Intel Lunar Lake vs AMD Strix Point & Meteor Lake in 20 Games!

Summary

This video compares the integrated graphics performance of Intel's Lunar Lake and AMD's Strix Point processors in 20 games at 1080p. Tested on ASUS Zenbook S 14 and Zephyrus G16 laptops, with CPUs limited to 28 watts for fairness. Lunar Lake showed a 26% performance improvement over Intel's previous Meteor Lake. AMD's Strix Point outperformed both, delivering smoother gameplay with its AFMF 2 feature. Results varied by game, with some favoring higher core counts and others benefiting from improved GPU power.

Takeaways

• 🌕 Intel's new Lunar Lake processors and AMD's Strix Point processors have been launched, promising improvements in integrated graphics for gaming.
• 🎮 A comparison of integrated graphics performance in 20 different games was conducted to evaluate their capability for 1080p gaming.
• 💻 Testing was done on ASUS's Zenbook S 14 for Intel's Lunar Lake and ASUS's Zephyrus G16 for AMD's Strix Point and Intel's Meteor Lake, ensuring a fair comparison by limiting CPU power.
• 📊 Lunar Lake boasts the fastest memory but has fewer cores and threads, optimized for thinner and lighter laptops.
• 🏋️‍♂️ Cinebench tests showed Lunar Lake has the highest single-core score but falls behind in multicore performance due to fewer cores and threads.
• 🔧 AMD's Fluid Motion Frames 2 (AFMF 2) feature can generate frames at the driver level, smoothing gameplay but potentially adding latency.
• 🚀 In games like Cyberpunk 2077, AMD showed a 14% performance increase over Lunar Lake, while Lunar Lake was 30% faster than Meteor Lake.
• 📈 AMD's Strix Point outperformed Intel's Lunar Lake by 11% on average in the tested games, showcasing a strong performance in integrated graphics.
• 💹 Pricing for laptops with these processors starts around $1100-1400 USD, with AMD offering better cost per frame value at the lowest prices.
• 🔌 Power consumption during gaming was higher for AMD's Strix Point, aligning with its better performance, while Intel's Lunar Lake was more power-efficient.
• 🔄 The performance of these integrated GPUs may vary at different power levels, which could impact smaller laptops or handheld gaming devices.

Q & A

What are the new processors launched by Intel and AMD?

Intel has launched their new Lunar Lake processors, while AMD has launched their new Strix Point processors.

What is the purpose of testing these processors in different games?

The purpose of testing these processors in different games is to evaluate their integrated graphics performance for 1080p gaming.

Which laptops were used for testing Intel's Lunar Lake and AMD's Strix Point processors?

ASUS’s new Zenbook S 14 laptop was used for testing Intel’s Lunar Lake processor, and ASUS’s Zephyrus G16 gaming laptops were used for testing AMD’s Strix Point and Intel’s Meteor Lake.

How was the performance of the CPUs standardized in the testing?

The CPUs in the G16’s were limited to 28 watts using ASUS’s Armory Crate software to match the Zenbook's highest performance mode.

What is AMD's Fluid Motion Frames 2 feature and how does it work?

AMD's Fluid Motion Frames 2 (AFMF 2) is a frame generation feature handled at the driver level, allowing the AMD laptop to apply frame generation to any game, regardless of the game's native support for frame generation.

What is the significance of Intel's Lunar Lake having the highest single-core score in Cinebench?

Having the highest single-core score indicates that Intel's Lunar Lake processor has strong single-thread performance, which can be beneficial for tasks that do not rely heavily on multicore performance.

How did AMD's Strix Point perform compared to Intel's Lunar Lake in Cyberpunk 2077?

In Cyberpunk 2077, AMD's Strix Point was 14% faster than Intel's Lunar Lake, while Lunar Lake was 30% faster than their last gen Meteor Lake.

What is the difference between using FSR (AMD) and XeSS (Intel) for upscaling?

FSR (FidelityFX Super Resolution) for AMD and XeSS (Xe Super Sampling) for Intel are upscaling technologies that enhance the visual quality of games by rendering them at a lower resolution and then upscaling them to the native resolution of the display.

