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- Intel's Arc G3 Extreme (OneXPlayer 3) against AMD's Z2 Extreme (Legion Go 2), identical settings on both.
- The game is more than playable on both, but it runs better on the OneXPlayer 3.
- Built-in benchmark at 35 W: 57.6 FPS average on the OneXPlayer 3 vs 40.9 FPS on the Legion Go 2.
- At 20 W the G3 Extreme averaged 45.5 FPS, which is higher than the Z2 Extreme managed at 35 W.
After my OneXPlayer 3 vs MSI Claw 8 AI+ comparison showed the leap Intel made over its last-gen chip, a lot of you asked for Gears of War: E-Day on the OneXPlayer 3 against the Legion Go 2. That puts Intel's Arc G3 Extreme up against AMD's Z2 Extreme. I kept it a little simpler this time, focusing mostly on 35 W with TSR, plus 20 W runs in the benchmark.
The game is more than playable on both devices, but it definitely runs better on the OneXPlayer 3. I've played most of the game on the G3 Extreme at High to Ultra, which you're not really going to do on the Z2 Extreme.
Test setup (both devices)
- Xbox mode on both, which can help with performance and resources
- Steam version of the game
- 1200p (native display resolution), exclusive fullscreen
- TSR Performance (50%, the same as FSR Performance or XeSS Balanced)
- 20 W and 35 W in the benchmark, 35 W for gameplay
- VRAM: 10 GB on the Legion Go 2, Auto on the OneXPlayer 3
XeSS is what I'd use if you're only playing on Intel, but TSR made for an easy, fair comparison. The settings are identical on both devices:
- Effects: Low
- Textures: High
- Geometry: Low
- Post-processing: Medium
- Motion blur: Off
- Ray tracing settings (forced in this game): Low
- Hair strands: Off; detail objects: On
- Subsurface scattering: Medium
- Variable rate shading: On
- Animation quality: Medium
- Everything else: Low
These aren't recommended settings for either device, just a decent match for the comparison. On the OneXPlayer 3, I'd play at High to Ultra. That actually smooths it out a bit, because it takes pressure off the CPU and puts it on the GPU. On the Legion Go 2, I'd stay closer to this Low/Medium mix with some higher textures.
Benchmark results
Gears of War: E-Day's built-in benchmark, 1200p custom Low/Medium with TSR Performance. All four runs came back GPU bound.
| TDP | Legion Go 2 (Z2 Extreme) | OneXPlayer 3 (Arc G3 Extreme) |
|---|---|---|
| 20 W | 33.86 FPS | 45.54 FPS |
| 35 W | 40.93 FPS | 57.59 FPS |
That's about 12 FPS more for the G3 Extreme at 20 W and about 17 FPS more at 35 W.
Gameplay at 35 W
The side-by-side gameplay is all at 35 W with the same settings. Sampling the overlay through the gameplay section, the Legion Go 2 mostly sat in the upper 30s to upper 40s, while the OneXPlayer 3 was mostly in the upper 50s to upper 60s, peaking at 71.
Verdict
Gears of War: E-Day is more than playable on both handhelds, but the Arc G3 Extreme in the OneXPlayer 3 is clearly ahead of the Z2 Extreme in the Legion Go 2 at matched settings and power. On my own playthrough I've had the OneXPlayer 3 at High to Ultra, while on the Legion Go 2 I'd stay closer to a Low/Medium mix like this one.
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