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[tusharngf]

Qualcomm has finally unveiled the full details & benchmarks of its upcoming Snapdragon X Elite CPU for upcoming Windows PCs which will tackle Apple, Intel, and AMD.

Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite CPU is designed purely for the Windows PC market where it will be competing against Intel & AMD while also tackling Apple's laptop portfolio based on their Arm chip architectures. Qualcomm is claiming some big performance and efficiency numbers for Oryon and the resultant Snapdragon X Elite chips so let's get on with the details.

Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite "Oryon" CPU Specifications

For X Elite, Qualcomm has a brand new core known as Oryon which is based on the TSMC 4nm node and features a total of 12 cores that can operate at up to 4.3 GHz (1-core and 2-core) or 3.8 GHz (All-Core) boost frequencies. These cores are arranged in clusters of four and three clusters are used for the X Elite chips with a total of 42 MB cache.

The GPU is a Qualcomm Adreno chip rated at up to 4.6 TFLOPs and there's also a Qualcomm Hexagon AI accelerator which offers 75 TOPs of performance as a Micro nPU. Other specs include support for up to 64 GB of LPDDR5x-8533 memory, PCIe Gen 4.0 NVMe SSD, the use of the latest Snapdragon X65 5G modem with WIFI7 and BT 5.4 offered by the FastConnect 7800 controller.
Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite "Oryon" CPU Performance

In terms of performance, Qualcomm shared a lot of figures starting off with the single-threaded numbers within Geekbench 6. The Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite delivers a single core score of 3227 points which is 14% faster than the Apple M2 Max (2841 points), while consuming 30% less power. The Snapdragon X Elite CPU also ends up faster than the Intel Core i9-13980HX, leading it with a smaller 1% gain (3192 points) but doing so by consuming 70% less power.

Full article : https://wccftech.com/qualcomm-snapd...-13th-gen-apple-m2-max-gpu-faster-amd-rdna-3/

 

[Trogdor1123]

These little arm chips are super interesting. It should be interesting how these all play out.

 

[LordBlodgett]

TInteresting. Can't wait for the benchmarks!

 

[CoreyFlawless]

What the chance these arm chips start being the main thing for pc and pc gaming? Isn’t the gpu side still pretty weak when it comes to that for now?

 

[Unknown Soldier]

This is the technology acquired when Qualcomm acquired the startup company Nuvia.

The founders of Nuvia are all ex-Apple chip design people, and presumably worked on Apple Silicon before jumping ship to found Nuvia.

What I'm saying is this is a big deal. x86 is decrepit and should have been replaced a decade ago or earlier. Getting PC's off x86 is good for everyone, except Intel, and honestly fuck Intel.

 

[GHG]

The desktop CPU space is about to get very interesting with both these guys and Nvidia developing products.

Long overdue, it's been getting stale with AMD dragging Intel along of late.

 

[MarkMe2525]

Is this like an April Fools joke? That sounds wild.

 

[El Muerto]

AMD is getting into the ARMs race too. Wonder if Valve is waiting on these chips so we can have a low power handheld that can play AAA games.

Exclusive: Nvidia to make Arm-based PC chips in major new challenge to Intel

Nvidia dominates the market for AI computing chips. Now it is coming after Intel’s longtime stronghold.

www.reuters.com

 

[Buggy Loop]

How can the GPU be faster than RDNA 3 if it’s only 4.6 TFlops? I know TFlops aren’t everything but that’s a stretch.

 

[Comandr]

Good for them. Always glad to see more competition. More curious to see what product and support looks like moving forward in a PC space, and now that handheld PCs are sort of in vogue. Competing with Apple though? Idk. They are arguing against the M2 Max when Apple is likely to announce their next generation of processors in 5 days. Feels like Qualcomm is just gunning for second here.



Edit:

Also wait. It just donned on me. Specifically developed for Windows ? This in an ARM chip right? I know there are builds of Windows that exist that support ARM but... Hoo boy this feels like it's going to be an uphill battle for support and drivers? This is almost a whole new product category.

 

[GHG]

How can the GPU be faster than RDNA 3 if it’s only 4.6 TFlops? I know TFlops aren’t everything but that’s a stretch.

There will be some kind of metric they are using to state that. My guess would be per-watt because based on what they are claiming it looks to be very efficient.

