AYN Loki & AYN Loki Max Review

In our AYN Loki and AYN Loki Max review we compare the two models for their performance to see how much difference there is at various TDP’s, with some interesting results.

AYN Loki & AYN Loki Max Review Video

Unboxing the AYN Loki MAX

We start our AYN Loki and AYN Loki Max review with the unboxing. The AYN Loki and Max models boxes are essentially the same. Inside the envelope we have a quick overview of the handheld and its functions. There is also a screen protector which you can apply if you wish to.

Underneath there is the handheld itself. We will be showing them in more detail shortly.

Not included in the box, but you will also receive a 100W charger, we will include the correct plug for your country. And we also include a USB Type-C charge cable.

Available for purchase separately is the official case for the AYN Loki. It is a hardshell case and keeps the device very well protected against bumps and scrapes. It has a handle for carrying and a dual zip design for ease of opening. It’s definitely worth buying for your Loki to keep it protected.

AYN Loki Overview

Next in our AYN Loki Max review we take a closer look at the device. The AYN Loki and AYN Loki Max measures around 9.7 x 3.7 x 1.5 inches (24.8 x 9.6 x 3.5) and weighs 573g. They are available in black or white colours.

They both feature a 6” IPS touchscreen with a maximum resolution of 1920×1080. The displays are decent, perhaps not quite as good as higher end handhelds, but definitely nothing to complain about.

On the front we have standard dual analogue joysticks, d-pad and gaming buttons, with two additional buttons either side of the display at the bottom. One for the Xbox home button and the other to bring up the AYN Loki overlay. 

On the sides and around the analogue sticks are LEDs which can be configured in the Loki software.

On the top there are your shoulder and hall sensor trigger buttons, a volume rocker and power button. 

And on the bottom there is a micro sd card reader under the cover and a 3.5mm headphone port. And last but not least, a USB 4 Type-C port for charging and connecting peripherals to. 

AYN Loki and Loki Max technical specifications

So far the Loki and Loki Max have been the same, in our AYN Loki Max review we compare the tech specs to see the differences.

	AYN LOKI	AYN LOKI MAX
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 6600U, 6 cores, 12 threads up to 4.5GHz @ 30W TDP	AMD Ryzen 7 6800U, 8 cores, 16 threads up to 4.7GHz @ 30W TDP
GPU	AMD Radeon 660M, 6 cores up to 1900Mhz	AMD Radeon 680M, 12 cores up to 2200Mhz

DISPLAY	6″ LCD Touchscreen, 1080P resolution
RAM	8GB/16GB LPDDR5 6400Mhz
STORAGE	128GB/256GB/512GB M.2 2242 NVMe
COMMUNICATIONS	Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2
I/O	Micro SD card reader, 3.5mm headphone jack, USB 4.0

The 46.2Wh rechargeable battery was measured while running the Street Fighter 6 benchmark on a loop at 28W TDP. On the Loki we got 1 hour 8 minutes, and the Loki max we got slightly less at 57 minutes. On idle sitting on the desktop at 28W TDP we got roughly 7 hours for both.

While running the benchmark we also tested the fan noise and temperatures. We got 74db and 49 °C on the Loki, and 77db and 53°C on the Loki Max.

AYN Loki and Loki Max System Benchmarks

As part of our AYN Loki and AYN Loki Max review we perform some system benchmarks. We are using the latest available AMD drivers for the 680M and 660M for comparison of the two models.  For the gaming benchmarks we are testing at both 1080P and 720P across 28W, 20W and 11W TDP to get a range of performance data to compare. We are using the same settings for both models.

3DMark

We start the benchmarks with 3DMark which tests the CPU and GPU performance together.

For Time Spy, the Loki Max scores very well with 2805 compared to the Loki with 1799, around 43% difference. On Night Raid the difference drops to around 24% and for Fire Strike it rises to around 37% difference.

Cinebench

Cinebench tests the CPU performance on single and multi-core benchmarks.

On single core we see around an 8% difference in performance, and for multi-core we see that increase to around 24% thanks to the additional cores and threads on the 6800U.

AYN Loki and Loki Max Gaming benchmarks

And continuing the benchmarks we also include gaming benchmarks as part of our Loki and AYN Loki Max review and comparison.

Forza Horizon 5

We are testing Forza Horizon 5 on the Very Low graphics settings.

The Loki Max takes the lead on all benchmarks here but as the TDP lowers we see the gap close between the two models. From 37% at 28W TDP, down to only 6% at 11%.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

We are running Shadow of the Tomb Raider on the Low graphic setting.

We see closer results between the two devices and at low TDP, the Loki actually performs faster than the Max which we were not expecting to see. It can depend on how games are created to take advantage of cores and threads and this is a good example of that.

Cyberpunk 2077

Next we are testing Cyberpunk 2077 on the Low graphics settings with no FSR enabled.

We see performance differences at 1080P 28W TDP of around 28%, and that drops down to 11% at 11W TDP.

Street Fighter 6

Our final benchmark is Street Fighter 6. We run this benchmark on the highest graphics settings at 1080P to really push the hardware. We see overall differences of around 21% difference in performance across the tests.

Benchmark Summary

The Loki Max clearly outperforms the Loki at the higher end of the TDP scale, but as you lower the TDP the performance difference gap does get closer.

We see around 25% difference in performance at 28W and as low as 6% at 11W. This can depend on how well the game is optimised though, so don’t expect this to be the same for all games.

Final Thoughts

We sum up our final thoughts in our AYN Loki and AYN Loki Max review. The AYN Loki and Loki Max are at the lower end price range of handheld gaming PCs. To be honest there is not much difference in performance compared to the more expensive ones. The Loki Max is likely the right model to choose for most people. It has far greater performance at higher TDP than the Loki. But don’t discount the Loki, the performance at lower TDP is not far off the Max.

So depending on what kind of gaming you are planning, the Loki is also one to consider. For example, older less demanding games and most emulators will happily run at lower TDP’s. Not only does this conserve battery life, it is also lower in price than the Loki Max, giving you longer gaming time and at less cost.

Both models in terms of quality, features and performance are decent. They are comfortable to hold, as portable as any other handheld in this size range, and the overall performance is up there with other 6800U based handhelds. My only real negative is there is only one USB port, two would have been nice to have but you can always use a docking station to overcome this.

You can learn more about and buy the AYN Loki and Loki MAX here. Use the discount code 5OFFLOKI for a 5% discount. Please note the code may expire after one month, and it can not be used while there is a sale or other promotion.

We hope you have found our AYN Loki and AYN Loki Max review useful. Which model would you buy and why? Let us know in the comments.