The highly anticipated Nvidia RTX 50-series GPUs have made their way to gaming laptops, and the Gigabyte Aorus Master 16 is amongst its vessels, but does it live up to the hype?
The Aorus Master 16 does not speak for all gaming laptops, but its booming voice certainly speaks for itself. Its high-performing Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX and Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 16GB chipset absolutely crushed all our benchmarks.
Then its 16-inch OLED display, bouncy keyboard, and long battery life (gaming) jumped in a sleek car and drove away into the sunset. It did hit a few bumps in the road, like its massive $3,099 price tag and middling speakers. What really drags it behind, however, is its slow SSD, and I mean I’ve seen budget laptops faster than this.
Despite that, the new Aorus Master 16 is a shocking comeback for Gigabyte, potentially heralding one of the best gaming laptops. But is it really worth it? Let’s jump in.
Gigabyte Aorus Master 16 (RTX 5080): Specs and benchmarks
Click to view full benchmark test results
Gigabyte Aorus Master 16 (RTX 5080): Price and configurations
I reviewed the Aorus Master 16 that costs a whopping $3,099, which comes with an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 16GB GPU, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, a 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD, and a 16-inch, 2560 x 1600, 240Hz OLED display.
You can dial it back to an RTX 5070 Ti for $2,399 or go wild with an RTX 5090 and 2TB SSD for $4,299. You can pre-order each model at B&H Photo Video.
These numbers are too rich for my blood, so if you’re feeling the same, check out our best cheap gaming laptops list.
Gigabyte Aorus Master 16 (RTX 5080): Design
Gigabyte laptops aren’t exactly known for their style, but hot damn does the Aorus Master 16 look sleek. Its metal lid mesmerizes with a pattern of cascading waves over a dark blue colorway appropriately named Dark Tide.
It's a fresh design combined with a techy RGB-lit Aorus logo and a glossy label in the top left that reads “Team up. Fight on.,” which is cheesy but fine. There’s a slim cutout for the hinge that features an RGB light bar in a stretched V shape. There’s another light bar in the front, too.
That’s a little too much RGB for me, so I turned them off.
The interior offered more delight with more sci-fi-esque slashes across the deck and on the vents, along with a seamless Aorus logo bleeding onto the deck from the touchpad. Meanwhile, the bezels on the display are pleasantly thin, yet leave room for the webcam on top.
I’m also happy to report that the power button is above the keyboard and that the WASD/QWER keys are highlighted with translucent caps.
At 5.5 pounds and 14.05 x 10 x 0.91~1.18 inches, the Aorus Master 16 is quite chunky, but it’s not as wide or long as I expected it to be, which means it should fit nicely in a laptop bag. And it’s still lighter than most of its competitors:
- Razer Blade 16 (2025): 4.6 pounds, 13.98 x 9.86 x 0.59~0.69 inches
- Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (Gen 9): 5.76 pounds, 14.3 x 10.32 x 1.01 inches
- MSI Titan 18 HX: 7.9 pounds, 15.9 x 12.1 x 1.3 inches
Gigabyte Aorus Master 16 (RTX 5080): Ports
You know it’s going to be good when a laptop actually offers a microSD slot in its lineup. The Aorus Master 16 is stacked.
- 1 x Type-A support USB3.2 Gen2
- 1 x Type-C with Thunderbolt 5 (support USB4, DisplayPort 2.1 and Power Delivery 3.0)
- 1 x Type-A support USB3.2 Gen2
- 1 x Type-C with Thunderbolt 4 (support USB4, DisplayPort 1.4 and Power Delivery 3.0)
- 1 x RJ-45
- 1 x HDMI 2.1
- 1 x MicroSD (UHS-II)
- 1 x Audio Jack support mic/headphone combo
Need more ports? Check out our best USB Type-C hubs and best laptop docking stations pages.
Gigabyte Aorus Master 16 (RTX 5080): Battery life
Nvidia promised us better battery life on RTX 50-series gaming laptops, and for the most part, it delivered.
On the Laptop Mag battery test, which continuously surfs the web over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness, the Aorus Master 16 survived 5 hours and 2 minutes. Well, that’s pretty average. It lasted longer than the Legion and Titan, although the Razer pulled in over 2 hours longer.
