Laptops boasting the groundbreaking Intel Lunar Lake APUs are now making their presence felt in the market. The initial feedback for the new Lunar Lake Core Ultra 200V chips has been overwhelmingly positive, especially highlighting their single-core prowess, impressive power efficiency, and the performance of the Xe2 Arc 140v integrated GPU.
Our deep dive into the Lunar Lake CPU revealed that the new Lion Cove P-cores give the Core Ultra 7 258V a significant edge in single-core performance. It outperforms the Meteor Lake Core Ultra 7 155H by an astounding 18% and trumps the Strix Point Ryzen AI HX 370 by 6%. This performance boost is paired with remarkable single-threaded efficiency.
So, what about the gaming capabilities of the Lunar Lake APUs, particularly with image upscaling technologies such as FSR and XeSS? While comprehensive tests are still in short supply, the preliminary results indicate promising performance from Lunar Lake iGPUs when used with FSR/XeSS.
During limited testing, ETAPrime found that the Asus Zenbook S14, equipped with the Lunar Lake Core Ultra 7 258V, ran Cyberpunk 2077 at an average of 67 FPS at 1080p on low settings with XeSS set to “Balanced.” When switching to FSR 3 Frame Generation, the performance soared to an impressive 89 FPS. This is a remarkable achievement for a chip operating at just 30 W, which includes power consumption by the RAM due to the built-in memory in Lunar Lake CPUs.
In another test with Forza Horizon 5, the Lunar Lake chip delivered an average of 86 FPS at 1080p on medium settings with “Balanced” XeSS. Equally, the Arc 140V iGPU demonstrated its prowess in Ghost of Tsushima, with the Core Ultra 7 258V achieving average frame rates of 70 FPS at 1080p on medium settings using FSR 3.1 Frame Generation. Spider-Man: Miles Morales also ran smoothly, exceeding 70 FPS on average at 1080p with high settings.
Additionally, the Core Ultra 7 258V proved capable in handling Red Dead Redemption 2, offering around 70 FPS at 1080p with a mix of low and medium settings and FSR set to “Balanced.”
Looking ahead, Lunar Lake handheld gaming consoles are set to make a debut next year. While MSI’s first handheld console featuring Meteor Lake, the MSI Claw, didn’t quite hit the mark against AMD’s Ryzen Z1 APUs, MSI remains undeterred. The company plans to unveil the new Claw 8 AI+ handheld gaming console, powered by a Lunar Lake chip, at CES 2025.
Overall, Intel’s new Xe2 graphics architecture is a notable improvement over the first-gen Arc Alchemist, significantly enhancing iGPU and power efficiency. With better drivers and image upscaling, Lunar Lake is poised to offer a compelling challenge to AMD in the handheld console arena.
