Intel Lunar Lake CPU benchmarks reveal good power efficiency and GPU performance — Core Ultra 7 268V results show regressions in multi-core performance

Lunar Lake CPU
(Image credit: Intel)

Third-party benchmarks of Intel's new Core Ultra 200V (Lunar Lake) CPUs are finally cropping up, giving us our first look at the processors' performance. Vietnamese tech review outlet ThinkView on YouTube benchmarked the Core Ultra 7 268V against AMD's competing Ryzen AI chips.

The Lunar Lake chip was benchmarked in Cinebench R23 and 3DMark TimeSpy against the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 and Ryzen Z1 Extreme, AMD's handheld gaming flagship. The Cinebench results were separated into single-core and multi-core results, with the multi-core results benchmarked at four different power targets: 15W, 20W, 28W, and 38W, to test each chip's multi-core efficiency.

The 268V did not fare well against its AMD competition, getting completely outpaced in the multi-core results at all four power levels. The Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 was roughly 57% faster at the 15W power target, 66% faster at 20W, 60% faster at 28W, and 54% faster at 38W. The Z1 extreme was 14% faster than the 268V at 15W, 46% faster at 20W, 35% faster at 28W, and 45% faster at 38W.

Bear in mind that these multi-core results are rough estimates of the actual results since they were published on a difficult-to-read graph. So, take these results as general estimations of performance.

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Benchies
BenchmarksCore Ultra 7 268VRyzen AI 9 HX 370Apple M3Ryzen Z1 Extreme
Cinebench R23 Single Core2,0542,0491,932N/A
Cinebench R23 Multi Core 15WRoughly 7,000 pointsRoughly 11,000 pointsN/ARoughly 8,000 points
Cinebench R23 Multi Core 20WRoughly 7,500 pointsRoughly 12,500 pointsN/ARoughly 11,000 points
Cinebench R23 Multi Core 28WRoughly 10,000 pointsRoughly 16,000 pointsN/ARoughly 13,500 points
Cinebench R23 Multi Core 38WRoughly 11,000 pointsRoughly 17,000 pointsN/ARoughly 16,000 points.
3DMark TimeSpy3,7153,526N/A3,017

The same cannot be said of the single-threaded results, both in terms of accuracy and the performance of the 268V. The Lunar Lake chip scored 2,054 points, five more than the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370. Apple's M3 silicon was also benchmarked and was 10% slower than the 268V scoring 1,932 points.

ThinkView also tested the 268V, HX 370, and M3 chips in terms of performance per watt to check power efficiency. In this test, the 268V scored 137 points, the HX 370 97.5 points, and the Apple M3 292 points. In other words, the 268V was 40% more efficient compared to the HX 370, but it couldn't even come close to the M3's efficiency, where the Apple chip outpaced the Lunar Lake chip by over 2x.

Review Intel Core ULTRA 200V: LỘT XÁC!!? - YouTube Review Intel Core ULTRA 200V: LỘT XÁC!!? - YouTube
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In the graphics department, the Core Ultra 7 268V showed strong results in 3DMark's TimeSpy graphics benchmark, outpacing its AMD counterparts. The 268V scored 3,715 points, 5% higher than the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370's score of 3,526 points and 23% faster than the Z1 Extreme's score of 3,017 points.

Thinkview's performance results reveal that Lunar Lake features strong graphics and single-threaded performance, as well as good single-core efficiency compared to AMD's counterparts. However, multi-threaded performance takes a big hit, with the AMD chips often being 50% faster.

Intel launched Lunar Lake a few weeks ago, so the corresponding laptops should be on shelves by now.

Aaron Klotz
Contributing Writer

Aaron Klotz is a contributing writer for Tom’s Hardware, covering news related to computer hardware such as CPUs, and graphics cards.

  • baboma
    WccfTech has a more detailed take:
    https://wccftech.com/intel-core-ultra-7-268v-lunar-lake-cpu-impressive-single-core-performance-early-review/
    It's Dell XPS 13 (Ultra 7 LNL) vs Asus Vivobook S 14 (Ryzen 370), so it's not a like-to-like compare. That aside, single-core perf is essentially the same for both (LNL 2054 vs Ryzen 2049), while LNL wins on efficiency and Ryzen wins on multicore. No surprise there.

    The most noteworthy finding comes from the gaming benchmarks: While LNL has a slight edge over 370 in TimeSpy at default power levels. The 370 laptop can be cranked up to 55W while the LNL model is stuck at 17W, which means 370 would definitively beat LNL in graphics performance when on AC, both in gaming and heavy graphics workload.


    Side note: The reviewer's Huế accent is hard to parse. It would've been nice to have a presenter with northern, or even southern accent. But tech bloggers are who they are.

    English viewers can use YT's auto-translate for a better understanding, but the YT feature is pretty poor. This would be a good test for Copilot+'s Live Caption feature. It's a tough task given the reviewer's heavy accent and the tech jargons used.
    Reply
  • thestryker
    Regression implies it's worse than what came before, but this is a whole new efficiency SKU from Intel. Comparisons to the 165U would probably be the closest version of a like for like and I imagine the 268V keeps up in MT (might even win when TDP normalized) and wins in ST.
    Reply
  • purposelycryptic
    Given that these are intended for "stylish", super-thin ultrabooks whose main purpose is being lightweight and still offering long battery life, I don't think too many of them will be seeing heavy MT workloads.

