AMD’s Z1 Extreme APU has been a powerhouse for the handheld gaming market, fueling popular devices like the ASUS ROG Ally and the Lenovo Legion Go. The announcement of its successor, the AMD Z2 Extreme, naturally sparked significant excitement, with promises of improved performance and battery life. However, early hands-on testing suggests that the Z2 Extreme’s initial performance gains might not be as dramatic as some had hoped.

A detailed comparison by the YouTube channel ETA PRIME, pitting an early model of the MSI Claw A8 with the Z2 Extreme against the ASUS ROG Ally X with the Z1 Extreme, has provided a first look at the new chip’s real-world capabilities. While synthetic benchmarks show the Z2 Extreme has an edge, the in-game results are surprisingly close.

Z2 Extreme Performance: A Closer Look at the Benchmarks

The Z2 Extreme features a new Zen 5 architecture and 16 RDNA 3.5 integrated GPU cores, an upgrade from the Z1 Extreme’s Zen 4 architecture and 12 RDNA 3 GPU cores. Both APUs run between a 15W and 30W TDP, and the test units both had 24GB of LPDDR5x RAM.

While synthetic benchmarks like Geekbench and 3DMark showed the Z2 Extreme consistently ahead, the real-world gaming performance told a different story:

  • Cyberpunk 2077: At 25W TDP, the Z2 Extreme averaged 46.65 FPS, just a 4 FPS difference from the Z1 Extreme’s 42.66 FPS.
  • Shadow of the Tomb Raider: The Z2 Extreme hit 64 FPS, while the Z1 Extreme was not far behind at 59 FPS.
  • Forza Horizon 5: A similar result, with the Z2 Extreme averaging 80 FPS compared to the Z1 Extreme’s 76 FPS.
  • Black Myth: Wukong: The Z2 Extreme had a 5 FPS lead (49 FPS vs. 44 FPS).
  • Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered: The gap was a mere 1 FPS (31 FPS vs. 30 FPS).

The Caveath: Drivers Are Key

As ETA PRIME correctly points out, these early results come with a major caveat: the Z2 Extreme’s drivers are still in their early stages. The performance we’re seeing today may not be representative of the chip’s final potential. Much like the initial launches of the Steam Deck and the original ROG Ally, driver optimizations are expected to provide significant performance boosts over time.

“At the time of making this video with the drivers we have for that Z2 Extreme, I wouldn’t run out and upgrade from the Z1 just yet,” said ETA PRIME.

While the current performance gap is small, there’s a strong belief that future updates will unleash the full power of the Z2 Extreme. The upcoming Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X, which will feature the new Ryzen Z2 and Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme chips, will provide another important look at how these new AMD APUs perform with more mature driver support.

For now, if you own a Z1 Extreme handheld, there’s little reason to rush for an upgrade. But keep an eye on this space — as drivers evolve, the narrative around the Z2 Extreme’s performance could change dramatically.