A snapshot of the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite crystal reveals the true dimensions of the Oryon cores

On the Chinese social network Baidu, enthusiasts shared an image of a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite PC processor chip. Thanks to this, it became possible to find out what this chip consists of. The analysis provides insight into the architecture of the said SoC (system-on-chip) and highlights several of its key features, including large CPU cores, a graphics processor, and a complex caching system.

Image source: HOTHARDWARE

According to available information, the Snapdragon X Elite chip area is 169.6 mm2. It is produced using the 4nm N4P process from TSMC. Notable in the crystal image is the significant size of the Oryon (Phoenix) cores, each of which is reported to measure about 2.55 mm2. These cores are significantly larger than typical Arm processor cores, which makes sense given their original purpose for data centers. The SoC has a total of 12 cores running in an 8+4 configuration.

SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite. Image source: Baidu/Piglin

The die also contains an Adreno X1 GPU unit, which occupies up to 24.3 mm2 of die area, which is almost half the size of the processor cores and CPU cache. Despite its compact size, this GPU, according to Qualcomm, has a pure performance of 4.6 teraflops. The 45 TOPS (trillion operations per second) AI accelerator unit (NPU) is not clearly visible in the image.

Another interesting feature of the Snapdragon X Elite die is its sophisticated cache system. Each of the three quad-core L2 cache clusters of the processor occupies an area of ​​16.1 mm2 and has a capacity of 12 MB. But in total, the processor has 54 MB of cache memory distributed throughout the chip.

Apple M4 SoC. Image source: Baidu/Piglin

The provided analysis also compares the Snapdragon X Elite die with the Apple M4 SoC. However, it is worth noting that this is not a completely fair comparison, since Apple uses the 3 nm N3E process to produce the chip. An annotated image of Apple’s M4 die can be viewed above.