Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-84-100 vs Intel Core i5-1235U vs Intel Core i5-1245U

Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-84-100

The Snapdragon X Elite X1E-84-100 is a pretty fast ARM architecture processor (SoC) for use in Windows laptops. As the second-fastest X Elite chip in September 2024, the X1E-84-100 has 12 Oryon CPU cores running at up to 4.2 GHz, along with the 4.6 TFLOPS Adreno X1-85 iGPU, the 45 TOPS Hexagon NPU and an impressively fast LPDDR5x-8448 memory controller delivering over 100 GB/s of throughput. USB 4.0, TB 4 and PCIe 4 are all onboard, too.

Two slower Snapdragon X Elite flavors exist, known as the X1E-80-100 and X1E-78-100. In the meantime, the X1E-00-1DE is a special version of the X1E-84-100 aimed at system makers and software developers that has just slightly higher single-core and dual-core Boost clock speeds of 4.3 GHz but otherwise the same CPU/GPU/NPU configuration.

Architecture and Features

The Oryon cores (3 clusters of essentially identical cores; 12 threads) are mostly based on Nuvia IP and they reportedly make use of the ARM v8.7 microarchitecture. Much like modern AMD and Intel processors, the Snapdragon chip is compatible with USB 4 and thus with Thunderbolt 4 however it does not appear to support eGPUs as of September 2024.

Like most X Elite and X Plus processors, the X1E-84-100 is based on the larger die codenamed Hamoa. The processor is believed to have at least 12 PCIe 4 and 4 PCIe 3 lanes for connecting various kinds of devices. NVMe SSDs are supported with a throughput of up to 7.9 GB/s; furthermore, most laptops built around the chip are expected to have 16 GB of LPDDR5X-8448 RAM. There is also a 45 TOPS NPU present for accelerating AI workloads.

Performance

When all of the 12 cores are under load, they run at up to 3.8 GHz. The 4.2 GHz clock speed is only achievable under single-thread or dual-thread loads.

If the Galaxy Book4 Edge 16 review is any indication, the Snapdragon is almost as fast as the Core Ultra 7 155H in applications compiled for ARM while being up to 30% slower when executing x86 code.

A lot depends on how high the power limits of the system are, and how competent its cooling solution is.

Graphics

The 4.6 TFLOPS X1-85 iGPU has 1,536 unified shaders running at up to 1,500 MHz. It is reportedly (ChipsAndCheese) based on the significantly older Adreno 730 iGPU, rendering the X1-85 DX12-compatible but not DX12 Ultimate-compatible. AVC, HEVC and AV1 video codecs can be both hardware-decoded and hardware-encoded; with VP9, only decoding is possible. The highest monitor resolution supported is UHD 2160p rather than SUHD 4320p.

Its gaming performance is in many use cases almost as good as the Intel Arc 8 for reasonably playable experience in many 2023 and 2024 games such as Baldur's Gate 3 at 1080p on low graphics settings.

Power consumption

An X1E-84-100 can eat up to 80 watts depending on the system and the power profile chosen. This will differ from one laptop to another, with most designs expected to target the ~45 W sweet spot. The Samsung laptop that we finished testing in early September certainly does.

It must be said that the power consumption figures include RAM, unlike it is with most Intel and AMD chips.

The Qualcomm SoC is built with the TSMC N4P process for better-than-average, as of H2 2024, energy efficiency.

Intel Core i5-1235U

The Intel Core i5-1235U is a mid-range mobile CPU for thin and light laptops based on the Alder Lake architecture. It was announced in early 2022 and offers 2 performance cores (P-cores, Golden Cove architecture) and 8 efficient cores (E-cores, Gracemont architecture). The P-cores support Hyper-Threading leading to 12 supported threads when combined with the E-cores. The clock rate ranges from 1.3 to 4.4 GHz on the performance cluster and 0.9 to 3.3 GHz on the efficient cluster. The performance of the E-cores should be similar to old Skylake cores (compare to the Core i7-6700HQ). All cores can use up to 12 MB L3 cache. Compared to the i5-1245U, the 1235U offers lower base clock speeds and only "Essentials" vPro management features. Compared to the P-series (28W) or H-series (45W), the 15W TDP may limit the sustained performance.

