007 First Light on Legion Go 2 Z2 Extreme

007 First Light on the Lenovo Legion Go 2 Z2 Extreme

007 First Light on the Legion Go 2 Z2 Extreme, with a focus on 1000p at 25W with custom settings. We're still on the January-dated GPU driver, and I think a driver update and some game updates would help with the frame time issues. Ultimately, though, the game is very playable and can look pretty good on the Go 2, especially in person on the OLED screen.

Quick take

Tested in Xbox mode at 25W with low/medium custom settings, 1000p and FSR Performance.
Through the gameplay in the video, the overlay mostly read the 50s and 60s, around 40 at the lowest in the busy market and up to 90 in the plane sequence.
Same spot: about 49–53 FPS at 20W, 54–57 at 25W and 56–62 at 35W. 35W only adds about 3 or 4 FPS over 25W.
1200p FSR Performance read about 49–50, 800p native about 41–42 and 800p FSR Quality about 55–56, the same as 1000p FSR Performance.

Test setup

Everybody has their own preferences, so take these as what I tested and what's been working for me, not the only way to run it. You can also change the settings on the fly without restarting the game for pretty much everything, so it's easy to adjust while you play.

Device: Lenovo Legion Go 2 with the Z2 Extreme, 10GB VRAM
Mode: Xbox mode (Xbox full screen experience), on the January-dated GPU driver
TDP: 25W, which has been a good sweet spot for this game and a lot of harder-to-run games
Resolution: 1000p with FSR Performance, the same mode I used at 1080p on other devices. V-Sync is off for the video, so you'll see tearing, but on the device you won't with VRR or V-Sync.
Settings: texture quality medium, 8x texture filtering, level of detail low, terrain medium, shadows low, volumetric fog low, effects low, reflections medium and all post effects off
FPS numbers are what the on-screen overlay read in the video, checked every two seconds.

007 First Light on the Legion Go 2 at 1000p FSR Performance, 25W, overlay reading 55 FPS — 1000p, FSR Performance, 25W, low/medium custom settings. Overlay reads 55 FPS.

20W, 25W and 35W

Dropping to 20W, about the same as performance mode (maybe with slightly different thermals from the fan curve), costs a few FPS, but it's not bad, and even in harder-to-run areas you won't see too much of a dip. In the same spot, the overlay read about 49 to 53 FPS at 20W against 54 to 57 at 25W.

Going all the way up to 35W only gained about 3 or 4 FPS over 25W, reading about 56 to 62. I just think that's a lot of battery burn, with it boosting to around 44 watts at times, to really be worth it. If you're docked, you can certainly get a bit more out of it, but anywhere between 20 and 30 watts should work just fine.

007 First Light on the Legion Go 2 at 1000p FSR Performance, 20W, overlay reading 51 FPS — 20W, same settings. Overlay reads 51 FPS.

007 First Light on the Legion Go 2 at 1000p FSR Performance, 35W, overlay reading 62 FPS — 35W, same settings. Overlay reads 62 FPS.

Other resolutions

1200p with FSR Performance costs about six to eight FPS depending on where you are and where you're looking. In this spot, the overlay read about 49 to 50.

800p native loses a bit, but it's an option if you don't want any upscaling. Here it read about 41 to 42, and there are areas of the game where you'll drop to 30 or maybe a little under. You can fix that easily by turning on FSR, even just Quality, which gains about 15 FPS at 800p. 800p with FSR Quality read about 55 to 56, the same as my 1000p FSR Performance setup, which makes sense considering the resolution.

007 First Light on the Legion Go 2 at 1200p FSR Performance, 25W, overlay reading 49 FPS — 1200p, FSR Performance, 25W. Overlay reads 49 FPS.

007 First Light on the Legion Go 2 at 800p native, 25W, overlay reading 41 FPS — 800p native, 25W. Overlay reads 41 FPS.

007 First Light on the Legion Go 2 at 800p FSR Quality, 25W, overlay reading 56 FPS — 800p, FSR Quality, 25W. Overlay reads 56 FPS.

Gameplay at 1000p, 25W

Most areas of the game run really well, and pretty much all of them stay over 40 FPS, though there are some spots where it goes under. Driving, walking around, gun battles, hand-to-hand fights, indoors, outdoors and different missions all perform a little differently. In the gameplay in the video, the overlay mostly read the 50s and 60s, dipped to about 40 to 46 in the busy market, ran into the 70s in some interiors and hit 80s to 90 during the plane sequence.

007 First Light in a crowded market on the Legion Go 2, overlay reading 41 FPS — The busy market is one of the heavier spots. Overlay reads 41 FPS.

007 First Light indoors on the Legion Go 2, overlay reading 71 FPS — An indoor section. Overlay reads 71 FPS.

007 First Light plane sequence on the Legion Go 2, overlay reading 86 FPS — The plane sequence. Overlay reads 86 FPS.

Verdict

1000p at 25W with these settings has been working pretty well for me, and I was pretty happy with how it runs, even with some frame time issues here and there. I think driver updates would certainly help, along with some game updates. For how the Go 2 stacks up against the original, see my Legion Go Z1E vs Legion Go 2 Z2E head to head in 007 First Light.

FAQ

Is 35W worth it for 007 First Light on the Legion Go 2?

Not really in handheld. 35W only gained about 3 or 4 FPS over 25W in the same spot, with a lot more battery burn. Docked, you can get a bit more out of it.

Should I use 800p native or FSR on the Legion Go 2?

800p native read about 41–42 FPS in the test spot and can drop to 30 or a little under in some areas. FSR Quality at 800p gained about 15 FPS, matching 1000p with FSR Performance.

Want more handheld tests?

New Steam Deck, ROG Ally, Legion Go and Steam Machine performance videos every week.

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