Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme X2E-96-100 CPU and GPU performance impress in Geekbench debut alongside Asus laptop [Notebookcheck]
Posted by LastChancellor@reddit | hardware | View on Reddit | 123 comments
vlakreeh@reddit
Such impressive hardware, stuck with such a terrible operating system. I'd love to ditch my MacBook if an x2 elite machine came out with good Linux support and a nice feeling haptic trackpad (libinput means this'll never happen!). I absolutely love the performance and efficiency of Apple's chips but MacOS is just "fine", and Intel and AMD are just so disappointing with their YoY performance gains that I don't see them making a compelling laptop for the foreseeable future.
hypnotickaleidoscope@reddit
Isn't there native Linux distro support for apple silicon? Can't remember the name but I thought it was debian based.
BlueSiriusStar@reddit
Lol this proves the point I was making for some time. These X86 chips like Zen5% cannot compete even against your phones which operate at lower temperatures while being faster and more power efficient than the bext X86 stuff from AMD and Intel. Apple and Qualcomm release yearly CPUs with appreciable performance gains unlike X86.
For gamers we should all welcome and encourage WoA because like another redditor posted if an ARM CPU emulated Windoes runs faster than an X86 CPU running Windoes bare then its X86 really deserves to be shoved out of our PCs. We just need eGPU and PCIe support for ARM CPUs to be mainstream.
LastChancellor@reddit (OP)
whos going to be crazy enough to give an ARM CPU a dedicated GPU
hypnotickaleidoscope@reddit
Nvidia does this already with its blackwell mini PCs meant for desktop LLM development.
SPACEXDG@reddit
Nvidia prob lol
DerpSenpai@reddit
The smallest X2P is crying to be paired with a 5050/5060
6 Prime cores. Super small iGPU
Cubanitto@reddit
As a gamer first I got to see those gaming results before any synthetic tests impress me. I don't care what CPU you got in it, let's see what the GPU can do.
Alarmed-Mix-7401@reddit
I really wouldn't recommend these for gaming either. This chip is coming in 2200 dollar laptops. Panther Lake is going for much lower and if gaming perf is your priority, its easily gonna trash this in that aspect as well, both in perf AND compatability.
BandeFromMars@reddit
That's why I don't and will never understand people who hype up these things. They might as well be the world's most powerful web browsing or PowerPoint machine. Why the hell should anyone care about a laptop that's powered snapdragon when you could more use out of an x86 machine, macbook, or hell the Nvidia n1x powered stuff that's on its way?
Rich_Ask5994@reddit
Gaming? Child care is next door.
BandeFromMars@reddit
You do realize what sub you're on, right? 80 to 90% of the people here probably play video games.
SPACEXDG@reddit
N1x is good on the gpu side but Qualcomm is way better on cpu choose one or the other
BandeFromMars@reddit
It's CPU is "way better" but not usable nearly to the extent that the N1/N1X will be. Nvidia will eventually use their custom cores for consumer products. What happens to Qualcomm then.
Rich_Ask5994@reddit
oh little kid wants to play games with toys.... oh how sweet.
Cubanitto@reddit
Gpus do more than play games little boy
siazdghw@reddit
Now show me real world benchmarks using x86 applications for the CPU and a wide array of games for the GPU... As we saw with last gen, Qualcomm nails the synthetic benchmarks, but take a considerable hit in real world use cases due to WoA emulation and Qualcomms bad GPU drivers, hence why they are so frequently returned.
fastheadcrab@reddit
You're being downvoted but Qualcomm has been touting synthetic benchmarks for years while they don't even match up to x86 in terms of real performance, not to mention Apple.
Geekbench is also a shit metric
Rich_Ask5994@reddit
x86 it is something that will stay only in desktops and in some portion of servers. Its not 8086 year anymore.
Geddagod@reddit
"real performance" lol
joel523@reddit
Holy cow. 4k ST and 23k MT.
I remember people here were saying Qualcomm's WoA push was dead after the X Elite. Now it's a whopping 38% faster than AMD and Intel's very best mobile ST - likely at much better perf/watt as well.
I think anyone with a brain could have saw this coming because Qualcomm's Android SoCs were already beating Intel and AMD laptops in raw CPU performance and significantly more efficient. All Qualcomm had to do was to bring their upgraded phone SoCs to laptops.