Which game showed the biggest improvement for Intel's Lunar Lake over Meteor Lake?

Hogwarts Legacy showed the biggest improvement for Intel's Lunar Lake over their last gen Meteor Lake with a 67% higher average frame rate.

What was the average performance difference between AMD's Strix Point and Intel's Lunar Lake across all tested games?

On average, over all 20 games tested, AMD's Strix Point processor was 11% faster than Intel's Lunar Lake at 1080p.

How does the power consumption of AMD's Strix Point compare to Intel's Lunar Lake?

AMD's Strix Point used more power but also performed better in certain games, while Intel's Lunar Lake used significantly less power and won from a performance per watt perspective.

Outlines

00:00

🎮 Integrated Graphics Gaming Showdown

The script discusses the latest integrated graphics processors from Intel and AMD, specifically the Lunar Lake and Strix Point processors, and compares them to Intel's previous Meteor Lake processors. The author tests these processors in various games to evaluate their performance for 1080p gaming. The testing is done on ASUS's Zenbook S 14 laptop for Intel's Lunar Lake and ASUS's Zephyrus G16 for AMD's Strix Point and Intel's Meteor Lake. To ensure a fair comparison, the CPUs are limited to 28 watts using ASUS's Armory Crate software, and the Nvidia discrete graphics are disabled. The script highlights the spec differences, with Lunar Lake having the fastest memory but fewer cores and threads, aimed at lighter laptops. It also introduces AMD's Fluid Motion Frames 2 feature, which generates frames at the driver level to smooth gameplay. The script provides a detailed analysis of performance in various games, including Cyberpunk 2077, Black Myth Wukong, and Hogwarts Legacy, comparing native and upscaled results. It notes that while AMD's Strix Point performed well, Intel's Lunar Lake showed significant improvement over the previous generation and had a more stable performance in some games.

05:00

🏁 Gaming Performance and Power Consumption

This section of the script compares the gaming performance of AMD's Strix Point and Intel's Lunar Lake processors in various games, including Red Dead Redemption 2, The Witcher 3, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. It mentions that while AMD showed a slight FPS boost in some games with FSR enabled, The Witcher 3 performed poorly on AMD's integrated graphics. The script also discusses the power consumption of the laptops during gaming, noting that AMD's Strix Point used more power but also performed better in Cyberpunk 2077. The author concludes that Intel's Lunar Lake offers a good performance per watt, especially considering its performance compared to the older Meteor Lake processor. The script ends with a discussion on the price differences between laptops with these processors and suggests checking for the latest sales and deals.

10:03

💸 Value for Money in Gaming Laptops

The final paragraph focuses on the value for money when considering gaming laptops with the latest integrated graphics processors. It mentions that laptops with Intel's Lunar Lake processors generally have a higher starting price but are also the newest. AMD offers some lower-priced options, but the starting range for these processors is around $1100-1400 USD. The author concludes that based on their testing, AMD's Strix Point iGPU performs the best at 1080p gaming on integrated graphics at 28 watts, and the availability of features like AFMF 2 adds to its appeal. However, Intel's Lunar Lake also shows a significant improvement over the previous generation. The script suggests that while these processors can run games at 1080p on integrated graphics, some games may require upscaling features for better performance. It also recommends checking out other videos for more details on how these iGPUs perform at lower power levels.

Keywords

💡Integrated Graphics

Integrated graphics refers to the graphics processing unit (GPU) that is built into the CPU, sharing system memory rather than having a dedicated video memory. In the context of the video, integrated graphics are being tested for their gaming performance, specifically for 1080p gaming. The script compares the performance of Intel's Lunar Lake and Meteor Lake processors against AMD's Strix Point processors to determine their effectiveness in running games smoothly.

💡Lunar Lake

Lunar Lake is a codename for a series of Intel processors. The video discusses the new Lunar Lake processors and their integrated graphics capabilities for gaming. The script mentions that these processors have the fastest memory but the lowest core and thread count, which impacts their performance in multicore tasks and gaming.

