Borderlands 4 tested on MSI Claw 8 AI with Ryzen Z2 Extreme shows higher FPS than Steam Deck but struggles to stay locked at 60 FPS
YouTuber ETA Prime recently tested Borderlands 4 on the MSI Claw 8 AI powered by the AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme, and the game’s performance is noticeably better compared to how it ran on the Steam Deck. In an earlier video, the YouTuber analysed Borderlands 4 on the Steam Deck and concluded that while the game is technically playable, the experience isn’t particularly enjoyable. The takeaway was that players might want to wait for a performance patch before diving in.
This contrasts with the game’s performance on the latest MSI Claw 8 AI, which features the more powerful AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme APU. ETA PRIME began testing at 1080p resolution with medium graphics settings, using FSR scaling set to Balanced. The TDP was capped at 35 W.
At this stage, Borderlands 4 delivered around 30 FPS, with frequent drops below that mark. It’s worth noting that no action was taking place on screen, the player character was simply roaming through empty fields. This suggests that once enemies appear, the frame rate is likely to drop even further.
Lowering the resolution to 1600×900 at medium settings brought performance above the 30 FPS threshold, but gameplay still felt sluggish. Enabling frame generation pushed averages close to 50 FPS, though maintaining a locked 60 proved difficult. Dropping to low settings at 900p improved performance further, yet consistent 60 FPS still required going as low as 700p or 800p.
ETA Prime also tested at an 18 W TDP. Running at low settings with FSR Balanced and frame generation enabled, the experience wasn’t drastically different from the 35 W profile, with both scenarios prone to occasional dips under 60 FPS. Even so, this setup offered smoother gameplay than on the Steam Deck, with the Claw’s larger 80 Wh battery providing reasonable runtimes.
In ETA Prime’s previous video, the results on the Steam Deck were far less promising. At 800p resolution with FSR set to Performance, Borderlands 4 often dipped between 18-22 FPS, making aiming and combat difficult. Particle effects dragged performance down further, and even with frame generation enabled, the game struggled to reach 30 FPS. The YouTuber then even overclocked the Steam Deck’s GPU to 1600 MHz, but while frame rates edged closer to 40 FPS, severe input lag and stuttering still made the experience frustrating.
By comparison, the Ryzen Z2 Extreme-powered MSI Claw 8 AI handled Borderlands 4 far better, though both handhelds highlight that the game wasn’t designed with portable hardware in mind. Without further optimisation from Gearbox, handheld players may have to rely on lower resolutions and reduced settings to maintain smoother gameplay.
For a closer look at how Borderlands 4 performs on the MSI Claw 8 AI, you can watch ETA Prime’s full video linked below.
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