Nvidia's N1X Arm Processor Leaks: Challenging Intel and AMD in the Laptop Market

Nvidia's 20-core N1X leaks with 3000+ single-core Geekbench score -- Arm chip could rival Intel and AMD's laptop offerings

Nvidia's rumored N1X SoC has surfaced on Geekbench, rivaling the best mobile offerings from Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm, via Olrak at X. The alleged 20-core chip has hit over 3,000 single-core points on Geekbench, with multi-core performance nearing AMD's leading Strix Halo line. That being said, it's prudent that we approach this leak with caution, given that Nvidia has yet to confirm this chip officially. The N1 family has long been a subject of rumors, marking Nvidia's foray into the consumer Windows-on-Arm landscape. Nvidia has reportedly partnered with MediaTek, which is expected to handle the CPU development of this SoC using off-the-shelf Arm Cortex cores. The first practical application of this partnership is the DGX Spark (formerly Project DIGITS), based on the GB10 superchip with 20 Arm cores (10x Cortex-X925 + 10x Cortex-A725) alongside a GPU that sports 6,144 CUDA cores based on the Blackwell architecture. Per the Geekbench listing, the N1X was sported atop an HP development board (HP 83A3) under Linux (Ubuntu 24.04.1). With a 20-thread configuration in the listing, and the fact that Arm designs generally lack SMT (Simultaneous Multithreading) like Intel's Lion Cove, we're probably looking at 20 physical cores, similar to the GB10 mentioned above. At the same time, the development board is likely equipped with 128GB of system memory, with 8GB reserved for the GPU. Before jumping into performance, it's generally not advisable to compare CPUs across different Operating Systems and Geekbench releases. So, I've listed a few relevant CPU samples, noting their OS and Geekbench version. The alleged N1X scores 3,096 points and 18,837 points in single-core and multi-core territories, respectively, with the frequency averaging out at 4 GHz. Even with varying environments, its performance is well within the range of top chips like Intel's Arrow Lake-HX and AMD's Ryzen AI MAX (Strix Halo). It even trumps Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite; that's expected since the X Elite uses Oryon V1 cores, which should be superseded by Oryon V3 with Snapdragon X2 SoCs next year. That being said, Apple still reigns supreme in Geekbench, with the M4 Max comfortably ahead by 30% (single-core). Nvidia shied away from announcing or even mentioning these chips at Computex last month, so we may be in for a 2026 debut. It's possible the company may be dedicating more resources to DGX Spark, hoping to make these mini-PCs available for purchase before the upcoming holiday season. Regardless, by next year, more competition is expected with AMD's rumored Sound Wave APUs and Qualcomm's X2 SoCs, in addition to Panther Lake from Intel.

Nvidia Arm chip surfaces with strong Geekbench scores, could rival top Intel and AMD laptop CPUs

Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years. TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust. Something to look forward to: A mysterious "Nvidia N1x" Arm processor recently appeared on Geekbench with a single-core score of 3,096 and an 18,837 multi-core score. The result provides some of the earliest concrete evidence of Nvidia's long-rumored upcoming SoC. Word is that Nvidia has been developing an Arm-based processor for the past few years. Despite a teaser released last year in collaboration with Dell and the January unveiling of Nvidia's Arm workstation, a consumer-level product has yet to appear. However, a recent Geekbench score suggests that whatever Nvidia is working on might rival some of the best mobile processors currently available. Reports that Nvidia is developing an Arm processor to rival Apple's M series and Qualcomm's Snapdragon X first emerged in 2023. Last year, Nvidia and Dell advised curious observers to stay tuned for updates, and Nvidia unveiled a $3,000 Arm-based mini workstation at this year's CES in January. Last month, additional reports indicated that Nvidia and MediaTek are co-developing a pair of SoCs, codenamed N1 and N1X. More recently, United Daily News reported that Nvidia and Dell-owned Alienware are collaborating on an Arm-based laptop APU with GPU performance resembling that of a mobile RTX 4070. This project is likely a downscaled version of Project Digits, the high-performance mini PC Nvidia introduced in January. That machine features MediaTek's 20-core GB10 CPU, 128 GB of RAM, a 4 TB SSD, and a 1-petaflop Nvidia Blackwell graphics chip. In contrast, the "N1x" that appeared on Geekbench reported one core with 20 threads, though it may actually have 20 cores, depending on how the Geekbench software interprets the in-development hardware. Other reported specs include an HP 8EA3 motherboard, a 2.81 GHz base clock frequency, and 119 GB of RAM - likely rounded down from 128 GB. While this test was run on Ubuntu 24.04.1, the final product will likely ship with Windows on Arm to compete directly with Qualcomm. Although comparing results from different operating systems and instruction sets is never straightforward, Nvidia's chip seems capable of trading blows with recent high-end mobile SoCs. The N1x clearly trounces Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite and broadly resembles Intel's Core Ultra 200HX family, Apple M3, and AMD Ryzen AI Max. Arm, for its part, has promised that other vendors will soon begin manufacturing chips based on its architecture, which is more efficient than x86. While most software has traditionally been designed for x86, Arm developer support is improving rapidly. The company recently stated that Windows on Arm users now spend 90 percent of their time in native apps - suggesting that the most critical applications have already been ported and no longer rely on emulation.

