While all eyes are riveted on the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, Qualcomm also takes the opportunity to refresh its Snapdragon X range and respond to all the criticisms of its first generation of SOC for PC. And what could be better for that than launching the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme, a processor that broke several records. Presentations.
Microsoft recently welcomed the fact that 90% of applications launched on Windows PCs under ARM are very native, and no longer translations of code on the fly. So is there ultimately a real future for Qualcomm on portable PC, after beginnings in half shade? THE Snapdragon X2 Elite Extremehis brand new chip presented during the Snapdragon Summit alongside the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, proves without the shadow of a doubt that the founder has not lost ambition.
The Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme beats records on Windows Arm
In the center of the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme, we find the new 3rd generation Oryon cores already seen on the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. However, they are now 18against 12 at most on the previous generation. 18 hearts, 12 of which are haloed with the name “premium”: hearts that can reach a Frequency Boost in Dual Core of 5 GHz. Note that the cores 6 more “classic” performance are not to be outdone. They can go up to 3.6 GHz in boost.
And if the last Intel or AMD chips have already exceeded these frequencies, at 5.6 GHz for Core Ultra 9 285 or 5.1 GHz for the Ryzen ai 9 hx 375the fact is far from trivial for Qualcomm. This is the first time here that an ARM chip offers the ability to reach 5 GHz, while retaining the energy advantage of mobile architecture. For comparison, the Apple M4 Pro reaches 4.51 GHz in peak.
Another notable record: the NPU, a party dedicated to AI calculations, is now going to the impressive figure of 80 npu tops Against 45 on the previous generation. A score that is still far from reaching the current generations of its competitors in X86, although the IA tools are still struggling to convert the general public.
The graphic performance of the Snapdragon X2 Elite also progresses
But one of the greatest criticisms formulated on the Snapdragon X Elite, particularly compared to the X86 universe, was to be seen on the side of the graphic circuit. Here, the new generation Adreno promises to offer 2.3 times more power per watt Compared to the previous generation, a very wide evolution which fascinates enormously in a context of slowing down the evolution of the chips themselves.
Qualcomm’s secret sauce here? A Adreno X2-90 which can run at a maximum frequency of 1.85 GHz, and benefits from a memory at 192 -bit bus for a very wide bandwidth of 228 GB/s. Moreover, on the Z2 Elite Extreme, we find between 48 Go eightly hate at 9523 mt/s. Another beautiful record in industry.
Overall? A snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme which shows, according to Qualcomm figures, 5% in single Core performance against the Apple M4, 33% in multi -core against the Core Ultra 9 285H, 38% against the Core Ultra 9 2888V for the GPU part and almost twice more powerful on the IA side as the Apple M4. This new chip defends all previous champions of their respective categories, according to the brand.
But where is the Snapdragon X2 Elite “classic”?
Who says Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme says, logically, Snapdragon X2 Elite “classic”. However, Qualcomm’s communication around The new range of Soc For PC Arm remains fairly vague. Let us remember, for example that the Snapdragon X Elite, launched in 2023, was not alone in the Qualcomm catalog: it was accompanied by a “standard” version and a “more” version. But they were not announced until much later.
If the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme seems completely delightful, the brand does not linger on the sacrifices accepted for the less ambitious components which will accompany it. We know for example that the latter will have lessened frequencies, or even fewer hearts on the CPU part, up to 12 cores (6 bonus and 6 performances) for the most accessible model.
But that does not stop there, since the graphic part will also be different. Rather than the Adreno X2-90, we will find theAdreno X2-85 whose maximum frequency descends to 1.7 GHz. In addition, the memory part of the X2 Elite descends to a 128 -bit bus offering a well -reduced bandwidth of 152 GB/s.
Will these Snapdragon X2 Elite chips really be able to surf the sublime promises that spearhead is capable of making, while making you forget the couchse start of the first generation? Or will they become the pebble in the shoe of the expansion of Qualcomm in the world of laptops? This is the biggest question that we have left following this first presentation. But it’s not the only one …
