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[LordOfChaos]

Microsoft demos 'Baldur's Gate 3', 'Borderlands' running at 30 FPS on the new Snapdragon X Elite Windows on Arm platform, with auto Super Resolution support in tow

Microsoft's impressive Windows on Arm gaming demonstration offers a glimpse at the future.

www.windowscentral.com

...This to me is calling for an X Elite, Surface/Xbox branded handheld competitor. It could be much less bulky and/or with much better battery life than the x86 ones.

 

[Chiggs]

...This to me is calling for an X Elite, Surface/Xbox branded handheld competitor. It could be much less bulky and/or with much better battery life than the x86 ones.

Totally agree. And while we're talking about wishlists, check this out:

Here’s the eight-inch Snapdragon PC for your Windows on Arm experiments

Qualcomm is selling it in black.

www.theverge.com

More of this please! A monster Arm system in a small form factor like this, please and thank you.

 

[Trogdor1123]

This is remarkable. The arm market will accelerate even more with windows and games moving over. Kind of exciting times where we will finally drop all the x86 stuff that holds them back a fair bit.

 

[Chiggs]

This is remarkable. The arm market will accelerate even more with windows and games moving over. Kind of exciting times where we will finally drop all the x86 stuff that holds them back a fair bit.

Or helps drive prices down, or forces an x86 overhaul. More and different types of CPUs for the Windows & Linux markets is a win for consumers.

Arm is the disruptor...you can just feel it.

 

[Mr.ODST]

Will be great for a handheld, something like this will help keep battery life at a decent level aswell.

Seen people trying to troll with it being 30fps but if it meant long batterylife and more stable gameplay from a handheld im all for it

 

[adamsapple]

• Many apps and games have to run via emulation for Windows on Arm, but Microsoft has been demonstrating how much performance you can expect during its events this week.

Wouldn't there be an even bigger performance uplift if there were native ARM conversions of these games, instead of having to run via an emulation layer?

 

[ZehDon]

Wouldn't there be an even bigger performance uplift if there were native ARM conversions of these games, instead of having to run via an emulation layer?

Typically yes. We've seen emulation layers for ARM come a long way in recent years, with near-native performance and even - in some rare cases - performance improvements.

 

[Trunx81]

This is remarkable. The arm market will accelerate even more with windows and games moving over. Kind of exciting times where we will finally drop all the x86 stuff that holds them back a fair bit.

Feels like the end of an era. Laptops have been rising in the last decades, but this could be the beginning of what the Steam deck started. Evolution.

 

[twilo99]

As far as I can tell not a single ARM based machine from this new lineup has passive cooling, which is a big disappointment considering how well the MacBook Air performs. I’m guessing they wanted some games to work ok on this so they needed fans…

 

[Lokaum D+]

30 fps

 

[Oppoi]

I does bring a smile to my face knowing the usual suspects will shill this crap like it's hot.

 

[Kssio_Aug]

30 fps

I does bring a smile to my face knowing the usual suspects will shill this crap like it's hot.

You guys need to chill. You can't take console warring to every aspect of the technology industry.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

I love tech advancements. If something like this means we're going to get more out of our HW due to the way the later works, I'm all for it.

 

[LordOfChaos]

Or, how about a handheld with a Nvidia WoA chip next year, which already has Nvidia GPU drivers?

"Jen-Hsun, where is Nvidia's place in the AI PC?"
Michael Dell: "Ask him again next year"
Jen-Hsun: *laughs* "Exactly..."

 

[AREYOUOKAY?]

30 fps

You say that but things could always be worse.

 

[PendekarRajawali]

Xbox handheld incoming?

 

[FingerBang]

Give me a discrete GPU and I'll buy one. Macbooks have been the best laptops to buy for the last 4 years not because of alledged power, but because of battery life and NO FUCKING FAN NOISE. I only need a Windows PC that does the same, but I want a discrete GPU. Fingers cross we're not far from that.

 

[IntentionalPun]

If this is what MS thinks will rock the handheld market they are smoking something fierce. These are probably vague numbers (no settings mentioned other than resolution) on the highest end chip, which will be expensive and run at 80 watts.

The Steam Deck has a TDP of 15 watts doesn’t it? So using 5 times the power draw for what seems like similar or maybe worse performance?

 

[CamHostage]

Seen people trying to troll with it being 30fps but if it meant long batterylife and more stable gameplay from a handheld im all for it

Isn't Baldurs Gate 3 locked to 30fps on Xbox Series S and Steam Deck (or did they patch that? ) It's not elite levels, but ARM reaching them just in unretouched emulation seems to me a good start.