Nvidia's N1X Geekbench scores are impressive, but can they top AMD and Intel? We compared the results.

The first benchmarks for Nvidia's rumored N1x 120-watt, 20-core APU have arrived. Nvidia's rumored N1 and N1x chips were expected to appear at Computex in Taipei last month, but the chipsets didn't appear in the company's lengthy keynote. An N1x HP test system was recently benchmarked on Geekbench 6, with the results leaking to the Geekbench archives. Based on the rumored specs for the massive APU, Nvidia appears to be targeting its own RTX 4070 Laptop GPU in terms of graphics performance, with general processing power in the range of a high-end gaming CPU. So, how does the N1X actually compare? The Nvidia N1x APU was tested on an HP unit based on the motherboard specification for an HP 8EA3. The test unit was running Linux AArch64 and featured 128GB of system memory, confirming the N1x as a 20-thread, 2.81 GHz ARM processor. The N1x returned a Geekbench 6.2 single-core score of 3,096 and a multicore score of 18,837. These are respectable benchmarks for Geekbench 6 performance, but consumer systems will likely vary. It's not often you see a consumer laptop with 128GB of RAM, and the test unit was running Linux, which tends to provide higher benchmark performance on Geekbench compared to Windows, particularly in relation to single-core performance. Right now, the Nvidia N1x is expected to remain with Windows on Arm, though that could also vary depending on what systems it appears on. After all, if it is used as a gaming handheld, we could end up with an N1x system running SteamOS. Initial expectations for the Nvidia N1x APU put it in the range of Intel and AMD's high-end gaming and workstation processors. While the Nvidia N1x comes close to reaching the performance heights of Intel, AMD, and Apple's high-end chips, it still falls short. And that's even without accounting for the performance boost the N1x would be getting from running Linux rather than Windows 11. Nvidia's N1x APU is expected to have graphics performance that is in line with that of an Nvidia RTX 4070 Laptop GPU. This expectation is similar to AMD's Strix Halo APU. However, we haven't seen that level of performance from either of the two Ryzen AI Max systems that have launched so far. So, whether Nvidia can live up to these early rumors remains to be seen. Geekbench 6, after all, isn't a GPU benchmark. While the N1x should be a fast, responsive platform based on its Geekbench scores, it still doesn't pack the same punch as AMD and Intel's best high-end gaming and workstation-class CPUs. It comes close to competing against the Ryzen AI Max+ "Strix Halo" APU, though the Ryzen AI Max runs the full x86 version of Windows 11 while the Nvidia N1x test unit runs Linux AArch64. Of course, a lot can change between early leaked benchmark runs and actual consumer-level systems.

