Snapdragon X Elite plays Baldur’s Gate 3
The upcoming Qualcomm platform delivers a ‘playable’ experience in one of the most popular games.
Qualcomm has promised that their new ARM-based platform will seamlessly run most Windows games without any issues. The translation between X86 and ARM architecture works efficiently for Windows apps, and for games using DirectX and Vulkan games like Baldur’s Gate 3 it shouldn’t be any problem running them either.
During a public demonstration, the game ran on one of Qualcomm’s test platforms at 1080p resolution with around 30 frames per second. While GPU enthusiasts may debate whether that provides a playable experience, details about the game settings and whether performance can be optimized using upscaling tech or lowering settings are still unknown.
However, the crucial point is that the ARM architecture is capable of running modern AAA titles, and the Snapdragon X series provides the necessary capable GPU.
The Snapdragon X Elite will run all Windows games through X64 emulation. This means that no porting is required, but developers may choose to optimize their titles for ARM64 for better performance. Qualcomm indicated that GPU-related performance issues may impact game performance more frequently; in other words, emulation should not significantly impact GPU performance regardless.
Qualcomm has already tested games like Control, Baldur’s Gate 3, and Redout II, with performance estimated to be around Radeon 780M RDNA3 iGPU, as found in AMD Ryzen 7040 and 8040 APUs.
Of course, just because something can run games doesn’t mean it will be a favored choice among gamers. In fact, given what we have heard about Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite laptop pricing from larger OEMs, native X86 platforms may simply be less worrisome and cheaper.
Source: Davin Arthur, Windows Central
