Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-84-100 vs Apple M2 vs Apple M2 Pro
Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-84-100
► remove from comparisonThe Snapdragon X Elite X1E-84-100 is a pretty fast ARM architecture processor (SoC) for use in Windows laptops. The X1E-84-100 is the 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 4.2 GHz, along with the 4.6 TFLOPS Adreno X1-85 GPU, the 45 TOPS Hexagon NPU and an impressively fast LPDDR5x-8448 memory controller.
Two slower Snapdragon X Elite flavors exist, known as the X1E-80-100 and X1E-78-100. In the meantime, the X1E-00-1DE is a special version of the X1E-84-100 aimed at system makers and software developers that has just slightly higher single-core and dual-core Boost clock speed of 4.3 GHz but otherwise the same CPU/GPU/NPU configuration.
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 the X Elite is compatible with GeForce or Radeon discrete graphics cards.
The Qualcomm SoC is believed 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 run at up to 3.8 GHz. The 4.2 GHz clock speed is only achievable under single-thread or dual-thread loads.
Taking the difference in clock speeds into consideration, its multi-thread performance should be around 12% higher than that of the X Elite X1E-78-100 for AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS-like performance in most real-world tasks. We'll make sure to update this section once we get our hands on a laptop powered by the X1E-84-100.
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 4.6 TFLOPS X1-85 GPU is DirectX 12-enabled but not DirectX 12 Ultimate-enabled, despite featuring VRS and ray tracing support. The 4.6 TFLOPS of performance that it supposedly delivers represent a half of what the slowest current-generation professional Nvidia Ada graphics card for laptops, the RTX 500 Ada, is capable of.
Its gaming performance is set to be just slightly better than that of the Radeon 780M. That should be sufficient for about 30 fps in Baldur's Gate 3, a triple-A title released in 2023, at 1080p / Low. Slightly older games will run just fine with most settings set to Medium.
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
As the most powerful Snapdragon X Elite chip, the X1E-84-100 can eat up to 80 watts depending on the system and the power profile chosen. This will differ from one laptop to another, with most designs expected to target the 40 W sweet spot.
The SoC is built with a 4 nm TSMC process for decent, as of H1 2024, energy efficiency.
Apple M2
► remove from comparisonThe Apple M2 is a System on a Chip (SoC) from Apple that is found in the late 2022 MacBook Air and, MacBook Pro 13. It offers 8 cores divided in four performance cores and four power-efficiency cores. The big cores offer 192 KB instruction cache, 128 KB data cache, and 16 MB shared L2 cache (up from 12 MB). The four efficiency cores are a lot smaller and offer only 128 KB instruction cache, 64 KB data cache, and 4 MB shared cache. The efficiency cores (E cluster) clock with up to 2,4 GHz, the performance cores (P cluster) with up to 3,5 GHz and therefore higher than the M1 cores. The architecture should be similar to the A15 (iPhone 13) with Avalanche and Blizzard cores.
The chip features a unified memory architecture for the CPU and GPU cores and supports up to 24 GB LPDDR5-6400 for a bandwidth of up to 100GB/s.
According to Apple, the M2 offers a 18% higher CPU performance at the same power consumption level compared to the Apple M1. In our tests, the MacBook Pro 13 with active cooling was able to reach the 18% in Geekbench Multi. In other benchmarks we measured 12 to 15% gains compared to the M1. Therefore, the performance is now near the M1 Pro with 8 cores. The passively cooled MacBook Air may however suffer from throttling in longer load scenarios.
The integrated graphics card in the M2 offers 8 or 10 cores and a peak performance of 3.6 TFLOPs.
Furthermore, the SoC integrates a fast 16 core neural engine with a peak performance of 16 TOPS (for AI hardware acceleration), a secure enclave (e.g., for encryption), Thunderbolt / USB 4 controller, an ISP, and media de- and encoders.
The Apple M2 includes 20 billion transistors (up from the 16 billion of the M1) and is manufactured in the second generation 5nm process at TSMC (most likely N5P). The power consumption is rated at 20W what we also measured under CPU load.
Apple M2 Pro
► remove from comparisonThe Apple M2 Pro is a System on a Chip (SoC) from Apple that is found in the early 2023 MacBook Pro 14 and 16-inch models. It offers all 12 cores available in the chip divided in eight performance cores (P-cores) and four power-efficiency cores (E-cores). The E-cores clock with up to 3.4 GHz, the P-Cores up to 3.7 GHz (mostly 3.3 GHz in multi-threaded workloads and 3.4 GHz in single threaded).
The big cores (codename Avalanche) offer 192 KB instruction cache, 128 KB data cache, and 36 MB shared L2 cache (up from 24 MB in the M1 Pro). The four efficiency cores (codename Blizzard) are a lot smaller and offer only 128 KB instruction cache, 64 KB data cache, and 4 MB shared cache. CPU and GPU can both use the 24 MB SLC (System Level Cache).
The unified memory (16 or 32 GB LPDDR5-6400) next to the chip is connected by a 256 Bit memory controller (200 GB/s bandwidth) and can be used by the GPU and CPU.
Apple states that the M2 Pro has a 25% higher performance than the M1 Pro in Xcode compiling.
The integrated graphics card in the M1 Pro offers all 19 cores.
Furthermore, the SoC integrates a fast 16 core neural engine (faster than M1 Pro), a secure enclave (e.g., for encryption), a unified memory architecture, Thunderbolt 4 controller, an ISP, and media de- and encoders (including ProRes).
The M2 Pro is manufactured in 5 nm at TSMC (second generation) and integrates 40 billion transistors.
Model | Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-84-100 | Apple M2 | Apple M2 Pro | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Series | Qualcomm Snapdragon X | Apple Apple M2 | Apple Apple M2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Codename | Oryon | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Series: Apple M2 |
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Clock | <=4200 MHz | 2424 - 3480 MHz | 2424 - 3504 MHz | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cores / Threads | 12 / 12 12 x 4.2 GHz Qualcomm Oryon | 8 / 8 | 12 / 12 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
TDP Turbo PL2 | 80 Watt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Technology | 4 nm | 5 nm | 5 nm | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
iGPU | Qualcomm Snapdragon X Adreno X1-85 (4.6 TFLOPS) | Apple M2 10-Core GPU ( - 1398 MHz) | Apple M2 Pro 19-Core GPU | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Architecture | ARM | ARM | ARM | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Announced | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manufacturer | www.qualcomm.com | www.apple.com | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
L1 Cache | 2 MB | 3.3 MB | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
L2 Cache | 20 MB | 36 MB | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
L3 Cache | 8 MB | 24 MB | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
TDP | 20 Watt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Transistors | 20000 Million | 40000 Million | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Features | ARMv8 Instruction Set | ARMv8 Instruction Set |