Intel is bringing the heat with its new Core Ultra CPU lineup, and we now have the first set of benchmark results from OpenCL and Geekbench to that suggest the Intel Arc iGPU is already ahead of AMD’s Radeon 780M, kinda.
Why would it be such a big deal if this is the case? Well, the AMD Radeon 780M is a discrete mobile GPU released in January 2023. Intel’s Arc solution is an iGPU, meaning its form factor has been redesigned and shrunk to fit into the Meteor Lake CPU architecture.
While neither of these GPU solutions will be challenging desktop results as the best graphics cards, it’s curious to see how this new direction from Intel could already be flaunting success over a relatively recent AMD launch.
A new Asus laptop called the Zenbook 14 appeared on Geekbench and OpenCL, featuring an Intel Core Ultra 155H. This is a CPU with 16 cores and 22 threads, topping out at 4.8GHz. The iGPU in question, an Intel Arc integrated solution, comes with 8 Xe cores and clock speeds of 2.25GHz.
As a complete system, the Zenbook 14 posted a score of 33,948. However, this is the highest score that was reported, and there are other results that float around the 28k mark and one that dropped as low as 20k.
While there are surely some tweaks being made to allow the iGPU the power it needs to reach these performance levels (which would likely be unsustainable in the long term), it’s notable that this is still a comparison of integrated graphics vs a discrete option.
It will be interesting to see how many gaming-focused laptops continue to look at discrete solutions if there is the possibility that iGPUs, or at least the upcoming generation of Intel Core Ultra products, are genuinely capable of strong results.
Right now, however, discrete solutions are always going to be a more logical choice if you have your heart set on one of the best gaming laptops.
Intel is getting in on the Black Friday hype with a great gaming CPU currently cheaper than it has ever been. If you want to check out some of the other deals, you can find all the best Black Friday PC gaming deals in our all-in-one hub.