Intel’s highly anticipated Core Ultra 7 268V ‘Lunar Lake’ CPU has finally been put through its paces ahead of its imminent arrival in laptops later this month. This new 8-core, 8-thread processor, boasting the innovative Lion Cove P-Cores and Skymont E-Cores, is packed with 16GB or 32GB of on-package memory, right next to the chip itself. Early tests, conducted by a Vietnamese YouTuber using a Dell XPS 13 laptop with the Core Ultra 7 268V processor, 32GB of LPDDR5X-8533 memory, and Windows 11 Home, reveal some interesting insights.
In Cinebench R23 single-threaded performance, the Core Ultra 7 268V processor emerges victorious, outperforming both the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 ‘Strix Point’ APU and the Apple M3. However, the efficiency narrative takes a twist. While the Core Ultra 7 268V consumes a modest 15W, the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 APU uses 21W, and the Apple M3, remarkably, utilizes only 6W. This efficiency advantage for the Core Ultra 7 268V becomes less impressive when considering its 8-core, 8-thread configuration compared to the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370’s 12-core, 24-thread powerhouse, which significantly outperforms it in multi-threaded tasks.
Intel has made bold claims about a 50% performance boost in gaming with the new Xe2 ‘Battlemage’ GPU integrated within the Lunar Lake processors. In a 3DMark TimeSpy test, the Lunar Lake processor achieves a graphics score of 3715 points, surpassing the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 ‘Strix Point’ APU (3526 points), an 8-core Arc GPU in an Intel Core Ultra 9 series ‘Meteor Lake’ CPU (3238 points), and AMD’s Ryzen Z1 Extreme (3017 points). This early performance suggests that Xe2 is a strong contender in the graphics arena.
While efficiency is crucial, it shouldn’t come at the cost of overall performance. This point becomes evident with the Dell XPS 13, which houses the Core Ultra 7 268V ‘Lunar Lake’ CPU but operates only in 17W mode. In contrast, the ASUS Vivobook S14, equipped with an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 ‘Strix Point’ APU, scales up to 55W. This power difference translates into gaming performance disparities. In Far Cry 6, the Strix Point APU delivers a smooth 50FPS+, while the Lunar Lake CPU struggles to maintain a steady 30FPS. Similar disparities are observed in Black Myth: Wukong, where the Strix Point APU achieves 100FPS+ while the Lunar Lake CPU remains around 50FPS.
Despite the limitations, the Core Ultra 7 268V ‘Lunar Lake’ CPU’s efficiency is still valuable, especially in handheld gaming devices. Intel’s new Core Ultra 200 series ‘Lunar Lake’ CPUs will be powering upcoming handheld gaming devices like MSI’s Claw 8, promising a blend of performance and portability. While early benchmarks paint a mixed picture, the Core Ultra 7 268V ‘Lunar Lake’ CPU certainly has the potential to make a significant impact in the world of laptops and handheld gaming, although it’s important to note that these early results may not represent the final performance of the processor.
