Testing the brand new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1+

introduction

Qualcomm today announced the next flagship Snapdragon platform – the Qualcomm 8475 Snapdragon 8 Gen 1+ mobile chipset. These Plus models are traditionally overclocked versions of vanilla chipsets, but there’s more to it than usual in this update.

Highlights of the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1+ platform include improved CPU and GPU performance, as well as a new Spectra ISP, premium Snapdragon sound, and more power-efficient NPU processing.

Let’s start with the CPU and GPU updates. According to Qualcomm, the SD 8 Gen 1+ offers 10% faster CPU performance and a 10% faster GPU clock than the SD 8 Gen 1. But what’s pretty impressive is the expected power efficiency of the 30% better of the two: This is the result of TSMC’s more efficient manufacturing process. In fact, Qualcomm has replaced Samsung with TSMC to produce Snapdragon 8 Gen 1+.

The most notable improvements in the gaming department are the support for volumetric rendering and improved power efficiency, which should offer up to 1 hour more play than the regular SD 8 Gen 1 on a similar configuration (display, RAM, battery) .

The improved Spectra ISP now supports 8K HDR video capture, as well as Bokeh effects and Face tracking simultaneously. The supported HDR format is HDR10 + with 10-bit color.

Qualcomm has bragged a lot about the AI ​​performance improvement, now up to 20% improvement per watt. This means that instead of more power, the AI ​​Engine now uses 20% less power than the SD 8 Gen 1. The AI ​​Engine plays a leading role in real-time bokeh effects, among many other uses. .

So, long story short, the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1+ offers a bit faster performance when it comes to CPU and GPU speeds. But the most important upgrade is the vastly improved power efficiency: 30% for CPU and GPU, 20% for AI, and an overall 15% in compound usage. According to the official numbers, this allows for 1 more hour of gaming, 88 more minutes of streaming, or 25 more minutes of 5G video chat.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1+ at a glance:

• Chipset: Qualcomm SD8475 Snapdragon 8 Gen 1+ (4 nm TSMC)
• PROCESSOR: Octa-core (1×3.2 GHz Cortex-X2 and 3×2.75 GHz Cortex-A710 and 4×2.0 GHz Cortex-A510).
• GPU: Adreno 730 @ 900Hz.
• Cellular modem: Qualcomm Snapdragon X65 5G.
• Wi-Fi / Bluetooth modem: Quick connection 6900.
• ISP: Qualcomm Spectra with 8K HDR10 + video, Simultaneous Bokeh and Face tracking.
• Various: Qualcomm Aqstic audio codec (WCD9385).

And here comes the fun part. We received a special ROG Engineering device from Asus, which has the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1+ inside. It’s not a commercial device, so don’t take this as a hint that we have something mysterious or unannounced on our hands. It is an engineering device made to showcase the capabilities of Snapdragon 8 Gen 1+.

So, let’s run some benchmarks and see what happens.