 

[mhirano]

Good for them. Always glad to see more competition. More curious to see what product and support looks like moving forward in a PC space, and now that handheld PCs are sort of in vogue. Competing with Apple though? Idk. They are arguing against the M2 Max when Apple is likely to announce their next generation of processors in 5 days. Feels like Qualcomm is just gunning for second here.



Edit:

Also wait. It just donned on me. Specifically developed for Windows ? This in an ARM chip right? I know there are builds of Windows that exist that support ARM but... Hoo boy this feels like it's going to be an uphill battle for support and drivers? This is almost a whole new product category.

Think Rosetta but for Windows.
This is also interesting for Microsoft because they want to keep PC under their influence.
Also, a Rosetta-like layer would work wonders for a portable Xbox, with the amazing battery life that an ARM processor brings…

 

[Esppiral]

At first I thought that this was for cellphones and my mind exploded

 

[Unknown Soldier]

How can the GPU be faster than RDNA 3 if it’s only 4.6 TFlops? I know TFlops aren’t everything but that’s a stretch.

Faster per-watt or faster per-clock, either way, it's faster than RDNA3 if it had the same number of equivalent GPU domains. Which it probably doesn't. The real question is if Qualcomm is planning on implementing support for external GPU's either as add-in cards or as Thunderbolt eGPU's.

 

[Crayon]

Valve. Make the arm translator and roll it in like proton. That's the last piece of the puzzle.

 

[dottme]

I like that we are giving up the more power without limit. Apple open the door and now competition is building up.
let see if the market follow or all this arm stuff in the computer space will die quickly.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Think Rosetta but for Windows.
This is also interesting for Microsoft because they want to keep PC under their influence.
Also, a Rosetta-like layer would work wonders for a portable Xbox, with the amazing battery life that an ARM processor brings…

The Windows-on-ARM project is going on a decade old at this point and MS still doesn't have anything remotely close to Rosetta. People don't really understand how strong Apple is at programming software emulation like this, going all the way back to the original Motorola to PowerPC transition decades ago now. Apple also designs the Apple Silicon and thus there are also hardware optimizations to help with conversion of code from Intel to Apple Silicon even above and beyond just basic software emulation.

That said, Apple is very good at making developers get off their asses and port code ASAP or die. This is something that Microsoft has never been able to do, MS exercises like zero control over the Windows developer ecosystem. I don't even run any apps on my M1 MacBook Pro which are still Intel native except mother fucking Steam because mother fucking Valve are the laziest mother fucking pieces of shit in the universe. How the fuck has Steam not been made Apple Silicon native yet, Gabe?

 

[mhirano]

The Windows-on-ARM project is going on a decade old at this point and MS still doesn't have anything remotely close to Rosetta. People don't really understand how strong Apple is at programming software emulation like this, going all the way back to the original Motorola to PowerPC transition decades ago now. Apple also designs the Apple Silicon and thus there are also hardware optimizations to help with conversion of code from Intel to Apple Silicon even above and beyond just basic software emulation.

That said, Apple is very good at making developers get off their asses and port code ASAP or die. This is something that Microsoft has never been able to do, MS exercises like zero control over the Windows developer ecosystem. I don't even run any apps on my M1 MacBook Pro which are still Intel native except mother fucking Steam because mother fucking Valve are the laziest mother fucking pieces of shit in the universe. How the fuck has Steam not been made Apple Silicon native yet, Gabe?

What if other companies join this effort?
Nvidia made tools for X86-ARM game porting. Qualcomm and AMD would also be interested in this kind of software.
Even Valve could help somehow

 

[Comandr]

Think Rosetta but for Windows.
This is also interesting for Microsoft because they want to keep PC under their influence.
Also, a Rosetta-like layer would work wonders for a portable Xbox, with the amazing battery life that an ARM processor brings…

Exciting times ahead. I've said for a while but I think the next ten years are going to be very fascinating in the tech world. Also: I would love to see an Xbox Series P(ortable). I've thought about it for a while. If Microsoft did essentially what Valve is doing with the steam deck. Imagine a handheld PC device with a "desktop mode" that was essentially just a normal native windows environment. Then you switch over to Xbox mode or whatever and its - Well it's just fuckin xbox. Just like you're playing on the console, with all of the related features. Put it in a dock and play on the big screen or use it with a mouse and keyboard as a traditional computer. Then take it on the go as a gaming machine or whatever. That is the direction I'd like the next xbox to take.

