AMD Ryzen 7 6800U Powered GPD Win Max 2 Crushes Intel Model In Early Gaming Benchmarks
by
Zak Killian
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Friday, July 08, 2022, 04:16 PM EDT
We're fans of GPD around here. The Shenzen-based startup has been successfully selling super-portable micro-PCs running full-fat Windows for half a decade now, and its latest model, the Win Max 2, looks to be its most powerful yet—even if it stretches the bounds of "portability" a bit.
As you could surmise from the name, the GPD Win Max 2 is the second-generation of "Win Max" machine. These systems sacrifice some slenderness for the sake of improved performance compared to the mainline "GPD Win" portables. While the other GPD machines are in the "can play some games" category, the Win Max is decidedly in the "gaming system" class—despite lacking a discrete GPU.
We reported on Tuesday that GPD had revealed the pricing of the various configurations for the Win Max 2; you can go check out that post if you're curious about those details. The important context for this story is that there are two SoCs available in the GPD Win Max 2: an Intel Core i7-1260P or an AMD Ryzen 7 6800U.
Seeing this, some folks may have been confused about which model to buy? Longtime enthusiasts won't be surprised to hear that the Intel machine generally has the faster CPU, while the AMD machine has the faster GPU. Much faster, actually, in this case; YouTuber Cary Golomb—known more widely as "ThePhawx"—got his hands on both machines already, and put them through their paces.
In his tests, which include Horizon: Zero Dawn, Cyberpunk 2077, Borderlands 3, and Batman: Arkham Knight, the Win Max 2 equipped with the AMD chip absolutely runs away from the Intel processor, delivering as much as double the performance in some cases. His full review includes additional tests; you can check it out on YouTube.
One of several tests. You can see the rest by clicking the tweet image above.
This really isn't a surprise for several reasons; AMD's drivers are much more refined than those for the Iris Xe graphics in the Alder Lake chip, AMD's SmartShift feature helps considerably, and the AMD system is equipped with faster 6400 MT/s LPDDR5 memory versus the 5200 MT/s RAM in the Intel system. Still, it does mean that folks who are purchasing the GPD Win Max 2 primarily for gaming—likely to be the majority of the buyers—should seriously consider the AMD machine over the Intel machine.
Notably, these specifications also put the GPD Win Max 2 well ahead of the Steam Deck in terms of performance. While both systems use RDNA 2 graphics, the Steam Deck's SoC uses the older Zen 2 architecture and has just four CPU cores. Plus, its memory is clocked at 5500 MT/s, significantly slower than the super-fast speed of the GPD Win Max 2's shared RAM.
Downright puny in comparison. Probably a lot comfier for extended play, though.
Of course, that comparison is a little silly when the Steam Deck starts at $399, while the cheapest GPD Win Max 2 starts at $999 USD for early adopters on Indiegogo, or $1159 after the fact. That price gets you a 10.1" mini-laptop with robust gaming controls built-in that can totally serve as your portable PC, perhaps with the addition of some external peripherals, but it's still a lot for an integrated graphics gaming PC.
Head over to Indiegogo if you'd like to get in on the action, but be fast—as of this writing there are only 67 of the $999 model left!
