Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite - looks like the Windows world’s answer to Apple Silicon

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gourav

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arstechnica.com

Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite looks like the Windows world’s answer to Apple Silicon

Snapdragon X Elite PCs should begin to arrive in mid-2024, but obstacles remain.
arstechnica.com arstechnica.com

Qualcomm uses some Apple-esque performance charts to demonstrate the X Elite's performance and power efficiency; the company claims that the X Elite will run up to twice as fast as an Intel Core i7-1355U or Core i7-1360P at the same power level, or it can match their performance while using 68 percent less power. Qualcomm also says the X Elite can match the performance of a beefier Core i7-13800H using 65 percent less power—providing roughly the same multi-core performance at 30 W that the Intel chip provides at 90 W. The X Elite's power consumption appears to max out at around 50 W, and to go as low as 10 W, at least according to these charts.
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I know it's going to take some time to become mainstream and have as much support as x86 on Windows, but still fairly excited for Windows laptops which can actually run 10 hours on a single charge.
 
Microsoft has actually been working with Qualcomm for quite some time now. They even had an exclusivity deal such that windows on ARM would run only on Qualcomm chips. Not sure if that deal is still in place.
 
Only way to make WinArm successful is to allow x86 apps to run seamlessly on ARM architecture via a compatibility layer.
Unless that happens, we will have gimped apps, and Windows will not be Windows.
 
Some different kind windows will be required to extract the maximum run time. Remember windows RT, something like that will come up to run on this chip. Current windows apps will run through some compatibility layer similar to apple rosetta, until all the apps are rewritten/optimized for the new architecture.

Single chip solution is the future, it saves manufacturing cost, gives more low level control.
Imagine windows computer without BIOS. :)
 
Heisen said:
Single chip solution is the future, it saves manufacturing cost, gives more low level control.
Imagine windows computer without BIOS.
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I am not sure that is actually a good thing.
x86 is an open architecture that allows immense flexibility where the end customer gets to use the hardware as they see fit. That kind of standardization and freedom is unimaginable on Qualcomm or Apple hardware today. Yes performance per watt is better but we'll be living at the mercy of Qualcomm for updates and full use of hardware, like modern Android phone, creating e-waste out of perfectly good hardware.
 
Quantum Jump!
It won't take long for ARM to take off. ARM support is increasing every day. Most libraries nowadays have ARM support because of Apple Silicon. Windows can run android apps. Nvidia & AMD are coming next year with ARM cpus for PCs. 2024 will be amazing - Snapdragon X Elite, Meteor Lake CPUs, Strix Point & M3. All of them are a major improvement from some or other perspective.
 
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JMP said:
I am not sure that is actually a good thing.
x86 is an open architecture that allows immense flexibility where the end customer gets to use the hardware as they see fit. That kind of standardization and freedom is unimaginable on Qualcomm or Apple hardware today. Yes performance per watt is better but we'll be living at the mercy of Qualcomm for updates and full use of hardware, like modern Android phone, creating e-waste out of perfectly good hardware.
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eh?
How exactly is x86 more open than ARM?

M1 allows for booting unsigned/custom kernels on Apple Silicon Macs i.e. same unrestricted model as x86.
No reason to suspect why Qualcomm would restrict it
 
It would go somewhere if not for the poor business management on Qualcomm's part on trying to bundle inferior Qualcomm components while subsiding the product at a loss.

www.semiaccurate.com

What’s going on with Qualcomm’s Oryon SoC?

How did Qualcomm snatch defeat from the jaws of victory with their Oryon/Houma SoC?
www.semiaccurate.com www.semiaccurate.com
JMP said:
I am not sure that is actually a good thing.
x86 is an open architecture that allows immense flexibility where the end customer gets to use the hardware as they see fit. That kind of standardization and freedom is unimaginable on Qualcomm or Apple hardware today. Yes performance per watt is better but we'll be living at the mercy of Qualcomm for updates and full use of hardware, like modern Android phone, creating e-waste out of perfectly good hardware.
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Actually Qualcomm has provided no commitment on support, as to whether it will better than their poor support for phone SoC. Also the fact that they mentioned "upgradable" drivers will be provided, makes them sound so out of touch in the PC market.
 
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hardware is already there to compete with Apple's arm chips except microsoft doesn't care about windows on arm
 
chungus said:
hardware is already there to compete with Apple's arm chips except microsoft doesn't care about windows on arm
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Not sure why Microsoft is obsessed with emulation rather than translation. Apple has clearly shown Rosetta translation as a better way forward for unsupported software.