A fresh benchmark for Nvidia's unannounced consumer APU suggests it's coming for Intel and AMD's finest and is maybe close to production-ready

The DGX Spark silicon could soon be brought to consumer laptops. A possible Arm-based Nvidia APU, created in collaboration with MediaTek has been on our radar for quite a while now. Its existence was previously all but confirmed, but we hadn't seen any sign of what could be a production or close-to-production version in the wild. Until now, that is, as we have our first seemingly close to production benchmark of an Nvidia Arm processor. The Geekbench entry (via X user Olrak29_ and VideoCardz) shows an Nvidia N1X processor with a 20-thread Arm CPU and base clock of 2.81 GHz running in a HP system with the Ubuntu Linux distro as its OS. It achieves 3,096 single-core and 18,837 multi-core scores in Geekbench. (There's since been another listing that I spotted with slightly lower scores.) This is a much more reasonable score than we saw in previous N1X Geekbench results, which was presumably a very early engineering sample. These latest results hint at much more mature engineering samples, possibly even ones that are close to production, as the scores are similar to laptop and desktop processors. You can see a Razer Blade 16 with Intel Core i9-14900HX, for instance, achieving slightly less than the N1X here within Windows 11. Arm chips don't usually have simultaneous multi-threading (SMT) so it's reasonable to assume that this is a 20-core chip. This would be in-line with what we previously thought, because Nvidia had hinted that the GB10 chip in DGX Spark would be brought to end-users, and the GB10 has 20 Arm cores. This previous hint wasn't perfectly clear, but this Geekbench result is: It looks like the Nvidia chip will be using Arm-designed cores rather than Nvidia-designed custom Arm cores. If it ends up being practically identical to DGX Spark then we might expect RTX 5070-level performance since that's what's on offer with the Blackwell GPU there, too. Which would corroborate the longstanding rumour that the Nvidia Arm chip will offer RTX 4070 mobile performance -- in fact, it would offer more than this. Though there isn't any guarantee that it would ship in its full-fat DGX Spark config -- it could get cut down to size for cheaper and more power efficient versions. The system configuration running here for Geekbench apparently has 120 GB of memory, which is much more than we'd see in a gaming laptop of course. But given DGX Spark is a mini AI supercomputer, it might be that Nvidia is planning on bringing N1X to home systems for AI development first. This wouldn't rule out Nvidia also bringing it to market in the form of gaming laptops, though. It's this latter prospect that excites us, of course. It's one that isn't entirely spun out of thin air, as we've heard consistent rumour that an Alienware laptop will sport the all-Nvidia silicon at the end of 2025 or the start of 2026. Although this Geekbench result is running a Linux OS, if and when the Nvidia N1X comes to market in consumer gaming laptops, we'd expect it to be running Windows, which means running Windows on Arm. I recently spoke to Arm's client lead and he implied that the future of PC gaming on Windows on Arm depends on game developers baking in native Arm support. The incentive for game devs to do that, however, is at present questionable. But one of the most exciting things about Nvidia N1X is that if and when such chips start rolling out with Windows on Arm for gaming, that could change. Nvidia might be able to help to get game devs to bridge that gap. Hey, I never said I was immune to wishful thinking.

NVIDIA's new N1X AI PC chip performance leaked: ready to battle AMD's new Strix Halo APUs

As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. TweakTown may also earn commissions from other affiliate partners at no extra cost to you. NVIDIA is still cooking up its upcoming Arm-based AI PC processor codenamed N1 and N1X, with the new flagship N1X recently hitting Geekbench providing us with some early benchmark numbers. We should expect NVIDIA's new N1X to be inside of next-gen desktop PC systems, while the N1 will find its way into new gaming laptops. The new Geekbench 6 results show the higher performance chip -- N1X -- pushing 3096 points in single-threaded tests, and 18837 points in multi-threaded tests. NVIDIA's new N1X processor was tested inside of an unreleased HP 8EA3 system running Ubuntu 24 (Linux) and Geekbench 6.2.2 software, with the Arm-based CPU listed with 20 threads (matching the description of the GB10 Superchip inside of NVIDIA's new Spark systems) which has 10 x Cortex-X925 and 10 x Cortex-A725 cores. N1X can reportedly boost up to 2.81GHz, but detailed results show it boosting up to a much faster 4.05GHz. On the RAM side, the N1X is listed with 119GB with internal information showing a 120GB configuration: we should expect this to be 128GB of shared memory, with 8GB reserved for the Blackwell GPU inside of the NVIDIA N1X AI PC processor. On the performance side of things, the new NVIDIA N1X has more performance than AMD's current Ryzen AI HX 370 "Strix Point" APU (in both single-core and multi-core perf) and beats the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 "Strix Halo" APU in single-core performance. These are early days yet, so we should only expect performance of NVIDIA's new Arm-based N1X processor to get better from here.