News I went hands-on with two different Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chips as the company claims it will beat Intel's Core Ultra

[Admin]

Qualcomm is continuing to show off its Snapdragon X Elite, and is now comparing it to Intel Core Ultra chips and Apple's M3.

I went hands-on with two different Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chips as the company claims it will beat Intel's Core Ultra : Read more

 

[PEnns]

"In terms of Apple comparisons, Qualcomm was a bit thin, only covering multi-threaded CPU performance in Geekbench 6. Qualcomm claims the X Elite beats the M3, 15,610 to 12,154. Single-threaded performance wasn't mentioned, nor graphics. And Qualcomm didn't bring up the M3 Pro or M3 Max, either."

Cherry picking has become an art in the tech industry.

 

[ThomasKinsley]

My only concern with ground-breaking performance is that they will try to charge ground-breaking prices. I would like to see more mainstream ARM processors compete with the i5.

 

[thestryker]

With the limited memory bus width it'd be pointless to compare to the higher end Apple chips. I fully expect Qualcomm to be premium priced though since they can't help themselves even though it's a foolish way to try to break into a market.

 

[bit_user]

When looking at their performance claims, it's very important to look at what they did, here:

​

In this slide, they're picking the point where they offer the same performance as the competitor's peak, in order to compute an efficiency metric. That much is fair, I suppose. I mean, it doesn't exactly reflect a real-world scenario, but at least it's a sort of apples-to-apples comparison.

However, they go on to compute the ratio of their performance to the competitor's, at that same point, and claim they're 54% faster (at same power). However, that doesn't mean they're 54% faster than the competitor's peak performance, just at the point where they equal the competitor's peak performance.

If we unwarped the image (is it any wonder these are monitor screenshots and not PDFs or JPEGs they sent out??), we could probably use an image editing program to find their peak performance is only like 30% faster, in this case.

 

[oofdragon]

Say what you want it's quite promising! Basically what Intel/AMD can do but at half the power! They would dominate the game if they could also come up with a iGPU like the last ones from AMD

 

[taz-nz]

I really hope a manufacture goes rogue and puts one of these on a ITX or mATX motherboard, with intel heatsink mounting holes, and an unlocked bios, be really fun to see how far you can push one of these CPUs if you remove the thermal and power restrictions.

 

[Notton]

"The company also had a unit to try some gaming on, with Redout, Control, and Baldur's Gate 3 preinstalled and running through emulation."

Thanks for the details.
From what I've seen, those games are running pretty well considering they are running on an emulator.

 

[Amdlova]

With snapdragon 8 gen 2 it's pretty impressive running ps2 titles at full hd 60 fps. From intel gpu same settings only gpu eats 10w and cpu another 15w...
These new cpus can be really fast better than intel or amd... now how will emulate x86-64 software will be the thing.

 

[NeoMorpheus]

It takes special skills to be able to write such articles without mentioning AMD not even once.

And this is becoming a trent in here since this is not the first time i have observed it.

Anyways as always, we need to wait for shipping products and proper reviews.

From the get go, i have zero hope that Qualcomm will offer these chips at reasonable prices.

 

[NeoMorpheus]

with intel heatsink mounting holes

Or AMD. Plenty of compatible coolers out there.

 

[bit_user]

I really hope a manufacture goes rogue and put on of there on a ITX or mATX motherboard, with intel heatsink mounting holes, and an unlocked bios, be really fun to see how far you can push one of these CPUs if you remove the thermal and power restrictions.

Well, I'm pretty sure I've heard them talk about mini-PCs, and Microsoft actually sells one with their previous gen:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/d/windows-dev-kit-2023/94k0p67w7581?activetab=pivot:techspecstab
​

I suppose an enterprising overclocker run it open-top and rig a custom waterblock for it. On the plus side, laptop SoCs tend to lack an IHS, so you could easily do direct-die water cooling.

 

[taz-nz]

Or AMD. Plenty of compatible coolers out there.

The symmetrical layout of Intel mounting holes makes getting even mounting pressure easier, important if you are working with a naked die chip.

 

[taz-nz]

I suppose an enterprising overclocker run it open-top and rig a custom waterblock for it. On the plus side, laptop SoCs tend to lack an IHS, so you could easily do direct-die water cooling.

That's my thinking, these chips have such low TDP, that old school cooling tricks like on socket water-cooled Peltier would work for sub ambient and possibly sub-zero cooling.

We know the manufacturing process used to make these chips is compatible with much higher clocks, and it's likely they are clocked lower than their design layout allows in the name of peak efficiency.