To be honest, more excited about Nvidia and AMD in the ARM PC space than Qualcomm who largely let it stagnate until the final year of the end of their exclusive arrangement with Microsoft.

www.xda-developers.com

Nvidia and AMD are reportedly working on Arm chips to run Windows

Nvidia and AMD may be the first threats to Qualcomm when it comes to Windows PCs running on Arm.
www.xda-developers.com www.xda-developers.com

And that will definitely get Microsoft to pull their heads out of the sand.
 
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LeviArbalest said:
Not aware of much but would this chip perhaps be used on a new mid level surface tablet or some kind? Pretty interesting to see
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I expect it will be a while before we see this in cheaper laptops and tablets. Due to low production volumes, cost will be high initially. Since a lot of applications built for Windows won't run on Windows for Arm, at least not without a severe performance hit, people won't be rushing to get laptops with these chips.
 
I am much more excited about the rumors that AMD/Nvidia might be making Arm APUs, specially AMD since they hold the patent for X86_64, if AMD gets down to it, it can truly make a backwards compatible platform while utilising RISC-V, RISC is the future for processors and the only thing holding back ARM or RISC is backwards compatibility which amd might truly solve.
 
6 months later, A few lucky YouTubers and publications got a chance to interact with the Qualcomm engineering team who worked on this SOC, It looks like it's turning out to be a fine chip.

Apple rubbed the face of every windows laptop owner with fanless, noiseless, ventless beautiful macs which had killer battery life. Battery life is only thing which i sought out the most. I mean, what's the point of having a powerful Windows machine if you don't have the charge to run it, or you're always anxious about the device dying on you. Intel and Amd kept making powerhungry x86 chips. it's absurd why neither of them got down to even try out arm even after Apple proving the world that portable devices like laptops should be cooler, thinner, lighter, and frugal. Good for Qualcomm, looks like they've got a winner in their hands.

Almost all of these scores are even higher than a Ryzen 7 7800x3d, All at 1/6th of the power.

1713608264519.png


more info available here.


www.thurrott.com

The Snapdragon X Elite is Real

I want to believe. But now I have the hands-on experience I need to cast aside (most of) the doubt: The Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite is the real deal.
www.thurrott.com www.thurrott.com
 
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CeyeN said:
6 months later, A few lucky YouTubers and publications got a chance to interact with the Qualcomm engineering team who worked on this SOC, It looks like it's turning out to be a fine chip.

Apple rubbed the face of every windows laptop owner with fanless, noiseless, ventless beautiful macs which had killer battery life. Battery life is only thing which i sought out the most. I mean, what's the point of having a powerful Windows machine if you don't have the charge to run it, or you're always anxious about the device dying on you. Intel and Amd kept making powerhungry x86 chips. it's absurd why neither of them got down to even try out arm even after Apple proving the world that portable devices like laptops should be cooler, thinner, lighter, and frugal. Good for Qualcomm, looks like they've got a winner in their hands.

Almost all of these scores are even higher than a Ryzen 7 7800x3d, All at 1/6th of the power.

View attachment 195064

more info available here.


www.thurrott.com

The Snapdragon X Elite is Real

I want to believe. But now I have the hands-on experience I need to cast aside (most of) the doubt: The Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite is the real deal.
www.thurrott.com www.thurrott.com
Click to expand...

The real question is how smoothly will Windows handle x64 to ARM transition layer? Will all my software work from Day 1?
Really hope MS puts their might behind this and makes Windows on ARM a legit competitor to both Apple and Windowsx64
 
alekhkhanna said:
The real question is how smoothly will Windows handle x64 to ARM transition layer? Will all my software work from Day 1?
Really hope MS puts their might behind this and makes Windows on ARM a legit competitor to both Apple and Windowsx64
Click to expand...
From what i've read, All native x86 apps will work from day 1 using Windows x86 emulation. Apple did it very well with Rosetta. I just hope MS engineers are capable enough to do something similar.

Also, There are a bunch of videos of Control, Redout running on these chips in youtube in x86 emulated mode.

Also from the below article, the x86 instructions are translated for the first time and cached. post which it runs in ARM64EC mode which delivers near native performance.

beebom.com

Qualcomm Says Windows Games Will Just Work on Snapdragon X Elite

Qualcomm is confident that PC games would run seamlessly on Snapdragon X Elite using the ARM64EC and x64 emulation layer.
beebom.com beebom.com
 
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