’t keep pace.
A future driver update could improve things, but if VR is your priority, I’d recommend going with a GeForce-equipped model from the DELL G5 5500 lineup instead.
I personally use a DELL G5 5500 myself, and I’m happy with its value for money.