 

[ZehDon]

I does bring a smile to my face knowing the usual suspects will shill this crap like it's hot.

 

[ResilientBanana]

It’s a PC, not a gaming device. That being said, it’s amazing what a mobile chip can do these days.

 

[old-parts]

If this is what MS thinks will rock the handheld market they are smoking something fierce. These are probably vague numbers (no settings mentioned other than resolution) on the highest end chip, which will be expensive and run at 80 watts.

The Steam Deck has a TDP of 15 watts doesn’t it? So using 5 times the power draw for what seems like similar or maybe worse performance?

It's not, this Qualcomm hardware is meant to compete with Intel/AMD/Apple in the premium laptop market where margins are high so capturing part of that is very profitable for Qualcomm.

A viable Qualcomm handheld would mean a different design and software ported to Arm to extract the best performance.

 

[Soodanim]

I does bring a smile to my face knowing the usual suspects will shill this crap like it's hot.

You must not realise it's just as bad when people shit up threads with pre-emptive strikes against the "shills".

Obviously it's not at 4090 levels quite yet, but if this tech can already bring improvements in the market it's aiming for at what for many is good enough framerates, then it will be interesting to see where it goes from here. It's only going to get better.

 

[Futaleufu]

How do those games perform compared to the Steam Deck?

 

[Ozriel]

If this is what MS thinks will rock the handheld market they are smoking something fierce. These are probably vague numbers (no settings mentioned other than resolution) on the highest end chip, which will be expensive and run at 80 watts.

The Steam Deck has a TDP of 15 watts doesn’t it? So using 5 times the power draw for what seems like similar or maybe worse performance?

Not going to comment on Xbox handheld rumors, but lol @ ‘similar or worse performance’ on the Deck. Most of the ‘best settings’ I’ve seen for BG3 on Deck are at 800p with FSR2 and low settings. 30fps. And that’s running x86 while this has emulation overhead.

This isn’t about Xbox. This is more about letting thinner and lighter windows ultrabooks and tablets run Windows/Steam games passably well. It’s an improvement over the Intel iGPUs at the very least.

 

[twilo99]

Windows on Arm Ready Games

Find Games ready for Windows on Arm

www.worksonwoa.com

 

[SaintALia]

That's cool I guess. But what settings though? Did they specify? Because telling me X game runs at 30/60/90/120 fps on PC doesn't mean a whole to me unless I know what settings you're running it at.

 

[StereoVsn]

That’s kind of low considering the price for these systems.

My MBPro 14 M3 Pro runs some of these games better, although to be fair BG3 is native.

 

[crackajack]

Arm is the disruptor...you can just feel it.

like VR...
ARM and Windows RT or also Intel Atom have been available for years already. Apple went from supposedly superior PowerPC to X86 to their own ARM choice again while ARM did not really move much on the PC side because bottom line the power reuqirements of x86 and ARM are possibly not really that different when asked to do the same results.

Wishful thinking might still finally happen, but it did not in the past one or two decades, so I am not really seeing it for now.

 

[Evil Calvin]

It's already on XSX and Steam Deck. Runs great.

 

[gothmog]

ARM rocks, but obviously it took a lot of work to get here. Hopefully we start seeing some native builds soon to really see how good it can be.

 

[Ozriel]

That's cool I guess. But what settings though? Did they specify? Because telling me X game runs at 30/60/90/120 fps on PC doesn't mean a whole to me unless I know what settings you're running it at.

1080p 30fps I believe.

That’s kind of low considering the price for these systems.

My MBPro 14 M3 Pro runs some of these games better, although to be fair BG3 is native.

Your laptop starts at $2000, way more expensive than these laptops though. And it runs an M3 Pro, with more GPU cores than the X Elite.
And as you note, BG3 is native.

 

[StereoVsn]

Your laptop starts at $2000, way more expensive than these laptops though. And it runs an M3 Pro, with more GPU cores than the X Elite.
And as you note, BG3 is native.

My laptop was cheaper due to a BestBuy sale and some of these X Elite laptops are approaching it in price.

That’s the thing though, that’s the competition. Why would one take X Elite laptop over Apple and have to deal with that spyware shit on top?

They said, it’s going to be interesting to see real world performance and battery numbers.

 

[Griffon]

30fps lol

Are we supposed to be impressed? That shit is gonna be overpriced and wont stand a chance against any other old x86 laptop.

