The first benchmarks of AMD's Ryzen Z2 Go do not meet expectations.
The AMD Ryzen Z2 Go will provide power to the upcoming Legion Go S portable device, and the first performance results of the processor are already available.
A recent YouTube video has highlighted the gaming capabilities of AMD's new Ryzen Z2 Go chipset, designed for low-cost gaming handhelds. This chipset, part of the new Ryzen Z2 line, was tested on a Lenovo Legion Go S and compared to the Z1 Extreme powering the Asus ROG Ally X, which was released last year.
Performance data provided by FPS VN indicates that the Z2 Go has some limitations compared to the Z1 Extreme. In the game Black Myth: Wukong, the Z2 Go achieved 36 fps compared to the Z1 Extreme's 40 fps at 15W, 30 fps versus 32 fps at 20W, and 60 fps compared to 64 fps at 30W. For Cyberpunk 2077, the results were 50 fps against 54 fps at 15W, 45 fps compared to 47 fps at 20W, and 61 fps versus 66 fps at 30W. In Ghost of Tsushima, the Z2 Go reached 62 fps compared to 66 fps at 15W, 48 fps against 52 fps at 20W, and 62 fps compared to 66 fps at 30W. While the performance difference is slight, it consistently remains between 7% and 10% across all analyzed games.
According to what AMD shared at CES, the Ryzen Z2 Go will feature a 4-core, 8-thread CPU design, and will be equipped with a 12 CU RDNA 2 GPU. Although official confirmation is still pending, it is believed that this chipset employs the older Zen 3 architecture along with RDNA 2 technology for the GPU. This represents minimal innovation compared to the Z1 Extreme, which is built on the Zen 4 architecture and features 8 cores and 16 threads.
Despite these limitations, the Z2 Go offers notable performance and comes quite close to the Z1 Extreme, making it appealing to gamers seeking an affordable portable solution. The Lenovo Legion Go S, which uses the Z2 Go, will be launched at a price of $599 with Windows and $499 with SteamOS, providing a more economical alternative to the ROG Ally X.
