AMD Ryzen 7000 Mobile, Tested: 'Dragon Range' Pushes Intel for CPU Speed Crown
Back at CES 2023 in January, AMD pulled the curtain off its new Ryzen 7000 mobile processors, split into tiers dubbed "Phoenix" and "Dragon Range." I now have enjoyed PCMag's first chance to test these laptop CPUs in the form of a top-end Dragon Range chip, the Ryzen 9 7945HX.
In particular, I was sent the new Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 with this chip inside as my test unit. The device itself is a 17-inch gaming laptop with plenty of internal room for thermal hardware that can help push this processor to its full potential. This combination is, no doubt, an example of the high end of what this platform can do. But that’s an ideal use case for this tier of chip, and for judging its potential performance ceiling. You buy a laptop with a high-end chip like this to let it run free.
We recently ran a similar testing analysis story for the top-end samples of Intel’s rival 13th Generation “Raptor Lake” mobile chips, which represent stiff competition. On mobile processors like these, Intel, generally, has stolen the performance lead back in the last couple of generations, and this represents AMD’s latest attempt to at least keep pace. Even if it has been edged out in some use cases, the Ryzen silicon is still capable of impressive speed, but it hasn’t been able to wholly close the gap. Let’s take a look at what Dragon Range has to offer.
You'll see a lot to unpack regarding AMD’s 2023 slate of mobile processors, but I’ll try to focus on the "Dragon Range" offerings, since that’s what I've tested here. The other new line, code-named "Phoenix," is part of the same 7000 Series generation, yes, but it isn’t used in this type of large, power-monger laptop and has some fundamental differences with Dragon Range—chiefly, the presence of
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