Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 215

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) CPU1 vs CPU2 Qualcomm Snapdragon 215
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Qualcomm Snapdragon 215

CPU comparison

In this CPU comparison, we compare the Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 215 and use benchmarks to check which processor is faster.

We compare the Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) 4 core processor released in Q4/2023 with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 215 which has 4 CPU cores and was introduced in Q3/2019.
AMD Ryzen 5 (86) Family Qualcomm Snapdragon (102)
AMD Sephiroth (Steam Deck Refresh 2023) (1) CPU group Qualcomm Snapdragon QM215 (1)
4 Generation 3
Sephiroth (Zen 2) Architecture Cortex-A53
Mobile Segment Mobile
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Predecessor --
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) is a 4 core processor with a clock frequency of 2.40 GHz (3.50 GHz). The processor can compute 8 threads at the same time. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 215 clocks with 1.30 GHz, has 4 CPU cores and can calculate 4 threads in parallel.

Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 215
4 Cores 4
8 Threads 4
normal Core architecture normal
Yes Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
2.40 GHz Frequency 1.30 GHz
3.50 GHz Turbo Frequency (1 Core) --
2.80 GHz Turbo Frequency (All Cores) --

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.

Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 215
-- AI hardware Qualcomm AI engine
-- AI specifications Hexagon

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.

AMD Custom Radeon Graphics (Steam Deck) GPU Qualcomm Adreno 308
1.00 GHz GPU frequency 0.50 GHz
1.60 GHz GPU (Turbo) 0.50 GHz
-- GPU Generation 3
7 nm Technology 28 nm
2 Max. displays 0
8 Compute units --
512 Shader 24
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
8 GB Max. GPU Memory --
12 DirectX Version 11

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.

AMD Custom Radeon Graphics (Steam Deck) GPU Qualcomm Adreno 308
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) Decode
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) No
Decode / Encode Codec h264 Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec VP9 No
Decode / Encode Codec VP8 No
No Codec AV1 No
Decode / Encode Codec AVC No
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 Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh), while the Qualcomm Snapdragon 215 supports a maximum of 3 GB of memory with a maximum memory bandwidth of 4.3 GB/s enabled.

Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 215
LPDDR5-6400 Memory LPDDR3-1066
16 GB Max. Memory 3 GB
4 (Quad Channel) Memory channels 1 (Single Channel)
102.4 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 4.3 GB/s
No ECC No
2.00 MB L2 Cache --
4.00 MB L3 Cache --
3.0 PCIe version --
8 PCIe lanes --
7.9 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) has a TDP of 15 W. The TDP of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 215 is --. System integrators use the TDP of the processor as a guide when dimensioning the cooling solution.

Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 215
15 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) --
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
4 W TDP down --
100 °C Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) has 6.00 MB cache and is manufactured in 6 nm. The cache of Qualcomm Snapdragon 215 is at 0.00 MB. The processor is manufactured in 28 nm.

Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 215
6 nm Technology 28 nm
Monolithic Chip design Chiplet
x86-64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) Armv8-A (64 bit)
SSE4a, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, FMA3 ISA extensions --
FF3 Socket --
AMD-V, SVM Virtualization None
Yes AES-NI No
SteamOS (Arch Linux) Operating systems Android
Q4/2023 Release date Q3/2019
-- Release price --
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Rate these processors

Here you can rate the Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 4.2 stars (6 ratings). Rate now:
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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.
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
AMD Custom Radeon Graphics (Steam Deck) @ 1.60 GHz
1638 (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 215 Qualcomm Snapdragon 215
Qualcomm Adreno 308 @ 0.50 GHz
24 (1%)

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.
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
57 (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 215 Qualcomm Snapdragon 215
4C 4T @ 1.30 GHz
0 (0%)

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.
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
275 (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 215 Qualcomm Snapdragon 215
4C 4T @ 1.30 GHz
0 (0%)

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.
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
975 (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 215 Qualcomm Snapdragon 215
4C 4T @ 1.30 GHz
0 (0%)

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.
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 2.80 GHz
4359 (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 215 Qualcomm Snapdragon 215
4C 4T @ 1.30 GHz
0 (0%)

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.
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
1296 (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 215 Qualcomm Snapdragon 215
4C 4T @ 1.30 GHz
0 (0%)

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.
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 2.80 GHz
4510 (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 215 Qualcomm Snapdragon 215
4C 4T @ 1.30 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Qualcomm Snapdragon 215
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Unknown

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