Intel Arc G3 Extreme Evaluated: Intel has made its debut in handheld gaming.
I initially saw Intel's new portable silicon at Computex 2026, where I encountered early devices equipped with it, such as the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ and the Acer Predator Atlas 8. However, witnessing a chip perform a demo on the exhibition floor is quite different from testing it with real-world applications. When MSI eventually provided me with the production version of the Claw for testing, I got the chance to do just that. Though my time with the device was limited, that brief period made it clear that Intel's Arc G3 Extreme is a highly capable handheld gaming platform.
Designed for the handheld watt wars
What makes this chip particularly intriguing is that it is not merely a standard laptop processor miniaturized into a smaller form factor. Intel has engineered the Arc G3 Extreme explicitly for handheld gaming, optimizing its power envelope and platform for portable usage. At its core is the Arc B390 GPU, built on Intel’s Xe3 architecture, featuring 12 Xe-cores, hardware ray tracing, and up to 113 TOPS of INT8 GPU compute. Additionally, the chip includes 14 CPU cores, an NPU, and supports up to LPDDR5X-8533 memory.
This specialization is crucial because handheld gaming ultimately revolves around managing power consumption. There's a finite amount of available power, and each watt allocated to CPU performance could have been used for graphics. The Arc G3 Extreme adopts a more graphics-centric approach, and after my testing, I believe Intel has successfully designed a handheld chip that meets the challenge.
The test: Evaluating Intel Arc G3 Extreme's speed
It's important to note an essential caveat before diving into the performance figures. My time with the MSI Claw was limited, so I conducted my synthetic and gaming benchmark tests at the 35W performance setting. Therefore, these results should not be viewed as a full assessment of how the Arc G3 Extreme performs across all potential TDP levels. Rather, they illustrate the capabilities of Intel's new handheld silicon when it operates under a generous power budget.
BenchmarkScores:Cinebench 2026 MT: 3646Cinebench 2026 ST: 497Cinebench R24 MT: 921Cinebench R24 ST: 122Cinebench R23 MT: 14720Cinebench R23 ST: 2003GeekBench 6 ST: 2777GeekBench 6 MT: 14173GeekBench OpenCL: 52812GeekBench Vulcan: 58710 3DMark Time Spy: 70983DMark Fire Strike: 123073DMark Night Raid: 44355
At 35W, the performance results are genuinely impressive. In my synthetic tests, the Arc G3 Extreme offered a level of performance that I've not previously seen from an Intel-powered handheld. The CPU is capable of delivering laptop-grade performance, but the real highlight is the Arc B390 GPU. I found the Arc G3 Extreme performs significantly better than AMD’s Ryzen Z2 Extreme in gaming tests. In fact, the Claw is the most powerful handheld gaming PC I’ve encountered.
GameProfileAvg FPSForza Horizon 6Graphics Preset: Medium, Intel XeSS-SR: Quality: 69Forza Horizon 5High Graphics Preset (RT: Medium) – MSAA 2x: 99Cyberpunk 2077Preset: Medium, NO RT, XeSS 2.0 – Balanced – Frame Generation: 153DOOM The Dark Ages – Level: HebethResolution Scaling Mode: Off | Overall Quality: Low | Upscaler: XeSS – Balanced, No FG: 78Black Myth WukongXeSS: 60, Preset: Medium, Ray Tracing: Off, Frame Generation: Auto: 105Assassin’s Creed ShadowsOverall Preset: Steam Deck, Frame Rate Target: 240, Intel XeSS: Balanced, Frame Generation: On: 92Hogwarts LegacyXeSS: Balanced | Quality Preset: Medium: 88LEGO BatmanPreset: Medium | AA: Off | XeSS: Balanced | Frame Generation: On, 4x | Full screen effects: Off: 221Spider-Man 2Preset: Medium | Upscale: XeSS | FG: On (FSR) | Dynamic Resolution Scaling: 60: 116Red Dead Redemption 2Preset: Favor Performance | API: Vulkan | Upscale: Off | FG: Off: 90Shadow of the Tomb RaiderPreset: High | API: DX12 | Anti-Aliasing: TAA | Upscale: Off: 75Baldur’s Gate 3Preset: Ultra | Upscaler: Off | Frame Generation: Off: 51F1 24Preset: Ultra High | Upscaler: Off | Frame Generation: Off: 38ControlPreset: Medium | API: DX11 | Anti-Aliasing: Off:
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Intel Arc G3 Extreme Evaluated: Intel has made its debut in handheld gaming.
Intel's Arc G3 Extreme offers top-tier handheld gaming performance, impressive efficiency, and a significant advancement compared to the company's prior mobile graphics generation.