💡Strix Point

Strix Point is a codename for a series of AMD processors. The video compares AMD's Strix Point processors against Intel's offerings to evaluate their integrated graphics performance in gaming. The script highlights that AMD's Strix Point processors performed better in some games, showcasing the competitive landscape in integrated graphics for gaming.

💡Meteor Lake

Meteor Lake is another codename for a series of Intel processors that precede the Lunar Lake. The video script uses Meteor Lake as a benchmark to show the improvement in gaming performance that the new Lunar Lake processors bring. It is used to demonstrate generational progress in Intel's integrated graphics technology.

💡1080p Gaming

1080p gaming refers to playing video games at a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels, which is a standard for high-definition gaming. The video script evaluates whether the integrated graphics of the new processors are capable of handling 1080p gaming, which is a common benchmark for assessing the graphical capabilities of hardware.

💡Cinebench

Cinebench is a benchmarking tool for testing the performance of CPUs. In the video, Cinebench is used to compare the single-core and multi-core performance of the processors under test. The script mentions that Lunar Lake has the highest single-core score, which is important for gaming performance.

💡AFMF 2 (AMD Fluid Motion Frames 2)

AMD Fluid Motion Frames 2 is a feature that generates additional frames to smooth out gameplay on lower-powered systems. The video script discusses how AFMF 2 can improve the gaming experience on integrated graphics by making gameplay smoother, although it may add latency and is not recommended for all games.

💡FSR (FidelityFX Super Resolution)

FidelityFX Super Resolution is a technology developed by AMD that allows games to render at a lower resolution and then upscale the image to the user's display resolution. The script mentions using FSR for AMD laptops to compare the performance of upscaling in games, which is a key feature for enhancing the gaming experience on integrated graphics.

💡XeSS (Xe Super Sampling)

Xe Super Sampling is Intel's counterpart to AMD's FSR, a technology that also allows for rendering games at a lower resolution and then upscaling for higher visual quality. The video script uses XeSS to test Intel's integrated graphics performance with upscaling enabled, comparing it to AMD's FSR.

💡Performance per Watt

Performance per watt is a measure of how much performance a processor can deliver relative to its power consumption. The video script discusses this metric when comparing the power draw of different laptops while gaming, highlighting that Intel's Lunar Lake processors offer better performance per watt.

💡Upscaling

Upscaling in the context of the video refers to the process of rendering games at a lower resolution and then using algorithms to increase the resolution to match the display. The script evaluates the effectiveness of upscaling technologies like FSR and XeSS in enhancing the gaming experience on integrated graphics.

Highlights

Intel's Lunar Lake processors and AMD's Strix Point processors have been launched, offering improved integrated graphics for gaming.

A comparison of integrated graphics performance in 1080p gaming across 20 different games.

Testing conducted on ASUS Zenbook S 14 for Intel's Lunar Lake and ASUS Zephyrus G16 for AMD's Strix Point and Intel's Meteor Lake.

CPUs in the G16 laptops were limited to 28 watts to match the Zenbook's performance mode.

Lunar Lake has the fastest memory but fewer cores and threads, optimized for thinner and lighter laptops.

Lunar Lake showed the highest single-core score in Cinebench, but less multicore performance due to fewer cores and threads.

AMD's Fluid Motion Frames 2 (AFMF 2) feature enhances gameplay smoothness on lower-powered integrated graphics.

AFMF 2 can be applied to any game, regardless of native frame generation support.

AMD's Strix Point outperformed Intel's Lunar Lake by 14% in Cyberpunk 2077.

Lunar Lake showed 30% improvement over Meteor Lake in Cyberpunk 2077.

Upscaling techniques like FSR for AMD and XeSS for Intel were used to compare performance fairly.

Lunar Lake demonstrated better stability with less stuttering in Black Myth Wukong.

In A Plague Tale Requiem, Meteor Lake performed slightly better than Lunar Lake.

Hogwarts Legacy showed the biggest improvement for Lunar Lake over Meteor Lake with a 67% higher average frame rate.

Red Dead Redemption 2 performance was similar between AMD's Strix Point and Intel's Lunar Lake.

The Witcher 3 performed worse on AMD's Strix Point compared to both Intel laptops.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider showed a clear win for Lunar Lake in performance.

