AMD's new 890M mobile GPU could be over 30% faster than the 780M currently used in most handheld gaming PCs

AMD's latest mobile processors are nearly ready to go and we're beginning to see just what they'll bring with them in terms of performance when they arrive. It's seemingly great news for gamers, too, as the new Radeon 890M GPU looks to be a serious step-up over the 780M.

The 890M is the new iGPU to launch within the new AMD Ryzen AI 300-series. It includes 16 RDNA 3.5 CUs and will run at 2,900 MHz. The last-generation 780M, found in both 7000-series and 8000-series Ryzen mobile processors, contains just 12 RDNA 3 CUs at 2,800 MHz. From speeds and feeds alone, the 890M should be a decent step-up in performance, but we are now able to more confidently confirm that to be the case.

In new benchmarks from GPD (spotted by HXL on X) covering its latest GPD Duo device—a compact 2-in-1 laptop fitted with an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370—we can now ascertain the rough improvement with the 890M versus the 780M.

At 54W, the GPD Duo reaches a score of 4,221 in 3DMark Time Spy. GPD's own benchmarks suggest the GPD Win Max 2, powered by the 780M, reaches a score of 3,218. That means the 890M is 31% faster than the 780M.

The 890M also performs better than a discrete RTX 2050 running at 45W, which scored 3,769 in the same test, and only a hair below an RTX 3050 at 50W. What's not clear is which devices these discrete GPUs were running within. Yet for an iGPU with a power budget and memory shared with its CPU component to be competing with a dedicated graphics chip, that's impressive.

We also ran a quick test on the ROG Ally at 30W, which comes with a semi-custom version of the Ryzen 7 7840U and the 780M, and it scored 3,180. That's a 33% increase for the 890M.

Though the AMD Ryzen AI 300-series also comes with both Zen 5 and Zen 5c cores. GPD shows these cores working well in Cinebench 2024 (R24)—a 124 single-thread score to pretty much match the Ryzen 9 7950X and a 1,525 multithreaded score to match the Ryzen 9 5950X.

Only a single source of benchmarks isn't much to go on, which means there's still more to look out for when laptops fitted with these chips actually land next month. Moreover, it'll be really telling if the next-generation of gaming handhelds opt for AMD's new 890M for a genuine uplift in performance with roughly the same battery life. That's certainly possible, looking at the benchmarks above, though there's also the 12-core 880M that may also be a possibility.