Legion Go S Faces Off Against ROG Ally X as Ryzen Z2 Go Trails 10% Behind Ryzen Z1 Extreme

AMD has unveiled the Ryzen Z2 Go APU, sparking interest about its performance capabilities when stacked up against the Ryzen Z1 series. Luckily, the folks at Fps VN have shed some light on this by sharing FPS test results from a comparison of the Lenovo Legion Go S and the Asus ROG Ally X. They tested these two devices across three popular games under various power settings.

With the launch of the Lenovo Legion Go S, we see it equipped with the Ryzen Z2 Go APU. This new chip has half the cores of the Z1 Extreme, utilizing a Zen 3+ architecture rather than Zen 4. Clock speeds are also lower, with base and boost speeds at 3.0 GHz and 4.3 GHz respectively, compared to the 3.3 GHz and 5.1 GHz of the Z1 Extreme. Despite these specs, Lenovo opted for the Z2 Go in its latest gaming handheld, making us eager to see how it fares against the once top-tier Ryzen Z1 Extreme chip.

Let’s first line up the specs of each device before diving into performance details. Launched at CES 2025, the Lenovo Legion Go S is outfitted with an AMD Ryzen Z2 Go processor, featuring 16GB of LPDDR5X-6400 memory. It includes a 512GB PCIe 4.0 SSD for storage and boasts an eight-inch, 120 Hz, 1920×1200 IPS display. In contrast, the Asus ROG Ally X, released mid-2024, uses a more powerful Ryzen Z1 Extreme chip paired with 24GB of LPDDR5 memory. It offers a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD and comes with a seven-inch, 120 Hz, 1920×1080 IPS screen.

When tested with games like Black Myth Wukong, Cyberpunk 2077, and Ghost of Tsushima, the Asus ROG Ally X generally outperformed the Lenovo Legion Go S. This is understandable since the Z1 Extreme boasts more cores, higher clock speeds, double the L3 cache, and a newer 780M integrated GPU compared to the Z2 Go’s 680M.

However, the performance gap wasn’t as large as one might expect. On average, the ROG Ally X only managed about 4 FPS more than the Legion Go S across all three titles. Benchmarks indicate that the Z2 Go trails the Z1 Extreme by roughly 10% in terms of performance.

Considering the spec differences, particularly the 8GB more memory and a slightly smaller, lower-resolution screen on the Ally X, one might have predicted a wider performance void. Yet, AMD and Lenovo appear to have finely tuned the Z2 Go to deliver competitive performance, even within the constraints of handheld gaming devices.

Price-wise, the Asus ROG Ally X retails for $799, while the Lenovo Legion Go S is a bit more affordable at $729. Purely in terms of numbers, the Ally X with its Z1 Extreme offers better performance, but the Legion Go’s larger screen and lower price tag might appeal to gamers, especially when the FPS difference is nominal in real-world gaming experience.