GPD WIN MAX 2 2023 7640U Review

We reviewed the GPD WIN MAX 2 2023 Ryzen 7 7840U a couple of months ago, and we now have the Ryzen 5 7640U handheld gaming PC in our hands to take a look at. In our GPD WIN MAX 2 2023 7640U review we will be finding out what the differences are and how the performance compares to its Ryzen 7 brother.

GPD WIN MAX 2 2023 7640U Review Video

Unboxing the GPD WIN MAX 2 2023 7640U

Inside the box you can find the GPD WIN MAX 2 2023 7640U portable gaming PC which we will show in more detail shortly.

There is an envelope with the user manual inside which is in English and Chinese languages.

And below that is a 100W charger, we will include the correct adapter for your country. And last but not least is a USB Type-C charge cable.

GPD WIN MAX 2 2023 7640U Overview

Unlike our pre-production GPD WIN MAX 2 2023 Ryzen 7 7840U mobile gaming PC we reviewed, this Ryzen 5 model is the same model you should receive when ordering. Let’s take a brief overview of the features of it in our GPD WIN MAX 2 2023 7640U review.

Visually the Ryzen 7 and 5 models are identical. When closed, it measures 8.9 x 6.2 x 0.9 (22.7 × 16.0 × 2.3 cm) and weighs 1005 grams.

On the back are the left and right shoulder and trigger buttons for gaming with. There is a 3.5mm headphone port for audio. And new to the 2023 models is the Oculink port which we will show later with the G1 eGPU docking station.

Beside those are the HDMI port for output to a TV or monitor, and there are two USB Type-C ports, one USB 4 and the other 3.2 Gen 2.

The left side features both a full size and micro SD card reader slot. And on the right side of the portable gaming computer are two USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports.

The GPD WIN MAX 2 2023 opens up to reveal the massive 10.1” touch screen display. It has a maximum resolution of 2560×1600 but is set to 1920×1200 by default. It is a great screen for gaming, media and working on.

On the hinge is a 2 megapixel camera that supports up to 1612×1212 resolution. It is good for online meetings and chatting with friends for example.

There are two metal plates that can be removed and stored in the back on the MAX 2. These hide your gaming controls, so it’s great for working during the day and gaming on the commute home.

Between the controls is a touchpad. I personally found it OK for general use, but you can sometimes hit a keyboard key by accident. Talking about the keyboard, it is a low profile keyboard that is backlit. I wrote this review using it and ran into no issues.

GPD WIN MAX 2 2023 7640U Technical Specifications.

We continue our GPD WIN MAX 2 2023 7640U review with the technical specifications, with the 7840U compact gaming PC for comparison. You can learn more about that model on our GPD WIN MAX 2 2023 review here.

	GPD WIN MAX 2 2023 7640U	GPD WIN MAX 2 2023 7840U
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 7640U 6C, 12T @ 4.9GHz 30W TDP	AMD Ryzen 7 7840U 8C, 16T @ 5.1GHz 30W TDP
GPU	AMD Radeon 760M @ 2,600Mhz	AMD Radeon 780M @ 2,700Mhz
RAM	16GB LPDDR5x @ 6,400MT/s (potentially up to 7,500 MT/s)	32GB or 64GB LPDDR5x @ 7,500MT/s
STORAGE	1TB m.2 2280 SSD + one expansion slot	2TB m.2 2280 SSD + one expansion slot
DISPLAY	10.1″ IPS touchscreen 1920×1200 (default) 2560×1600 (Highest) 299 PPI, 400 nit, 90% screen ratio	10.1″ IPS touchscreen 1920×1200 (default) 2560×1600 (Highest) 299 PPI, 400 nit, 90% screen ratio
CAMERA	2MP Camera 1612×1212 resolution. Ultra-wide viewing angle and high refresh rate	2MP Camera 1612×1212 resolution. Ultra-wide viewing angle and high refresh rate

In our temperatures, fan noise and battery tests we are running Street Fighter 6 on a loop to get the required measurements. We got a highest temperature of 62 degrees and 62 decibels of fan noise under full load. The battery lasted just over 2 hours which is a nice improvement on the 1 hour 45 on the Ryzen 7 model. And while idle on the desktop it managed just under 9 hours, a little longer than the Ryzen 7 model. The fewer cores and threads probably help there.

Benchmarks

As part of our GPD WIN MAX 2 2023 7640U review we always perform some benchmarks to find out the performance levels. We rolled back the drivers to the original provided by GPD as at the time of making this review, AMD’s official drivers are totally useless. They are fine for use with the G1 eGPU docking station, but for internal graphics usage on the handheld gaming computer, we saw performance decreases across all of our benchmarks. 

