Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100 vs Apple M3 Pro 11-Core vs Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus X1P-64-100
Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100
► remove from comparisonThe Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100 is a pretty fast ARM architecture processor (SoC) for use in Windows laptops. The X1E-80-100 is the second-fastest member of the Snapdragon X series, as of May 2024; as such, it has 12 Oryon CPU cores (3 clusters of equally powerful cores; 12 threads) running at up to 4.0 GHz, the 3.8 TFLOPS Adreno X1-85 GPU, the 45 TOPS Hexagon NPU and an impressively fast LPDDR5x-8448 memory controller.
The faster Snapdragon X Elite X1E-84-100 is thought to be based on the same die with the same NPU and the same number of CPU cores but with a higher GPU and CPU clock speeds.
Architecture and Features
Qualcomm Oryon cores are in part based on Nuvia IP; they most likely make use of the ARM v8.7 microarchitecture. Much like modern AMD and Intel processors, the Snapdragon chip is compatible with USB 4 and thus with Thunderbolt 4 but it remains to be seen if it is is compatible with GeForce or Radeon discrete graphics cards.
The Qualcomm SoC is thought to have at least 12 PCIe 4 and 4 PCIe 3 lanes for connecting various kinds of devices. NVMe SSDs are supported with a throughput of up to 7.9 GB/s; furthermore, most laptops built around the chip are expected to have 16 GB of LPDDR5X-8448 RAM. There is also a 45 TOPS NPU for accelerating AI workloads.
Performance
When all of the 12 cores are under load, they can run at up to 3.4 GHz. The much more desirable 4.0 GHz clock speed is only achievable under single-thread or dual-thread loads.
Given the very similar clock speeds, its multi-thread benchmark scores should be about the same as that of the X1E-78-100 for Ryzen 7 7840U and Apple M3-like performance in most real-world tasks. We'll make sure to update this section once we get our hands on a system powered by the X1E-80-100.
Like any other Windows on ARM platform, the Snapdragon X chip works best with applications and games compiled specifically for ARM processors. If making use of the built-in x86 to ARM emulation mode, a performance penalty of about 20% is to be expected.
Graphics
The integrated 3.8 TFLOPS Adreno X1-85 GPU is DirectX 12-enabled but not DirectX 12 Ultimate-enabled, despite featuring VRS and ray tracing support. The 3.8 TFLOPS of performance that it delivers pale in comparison to the slowest current-generation professional Nvidia Ada graphics card for laptops, the RTX 500 Ada, that delivers up to 9.2 TFLOPS.
Its gaming performance is somewhat underwhelming. While slightly faster than the aging Iris Xe (96 EUs), the Adreno is not fast enough to outpace the Radeon 780M meaning there is little point in comparing it with full-fat discrete graphics cards. Baldur's Gate 3, a triple-A title released in 2023, is pretty much unplayable at 1080p / Low. GTA V, a game that saw the light of day in 2015, is playable at 1080p / High.
The Qualcomm iGPU will let you use up to 3 UHD 2160p monitors simultaneously. 2160p120 integrated displays are supported, as are the popular AV1, HEVC and AVC video codecs (both decoding and encoding). The hardware does not support the VVC codec; that feature remains a Lunar Lake exclusive for now.
Power consumption
The X1E-80-100 is most likely going to be less power-hungry than its more powerful brother (the latter can be set to consume up to 80 Watts). Expect to see anything between 20 W and 45 W under long-term workloads because that's what Ryzen HS chips normally consume.
The SoC is built with a 4 nm TSMC process for decent, as of H1 2024, energy efficiency.
Apple M3 Pro 11-Core
► remove from comparisonThe Apple M3 Pro 11 Core is a system on a chip (SoC) from Apple for notebooks that was introduced late 2023. It integrates 11 of the 12 CPU cores with 5 of 6 performance cores with up to 4.06 GHz and 6 efficiency cores with 2.8 GHz.
Compared to the M2 Pro the M3 Pro has been slimmed down somewhat and swaps two performance cores for efficiency cores. This is due to the changed core configuration, as 6 cores are now used per cluster (the M2 Pro and M3 still have 4 cores per cluster). Furthermore, the memory bus has been reduced from 256 bits to 192 bits (150 GB/s vs. 200 GB/s). Thanks to the new architecture and higher clock rates, the new M3 Pro is still slightly faster.
The M3 Pro also integrates a new graphics card with dynamic caching, mesh shading and ray tracing acceleration via hardware. In the entry-level model, only 14 of the chip's 18 cores are used and support up to 3 displays simultaneously (internal and 2 external).
GPU and CPU can jointly access the shared memory on the package (unified memory). This is available in 18 or 36 GB variants and offers 150 GB/s maximum bandwidth (192 bit bus).
The integrated 16-core Neural Engine has also been revised and now offers 18 TOPS peak performance (compared to 15.8 TOPS in the M2 but 35 TOPS in the new A17 Pro). The video engine now also supports AV1 decoding in hardware. H.264, HEVC and ProRes (RAW) can still be decoded and encoded.
