Qualcomm has just presented the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3, the new generation of its chip for computers that will come to PC with Windows 11 and wants to compete face-to-face with Apple’s powerful M1.
It seems that the era of ARM-powered Windows computers is closer than ever. These days the Qualcomm conference is being held in which the absolute protagonist is being the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.
It is a chip that not only has raw power in CPU, NPU and GPU, but also allows very interesting camera implementations and has a clear commitment to gaming.
However, apart from Qualcomm’s flagship, they have introduced the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3, their new processor for Windows laptops, not just for Chromebooks (which is where we had already seen the company’s processors).
Voucher, not the first Qualcomm SoC for a Windows. Microsoft is experimenting with the ARM architecture for their Surfaces, we have also seen some teams with the Snapdragon 835 and 850 … but now it seems that both Qualcomm and Microsoft are more serious with this new generation.
It all comes down to optimization. The two companies have worked hand in hand to make the operating system fully compatible with the ARM architecture of the Qualcomm chip, but not only Microsoft has been working with Qualcomm, as the company has confirmed that suites such as Adobe’s or Shapr3D are fully compatible with the SoC.
Given that the software seems optimized, we go with the guts of the chip. The Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 is built on a 5 nanometer lithograph that allows a great performance with a very low consumption.
In one of the classic comparisons in which exact numbers or specific models are not given, Qualcomm has stated that the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 performs at the same level as an Intel Core i5, but consuming 50% less.
Of the 22 W that the Intel ‘eats’, the Snapdragon only needs 9 W, and this in a laptop is crucial because autonomy is key.
The SOC is made up of an eight-core CPU where four are high performance at 3 GHz while the other four are at 2.4 GHz and consume less power. It has a total of 14 MB of cache and the advantage is that the Adreno GPU and the processor are connected so that the latency is minimal.
Qualcomm ensures that CPU is 85% faster than previous generation and the GPU has 60% better performance than the previous generation.
The Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 has improvements at all levels if we compare it with the previous generation, such as a new ISP (with the ability to detect faces and blur the background, new cores that take care of the audio (to eliminate background noise in a call, for example) and, of course, a new modem.
Connectivity is key for Qualcomm and this chip with the X65 modem (the same as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1) has 10 Gbps of maximum speed and Wi-Fi 6E.
Now we just need to see which are the first laptops with the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3. Lenovo has come to the fore stating that they are an important Qualcomm partner, so it is very likely that we will see a Yoga, or some similar laptop from the Chinese company, with Windows 11 and the Qualcomm chip.
And yes, now we only need to see what are the movements of Intel and AMD in this regard, since Apple with the M1 and Qualcomm with the strategic alliance with Microsoft are pushing hard towards a future of always connected laptops, with battery for the whole day and power thanks to ARM chips.