GEEKOM AS 6 (ASUS PN53) Review: Ryzen 9 6900HX Packs Punches in a Petite Package

GPU Performance: Synthetic Benchmarks

AMD's Rembrandt SoCs includes an integrated GPU update to enable it to compete against Intel's Xe iGPUs. The new RDNA2 microarchitecture is present in the Ryzen 9 6900HX in the form of the Radeon 680M. With 12 CUs and 768 shader units clocked at 2.4 GHz, AMD claims that the GPU should be capable of playing virtually any modern game at Full HD resolutions. For full-blown desktop systems or mini-PCs targeting the gaming market, we look at gaming workloads. However, for general-purpose mini-PC models like the GEEKOM AS 6, we restrict ourselves to a series of canned benchmarks from Kishonti and Futuremark / UL. Prior to that, a look at the capabilities of the GPU via GPU-Z is warranted.

GPU-Z indicates the presence of hardware ray-tracing - a first for an integrated GPU.

AMD Radeon 680M Features

In the ray tracing department, Rembrandt already scores over Intel's latest iGPU. The remaining subsections below look into the performance aspects.

GFXBench

The DirectX 12-based GFXBench tests from Kishonti are cross-platform, and available all the way down to smartphones. As such, they are not very taxing for discrete GPUs and modern integrated GPUs. We processed the offscreen versions of the 'Aztec Ruins' benchmark.

At 1080p, the souped-up Raptor Lake-P in the ASRock Industrial NUC BOX-1360P/D5 has a healthy boost over the Arena Canyon NUC. The Rembrandt-based systems slot between the two, with the GEEKOM AS 6 at the top of that pack. However, at 1440p, the Rembrandt systems move to the top of the pack.

UL 3DMark

Four different workload sets were processed in 3DMark - Fire Strike, Time Spy, Night Raid, and Wild Life.

3DMark Fire Strike

The Fire Strike benchmark has three workloads. The base version is meant for high-performance gaming PCs. It uses DirectX 11 (feature level 11) to render frames at 1920 x 1080. The Extreme version targets 1440p gaming requirements, while the Ultra version targets 4K gaming system, and renders at 3840 x 2160. The graph below presents the overall score for the Fire Strike Extreme and Fire Strike Ultra benchmark across all the systems that are being compared.

The GFXBench scores showed Rembrandt pulling away from Raptor Lake-P at 1440p, and that is evident in the Extreme and Ultra scores above also. The GEEKOM AS 6 has the highest iGPU clocks among all the Rembrandt systems, and that is reflected in its appearance at the top of the pack in both settings.

3DMark Time Spy

The Time Spy workload has two levels with different complexities. Both use DirectX 12 (feature level 11). However, the plain version targets high-performance gaming PCs with a 2560 x 1440 render resolution, while the Extreme version renders at 3840 x 2160 resolution. The graphs below present both numbers for all the systems that are being compared in this review.

The 42W Ryzen 7 7735U in the ASRock Industrial 4X4 BOX-7735U manages to perform as well as the GEEKOM AS 6's 35W Ryzen 9 6900HX in both settings, but they are both at the top of the pack.

3DMark Wild Life

The Wild Life workload was initially introduced as a cross-platform GPU benchmark in 2020. It renders at a 2560 x 1440 resolution using Vulkan 1.1 APIs on Windows. It is a relatively short-running test, reflective of mobile GPU usage. In mid-2021, UL released the Wild Life Extreme workload that was a more demanding version that renders at 3840 x 2160 and runs for a much longer duration reflective of typical desktop gaming usage.

This workload sees the Raptor Lake-P's iGPU hold the edge when configured with higher clocks / higher sustained power budget (as in the NUC BOX-1360P/D5). The GEEKOM AS 6 follows closely behind.

3DMark Night Raid

The Night Raid workload is a DirectX 12 benchmark test. It is less demanding than Time Spy, and is optimized for integrated graphics. The graph below presents the overall score in this workload for different system configurations.

The GEEKOM AS 6 and the 4X4 BOX-7735U are comfortably on top, with almost a 20% advantage over the best that Raptor Lake-P has to offer.

3DMark Port Royal

UL introduced the Port Royal ray-tracing benchmark as a DLC for 3DMark in early 2019. The scores serve as an indicator of how the system handles ray-tracing effects in real-time.

The GPU in the Ryzen 9 6900HX is clocked higher than the one in the Ryzen 7 7735U, and that is reflected in the Port Royal performance scores graphed above.