However, on the PCMark 10 Gaming battery life test, the Aorus scored 2 hours and 54 minutes. That is an unprecedented score for a gaming laptop. For context, the Legion and Titan scored over an hour shorter on that test. And the Razer nearly scored 30 minutes shorter.
Click to view chart data in table format
Gigabyte Aorus Master 16 (RTX 5080): Display
With a 16-inch, 2560 x 1600, 240Hz OLED display, the Aorus Master 16 offered up a gorgeous platter to serve the latest and greatest games.
I jumped right into a hunt in Monster Hunter Wilds and started tearing through the Chatacabra. My sick red ‘fit contrasted well against the soft yellow sand. The crack in the cavern above let enough light in to reveal the monster’s teal head and gross pink tongue. My glass looked sharp, and felt sharp when I sliced one of his parts off.
I watched the latest Lilo & Stitch trailer, and Lilo’s bright red shirt provided a vivid contrast with her blue jean overalls. Strands of her hair were sharp alongside Stitch’s CGI fur. While the display could be brighter, it was enough to capture the tchotchkes on the shadowy shelves in Lilo’s room.
Unfortunately, the Aorus Master 16 came out as the dimmest and dullest among its competitors, covering 81% of the DCI-P3 color gamut and averaging 377.6 nits of brightness. However, color coverage often registers lower than their actual scores on OLED displays.
Click to view chart data in table format.
Gigabyte Aorus Master 16 (RTX 5080): Keyboard and touchpad
My fingers made themselves at home on the Aorus Master 16’s slightly clicky and pleasantly bouncy keyboard. It’s compact yet offers enough space between the keys.
I clicked away at 82 words per minute on the 10fastfingers.com typing test, which is slightly above my 81 wpm average. There’s enough space on deck to make my palms comfortable, and the 1.7-mm key travel helps.
But for a $3K+ gaming laptop, 3-zone RGB keyboard lighting is terrible. I’ve seen actual mechanical keyboards with per-key RGB lighting on a gaming laptop under $1,000 (ahem, Dell G16).
Meanwhile, the 5.2 x 3.5-inch touchpad felt surprisingly smooth. I say “surprisingly” because gaming laptops tend to ditch quality on the touchpad since most folks will be using a gaming mouse. But manufacturers don’t consider people using that laptop outside of gaming. So I appreciate its low-resistance texture and its sharp clicker.
Gigabyte Aorus Master 16 (RTX 5080): Audio
With four speakers, a pair of bottom-firing and side-firing, the Aorus Master 16 produced strong highs and mids, but the lows got a bit crunchy. In other words, it’s good for gaming but not so much for music.
As I sliced through a monster with an Insect Glaive in Monster Hunter Wilds, the twirls and cuts sounded so smooth and snappy I felt like I was wielding it myself. The music in the background kicked in with melodic strings that only accentuated the combat as opposed to muddling it. Meanwhile, my palico’s voice sounded crisp when he was making quips.
I listened to “Love in Paradise” from Epic: The Musical, and this is where I noticed the bass struggling. The background percussion sounded hollow and slightly distorted. Even the synths gave off this weird wobbling effect that came to the forefront with the vocals.
You can adjust the audio with the Dolby Access app via its EQ and presets, like Dynamic, Game, Movie, Music, and Voice.
Gigabyte Aorus Master 16 (RTX 5080): Gaming and graphics
It’s here: The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 GPU with 16GB of VRAM. This is the second most powerful graphics chip available right now, only behind the RTX 5090, so it packs one heck of a punch.
Incredible performance isn’t the only thing that this new generation is packing. Introducing DLSS 4, Nvidia’s latest super-sampling technology, now capable of multi-frame generation. Nvidia’s Multi Frame Generation produces AI-generated images to increase the number of frames on screen. That means your frame rates are going to skyrocket once you enable DLSS 4.
However, for the following testing, we left DLSS 4 disabled, because it’s exactly a fair comparison if we’re bringing AI into this.
