No chance for AMD: Intel Panther Lake Core Ultra X9 388H trounces AMD Strix Halo at low power signaling handheld gaming domination in 2026

[Redaktion]

The Intel Panther Lake APUs are here, and they are looking quite good. From multi-core performance to power efficiency, Panther Lake APUs like the Core Ultra X9 388H have a lot going for them. However, the Core Ultra X9 388H and its Arc B390 iGPU is particularly impressive at low TDP ranges.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/No-chance-for-AMD-Intel-Panther-Lake-Core-Ultra-X9-388H-trounces-AMD-Strix-Halo-at-low-power-signaling-handheld-gaming-domination-in-2026.1213244.0.html

[opckieran]

So much for Strix Halo handhelds... And pretty much any AMD handheld until they move on from RDNA 3.5. They're better off skipping RDNA 4 iGPUs at this point too.

But I know some "geniuses" out there will lecture us about how important it is to be able to run excel spreadsheets (on their handhelds too) powered by the now inferior HX 470.🤣

[Terror Byte]

So much for Strix Halo handhelds... And pretty much any AMD handheld until they move on from RDNA 3.5. They're better off skipping RDNA 4 iGPUs at this point too.

But I know some "geniuses" out there will lecture us about how important it is to be able to run excel spreadsheets (on their handhelds too) powered by the now inferior HX 470.🤣

Halo was never designed with very low power gaming in mind at all. It's ludicrous to run this thing at 15-20W. Why not run a 5080 at 20W too and see how poorly it fares. Halo has 16 full Zen 5 cores, no E-cores, 256 bit bus width and 40CU's. I amazed it even runs at 15W.

The only you said that makes sense is RDNA3.5 needs to go ASAP in all Zen 6 apu's, not just high end.

[Doesn't matter]

Really?

Just get a Nintendo and get over it.  Sarcastic comment.

Strix Halo is meant for AI, games are just a side benefit, if you waste your time on them.

The day Intel can produce an AI capable system, we can talk, until then. Best of luck.  Live with the intrinsic insecurity it provides you playing games.

[opckieran]

So much for Strix Halo handhelds... And pretty much any AMD handheld until they move on from RDNA 3.5. They're better off skipping RDNA 4 iGPUs at this point too.

But I know some "geniuses" out there will lecture us about how important it is to be able to run excel spreadsheets (on their handhelds too) powered by the now inferior HX 470.🤣

Halo was never designed with very low power gaming in mind at all. It's ludicrous to run this thing at 15-20W. Why not run a 5080 at 20W too and see how poorly it fares. Halo has 16 full Zen 5 cores, no E-cores, 256 bit bus width and 40CU's. I amazed it even runs at 15W.

The only you said that makes sense is RDNA3.5 needs to go ASAP in all Zen 6 apu's, not just high end.

Yeah that was intentional, directed towards the fanboys who can't accept that Intel released a geniunely good product...

[M2026]

Fawad, next time show the CPU part of the "no chance" as well :)))

[M2026]

@all the stupid trumpist and other "geniuses", who can not get a simplest sentece lol:

According to ThePhawx YT video, here are the numbers:

CPU/TDP   10W   15W   20W   28W   30W   35W   40W   45W
AI MAX 390   370   587   645   840   910   1005   1080   1140
AI MAX+ 395   510   674   796   1020   1075   1155   1228   1379
X9 388H      560   691   796   940   975   1025   1078   1120

So, the X9 388H is better than the 395 only up to ca 22W and better than the 390 only up to ca 38W. That is it...so much for the "no chance" and the "foreigners, who screwed the US" :)))

[M2026]

"Yeah that was intentional, directed towards the fanboys who can't accept that Intel released a geniunely good product..."

You just "somehow" forgot that what you're praising - the iGPU - you owe to TSMC, you trumpist "genius"! loool

[Leonardk]

No chance for intel, Given the low yield of 18A, therefore higher cost and low volume.