Performance

The average 1235U in our database is in the same league as the Ryzen 5 PRO 5650U and also, surprisingly enough, the i7-1250U and the i7-1260U, as far as multi-thread benchmark scores are concerned. This is a very respectable result, as of mid 2023.

Thanks to its decent cooling solution and a long-term CPU power limit of 27 W, the Beelink SEi12 is among the fastest systems built around the 1235U that we know of. It can be twice as fast in CPU-bound workloads as the slowest system featuring the same chip in our database, as of August 2023.

Architecture

The integrated memory controller supports various memory types up to DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200, LPDDR5-5200, and LPDDR4x-4267. The Thread Director (in hardware) can support the operating system to decide which thread to use on the performance or efficient cores for the best performance. For AI tasks, the CPU also integrates GNA 3.0 and DL Boost (via AVX2). Quick Sync in version 8 is the same as in the Rocket Lake CPUs and supports MPEG-2, AVC, VC-1 decode, JPEG, VP8 decode, VP9, HEVC, and AV1 decode in hardware. The CPU only supports PCIe 4.0 (x8 for a GPU and two x4 for SSDs).

The integrated graphics card is based on the Xe-architecture and offers 80 of the 96 EUs (Execution Units) operating at up to 1.2 GHz.

Power consumption

This ULV processor has a Base power consumption of 15 W (also known as the long-term power limit), with 55 W being its maximum Intel-recommended Turbo power consumption. Both values are too high to allow for passively cooled designs.

Core i5-1235U is manufactured on Intel's fourth-gen 10 nm process marketed as Intel 7 for decent, as of mid-2022, energy efficiency.

Intel Core i5-1245U

The Intel Core i5-1245U is a mid-range mobile CPU for thin and light laptops based on the Alder Lake architecture. It was announced in early 2022 and offers 2 performance cores (P-cores, Golden Cove architecture) and 8 efficient cores (E-cores, Gracemont architecture). The P-cores support Hyper-Threading leading to 12 supported threads when combined with the E-cores. The clock rate ranges from 1.6 to 4.4 GHz on the performance cluster and 1.2 to 3.3 GHz on the efficient cluster. The performance of the E-cores should be similar to old Skylake cores (compare to the Core i7-6700HQ). All cores can use up to 12 MB L3 cache. Compared to the i7-1265U (fastest U-series CPU at launch), the 1245U offers lower clock speeds, a slower iGPU, but the full "Enterprise" vPro management features. Compared to the P-series (28W) or H-series (45W), the 15W TDP may limit the sustained performance.

Performance

Thanks to the 10 cores, the multi-threaded performance should be clearly faster than the older quad-core Tiger Lake CPUs with 15 Watt (like the Intel Core i7-1160G7). The sustained performance will be limited by the TDP setting and thermals and therefore only short term loads. Thanks to the architectural improvements of the big Golden Cove cores, the single thread performance should be better than similar clocked Tiger Lake CPUs.

Features

The integrated memory controller supports various memory types up to DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200, LPDDR5-5200, and LPDDR4x-4267. The Thread Director (in hardware) can support the operating system to decide which thread to use on the performance or efficient cores for the best performance. For AI tasks, the CPU also integrates GNA 3.0 and DL Boost (via AVX2). Quick Sync in version 8 is the same as in the Rocket Lake CPUs and supports MPEG-2, AVC, VC-1 decode, JPEG, VP8 decode, VP9, HEVC, and AV1 decode in hardware. The CPU only supports PCIe 4.0 (x8 for a GPU and two x4 for SSDs).

The integrated graphics adapter is based on the Xe-architecture and offers 80 of the 96 EUs (Execution Units) operating at up to 1.2 GHz.

The CPU is rated at 15 W base power (TDP, PL1) and 55 W max. Turbo power (PL2) and the whole SoC is manufactured on a 10nm process at Intel, which is known as Intel 7.