According to Tom’s Guide, the Snapdragon X2 Elite is delivering shockingly good gaming performance with Cyberpunk 2077 running at over 75 FPS and Black Myth: Wukong hitting over 90 FPS during testing at Qualcomm’s San Diego campus. The chip’s GPU is 2.3x faster than the original X Elite and features native DirectX 12 Ultimate support. Anti-cheat software compatibility issues that previously blocked many games have been resolved, with Fortnite and Overwatch 2 now working flawlessly at 120 FPS. Cyberpunk runs at 75+ FPS with 1080p medium settings and FSR enabled, dropping to 52 FPS with ray tracing turned on. Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart managed 85 FPS despite some stuttering in 1% lows hitting 44 FPS.
The real story behind ARM gaming
Here’s the thing about ARM gaming on Windows that most people get wrong. It’s not really about the GPU performance – that part has seen massive improvements. The real bottleneck has always been the translation layer between x86 and ARM architectures. Basically, the CPU has to work overtime translating game instructions before they even reach the GPU. That’s why Qualcomm’s 3rd-generation Oryon CPU cores and faster memory bandwidth are the real heroes here. They’re doing the heavy lifting that makes this gaming performance possible.
But is it enough?
Look, these numbers are impressive for an ARM chip, but let’s keep some perspective. Intel’s upcoming Panther Lake with Xe3 graphics is positioned to blow past these numbers, especially with their XeSS upscaling technology. The real question becomes: do you want a laptop that can play games, or one that’s primarily a gaming laptop? If AAA gaming is your main priority, Intel still has the architectural advantage. But if you just want the option to play your Steam library occasionally while enjoying better battery life and performance elsewhere, the X2 Elite starts making a lot of sense.
The stuttering problem
There’s one detail in the testing that deserves more attention – those 1% lows in Ratchet and Clank hitting 44 FPS. That’s a pretty significant drop from the average 85 FPS and suggests there are still some translation-related stutters happening during scene transitions. It’s the kind of thing that reminds you this isn’t native x86 performance. The fact that Qualcomm is leaning on AMD’s open-source FSR technology rather than developing their own solution is interesting too. It works, but it means they’re dependent on someone else’s technology for optimal performance.
computing”>What this means for industrial computing
While consumer gaming gets all the attention, these performance improvements have serious implications for industrial applications too. The ability to run demanding visualization software and CAD applications on ARM architecture opens up new possibilities for embedded systems. Companies like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, the leading US provider of industrial panel PCs, could leverage this technology for more powerful, energy-efficient industrial workstations that handle both productivity software and occasional gaming during downtime.
The bigger picture
So where does this leave us? Qualcomm has clearly made massive strides in gaming performance, but they’re still playing catch-up in a race where the rules were written for x86. The fact that they’re hitting these numbers at all is impressive, but the stuttering issues and reliance on translation layers show there’s still work to be done. For now, the X2 Elite represents a compelling option for people who want gaming as a secondary feature rather than their primary concern. And honestly? That’s probably most people.