[CheekyLittleBlighter]

pretty much any AMD handheld

They've made them redundant. Why get a 1kg handheld for over a grand when you can get a entire laptop that weighs less or the same for not much more. The LeGo 2 display isn't even special anymore. Many of the panther lake laptops are using the same OLED VRR HDR 1100+ nit brightness display tech but on much larger 14" panels instead of an 8.8".

Must be embarrassing for AMD to put all that effort in only to be superceded / made obsolete within a couple of months later.

Halo was never designed with very low power gaming in mind

Designed or unable to? I think what's even more impressive is that intel were able to do this using chiplet design, which often has a power penalty. We saw this when AMD did it on Rx 7000 first and it didn't meet its power efficiency targets. And now again here with halo. This indicates me that intel is now superior at designing low power chiplets to AMD. And that's impressive considering AMD is a leader in chiplets and brought chiplet design to consumers many years ago first with zen 2.

[Half-n-half]

@M2026, I get where you're coming from I really do. But if your only concern is raw pure CPU performance (and nothing else like platform power or igpu perf), are you really sure you're commenting under the right article? You do realize that this is an article specifically about gaming handheld and not workstation CPU performance right?

If you need a workstation CPU, just go get a desktop epyc. Yes, it's much faster, with no regard for power or portability.

Btw, if you want the most cpu power in a laptop. M4 Max beats strix halo too. Especially when you consider on battery usage where halo throttles significantly.

And yea, they're using TSMC for their faster GPU tile but their smaller GPU  is being manufactured on intel 3 process.

The majority of people are going to be getting the cheaper slower variant. So you could say Pat Gelsinger accomplished his mission while he was directing project. His job was to get intel foundry's to be used more and they're now.

[M2026]

@Half-n-half
,,If you need a workstation CPU, just go get a desktop epyc. Yes, it's much faster, with no regard for power or portability."
If you need to travel, this is not the best solution :)

,,M4 Max beats strix halo too"
No professional software works on a Mac - well, almost none (I don't count Photoshop, Premiere, etc., because I don't do graphics or video).

To understand me, I'm not against Intel or Mac and I'm not an AMD fanboy at all.
Quite the opposite, only fanboys get on my nerves...
Almost all the software I use is exclusively for Win and a large part of it is optimized for Intel. That's the problem - huge "hype" and now we see what? Typical Intel bullshit - basically zero progress (when it comes to CPUs).

It is true that many people will be satisfied with the new iGPU, I understand that, but it is not enough for professional software and I assume the same about people who play the latest games, because according to the available tests it is at the level of RTX5050/5060, based on other information it is only at the level of RTX4050, although the hype was that it would be at the level of 5070.

In other words, we are where we have been with Intel for about 15 years, because the same "song" is still repeated - old wine in new bottles...

The hype is over, let's wait for the most powerful laptops. Then it will be clear whether it makes sense to read articles about 18a or save a lot of time and start paying attention to Intel only when it is 14a, or 10a :)))

[Doon]

This is a good start for intel, granted I don't know anyone that games at low wattage on Uber expensive chips...but a good start none the less.

First time I saw a 390hx it was plugged i at a coffee shop playing star citizen.... I think dudes who drop 2 grand on an ultra light probably are looking for more then 30fps from cyberpunk

[bill15]

So much for Strix Halo handhelds... And pretty much any AMD handheld until they move on from RDNA 3.5. They're better off skipping RDNA 4 iGPUs at this point too.

But I know some "geniuses" out there will lecture us about how important it is to be able to run excel spreadsheets (on their handhelds too) powered by the now inferior HX 470.🤣

Agree

[Half-n-half]

That's a fair point about professional software. In that case, it wouldn't just be intel or mac but even AMD might possibly not be the best choice. Since a lot of pro apps are heavily optimized for Nvidia's CUDA. Maybe wait for n1x, if your software isn't heavily tied to x86? ;)

About GPU expectations...it was always meant to be around rtx 4050, at least according to intel's official announcement and press release. Anyone else saying otherwise is just hyping them up and creating confusion.

Maybe they're mixing it up with Nvidia n1x platform, which will be around rtx 5070 level. (Hopefully, we'll see heh)