Intel’s Arc G3 Extreme Handheld Chip Crushes Ryzen Z2 Extreme by 25% In Benchmark Leak, Rocks The Powerful B390 iGPU

Benchmarks of Intel's upcoming and fastest gaming handheld SoC, the Arc G3 Extreme, have been leaked, surpassing the Ryzen Z2 by 25%.

Intel Packs Its Strongest Battlemage GPU, & 14 CPU Cores Inside the Arc G3 Extreme Gaming Handheld SoC

We recently covered Intel's first Arc G3 gaming handheld, which has been listed by online retailers. While the retailer listing was void of details for the SoC itself, we now have more specs and even benchmarks of the upcoming chip & they look phenomenal.

Starting with the CPU, the Intel Arc G3 Extreme is going to be the top offering within the Arc G3 family. There are also going to be more mainstream models minus the "Extreme" branding, but for now, we will talk about the Extreme SKU.

The Arc G3 Extreme features 14 cores and 14 threads. This is a configuration that we haven't seen on any Panther Lake SKU. As per the PassMark listing, just two of these cores are P-Cores based on Panther Cove architecture, while the rest are E-Cores based on the Darkmont architecture. So we are looking at a 2+8+4 core configuration.

The chip features a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. There's also 12 MB of L3 cache, and a total of 18 MB of L2 cache.

Now the integrated GPU is the interesting part. The Arc G3 Extreme rocks the same Arc B390 iGPU that has surprised us since its launch. It features 12 Xe3 cores and is perfect for portable gaming platforms, offering lots of performance and support for features such as XeSS 3 and Variable VRAM capacities. The standard Arc G3 configurations will likely include the Arc B370 iGPU with 8 Xe3 cores, but we will wait for more details to confirm.

Now, in terms of performance, the Intel Arc G3 Extreme offers 29622 points in multi-thread tests and 4288 points in single-thread tests. That puts it 25% faster in MT and 8% faster in ST versus the AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme, but this is just the CPU portion.

The performance is on par with a 12-core Panther Lake chip, such as the Core Ultra 5 338H, and the reason is simple: the 338H is a 25W chip and mostly configured at a higher-power state versus handheld SoCs such as the Arc G3 Extreme, which will have a 15W-30W limit. Since Arc G3 is optimized for low-power platforms, we will see its true potential at lower power states against the competition. We also have to keep in mind thermal constraints that come with compact form factors.

The GPU side will be an even bigger uplift, offering over 50% gains over the Radeon 890M and existing Arc 140V GPUs with 8 Xe2 cores. AMD's handheld upgrade isn't expected till 1H 2027, so it looks like Intel has a real chance to go big in this segment.

Intel vs AMD Flagship Handheld SoCs:

CPU Name	Intel Arc G3 Extreme	AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme
Family	Panther Lake	Strix Point
Process Node	Intel 18A	TSMC 4nm
Max Cores/Threads	14/14	8/16
Max Clocks	4.60 GHz	5.0 GHz
Max Cache	30 MB	24 MB
Memory	LPDDR5x-9600	LPDDR5x-8000
TDP Range	15-30W?	15-35W
GPU Architecture	Arc B390 (Battlemage Xe3)	Radeon 890M (RDNA 3.5)
Max GPU Cores	12 Xe3 Cores	16 CUs
Launch	Mid-2026	June, 2025

Now, for the pricing, memory, and storage are at an all-time high, and the recent listings show a $1500+ price tag for MSI's Claw 8 handheld with G3 Extreme. That's high-end pricing, and we hope that final prices are closer to $1000 US for the Extreme, and around $500-$600 for the regular G3 handhelds.

With that said, we look forward to the launch of Intel's Arc G3 SoCs and expect Intel to really shake up things in this growing market segment.

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