SPACEXDG@reddit
Me lol
SPACEXDG@reddit
Exactly
Qsand0@reddit
I think its pretty clear that the excuse for Apple being continually better than x86 being attributed to vertical integration et al et al is silly. Here's Qualcomm with none of Apple's financial or proprietary firepower giving intel and amd the D
joel523@reddit
The vertical integration for Apple made little sense because the M4 Max running Parallels emulating Windows was still faster than any x86 laptop CPU: https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/compare/13494385?baseli...
SPACEXDG@reddit
Fr lol
-WingsForLife-@reddit
I'm just waiting for a cut down version of the N1X, because there's little point using an x86 laptop nowadays, outside of specific usecases.
I gave my parent a Surface Laptop 7 X1P last year and they were more than happy with perf and efficiency.
psydroid@reddit
I haven't bought a new laptop in a decade. It's going to be ARM (or later on RISC-V) or nothing.
AMD and Intel should have more competitive offerings, if they want me to part with my hard-earned money.
yreun@reddit
There is the N1 which seems to have only 1 of the 2 clusters from the N1X along with an RTX 5050-sized GPU, based off an OpenCL run's information:
alps evb_8091_la - Geekbench
SPACEXDG@reddit
Fr lol
Artoriuz@reddit
The reason is that Intel and AMD design server products and then repurpose them down to consumers.
Apple and Qualcomm design consumer products.
S0phon@reddit
marco_il_bello@reddit
Don't worry, videos will soon be released showing that the fan spins twice and overheats, but in real life, for those who have actually tried it, the fan doesn't even turn on. Qualcomm is being boycotted. Go and see how they've brought down its share price on the stock market. It won the case against ARM and lost. Today, you find these super benchmarks and it loses in pre-market trading. It has AI chips for data centres that consume much less than its competitors (and hyperscapers need power), and they bring it down. Meta announces record sales of smart glasses, so Qualcomm chips and Meta go up and Qualcomm goes down. There are dozens of stories like this. It remains to be seen whether they want the CEO to leave or if there are other shady reasons. Sooner or later, it will come out
featherknife@reddit
basedIITian@reddit
Also faster ST than all their desktop chips too actually.
NeroClaudius199907@reddit
If only the gpu part was good. Nvidia please
LastChancellor@reddit (OP)
let's be real, the N1X is actually just the next chapter in Qualcomm Vs Mediatek (bc it uses a Mediatek CPU)
SPACEXDG@reddit
Right lol
DerpSenpai@reddit
It's a matter of time till ARM does Windows drivers for their Mali GPUs too
Sorry_Soup_6558@reddit
Fair enough but the windows emulation layer for x86 code is really really slow compared to Box 64
Sorry_Soup_6558@reddit
Why am I getting booed I'm right the Snapdragon 8 Elite gen 5 beats the shit out of the X2E Pro or whatever in gaming with using Gamehub on the phone and Prism on the laptop.
Educational-Web31@reddit
can you provide numbers with sources?
No_Housing_1857@reddit
Better than M4 and M5, I believe. There are several videos like this one on YouTube, for example.
https://youtu.be/AAOyABJ9nSo
joel523@reddit
Nvidia is doing custom CPU core designs, starting with the Vera CPU.
Forsaken_Arm5698@reddit
N1X has great GPU, but the CPU is not so great.
Pick one or the other. You can't have both, atleast in this generation of chips.
Hour_Firefighter_707@reddit
The N1X CPU is still going to be fine for most people most of the time. It is still way faster than Lunar Lake for example in every metric.
Qualcomm’s GPUs are pretty useless by comparison unless you’re looking at the top SKUs
basedIITian@reddit
One would hope that with N1X release (and release of NVIDIA drivers for WoA platform), NVIDIA would not block their GPU's to be paired with SD CPU's. Because we already know the extra PCIe lanes do exist on these chips for eGPU support.
DerpSenpai@reddit
If Nvidia enbales eGPU support on QC Laptops, i sell my 3070 Laptop tommorow even if i can't play some games yet (League)
basedIITian@reddit
Frankly my (mostly casual) games run on my SP11 perfectly fine so I have no desire, but I hope it does happen.
