Since NVIDIA announced the RTX Spark at Computex 2026, it’s fair to say a lot of people have been really looking forward to it.However, the hands-on test of the Surface Laptop Ultra prototype that leaked a while agoThe game stutters roughly every 6 seconds, and CUDA won’t run at all, which makes people question its actual performance. Recently, two new RTX Spark records have appeared in the Geekbench database, with scores noticeably better than the earlier prototype. More notably, the previously rumored 18-core version has also shown up with actual benchmark scores for the first time, further confirming that NVIDIA is testing this reduced-spec RTX Spark.
NVIDIA RTX Spark appears in an 18-core cut-down version! The 20-core version outperforms Ryzen AI Max+ 395 and Core Ultra 9 275HX in Geekbench multi-core.
According to foreign media Tom’s Hardware reportsThese two records were found in the Geekbench 7 database on August 7. Based on the device names and the unreleased hardware status, they appear to be test prototype units. They ran Windows 11 and were tested under the “Balanced” power mode. However, it seems they were uploaded by mistake, and both results have now been removed from the database.
The first device is named “OEMQAJ 766_MIS Product Name DV,” which is the full-spec version: a 20-core CPU in a 10+10 dual-cluster configuration, clocked at 4.0GHz, paired with a GPU featuring 6,144 CUDA cores and 64GB of memory. The second one is “OEMQAJ OEMQAJ Product,” with an 18-core CPU switched to a 10+8 cluster, clock speed reduced to 3.9GHz, the GPU scaled down to 5,120 CUDA cores, and also 64GB of memory.
In terms of performance, the 20-core version scores 2,570 in single-core and 23,126 in multi-core:
18-core version scores 2,541 in single-core and 21,776 in multi-core. The single-core gap between the two is only 1.1%, within the margin of error; the multi-core difference is around 6%, which is consistent with having 10% fewer cores.
Previous rumors mostly pointed to a full 20-core version, but this time the 18-core SKU is officially confirmed to exist. And it’s not just two fewer CPU cores—the GPU also drops from 6,144 cores to 5,120 cores, which means cutting from 48 SMs down to 40 SMs. The CPU and GPU are scaled down in tandem. This 5,120-core version was actually uncovered back in July in the Windows 11 ARM64 developer driver strings, but there was no corresponding CPU information at the time.
Compared to other x86 laptops, the RTX Spark’s multicore score is quite impressive.
| Processor | Multi-core score | the gap with the 20-core RTX Spark |
|---|---|---|
| Apple M4 Max (14-core) | 25,957 | +12.2% |
| Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme（X2E-94-100） | 25,075 | +8.4% |
| Apple M4 Pro (14-core) | 24,901 | +7.7% |
| RTX Spark (20 cores) | 23,126 | Benchmark |
| Apple M3 Max (14 cores) | 22,385 | -3.2% |
| RTX Spark (18 cores) | 21,776 | -5.8% |
| Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX | 20,783 | -10.1% |
| AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 | 20,609 | -10.9% |
The 20-core version of the RTX Spark is about 12% faster than AMD’s flagship Strix Halo Ryzen AI Max+ 395, and about 11% faster than Intel’s Core Ultra 9 275HX. The reduced 18-core version is also about 5% faster than both of these chips.
However, compared with Apple, the RTX Spark is rather unremarkable: the 20-core version edges out the 14-core M3 Max by about 3.3%, while the 18-core version’s score of 21,776 is roughly equivalent to the 12-core base M4 Pro (about 21,700 points).
Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme currently has the highest multi-core score on Windows, with 25,075 points that even two RTX Sparks can’t catch up to. Apple’s 14-core M4 Max scored 25,957 points, leading the 20-core version by about 11–12%.
Single-core performance is still lacking; the 20-core version’s 2,570 points trails nearly every Apple Silicon chip in the table. Even the 2023 M3 Max scores 2,841, and Apple’s current base M5 is about 41% faster in single-core. Across the entire Apple lineup, it only beats the M2 Max, and by just 3.75%—a slim margin:
| Processor | Single-core score | The gap relative to the 20-core RTX Spark |
|---|---|---|
| Apple M5 (base model) | approximately 3,620 | +41% |
| Apple M4 Max (14-core) | 3,404 | +32.5% |
| Apple M4 Pro (14-core) | 3,315 | +29.0% |
| Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme（X2E-94-100） | 3,051 | +18.7% |
| Apple M3 Max (14-core) | 2,841 | +10.5% |
| Intel Core Ultra X9 388H | 2,767 | +7.7% |
| RTX Spark (20 cores) | 2,570 | Standard |
| RTX Spark (18 cores) | 2,541 | -1.1% |
| Apple M2 Max | 2,477 | -3.6% |
| Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX | 2,467 | -4.0% |
| AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 | 2,432 | -5.4% |
| AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 | 2,429 | -5.5% |
On the Windows side, the Snapdragon X2 Elite and X2 Elite Extreme score around 3,000 points in single-core, also leaving the RTX Spark behind. Intel’s current strongest single-core chip, the Core Ultra X9 388H, scores 2,767 points, about 7% faster than the 20-core RTX Spark. For the rest, although the RTX Spark beats mainstream high-end laptop chips from AMD and Intel, the margins are all in single digits.
Of course, both of these are still engineering samples, and the drivers may not be finalized yet, so the benchmark scores revealed before launch should only be taken as a reference and don’t necessarily represent the final results.
RTX Spark laptops are expected to go on sale this fall; pricing has not been announced yet.
Source: KOCPC Chinese