What you need to know
Early RTX Spark laptops show strong local AI performance, outperforming tested AMD and Apple devices, while gaming results vary. They beat AMD’s fastest integrated GPU and match RTX 5070 and RTX 5060 laptop graphics in some games, but CPU-heavy titles and latency with DLSS Frame Generation remain limitations.
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The first laptops with NVIDIA’s new RTX Spark processor, which pairs a 20-core Grace CPU with up to 6,144 CUDA Cores of RTX Blackwell graphics, are finally ready to launch. The first wave of RTX Spark laptops, arriving in new premium designs from Microsoft, ASUS, Dell, HP, MSI, and Lenovo, marks a new era for Windows PCs that leverage the power of Agentic AI.
With models offering up to 128GB of LPDDR5X-9400 memory, CUDA support, and NVIDIA’s AI leadership, early reviews paint a clear picture of efficiency and impressive AI performance. According to Tom’s Hardware benchmarks, local AI performance with Qwen 3.8 on a 27-billion-parameter model delivers twice the speed of AMD’s Ryzen AI Halo device and is notably faster than Apple’s MacBook Pro with the M5 Max chip.
The performance lead holds up with a lighter-weight model, which is encouraging for those eyeing an RTX Spark device for local and on-the-go AI workloads. As for gaming performance, it’s a mixed bag, with Tom’s Hardware noting that the 300 GB/s memory bandwidth limit affects performance in CPU-heavy titles like Gears of War: E-Day. That said, gaming benchmarks from NotebookCheck show the RTX Spark is notably faster than AMD’s fastest integrated GPU, the Radeon 8060S.
- Read more: MSI’s new Prestige N16 Flip AI+ is a two-in-one RTX Spark laptop
- Read more: NVIDIA announces RTX Spark, a Windows on Arm superchip for laptops and compact PCs
- Read more: MSI puts NVIDIA’s N1X SoC and 128GB of unified memory inside a Windows mini-PC
How does RTX Spark gaming performance compare with the RTX 5070 and RTX 5060 laptop GPUs across different settings?
What frame rates does RTX Spark achieve in Cyberpunk 2077 and Baldur’s Gate 3 without DLSS?
No frame rates without DLSS are given for Cyberpunk 2077 or Baldur’s Gate 3. At Ultra-equivalent settings, RTX Spark is reported to perform on par with GeForce RTX 5070 and RTX 5060 laptop graphics cards, but the story does not specify whether those results used DLSS.
Which local AI software and CUDA workflows are compatible with RTX Spark laptops?
How does RTX Spark’s 128GB LPDDR5X memory affect the size of AI models it can run locally?
Want something else? Ask TweakBot.
When testing Cyberpunk 2077 and Baldur’s Gate 3 at Ultra-equivalent settings, the RTX Spark GPU delivers performance on par with the GeForce RTX 5070 and RTX 5060 laptop graphics cards. Naturally, high-frame-rate gaming on RTX Spark relies on DLSS 4.5, including Super Resolution and Frame Generation. With DLSS, including Multi Frame Generation, Tom’s Hardware hit 100+ FPS in Control Resonant; however, the latency wasn’t ideal for a fast-paced game.
