Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 vs Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 CPU1 vs CPU2 Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)

CPU comparison

In this CPU comparison, we compare the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and the Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) and use benchmarks to check which processor is faster.

We compare the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 8 core processor released in Q1/2022 with the Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) which has 4 CPU cores and was introduced in Q4/2023.
Qualcomm Snapdragon (102) Family AMD Ryzen 5 (85)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 7/8 Gen 1 (3) CPU group AMD Sephiroth (Steam Deck Refresh 2023) (1)
1 Generation 4
Cortex-X2 / -A710 / -A510 Architecture Sephiroth (Zen 2)
Mobile Segment Mobile
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Predecessor Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is a 8 core processor with a clock frequency of 3.00 GHz. The processor can compute 8 threads at the same time. The Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) clocks with 2.40 GHz (3.50 GHz), has 4 CPU cores and can calculate 8 threads in parallel.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Characteristic Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
8 Cores 4
8 Threads 8
hybrid (Prime / big.LITTLE) Core architecture normal
No Hyperthreading Yes
No Overclocking ? No
3.00 GHz
1x Kryo Prime
A-Core 2.40 GHz (3.50 GHz)
2.50 GHz
3x Kryo Gold
B-Core --
1.80 GHz
4x Kryo Silver
C-Core --

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Processors with the support of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can process many calculations, especially audio, image and video processing, much faster than classic processors. Algorithms for ML improve their performance the more data they have collected via software. ML tasks can be processed up to 10,000 times faster than with a classic processor.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Characteristic Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
Qualcomm AI engine AI hardware --
Hexagon 780 @ 26 TOPS AI specifications --

Internal Graphics

Graphics (iGPU) integrated into the processor not only enable image output without having to rely on a dedicated graphics solution, but can also efficiently accelerate video playback.

Qualcomm Adreno 730 GPU AMD Custom Radeon Graphics (Steam Deck)
0.82 GHz GPU frequency 1.00 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) 1.60 GHz
7 GPU Generation --
4 nm Technology 7 nm
0 Max. displays 2
-- Compute units 8
-- Shader 512
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
8 GB Max. GPU Memory 8 GB
12.1 DirectX Version 12

Hardware codec support

A photo or video codec that is accelerated in hardware can greatly accelerate the working speed of a processor and extend the battery life of notebooks or smartphones when playing videos.

Qualcomm Adreno 730 GPU AMD Custom Radeon Graphics (Steam Deck)
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec h264 Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec VP9 Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec VP8 Decode / Encode
No Codec AV1 No
Decode Codec AVC Decode / Encode
Decode Codec VC-1 Decode
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

Up to 16 GB of memory in a maximum of 4 memory channels is supported by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, while the Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) supports a maximum of 16 GB of memory with a maximum memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s enabled.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Characteristic Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
LPDDR5-6400 Memory LPDDR5-6400
16 GB Max. Memory 16 GB
4 (Quad Channel) Memory channels 4 (Quad Channel)
51.2 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 102.4 GB/s
No ECC No
2.00 MB L2 Cache 2.00 MB
6.00 MB L3 Cache 4.00 MB
-- PCIe version 3.0
-- PCIe lanes 8
-- PCIe Bandwidth 7.9 GB/s

Thermal Management

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 has a TDP of --. The TDP of the Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) is 15 W. System integrators use the TDP of the processor as a guide when dimensioning the cooling solution.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Characteristic Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
-- TDP (PL1 / PBP) 15 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down 4 W
-- Tjunction max. 100 °C

Technical details

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 has 8.00 MB cache and is manufactured in 4 nm. The cache of Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) is at 6.00 MB. The processor is manufactured in 6 nm.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Characteristic Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4 nm Technology 6 nm
Chiplet Chip design Monolithic
Armv9-A (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
-- ISA extensions SSE4a, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, FMA3
-- Socket FF3
None Virtualization AMD-V, SVM
No AES-NI Yes
Android, Windows 10 (ARM) Operating systems SteamOS (Arch Linux)
Q1/2022 Release date Q4/2023
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

Here you can rate the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 3.8 stars (23 ratings). Rate now:
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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 (100%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) (98%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 (77%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) (100%)

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)

Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The single-core benchmark only evaluates the performance of the fastest CPU core, the number of CPU cores in a processor is irrelevant here.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz
1322 (100%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
1296 (98%)

Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The multi-core benchmark evaluates the performance of all of the processor's CPU cores. Virtual thread improvements such as AMD SMT or Intel's Hyper-Threading have a positive impact on the benchmark result.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz
3490 (77%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 2.80 GHz
4510 (100%)

iGPU - FP32 Performance (Single-precision GFLOPS)

The theoretical computing performance of the internal graphics unit of the processor with simple accuracy (32 bit) in GFLOPS. GFLOPS indicates how many billion floating point operations the iGPU can perform per second.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
Qualcomm Adreno 730 @ 0.82 GHz
745 (45%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
AMD Custom Radeon Graphics (Steam Deck) @ 1.60 GHz
1638 (100%)

Cinebench 2024 (Single-Core)

The Cinebench 2024 benchmark is based on the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxon's 3D program Cinema 4D. The benchmark runs are each 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz
0 (0%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
57 (100%)

Cinebench 2024 (Multi-Core)

The Multi-Core test of the Cinebench 2024 benchmark uses all cpu cores to render using the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxons Cinema 4D. The benchmark run is 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz
0 (0%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
275 (100%)

Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz
0 (0%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
975 (100%)

Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz
0 (0%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 2.80 GHz
4359 (100%)

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Single-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz
1229 (100%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
0 (0%)

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz
3722 (100%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 2.80 GHz
0 (0%)

AnTuTu 9 Benchmark

The AnTuTu 9 benchmark is very well suited to measuring the performance of a smartphone. AnTuTu 9 is quite heavy on 3D graphics and can now also use the "Metal" graphics interface. In AnTuTu, memory and UX (user experience) are also tested by simulating browser and app usage. AnTuTu version 9 can compare any ARM CPU running on Android or iOS. Devices may not be directly comparable when benchmarked on different operating systems.

In the AnTuTu 9 benchmark, the single-core performance of a processor is only slightly weighted. The rating is made up of the multi-core performance of the processor, the speed of the working memory, and the performance of the internal graphics.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz
948574 (100%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 2.40 GHz
0 (0%)

Estimated results for PassMark CPU Mark

Some of the CPUs listed below have been benchmarked by CPU-monkey. However the majority of CPUs have not been tested and the results have been estimated by a CPU-monkey’s secret proprietary formula. As such they do not accurately reflect the actual Passmark CPU mark values and are not endorsed by PassMark Software Pty Ltd.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz
7023 (100%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 2.80 GHz
0 (0%)

Performance for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)

Processors with the support of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can process many calculations, especially audio, image and video processing, much faster than classic processors. The performance is given in the number (trillions) of arithmetic operations per second (TOPS).
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz
26 (100%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 2.40 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
Xiaomi 12 Pro Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)

News and articles for the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and the Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)


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