- Snapdragon X Elite performed remarkably well in benchmark tests. Its multi-core scores in Geekbench and Cinebench are impressive.
- The X Elite draws more power to sustain performance. Compared to Apple M-series chipsets, X Elite consumes nearly 2x more power.
- The Adreno X1 GPU is a bit underwhelming and stays behind integrated GPUs from Intel, AMD, and Apple.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite has been released and laptop makers have finally launched several Copilot+ PCs in the market. We recently got our hands on the Asus Vivobook S15, which features the new Snapdragon X Elite chipset. To test out its performance, power consumption, clock speeds, and more, I have extensively benchmarked the Snapdragon X Elite chipset (X1E-78-100) using a variety of tools. On that note, let’s begin.
Testing Methodology
- We have benchmarked the Asus Vivobook S 15 laptop powered by the Snapdragon X Elite chipset. It features the X1E-78-100 SKU, the third chipset in the lineup. It features 12 CPU cores and offers a maximum clock speed of 3.4GHz.
- Before running any tests, we updated Windows 11 to the latest version (Windows 11 24H2, Build 26100.1150). The Adreno GPU was also updated to the latest driver version 31.0.56.0.
- We have run all our tests on the Best Performance mode. Further, we changed the settings in the MyASUS app to Full-speed mode to unlock the full potential of the processor.
- The display refresh rate was set to 120Hz.
Geekbench 6 CPU
We ran the Geekbench 6 CPU test on the Snapdragon X Elite (X1E-78-100), both on power and battery. And there was almost no difference in CPU performance, while plugged in or on battery. Keep in mind that all of the tests were done on Best Performance mode and Full-speed mode turned on in the MyASUS app.
On power, Snapdragon X Elite achieved a single-core score of 2,441 points and a multi-core score of 14,050 points. Whereas, the X Elite scored 2,406 and 14,044 on single-core and multi-core tests on battery, respectively.
Geekbench 6 CPU Snapdragon X Elite
(Plugged-in) Snapdragon X Elite
(on Battery)Single-core score 2,441 2,406 Multi-core score 14,050 14,044
If we talk about Snapdragon X Elite’s thermals, well, the CPU temperature at idle was 41 degrees Celsius before the Geekbench test, and during the test, it peaked at 75 degrees Celsius. The surface temperature around the keyboard was 29.7 degrees Celsius at idle, rising to 35.5 degrees Celsius during the intense workload.
During Geekbench 6 CPU Test Snapdragon X Elite
(Plugged-in)Idle CPU Temperature 41 degrees Celsius Idle Surface Temperature 29.7 degrees Celsius Peak CPU Temperature 75 degrees Celsius Peak Surface Temperature 35.5 degrees Celsius Peak Power Consumption 47.6 W Sustained Clock Speed Around 3400 MHz (3.4GHz)
The Snapdragon X Elite’s peak power draw during the Geekbench CPU test was 47.6 watts. As for the peak frequency, the Snapdragon X Elite sustained clock speeds of 3400 MHz (3.4 GHz) for an extended period. It means that the Oryon cores didn’t throttle down the frequency and sustained the CPU performance for much longer.
While the CPU power consumption is notably high, especially compared to Apple’s M-series chips, the credit goes to Asus for keeping thermals in check. The company integrates its IceCool thermal technology featuring two fans and two heat pipes for better heat dissipation.
Overall, the CPU performance of the Snapdragon X Elite (X1E-78-100) is top-notch, both on battery and power. However, to squeeze the best performance out of the chipset, you will have to change the performance profile both in Windows Settings and MyASUS app. Note that this will result in higher battery drain and louder fan noise, but the fan noise is still much quieter than any x86 processor.
Cinebench 2024
Next, we move to the Cinebench 2024 benchmark which evaluates both the CPU and GPU. In the Cinebench 2024 test, the Snapdragon X Elite scored 108 points in single-core and 1100 points in multi-core, while plugged in. On battery too, the performance remained almost similar, achieving 104 and 1024 points in single and multi-core tests, respectively.
Cinebench 2024 Snapdragon X Elite
(Plugged-in) Snapdragon X Elite
(on Battery)Single-core score 108 104 Multi-core score 1100 1024
During this test, the Snapdragon X Elite’s CPU temperature reached 95 degrees Celsius which is quite high and power consumption peaked at 88.7 watts — pretty high for a mobile SoC, designed for thin and light laptops. Under maximum load, the surface temperature above the keyboard rose to 41.1 degrees Celsius which is noticeably warm.
During Cinebench 2024 Test Snapdragon X Elite
(Plugged-in)Idle CPU Temperature 40 degrees Celsius Idle Surface Temperature 31 degrees Celsius Peak CPU Temperature 95 degrees Celsius Peak Surface Temperature 41.1 degrees Celsius Peak Power Consumption 88.7 W Sustained Clock Speed Around 3400 MHz (3.4GHz)
The frequency ranged between 2.5GHz to 3.4GHz, and occasionally, it even crossed the rated peak frequency of 3.4GHz, operating at 3.6GHz. While we didn’t notice performance degradation in full power mode, it’s worth noting that Snapdragon X Elite’s power consumption under maximum load is significantly higher than expected.
As this is the first PC chipset from Qualcomm featuring the new Oryon cores, we anticipate the next iteration of Snapdragon X Elite prioritizes efficiency, aiming to match the efficiency figures of Apple M-series chipsets.
Geekbench 6 GPU
To test the integrated Adreno X1 GPU on the X Elite, we ran the Geekbench GPU test, based on OpenCL and Vulkan APIs. On the OpenCL API, the Adreno X1 GPU achieved a decent score of 20,543 points while plugged in and 20,417 points on battery. On Vulkan API, the GPU performed notably better. It scored 23,635 points on power and 24,227 on battery.