So, it would be cool to tinker with overclocking a chip that's more like those we had back in 90s and early 2000s, where they don't put out 400w of heat and aren't being pushed to within few MHz of their lives from the factory.

 

[t3t4]

Well it's about time these power hungry chip stop being so damn hungry! Otherwise, they're a rip off when all they do is live on thermal throttle all the time. That is Not what I paid for, but is what I received in my top end 12th gen laptop. That thing can't really do anything without at least tapping the throttle.... I mean brakes! And heaven for bid you want to actually do some work with it, the thing just lives on the brakes! Don't sell me a 5.5GHZ chip when it can only run at 4.3-4.5GHZ!!!!

Don't go faster, just hit and hold the speed I paid for and stop acting like a space heater.

That's about all I have to say about that.

 

[NeoMorpheus]

The symmetrical layout of Intel mounting holes makes getting even mounting pressure easier, important if you are working with a naked die chip.

Then I suppose that all the delidded AM4 and AM5 chips died a horrible death because of the bad design created by AMD.

Dont forget your adapter that for unknown reasons, its needed on intel mobos:

https://www.caseking.de/en/der8auer-intel-9th-gen.-oc-frame-fsd8-026.html?Partner=888

Amazing how intel keeps getting free passes in all places.

 

[taz-nz]

Then I suppose that all the delidded AM4 and AM5 chips died a horrible death because of the bad design created by AMD.

I said nothing like that, I said it makes it easier to get even pressure with Intel design.

Dont forget your adapter that for unknown reasons, its needed on intel mobos:

Amazing how intel keeps getting free passes in all places.

The contact frame is needed because the stock Intel CPU retention frame sits higher than the bare CPU die, so unless the cooler was designed for direct die cooling it will not reach the bare CPU die with the factory retention frame in place, but you still need something to apply force to the outer edge of the CPU package to make sure all the pins have full contact.

That's not an issue with the AM4 and older socket AMD CPUs as they still use a ZIF socket where CPU pins are mechanically latched into the socket from below, so no part of the socket is higher than the bare die.

AM5 CPU are LGA socket just like Intel and have the same issue and require a contact frame to apply pressure for the outer pins to make reliable contact.
See thermal grizzly Direct die frame for AMD 7000 Series CPUs

https://www.thermal-grizzly.com/en/direct-die-frame/s-tg-dd

 

[subspruce]

In fact, there were multiple configurations going around. Most interesting is that there were three versions of Qualcomm's processor floating around:

• Snapdragon X Elite X1E80100, paired with 16GB of RAM
• Snapdragon X Elite X1E84100, paired with 64GB of RAM
• Snapdragon X Elite X1E80100, paired with 32GB of RAM (this machine was being used for AI demos)

this kind of phrasing makes it sound like the CPU versions are coupled with memory configuration, which makes me not hopeful for Snapdragon X + CAMM2

 

[ThomasKinsley]

this kind of phrasing makes it sound like the CPU versions are coupled with memory configuration, which makes me not hopeful for Snapdragon X + CAMM2

At least they're not offering a paltry 8GB like a certain company.

 

[thestryker]

this kind of phrasing makes it sound like the CPU versions are coupled with memory configuration, which makes me not hopeful for Snapdragon X + CAMM2

I'd be pretty surprised if anything using CAMM2 came out this year period. It takes a while for board partners to revamp manufacturing lines and there undoubtedly needs to be trace testing done for LPDDR5X in CAMM form. The CPU manufacturers also have to take this into account for designs and Intel's forthcoming LNL is also using DRAM on package.

 

[bit_user]

Intel's forthcoming LNL is also using DRAM on package.

I'm guessing it'll be the HX line, that's basically Arrow Lake-S in laptop clothing, where we'll see things like support for CAMM2. IMO, one of the benefits it has over on-package DRAM is support for higher capacities, which is something you'd expect to see in higher-powered laptops.

 

[thestryker]

I'm guessing it'll be the HX line, that's basically Arrow Lake-S in laptop clothing, where we'll see things like support for CAMM2. IMO, one of the benefits it has over on-package DRAM is support for higher capacities, which is something you'd expect to see in higher-powered laptops.

I doubt even ARL laptops will be using CAMM2 there's just way too many moving parts for it to happen this year given that the spec was finalized at the end of last year. I hope the entire market moves as quickly as possible though as it has so much positive potential. Being able to use LPDDR5X in a removable form would be absolutely fantastic.