GPD Win 4 receives an upgrade to Zen 4 and RDNA 3 this August

[Daniel Sims]

Something to look forward to: The Asus ROG Ally aimed to intensify the handheld gaming PC wars when it challenged the Ayaneo 2 and GPD Win 4 using AMD's latest architecture. Now GPD has responded with a quick refresh that upgrades to the same architecture but changes little else.

Handheld PC maker GPD recently unveiled two new models of the GPD Win 4. Arriving in August – just five months after the original variant's March debut – the new units feature specs undoubtedly meant to challenge the Asus ROG Ally, which launched in May. The company has yet to reveal price points.

At first glance, the GPD Win 4 7840U and 7640U could easily be mistaken for their predecessor, retaining their name and PSP-inspired chassis. Other than the processor and graphics upgrades, the only significant additions are options for 64GB of RAM and 4TB of onboard storage. Comparing the enhancements to the ROG Ally makes the reason for the refresh obvious.

	GPD Win 4 7840U	GPD Win 4 7640U	GPD Win 4 6800U	ROG Ally Z1 Extreme	ROG Ally Z1	Steam Deck
CPU Architecture	Zen 4	Zen 4	Zen 3+	Zen 4	Zen 4	Zen 2
Cores	8C/16T	6C/12T	8C/16T	8C/16T	6C/12T	4C/8T
Max Boost Clock	5.1GHz	4.9GHz	4.7GHz	5.1GHz	4.9GHz	3.5GHz
GPU	RDNA 3 (12CUs)	RDNA 3 (8CUs)	RDNA 2 (12CUs)	RDNA 3 (12CUs)	RDNA 3 (6CUs)	RDNA 2 (8CUs)
GPU Frequency	2.7GHz	2.6GHz	2.2GHz	Up to 2.7GHz	Up to 2.5GHz	1.0-1.6GHz
RAM	64GB 32GB	16GB	32GB 16GB	16GB	16GB	16GB
Onboard Storage Capacity	512GB 2TB 4TB	512GB	1TB/2TB	512GB	256GB	64GB 256GB 512GB
Display	1080p 60hz H-IPS	1080p 60hz H-IPS	1080p 60hz H-IPS	1080p 120Hz VRR IPS	1080p 120Hz VRR IPS	800p 60Hz LCD
External Graphics	Oculink	Oculink	USB-C	XG Mobile	XG Mobile	Not Supported
Operating System	Windows 11 SteamOS (optional) GPD OS (optional)	Windows 11 SteamOS (optional) GPD OS (optional)	Windows 11 SteamOS (optional)	Windows 11	Windows 11	SteamOS Windows 11 (optional)
Battery	45.62Wh	45.62Wh	45.62Wh	40Whr	TBD	40Whr
TDP	15-30W	15-30W	28W	9-30W	TBD	4-14W
Price	TBD	TBD	$800-$1,200	$699	TBD	$399-$649

After Valve's Steam Deck swung the doors open for handheld gaming PCs, the Ayaneo 2 and subsequent GPD Win models tried to leapfrog its AMD Zen 2 RDNA 2 APU with the Zen 3+ Ryzen 7 6800U. However, Asus stormed in with its Zen 4 RDNA 3-based ROG Ally.

The GPD 4 revisions follow with processor and graphics specs that look almost identical to the Ally Z1 Extreme and the upcoming lower-end Z1. Both competitors' high-end models have 8-core 16-thread CPUs, which boost to 5.1GHz, paired with 12 RDNA 3 CUDA cores maxing out at 2.7GHz. The cheaper models on both sides are also close, with six cores and 12 threads at 4.9GHz, although the GPD Win 4 7640U's graphics might have a slight edge over the ROG Ally Z1 with two more CUDAs. However, GPD didn't mimic the ROG Ally's 120Hz VRR screen.

Although all the recent Steam Deck competitors appear far more potent than Valve's handheld, the company isn't concerned. Last year, Valve said it would prefer to focus more on battery life than horsepower. The Steam Deck tops out at half the wattage of the GPD and Asus machines. The Deck shouldn't see any significant upgrades anytime soon.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/99237-gpd-win-4-receives-upgrade-zen-4-rdna.html

 

[b3rdm4n]

I'm very interested in a device of this nature that has occulink and a high refresh VRR display. I really like the idea of a kickass gaming handheld that really is actually a fully fledged PC on the inside, more than capable of other workloads I would throw at it. Sweet when out and about, then you could occulink into a high end gfx card, and going off testing lose ~5-10% of maximum performance for the benefits the setup comes with, bloody awesome stuff.

 

[J95qRP7]

Having the option for 32GB of system memory is a great option. While 16GB is good, these devices use main memory for VRAM, so ehile my Ally comes with 16GB, only 11.7GB is available to Windows, which is a bit tight. The Ally also has the option to allocate 8GB to VRAM, instead of the default 4GB. If they Ally came with 32GB, you could have 8GB of VRAM and 24GB system memory. That's a much better split.

While performance on these types of devices might not need 8GB for most games, having the extra VRAM available can make games less likely to stutters.