The Phoenix APUs are a class of their own, and the new Dragon Range CPUs are top gaming laptop chips.
Can we just take a moment to admit that AMD is currently crushing it in laptop chips? We spend a lot of time talking about particular silicon successes in the DIY desktop market, but we rarely celebrate mobile CPUs individually.
We usually discuss about laptops first, and then about the processors that are installed within them. But, man, the newer AMD mobile parts are fantastic. I recently looked at the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17, the first of the new AMD Dragon Range gaming laptops I’ve seen. If you’re wondering what the ‘Dragon Range’ is all about, you’re not alone.
AMD’s high-performance Zen 4-based Ryzen 7000-series mobile processors are known as the Dragon Range. And it’s not tinkering. The top Ryzen 9 7945HX is a 16-core, 32-thread monster that easily handles any number-crunching activities you might throw at it and does so significantly more quickly than Intel’s greatest. I haven’t always enjoyed the Asus laptop, but the silicon within it is hard to beat.
Since these CPUs are essentially the mobile versions of AMD’s desktop Ryzen 7000-series processors, they only have some weak-hearted RDNA 2 integrated graphics that are intended to keep the monitor’s lights on. However, a dedicated graphics card is always paired with this type of processor, so it is not a problem at all.
But given the Ryzen 7000X3D burning issues, the desktop is where the Zen 4 processors haven’t exactly taken the world by storm. In contrast to their mixed reviews on desktop computers, the Zen 4 processors are dominating the mobile market.
But on the desktop, the Zen 4 processors haven’t exactly blown everyone away. I apologise for the awkward wording.The Phoenix line of APUs is the Ryzen 7000’s flip side. The Z1 Extreme integrated into the Asus ROG Ally portable gaming PC was the first to land in my hands. That’s a small unusual situation considering that the Ryzen 7 7840U that will be seen in laptops and other portable devices this year apparently uses the exact same AMD technology.
Additionally, it stands out from every other APU I’ve experimented with because it comes close to delivering on the promise of the bespoke processors AMD has been using to equip the current generation of gaming consoles. With 12 compute units in its RDNA 3 GPU, it may not quite have the PlayStation 5 feel, but it’s still a very healthy amount of graphics chips to put in any mobile device.
Especially one that won’t drain your laptop’s battery in 40 minutes, make a turbine-like noise every time you turn it on, or make you look foolish in front of others.
To balance that potent GPU component, however, there is no compromise on the APU’s true CPU side of the equation. There are eight cores and 16 threads of processing capability in the Ryzen 7 7840U. This puts it on par with the majority of mobile Core i7 CPUs from Team Intel, and occasionally even outperforms them.
You can see how much more advanced than the most recent Core i7 the chip inside the ROG Ally is in comparison in my Framework 13 Intel 13th Gen mainboard testing. When you dock the ROG Ally, it transforms into a surprisingly powerful portable workstation that also supports light mobile 1080p gaming.
Intel currently has nothing to offer in response to these CPUs. Even its most potent processors fall short of the real 16-core Dragon Range chip, and its Meteor Lake chips will need to be darn near perfect to be able to even begin to chip away at AMD’s existing mobile hegemony.
At least in terms of performance. The majority of laptops still use Intel CPUs, and the company is also much more noticeable when shopping.
But Intel has nothing to offer in terms of mobile devices. It might be able to provide a CPU with the same raw processing power, but none of its products include an iGPU component that can truly produce adequate gaming performance. In particular, I don’t believe Meteor Lake will be able to achieve it at the low power end of the market.
So, sure, excellent job AMD; you’re doing an awesome job.