Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-84-100 vs Intel Core i5-1235U

Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-84-100

The 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.

Intel Core i5-1235U

The Intel Core i5-1235U is a mid-range mobile CPU for thin and light laptops based on the Alder Lake architecture. It was announced in early 2022 and offers 2 performance cores (P-cores, Golden Cove architecture) and 8 efficient cores (E-cores, Gracemont architecture). The P-cores support Hyper-Threading leading to 12 supported threads when combined with the E-cores. The clock rate ranges from 1.3 to 4.4 GHz on the performance cluster and 0.9 to 3.3 GHz on the efficient cluster. The performance of the E-cores should be similar to old Skylake cores (compare to the Core i7-6700HQ). All cores can use up to 12 MB L3 cache. Compared to the i5-1245U, the 1235U offers lower base clock speeds and only "Essentials" vPro management features. Compared to the P-series (28W) or H-series (45W), the 15W TDP may limit the sustained performance.

Performance

The average 1235U in our database is in the same league as the Ryzen 5 PRO 5650U and also, surprisingly enough, the i7-1250U and the i7-1260U, as far as multi-thread benchmark scores are concerned. This is a very respectable result, as of mid 2023.

Thanks to its decent cooling solution and a long-term CPU power limit of 27 W, the Beelink SEi12 is among the fastest systems built around the 1235U that we know of. It can be twice as fast in CPU-bound workloads as the slowest system featuring the same chip in our database, as of August 2023.

Architecture

The integrated memory controller supports various memory types up to DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200, LPDDR5-5200, and LPDDR4x-4267. The Thread Director (in hardware) can support the operating system to decide which thread to use on the performance or efficient cores for the best performance. For AI tasks, the CPU also integrates GNA 3.0 and DL Boost (via AVX2). Quick Sync in version 8 is the same as in the Rocket Lake CPUs and supports MPEG-2, AVC, VC-1 decode, JPEG, VP8 decode, VP9, HEVC, and AV1 decode in hardware. The CPU only supports PCIe 4.0 (x8 for a GPU and two x4 for SSDs).

The integrated graphics card is based on the Xe-architecture and offers 80 of the 96 EUs (Execution Units) operating at up to 1.2 GHz.

Power consumption

This ULV processor has a Base power consumption of 15 W (also known as the long-term power limit), with 55 W being its maximum Intel-recommended Turbo power consumption. Both values are too high to allow for passively cooled designs.

Core i5-1235U is manufactured on Intel's fourth-gen 10 nm process marketed as Intel 7 for decent, as of mid-2022, energy efficiency.