Intel's latest generation of Ultra processors is now launching within new productivity laptops, and after reviewing the Asus Zenbook Duo (2025) this week, I took it upon myself to test how Arrow Lake's integrated graphics chip handles gaming.
The Zenbook Duo is built with an Intel Core Ultra 9 285H processor and an Intel Arc 140T integrated GPU with 16GB of VRAM. We typically wouldn't recommend integrated graphics for those who plan to game regularly, but how capable is Intel's latest chip?
We put it to the test across three games: Elden Ring, Doom Eternal, and Marvel Rivals, each of which was tested at 1920 x 1080 and 2880 x 1800 resolutions with varying graphical settings to see how Intel Arc 140T handles certain workloads.
Without further ado, here's how the Zenbook Duo 2025 performed in various gaming tests with the Intel Core Ultra 9 285H.
What it's like to game on the Intel Core Ultra 9 285H
Before jumping into my personal tests, let us get some lab results out of the way and compare those directly to what we've seen from the previous generation.
On the 3DMark Fire Strike test, which is a DirectX 11 benchmark to measure a hardware's performance in gaming, the Asus Zenbook Duo (Intel Core Ultra 9 285H) earned a score of 9,510. The Acer Swift Go 16 (Intel Core Ultra 9 185H) was a bit behind with its Fire Strike score of 8,642.
We also played Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm, and at 1920 x 1080 resolution, the Asus Zenbook Duo (56 fps) did a decent bit better than the Acer Swift Go 16 (48 fps).
But how did it perform in my hands-on testing?
I launched Elden Ring, jumped into the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, and found myself shocked by how well the laptop handled High graphics with Ray Tracing off at 1920 x 1080. I dispatched my enemies throughout the game's expansive fields hovering around 35 to 45 frames per second. The game looked stunning at this fidelity and felt surprisingly smooth.
I tested the limits and it hovered around 25 to 30 fps at Maximum graphics with Low Ray Tracing, which felt bumpy but playable. Bumping this same preset up to Maximum Ray Tracing didn't change that much, but the drops to 25 fps were more frequent.
I returned to High graphics with Ray Tracing off but boosted the resolution to the Zenbook Duo's native 2880 x 1800, which sent it bouncing between 25 and 30 fps. While still playable, I don't recommend the Intel Arc 140T for 2K gaming. To further prove just how incapable it is, it ran between 15 and 20 fps at 2880 x 1800 with Maximum graphics and Ray Tracing. It looked rough.
I moved to Doom Eternal on High graphics at 1920 x 1200, and the game hovered between 40 and 50 fps as I blasted my way through hordes of demons. There were occasional drops down to 35 fps when many enemies and effects were on screen at once.
Boosting the graphics to Ultra Nightmare made it look choppy, hovering between 25 to 35 fps with frequent stutters. High graphics at 2880 x 1800 wasn't much better, as I experienced occasional stutters with it ranging between 25 and 30 fps.
While Arrow Lake's integrated graphics did rather well in our tests so far, it fell apart while playing Marvel Rivals. This isn't much of a surprise considering it's a new game utilizing Unreal Engine 5.
With graphics on Low at 1920 x 1200, my framerate jumped anywhere between 35 to 40 fps, but the constant stutters alongside how flat and unpleasant the world appeared firmly landed it in the realm of unplayable. Considering that's already at the lowest graphics settings, I didn't have much faith in the other settings.
Increasing the resolution to 2880 x 1800 caused it to struggle between 20 to 25 fps with even more frequent stutters. I tried the same settings but turned Intel XeSS on, and while the framerate bumped up around 30 to 35 fps, it didn't eliminate the stutters that made it unplayable.
Is Intel's Arrow Lake good for gaming?
We would never recommend integrated graphics in a laptop for someone who's looking to game seriously, but iGPUs have gotten surprisingly decent, and Arrow Lake is a fantastic example of that. Elden Ring and Doom Eternal are easily playable without making extreme sacrifices to graphical fidelity, just don't expect to run either game at 60 fps.
Marvel Rivals didn't do particularly well, but it's a rather demanding title, so that's not surprising. If you're planning to do light gaming, whether that be indie titles or less demanding games that launched in the last few years, you'll probably be okay with Arrow Lake's integrated graphics.