 

[Futaleufu]

I remember Apple's similar claims when they presented M1

 

[mitchman]

What the chance these arm chips start being the main thing for pc and pc gaming? Isn’t the gpu side still pretty weak when it comes to that for now?

Very few companies bother releasing ARM versions of programs for Windows, unfortunately. Emulation just won't cut it for this.

 

[StereoVsn]

Isn’t there ARM lawsuit against Qualcomm for this tech based on their Nuvia IP and license or rather lack thereof according to ARM’s claims? Going to be interesting to see the outcome.

This is cool tech. For RDNA3 comment, I think they are talking about integrated graphics, ie 7840U stuff.

 

[XesqueVara]

What the chance these arm chips start being the main thing for pc and pc gaming? Isn’t the gpu side still pretty weak when it comes to that for now?

Windows on Arm is fucking Trash, it´s basically DoA when using Windows because of that.

 

[hlm666]

AMD is getting into the ARMs race too.

did you mean nvidia? cause your link isn't about AMD.

edit: your article does mention amd after all once I go past the first page about nvidia.

 

[Soodanim]

I hope it's good, just so that Intel's that extra bit uncomfortable in the CPU space. Every year is a hot new CPU that only Leonidas could love.

But what I really want is true competition for nVidia to bring that market back to reality.

 

[Jinzo Prime]

We need a better OS than Windows going forward. Microsoft weak link for the big ARM transition.

 

[Paulistano]

Valve. Make the arm translator and roll it in like proton. That's the last piece of the puzzle.

You can already run windows games and apps with wine and dxvk on phones that have qualcomm soc with compatible mesa drivers.

If this thing has decent driver support it should run.

 

[Imtjnotu]

they already have the best gpu in a phone. will be nice to see how power efficient it really is.

 

[FingerBang]

This is finally happening. This was big yesterday

Nvidia and AMD plan to launch Arm PC chips as soon as 2025, Reuters reports

Microsoft might be looking beyond just Qualcomm to challenge Apple.

www.theverge.com

We need a better OS than Windows going forward. Microsoft weak link for the big ARM transition.

It's more likely MS is going to make a better Windows for ARM than another OS takes over. It will be similar to what Apple does with MacOS, where your ARM chip will still be able to run your x86-64 applications. If I'm not mistaken Windows for ARM already does that anyway.

 

[M1chl]

After me using M1 and M2 chips for past 2 years, I have been nothing but impressed, being as a user or as developer. So for me its super exciting news.

 

[mhirano]

Very few companies bother releasing ARM versions of programs for Windows, unfortunately. Emulation just won't cut it for this.

*Laughs in Proton

 

[mitchman]

*Laughs in Proton

Emulating APIs on the same CPU is different from emulating completely different CPU architectures.

 

[SantaC]

Geekbench is never representative of gaming performance

 

[bad guy]

Full details should name the price and the chip size. You could use a huge chip to create a massive cache and it would be be very fast but also very expensive.

 

[Darsxx82]

Now the leaked document from MS where they assess the possibility of using an Arm CPU for their Xbox Next in 2028 is starting to make sense. That MS executives were in the front row of the presentation is also significant, although it surely has more to do with Windows.

As someone has mentioned, if the performance results are real, it would be an opportunity for MS to create its portable Xbox with enough power to be able to complement and/or share a catalog with a desktop console Xbox.
We will see how technology evolves in the next 5 years.

 

[VolticArchangel]

Very impressive indeed.

Point to note: Synthetic benches, especially across ISA's, don't translate/scale well to a 1:1 real world metric in perf analyses.

It's also interesting to see not just QCOMM, but AMD and Nvidia jump on the ARM64 train, in 2025, with their own SoC's.

Wonder what'll happen to the PS6 and Xbox 2, and IIRC, the recent FTC leaks from Microsoft, has them speculating/proposing an ARM SoC/Switch-like hybrid with cloud features.

I really hope they stay x86, obviously for the maximum perf and little hindrance in backwards compatibility, perf boosts etc., but ARM is going mainstream home computing this decade for sure. Crazy times we live in to even think that.

 

[Silver Wattle]

The benchmarks don't really cover the differences very well, in general usage this could be slower than x86 chips, I'd love if it were faster but these ARM claims always fall flat in real world usage.

 

[pasterpl]

We need a better OS than Windows going forward. Microsoft weak link for the big ARM transition.

