We have not seen a genuinely aggressive Intel gaming CPU in a while, at the very least on our gaming PCs, but it surely’s a unique case on cell. A brand new set of benchmarks reveals that the Intel Core Extremely 7 258V is an honest performer on the MSI Claw 8 AI+ in comparison with the AMD Ryzen Z2 Excessive. Whereas AMD does nonetheless come out on prime, it isn’t a complete catastrophe for Intel, proving it may be a severe contender in future handhelds towards AMD-powered choices such because the Steam Deck.
That is a far cry from its dominant place just a few years in the past, however Intel might be pleased to know it may compete on this enviornment. AMD has, thus far, dominated the market, with all of the fashions on our greatest handheld information utilizing AMD chips thus far. Fortunately, MSI has helpfully used each AMD and Intel processors in its Claw lineup, permitting us to see how an Intel-powered Steam Deck rival can carry out towards AMD options.
The benchmark knowledge was compiled by Golden Pig Improve Pack in a video on Chinese language video web site bilibili, and later shared by common tech leaker HXL in a publish on X (previously Twitter). The benchmarks pitted an MSI Claw 8 with the AMD Ryzen Z1 Excessive towards the Intel Core Extremely 7 258V used within the newer MSI Claw 8 AI+.
On paper, each chips have eight cores, with related CPU clock speeds, though the Intel Lunar Lake chip does have 4 lower-powered E cores, a smaller L3 cache, and a slower GPU clock velocity. Each AMD and Intel’s chips are a severe improve in comparison with the AMD APU discovered within the older Steam Deck, which has solely 4 Zen 2 cores, a slower RDNA 2 GPU, and a most 15W energy restrict.
Throughout a collection of ten video games, the AMD handheld was quicker in half of them, utilizing each handhelds in 30W energy mode, with Intel in a position to get forward in three video games, and an efficient attract two of them. The story is much less spectacular for Intel at 17W, nonetheless, with the AMD-powered handheld MSI Claw 8 seeing higher body charges throughout all however one sport, Hitman 3.
This is not good information for Intel, however given AMD’s dominant maintain over handhelds, it will be respiratory a sigh of reduction that it has a CPU lineup that is not vastly underperforming towards its opponents. Hopefully, the corporate will be capable of compete with AMD within the handheld market – it is no good for avid gamers or producers with a selection of only one dominant participant, in spite of everything.
For those who’re occupied with a brand new handheld, check out our Steam Deck OLED evaluation subsequent to see why Valve’s OG lineup continues to be our best choice for avid gamers. You too can check out one other AMD-powered different, this time working Home windows, in our Asus ROG Ally X evaluation.
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