Qualcomm Introduces 8cx Processors to Compete With Intel

AlphaAtlas

AlphaAtlas

[H]ard|Gawd
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Yesterday, Qualcomm took the wraps off their highest end Snapdragon SOC to date. Instead of targeting smartphones, tablets and other devices like Qualcomm's usual products, the Snapdragon 8cx is aimed squarely at the Windows 10 laptop market. The company claims the Adreno 680 GPU is twice as fast as "its previous generation," while the Kryo 495 CPU cluster "supports equivalent peak performance to a competitor’s high performance 15W solution but in a fanless, thin and light design." Qualcomm also touts support for USB 3.1, PCIe 3.0, 4K HDR displays, aptX, and Category 20 LTE. Critically, the company also claims they're bridging the x86 software gap with native support for Office 365, Firefox, and "popular titles from Gameloft."

Check out the platform's promo video here.

Now, if you compare the performance in a fanless, thin-and-light design (7W TDP), Snapdragon 8cx supports double the sustained performance vs. the competitor's solution but at a fraction of the power. Again, it's another instance of how we've dramatically increased performance for users without hindering their laptop's potential battery life.
 
ARM on desktop is going to have the same problem as the Linux Desktop experience: there's so much legacy software floating around that people use that it's a hard sell to get people to move to a new platform. If they ever get the x86->ARM translation to work seamlessly and with acceptable performance then they'll be golden. Most users won't care one way or the other what type of CPU is in their system as long as it runs all their stuff at the speed they expect. Until then I'd guess that these will largely be limited to Chrome OS and Linux.
 
I guess I haven't kept up with the mobile market and Windows 10 on ARM.

Questions I have include:

1.) Is there a large catalog of native ARM software for Windows 10 on ARM?

2.) If not, is there some sort of wrapper to allow x86 software to run on ARM systems?

3.) If there is, how does it perform? It's tough to be competitive no matter how good your CPU is, if it is saddled with emulation overhead.
 
I bet it will play Crysis* at 60FPS*

*Crysis like html game used for messurement.

*local display settings may lead to misinterpretation on certain screens of actual messuered value of .06fps
 
mord said:
I bet it will play Crysis* at 60FPS*

*Crysis like html game used for messurement.

*local display settings may lead to misinterpretation on certain screens of actual messuered value of .06fps
Click to expand...

Crysis: Immortal

We all have phones, right?

/s
 
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Zarathustra[H] said:
I guess I haven't kept up with the mobile market and Windows 10 on ARM.

Questions I have include:

1.) Is there a large catalog of native ARM software for Windows 10 on ARM?

2.) If not, is there some sort of wrapper to allow x86 software to run on ARM systems?

3.) If there is, how does it perform? It's tough to be competitive no matter how good your CPU is, if it is saddled with emulation overhead.
Click to expand...

2. Will intel allow that to happen?
 
renz496 said:
2. Will intel allow that to happen?
Click to expand...

I'm almost certain Intel can't do a thing. The implementation I read about a while back was essentially a wrapper that allows the OS to reinterpret the software on the fly. Even if they were trying to emulate an x86 chip and run x86 windows/software on top that; I doubt Intel has a case, remember Transmeta and their Crusoe / Efficeon chips?
 
Zareek said:
I'm almost certain Intel can't do a thing. The implementation I read about a while back was essentially a wrapper that allows the OS to reinterpret the software on the fly. Even if they were trying to emulate an x86 chip and run x86 windows/software on top that; I doubt Intel has a case, remember Transmeta and their Crusoe / Efficeon chips?
Click to expand...

Even so intel will not going to sit still doing nothing. There were talks about the possibility of Qualcomm might end up emulating x86 for windows 10s. intel are quick making public statement they will never allow that to happen and will not hesitate to fight the issue on court.
 
renz496 said:
Even so intel will not going to sit still doing nothing. There were talks about the possibility of Qualcomm might end up emulating x86 for windows 10s. intel are quick making public statement they will never allow that to happen and will not hesitate to fight the issue on court.
Click to expand...

I agree 100% they will absolutely react. Instead of putting on their big boy pants and innovating like the engineering power house they are capable of being; they will kick and stomp, bitch and whine like a 5 year old. Litigation will most likely be part of the solution because why else do you pay a team of fat cat lawyers! They've proven several times they are content to sit on their hands and let the cash roll in, living off a 40 year old patent. It takes a big kick in the pants, ie the K7 and now Zen to get them to take real action.

Oh and btw, Microsoft is directly involved in this emulation technology. They have their own team of fat cat lawyers. This could get really ugly, really fast!
 
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