Pleasantly surprised with iGPU performance - Core 7 Ultra Series 2

[nifty50]

More out of curiosity than anything else, I decided to install SnowRunner on my new Asus Zenbook S 14 (UX5406). This notebook has a Core 7 Ultra 258V, 32 GB of RAM and a 1TB m.2 SSD.

I was pleasantly surprised that I could play SnowRunner at "good enough" frame rates. Plugged in, I was getting an average of low 40's FPS with occasional dips into the high 20's. This was using the "low" preset at 1920 x 1200 resolution. I had set it to cap at 60fps, and it would occasionally get to this in less complicated surroundings. Readings were done with FRAPS, playing in the Season 5 Don map .

On battery with the "balanced" power preset, I was getting closer to high 20's to low 30s average with occasional dips into the mid teens. Playable (mostly) but not ideal.

So modern iGPUs have come a long way. Even 3 years ago, I doubt that this game would be playable in a notebook without a dedicated card.

This notebook won't replace my main desktop , or even my Steam Deck for playing this title, but at least it is possible.

[Denniss]

You would have gotten more frames with an AMD CPU as their gfx is more powerful and has better drivers.

[nifty50]

Originally posted by Denniss:

You would have gotten more frames with an AMD CPU as their gfx is more powerful and has better drivers.

Probably, but I didn't buy this notebook for gaming... I bought it for a long battery life work machine. I was just curious how it would do with this title that I've played for hundreds of hours.

[Denniss]

AMD are good in battery life as well. But they are often delivered with smaller batteries than Intel counterparts.

[nifty50]

Originally posted by Denniss:

AMD are good in battery life as well. But they are often delivered with smaller batteries than Intel counterparts.

Okayyyy... All I'm doing is relating my experience with a non-gaming newer generation iGPU that jusr happens to be an Intel processor. And the battery life on this rig is fine... All-day with regular work duties and occasional streaming videos. The Lunar Lake processor is designed for efficiency and battery performance. It's not the fastest CPU out there but again, it doesn't need to be for my use case for buying.

And I can even do some light gaming if I want! Bonus!