According to a new report, Qualcomm has started creating Snapdragon 8cx Gen 4 engineering samples. Reportedly, Qualcomm will base the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 4 on TSMC N4 nodes, despite the chipset’s slated 2024 release. Engineering samples are rumoured to reach 3 GHz across all 12 CPU cores, too.
Last month, Kuba Wojciechowski revealed more details about the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 4, Qualcomm’s next-generation laptop chipset. Now, the developer has updated their followers about the state of the chipset and its foundations. To recap, Wojciechowski asserted that the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 4 would offer the following specifications:
- 8 performances cores – 3.4 GHz peak clock speed
- 4 efficiency cores – 2.5 GHz peak clock speed
- Adreno 740 GPU
- Hexagon Tensor NPU (45 TOPS)
- 36 MB L2 cache
- 8 MB L3 cache
- 12 MB system-level cache
- 4 MB GPU cache
The developer added that Qualcomm had developed the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 4 to support up to 64 GB of LPDDR5X-4200 RAM, NVMe or UFS 4.0 storage and discrete GPUs utilising PCIe 4.0. Subsequently, Wojciechowski claims that Qualcomm has now created its first Snapdragon 8cx Gen 4 engineering sample, one of the steps to the chipset’s eventual release. Writing on Twitter, the developer asserts that all CPU cores run at up to 3 GHz, a 400 MHz reduction for its performance cores but a 500 MHz overclock on its efficiency cores.
Potentially, future engineering samples could return to 3.4 GHz though, with efficiency cores allowed to run at up to 3 GHz when needed. For reference, the Apple M2 can boost its four efficiency and performance cores to 2.4 GHz and 3.5 GHz, respectively. The Apple M2 also has less cache than Snapdragon 8cx Gen 4 engineering samples do.
Wojciechowski believes that Qualcomm will fabricate the chipset with TSMC N4 nodes, despite the impending arrival of N3 nodes. The developer is unsure which N4 node will underpin the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 4 though, with N4, N4P and N4X to choose from, with the latter the most capable of the three. Qualcomm is expected to begin shipping the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 4 in 2024, likely leaving the likes of the Surface Pro 9 5G as the most powerful ARM-based Windows machines for a while to come.
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Alex Alderson – Senior Tech Writer – 7305 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2018
Prior to writing and translating for Notebookcheck, I worked for various companies including Apple and Neowin. I have a BA in International History and Politics from the University of Leeds, which I have since converted to a Law Degree. Happy to chat on Twitter or Notebookchat.
Alex Alderson, 2023-02- 5 (Update: 2023-02- 5)
