Intel Arc G3 Extreme, With 18A CPU Cores, Hits $1,299.99 in Acer Atlas 8

Intel's Arc G3 Extreme, a handheld gaming processor whose CPU cores are made on Intel 18A, goes on sale in Acer's Predator Atlas 8 on Nov. 1 at $1,299.99, only at Best Buy, HotHardware reported.

The chip is not new. Intel introduced the Arc G-Series on May 28, and HotHardware reviewed MSI's Claw 8 EX AI+ with the same Arc G3 Extreme on June 23. What changes on Nov. 1 is the entry price. HotHardware calls the Atlas 8 the least expensive Arc G3 Extreme handheld it could find listed, $500 below the Claw, which comes with more memory and storage. Acer told HotHardware by email that its preorders sold out.

For Voltgrid readers, the Arc G3 Extreme matters less as a game machine than as a test of Intel's 18A node, for the CPU cores, in a product people buy off the shelf. Intel lists an 8-35 W configurable TDP range for it, and it reaches buyers while manufacturers contend with higher memory prices, according to Notebookcheck.

Inside the Arc G3 Extreme

Intel's spec page lists 14 cores: 2 Performance cores, 8 Efficient cores and 4 Low Power Efficient cores, with 14 threads, up to 4.7 GHz and 12 MB of cache. The graphics are an Arc B390 with 12 Xe-cores at up to 2.3 GHz, built on Intel's Xe3 architecture. Memory is LPDDR5X at up to 8,533 MT/s over 2 channels, with up to 96 GB supported.

The defining choice is the split build. The same spec page lists the CPU lithography as Intel 18A and the GPU lithography as TSMC N3E. In its release, Intel describes 18A as the most advanced logic node both developed and built in the US, and TSMC makes the graphics. HotHardware credits much of the chip's lead over AMD to its most power-hungry parts being made on 18A. HotHardware calls Panther Lake, the laptop family this chip is cut from, the first chips off the 18A production line.

Intel lists a configurable range, and the handheld maker chooses the setting. It lists a 25 W base power, a 15 W minimum assured power, an 8-35 W configurable TDP range and an 80 W maximum turbo power. HotHardware says Intel trimmed the laptop design for handhelds: it keeps 2 P-cores instead of 4 and half the I/O, so two Thunderbolt ports instead of four. It keeps the full GPU, clocked at 2.3 GHz against 2.5 GHz on the Core Ultra X9 388H. HotHardware puts memory bandwidth at about 136 GB/s, unchanged from the Lunar Lake chip in the previous Claw.

For AI, Intel lists peak figures of 113 TOPS Int8 for the GPU and 46 TOPS Int8 for the NPU. They are separate and should not be added; the spec page lists sparsity support for the NPU without saying which basis the 46 uses. No local-AI throughput measurement was found in the sources reviewed.

Why One Handheld Chip Has Two Foundries

Arc G3 Extreme is two kinds of silicon in one package. Intel's spec page lists the CPU lithography as Intel 18A and the GPU lithography as TSMC N3E, so the 14 CPU cores come from Intel's fab and the 12-Xe-core Arc B390 graphics from TSMC.

A handheld lives on its power limit. Intel lists an 8-35 W configurable TDP range, 15 W minimum assured power and 80 W maximum turbo power, so a CPU that does the same work for fewer watts leaves more of the budget for graphics. That is HotHardware's explanation for the lead over AMD, not a measurement of the node.

How it compares

The rival a buyer weighs is AMD's Ryzen Z2 Extreme, the chip in ASUS's ROG Xbox Ally X and Ally X20. Intel claims the Arc G3 Extreme is 42% faster with both chips set to 35 W, as HotHardware quoted it. HotHardware says AMD's handheld parts are made on a 4nm process, which it counts as two nodes behind 18A.

Price narrows the comparison. Notebookcheck says the ROG Xbox Ally X20, with the Ryzen Z2 Extreme and an OLED screen, also costs $1,299.99. The Atlas 8 has an 8-inch 1920x1200 IPS panel at 120 Hz and 500 nits. In June, HotHardware listed the ROG Xbox Ally X at $999. Among Arc G3 Extreme machines, HotHardware lists the OneXPlayer 3 at $1,549 with 24 GB and 512 GB, and the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ at $1,799.99 with 32 GB and 1 TB.

What reviewers measured so far

Two independent labs have measured the Arc G3 Extreme. Both tested the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ in June and July, not the Atlas 8. Their results show the chip, but not Acer's cooling, power tuning or 24 GB build.

HotHardware, in its June 23 review, measured the chip about 39.6% ahead of the Ryzen Z2 Extreme across 14 games. It said its game list differs from Intel's, and that it reused rival results from earlier reviews. Its text does not say that every game ran at 35 W. Cyberpunk 2077, for example, ran in MSI's AI Engine mode with a 30 W maximum. Notebookcheck, in a verdict published July 6 and updated Oct. 5, found the chip more than 40% faster on average with both chips at 35 W TDP. Both labs land near Intel's claim, though on different game lists.

On power, HotHardware measured 1,478 minutes in the PCMark video battery test on the Claw's 80 Whr battery, with the screen set to 115 nits. That was the longest result it had recorded. It found the Claw barely audible in Cyberpunk 2077, with brief thermal throttling only while shaders compiled. Notebookcheck faulted the Claw's fans for running all the time, even at idle. HotHardware also saw hitching in games on FromSoftware's engine, which it put down to Intel's driver.

The only Atlas 8 numbers so far come from YouTube creator ETA Prime, as relayed by Notebookcheck on Oct. 28. They are a hint, not a lab result. ETA Prime recorded 6,607 in 3DMark Time Spy at 35 W, against 4,091 for an ROG Xbox Ally X, and above 70 fps in Forza Horizon 6 at 1200p, medium settings, no upscaling and 30 W. Notebookcheck notes the Claw passed 7,000 in Time Spy. ETA Prime also found that the Atlas 8's Turbo mode, meant to hold 35 W, did not work well in Forza Horizon 6.

Price, availability and software

Best Buy will carry one configuration at first: Arc G3 Extreme, 24 GB of LPDDR5X and a 512 GB PCIe 4.0 SSD, HotHardware reported. Acer planned a version with the standard Arc G3 as of May, and its product page lists up to 32 GB and 1 TB. HotHardware says only the one model is listed at Best Buy for now. Notebookcheck says manufacturers are fighting higher memory prices, and HotHardware calls LPDDR5X the memory type in greatest demand.

On software, Intel ships XeSS 3 upscaling and frame generation, the full-screen Xbox mode for Windows 11 and precompiled shaders downloaded from its cloud. Its spec page lists OpenVINO, WindowsML, DirectML and ONNX Runtime for AI work.

What to watch

The first full independent review of the Atlas 8 will show whether Acer's tuning holds the 35 W the labs used on the Claw, and what the battery delivers. No date is set. Supply is the second question. As Voltgrid reported, Intel's finance chief said on the Oct. 29 earnings call that Oregon 18A wafers that were generally going to Panther Lake are being moved to make room for Intel 3 data-center output. Intel has not said whether Arc G-Series supply is affected. The next Intel client checkpoint is CES in January, where Intel says it will detail Nova Lake.