Spiderman saw Intel's Lunar Lake beating AMD in average FPS, with AMD ahead in 1% lows.

Starfield performed best on the AMD laptop, with a 4 FPS higher average FPS than Lunar Lake.

Ghost of Tsushima showed a peculiar performance drop with AFMF 2 enabled on AMD.

On average, Intel's Lunar Lake was 26% faster than Meteor Lake across all games tested.

AMD's Strix Point was 11% faster than Intel's Lunar Lake in gaming at 1080p.

Lunar Lake used significantly less power than the others while maintaining good performance.

Laptops with Intel's Lunar Lake processors generally have the highest starting price.

AMD offers better cost per frame value at the cheapest prices available.

AMD's Strix Point iGPU is the best for 1080p gaming at 28 watts, with AFMF 2 as an added advantage.

Intel's Lunar Lake shows significant improvement over Meteor Lake, especially in a smaller form factor.

Some games can run decently on integrated graphics without upscaling features.

Performance at lower power levels will vary, as seen in smaller laptops and handheld gaming consoles.

Transcripts

Gaming on integrated graphics  is finally getting interesting!

Intel just launched their  new Lunar Lake processors,  

while AMD recently launched  their new Strix Point processors.

But are the integrated graphics  actually any good for 1080p gaming?

I’ve compared both, as well as  Intel’s last gen Meteor Lake,  

in 20 different games to  find out what they can do!

I’m using ASUS’s new Zenbook S 14 laptop for  testing Intel’s latest Lunar Lake processor,  

and ASUS’s Zephyrus G16 gaming laptops for  testing AMD’s Strix Point and Intel’s Meteor Lake.

Now this doesn’t sound fair as there is a size  difference, but I’ve used ASUS’s Armory Crate  

software to limit the CPUs in the G16’s to  28 watts, which matches the Zenbooks highest  

performance mode. And the G16’s were tested  with Eco mode enabled, which disables the  

Nvidia discrete graphics, ensuring only  the integrated graphics are available.

Alright, here’s what we’re looking at in terms  of spec differences between these processors.  

Lunar Lake has the fastest memory, but it’s  got the lowest amount of cores and threads,  

as it’s designed for thinner and lighter laptops  that don’t need heavy multicore performance. But  

there are definitely similar laptops with  Meteor Lake and Strix Point processors.  

It’s just that I only happen to have  them in these bigger 16 inch models.

Just for some context, here’s how performance  looks in Cinebench with all processors power  

limited to 28 watts. Intel’s new Lunar  Lake has the highest single core score,  

but at the end of the day fewer cores and  threads means less multicore performance.

We’re also going to check out AMD’s  new Fluid Motion Frames 2 feature,  

also known as AFMF 2. Which  is basically frame generation,  

but handled at the driver level. And this means  that the AMD laptop can apply frame generation  

to basically any game. The game doesn’t  have to have support for frame generation.

Now you can argue about fake frames all you  want, but the fact is this feature does make  

gameplay smoother, which is definitely something  that’s kind of important when it comes to gaming  

on lower powered integrated graphics. It does add  more latency, so you probably don’t want to use it  

in every single game, like Counter-Strike  for example. But by default turning AFMF  

2 on does enable AMD’s anti-lag feature  which should help with that a little bit.

When I’ve used AFMF 2, I’ve set Search Mode to  Standard and performance mode to Performance,  

which is what AMD recommends for  lower powered integrated graphics.

Alright, enough explanation, let’s see how  these three iGPUs perform in 20 different games!

Let’s start out with Cyberpunk 2077. I’ve got  the native results up the top, which just means  

no upscaling applied, and I’ve also tested with  upscaling below. In this test AMD was 14% faster  

compared to Lunar Lake, while Lunar Lake was 30%  faster compared to their last gen Meteor Lake.

It won’t be fair to compare most  of the upscaled results in games,  

because we’ve prioritized using  FSR for AMD and XeSS for Intel,  

as Tim from Hardware Unboxed suggested this will  better represent what most games use, so these  

numbers are only useful for getting an idea of the  sort of performance is possible with upscaling.

