This new Intel Lunar Lake CPU is twice as fast as a Steam Deck, benchmark shows

Benchmarks show an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V CPU in a Lenovo laptop significantly outperforming both the Steam Deck and Asus ROG Ally.

AMD’s hold on the gaming handheld market might finally be under threat. A new benchmark shows Intel Lunar Lake CPUs stomping over the competition with huge performance boosts compared to the AMD chips used in devices like the Steam Deck. It’s just one test so far, but if it’s replicated, then it points to next-gen handhelds becoming much more powerful.

Intel has been struggling against the tide of AMD wins for some time when it comes to gaming PC performance, but a wedge into handhelds could help boost the company after a long year of setbacks. There isn’t a single Intel chip powering any of the best handheld gaming PCs currently on the market, but if this leak is anything to go by, that could be about to change.

This data comes from Geekerwan, a Chinese hardware tester. In his Bilibili video, he tests a Lenovo Yoga laptop containing an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V CPU against a number of common handhelds like the Steam Deck and Asus ROG Ally. Both the Steam Deck and ROG Ally run custom AMD chips that have, until now, proved impossible for Intel to beat.

It isn’t a completely fair fight, though. The Intel Lunar Lake CPU that he tests is drawing around 12W while it runs in a restricted power mode, while both the handheld APUs are drawing around 8-9W under use. To make the comparison a little fairer to the handhelds during the benchmarks, the Lenovo Yoga ran with a 720p resolution.

While the Intel CPU did have more supplied power than the handhelds, it’s still an interesting result. In Geekerwan’s testing, the Lunar Lake CPU showed a 35% improvement over the APU used in the Steam Deck. It was even better against Asus, with the Core Ultra 7 258V CPU hitting performance that was over two times as fast as the AMD Z1 Extreme APU that the original ROG Ally uses.

In a real-world performance test using Cyberpunk 2077, the Core Ultra 7 258V was able to hit 28 frames per second, but to add salt to the wound, it used AMD’s own FSR technology, which supports Intel’s integrated graphics, to help it get there. In contrast, the Steam Deck only hit 13fps, while the ROG Ally managed just 11fps.

This is all great news for Intel, giving it some hope that its newer, more power consumption-friendly Intel Core Ultra 200V CPUs will find their way into gaming handhelds in the near future. With the ability to offer gaming performance like this with reduced power consumption, the next Steam Deck might just run with an Intel Lunar Lake CPU like this one.

While it’s still some way off just yet, you can check out our Steam Deck 2 guide for the latest rumors on when you can expect Valve’s next-gen handheld to be released.