Unfortunately, the integrated WLAN only continues to support WiFi 6E (no WiFi 7), unlike the small M3 SoC thunderbolt 4 is also supported (max 40 Gbit/s).
The chip is manufactured in the current 3nm process (N3B) at TSMC and contains 37 billion transistors (-7.5% vs. Apple M2 Pro).
Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus X1P-64-100
► remove from comparisonThe Snapdragon X Plus X1P-64-100 is a moderately fast ARM architecture processor (SoC) for use in Windows laptops that debuted in April 2024. The X1P-64-100 has 10 Oryon CPU cores (10 threads) running at no more than 3.4 GHz. Other key features include the 3.8 TFLOPS Adreno X1-85 GPU, the 45 TOPS Hexagon NPU and an impressively fast LPDDR5x-8448 memory controller.
The chip's smarter X Elite series brothers including first and foremost the Snapdragon X Elite X1E-84-100 are thought to be based on the same die with the same NPU but with more CPU cores enabled, higher GPU clock speeds, higher CPU clock speeds and possibly higher power targets as well.
Architecture and Features
Qualcomm Oryon cores are in part based on Nuvia IP; they most likely make use of the ARM v8.7 microarchitecture. Much like modern AMD and Intel processors, the Snapdragon chip is compatible with USB 4 and thus with Thunderbolt 4 but it remains to be seen if it is is compatible with GeForce or Radeon discrete graphics cards.
The Qualcomm SoC is said to have 12 PCIe 4 and 4 PCIe 3 lanes for connecting various kinds of devices. NVMe SSDs are supported with a throughput of up to 7.9 GB/s; furthermore, most laptops built around the chip are expected to have 16 GB of LPDDR5X-8448 RAM. There is also a 45 TOPS NPU for accelerating AI workloads.
Performance
Its multi-thread performance is very close to that of the Intel Core i7-13700H and the 9-core Apple M4, meaning this is a pretty fast CPU that's good for most tasks one could possibly throw at it in 2024.
Like any other Windows on ARM platform, the Snapdragon X chip works best with applications and games compiled specifically for ARM processors. If making use of the built-in x86 to ARM emulation mode, a performance penalty of about 20% is to be expected.
Graphics
The 3.8 TFLOPS Adreno X1-85 iGPU is DirectX 12-enabled but not DirectX 12 Ultimate-enabled, despite featuring VRS and ray tracing support. The 3.8 TFLOPS of performance that it supposedly delivers pale in comparison to the slowest current-generation professional Nvidia Ada graphics card for laptops, the RTX 500 Ada, that delivers up to 9.2 TFLOPS.
Its gaming performance is rather underwhelming; while slightly faster than the aging Iris Xe (96 EUs), the Adreno is not fast enough to outpace the Radeon 780M meaning there is little point in comparing it with full-fat discrete graphics cards. Baldur's Gate 3, a triple-A title released in 2023, is pretty much unplayable at 1080p / Low. GTA V, a game that saw the light of day in 2015, is playable at 1080p / High.
The Qualcomm iGPU will let you use up to 3 UHD 2160p monitors simultaneously. 2160p120 integrated displays are supported, as are the popular AV1, HEVC and AVC video codecs (both decoding and encoding). The hardware does not support the VVC codec; that feature remains a Lunar Lake exclusive for now.
Power consumption
The X1P-64-100 is most likely going to be less power-hungry than its more powerful X Elite brothers. Expect to see anything between 10 W and 35 W under long-term workloads because that's what Ryzen U chips normally consume.
The SoC is built with a 4 nm TSMC process for decent, as of H1 2024, energy efficiency.
Model | Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100 | Apple M3 Pro 11-Core | Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus X1P-64-100 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Series | Qualcomm Snapdragon X | Apple Apple M3 | Qualcomm Snapdragon X | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Codename | Oryon | Oryon | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Series: Snapdragon X Oryon |
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Clock | <=4000 MHz | 2748 - 4056 MHz | <=3400 MHz | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cores / Threads | 12 / 12 12 x 4.0 GHz Qualcomm Oryon | 11 / 11 5 x 4.1 GHz Apple M3 P-Core 6 x 2.7 GHz Apple M3 E-Core | 10 / 10 10 x 3.4 GHz Qualcomm Oryon | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
TDP Turbo PL2 | 80 Watt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Technology | 4 nm | 3 nm | 4 nm | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
iGPU | Qualcomm Snapdragon X Adreno X1-85 (3.8 TFLOPS) | Apple M3 Pro 14-Core GPU | Qualcomm Snapdragon X Adreno X1-85 (3.8 TFLOPS) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Architecture | ARM | ARM | ARM | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Announced | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manufacturer | www.qualcomm.com | www.apple.com | www.qualcomm.com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
TDP | 27 Watt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Transistors | 37000 Million | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Features | ARMv8 Instruction Set |