Handheld consoles are not synonymous with power, but the AYA Neo is looking to change that. Its been in development for quite some time and features an AMD Ryzen CPU based on the 'Renoir' Architecture. It features the AMD Ryzen 5 4500U CPU with Radeon 6 Vega Graphics.
Crysis Remasted And Cyberpunk 2077 Can Run Well On The AYA Neo
The AYA Neo is a powerful handheld console featuring the AMD Ryzen 5 4500U CPU. The processor features 6 cores, 6 threads (this CPU has no SMT), and is based on the Zen 2 Architecture. The graphics are integrated with Radeon 6 Vega graphics with only 6 Compute Units (384 Streaming Processors). The AYA Neo also has 16GB of LPDDR4X memory and up to a 1TB NVMe SSD inside. The display is a 1280×800 IPS display and all of this is powered by a 47wH battery that provides up to 6 hours of use, but heavy gaming quick slashes that by 67% down to around 2 hours.
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Even though some of the graphical components may seem a little underwhelming, they actually do the job quite well. Even with the low core count, it's enough to run various emulators and even games with SoC power locked to 5W. On most games with low to medium settings at 1280×800 resolution, you have a solid playing experience with respectable framerates. On all games tested in reviews below, the Neo was able to achieve 30+ FPS in all titles.
AYA Neo Performance
| Game | Performance | Settings |
|---|---|---|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 67 FPS | Medium (1280×800) |
| GTA 5 | 68 FPS | Normal/Medium (Mixed) (1280×800) |
| Skyrim Special Edition | 60 FPS | Medium (1280×800) |
| Marvel vs Capcom Infinite | 60 FPS | Medium (1280×800) |
| Doom Eternal | 62 FPS | Low / Dynamic Resolution OFF (1280×800) |
| Counter Strike Global Offensive | 100+ FPS | High/Medium (Mixed) (1280×800) |
| Fortnite | 77 FPS | Medium (100% Resolution Scale) (1280×800) |
| Crysis Remastered | 42 FPS | Low/Medium (Mixed) (1280×800) |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 30 FPS | Low (1280×800) |
| Geekbench | SC 1088, MT 4260 | Geekbench 5 Windows |
| PCMark 10 | 4787 | Default |
| 3DMark Night Raid | Combined 11444, GPU 12712 | Default |
| 3DMark Time Spy | Combined 1097, GPU 975 | Default |
| 3DMark Fire Strike | Combined 2935, GPU 3217 | Default |
As of now, the console is currently being shipped to its first customers and reviewers as the AYA Neo Founder. This model of the console features a translucent chassis and is being shipped to the crowdfunding backers. By many accounts, this is considered to be a preproduction model coming out in limited amounts to its early backers and reviewers. It wouldn't be unexpected if the AYA Neo is revised for the general release and features a different look compared to the Founder edition.
Full Reviews Of The AYA Neo Founder Edition Are Up With Plenty Of Benchmarks On Multiple Titles
As for reviewers who have posted their reviews and first impressions, Taki Udon and ETA Prime are two of those that have posted their reviews to YouTube. The reviews take a different approach to analyzing the console, but it's best to watch both to get the full perspective. Both look at the specifications of the console, but then take a different approach.
ETA Prime looks at the unboxing experience and then looks at the performance in Forza Horizon 4, GTA 5, Skyrim, Street Fighter 5, Doom Eternal, CS:GO, Fortnite, and even Crysis Remastered. Taki Udon looks at the quality of the product by going over the battery performance, cooling, display, build quality, and does some performance benchmarking at the end.
I recommend watching both reviews to get a full picture of the product as ETA Prime covers the in-game performance and unboxing experience of the AYA Neo whilst Taki Udon looks at the more tangible with the quality and overall design of the product.
As far as the release date for the general public, it's March 10th, 2021, so it is coming out in less than a month. The direct competitors are the One Gx1 Pro and GDP Win3 based on Intel Tiger Lake CPUs with Xe Graphics. 2021 might just be the year for gaming on integrated graphics if these consoles lower their price points.
Current Generation of Handheld Gaming Consoles
| Specfications | AYA NEO Next | AYA NEO 2021 / Pro | Steam Deck | Nintendo Switch OLED | GDP Win 3 | One Gx1 Pro |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Architecture | AMD Zen? | AMD Zen 2 (Renoir) | AMD Zen 2 | ARM Cortex | Intel Tiger Lake | Intel Tiger Lake |
| SOC | TBC | AMD Ryzen 7 4800U AMD Ryzen 5 4500U | AMD Van Gogh (Aeirth) | NVIDIA Tegra X1 | Intel Core i7-1165G7/i5-1135G7 | Intel Core i7-1160G7 |
| SOC Cores/Clocks | TBC | 8C/16T @ 4.2 GHz 6C/6T @ 4.0 GHz | 4C/8T @ 3.5 GHz | 4x A57 + 4x A53 | 4 cores/8 threads @ 4.7 GHz/4.2 GHz | 4 cores/8 threads @ 4.4 GHz |
| SOC GPU | TBC | AMD Radeon Vega 8 @ 1.750 GHz AMD Radeon Vega 6 @ 1.5 GHz | AMD RDNA2 8 CUs @ 1.6 GHz | NVIDIA Maxwell 256 CUDA @ 1 GHz | Intel Xe (96/ EU) @ 1.3 GHz | Intel Xe (96 EU) @ 1.3 GHz |
| Memory | TBC | 16GB LPDDR4X-4266 | 16GB LPDDR5-5500 | 4GB LPDDR4-3200 | 16GB DDR4-LPDDR4X-4266 | 16GB DDR4-LPDDR4X-4266 |
| Storage | TBC | 512 GB / 1TB NVMe | 64GB eMMC (PCIe Gen2x1) 256GB/512GB NVMe (PCIe Gen3x4) | 64GB | m.2 2280 PCIe NVME SSD | 512 GB PCIe NVME SSD |
| Screen Size & Display | TBC | 7″ 1280×800 IPS | 7″ 1280×800 IPS | 7″ 1280×720 OLED | 5.5″ 1280×720 | 7″ 1920×1200 IPS |
| Wireless Connectivity | TBC | WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.0 | Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5 | WiFi5 | WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.0 | WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.1, SIM |
| Battery | TBC | 12,300 mAh | 40 Whr | 4310 mAh | 3*3950 mAh | 12,000 mAh |
| Weight | TBC | 650 g | 669 g | 420g | 560g | 623g |
| Dimensions | TBC | 25.5 x 10.6 x 2.0 cm | 29.8 x 11.7 x 4.9 cm | 24.2 x 10.2 x 1.39 cm | 19.8 x 9.2 x 2.7 cm | 17.3 x 13.6 x 2.1 cm |
| OS | Windows 11 | Windows 10 | Steam OS 3.0 (Arch) | Custom | Windows 10 | Windows 10 |
| Release Date | 2022 | September 2021 March 2021 | February 2022 | October 2021 | May 2021 | December 2020 |
| Price | TBC | $1215 (Pro 16 GB / 1 TB) $925 (16 GB / 512 GB) | $399 (64GB) $529 (256GB) $649 (512GB) | $349 | $799/$949 | $1360 |
