Ryzen Z2 Go Appears 10% Slower Than Ryzen Z1 Extreme — Legion Go S Versus ROG Ally X Showdown

AMD recently unveiled its new Ryzen Z2 Go APU, sparking plenty of interest about how it stacks up against the Ryzen Z1 series. Thankfully, Fps VN has come to our rescue by sharing the FPS test results of the Lenovo Legion Go S compared to the Asus ROG Ally X, tested across three games using different power settings.

Lenovo’s latest release, the Legion Go S, is equipped with the Ryzen Z2 Go APU. This model features fewer cores than the Z1 Extreme and operates on the Zen 3+ architecture instead of Zen 4. It also comes with a reduced base (3.0 GHz vs. 3.3 GHz) and boost (4.3 GHz vs. 5.1 GHz) clock speeds. Despite these specifications, Lenovo selected it for their new gaming handhelds, prompting us to see how it holds up against the older yet powerful AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme chip.

Before we delve into the performance results, let’s first glance at the specs of each device. Launching at CES 2025, the Lenovo Legion Go S is powered by an AMD Ryzen Z2 Go processor complemented by 16GB of LPDDR5X-6400 memory. It offers a 512GB PCIe 4.0 SSD and an eight-inch, 120 Hz, 1920×1200 IPS display. Meanwhile, the Asus ROG Ally X, released in mid-2024, boasts an AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme chip with 24GB of LPDDR5 memory and provides a larger 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD, all tied together with a seven-inch, 120 Hz, 1920×1080 IPS screen.

The FPS test results revealed the following for each game:

– Black Myth Wukong at 720p Medium 15W mode delivered 36 FPS on the Legion Go S compared to 40 on the ROG Ally X.
– At 1080p Low FSR 20W, the Legion Go S managed 30 FPS, while the ROG Ally X reached 32 FPS.
– At 1080p Low FSR 30W, the numbers were closer: 60 FPS for Legion and 64 FPS for ROG.

For the Cyberpunk 2077 game:

– At 720p Medium 15W, Legion Go S recorded 50 FPS versus 54 FPS on the ROG.
– At 1080p Low FSR 20W, the scores were 45 FPS and 47 FPS, respectively.
– At 1080p Medium FSR 30W, the Legion hit 61 FPS with ROG nudging slightly ahead at 66 FPS.

And finally, for Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut:

– At 720p Medium 15W, the Legion achieved 62 FPS, with the ROG at 66 FPS.
– At 1080p Medium FSR 20W, results were 48 FPS on the Legion and 52 FPS on the ROG.
– At the 1080p Medium FSR 30W setting, both devices performed similarly, with the Legion at 62 FPS and the ROG at 66 FPS.

As these data points illustrate, the Z1 Extreme powering the Asus ROG Ally X consistently outperformed the Z2 Go in the Lenovo Legion Go S. It’s expected, given the ROG’s advantage of more cores, higher clock speeds, and a larger L3 cache alongside the newer 780M integrated GPU.

However, across the three games tested, the difference was quite slim, with the ROG Ally X only scoring an average of 4 FPS higher than its Lenovo counterpart. Benchmarks indicate that the Ryzen Z2 Go achieves roughly 10% less performance compared to the Z1 Extreme.

Surprisingly, there wasn’t a significant gap in performance, even though the ROG Ally X benefits from 8GB more memory, a smaller screen, and lower resolution—which means fewer pixels to push around. AMD and Lenovo appear to have optimized the Z2 Go remarkably well, given the constraints of portable gaming consoles.

Currently priced at $799, the Asus ROG Ally X is slightly more expensive than the $729 Lenovo Legion Go. While the ROG Ally X offers better performance in raw numbers, gamers might be tempted by Lenovo’s bigger screen and more attractive price. Most users probably won’t even notice the 4 FPS difference between these two handhelds, making it a tough choice for consumers.