DerpSenpai@reddit
The GPU itself is not bad, it's better than AMD's theoretically, but they have a big issue, poop drivers and no FSR4/DLSS4.5 so they are also disavantaged here
basedIITian@reddit
Poop Vulkan drivers. DirectX drivers are pretty good.
LastChancellor@reddit (OP)
for context:
X2 Elite Extreme got an insane CPU, but just okay GPU (esp if it has to deal with emulation woes)
basedIITian@reddit
Worth mentioning this device is rumored to be \~2200 USD. Nothing insane like a \~4000 USD M4 Max Macbook Pro.
Hour_Firefighter_707@reddit
This is competing with an M5 Pro at best, not the M5 Max. Even then, we don't know the power draw yet and $2200 is a lot for a Zenbook A16. It is not in the same class of build quality and features as a MacBook Pro.
All of that before we consider the fact that Asus cheaped out and are reusing the 70Wh battery from the A14 in the A16 as well.
The CPU performance is impressive, don't get me wrong, but we need to look at the price too. There's more to a MacBook Pro than raw power
basedIITian@reddit
Not asking anyone to buy this over the M5 or M4 Max. The table shows comparison with the M4 Max and not with the M4 Pro, that's why I'm adding the context.
Hour_Firefighter_707@reddit
Except it is not competing with the M4 Max, it is competing with the M5 Max.
Also, Pro and Max chips from Apple have very similar CPU performance. M5 Pro and M5 Max have the same CPU. And an M5 Pro comes in a significantly higher end laptop at a very similar price
basedIITian@reddit
Sure, the M5 Pro and Max numbers can be added when they are available. Till then it performs at M4 Max CPU Perf levels in the same cost tier as the M4 Pro.
Hour_Firefighter_707@reddit
Are we adding the numbers now? They're out for the world to see.
Forsaken_Arm5698@reddit
But the GPU is not comparable.
basedIITian@reddit
Yes. GPU is only M5 base level at best. With specific workloads like RT, probably even further behind. A strategy that for sure will get the ire of all enthusiasts.
DerpSenpai@reddit
This is a 48GB Laptop though
Alarmed-Mix-7401@reddit
The M5 Pro with 48 gigs of RAM is 2800 dollars. And it has double the GPU performance in raster and quadruple the RT performance for 3D rendering in blender. 600 dollars more for a faster, more efficient CPU under load, on average triple the GPU performance, and significantly higher mem bandwidth for AI stuff is a more than reasonable deal.
Raikaru@reddit
Is anyone buying a macbook for its raster performance? And if your main priority is rt performance wouldn’t you buy an nvidia gpu? It’s not like you’re going to be rendering stuff off a charger anyway. I agree the mem bandwidth difference is killer though
Alarmed-Mix-7401@reddit
The M5 Max is as fast as, if not faster than the 5090 laptop in RT performance. (Blender). The future is now old man😉. Nvidia doesn't hold the RT crown anymore.
Blender open data scores: M4 Max : 5268 RTX 5090 : 7874
M5 Max GPU is anywhere between 50-70% faster in RT performance in Blender. Looking at M5 over M4 gains. Even if we lowball it a lot, the M5 Max is scoring at the very least 7500-8000, atleast matching the 5090 laptop at significantly lower power cost. (175W vs 100W) and a heck of a lot more VRAM to play with.
https://opendata.blender.org/benchmarks/query/?compute_type=OPTIX&compute_type=CUDA&compute_type=HIP&compute_type=METAL&compute_type=ONEAPI&group_by=device_name&blender_version=4.5.0
Hour_Firefighter_707@reddit
Nvidia still do hold the RT crown but they’ve handicapped themselves in the mobile space by using an outdated node and using smaller dies that are always less efficient than bigger ones running slower clock speeds. To say nothing about the fact that the PCIe bus and the GDDR memory takes a lot of vestigial power.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the N1X GPU for example would be way more efficient a discrete 5070.
All that being said, if your high power workload requires apps that exist on macOS, there is no reason to buy a Windows laptop with an Nvidia dGPU. They’ve neglected the consumer market for long enough that it is finally biting them in the arse. And that makes me very happy.
