Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 Elite
3 days ago
- #Snapdragon
- #Qualcomm
- #ARM
- Qualcomm unveiled the Snapdragon X2 Elite (SDX2E), a new SoC for Windows on ARM, featuring 18 CPU cores (12 Prime and 6 Performance cores).
- Prime cores in SDX2E can clock up to 5.0 GHz, with two clusters of 6 cores each, 16MB shared L2 cache per cluster, and improved L2 latency (21 cycles).
- Oryon Gen 3 CPU cores feature 9-wide decode/rename/retirement stages, 4 Branch units, SVE/SVE2 support, and enhanced Vector and Integer execution units.
- SDX2E includes a Matrix Engine per cluster, supporting 4096-bit operations per cycle (FP32/INT32, FP16/BF16/INT16, INT8), on a separate clock domain for power efficiency.
- Performance cores in SDX2E are optimized for sub-2W operation, with a distinct microarchitecture, fewer execution pipes, and smaller caches compared to Prime cores.
- Adreno X2 GPU is Qualcomm's largest to date, with 2048 FP32 ALUs, 4 slices, Wave64 support, ray tracing, and 21MB Adreno High Performance Memory (AHPM).
- Hexagon NPU in SDX2E delivers 80 TOPS INT8, adds FP8/BF16 support, INT2 dequantization, and 64-bit virtual addressing for DMA.
- SDX2E shows strong performance in Cinebench R24 MT (1950 points at 105W INPP) and features dynamic clock boosting based on active cores.
- Qualcomm highlighted battery vs. wall power performance, with SDX2E set for release in H1 2026.
- Challenges remain, including x86 emulation, Linux support, and the need for 'killer apps' to leverage the NPU's capabilities.