Geekbench 6 GPU Snapdragon X Elite
(Plugged-in) Snapdragon X Elite
(on Battery)OpenCL score 20,543 20,417 Vulkan score 23,635 24,227
The Adreno X1 GPU on this X Elite SKU (X1E-78-100) runs at 1.25GHz. Admittedly, the GPU on the Snapdragon X Elite is underwhelming at best. Even an 8-core Apple M2 GPU scores north of 24,000 points in the Geekbench OpenCL test.
That’s not to say that the Adreno X1 GPU is not usable or performant enough for light gaming, but compared to its competitors, there is definitely a performance gap. There is also much work to be done on the software and driver side to improve the gaming performance.
3DMark
The Adreno X1 GPU on the Snapdragon X Elite does support Microsoft’s DirectX 12 API which means you can play games like Cyberpunk 2077 on low settings. So we ran the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme test on the DX12 API and it did perform well. It scored 37.82 FPS and 6,316 points while plugged in.
Next, in the 3DMark Solar Bay test on Vulkan API, the Snapdragon X Elite GPU did fairly well, achieving 10,239 points and 42.81 FPS in Solar Bay Section 1. That said, in the same test, Intel GPUs score around 49 FPS and over 11,000 points. To conclude, the Adreno X1 GPU is powerful, but can’t beat the integrated GPUs from Intel, AMD, and Apple.
3DMark Tests Snapdragon X Elite
(Plugged-in) Snapdragon X Elite
(on Battery)3DMark Wild Life Extreme (DirectX 12) 6,316 / 37.82 FPS 6,330 / 37.90 FPS 3DMark Solar Bay (Vulkan) 10,239 points
38.93 FPS
(Graphics test)
42.81 FPS
(Solar Bay Section 1)
39.03 FPS
(Solar Bay Section 2)
34.63 FPS
(Solar Bay Section 3)9,846 points
37.44 FPS
(Graphics test)
41.01 FPS
(Solar Bay Section 1)
37.53 FPS
(Solar Bay Section 2)
33.46 FPS
(Solar Bay Section 3)
Geekbench ML
To test the AI capability of the Snapdragon X Elite chipset, we ran the Geekbench ML test. While using the ONNX DirectML API (using the GPU), it scored 2,350 points, and with the ONNX CPU API, it got the inference score of 2,885 points — all while plugged in. The NPU support for X Elite has not been added to Geekbench ML yet.
If we compare the CPU score, Apple’s M3 chipset scores above 4,000 in the same test, with its own Core ML CPU API. With the Apple M3 GPU for AI inference, it achieves around 7,800 points. I would say that for AI inference using the CPU or GPU, Snapdragon X Elite does not perform well, at least when compared to Apple’s M3 chipsets.
That said, it might be the case of an unoptimized framework or lack of proper hardware acceleration for ML tasks. We will re-run the test after a few months to check whether things have improved on this front.
Geekbench ML Snapdragon X Elite
(Plugged-in) Snapdragon X Elite
(on Battery)ONNX DirectML 2,350 2,245 ONNX CPU 2,885 2,890
AI Inference Test
After the Geekbench ML benchmark, let’s check out how well the X Elite performs in practical AI applications. We installed the beta version of LM Studio for Snapdragon X Elite and loaded the Phi 3 Mini 3B model. Keep in mind that LM Studio only supports CPU inferencing on the Snapdragon X Elite right now.
In our test, Snapdragon X Elite’s CPU generated response at 24 tokens per second which is amazing for on-device inferencing. In another test, it generated a response at 21 tokens per second. Keep in mind, this speed is based on the 3 billion model. If we run a larger model, the token generation speed will get slower.
Nevertheless, to run 3B and 7B models, even on the CPU, Snapdragon X Elite does a splendid job. With support for GPU and NPU offloading in the future, the experience might get even better.
Speedometer and JetStream
Finally, we move to the browser benchmark test. We ran Speedometer 3.0 and JetStream 2.0 tests on the native ARM64 version of Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge. Surprisingly, Google Chrome performed better than Edge in the Speedometer test.
Chrome got a score of 27.2 whereas Edge managed to get 22.5 points. For context, the Apple M3 MacBook Air gets around 32 points in the Speedometer 3.0 test.
Speedometer 3.0 JetStream 2.0 Google Chrome ARM64 27.2 303.016 Microsoft Edge ARM64 22.5 295.690
In the JetStream test, Chrome performed marginally better than Edge. Chrome achieved 303.016 points whereas Edge got 295.690 points. So if you want a faster web browsing experience on Snapdragon X Elite laptops, it seems Chrome will be a better pick than Edge.
The Verdict
The Snapdragon X Elite, in this case, the X1E-78-100 SKU, is undoubtedly a powerful processor, especially when compared to x86 chipsets. However, its high power draw is disheartening as the low power consumption is a key advantage of ARM processors.
While the new Oryon cores are performant, they draw more power than Apple’s M-series CPU cores. Laptops powered by the Snapdragon X Elite will surely offer better battery life than Intel and AMD-powered laptops. However, it’s worth noting that these devices still require active cooling, similar to their x86 counterparts.
The Asus Vivobook S 15 is a compelling product, but from a chipset perspective, we expected X Elite from Qualcomm to match Apple’s performance-per-watt figures more closely.
Notably, Qualcomm has to significantly improve its Adreno GPU for PCs. Currently, it seems like a scaled-up version of the mobile Adreno GPU. Streamlined driver support and gaming compatibility will be key to enticing long-time Windows users to jump on the ARM platform. Finally, framework support for the NPU is crucial for enabling efficient AI processing on the device.