Alarmed-Mix-7401@reddit
I mean I wouldn't call them holding the RT crown if they're losing in RT performance. Even if we take into account an outdated node, N3P is not acheiving 50% lower power over N4P. By TSMC's own claim its 25% at best. Appls's uarch deserves a lot of praise. They've done in 2 gens what AMD has failed to do over 4.
Forsaken_Arm5698@reddit
So theoretically, M5 Ultra will be faster than desktop RYX 5090?
Alarmed-Mix-7401@reddit
Almost certainly.
Forsaken_Arm5698@reddit
Well, let's see...
For $2200 you can get the maxed out Zenbook A16 or Macbook Pro 14 with M5 Pro.
The Macbook has it's advantages, while the Zenbook gives doubles the RAM (48 GB) and has a larger screen.
basedIITian@reddit
And is lighter.
Alarmed-Mix-7401@reddit
Poor comparision. The M5 Pro has the same CPU as the Max and has a more than comfortable performance AND efficiency lead.
LastChancellor@reddit (OP)
once we get some scores on the M5 Pro and Max then I'll add them too.
Alarmed-Mix-7401@reddit
Apple's claiming 15% faster MT than M4 Max.
Forsaken_Arm5698@reddit
where?
Alarmed-Mix-7401@reddit
Their press release.
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2026/03/apple-debuts-m5-pro-and-m5-max-to-supercharge-the-most-demanding-pro-workflows/
"The new CPU architecture offers up to 15 percent higher multithreaded performance when compared to M4 Max"
LifeIsNotFairOof@reddit
the gpu scores are off because its not running in full performance, take the gpu numbers with a bucket load of salt
LastChancellor@reddit (OP)
how is it not full performance
LifeIsNotFairOof@reddit
its literally on the geekbench results its running at 1 mhz for some reason, also considering sd numbers it should be way higher than this
yreun@reddit
Qualcomm's OpenCL driver never reports the accurate GPU clock for some reason.
Here is last gen's X1-85: https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/compute/5925084
And the 8 Elite Gen 5: https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/compute/5925041
deezznuuzz@reddit
My 17pm does early 4k in ST and around 10k MT, it’s insane, how good and efficient ARM64 are
AbhishMuk@reddit
It's simultaneously cool and insane that my phone's (OP15) 8 elite gen 5 is within spitting distance of that (3.6k, 10.6k), yet despite Qualcomm getting so much better, it's still behind Apple.
RagingAlkohoolik@reddit
Did they name this from the year 2004? X2 Elite Extreme, shouldve named it Xtreme instead of Extreme lmao
SmashStrider@reddit
Holy shit, that's some incredible performance.
coffeandcream@reddit
This is the top spec cpu though and it gets beaten by the base M5 found in ie the MacBook Air?
So... impressive? Not really. Terrible? No, but.... yeah.
Eagle_Sense@reddit
Are you dumb ? This actually is in the range of M4 MAX. CPU is now just less than few 200 points in ST.
Ok_Pineapple_5700@reddit
I mean any chip not named Apple gets destroyed by it in single core. I don't understand the argument.
IBM296@reddit
Damn. I was hoping the GPU would atleast be able to match the base M5. Looks like that's not the case.
It's a big improvement from X1, but Qualcomm still has a long way to go in the GPU department.
Eagle_Sense@reddit
It still is using OpenCL. Apple uses Metal for GPU TESTS. We'll need to wait for some 3D Mark tests
withlovefromspace@reddit
No wattage shown as usual. Pointless benchmarks if this isn't what is going to run in laptops.
basedIITian@reddit
The Geekbench report is literally from an announced laptop, not some developmental board.
Sorry_Soup_6558@reddit
Still worthless without wattage
HellsPerfectSpawn@reddit
Geekbench is a silly benchmark though. It barely stresses CPU resources and it invariably benefits a certain subset of CPU types dispraportionately.
globalnav@reddit
Can you elaborate on that?
HellsPerfectSpawn@reddit
Because all it tests are short, bursty workloads. The kind of stuff you run on mobiles hence why the mobile cpus and its makers have such a strong inclination to it.
Run cinebench, occt, realbench, 3dmark if you actually want to test a cpu for work/gaming, etc.
joel523@reddit
Apple Silicon wins more in Cinebench 2024 than in Geekbench.
I think your argument is simply not valid.
