Benchmarked: Snapdragon X2 Elite Excessive crushes Intel’s laptop computer CPUs
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 Elite is as soon as once more threatening to upend the PC CPU market.
About two years in the past, Qualcomm debuted the Snapdragon X1 Elite, an Arm chip that changed the corporate’s mediocre 8-series Snapdragon chips and carried out impressively. Now it’s the Snapdragon Elite X2’s flip, and the 18-core X2 Elite Excessive is prepared for the highlight.
The efficiency is genuinely spectacular. Intel’s Panther Lake and AMD’s successor to its Strix Level chips definitely should ship to maintain up with Qualcomm.
Qualcomm didn’t enable journalists to “evaluate” the chip within the conventional sense. Just like the “exams” that had been run on the primary Snapdragon X Elite, Qualcomm offered check laptops, loaded them up with benchmark software program, and allowed reporters to watch the outcomes afterwards. Naturally, this setup assumed Qualcomm provided legitimate silicon, benchmarks, energy, and cooling. However evaluating the Snapdragon X Elite’s Qualcomm-administered benchmarks and the ultimate Snapdragon X Elite leads to our evaluate, we are able to safely assume that Qualcomm isn’t taking part in methods.
Qualcomm offered entry to at least one chip, the Snapdragon X2 Elite Excessive (X2E-96-100), with 18 complete cores, together with 12 prime cores (4.4GHz all cores sustained/5.0GHz increase), and 6 efficiency cores (3.6GHz sustained, no increase).
Mark Hachman / Foundry
The chip additionally consists of 48GB of built-in DDR5x reminiscence, which stays a little bit of a wild card. Of the three Snapdragon X2 chips Qualcomm introduced, the X2 Elite Excessive gives the choice of inserting reminiscence on-package or off-chip like a traditional pocket book. Qualcomm isn’t essentially specifying that 48GB would be the quantity shipped; it’s merely what was used within the X2E-96-100 demonstration items.
The opposite two chips, in keeping with Qualcomm senior vp of compute and gaming Kedar Kondap, depend on an exterior DDR5 DRAM interface and might be configured with no matter quantity of reminiscence a PC maker chooses, as much as a most of 128GB.
Journalists had been invited to oversee the testing, even when Qualcomm anticipated outcomes to fall inside a sure vary. All exams had been carried out on wall energy, and journalists weren’t allowed to unplug the laptops. Nevertheless, given Qualcomm’s statements that the Snapdragon X2 Elite ought to function the identical on wall energy because it does on battery, it in all probability doesn’t make a distinction.
Qualcomm chosen a variety of exams that coated the CPU, GPU, and NPU, utilizing lots of our normal benchmarks.
The outcomes are very, very spectacular. In comparison in opposition to the last-generation cellular microprocessors from all three chipmakers, the Snapdragon X2 Elite Excessive blows all of them away.
We didn’t compile charts for all the benchmark exams out there to reviewers, however we took consultant exams from the CPU, GPU, and NPU. The X2 Elite excels in all of them.
Mark Hachman / Foundry
The Snapdragon fared effectively in CPU testing, actually giving AMD’s Ryzen AI 300 chips a run for his or her cash. In Cinebench 2024, it isn’t even shut.
Geekbench additionally highlights the X2 Elite Excessive’s dominance. The one caveat I’d make right here is that our exams had been carried out utilizing Geekbench 6.1, whereas the comparability right here used Geekbench 6.4. The scores needs to be comparable, although Geekbench advises in opposition to evaluating outcomes throughout main variations (for instance, Geekbench 5 versus Geekbench 6).
Mark Hachman / Foundry
In each of those benchmarks, the longer bars designate multi-core scores, whereas the shorter bars measure single-core efficiency.
Qualcomm didn’t present precise benchmarks for gameplay, although executives did say that sport efficiency would about double (2.2X) versus the first-generation Snapdragon X1 Elite. This shall be a key focal point, since most video games like Management had been playable at 1080p resolutions and Low settings, with body charges of about 30 fps or so. Doubling that might get that as much as 60 fps.
That’s nonetheless not nice, however we received’t know for certain till we now have an opportunity to check these merchandise ourselves. The 3DMark scores, nevertheless, definitely proceed the Snapdragon X2 Elite Excessive’s sturdy exhibiting.
Mark Hachman / Foundry
Lastly, there’s the huge NPU contained in the Snapdragon X2 Elite, and its 80 TOPS of AI efficiency. On this case, we’d anticipate the X2 Elite Excessive to blow every little thing else away and it does.
For testing, Qualcomm used UL’s Procyon Imaginative and prescient benchmark to check AI. I might have used an precise AI artwork technology or LLM check, each of which UL provides, however we’ll have to attend for these scores.
Even so, that also represents effectively over a 2x benefit there.
Mark Hachman / Foundry
Once more, we didn’t check or evaluate every little thing. Qualcomm, nevertheless, provided a listing of anticipated scores. Sure, it felt orchestrated to us, too — however not less than we might oversee the exams themselves and confirm them.
Qualcomm didn’t say whether or not these chips had been pre-production samples or not, or whether or not clients had already obtained shipments. We suspect the previous, because the firm expects Snapdragon X2 notebooks to debut within the first half of 2025.
Mark Hachman / Foundry
Qualcomm is first out of the gate for this technology, so we’ll have to attend and see what AMD and Intel carry to the desk. Nonetheless, the Snapdragon X2 Elite Excessive efficiency is extraordinarily spectacular regardless of the way you slice it.
