Ryzen Z2 Go Trails Ryzen Z1 Extreme by 10% in Performance — Legion Go S Competes with ROG Ally X

AMD has just pulled back the curtain on their latest offering, the Ryzen Z2 Go APU, leading to a flurry of curiosity about how it stacks up against the older Ryzen Z1 series. Thanks to Fps VN, our questions didn’t have to linger for long. They’ve provided benchmark scores from testing the Lenovo Legion Go S against the Asus ROG Ally X across three popular games, each at different power settings.

Lenovo has released their Legion Go S, featuring the Ryzen Z2 Go APU. This new model boasts half the cores found in the Z1 Extreme and relies on a Zen 3+ architecture instead of the cutting-edge Zen 4. You’ll notice its base and boost clocks are slightly lower, at 3.0 GHz and 4.3 GHz, respectively, compared to the Z1 Extreme’s 3.3 GHz and 5.1 GHz. Despite these differences, Lenovo has opted to use the Z2 Go for their newest gaming handheld, prompting a deep dive into how it stands against AMD’s previous powerhouse, the Ryzen Z1 Extreme.

Before we delve into the numbers, let’s compare the basic specs of both devices. Revealed during CES 2025, the Lenovo Legion Go S is built around an AMD Ryzen Z2 Go processor paired with 16GB of LPDDR5X-6400 memory. It offers a 512GB PCIe 4.0 SSD for storage and showcases an eight-inch, 120 Hz, 1920×1200 IPS display. Meanwhile, the Asus ROG Ally X, which hit the market in mid-2024, is driven by an AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme chip teamed with a beefier 24GB of LPDDR5 memory. Its storage is a spacious 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD, and it features a seven-inch, 120 Hz, 1920×1080 IPS screen.

| Game Title (Settings) | Lenovo Legion Go S (Average FPS) | Asus ROG Ally X (Average FPS) |
|————————|———————————|——————————-|
| Black Myth Wukong (720p Medium 15W) | 36 | 40 |
| Black Myth Wukong (1080p Low FSR 20W) | 30 | 32 |
| Black Myth Wukong (1080p Low FSR 30W) | 60 | 64 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 (720p Medium 15W) | 50 | 54 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 (1080p Low FSR 20W) | 45 | 47 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 (1080p Medium FSR 30W) | 61 | 66 |
| Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut (720p Medium 15W) | 62 | 66 |
| Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut (1080p Medium FSR 20W) | 48 | 52 |
| Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut (1080p Medium FSR 30W) | 62 | 66 |

The results make it clear: the Z1 Extreme within the Asus ROG Ally X consistently edges out the Z2 Go powering the Lenovo Legion Go S. This isn’t entirely surprising, given that the Z1 Extreme doubles up on cores, clocks in at faster speeds, and comes loaded with twice the L3 cache, paired with the newer 780M integrated GPU versus the 680M on the Z2 Go.

Yet, here’s the twist: across all three titles tested, the performance gap was fairly minimal, clocking in at an average of just 4 FPS more favoring the ROG Ally X. Benchmark data indicates the Ryzen Z2 Go manages to hold its own, lagging roughly 10% behind the Ryzen Z1 Extreme.

We anticipated a more pronounced performance disparity, especially since the Ally X benefits from an additional 8GB of memory and a slightly smaller display which means fewer pixels to push. However, AMD and Lenovo seem to have fine-tuned the Z2 Go to punch above its specs, optimizing it for the constraints inherent to handheld gaming devices.

Cost-wise, the Asus ROG Ally X comes in at $799, while the Lenovo Legion Go is set at a slightly more wallet-friendly $729. When talking strictly about numbers, the Z1 Extreme-powered Ally X offers superior performance compared to its fresher rival. Nevertheless, gamers may lean towards the Legion Go’s larger screen and more attractive price, as in everyday gaming, most users won’t notice the slight 4FPS difference between these two.

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