    As for performance at higher power levels, that largely defeats the entire purpose of using one of these in the first place - if you intend to regularly use a machine while plugged in, you don't need an anorexic machine designed around sipping power at the lowest rate possible.

    I would never buy any of these ultra-slim extended life "AI" laptops, whether AMD or Intel-powered; and most definitely not ARM. Even when traveling, I never use any of my laptops away from an outlet enough to ever even get close to depleting my battery. And even if I somehow did due to unforeseen circumstances, I always have a hefty power bank in my bag in case my phone or NC headphones need a charge.

    So, I am obviously not part of the target demographic for these things, but I do wonder how large the actual market for these really is. These processors, both AMD and Intel, seem to have been created entirely as a reaction to Microsoft going crazy pushing Qualcomm's Windows-on-Arm "AI" PCs, which, in turn, seemed to have been a reaction to Apple's ARM-based MacBooks.

    But there isn't all that much crossover between the Mac and PC markets, their userbases tend to be different, with different priorities and needs, and Apple is essentially to the computer market what Nintendo is to the Console market - not really a direct competitor.

    There has yet to be any real concrete evidence that a sufficiently large demand for the new Windows-on-Arm paradigm even exists, and, while x86 machines following the same design priorities will clearly be more attractive for anyone who actually understands the difference, all of this seems like a rather massive market shift over a largely unproven concept.

    PC people obviously see Mac users with endless battery life and feel a desire to have that as well, but, at least from what I can tell, the majority simply want that because it was something they didn't have, rather than it being something they are willing to sacrifice other attributes they get more value out of for.

    It could just be something unique to my extended social environment, but I have yet to meet a PC user who would have any interest in using a MacBook, even for free, and only a quite small number that have shown any interest in a MacBook-type PC.

    Anyway, I certainly hope this all works out for everyone - I have a good amount of money in both AMD and Intel, and would very much like to see them both do well. And Intel really needs it at the moment. The last thing I want is to see them bought out by Qualcomm or Nvidia. We really need two big boys focused on the PC processor arena, so they can keep one another in check and keep pushing each other on the innovation front.
    Reply
  • Gururu
    Pretty impressive and welcome step in the right direction. Unfortunately for AMD, I foresee no increase in market share this generation.
    Reply
  • usertests
    Multi-thread performance doesn't matter that much anymore... in many segments (see the great 16-core "stagnation"). What is interesting is that AMD's lead is very consistent across a wide range of power levels, including 15 Watt. Not only is Lunar Lake being beaten, but AMD could beat it while using substantially less power. This may bode well for the Z2 Extreme.

    If it has better single-core and graphics than Strix Point, Lunar Lake has earned its place. Although these leads could be tenuous at best, as seen by the single-core score being virtually identical. If Intel cherry picked hard to come up with Lunar Lake's claimed 16% graphics lead over Ryzen AI 370, that claim will fall apart in reviews.

    It should be better than AMD's Kraken Point, but maybe nobody will care if Kraken is enormously cheaper.
    Reply
  • heffeque
    Just as a quick comment... Intel tends to do fairly well on GPU benchmarks, but fairly worse on real gaming conditions, so... I'd assume that this is still the case and we'll have to see actual performance to know if it isn't.
    Reply
  • rtoaht
    thestryker said:
    Regression implies it's worse than what came before, but this is a whole new efficiency SKU from Intel. Comparisons to the 165U would probably be the closest version of a like for like and I imagine the 268V keeps up in MT (might even win when TDP normalized) and wins in ST.
    Yes, precisely. Arrow Lake mobile is the successor of Meteor Lake and Raptor Lake mobile while the Arrow Lake desktop is the successor of Raptor Lake desktop. Lunar Lake is a new genre to compete with Apple and Qualcomm in power efficiency.
    Reply
  • watzupken
    Gururu said:
    Pretty impressive and welcome step in the right direction. Unfortunately for AMD, I foresee no increase in market share this generation.
    But I think you missed the point that price is a serious consideration. AMD’s latest chips are manufactured on 4 nm which is just an updated 5nm with a nicer name. Intel went for cutting edge 3nm and it’s a whole new pricing altogether. So yes, if its really better, is it that much better that people will be will to pay a premium for it with on die memory that you can’t upgrade?
    Reply
  • thestryker
    watzupken said:
    But I think you missed the point that price is a serious consideration. AMD’s latest chips are manufactured on 4 nm which is just an updated 5nm with a nicer name. Intel went for cutting edge 3nm and it’s a whole new pricing altogether. So yes, if its really better, is it that much better that people will be will to pay a premium for it with on die memory that you can’t upgrade?
    AMD's cheapest Ryzen AI 9 based laptops start at $1200 and that's for the 365 not the 370 Intel has nothing to worry about price wise (Lenovo's 15" LNL starts at $1280). Not to mention every one of the available Ryzen AI 9 laptops use LPDDR5X and thus aren't upgradeable memory wise either.
    Reply
  • hotaru251
    so you lose out by neutering your core count and HT? who da thunk?

    Efficiency is literally only benefit really (which is expected when you neuter the cores)
    Reply