The recently unveiled Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 mobile chip is poised to fuel the latest flagship Android smartphones and tablets. In addition to this, Qualcomm has introduced its next-generation high-end chip for Windows on ARM laptops, the Snapdragon X Elite.
Qualcomm is aiming to make a substantial impact on the PC chipset market with its latest System on Chip (SoC), emphasizing performance and efficiency.
CPU and GPU
The Snapdragon X Elite is manufactured using a cutting-edge 4nm process node and boasts 12 high-performance Oryon cores, running at a base clock speed of 3.8 GHz, with the capability to achieve single and dual-core boosts of up to 4.3 GHz.
Qualcomm asserts that its new CPU matches the multi-threaded performance of competing Intel 13th-generation CPUs while consuming 68% less power. Notably, the Snapdragon X Elite claims a 50% faster peak multi-threaded performance when compared to Apple’s ARM-based M2 chip.
On the graphics front, the X Elite comes equipped with an integrated Adreno GPU boasting a performance rating of 4.6 TFLOPs and offers support for DirectX 12 API. This chip has the capability to drive up to three external UHD monitors at a smooth 60Hz refresh rate.
For video editors, the Adreno video processing unit (VPU) is a valuable asset, as it provides support for 4K60 10-bit encoding and decoding for H.264, HEVC (H.265), and AV1 file formats.
Generative AI
Furthermore, Qualcomm has incorporated a Hexagon NPU with a formidable processing power of 45 Tera operations per second (TOPs), particularly excelling in Generative AI tasks. The Snapdragon X Elite can effectively manage over 13 billion parameters while running on the device and is capable of generating 30 tokens per second.
The chip offers compatibility with LPDDR5x RAM, delivering an impressive memory bandwidth of up to 136 GB/s, along with a substantial 42MB of total cache. It also supports PCIe Gen4 or UFS 4.0 storage options.
Connectivity and ISP
In terms of connectivity, the Snapdragon X Elite is equipped with the FastConnect 7800 System, providing support for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. Additionally, it features the Snapdragon X65 5G modem, which offers cellular connectivity with peak download speeds of up to 10 Gbps.
The X Elite ensures lossless audio playback, thanks to the Qualcomm Aqstic DAC, and it boasts the Qualcomm Spectra image signal processor (ISP) with the capacity to accommodate dual cameras of up to 36MP and capture 4K HDR video.
