- A new video on YouTube shows a DIY -Handheld Game -PC using an Nvidia RTX 4090 Gaming Laptop GPU
- It has a 4K 60Hz screen, 64 GB RAM and 4TB storage space
- It’s a sign that handheld games -PCs could be more powerful than current mainstream models are
Nvidia’s RTX 5000 series GPUs remain in the limelight after their launch in January, with super model GPUs expected to arrive later this year. However, the previous generation laptop GPUs have been used in an unexpected way – and it points to the possibility of more powerful portable play.
As reported by NoteBookcheck, Nittrx has shown a DIY user-defined handheld game PC on YouTube running multiple Triple-A games of 4K on high settings using an RTX 4090 Laptop GPU. Yes, you read it right and it works with Intels Core I9 14900HX, a powerful 24-core and 32-thread processor.
Now it can instantly raise some red flags regarding thermals, battery life and power consumption, but as a screen shown below, there is sufficient cooling; The RTX 4090 portable GPU temperature mostly remains at 162F / 72C, while the CPU swings between 151F and 158F or 66C and 70C.
After testing a decent number of handheld games -PCs from MSI, Lenovo and Asus, I can say that the thermal performance of this DIY handhelds is similar to much of the mainstream devices. It is all under storage of 4 TB with storage via two 2TB SSDs and 64 GB of RAM via two 32 GB sticks – all of which should contribute to higher temperatures, but these temperatures are nowhere near what would be considered excessive.
It is also worth noting that this handhelder uses a dell 12.5-inch 4K 60Hz screen (specifically the sharp LQ125D1), but image speeds reaching triple digits in game tests really show what the RTX 4090 portable GPU is capable of. Great performance is achievable on current handhelds using AMD APUS and Intel Socs, but this is possibly the best handheld game -PC you will see for a while.
This shows that it is no longer a matter of whether 4K handheld games are possible. It is now a matter of whether handheld games -PC manufacturers are willing to make the jump and design more powerful handheld games -PCs that would probably target a niche audience, depending on pricing.
Analysis: These are the handhelds who need premium prices, not the new AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme Models
I’ve been pretty vocal about my frustration over handheld games -PCs and the sudden increase in their pricing without much of a performance jump over previous hardware to justify it. We see this happen to the new MSI Claw A8, which pushes close to $ 1,000 despite early benchmarks suggesting a minimal performance increase of 10% in play using AMD’s new Ryzen Z2 Extreme Processor, compared to Ryzen Z1 extrem.
The only handhels with potential high price tags that can be justified are Ayaneo Flip 1S DS, which uses AMD’s powerful AMD’s Ryzen AI HX 370 processor; Lenovo Legion goes 2, mostly because of the addition of an OLED screen; And of course this tailored RTX 4090 handheld.
Unfortunately, I don’t see any of the regular handheld games -PC manufacturers that get any ideas from this DIY setup. Producing such devices would require plenty of durability tests, and the resulting handhelds would essentially compete with gamblable computers on a larger scale.
A 12.5-inch screen is also unwanted, which I have previously said about Acer Nitro Blaze 11 and I still have the opinion of this DIY device, although far more acceptable considering hardware and the available resolution.
I would very much like to see that a device like this is replicated by a mainstream producer -and if there is anything we have to take away from this DIY project, it is that 4K hand -held games are not impossible at all.
