Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx vs Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx CPU1 vs CPU2 Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)

CPU comparison

In this CPU comparison, we compare the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx and the Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) and use benchmarks to check which processor is faster.

We compare the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx 8 core processor released in Q4/2018 with the Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) which has 4 CPU cores and was introduced in Q4/2021.
Qualcomm Snapdragon (104) Family AMD Ryzen 5 (86)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx (2) CPU group AMD Aerith (Steam Deck) (1)
2 Generation 3
Kryo 495 Architecture Aerith (Zen 2)
Mobile Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor --
-- Successor Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx is a 8 core processor with a clock frequency of 2.84 GHz. The processor can compute 8 threads at the same time. The Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) clocks with 2.40 GHz (3.50 GHz), has 4 CPU cores and can calculate 8 threads in parallel.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Characteristic Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
8 Cores 4
8 Threads 8
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture normal
No Hyperthreading Yes
No Overclocking ? No
2.84 GHz
4x Kryo 495 Gold
A-Core 2.40 GHz (3.50 GHz)
1.80 GHz
4x Kryo 495 Silver
B-Core --

NPU AI performance

The performance values of the processor's AI unit. The isolated NPU performance is specified here, the total AI performance (NPU+CPU+iGPU) can be higher. Processors with support for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can process many calculations, especially audio, image and video processing, much faster than classic processors.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Characteristic Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
Qualcomm AI engine AI hardware --
Hexagon 685 @ 3 TOPS AI specifications --
-- NPU + CPU + iGPU --

Integrated graphics (iGPU)

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 680 GPU AMD Custom Radeon Graphics (Steam Deck)
0.25 GHz GPU frequency 1.00 GHz
0.59 GHz GPU (Turbo) 1.60 GHz
5 GPU Generation --
7 nm Technology 7 nm
2 Max. displays 2
8 Compute units 8
768 Shader 512
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
4 GB Max. GPU Memory 8 GB
12.0 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 680 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 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 8 memory channels is supported by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx, while the Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) supports a maximum of 16 GB of memory with a maximum memory bandwidth of 88.0 GB/s enabled.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Characteristic Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
LPDDR4X-4266 Memory LPDDR5-5500
16 GB Max. Memory 16 GB
8 (Octa Channel) Memory channels 4 (Quad Channel)
68.2 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 88.0 GB/s
No ECC No
-- L2 Cache 2.00 MB
2.00 MB L3 Cache 4.00 MB
-- PCIe version 3.0
-- PCIe lanes 8
-- PCIe Bandwidth 7.9 GB/s

Thermal Management

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx has a TDP of 7 W. The TDP of the Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) is 15 W. System integrators use the TDP of the processor as a guide when dimensioning the cooling solution.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Characteristic Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
7 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 15 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down 4 W
-- Tjunction max. 100 °C

Technical details

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx has 2.00 MB cache and is manufactured in 7 nm. The cache of Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) is at 6.00 MB. The processor is manufactured in 7 nm.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Characteristic Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
7 nm Technology 7 nm
Chiplet Chip design Monolithic
Armv8-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)
Q4/2018 Release date Q4/2021
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

Here you can rate the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 0 stars (0 ratings). Rate now:
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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx (85%)
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) (100%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx (78%)
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) (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 8cx Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx
8C 8T @ 2.84 GHz
724 (85%)
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
849 (100%)

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 8cx Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx
8C 8T @ 2.84 GHz
2808 (78%)
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
4C 8T @ 2.80 GHz
3592 (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 8cx Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx
Qualcomm Adreno 680 @ 0.59 GHz
1843 (100%)
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
AMD Custom Radeon Graphics (Steam Deck) @ 1.60 GHz
1638 (89%)

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 8cx Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx
8C 8T @ 2.84 GHz
0 (0%)
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
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 8cx Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx
8C 8T @ 2.84 GHz
0 (0%)
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
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 8cx Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx
8C 8T @ 2.84 GHz
0 (0%)
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
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 8cx Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx
8C 8T @ 2.84 GHz
0 (0%)
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
4C 8T @ 2.80 GHz
4359 (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 8cx Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx
8C 8T @ 2.84 GHz
0 (0%)
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
1278 (100%)

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 8cx Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx
8C 8T @ 2.84 GHz
0 (0%)
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
4C 8T @ 2.80 GHz
4365 (100%)

AI performance (NPU)

The performance values of the processor's AI unit. The isolated NPU performance is given here, the total AI performance (NPU+CPU+iGPU) can be higher.

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 8cx Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx
8C 8T @ 2.84 GHz
3 (100%)
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
4C 8T @ 2.40 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
Lenovo Flex 5G
Lenovo Yoga C 5G
Samsung Galaxy Book S
Valve Steam Deck

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