Less than a week before the sales of Windows laptops, featuring Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon X series Arm-based processors begin, the company provided insights on the architecture of these processors. It paid special focus to their integrated graphics, Adreno X1.
Naming Convention
The naming protocol used for Adreno X1 follows a pattern; the ‘1’ signifies its first-generation classification in Qualcomm’s computer graphics series. Hence, the future editions are likely to be termed Adreno X2, X3, and so forth. In its most extensive configuration, referred to as the X1-85, the ‘8’ corresponds to the GPU level, and ‘5’ refers to the product number.
Technical Specifications and Compatibility
The Adreno X1 GPU integrates up to six cores and can manage up to 1536 shader ALUs for FP32 operations. It has the knack to process up to 96 texels per cycle. At its peak, the GPU’s performance level hits 4.6 TeraFLOPS with an ability to process up to 72 GT/s (gigatexels per second).
Additionally, the Adreno X1 GPU supports all modern APIs, including DirectX 12.1 with Shader Model 6.7, DirectX 11, Vulkan 1.3 and OpenCL 3.0.
Performance Comparison
In its presentation, Qualcomm contrasted its model’s gaming performance using the premium GPU version – X1-85 – with Intel’s Xe integrated graphics in a Core Ultra 7 155H chip. The latter had eight graphic cores and was utilized in an Acer Swift Go 14 laptop. In four out of nine gaming tests conducted at 1080p resolution, Qualcomm’s accelerator proved faster.
In another claim, the company stated that the X1-85 GPU boasts up to 67% higher performance compared to competitors, given comparable power consumption levels. Additionally, it achieves the competitors’ peak performance consuming 62% less energy.
New Adreno Control Panel Application
Qualcomm also launched Adreno Control Panel, a proprietary application designed for graphics adjustments, gaming optimizations, and driver updates. The company promises monthly updates for this application. It provides functionalities and tasks similar to those offered by other video card manufacturers.
Product Launch
Official sales of laptops featuring Qualcomm Snapdragon X processors will commence from June 18. However, certain manufacturers are already taking pre-orders for these new products.
