Snapdragon 8 Elite Tested: Benchmarks and Thermals

Nov. 4, 2024

Qualcomm recently announced its flagshipSnapdragon 8 Elitechipset for Android phones, and we finally have access to Realme GT7 Pro that packs the powerful processor. So to test Qualcomm’s claims, we ran several benchmarks on Snapdragon 8 Elite including Geekbench, AnTuTu, 3DMark, and more. We have also recorded the temperature to understand the thermal performance of the chipset. On that note, let’s begin.

Note:We benchmarked the Realme GT7 Pro, powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor. In our initial testing, the phone got abnormally hot. However, after rebooting the device multiple times, the chip performed well and maintained a normal temperature.

Snapdragon 8 Elite Specifications

In our AnTuTu benchmark test, the Snapdragon 8 Elite scored 2,759,190 points. It fell short of crossing the 3 million mark as initial leaks suggested. Nevertheless, Snapdragon 8 Elite has set a new benchmark in mobile computing. The CPU scored 583,775 points and the new Adreno 830 GPU alone achieved a massive 1,132,574 points. After the AnTuTu test, the temperature was close to 36.6 degrees C which is again impressive.

We have seen that flagship chipsets don’t do well in the CPU Throttling test as it gets harder to sustain maximum performance on big CPU cores, running at much higher frequencies. That said, the Snapdragon 8 Elite performed exceptionally well.

In our 15-minute stress test, the Snapdragon 8 Elite CPU throttled to 74% of its maximum performance. And in a longer 60-minute test, the CPU throttled to 77%. Basically, for sustained CPU performance, the Snapdragon 8 Elite hits it out of the park. Not to mention, the temperature remained around 39 degrees C.

Moving to the Geekbench 6 GPU test, the Snapdragon 8 Elite’s Adreno 830 GPU scored 19,193 points on OpenCL and 24,462 on Vulkan graphics API. The scores are 40% higher than what Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 achieved so yes, the GPU has been upgraded significantly.Geekbench 6 GPUSnapdragon 8 EliteOpenCL19,193Vulkan24,462

To test the Adreno 830 GPU further, we ran several graphics-intensive 3DMark tests. In the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme Stress Test, the Snapdragon 8 Elite achieved the best loop score of 6,311 points and the lowest loop score of 5,258 with a remarkable stability of 83.3%. And the surface temperature also remained manageable, around 42.5 degrees C.3DMark Wild Life Extreme Stress TestSnapdragon 8 EliteBest loop score6,311Lowest loop score5,258Stability83.3%Temperature42.6 degrees C

Finally, coming to the Geekbench AI test that evaluates the NPU. It seems Qualcomm has not prepared the driver stack for the new Hexagon NPU on the Snapdragon 8 Elite. We had to run the test on the deprecated NNAPI framework, resulting in much lower scores. We hope that Qualcomm brings support for QNN so we can really see how well the NPU performs on AI workloads.

To conclude, the Snapdragon 8 Elite is a monumental upgrade over theSnapdragon 8 Gen 3. The 2nd-gen Oryon CPU cores are very powerful and at the same time, efficient too, despite running two cores at a mighty 4.32GHz. The new sliced GPU architecture implemented in Snapdragon 8 Elite has resulted in remarkable gaming performance.

Overall, the Snapdragon 8 Elite brings a generational shift in mobile computing. So Qualcomm has done the right thing by introducing a new naming convention. We will be testing the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset on the upcomingSamsung Galaxy S25 Ultrawhich will bring even more horsepower. With faster memory and increased clock speeds, Snapdragon 8 Elite can deliver even more. So stay tuned for a detailed analysis.

Passionate about Windows, ChromeOS, Android, security and privacy issues. Have a penchant to solve everyday computing problems.