Snapdragon 8cx was launched at the Snapdragon Tech Summit in December of 2018. They announced that their Snapdragon, the most popular mobile platform, will build the Snapdragon 8cx processor for the next generation PCs.
Snapdragon 8cx Benchmark
A new Snapdragon processor was spotted on Geeckbench. This processor is called Snapdragon 8cx. It seems that this processor is the answer of the chipmaker to the mid-range offerings of Intel.
This Snapdragon SC8180X is showing great performance. The tests done by Geekbench on the device having Windows 10 64-bit version obtained 3,327 in the single-core-score and 11,154 in the multi-core-score. These results may not have surpassed Intel core i5-8250u, but even though it has done a very good job.
The benchmark test done of the Snapdragon 8cx confirms the claim of Qualcomm made at the launch of this processor. According to the benchmark and Qualcomm, the Processor Snapdragon 8cx has a running speed of 2.84GHz. This speed is good enough for doing office works and medium graphics gaming.
Qualcomm claimed that the Kryo 495 CPU which is being used in this processor is 2.5 times powerful than the Snapdragon 850 processor.
As it seems, Snapdragon 8cx could very well be the answer to Intel’s Core i5 series. This will reduce the gap between these two different platforms. Using a Snapdragon processor will also make the battery life better. In the test, it was found that by using the new Snapdragon CPU, the battery standby time was 20 hours, which is outstanding.
Battery life
Battery life is one of the key points to highlight while marketing a new laptop. Nowadays the battery life and performance are measured based on applications run-time and doing real-world works like web-browsing, watching videos, and document editing.
Qualcomm has taken the help of PCMark, which is a well-known benchmark created by UL, which was previously called Futuremark, to show their battery performance in real-world applications. The latest benchmarks are named PCMark10 Battery Life Profile Test and PCMark 10 Application Test.
So, let’s see how each of these tests is done.
PCMark10 Application Test
There is no workload for this test. This test ranks the devices on the basis of their speed handling capability in real-life works, like in Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, and Microsoft Edge.
PCMark10 Battery Life Profile Test
A) This test is performed in 3 different steps:
1. Battery life for Applications: In this test, PCMark10 tests check the real-world battery life by using the regular Application Test method. This test is done for 10 minutes, however, if a device manages to complete the test in less time, then it will have more time to remain idle and hence it will get more scores.
2. Video Test: Video is played in h.264-encoded FHD format to imitate the Netflix video format of “Netflix high-quality”.
3. Idle: If the test is completed before the allotted time, then the screen is kept on for the remaining duration of the test.
B) It is to be noted that even though the benchmark does not go to the Windows scheduler or performance profile. The benchmark testing does not need the users to adjust the brightness or other options.
Application and Graphics Test
The benchmark tests of the processors were tested on-site by UL. The Application score came to be 4275. It acquired 3728 scores in Word, 3920 in Excel, 4395 in PowerPoint, and 5204 in Edge. Thes scores were actually higher than what Qualcomm gave.
In the same way, the Night Raid score showed 5836, which is also higher than what was expected. The total score was made of 6250 scores for graphics, 4246 in CPU score. UL did not perform an on-site test on the battery, but the reported result was promising.
Seeing the previous performance of the snapdragon-powered devices, many thought that this one will also give a bad performance. However, Snapdragon 8cx looks like a powerhouse. This snapdragon processor was tested and seen that it is run very well.
Features and Specifications
Snapdragon 8cx promises many features.
1. 5G Connectivity- Snapdragon 8cx promises to give a 5G experience by using their Snapdragon X55 5G modem. This will help the users to obtain many gigabytes of 4G LTE connections.
2. Superfast Performance- The Adreno 680 GPU is created in such a way that it will offer a 2x improvement in the performance and more power efficiency of about 60% more than the previous generations. This along with the Qualcomm Kryo 495 CPU, which is the fastest in the Snapdragon, will make the Snapdragon 8cx give amazing graphics, greater battery life, and powerful productivity.
3. High-End Security- This processor is built along with many security features. These include complete hypervisor support. The protected LTE connectivity, support of Windows 10 Enterprise and a developed crypto-security, all are designed to protect our password, our information, and log-on.
4. Improved Graphics- The Snapdragon 8cx provides better graphics and offers HW acceleration to support the videos having the latest advanced formats. This will support 4K HDR video at 120 frames per second on the streaming services. The Qualcomm Aqstic Audio Technology will provide high-quality audio and a better experience of surround sound.
5. Improved AI Build for New Applications- The Qualcomm AI Engine uses the Snapdragon 8cx’s improved architecture to make the platform intelligent and more efficient and reducing the dependence on the CPU alone. This helps to build a next-generation user experience.
6. LTE Connection- Snapdragon has an X24 LTE modem. This will help to provide the maximum download speed of nearly 2Gbps. The performance is increased by about 70% in the weakest connection. They promise super-fast connected computing which will be very good for entertainment and productivity from any place at any time.
Conclusion
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx is a very good processor and can compete with the intel processor. It is providing more security, better connectivity and better graphics than Intel graphics.