The latest Intel Core Ultra 200V (Lunar Lake) CPUs have been put through independent benchmarks, offering the first real glimpse of performance. The results were published by Vietnamese tech site ThinkView, comparing the Core Ultra 7 268V against AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, Ryzen Z1 Extreme, and Apple’s M3. Tests included Cinebench R23 for CPU performance and 3DMark TimeSpy for graphics.
Cinebench R23: Multi-Core Performance #
The Core Ultra 7 268V was tested under 15W, 20W, 28W, and 38W power targets to measure scaling efficiency. Across all modes, Intel lagged significantly behind AMD competitors:
- At 15W: Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 was ~57% faster
- At 20W: HX 370 was ~66% faster
- At 28W: HX 370 was ~60% faster
- At 38W: HX 370 was ~54% faster
The Ryzen Z1 Extreme also outpaced Intel:
- 15W: +14% faster
- 20W: +46% faster
- 28W: +35% faster
- 38W: +45% faster
While some doubt remains about absolute accuracy, the overall multi-core performance gap is undeniable — AMD dominates in efficiency and throughput.
Cinebench R23: Single-Core Performance #
On the single-core side, the Core Ultra 7 268V scored 2,054 points:
- +5 points vs Ryzen AI 9 HX 370
- +10% faster than Apple’s M3
In performance per watt, the 268V scored 137, beating HX 370’s 97.5, but far behind Apple M3’s 292, highlighting Apple’s energy efficiency lead.
3DMark TimeSpy: Graphics Performance #
Graphics results were a relative bright spot for Lunar Lake. The integrated Arc GPU in the 268V achieved:
- 3,715 points (Core Ultra 7 268V)
- vs 3,526 (Ryzen AI 9 HX 370)
- vs 3,017 (Ryzen Z1 Extreme)
This shows Intel ahead of AMD in GPU performance, making Lunar Lake strong for integrated graphics tasks and light gaming.
Key Takeaways #
-
Strengths:
- Competitive single-core performance
- Leading integrated GPU performance
- Better efficiency than AMD (but not Apple)
-
Weaknesses:
- Multi-core performance trails AMD by ~50%
- Energy efficiency still far behind Apple’s M-series
Intel has officially launched Lunar Lake, and laptops powered by these CPUs are now gradually rolling out. While AMD maintains a clear edge in multi-core workloads, Intel is positioning Lunar Lake as a strong contender in graphics, AI acceleration, and single-threaded tasks.