For the GPD G1 eGPU docking station benchmarks we are using the latest official drivers as they were more stable and were not affected by the internal GPU issues. AMD have since removed support for the 7000 series and for good reason. So once their drivers are fixed, we will recheck the internal graphics benchmarks. You can read our full GPD G1 eGPU docking station review here.

3DMark

Across the three benchmarks we see around an 11% difference in performance comparing the Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5 mobile gaming PC’s. The Ryzen 5 model falls in the range of the 6800U performance.

With the GPD G1 eGPU dock we get very good increases in performance for both USB and Oculink. It does trail behind the Ryzen 7 model as expected. But overall these are decent scores.

Forza Horizon 5

We see a higher difference in performance on the Forza Horizon 5 benchmarks running on the Very Low graphics settings. We see around an 18% performance difference, the extra cores and threads make a difference in this game.

And with the GPD G1 we again see some nice improvements across Oculink and USB connections. 99 frames per second at 4K is very good, giving you some options for higher quality visuals.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider  

We are running Shadow of the Tomb Raider on the lowest graphics settings. We see around an average of 19% performance difference between the two models. They are still decent scores, around that of 6800U compact gaming PC’s.

With the GPD G1 we see great performance on Oculink, nearly hitting 100 FPS on 4K. Again there’s plenty of extra FPS for higher quality visuals even at 4K.

Cyberpunk 2077

On Cyberpunk 2077 we are running on the Lowest graphics settings. We get around a 6% difference in performance between the 7640U and 7840U handheld gaming computers which is pretty close.

The GPD G1 eGPU docking station performance is overall very good, with above 60 FPS at 1400P and below. It does struggle at 4K with a high of 40 FPS. 1440P is still very high, so there’s plenty of scope for higher quality visuals.

Street Fighter 6

For Street Fighter 6 we are on the Highest graphics settings to really push the handheld.  Both portable gaming PC’s struggle at these high settings and we can see the GPD WIN MAX 2 2023 barely makes it past 30 frames per second.

With the GPD G1 we get 60 frames per second at 1440P and below. At 4K we see some decent results, but not above 60 frames so you would probably want to lower the graphics a bit.

Benchmark Summary

The GPD WIN MAX 2 2023 Ryzen 5 portable gaming computer sees anything from 6% up to 20% performance difference to the higher performing Ryzen 7 model. It is worth remembering that we were benchmarking with the RAM at 6400Mhz which is what it is shipped with. You will get a performance bump if your handheld does run stable at 7500Mhz. We can also blame some of the performance differences on the drivers. 

I am very sure we will see improvements in performance as soon as AMD releases a properly working driver update. As to how much performance? That is the question. The 7840U and 7640U are essentially a power efficient 6800U CPU. They are higher performing, but I think there is still room for a bit more.

So is there any reason to buy the Ryzen 5 compact gaming PC over the Ryzen 7? There is firstly the cost, the Ryzen 5 16GB with 1 TB storage is around 27% less than the lowest spec Ryzen 7 with 32GB and 2TB storage, that is quite a saving. If you are on a budget then the GPD WIN MAX 2 2023 7640U is definitely worth considering!

When combined with the GPD G1 eGPU docking station we saw comparable performance. We have not released the benchmark results as we are waiting for working AMD drivers to test everything again. But for games where CPU demand is low and GPU demand is high, the Ryzen 5 definitely gives the Ryzen 7 mobile gaming PC a run for its money.

Final Thoughts

We finish our GPD WIN MAX 2 2023 7640U review with our final thoughts. Overall the GPD WIN MAX 2 2023 handheld gaming computers are excellent for all round usage, not just gaming. The high performance, large display, usable keyboard and much more, while still remaining very portable are the highlights of these handhelds. They are a little let down by poor AMD driver support, but keep in mind so was the 6800U drivers when they were first released. They improved over time and we expect the same for the 7000 series. 

Both portable gaming PC’s are perfectly usable right now and definitely worth considering. However if you are not patient and want the best performance right now, you may want to wait for some decent drivers.

To summarise let’s look at some of the Pros and Cons of the GPD WIN MAX 2 2023

You can learn more about the GPD WIN MAX 2 2023 Ryzen 7 and 5 here. Use the discount code WINMAX25OFF for a 5% discount. The code will be valid for one month and can not be used with other codes or during store sales.

Thanks for reading our GPD WIN MAX 2 2023 7640U review! Which model would you buy,? The 7640U or 7840U, let us know in the comments?