Intel Says Arc G3 Extreme Beats ASUS ROG Xbox Ally X by 42% in Handheld Gaming

Intel has officially announced its Arc G3 and Arc G3 Extreme chips for gaming handhelds, and the company is already making bold performance claims.

During a Gamers Nexus interview with Intel’s Tom Petersen, Intel shared new benchmark figures for the Arc G3 Extreme platform running inside MSI’s upcoming Claw 8 EX AI+ handheld.

Intel claims big gains for Arc G3 Extreme

Intel says Arc G3 Extreme is 44% faster on average than the Core Ultra 7 258V used in Lunar Lake systems. The comparison used 1080p High settings, with 2x upscaling enabled in supported games.

The Arc G3 Extreme test system ran at 35W sustained, while the Lunar Lake system ran at 30W sustained.

Arc G3 Extreme also targets AMD Z2 Extreme

Intel also compared Arc G3 Extreme against AMD’s Ryzen Z2 Extreme. According to Intel’s own numbers, MSI’s Claw 8 EX AI+ was 42% faster on average than the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally X at 35W sustained.

The same 1080p High settings and 2x upscaling rules applied to that comparison.

Intel is also pushing efficiency claims

The most interesting claim may be power efficiency. Intel showed Arc G3 Extreme at 17W delivering similar average performance to AMD’s Z2 Extreme at 35W.

Intel presents this as a 2x performance-per-watt advantage, although some games still favored AMD in the lower-power comparison.

Intelligent Bias Control 3.5 could help handheld gaming

Intel also detailed Intelligent Bias Control 3.5, a software feature built for handheld gaming. It adjusts CPU scheduling and power behavior so more power can move toward the GPU when needed.

Intel says the feature can also improve frame pacing. At 12W, Intel claims IBC enabled a 13% average FPS uplift.

In a separate 12W test, Intel showed Arc G3 Extreme running 37% faster on average than AMD’s Z2 Extreme.

Arc G3 Extreme specs and first handhelds

Arc G3 Extreme is based on Panther Lake and uses Intel Arc B390 graphics. The GPU includes 12 Xe3 cores.

Intel has confirmed Arc G3 and Arc G3 Extreme for several upcoming handhelds, including MSI Claw 8 EX AI+, Acer Predator Atlas 8, and ONEXPLAYER 3.

These results come from Intel, so they should be treated as vendor-provided benchmark claims rather than final proof of real-world performance.

Still, Intel is clearly positioning Arc G3 Extreme as a major step forward for Windows gaming handhelds. If independent testing confirms these numbers, AMD’s Ryzen Z2 Extreme could face stronger competition than expected.

Via VideoCardz