This is finally happening. This was big yesterday

Nvidia and AMD plan to launch Arm PC chips as soon as 2025, Reuters reports

Microsoft might be looking beyond just Qualcomm to challenge Apple.

www.theverge.com

It's more likely MS is going to make a better Windows for ARM than another OS takes over. It will be similar to what Apple does with MacOS, where your ARM chip will still be able to run your x86-64 applications. If I'm not mistaken Windows for ARM already does that anyway.

You are talking like surface pro x doesn’t exist. It’s arm based and windows arm version run fine on it. Latest version with sq3 soc is quite powerful. Issue is x86 apps emulation. Not all are equally emulated in terms of performance.

 

[CuteFaceJay]

Seems expensive.

 

[Esppiral]

The Windows-on-ARM project is going on a decade old at this point and MS still doesn't have anything remotely close to Rosetta. People don't really understand how strong Apple is at programming software emulation like this, going all the way back to the original Motorola to PowerPC transition decades ago now. Apple also designs the Apple Silicon and thus there are also hardware optimizations to help with conversion of code from Intel to Apple Silicon even above and beyond just basic software emulation.

That said, Apple is very good at making developers get off their asses and port code ASAP or die. This is something that Microsoft has never been able to do, MS exercises like zero control over the Windows developer ecosystem. I don't even run any apps on my M1 MacBook Pro which are still Intel native except mother fucking Steam because mother fucking Valve are the laziest mother fucking pieces of shit in the universe. How the fuck has Steam not been made Apple Silicon native yet, Gabe?

Apple, Apple, Apple, Apple, Apple, Apple

 

[FingerBang]

You are talking like surface pro x doesn’t exist. It’s arm based and windows arm version run fine on it. Latest version with sq3 soc is quite powerful. Issue is x86 apps emulation. Not all are equally emulated in terms of performance.

That was my point. They need to improve compatibility and be on a similar level to Apple for emulation if we want it to happen and convince people to move to ARM.

 

[SmokedMeat]

Nice to see a fresh face. Hopefully they shake things up, as both AMD and Nvidia are moving in the same direction.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

I just bought Pixel 8 Pro but if this is in a new Galaxy then I may jump back on the cooter train.

 

[kruis]

Much more interesting is the question how fast and efficient this new processor can run 32/64-bit x86 applications. So far these ARM processors for Windows were always crap at Intel emulation and therefore completely unsuitable for most people. What's the point of running Windows for ARM if every single program apart from Office and Edge are running in emulation mode and run slower than an equally expensive laptop with a regular Intel or AMD processor? If that's the case, the whole thing is a complete waste of money.

 

[Insane Metal]

Same perf as a 13980H consuming 70% less power. Damn.

 

[M1chl]

Very few companies bother releasing ARM versions of programs for Windows, unfortunately. Emulation just won't cut it for this.

True, but Rosseta translation layer is pretty good. Hopefully MS have something similar.

Most important is for MS to release SDK, so you wouldn't care, if you are compiling to x86 or ARM64, as it is on Apple platforms

 

[LordOfChaos]

Going to be interesting times with Nvidia, Qualcomm, AMD and Apple all throwing down in ARM chips by 2025, very big change than comparing the old x86 duo for decades. Intel has a good turnaround planned with the foundry business and their x86 roadmap looks promising, but I guess they better get on the bandwagon and offer an ARM SoC too.

 

[onnextflix5]

Great news for tablets, laptops and handheld consoles, if only ms invested more on the arm windows side of things, would have really given greedy apple a run for its money.

 

[StereoVsn]

Much more interesting is the question how fast and efficient this new processor can run 32/64-bit x86 applications. So far these ARM processors for Windows were always crap at Intel emulation and therefore completely unsuitable for most people. What's the point of running Windows for ARM if every single program apart from Office and Edge are running in emulation mode and run slower than an equally expensive laptop with a regular Intel or AMD processor? If that's the case, the whole thing is a complete waste of money.

What’s more is at Enterpise level there are a huge number of variety of applications both purchased and home grown they would need to run on ARM. Some shit is quite old and not nearly everything can be just a web application.

So Enterprise sales of the ARM Windows devices will have challenges for quite a while.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

I just bought Pixel 8 Pro but if this is in a new Galaxy then I may jump back on the cooter train.

Literally says in the first sentence that it’s for Windows PCs