When I tried to control my rowdy Seikret in Monster Hunter Wilds, I managed a solid 63 frames per second on Ultra, 1600p settings. If you know anything about the terrible PC optimization in Wilds, then you know it’s an impressive feat to score above 60 fps on the highest settings.
When sneaking up on some baddies in a warehouse in Far Cry 6, each takedown felt smooth. Whether I gutted or sniped them, they dropped like a bag of bricks at 113 frames per second on Ultra, 1600p settings.
How does it compare to the RTX 5090, RTX 4090, and RTX 4080 in the Razer, MSI, and Lenovo, respectively? Much to our surprise, it traded blows with the Razer and MSI quite evenly, taking wins and losses in several games, while it absolutely dominated the Lenovo.
Click to view chart data in table format.
Gigabyte Aorus Master 16 (RTX 5080): Performance and heat
Let’s not forget that the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor makes its debut as well. With 32GB of RAM as its hilt, the Aorus Master 16 wields Intel’s sword aloft, ready to slay. However, the Aorus did have a critical weakness — its 1TB SSD.
The Aorus Master 16 dominated the Geekbench 6 overall performance test, crushing the Razer Blade 16’s AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 and the Intel Core i9-14900HX in the Legion Pro 7i and MSI Titan 18. It also transcoded a 4K video to 1080p, the fastest on our HandBrake benchmark.
However, when it was tasked to transfer 25GB of multimedia files, its 1TB SSD did it over 1,000 megabytes per second slower than the competition. That is an epic fail if I’ve ever seen one. And trust me, we tested it multiple times and two different machines. This could introduce a host of complications, from slower boot times to longer load times in a video game.
Meanwhile, the Aorus Master 16 managed its heat quite well over most of the chassis, staying comfortably within or below our 95-degree comfort threshold, but there’s one spot that could singe you. It clocked 116.8 degrees Fahrenheit near the right screw at the center of the top underside, near the plastic riser.
Click to view chart data in table format.
Gigabyte Aorus Master 16 (RTX 5080): AI features
Thanks to the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor, you get the Intel AI Boost NPU with a peak of 13 TOPS (Trillion Operations Per Second). And that gives you access to a slew of AI features.
The Aorus Master 16 comes with the GiMATE app, which is where you can find said features. Naturally, the most important one is AI Boost II, which can dynamically tune and overclock your CPU/GPU for better performance.
Then there’s AI Voice and AI Conference Background for noise reduction, and AI Eye Contact makes it look like you’re eyeing the webcam. There’s also an AI Privacy feature, which can turn the screen off if you step away from the laptop.
Copilot features also make their way onto the Aorus Master 16. You get all the benefits of Recall (PC history), Windows Studio Effects, and Live Captions.
Gigabyte Aorus Master 16 (RTX 5080): Webcam
I had no illusions that a 1080p webcam on a gaming laptop would be anything but bad.
The photo I took on the Aorus Master 16 looked like something I shot on my LG Chocolate nearly 20 years ago. The windows behind me were overexposed, consuming half my ceiling in the process. And while the My Hero Academia poster behind me popped with color, all the details were blurry.
Do yourself a favor and pick up one of the best webcams if you plan on being on camera for long.
Gigabyte Aorus Master 16 (RTX 5080): Software and warranty
Gigabyte ships the Aorus Master 16 with GiMATE, an app where all your performance, fans, and system settings are located. You’ll also find the AI utility tools mentioned above, as well as the RGB lighting settings and software updates.
The Aorus Master 16 comes with a one-year limited warranty.
Bottom line
I am happy to be in the era of Nvidia’s RTX 50-series GPUs, and Gigabyte seems to share that sentiment, if its killer Aorus Master 16 is any indication. On top of its performance, the Aorus boasts a gorgeous 16-inch display, a bouncy keyboard, and long battery life for gaming in a sleek chassis. However, its SSD is for sure a critical failure.
If you want a gaming laptop that didn’t roll a natural 1 on its SSD skill check, consider getting the new Razer Blade 16 (2025). It’s also hella expensive, but it rocks longer overall battery life and a much more colorful display.
Otherwise, the Aorus Master 16 is a great choice for those who want to jump into gaming on an RTX 5080 right away.
