A motherboard equipped with the Arm PC chip "N1" has leaked, raising hopes that it could become a new star of gaming laptops. NVIDIA is jointly developing the Arm-based AI PC SoCs "N1" and "N1X" with MediaTek. Although an official announcement at last year's Computex 2025 was passed over, leaks of the motherboard on Chinese platforms and the appearance of the latest test results on Geekbench have brought the full picture into view.
The actual NVIDIA N1 motherboard listed for sale is being touted as a "game changer" that could rattle a PC market dominated by Intel and AMD, and expectations are running high.
Latest Benchmarks Leak
Earlier, low benchmark scores from an early engineering sample (limited to two cores) made the rounds, but this time real-hardware test results for the high-end "N1X" have appeared in the Geekbench 6 database.
The scores, measured on an unannounced HP system "8EA3" running Ubuntu 24, came in higher than most observers expected.
The Astonishing Architecture and Specs of the N1 / N1X
Based on the motherboard leaks so far, various other leaks, and this latest benchmark data, the specs are believed to be as follows.
- CPU configuration (20 cores): A configuration very similar to NVIDIA's AI supercomputer processor "GB10," reportedly with ten "Cortex-X925" cores and ten "Cortex-A725" cores, for a 20-thread setup.
- Clock speeds: The base clock is 2.81 GHz, but according to the detailed data it can boost up to 4.051 GHz.
- Memory: Uses LPDDR5X (8,533 MT/s) from SK hynix. The benchmark recognizes "119 GB," but this is presumably because 8 GB of the total 128 GB is reserved for the GPU.
- GPU performance: If the N1X uses the same die as the "GB10 Superchip," the math works out to as many as 6,144 CUDA cores. That puts it on the same scale as the desktop "RTX 5070" chip, hinting at graphics and AI processing performance that would upend the conventional wisdom about laptops.
Desktop and Laptop Variants, and Partnerships
According to unofficial information, NVIDIA appears to be preparing to roll the SoC out in two variants: the "N1," presumably aimed at the desktop, and the high-end "N1X," intended for laptops.
The OEM partners slated to adopt the chip are gradually coming to light. In addition to HP, which was confirmed in this round of testing, Dell (expected to debut it in its Alienware gaming brand) and Lenovo (a full lineup rollout across the Legion, IdeaPad, Yoga, and Yoga Pro series) are reported to be among the first adopters.
Up to now, the immaturity of GPU drivers and gaming performance on "Windows on Arm (WoA)" devices has been seen as a sticking point, but the entry of NVIDIA — the undisputed king of GPU development — is expected to flip the situation. With an official roadmap announcement at Computex 2026 only months away and product releases rumored for the latter half of this year, NVIDIA's next moves are well worth watching.