Gaming and work generally heavily correlates with ST, which Geekbench is particularly good at since it correlates with SPEC 1t.
HellsPerfectSpawn@reddit
what? no it doesn't. are you just pulling things from your b•••. if that is the case then how is it that even the cheapest x3d chip embarasses whatever variant of m5 you can buy right now?
Forsaken_Arm5698@reddit
That would be the 5800X3D I believe?
M5 is twice as fast in single core.
HellsPerfectSpawn@reddit
In what gaming test is M5 twice as fast as 5800x3D?
Forsaken_Arm5698@reddit
Not gonna take the bait.
basedIITian@reddit
CB24 ST Scores -
M5 ~190-200 X2EE ~160-170 PTL ~120-130 AI Max 380 ~135
HellsPerfectSpawn@reddit
And what?
basedIITian@reddit
You asked to compare CB scores for real workload comparison.
HellsPerfectSpawn@reddit
where?
Alarmed-Mix-7401@reddit
Are you schizophrenic? Need your meds? You literally typed out a comment calling him to use Cinebench as a "real stress test". And he gave you the numbers. M5 is currently the only non hyper overclocked to break the 200 point barrier in Cinebench 2024.
HellsPerfectSpawn@reddit
Ok so what? i just said geekbench is a useless benchmark. The m5 comparison i made because the other guy brought it up. So tell me what's your excuse?
Alarmed-Mix-7401@reddit
Nice ragebait lmaoo.
Geddagod@reddit
This isn't nice rage bait I'm just genuinely confused if u/HellsPerfectSpawn has memory loss or something.
HellsPerfectSpawn@reddit
Damn, don't stress your brain too much.
Alarmed-Mix-7401@reddit
From taking a quick peek at his account, seems like a fan of Intel.
basedIITian@reddit
Run cinebench, realbench, 3dmark if you actually want to test a cpu for work/gaming, etc.
HellsPerfectSpawn@reddit
Ok, now what?
basedIITian@reddit
You may be lost. Cinebench (real workload test as per you) shows Intel and AMD to be either equally or even further behind Qualcomm and Apple than what Geekbench shows.
HellsPerfectSpawn@reddit
Again what's your point?
Alarmed-Mix-7401@reddit
I think the point is you need to get checked for acute memory loss. No offense intended ofc.
HellsPerfectSpawn@reddit
None taken mate, but I think you might need to check if you have some reading comprehension difficulties.
Raikaru@reddit
You’re arguing with someone who decided to troll after being proven wrong.
Alarmed-Mix-7401@reddit
Id expect the M5 Max to be anywhere between 210-220 since bandwidth does impact CB24 scores by around 5% or so.
basedIITian@reddit
Sure, no doubt. Hopefully we start getting CB26 numbers soon.
joel523@reddit
Stressing the CPU is mostly a measurement of cooling capacity.
HellsPerfectSpawn@reddit
running prime95 is for that.
Anyusername7294@reddit
I hope for good Linux support
marco_il_bello@reddit
Yes, but it's remarkable how fast they're moving. They've beaten competitors who have been making CPUs for PCs for decades, and although they're behind with GPUs, their performance isn't bad, which means we may see a new competitor for GPUs too, given that the duopoly has shown that there is no competition. Perhaps that's why they're boycotting Qualcomm. I say boycott because I tried and used the X Elite Plus (the cheap one), the first version, and it had superb performance. It seemed like the fastest notebook I had ever tried, not in terms of rendering, but when opening windows, browsing the internet, opening documents, and many other things. Yet, in videos by YouTubers and others, it seems to be poor, described as mediocre, not to mention the battery that lasts a long time and the fan that never turns on.
A silly example: you know when you open YouTube on your mobile phone and skip forward 10 minutes and it's instantaneous, whereas on a computer you always have those little waits, but they're always there. With the Qualcomm notebook, everything is so instantaneous, it seems as instantaneous as smartphones. Another thing that perhaps some competitors don't like is that if you analyse a notebook with a Qualcomm chip, it seems that 90% of it is Qualcomm. Go to device management and you'll find Qualcomm Wi-Fi, video processor, chipset, fingerprint reader... I can't remember everything now, but I remember being struck by the fact that while you usually find various manufacturers for all the components...
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
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