MSI Claw A8 Quick Look with AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme
YouTuber ETA Prime has shared a quick look at how well the MSI Claw A8, the first gaming hand device from the company to use an AMD chip, runs. It uses the new Ryzen Z2 Extreme APU, and the video shows how it does when put up side by side with a hand game machine that uses the older Ryzen Z1 Extreme.
Main Parts of the MSI Claw A8
This new hand game machine runs on AMD's newest tech. Here are the inside parts:
- APU: AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme, with a Zen 5 CPU (8 cores, 16 threads) and an RDNA 3.5 built-in GPU.
- GPU: Radeon 890M with 16 work units.
- RAM: 24 GB of LPDDR5X memory going at 8000 MHz.
- VRAM: 8 GB of RAM set for the GPU to start, but this can be set differently.
Test Results Z2 Extreme vs Z1 Extreme
ETA Prime's tests show a big jump in how well it does in fake tests:
- 3DMark Time Spy (17W TDP): The Z2 Extreme got 3495 points, above the Z1 Extreme's 2917.
- 3DMark Time Spy (25W TDP): The Z2 Extreme got 3666 points, and the Z1 Extreme got 3017.
- Geekbench 6 (30W TDP): The Z2 Extreme got 2,781 in one-core and 12,086 in multi-core tests.
At 30W, the Z2E's Time Spy score of 4066 puts it just under a stand-alone laptop GeForce RTX 2050 which got 4348 in another test.
How Games Run
The better test scores also show in real game play:
- Forza Horizon 5: At 1200p with Medium set and a 17W TDP, the game played at around 80 FPS.
- Cyberpunk 2077: At a 17W TDP and 900p (Steam Deck set), the Z2 Extreme showed 45.6 FPS, better than the Z1 Extreme's 35.5 FPS.
- Spider-Man Remastered: At 1600p (Medium set, IGTI upscaling, 25W TDP), the game first did not keep 60 FPS. But, using FSR frame making let it run over 75 FPS in the same set.
Battery Use
In a low use test at a 6W TDP, ETA Prime ran Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shredder’s Revenge with the fancy lights off and half bright screen. The setup used about 8.1 to 8.7 watts, making the battery last over 9 hours. The report also says the Claw A8 keeps up well even at its normal 17W use.
Screen and Room for Files
- Room for Files: The hand game machine can fit a 1 TB M.2 2280 SSD you can change.
- Screen: It has an 8-inch 1920×1200 IPS screen that can show 120 Hz and change how fast it shows stuff. It uses the same screen as the Intel-based MSI Claw 8 AI and the Lenovo Legion Go S.
