AMD's Ryzen Z1 series isn't far from being one of the best CPUs ; however, the Zen 4-powered chips do wonders for handheld gaming devices, such as the ROG Ally , the primary rival to the Steam Deck . Despite being processors that consume no more than 30W, the Ryzen Z1 series can rival some desktop processors as long as the latter is a few generations old.
If you haven't been following the gaming handheld scene, the Ryzen Z1 Extreme is AMD's highest-performing processor for handheld devices. Wielding the latest Zen 4 cores, the Ryzen Z1 Extreme has eight cores, 16 threads, and respectable clock speeds to brag about. The octa-core chip has a 3.3 GHz base clock and a boost clock that hits 5.1 GHz. Nonetheless, Ryzen Z1 Extreme's RDNA 3-based integrated graphics is mainly responsible for the chip's graphics prowess. It features 12 RDNA 3 compute units at 2.7 GHz.
While other ROG Alloy owners are busy gaming, Twitter user Mochamad Farido Fanani has benchmarked the Ryzen Z1 Extreme with Cinebench R23, providing a reference for comparison to see how much processing power is inside the tiny Zen 4 chip. The Ryzen Z1 Extreme inside the ROG ally has access to 16GB (2x8GB) of LPDDR5-6400 memory.
| Processor | Multi Core | Single Core |
|---|---|---|
| Core i5-13600K | 23,050 | 2,007 |
| M2 Max (MacBook Pro) | 14,797 | 1,620 |
| Ryzen Z1 Extreme | 10,818 | 1,676 |
| Apple M1 (Mac Mini) | 7,833 | 1,522 |
| Core i5-10600K | 9,221 | 1,268 |
The Ryzen Z1 Extreme delivered 32% and 17% higher single-and multi-core performance than the Core i5-10600K . It's an impressive feat on one hand because the Ryzen Z1 Extreme is a 30W, reportedly running at 15W, while the Core i5-10600K is a 125W processor. That's a significant delta in TDP. On the other hand, the Core i5-10600K is a three-year-old chip, so it does take away some merit from the Ryzen Z1 Extreme.
It's logical the Ryzen Z1 Extreme cannot compete with a more modern model, like the Core i5-13600K . The margins were abysmal. The Core i5-13600K posted 20% faster in single-core performance and 113% in multi-core performance.
The Ryzen Z1 Extreme was superior to the Apple M1 (via Anandtech's review of the Mac Mini ). The Zen 4 chip outperformed the Apple M1 by 10% in single-core performance and 38% in multi-core performance. The Ryzen Z1 Extreme was also 3% faster than the M2 Max ( MacBook Pro 2023 ) in single-core performance. However, the M2 Max showed its strength in the multi-core benchmark, outpacing the Ryzen Z1 Extreme by 37%.
Asus has interim exclusivity to AMD's Ryzen Z1 series of high-performance processors for handheld gaming consoles. The processor's maximum potential remains a mystery. It'll be interesting to see if other manufacturers can squeeze more out of the Ryzen Z1 series.
