Qualcomm previewed the Snapdragon X Elite last year, marketing the upcoming chipset as the real competition to Apple Silicon and various Intel and AMD processors. With the latest announcement, the San Diego giant has unveiled every possible detail of its flagship notebook SoC while also revealing that there will be not one but three SKUs that Qualcomm’s partners can choose from, which can make it for a very convoluted purchasing experience for the buyer. Regardless, we will clear up the confusion for you, so let us get into the details immediately.
The top-end Snapdragon X Elite has a dual-core boost capability that takes the clock speed up to 4.20GHz, plus other differences
Qualcomm highlighted three part numbers in its latest presentation; X1E-84-100, X1E-80-100, and X1E-78-100. While all three variants share the same 12-core CPU configuration in the ‘8 + 4’ cluster and 42MB of cache, there are several differences that we want to talk about. The top-end version can deliver a dual-core boost of 4.20GHz, while the second one can reach a frequency of 4.00GHz. The faster version has a base clock speed of 3.80GHz, while the second operates at 3.40GHz. The least powerful version has no boost technology, running at only its base frequency of 3.40GHz.
The premium variant also sports an Adreno GPU with 4.6TFLOPs, while the remaining two have a 3.8TFLOPs GPU. All Snapdragon X Elite SKUs have an NPU with 45 tera-operations per second, or TOPS, like the newly announced Snapdragon X Plus. All versions support LPDDR5X RAM with an 8,448MT/s bandwidth and can be configured up to 64GB in upcoming Windows laptops. The new SoC supports SD version 3.0, PCIe NVMe Gen 4 solid state drives, or the UFS 4.0 standard for storage purposes. Like the less powerful Snapdragon X Plus, Qualcomm leverages TSMC’s 4nm process to mass produce its flagship silicon, with an integrated 5G modem delivering download speeds of up to 10Gbps.
Previously, we reported that in generative AI, the Snapdragon X Elite can produce up to 10 times more images than Intel’s Core Ultra 7 155H in Stable Diffusion, showing the NPU’s capabilities. Additionally, Qualcomm showcased a multi-core benchmark where its premiere silicon is up to 21 percent faster than Apple’s M3. Depending on the laptop’s cooling solution, the Snapdragon X Elite can operate at power limits of 23W and 80W, though the maximum supported level will likely be for the top-end version that delivers a 4.20GHz dual-core boost.
Qualcomm also stated that the Snapdragon X Elite can run most games, though a dedicated graphics processor will consistently deliver better performance. In previous tests, it was revealed that the chipset can obtain 30FPS in Baldur’s Gate 3 at 1080p at the lowest settings and 40FPS in Control at the lowest preset. The first Windows laptops powered by this chipset are said to arrive in the first half of 2024, with Lenovo recently debuting its latest ARM-based Yoga Slim 7 14 and ThinkPad T14s running Qualcomm’s latest and greatest chipset. A slew of different models from major notebook brands are expected to launch shortly, and as always, we will keep you in the loop.
About the author: Omar Sohail is a reporter and analyst for Wccftech's mobile section, specializing in the technology and business of the mobile industry. His expertise lies in the intricate hardware supply chain, covering developments in semiconductor manufacturing, chip lithography, and camera sensor technology.
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