Intel's latest Lunar Lake processors have officially launched in a slate of new laptops, and the processor will power many more over the next year.
We reviewed and tested one of these launched Lunar Lake laptops: The Asus Zenbook S 14, powered by the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V processor.
It features the Intel Arc Graphics 140V integrated GPU, which was hyped up quite intensely at Intel's IFA Berlin 2024 presentation. The company claimed an improvement of up to 31% in gaming compared to Meteor Lake (specifically Intel Core i7 155H).
We had to put this seemingly incredible performance to the test, so we jumped into Doom Eternal, Helldivers 2, and Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree to see how it handles these rather demanding titles. Here's what happened!
Doom Eternal on Lunar Lake: Gaming tests
I started by launching Doom Eternal and the Bethesda loading screen froze immediately, which had me a bit worried, but I ended up impressed by how Lunar Lake handled the game.
I kept the resolution at the Asus Zenbook S 14's default, 2,880 x 1,800p, and set graphics settings to high. It performed surprisingly well here, yielding around 30 to 40 frames per second while exploring. However, during an intense gunfight, it dips beneath 30 fps, and when many enemies are on screen, it gets closer to 20 fps.
Swapping to 1,920 x 1,080-pixel resolution greatly improved the results, yielding anywhere between 50-60 fps while running around Cultist Base and battling small groups of enemies. During more intense gunfights, it would drop to around 40-50 fps, further decreasing to around 35 fps when lots of effects are on screen at once.
To truly test Lunar Lake, I had to try out its ray tracing capabilities. I put the resolution back up to 2,880 x 1,880p, kept the graphics at high, and turned ray tracing on. This is the only time throughout my tests that the game dived into the realm of unplayable, yielding a miserable 14 to 17 frames per second that felt as if the game was in slow motion. During a gunfight, it got as low as 10 frames per second.
On 1,920 x 1,080-pixel resolution, I maintained 30 to 40 fps with ray tracing active while jumping between platforms and battling small groups of enemies. Intense gunfights brought it beneath 30 fps, sometimes hovering around 20 fps during its most explosive moments.
Helldivers 2 on Lunar Lake: Gaming tests
Considering Helldivers 2 launched years after Doom Eternal, it's more demanding on, and isn't a game you can enjoy at high graphics or resolution on an integrated GPU.
However, we still tested it. At the laptop's base resolution of 2,880 x 1,800p with graphic settings at low, I managed around 25 frames per second while idling on the ship.
After landing on the planet Gaellivare, I ran around its sunburnt deserts and continued to yield a consistent 25 fps. I got stopped by a group of Automatons and got thrust into a gunfight, where it dropped to around 20 during its most intense moments.
I dropped the resolution to 1,920 x 1,080p and stayed at around 40 to 45 fps while running around, but it was closer to 35 fps during the more intense gunfights. It also dropped to around 35 fps during a Volcanic Activity event, where fiery meteors fell from the sky. There is also a strange issue where the game suffers sudden slowdowns when the resolution is set to 1,920 x 1,080, as if the world is lagging. This only happens in full-screen mode, so it's not an issue in windowed mode.
I kept the resolution at 1,920 x 1,080p but bumped the graphics up to high. While idle, it hovered at around 25 fps, but running around resulted in frequent stutters and slowdowns that dropped the performance down to 10 fps every few seconds.
Elden Ring on Lunar Lake: Gaming tests
I launched Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree and set the graphics to low at 2,880 x 1,800-pixel resolution. Running around the Scorched Ruins, the Lunar Lake integrated graphics managed a decent 30 fps with occasional slowdowns to 25 fps. I challenged the massive titan roaming around the area and it only dropped below 25 fps once when it jumped up in the air and stomped on me, causing tons of fire explosion effects to bring it down to around 20 fps.
I kept the same graphics and resolution, but bumped the ray tracing up to maximum to see how Lunar Lake could handle it. Unsurprisingly, it seriously struggled, with the idle framerate sitting at 20 fps. I returned to challenge the flaming giant, but just riding my steed toward it resulted in stutters that brought me down to around 10 to 15 fps. During the fight, it lagged a bit too much to be considered playable, but I did not expect that the laptop would be able to handle it at this level.
I kept ray tracing at maximum but bumped the resolution down to 1,920 x 1,080p and managed 25 to 30 fps while idle. Charging at the giant resulted in no stutters, and even while being absolutely torn apart by it, it never dropped below 25 fps.
I turned ray tracing off, kept the resolution at 1,920 x 1,080p, and managed to hit 35 to 40 fps while roaming around the Scorched Plains. I charged at the flaming giant and didn't experience stutters, but the intense explosions it set off brought it down to around 25 to 30 fps.
Integrated graphics are reaching whole new levels
From my tests across Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, Doom Eternal, and Helldivers 2, I was reminded of just how phenomenal integrated graphics are now.
Considering the Zenbook S 14 isn't remotely a gaming laptop and is focused on being light and thin more than anything, I was stunned that it was capable of running all three of these games at decent framerates.
Sure, you won't get the power expected from discrete GPUs, and we recommend avoiding the highest graphics settings, but it's impressive that you can absolutely play these games on integrated graphics.
