I tried gaming on the RTX Spark... Here's how it went...

Summary

JayzTwoCents tests the Microsoft Surface “RTX Spark” primarily as a gaming laptop, while noting that it is designed more for AI and professional workloads.

Hardware and design

• The tested model launched at $3,999 and had fallen to $3,499 about a week later.
• It uses an ARM-based Nvidia N1X SoC with a 20-core CPU and a Blackwell GPU with 6,144 CUDA cores. Despite the CUDA count, the host cautions against expecting desktop RTX 5070 performance. He cites other reviews that place it closer to a desktop RTX 5060.
• Its 48GB of soldered LPDDR5X-9400 unified memory is shared by the CPU and GPU. This can help load larger AI models, but it is not equivalent to a discrete GPU’s dedicated VRAM for gaming. The memory cannot be upgraded.
• Other notable specs include a 1TB SSD, a glossy 15-inch touchscreen with a very high, unusual resolution, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, USB-A, three USB-C/USB4 ports, full-size HDMI, and an SD card reader.
• The host praises the professional-looking design and compact 140W charger, but finds the laptop heavy for its size. He also criticizes the short magnetic charging cable, glossy screen, awkward resolution, and lack of user upgradability. With haptic feedback off, the trackpad’s click feels mushy.

Setup and everyday experience

• Initial setup took roughly three hours, including Windows, system, and BIOS updates. The laptop was initially in a low-power mode that made it feel extremely slow. After updating and switching to performance mode, it booted in about 15 seconds.
• The laptop runs quietly but gets warm. The host also reports significant screen ghosting, making the display a weak choice for gaming.
• Compatibility and monitoring were imperfect: MSI Afterburner did not detect the GPU, while HWiNFO64 showed suspicious sensor readings. The host notes that many games and utilities are designed for x86 systems rather than ARM.

Gaming tests

• 3DMark Steel Nomad: The host encountered launch and compatibility errors before getting the test to run. GPU clock speeds remained below the stated maximum, and temperatures rose into the mid-80°C range before the fans brought them down.
• The Witcher 3 Remastered: With ray tracing enabled, performance was around 26–28 FPS. Frame generation appeared not to work in this test. DLSS Ultra Performance without ray tracing reached about 70 FPS, while enabling it with ray tracing produced roughly 45 FPS.
• ARC Raiders: The game ran at about 90–100 FPS with its initial settings, and around 81 FPS after changing upscaling to Balanced. The host describes it as playable, though the display ghosting remains noticeable.
• Cyberpunk: Initial settings produced about 42 FPS. With frame generation enabled, the displayed rate rose to roughly 120–143 FPS. The host estimates the underlying performance was around the mid-60s, noting that frame generation does not provide a true doubling.

Verdict

The host considers the RTX Spark a poor-value gaming laptop: it is very expensive, and a less costly conventional gaming laptop would offer better gaming performance. Its unified memory, integrated NPU, and AI-oriented design may appeal to developers who need to run larger language models locally and want a portable all-in-one system.

He speculates that its appeal may be as a compact AI development machine rather than as a gaming product, but does not verify its AI performance against an RTX 5090.

Source and sponsorship

The main speaker is JayzTwoCents, with brief input from off-camera crew members. Micro Center provided the tested laptop. The video also includes a separate Be Quiet sponsorship segment.