The Snapdragon X Elite was previously reported to operate on two power limits; 23W and 80W. However, according to the latest findings, Qualcomm’s newest ARM chipset can touch almost 100W, and that is for the CPU alone, making it a power guzzler compared to its closest competition, Apple’s M3 Pro. However, there are several variables to keep in mind before criticizing the massive power draw of the chipset, and we will be talking about those details here.
Apple’s M3 Pro CPU load can reach 42W of power, as TSMC’s 3nm process helps to reduce consumption drastically
The part number ‘X1E84100’ belongs to the top-end Snapdragon X Elite that sports a 3.80GHz base clock, a 4.20GHz boost clock, and a 4.6TFLOPs Adreno GPU. Compared to the remaining two SKUs, these improvements will result in a power consumption spike. According to Android Authority, 95 percent of all Snapdragon X Elite chips manufactured by Qualcomm could obtain a package power of 98.50W, whereas 50 percent of those units could hit a lower peak power consumption of 82.33W.
As for the second version with the part number ‘X1E80100,’ its package power can reach 52.92W, while Qualcomm’s 50 percent of Snapdragon X Elite units could peak at 43.40W. Strangely, this version does not differ much from its high-end counterpart, as it operates on a 3.40GHz base clock speed and a 4.00GHz boost clock speed, but the power consumption metrics are drastically lower. In contrast, the maximum power package threshold is still more than twice the amount of the M3 Pro’s CPU load, which goes up to 42W. It is evident that TSMC’s 3nm has helped Apple considerably in power savings.
However, the M2 Pro, the company’s previous-generation silicon mass produced on TSMC’s 4nm process, hits 55W. It is important to note that the Snapdragon X Elite is also fabricated using the aforementioned 4nm technology. Even Intel’s Core Ultra 7 155H uses around 80W. This massive power consumption disparity between the two Snapdragon X Elite versions with just a 400MHz clock speed difference is because Qualcomm has aggressively overclocked its top-end version. This will force the SoC to consume immense power drastically to the point of diminishing returns.
Also, the Snapdragon X Elite would barely keep that 98.50W power limit consistently running on several notebooks since the chipset would almost immediately throttle to reduce temperatures. In short, a more sensible approach for Qualcomm’s partners would be to stick to the version with the part number ‘X1E80100.’ It might function at a lower frequency, but the performance difference will hardly be noticeable, and you will enjoy significantly lowered temperatures.
