Reorganized title: In-depth analysis of the third generation Snapdragon 8: comprehensively enhanced CPU performance, intelligent AI is everywhere

In the early morning of October 26, 2023, Beijing time, the second day of the Qualcomm 2023 Snapdragon Summit officially began. If yesterday was basically just a "glimpse" of various new products, then starting from today, we finally have the opportunity to get access to detailed information on various new chips, and even conduct performance tests.

Yes, the architecture analysis and performance measurement of the third generation Snapdragon 8 are now available to you.

The CPU frequency has increased across the board, and this time the cache has finally been maximized

First, let’s take a look at the CPU part of the third-generation Snapdragon 8. Like the previous generation, it still uses the "four-cluster" CPU combination method this time, but the specific allocation ratio has been changed from 1 2 2 3 in the previous generation to 1 3 2 2, which means there is one more medium-sized CPU performance core, while reducing a small energy-efficiency core.

The third generation Snapdragon 8 has some changes in its architectural composition. The ultra-large core has been upgraded to Cortex-X4, and the five performance cores are all Cortex-A720, and Cortex-A715 is no longer used. The energy efficiency core is still Cortex-A520

When compared with previous generations, the peak frequency of almost all CPU cores of the third-generation Snapdragon 8 has increased. However, according to official information, its CPU part energy efficiency has increased by 20%

Our Sanyi Life used the QRD (Qualcomm Reference Design Prototype) to run the AnTuTu evaluation V10 actual test results

The third-generation Snapdragon 8’s CPU part adds up to 12MB of L3 cache storage, which is 50% higher than the previous generation. In addition, the memory controller of the third generation Snapdragon 8 has also been upgraded to the LPDDR5T-9600 specification, which is the highest frequency among the currently known smartphone mobile platforms.

QRD Geekbench 6.1.0 actual test results display

what does that mean? Obviously, this means that Qualcomm has finally become more willing to "trade (semiconductor) area for performance" in this generation of products. Although it will definitely increase the manufacturing cost, the combination of large cache and high-bandwidth memory really has nothing to be picky about in terms of "materials".

Equipped with the second-generation light-tracing GPU, the era of 8K, 240Hz mobile games has arrived

Next in the GPU part, the third-generation Snapdragon 8 integrated Adreno 750 has improved performance by 25% and energy efficiency by 25% compared to the previous generation.

According to our Sanyi Life’s on-site QRD measurement results, the third-generation Snapdragon 8 has undoubtedly become the current smartphone GPU solution with the highest light pursuit/non-light pursuit performance. Not to mention in the Android camp, it has surpassed even the Apple A17 Pro next door.

But this is not the real highlight of the third-generation Snapdragon 8 graphics performance, because with the support of sufficiently high hardware performance, Qualcomm has begun to bring some more "advanced" mobile game graphics effects on the Adreno 750 .

For example, it is the first smartphone GPU in the industry to support the real-time global illumination reflection effect of the Unreal Engine 5 Lumen, and has made special performance optimizations for this extreme lighting. Therefore, we have every reason to expect that future mobile games are expected to usher in a major leap-forward improvement in scene lighting effects.

Another example is that through the built-in Adreno Frame Motion Engine 2.0 frame generation function, Adreno 750 is now able to support game screens up to 240FPS. Obviously, this will push hard-core gaming phones to improve again in terms of screen refresh rate

In addition, the third generation Snapdragon 8 can now support native game screen resolutions up to 4K. With the support of Snapdragon Game Super Resolution technology, it can even render game effects with up to 8K resolution. So maybe in a few years, we can really see a game console based on Snapdragon Core?

The computing power of artificial intelligence has been significantly improved, but more importantly, it is now ubiquitous

Although Qualcomm actually spent most of its time today introducing the AI ​​design of the third-generation Snapdragon 8, following past habits, we still put this part behind the CPU and GPU for analysis. .

In terms of hardware parameters, the third-generation Snapdragon 8’s AI engine has a total computing power of 73 TOPS, which is nearly twice as high as the previous generation, and its energy efficiency has also increased by 40%. More importantly, these improvements are mainly due to the higher operating frequency inside its NPU, the larger internal cache, and the faster external memory bandwidth mentioned earlier. In other words, even old AI code will have a significant speed-up effect on new hardware.

However, friends who are familiar with Qualcomm must have guessed that the AI ​​experience of the new platform cannot simply rely on hardware improvements. The third-generation Snapdragon 8 has a lot of new things this time in terms of AI-related software and functional use cases.

One of the typical examples is that the third-generation Snapdragon 8 has become the industry’s first smartphone mobile platform that can run a 10 billion parameter model. This means that it can directly rely on local AI computing power to implement functions such as natural language dialogue and AI drawing without being connected to the Internet.

In terms of AI drawing, according to Alex Katuzin, senior vice president and general manager of mobile, computing and XR business at Qualcomm Technologies, although the previous Snapdragon platform can generate AI drawing offline, it takes 15 seconds Only one drawing can be completed. The current third-generation Snapdragon 8 only takes 1 second to complete drawing. Even if the user is not satisfied and needs to redraw, it only takes 1 second

Some friends may ask, although this is interesting, what practical significance does it have for daily use of mobile phones?

Rewritten content: This makes sense. On the one hand, the powerful local AI computing power means that on models equipped with the third-generation Snapdragon 8, the built-in AI voice assistant can be used without the need for an Internet connection. Many questions can be answered directly locally and no longer need to be obtained through the cloud. Answer. This will significantly enhance users’ personal privacy protection and further avoid the leakage of personal information

On the other hand, AI generation capabilities are not only used for voice assistants and drawings. It can also be used to realize virtual backgrounds in video calls and to automatically separate portraits and backgrounds when taking photos or videos. More natural portrait blur effect.

Even, the third generation of Snapdragon 8 even supports functions such as video noise reduction and dark-light photo enhancement based on artificial intelligence algorithms. Compared with the past solutions that relied solely on ISP "hard calculation", the new AI imaging technology is expected to significantly reduce the energy consumption during the photo taking process, which will obviously help the user's actual experience

More partners and more solutions may become the key to market revitalization

When we communicated with Sanyi Life, Qualcomm Technologies’ senior vice president and general manager of mobile, computing and There will be some slight improvement in the product market compared to 2023. Considering the current competition in the smartphone market, technology is mainly concentrated in the high-end field, so the emergence of platforms like the third-generation Snapdragon 8 is just the right time. It not only improves CPU and GPU performance, but also brings huge AI computing capabilities. Strength progress

Perhaps because of this, during the release of the third-generation Snapdragon 8, there are already more technology partners than in the past. From the major AI manufacturers at home and abroad, to the imaging CMOS specially adapted for the new platform by Samsung and Sony, to the honor of giving a speech during this event, and the demonstration of the new Xiaomi 14 series on the first day. of Xiaomi.

Obviously, after the previous generation platform reaffirmed Qualcomm’s design strength, the new third-generation Snapdragon 8 is likely to become an important driving force for the further recovery of the high-end smartphone market and become the “end-side AI era” "Important signs

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