AMD's Z2 Extreme Exhibits superiority over Intel's Lunar Lake in recent gaming benchmarks - MSI Claw 8 performing at 17W demonstrates a 8.5% advantage for Z2E, the lead minimizes to 6% at 30W.
In a recent comparison, AMD's Ryzen Z2 Extreme handheld System-on-Chip (SoC) has shown superior performance and gaming efficiency compared to Intel's Core Ultra 7 258V, particularly in the 17-watt power range.
The Ryzen Z2 Extreme, based on AMD's Zen 5 architecture, features 8 cores (16 threads), comprising 3 performance cores and 5 efficiency cores. It is paired with 16 RDNA 3.5 GPU compute units. On the other hand, Intel's Core Ultra 7 258V utilises a hybrid core layout with 4 Lion Cove P-cores and 4 Skymont E-cores (8 cores, 8 threads) and employs 8 Xe2 GPU cores (Arc 140V).
In gaming performance at 17W, benchmarks indicate that AMD's Ryzen Z2 Extreme outperforms Intel's Lunar Lake platform by around 6-8.5%. This is primarily due to the stronger RDNA 3.5 GPU and higher GPU boost clock (2.9 GHz vs. 1.95 GHz) of the AMD SoC, despite Intel's higher CPU cache and single-thread CPU scores.
However, when it comes to CPU benchmark comparisons, Intel’s Core Ultra 7 255H (similar to the 258V) is approximately 6% faster in single-thread tests and 14% ahead in multi-threaded CPU performance compared to the Ryzen Z2 Extreme, both at similar TDPs (~28W). However, this raw CPU advantage does not fully translate into gaming performance benefits due to the GPU difference.
AMD's new SoC benefits from a 4nm TSMC process and Zen 5 hybrid architecture, making it notably efficient in the 15-20W range ideal for handhelds. Intel remains competitive at ultra-low power (~10W), but AMD takes the lead at typical gaming power levels.
Both SoCs support LPDDR5X memory with similar speeds. While Intel supports slightly faster memory in some implementations, it doesn't significantly alter the performance balance.
The testing also revealed that the performance curve of the Ryzen Z2 Extreme behaved strangely after 30 watts under the default power configuration, with frame rates beginning to regress instead of improving.
In summary, for handheld gaming around 17 watts, AMD's Ryzen Z2 Extreme offers a more powerful and efficient gaming experience than Intel's Core Ultra 7 258V, especially due to its superior GPU capabilities and modern architecture, despite Intel having a modest CPU advantage in raw compute benchmarks.
- When discussing smartphones, the superior gaming capabilities of the Ryzen Z2 Extreme SoC could potentially make handheld games more enjoyable, as it offers a more powerful and efficient gaming experience compared to Intel's Core Ultra 7 258V.
- In the realm of sports-betting, one might argue that using a smartphone powered by the Ryzen Z2 Extreme SoC could provide an edge, given its superior gaming efficiency, which could lead to quicker loading times and smoother user experience on gaming-related betting apps.
