Nvidia’s rumored N1X SoC has made an unexpected appearance on Geekbench, and its performance is nothing short of stunning. With a single-core score of 3,096 and a multi-core score of 18,837, this Arm-based chip looks like a true competitor to Intel’s Arrow Lake-HX, AMD’s Ryzen AI MAX, and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite.
Even though Nvidia hasn’t officially announced the chip, this leak spotted via Olrak at X suggests the company is getting serious about entering the Windows-on-Arm market.
What’s Inside the N1X?
The N1X appears to be a powerful 20-core processor, likely built using 10x Cortex-X925 + 10x Cortex-A725 cores, the same configuration seen in Nvidia’s GB10 super chip. It also includes a GPU powered by 6,144 CUDA cores, based on Nvidia’s latest Blackwell architecture.
According to Geekbench data, the chip was tested on an HP 83A3 device running Ubuntu 24.04.1. The system had 128GB of RAM, with 8GB allocated to the GPU.
Nvidia is reportedly working with MediaTek to develop this chip using off-the-shelf Arm Cortex cores, marking their biggest step yet toward consumer-level Arm computing. The first real product from this collaboration could be the DGX Spark mini-PC (formerly known as Project DIGITS).
Benchmark Breakdown
Here’s how the N1X stacks up against the competition:
CPU | Single Core | Multi Core | Operating System | Geekbench Version |
Nvidia N1X | 3,096 | 18,837 | Linux (Ubuntu) | 6.2.2 Preview |
|---|---|---|---|---|
AMD Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 | 3,125 | 21,035 | Linux (CachyOS) | 6.4.0 |
Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX | 3,078 | 22,104 | Windows 11 | 6.4.0 |
Apple M4 Max | 4,054 | 25,913 | macOS 15.1 | 6.3.0 |
Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite | 2,693 | 13,950 | Windows 11 | 6.4.0 |
The N1X even beats Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite, which uses the Oryon V1 architecture. However, Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon X2 SoCs built on Oryon V3, are expected to raise the bar even further in 2025.
That said, Apple’s M4 Max still leads the pack, with a 30% higher single-core score than the N1X. But for a chip that hasn’t even been officially announced yet, Nvidia’s entry is looking very promising.
What Does This Mean for the Market?
Nvidia’s silence at Computex last month about these chips hints that the N1X may not officially launch until 2026. Still, insiders believe that DGX Spark mini-PCs might become available by this holiday season.
Looking ahead, 2025 could be a major year for laptop chip competition, with:
- AMD’s Sound Wave APUs
- Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 SoCs
- Intel’s Panther Lake processors
- And now, Nvidia’s Arm-powered N1 family
All vying for dominance in the AI-enhanced, high-performance laptop space.
Final Thoughts
Even though it’s still unofficial, the leaked performance of Nvidia’s N1X SoC suggests that the company is about to become a major player in the Arm CPU space. With numbers like 3,096 in single-core and 18,837 in multi-core and a GPU loaded with 6,144 CUDA cores, Nvidia is clearly not holding back.
If this is what the future of Nvidia's consumer chips looks like, then Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm should take note because the Arm laptop war is about to heat up.
