The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Performance Preview: Sizing Up Cortex-X2
by Dr. Ian Cutress on December 14, 2021 8:00 AM ESTConclusionary Remarks: Arm v9 for Android
When we move through significant revisions of Arm’s architecture, up to v8 and now v9, it’s important to note that the new features defined in the ISA do not always fundamentally improve performance – it’s up to the microarchitecture teams to build the cores to the ISA specifications, and the implementation teams to enable the core in silicon with frequency and power efficiency. Accomplishing that requires a good process node, design technology co-optimization, and then partners that can execute by building the best devices for that processor.
Qualcomm’s target with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is very clearly the 2022 Android Flagship smartphones. New cores, new graphics, enhanced machine learning capabilities, a step function in camera processing power, an integrated X65 modem, all built on Samsung’s 4nm process node technology. The flagship Android space is an area in which Qualcomm has been comfortable for a number of years, however the increased thermals of last generation’s Snapdragon S888 gave a number of analysts in the space a bit of a squeaky bum moment.
It’s hard to tell immediately in our small test if that still remains the case. Samsung’s 4nm node has improvements beyond the previous generation 5nm design, however Qualcomm’s presentational numbers were above and beyond those that Samsung provided, perhaps indicating that additional improvements both in architecture and implementation have led to those performance numbers.
Our testing shows +19% floating point performance on the X2 core, which is almost the +20% that Qualcomm quotes, but only +8% in integer, which is often the most quoted. We’re seeing power efficiency improvements for sure on the X2 core, with an overall efficiency improvement of 17%, but peak power has also increased, in part because some of our tests make use of the additional cache in the system. Our machine learning tests are +75% over the previous generation, although not the 4x numbers that Qualcomm states – we need to do more work here on power efficiency testing however. On the gaming side, our 'first run' numbers showcase some explosive gains in GPU throughput.
Although we’ve only done a few tests here, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the elephant in the room: MediaTek. In the last month MediaTek announced a return to the high-end with a flagship processor of its own, using the same 1+3+4 configuration with slightly higher frequencies, more cache, and built on TSMC’s N4 process. Implementation here will be the key metric I feel, so how MediaTek has been able to optimize for TSMC N4 vs Qualcomm on Samsung 4nm is going to be analyzed. I should point out here that a processor is more than just the CPU cores, as we’ll see Adreno vs Mali on graphics, the different machine learning approaches, but also how the two companies approach 5G and connectivity, which has been one of Qualcomm’s most prominent strengths to date.
We look forward to testing the Qualcomm S8g1 in more detail in the New Year, as well as how many of the main smartphone OEMs choose Qualcomm for their flagship devices.
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Fulljack - Wednesday, December 15, 2021 - link
resale value is cool and all but not everyone bought a phone to be sold later down the road. just like how some people simply didn't like iOS and it's limitations.michael2k - Thursday, December 16, 2021 - link
Some people use the extended life of an iPhone for other things; that’s part of why they have high resale value.In other words people hand down three year old iPhones to kids or spouses. Some people want to keep their iPhones. Those people, as an example, refusing to let their iPhones go for sale increase the resale price by reducing supply in the face of demand.
iphonebestgamephone - Tuesday, December 14, 2021 - link
Iphones are pretty bad for gaming for more than a few minutes unless you have very low ambient temps or are willing to use a plugged to the wall phone cooler. Something like the redamgic or legion are better for mobile 'gamers'.hemedans - Wednesday, December 15, 2021 - link
I disagree, if you play games get android gaming phones, they can sustain perfomance compare to iphones which throttle a lot and mislead in lot of metrics (like operate in 120fps when you are on menu and drop to 60fps when you fight)Also with Android you get more games options, like now Ps2 emulator has been released, you wont find something like this in ios, also lot of pc games have been ported to Android, you can enjoy them on go.
yankeeDDL - Tuesday, December 14, 2021 - link
As an Android user, the results in Spec CPU 2017 are depressing.In every single test the X2 is far behind A15 (sometimes by nearly 2x) and yet in every single one the A15 uses less power. It is a bloodbath.
I realize the synthetic tests are not necessarily representative of use case, but it sure looks dismal for Qualcomm. They are extraordinarily behind.
Imagine if the next Galaxy S22 would use the A15: it would be 2-3 years ahead of all competition.
The lack of competition in high-end ARM-based CPU is just mind-boggling.
Wrs - Tuesday, December 14, 2021 - link
Yeah it seems very incremental on the CPU. They need a revolution just to catch up. But their GPU and NN seem like bigger leaps. Unfortunately both are more limited use cases - gaming and speech recognition primarily.Kangal - Sunday, December 19, 2021 - link
With the way Qualcomm has followed with the Wattage, they've only been achieving better and better scores at the expense of battery and heat. Basically they've embraced throttling. And that's not an acceptable solution for phones.There's little to no performance difference between the QSD 855 to its siblings*. And that seems to be the case with the new Snapdragon 8gen1 for 2022. The biggest difference I can see is at the highest-end emulation, which is to run the latest console, with the highest graphical title, and scale up resolution as appropriate. Currently, this is the Nintendo Wii, running Metroid 3 Prime, and upscaled to x4 (1440p). On the fastest Android Phones (eg ASUS RoG 5) it runs around 50-60fps depending on the scene. On something like a Samsung S10+ you're instead getting 40-50fps. And the bigger improvement can come from the natural progression of the emulator itself (ie 2018 vs 2021), and by running Mods on it like MMJ. So these things can/do bridge the performance difference that I stated above.
What might be a good argument to be made, is when we get other more powerful/demanding use cases. Such as comparing Nintendo Switch emulation, running desktop programs, or even getting a new AAA-game that was developed for the handheld (eg GTA 6). Anyways, we will see a separation from current performance tier, at the earliest with 2023 using second-generation ARM Europe microarchitecture. Android hasn't quite caught up to Apple A13 levels of performance yet, and that's what I think when we will surpass it (Apple's A14 and A15 aren't that much better than their A13 either).
*855+, 860, 778, 780, 865, 865+, 870, 888, 888+.
Wereweeb - Tuesday, December 14, 2021 - link
When I can use it as a desktop replacement I'll start to care. Until then, all you get with a "muh faster CPU" is your apps take three nanoseconds less time to open.My next phone will be the GAA-FET (3-2nm) successor to the 780G, for the better energy-efficiency. If it takes five years, so be it. I don't game so I don't have a use for X2 cores.
1_rick - Tuesday, December 14, 2021 - link
"When I can use it as a desktop replacement I'll start to care."DeX, dude. It's already good enough for light work.
TheinsanegamerN - Tuesday, December 14, 2021 - link
Also limited to samsung devices. Perhaps Wereweeb has no interest in owning one of their devices. There are many that have no interest in owning a samsung based on past experiences.