GPD has settled on a release date for its upcoming Win 5 gaming handheld. On October 17, the world will witness the most performant handheld ever made, according to the company, as it’s powered by the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395.
The GPD Win 5 is the first gaming handheld to feature AMD’s Strix Halo APU. With 16 Zen 5 CPU cores and an XDNA 2 NPU under the hood, it’s set to blast through any gaming task you throw at it. Most importantly, it carries the biggest GPU ever seen on a handheld, counting 40 RDNA 3.5 compute units clocked up to 2.9GHz. This Radeon 8060S GPU is what many have been waiting to see on a handheld, and I’m eager see how it performs.
To ensure the APU gets enough juice to feed its power thirst, GPD has configured it with a large TDP range, going from 45W up to 120W. This should help it reach its rated boost frequencies and maintain strong performance during long gaming sessions.
Talking of which, unfortunately, these power needs meant that the machine doesn’t integrate a large enough battery pack without stealing space from the cooler assembly. Thus, GPD opts for a controversial solution, consisting of powering the machine using an external battery.
On one hand, this leaves a lot of space for a large cooling system, but on the other, the battery pack becomes cumbersome. The bright side is that GPD may offer additional battery packs as accessories, which would allow power users to swap them on the fly to continue playing. And you will need that since early testing by NITRX on YouTube indicates that the pack is only able to power the Win 5 for about two hours, even using the efficient 30W setting.
According to his tests, the GPD Win 5 achieves 6,285 points in the 3DMark Time Spy benchmark at 30W limit, spreading its wings to 10,421 points when offered 70W – an impressive boost that shows how more power can lead to better performance. In games, the 70W setting allowed smooth high refresh gaming, with 148fps in Forza Horizon 5, 147fps in Cyberpunk 2077, 157fps in Black Myth: Wukong, and 117fps in Monster Hunter Wilds. In other words, the hardware is capable of taking advantage of the Win 5’s 120Hz 1080p VRR display.
The reviewer has also indicated that the 32GB version will retail for ¥9,999 (£1,030), with the 64GB model coming slightly higher at ¥11,999 RMB (£1,236). Note however that these are unconfirmed prices since GPD has yet to officially announce them. Regardless, in two months, we shall finally find out.
