Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx vs Apple M3 vs Microsoft SQ1
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx
► remove from comparison![Qualcomm SD 8cx](fileadmin/_processed_/7/8/csm_snapdragon_8cx_small_bf3c1da8ac.jpg)
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Compute Platform (or SD8cx) is a ARM based SoC for Windows laptops. It integrates a similar CPU part as the Snapdragon 855 (same cores but without the Prime Core feature) and is manufactured in 7nm at TSMC. The 4 Kryo 495 Gold cores are based on the ARM Cortex-A76 architecture (for performance) and clocked at 2.84 GHz under load (no single core Turbo). The 4 Kryo 495 Silver cores are small ARM Cortex-A55 cores for power efficiency and clocked at 1.9 GHz under load. According to Qualcomm, the clock speed should not be reduced under constant load with typical (fanless) cooling. The integrated X24 LTE modem supports up to 2 Gbps download speeds. Furthermore, the SoC integrates ac-Wifi and a dual-channel 32-bit 1866 MHz LPDDR4x memory controller.
The processor performance should be similar to a Intel Core i5 8th gen U-series (e.g. i5-8250U) according to Qualcomm. However, this is only the case for native ARM64 compiled Windows apps which are not that many (in mid 2019). 32 bit applications and games for AMD/Intel run in a rather slow emulation and 64 bit apps wont start at all (but an emulator should come in Windows in 2021).
The integrated Adreno 680 graphics card is a beefier version of the Adreno 640 in the Snapdragon 855 and should be twice as fast as the old Adreno 630 (in Windows laptops) and offer a 60% higher efficiency.
The chip is very power efficient as its produced at Samsung in the modern 7 nm process (7LPP). Therefore, laptops using the Snapdragon 8cx can be passively cooled (no fan) and should not throttle under constant load.
Apple M3
► remove from comparison![Apple M3](fileadmin/_processed_/9/a/csm_apple-m3-stats_8e0f221ffe.jpg)
The Apple M3 is a system on a chip (SoC) from Apple for notebooks that was introduced in late 2023. It integrates a new 8-core CPU with 4 performance cores with up to 4.06 GHz and 4 efficiency cores running at up to 2.75 GHz. Apple claims that the CPU is up to 20% faster than in the old Apple M2 (3.5 GHz).
Due to the higher clock speeds and architecture improvements, the processor performance is also significantly better than the M2 in benchmarks (see e.g. Geekbench below) and can keep up with the fastest CPUs in short single-core tests (like the Raptor Lake i9-13950HX).
The M3 also integrates a new graphics adapter with dynamic caching, mesh shading and ray tracing acceleration. According to Apple, it is 20% faster than the GPU in the M2. The chip integrates again 10 GPU cores, but the cheaper variant only offers 8 cores (e.g. in the entry iMac). Furthermore, the GPU only supports 2 displays (an additional 6K60 display to the internal one).
Both GPU and CPU can access the unified memory on the package together. It is still available in 8, 16 and 24 GB variants and offers the same 100 GB/s maximum bandwidth (unlike the Pro models that feature a reduced memory bandwidth).
The integrated 16-core Neural Engine has also been revised and now offers 18 TOPS peak performance (versus 15.8 TOPS in the M2 but 35 TOPS in the new A17 Pro). The video engine now supports AV1 decoding in hardware. H.264, HEVC and ProRes (RAW) can still be decoded and encoded.
Unfortunately, the integrated wireless network module only supports Wi-Fi 6E (no Wi-Fi 7) and due to the support of only a single external monitor, the chip also has to make do with no Thunderbolt 4 (Thunderbolt 3 / USB 4 support only for up to 40 Gbit/s).
The chip is manufactured on the current 3nm TSMC process (N3B most likely) and contains 25 billion transistors (+25% vs. Apple M2). The 3nm process should also contribute to the excellent efficiency of the chip. Under load, the M3 CPU consumes approximately 20 Watt.
Microsoft SQ1
► remove from comparison![Qualcomm SQ1](fileadmin/_processed_/e/d/csm_microsoft_sq1_soc_c5b34c0865.jpg)
The Microsoft SQ1 is a ARM based SoC for Windows tablets (Surface Pro X). It is based on the Snapdragon 8cx but with higher clocked CPU and GPU cores. The CPU cores clock with up to 3 GHz. The 4 Kryo 495 Gold cores are based on the ARM Cortex-A76 architecture (for performance) and clocked at up to 3 GHz (2.84 GHz for the 8cx) under load (no single core Turbo). The 4 Kryo 495 Silver cores are small ARM Cortex-A55 cores for power efficiency and clocked at 1.9 GHz (unverified) under load. The integrated X24 LTE modem supports up to 2 Gbps download speeds. Furthermore, the SoC integrates ac-Wifi and a dual-channel 32-bit 1866 MHz LPDDR4x memory controller.
The processor performance should be similar to a Intel Core i5 8th gen U-series (e.g. i5-8250U) according to Qualcomm. However, this is only the case for native ARM64 compiled Windows apps which are not that many (in mid 2019). 32 bit applications and games for AMD/Intel run in a rather slow emulation and 65 bit apps wont start at all.
The integrated Adreno 685 graphics card is a higher clocked version of the Adreno 680 in the Snapdragon 8cx. Microsoft claims 2 TFlops theoretical performance compared to the 1.8 for the Adreno 680 (+11%).
The chip is very power efficient as its produced at TSMC in the modern 7 process. Therefore, laptops using the Snapdragon 8cx can be passively cooled (no fan) and should not throttle under constant load.
Model | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx | Apple M3 | Microsoft SQ1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Series | Qualcomm Snapdragon | Apple Apple M3 | Qualcomm Snapdragon | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Codename | Cortex-A76 / A55 (Kryo 495) | Cortex-A76 / A55 (Kryo 495) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Series: Snapdragon Cortex-A76 / A55 (Kryo 495) |
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Clock | 2840 MHz | 2748 - 4056 MHz | 3000 MHz | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
L3 Cache | 2 MB | 2 MB | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cores / Threads | 8 / 8 | 8 / 8 4 x 4.1 GHz Apple M3 P-Core 4 x 2.7 GHz Apple M3 E-Core | 8 / 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
TDP | 7 Watt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Technology | 7 nm | 3 nm | 7 nm | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Features | X24 LTE Modem, Adreno 680 GPU | ARMv8 Instruction Set | X24 LTE Modem, Adreno 685 GPU | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
iGPU | Qualcomm Adreno 680 | Apple M3 10-Core GPU | Qualcomm Adreno 685 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Architecture | ARM | ARM | ARM | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Announced | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manufacturer | www.qualcomm.com | www.apple.com | www.microsoft.com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
L2 Cache | 4 MB | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Transistors | 25000 Million |