Qualcomm is positioning its upcoming Snapdragon X Elite systems as a viable platform for Windows gaming, without the need for developers to port their existing titles. At the 2024 Game Developers Conference, Qualcomm engineer Issam Khalil presented "Windows on Snapdragon, a Platform Ready for your PC Games," emphasizing that these ARM-based laptops would employ emulation to run x86/64 games efficiently, nearing full performance speeds. The company has announced plans to introduce Snapdragon X Elite-equipped systems in the summer of 2024, with speculation surrounding new versions of the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 potentially featuring these chips as early as May.
Despite a modest turnout at Qualcomm's GDC presentation, as reported by Sean Hollister of The Verge, the company is gearing up to compete with Apple's M3 series by leveraging its ARM-based Snapdragon X Elite chipset in the portable computing space, including slimline notebooks where gaming hasn't traditionally been a focus. Khalil's presentation outlined various methods for game developers to adapt their titles for the Windows on Snapdragon ecosystem, including x64 emulation, ARM64, and a mixed approach utilizing an "ARM64EC" driver. He also introduced tools intended to facilitate game adaptation for the Snapdragon + Windows platform, underscoring that the Snapdragon X Elite's emulation capabilities should allow x86/64 games to run at comparable speeds to their native platforms without necessitating changes to game code or assets. The Adreno GPU drivers have been updated to support DirectX 11, DirectX 12, Vulkan, and OpenCL, with additional compatibility layers for DirectX 9 and OpenGL up to version 4.6. Although specific games that are fully functional on Snapdragon X Elite devices were not detailed, Qualcomm's team has been evaluating a range of popular games on platforms such as Steam to ensure compatibility and performance.
Despite a modest turnout at Qualcomm's GDC presentation, as reported by Sean Hollister of The Verge, the company is gearing up to compete with Apple's M3 series by leveraging its ARM-based Snapdragon X Elite chipset in the portable computing space, including slimline notebooks where gaming hasn't traditionally been a focus. Khalil's presentation outlined various methods for game developers to adapt their titles for the Windows on Snapdragon ecosystem, including x64 emulation, ARM64, and a mixed approach utilizing an "ARM64EC" driver. He also introduced tools intended to facilitate game adaptation for the Snapdragon + Windows platform, underscoring that the Snapdragon X Elite's emulation capabilities should allow x86/64 games to run at comparable speeds to their native platforms without necessitating changes to game code or assets. The Adreno GPU drivers have been updated to support DirectX 11, DirectX 12, Vulkan, and OpenCL, with additional compatibility layers for DirectX 9 and OpenGL up to version 4.6. Although specific games that are fully functional on Snapdragon X Elite devices were not detailed, Qualcomm's team has been evaluating a range of popular games on platforms such as Steam to ensure compatibility and performance.
Sources: The Verge
