Qualcomm has made a significant leap in mobile chipset performance with the Snapdragon 8 Elite, demonstrating its prowess by smoothly running AAA games even when using emulation. This achievement is noteworthy considering that emulation often incurs performance drawbacks since the software doesn’t operate natively on the platform. Impressively, the Snapdragon 8 Elite delivered a stable 60FPS in Cyberpunk 2077 on low settings and outperformed the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 by achieving over twice the frame rate in A Plague Tale: Innocence.
However, not all games translate this power seamlessly, as highlighted by recent gameplay footage of Ghost Of Tsushima. Despite its origins on the PlayStation 4, the game stumbles significantly on the Snapdragon 8 Elite during emulation, unable to maintain even 30FPS. The root of these performance woes lies in the chipset’s lack of support for AVX (Advanced Vector Extensions) and F16C instruction sets. AVX enhances a processor’s ability to handle complex tasks when paired with compatible software, while F16C aids in efficiently managing memory used during physics simulations and graphics rendering.
The absence of these features hinders Ghost Of Tsushima’s performance. A video on Bilibili illustrates these struggles vividly. It’s particularly perplexing given that Cyberpunk 2077, a game with more advanced graphics, runs at a higher frame rate after its AVX demand was lifted post-launch. Currently, Ghost Of Tsushima is the only AVX-based game tested on this new hardware, but it does raise questions about potential limitations within the Snapdragon 8 Elite for future emulation scenarios.
Nevertheless, it’s essential to commend the Snapdragon 8 Elite for running such a game at all. There was a time when the concept of mobile chipsets managing AAA games was merely wishful thinking. As Qualcomm looks towards the future with the anticipated arrival of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2, expected to incorporate SME (Scalable Matrix Extension) support, it’s hopeful that these gaming challenges will be addressed, bringing even more robust gaming capabilities to smartphones.
