Snapdragon 8 Elite: A New Benchmark for Qualcomm Mobile Chips, Led by Oryon Architecture and Adreno 830 GPU

Snapdragon 8 Elite: A New Benchmark for Qualcomm Mobile Chips, Led by Oryon Architecture and Adreno 830 GPUOn October 22nd, Qualcomm officially launched its new generation flagship mobile platform, Snapdragon 8 Elite, at the 2024 Snapdragon Summit. This chip not only boasts a completely new naming scheme but also features a brand-new self-developed Oryon architecture CPU and incorporates numerous industry-leading technologies, aiming to establish a new benchmark for mobile digital computing

Snapdragon 8 Elite: A New Benchmark for Qualcomm Mobile Chips, Led by Oryon Architecture and Adreno 830 GPU

On October 22nd, Qualcomm officially launched its new generation flagship mobile platform, Snapdragon 8 Elite, at the 2024 Snapdragon Summit. This chip not only boasts a completely new naming scheme but also features a brand-new self-developed Oryon architecture CPU and incorporates numerous industry-leading technologies, aiming to establish a new benchmark for mobile digital computing. This article will delve into the technical details of Snapdragon 8 Elite and share IT Home's performance testing results on the engineering sample.

I. Oryon Architecture CPU: Powerful Core for Performance Leap

One of the most significant highlights of Snapdragon 8 Elite is its adoption of the new Qualcomm-developed Oryon architecture CPU. Previously, Qualcomm had utilized Oryon architecture CPUs in its Snapdragon XElite/XPlus for PC platforms. This marks the first time the architecture is being employed in a mobile platform chip.

The Oryon architecture CPU in Snapdragon 8 Elite employs a full large-core design, comprising two Phoenix L super-large cores with a maximum frequency of 4.32GHz and six Phoenix M large cores with a maximum frequency of 3.53GHz. The super-large cores feature 192KB L1 cache and share a large 12MB L2 cache, while the large cores have 128KB L1 cache and share a 12MB L2 cache. The total cache capacity reaches 24MB, eliminating the need for L3 cache.

Qualcomm states that based on GeekBench benchmark results, Snapdragon 8 Elite's CPU achieves a 45% performance improvement in single-core performance and a 45% increase in multi-core performance. In Speedometer tests, the enhancement is even more prominent, seeing a 62% improvement over the previous generation. Speedometer primarily focuses on the response speed and performance of applications utilizing browser stacks and frameworks, measuring the efficiency of CPU handling everyday user tasks, closely related to user experience.

IT Home conducted benchmark tests using the engineering sample equipped with Snapdragon 8 Elite. The results revealed that its GeekBench 6.2.0 score reached 3223 points in single-core and an impressive 10538 points in multi-core. Antutu Benchmark V10.2.1 yielded a comprehensive score of 3047845, with CPU scoring 677702 and GPU scoring 1254918, equally impressive. The Speedometer benchmark also achieved a score of 33.0, showcasing a notable improvement compared to its predecessor.

II. Adreno 830 GPU: Enhanced Performance and Energy Efficiency, Upgraded Gaming Experience

In addition to the Oryon CPU, the new Snapdragon 8 Elite platform incorporates the latest Adreno 830 GPU. This GPU delivers a 40% performance improvement over its predecessor while simultaneously reducing power consumption by 40%. In terms of ray tracing performance, Adreno 830 GPU exhibits a remarkable 35% performance increase.

The Adreno 830 GPU has undergone a significant architectural transformation, dividing rendering sources into three slices, each capable of achieving a performance level of 1.1GHz. These slices can be flexibly allocated based on user needs. Moreover, Qualcomm has introduced a dedicated 12MB graphics memory for the Adreno 830 GPU, reducing DDR access and lowering power consumption.

To elevate the gaming experience, the new Snapdragon 8 Elite has upgraded the Adreno Frame Motion Engine (AFME) to version 2.0. AFME 2.0 utilizes 3D information and image background information from the game for computation, enabling more precise frame interpolation effects with minimal impact on image quality.

IT Home conducted gaming tests using the engineering sample equipped with Snapdragon 8 Elite. The results indicated that in the GFXBench Aztec Ruins Vulkan (Normal Tier) Offscreen (1080p) test, the Adreno 830 GPU achieved a score of 348 FPS. In the Aztec Ruins Vulkan (High Tier) Offscreen (1440p) benchmark, it attained 125 FPS, demonstrating equally outstanding performance. The 3DMark Steel Nomad Light benchmark scored 2605 points, showcasing a clear lead over the latest flagship platforms from competitors.

IT Home also conducted real-world testing of "Genshin Impact" and "Honkai: Star Rail." In the "Genshin Impact" Danfeng City running test, the average frame rate reached 59.9 FPS, delivering smooth gameplay. After enabling AFME 2.0 30 FPS interpolation to 60 FPS, the average frame rate climbed to 60.2 FPS, reducing power consumption by 20%, resulting in a smoother gaming experience with virtually no loss in image quality.

In the "Honkai: Star Rail" test, the average frame rate reached 59.7 FPS. With AFME 2.0 enabled, the average frame rate rose to 59.9 FPS, reducing power consumption by 23%, offering a similarly smooth experience.

Overall, the GPU performance of Snapdragon 8 Elite is at the current ceiling level. The addition of AFME 2.0 technology allows users to enjoy a smoother frame rate experience. We eagerly await the performance of commercial terminal products equipped with this chip upon their release.

III. AI Engine Performance Leap: Empowering the New Era of Intelligent Applications

The AI engine in Snapdragon 8 Elite has also witnessed a significant upgrade. Thanks to the more powerful Oryon CPU, Adreno GPU, and Hexagon NPU modules, AI performance has increased by 45%, and peak single-watt performance (energy efficiency) has also improved by 45%.

Based on MLPerf AI performance benchmark test results, Snapdragon 8 Elite demonstrates a noticeable upgrade across various benchmarks compared to the previous generation Snapdragon 8 Gen3. For example, the Mosaic (image segmentation) benchmark is 31% faster than the previous generation. The EDSR (super-resolution) performance has improved by 104%, SSD-Mobilenet (object detection) performance has increased by 23%, MobileBERT (reading comprehension) performance has improved by 45%, and MobilenetEdgeTPU (image classification) has also seen a 35% improvement.

IT Home conducted AI performance tests using the Snapdragon 8 Elite engineering sample. The results revealed that the AITUTUBenchmark v3.5.0 test score reached 2024820 points, and the AImark test score reached 311517 points. The MLPerf test results were ImageClassification v2 1594.82 points, ObjectDetection 3166.74 points, LanguageUnderstanding (language understanding) 666.74 points, and ImageClassification v2 2069.13 points.

Conclusion

Through the introduction and IT Home's experience and testing of the Snapdragon 8 Elite engineering sample, we believe everyone now has a clear and in-depth understanding of the performance, energy efficiency, and AI capabilities of Qualcomm's new generation flagship mobile platform.

The new Snapdragon 8 Elite undoubtedly holds special significance for the Snapdragon flagship mobile platform product series. It signifies Qualcomm's continued breakthroughs and innovations in the mobile chip field. The new Oryon architecture CPU, architectural transformation of Adreno GPU, renewed leap in AI capabilities, and introduction of various innovative technologies have enabled Snapdragon 8 Elite to re-establish its leading position in the highly competitive market. As Qualcomm and terminal manufacturers continue their collaboration and joint optimization, future commercial terminal products equipped with Snapdragon 8 Elite are poised to bring even more surprises to the mobile experience.