FPS appears to increase significantly with AFMF  2 enabled, but again this is frame generation,  

so the increase isn’t from real frames from  the game, they’re extra generated frames,  

I just don’t have a better way  of showing the improvement.

Black Myth Wukong forces and only works with  upscaling on, presumably as it’s a GPU heavy game,  

so I’ve used XeSS on all laptops so that we  can fairly compare it. Unfortunately this  

game didn’t load past compiling shaders with  AMD’s preview driver that has AFMF 2 support.  

I reported the issue to AMD and they say it will  be fixed in future, but I had to use a slightly  

older driver on AMD for just this game so that it  would open. Despite that, AMD was the best here,  

while Intel’s Lunar Lake was slightly behind  their older Meteor Lake in terms of average FPS,  

but lunar lake still felt more stable due to  less stuttering, as shown by its higher 1% low.

A Plague Tale Requiem was also a little better on  Intel’s older Meteor Lake. This only happened in  

a few games, so I’ve got to assume that some games  simply prefer the higher core and thread count of  

Meteor Lake compared to the extra GPU power and  higher single core performance of Lunar Lake.  

This game doesn’t have FSR or XeSS upscaling, only  DLSS, but this is where AFMF 2 shines - it doesn’t  

care, you can still make use of frame generation  to improve the smoothness of the gameplay.

Hogwarts Legacy had the biggest improvement  for Intel’s new Lunar Lake over their last  

gen Meteor Lake out of all 20 games tested,  with Lunar Lake reaching a 67% higher average  

frame rate - though the 1% lows weren’t  much different. AMD ran better here,  

though not by much, and all three laptops  ran much better with upscaling enabled.

Red Dead Redemption 2 was almost the same  on AMD’s Strix Point and Intel’s Lunar Lake,  

though AMD had a bit more of an FPS boost  once we turn on FSR with performance mode.  

Unfortunately I couldn’t test AFMF 2 here,  as we use the game’s built in benchmark,  

and that cuts between multiple scenes - not  ideal for running frame capture software,  

but yeah that is still available if you  want frame generation on the AMD laptop.

The Witcher 3 is an older game, but we need  to talk about it because for some reason AMD  

actually ended up worse than both Intel laptops  here. I retested it after completely resetting  

windows but got the same result, for whatever  reason this game just doesn’t run well on AMD’s  

Strix Point integrated graphics, though it was  much better with FSR set to performance mode,  

and of course we’ve also got AFMF 2 for a  further boost. AMD suggests only using AFMF  

2 once you’ve got the FPS to 50 for a good  experience, which was possible from FSR.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is another  older title, but again Lunar Lake had  

a clear win here. This game doesn’t have  FSR, so I had to use XeSS on all laptops,  

meaning it’s possible to fairly compare the  upscaled results in this one, and Intel wins  

there too. AFMF 2 wasn’t tested here for  the same reason as Red Dead Redemption 2.

Spiderman is another game where Intel’s Lunar  Lake was beating AMD, at least in average FPS,  

as AMD was a little ahead in terms of 1% lows.  This game doesn’t have XeSS, so we used FSR 3 on  

the Intel laptops too, so again it’s possible to  compare upscaling here. With FSR on performance  

mode the AMD laptop was ahead, but honestly the  fact that this game is running ok at near 60  

FPS on high settings on the 14 inch Lunar Lake  laptop without upscaling is quite impressive.

Starfield performed best on the AMD laptop,  but it’s only like 4 FPS higher than Lunar  

Lake. Upscaling is comparable here  too, so we can get an FPS boost on  

all laptops. AMD was still in the lead, but  the gap closes to just a 2 FPS difference.

Ghost of Tsushima was weird. AMD performed best  without upscaling, and performance improves  

with FSR, great. But AFMF 2 actually performed  worse here. Yeah, the average FPS looks better,  

but it doesn’t matter because the game had way  more stuttering now, as shown by the lower 1% low.  

This is the only game where this happened, so I’m  guessing it’s a bug and I’ve reported it to AMD.