 

[Roman Empire]

That ain't chief. At least, not for now. ARM based archtecture interests me but 30 FPS isn't much tbh. Not that is not impressive for emulation.

 

[SaintALia]

1080p 30fps I believe.



Your laptop starts at $2000, way more expensive than these laptops though. And it runs an M3 Pro, with more GPU cores than the X Elite.
And as you note, BG3 is native.

No I mean, low, medium, high, a mixture, what graphical settings. The resolution is just one bit of that.

I see '1080 p 30 fps' in their presentation slides, but as a PC gamer that doesn't really tell me anything. The article doesn't seem to mention what settings they are running BG3 at 1080p 30fps. Unless I missed it and the information is somewhere else people know about?

 

[Ozriel]

My laptop was cheaper due to a BestBuy sale and some of these X Elite laptops are approaching it in price.

From past experience, you’re more likely to see sales/discounts on Asus vivobooks and Dell Inspirons than you’d see on MacBooks. Best to keep these to Apples to Apples comparison

That’s the thing though, that’s the competition. Why would one take X Elite laptop over Apple and have to deal with that spyware shit on top?

A lot of folks choose Windows over MacOS without the slightest hesitation. We both know this.

They said, it’s going to be interesting to see real world performance and battery numbers.

Yeah, MS talked a big game on stage, but best to wait for reviews to be sure of their claims. It’s a first generation product afterall.

For me, I picked up a Lenovo Legion with a beefy 13th gen Intel CPU and a 4080 GPU. Battery life is the least of my considerations. I’m not going to be buying any of these anytime soon. Not until they start getting paired with Nvidia GPUs.

By end year, we’ll see the new Ryzens with the powerful NPUs and they’ll have the on-device AI stuff too.

 

[SolidQ]

How do those games perform compared to the Steam Deck?

Here

 

[StereoVsn]

From past experience, you’re more likely to see sales/discounts on Asus vivobooks and Dell Inspirons than you’d see on MacBooks. Best to keep these to Apples to Apples comparison



A lot of folks choose Windows over MacOS without the slightest hesitation. We both know this.



Yeah, MS talked a big game on stage, but best to wait for reviews to be sure of their claims. It’s a first generation product afterall.

For me, I picked up a Lenovo Legion with a beefy 13th gen Intel CPU and a 4080 GPU. Battery life is the least of my considerations. I’m not going to be buying any of these anytime soon. Not until they start getting paired with Nvidia GPUs.

By end year, we’ll see the new Ryzens with the powerful NPUs and they’ll have the on-device AI stuff too.

Yeah, I guess we shall see what happens for price/performance/battery in release.

Both Intel and AMD are touting strong “AI” performance for releases later this year plus Nvidia’s 5000 series should hit mobile next year.

Personally I can’t see myself going back to Windows especially with the Recall BS. Well, other than for gaming right now. That said Qualcomm is promising Linux compatibility later in the year.

 

[IntentionalPun]

Not going to comment on Xbox handheld rumors, but lol @ ‘similar or worse performance’ on the Deck. Most of the ‘best settings’ I’ve seen for BG3 on Deck are at 800p with FSR2 and low settings. 30fps. And that’s running x86 while this has emulation overhead.

This isn’t about Xbox. This is more about letting thinner and lighter windows ultrabooks and tablets run Windows/Steam games passably well. It’s an improvement over the Intel iGPUs at the very least.

I wasn’t exactly accurate but it’s not like Deck isn’t going though a translation layer. And it’s less than 1/4th the TDP. And let’s not forget it’s 5 year old APU lol

I also don’t think this is about Xbox but people seem to think it is. And it wouldn’t shock me if someone at MS had pie in the sky thoughts of what they could pull off with an ARM handheld based on pressuring engineers to do the improbable.

 

[rodrigolfp]

We should assume it's using maximum graphics settings for both games?

 

[Ozriel]

No I mean, low, medium, high, a mixture, what graphical settings. The resolution is just one bit of that.

I see '1080 p 30 fps' in their presentation slides, but as a PC gamer that doesn't really tell me anything. The article doesn't seem to mention what settings they are running BG3 at 1080p 30fps. Unless I missed it and the information is somewhere else people know about

It’s weird, I’m not sure where I saw medium settings from. Perhaps I mixed things up.

We’ll have real benchmarks soon enough. It’s crazy they’re still not fully transparent this close to launch.