Apple M2 Pro 10-Core vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G vs Apple M1 Pro 8-Core
Apple M2 Pro 10-Core
► remove from comparisonThe Apple M2 Pro 10-Core is a System on a Chip (SoC) from Apple that is found in the early 2023 MacBook Pro 14 and Mac Mini entry level models. It offers 10 of the 12 cores available in the chip divided in six performance cores (P-cores) and four power-efficiency cores (E-cores). The E-cores clock with up to 3.4 GHz, the P-Cores up to 3.7 GHz (mostly 3.3 GHz in multi-threaded workloads and 3.4 GHz in single threaded).
The big cores (codename Avalanche) offer 192 KB instruction cache, 128 KB data cache, and 36 MB shared L2 cache (up from 24 MB in the M1 Pro). The four efficiency cores (codename Blizzard) are a lot smaller and offer only 128 KB instruction cache, 64 KB data cache, and 4 MB shared cache. CPU and GPU can both use the 24 MB SLC (System Level Cache).
The unified memory (16 or 32 GB LPDDR5-6400) next to the chip is connected by a 256 Bit memory controller (200 GB/s bandwidth) and can be used by the GPU and CPU.
The performance of the M2 Pro 10-Core should be similar to the old M1 Pro with all 10 cores. The multi-threaded performance should be slower, as the M2 10-core has two p-cores less (and 2 e-cores more) but the single-threaded performance should be better due to the faster clock speed and architectural improvements. The old M1 Pro 8-core should be noticeably slower.
The integrated graphics card in the M1 Pro 10-core offers all 16 of the 19 cores.
Furthermore, the SoC integrates a fast 16 core neural engine (faster than M1 Pro), a secure enclave (e.g., for encryption), a unified memory architecture, Thunderbolt 4 controller, an ISP, and media de- and encoders (including ProRes).
The M2 Pro is manufactured in 5 nm at TSMC (second generation) and integrates 40 billion transistors.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G
► remove from comparisonThe Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G Compute Platform (or SD8cx Gen2, SC8180XP) is a ARM based SoC for Windows laptops. It integrates a similar CPU part as the Snapdragon 855 (same cores but without the Prime Core feature) and is manufactured in 7nm at Samsung. The 4 Kryo 495 Gold cores are based on the ARM Cortex-A76 architecture (for performance) and clocked at 3.15 GHz under load. The 4 Kryo 495 Silver cores are small ARM Cortex-A55 cores for power efficiency and clocked at 1.8 GHz under load (most likely).
Compared to the predecessor, the Snapdragon 8cx, the Gen 2 offers higher clock speeds and an integrated 5G modem (X55 with Sub-6 GHz and mmWave support). Wi-Fi was also bumped up to Wi-Fi 6
The processor performance should be similar to a Intel Core i5 8th gen U-series (e.g. i5-8250U) according to Qualcomm. However, this is only the case for native ARM64 compiled Windows apps which are not that many (in mid 2019). 32 bit applications and games for AMD/Intel run in a rather slow emulation and 64 bit apps wont start at all (but an emulator should come in Windows in 2021).
The integrated Adreno 680 graphics card could also be a bit higher clocked.
The chip is very power efficient as its produced at TSMC in the modern 7 process. Therefore, laptops using the Snapdragon 8cx can be passively cooled (no fan) and should not throttle under constant load.
Apple M1 Pro 8-Core
► remove from comparisonThe Apple M1 Pro 8-Core is a System on a Chip (SoC) from Apple that is found in the late 2021 MacBook Pro 14 and 16-inch models. It offers 8 cores from the 10 available in the chip divided in six performance cores (P-cores with 600 - 3220 MHz) and four power-efficiency cores (E-cores with 600 - 2064 MHz). The cores are similar to the cores in the Apple M1.
The big cores (codename Firestorm) offer 192 KB instruction cache, 128 KB data cache, and 24 MB shared L2 cache (up from 12 MB in the M1). The four efficiency cores (codename Icestorm) are a lot smaller and offer only 128 KB instruction cache, 64 KB data cache, and 4 MB shared cache. Finally, the SoC includes 16 MB System Level Cache shared by the GPU. The efficiency cores (E cluster) clock with 600 - 2064 MHz, the performance cores (P cluster) with 600 - 3228 MHz.
The unified memory (16 or 32 GB LPDDR5-6400) next to the chip is connected by a 256 bit memory controller and can be used by the GPU and CPU.
The integrated graphics card in the M1 Pro offers 14 cores (of the 16 cores in the chip).
Furthermore, the SoC integrates a fast 16 core neural engine, a secure enclave (e.g., for encryption), a unified memory architecture, Thunderbolt 4 controller, an ISP, and media de- and encoders (including ProRes).
The M1 Pro is manufactured in 5 nm at TSMC and integrates 33.7 billion transistors. The peak power consumption of the chip was advertised around 30W for CPU intensive tasks.
Model | Apple M2 Pro 10-Core | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G | Apple M1 Pro 8-Core | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Series | Apple Apple M2 | Qualcomm Snapdragon | Apple Apple M-Series | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Series: Apple M-Series |
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Clock | 2424 - 3696 MHz | 3150 MHz | 2060 - 3220 MHz | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
L1 Cache | 7.3 MB | 2.3 MB | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
L2 Cache | 36 MB | 28 MB | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
L3 Cache | 24 MB | 2 MB | 16 MB | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cores / Threads | 10 / 10 | 8 / 8 | 8 / 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Transistors | 40000 Million | 33700 Million | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Technology | 5 nm | 7 nm | 5 nm | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Features | ARMv8 Instruction Set | X24 LTE Modem, Adreno 680 GPU | ARMv8 Instruction Set | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
iGPU | Apple M2 Pro 16-Core GPU | Qualcomm Adreno 680 | Apple M1 Pro 14-Core GPU ( - 1296 MHz) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Architecture | ARM | ARM | ARM | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Announced | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Codename | Cortex-A76 / A55 (Kryo 495) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
TDP | 7 Watt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manufacturer | www.qualcomm.com |