Instead of individually talking through  the rest of the 10 games tested,  

I’ll just quickly skip through the  results so that we can move on,  

but feel free to pause the video if you want a  closer look at any specific game. It’s important  

to test a wide selection of games so we can get  an accurate picture of the average performance  

differences to make a fairer conclusion. Like  I always say, more data equals more better,  

but yeah in most of these cases there’s  nothing special that we haven’t already seen.

On average over all 20 games tested, at  1080p Intel’s newer Lunar Lake processor  

was 26% faster compared to their last gen Meteor  Lake processor. That’s a pretty good gen-on-gen  

improvement in just 9 months. Strangely, some  of the games were a little faster with the older  

Meteor Lake laptop. I double checked these  and replicated the results, so I’m not sure  

what the deal is. Perhaps these games simply  prefer the higher core and thread count of the  

older Meteor Lake chip? Or maybe the drivers for  lunar lake could use some further optimization.

But what about AMD? Here’s how much faster  AMD’s latest Strix Point processor was in  

gaming compared to Intel’s Lunar Lake at 1080p.  AMD was 11% faster out of this selection of games,  

with a few titles performing better on Intel.  It would seem either Intel better optimizes  

for these games, or perhaps the faster memory  used by Lunar Lake is giving it an edge there.

I’ve seen a lot of people reporting that Lunar  Lake is superior in terms of integrated graphics  

simply because it wins in 3DMark Time  Spy. And while I could replicate that,  

this difference just doesn’t fully translate into  better gaming performance, at least at 28 watts.

Here’s how much power all laptops were  drawing from the wall in Cyberpunk 2077.  

AMD’s Strix point was using  the most power, but it also  

performed the best, while Lunar Lake was  using significantly less than the others.

Of course this isn’t an ideal comparison  as I’ve got different laptops, but even so,  

AMD was reaching a 15% higher average FPS in  this game, granted that’s only like 4 FPS,  

but regardless this means Intel’s newer  Lunar Lake wins from a performance per  

watt perspective. An impressive result,  considering how much further ahead it is  

compared to Meteor Lake. Should be  a nice improvement for MSI’s Claw.

But what about the price difference? Prices  change all the time, so check the links below  

the video for updates and to see if there are  current sales on any of these laptops. And if  

you are looking for a gaming laptop then  check out our gaminglaptop.deals website  

with that link below. We update it every  day to include all of the latest sales,  

so make sure that you check it out regularly  to save money on your next gaming laptop.

Generally speaking, laptops with  Intel’s newer Lunar Lake processors  

have the highest starting price, but  they are also the newest. And to be  

fair the Meteor lake options aren’t that  different, outside of the cheapest Vivobook,  

despite Meteor Lake being 9 months old now. AMD  has some lower priced options, but at the end  

of the day you’re looking at a starting range of  $1100-1400 USD for laptops with these processors.

If we take the cheapest price these laptop  processors are currently available for,  

then AMD wins in terms of cost per frame  value. And apparently all three of these  

laptops can run the processor with at least  28 watts of power like I’ve tested here.

Based on my testing, if you’re gaming  on integrated graphics at 28 watts,  

then AMD’s latest Strix Point iGPU  does the best at 1080p. And access  

to features like AFMF 2 is just icing on the cake.

But that said, Intel’s newer Lunar Lake certainly  offers a nice gen-on-gen improvement compared  

to last year’s Meteor Lake. Especially  when you consider that I’ve got Lunar  

Lake running in a smaller 14 inch laptop.  The fact that you can run games at 1080p  

on integrated graphics is impressive in itself.  Granted in many of the heavier titles you will  

need to make use of upscaling features like  XeSS or FSR. But still, there were a handful  

of games that just didn’t need those features  and could still run with decent setting levels.

Of course it might be a different story when  running these iGPUs at lower power levels,  

which is what we’ll see in smaller laptops  

or even handheld gaming consoles  like MSI’s Claw or ASUS’s Ally.

Unfortunately 28 watts is as low as I could drop  the power limit on the G16s, so check out this  

video by The Phawx next to find out how these  iGPUs perform at 25, 17, 15 and even 12 watts.

Or if you want more details on Lunar Lake like  how it compares against Apple and Qualcomm  

then check out this review by Just Josh.  I’ll see you in one of those videos next!