With the anticipated launch of Intel’s upcoming Meteor Lake architecture, benchmark scores have started to make their way into the public eye. Leaked benchmark results suggest that Intel’s Core 7 Ultra 155H could potentially outperform AMD’s Ryzen Z1 Extreme, a processor commonly used in handheld gaming devices. This indicates that AMD may no longer have a monopoly on the pocket PC market in 2024. With the information sourced from X/Twitter and shared by a well-known leaker, HXL, these leaked screenshots display the benchmark results for a 28W Core 7 Ultra 155H chip based on Intel’s Meteor Lake architecture.
Exploring the Meteor Lake Architecture
The Meteor Lake architecture comprises various tiles responsible for graphics, compute, IO, and general housekeeping tasks. The compute tile of the Core 7 Ultra 155H houses six P-cores and eight E-cores, resulting in a total of 22 threads. Additionally, there are two E-cores tucked away in another tile. While less is known about the GPU tile, it is generally believed to feature eight Xe cores. Assuming that Intel hasn’t made structural changes to its previous Arc graphics design, the GPU tile could potentially incorporate a total of 1,024 shaders.
The benchmark results reveal that the Core 7 Ultra 155H achieved a Time Spy score of 3,339. The graphics score was 3,077, and the CPU score reached 6,465. To compare these figures, a benchmark was run on the Asus ROG Ally, which is equipped with AMD’s Ryzen Z1 Extreme APU. The Asus handheld obtained an overall score of 3,150, with a graphics score of 2,834 and a CPU score of 8,574. It is important to note that the AMD processor achieved a 33% better CPU result but an 8% lower graphics score. This difference could be attributed to the use of Zen 4 cores in the Ryzen Z1 Extreme, whereas the Meteor Lake P-cores were primarily utilized during the Time Spy test. However, the influence of clock speeds and other factors on these results remains unclear, necessitating further investigation.
Considerations for Gaming Performance
While Intel’s Arc GPUs have been known to exhibit inconsistent gaming performance, particularly in older DirectX 9 and 10 games, they generally perform well in newer titles, thanks to ongoing driver development. Time Spy heavily relies on shaders, and the Alchemist architecture of Intel’s GPUs excels in this scenario. However, it is important to note that synthetic benchmarks like 3DMark may not always accurately reflect real-world gaming performance. The initial release of Alchemist GPUs demonstrated a significant disparity between synthetic benchmarks and in-game performance. However, recent driver updates have greatly narrowed this gap. Comparatively, the Arc tile tested in the benchmark results does not appear to offer a substantial improvement over the Radeon 780M in the Ryzen Z1 Extreme. Nevertheless, it is promising that the performance of the two GPUs seems to be on par in this particular test. Real-time gameplay is likely to reveal a wider range of differences, but the Time Spy results can serve as a rough gauge of overall performance.
Cinebench Results and Performance Comparison
The leaked X/Twitter post also provides Cinebench R23 results for the Core 7 Ultra 155H, with a multicore score of 11,616 and a single-core score of 1,483. In comparison, the Asus ROG Ally achieved scores of 13,896 and 1,717, respectively. These results demonstrate that Intel’s chip falls approximately 14 to 16% behind AMD’s in terms of performance. However, it is worth noting that the performance gap has narrowed significantly compared to the Time Spy results. While the claimed benchmark results for the Core 7 Ultra 155H cannot be independently verified, they suggest that this 28W processor is quite impressive.
For handheld gaming PCs, raw CPU performance is often less critical than graphics power. Therefore, the Core 7 Ultra 155H could be an ideal candidate for use in pocket PCs. Increased competition in the market would benefit consumers, and if Intel can produce Meteor Lake processors at a comparable price point to AMD’s APUs, we may witness the emergence of new handheld PCs in 2024 featuring Intel processors. Companies like Emdoor have already expressed interest in this prospect. The overall gaming experience with a Meteor Lake laptop has shown promising results, particularly considering the size of the GPU housed within the device. As a newcomer to the world of handheld gaming, I look forward to the unveiling of new devices next year and the continued advancements in pocket PCs.
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