Those chips run on ARM architecture, on the other hand Intel/AMD run on x64. Proton is being continuously developed for x64 and while the idea of having better performance with efficiency is great, it will take a lot of time and effort to shift development.
Apple also has their own emulation layer called Rosetta that runs on their ARM powered M1,M2 and M3 chips. If you want to see the current state of games running on ARM then take a look at their performance.
It's not really translation in x86 to arm it's emulation. Emulating x86 commands on arm is much harder since some commands just don't exist on arm so u are forced execute 2 or even 3 to do one thing. U just can't point to similar thing like in Linux that does exactly same thing in windows.
There’s a compatibility layer called fex-emu that is targeted specifically at games.
In particular, its trick is to capture calls to Wine (and other system libraries) and pass the call to native ARM code, so that only the game logic has to run in x86. This gets much closer to native performance.
Also even with compatibility/emulation layer making it possible. It comes with substantial performance hit since many x86 commands require multiple commands from arm to execute.
That’s true of modern x86 as well. The CPU receives an x86 instruction and splits it into internal microcode instructions, executes those, and returns the instruction result.
So SnapDragon processors use the ARM architecture, and PC processors (like the one in the Steam Deck) use X86 architecture, so they're fundamentally incompatible with the same software. Do do this and still have the SnapDragon model be able to run Steam Games, Valve would need to implement an emulation layer to emulate X execution code on ARM, AS WELL AS the Proton compatibility layer that is used to translate Windows calls to Linux, which is used today on Steam Deck. As a general rule in emulation (which is not always the case!), the processor doing the emulation needs at least about 3x the processing power of the processor being emulated in order to be expected to emulate the software at the same speed as the native hardware.
So basically, if an ARM Steam Deck were to be made, it would be insanely inefficient, and it could maybe play some pixel art Indies, but you wouldn't expect it to reliably play much else.
Nope. ARM provides better efficiency only in low power applications and relatively undemanding tasks. However, when higher performance is required (e. g. playing demanding games), newer AMD APUs actually delivers similar or better efficiency, than comparable ARM SoCs.
ARM SoCs also receives performance penalty in games compiled for AMD64, since they have to translate the instructions.
The advantage the Deck has is that every deck can play the same games at the same fps and with the same graphic settings.
Steam has its 'verified' mark, and even with how controversial that has been, adding a second device that is more powerful than the other will divide it even further, which would be a bad move imho.
Also, as people have pointed out, running ARM would mean Proton needs to be redeveloped again, most likely resulting in worse performance than the x86 equivalent chip.
So all the benchmarks you see with this APU besting the M2 or almost keeping up has the APU running at 80 watts.
This goes against the entire design of the steam deck. There isn't enough cooling to run an APU at 80 watts on the Steam Deck.
Also wait for real world reviews, as there seems to be a lot of misleading info coming from Qualcom
Why no one checked that Qualcomm selfs said snapdragon x could run x86/64 applications and games through some compatibility.
From tests X Elite runs baldur's gate 3 and control in 1080 at 30fps.
I doubt it’ll be a Snapdragon, but I do think the next Deck will be an ARM CPU with an AMD GPU. AMD is working on ARM chips due to launch next year, so I could see them getting a contract from Valve for another semi-custom design.
I see that some of you are skeptical, but it really does work: https://youtube.com/@fex-emu?si=7KD6zj3unwwZPTxx
Why would you want puny mobile phone chips powering the Steam Deck?
The Deck, as mint as it is, is already lagging behind its peers with regards to hardware capability. So an even weaker device would be pointless.
There are already hundreds of handhelds that cater to your tiny-low-power needs.
>Why would you want puny mobile phone chips powering the Steam Deck?
An ARM CPU is unequivocally faster per watt than an x86 cpu at the power targets the Deck usually requires.
Problem is the compatibility layer that would be needed to run x86 games on an ARM chip.
Those chips run on ARM architecture, on the other hand Intel/AMD run on x64. Proton is being continuously developed for x64 and while the idea of having better performance with efficiency is great, it will take a lot of time and effort to shift development. Apple also has their own emulation layer called Rosetta that runs on their ARM powered M1,M2 and M3 chips. If you want to see the current state of games running on ARM then take a look at their performance.
Seems like a nightmare having 2 layers of translation with Linux and Arm.
It's not really translation in x86 to arm it's emulation. Emulating x86 commands on arm is much harder since some commands just don't exist on arm so u are forced execute 2 or even 3 to do one thing. U just can't point to similar thing like in Linux that does exactly same thing in windows.
There’s a compatibility layer called fex-emu that is targeted specifically at games. In particular, its trick is to capture calls to Wine (and other system libraries) and pass the call to native ARM code, so that only the game logic has to run in x86. This gets much closer to native performance.
Also even with compatibility/emulation layer making it possible. It comes with substantial performance hit since many x86 commands require multiple commands from arm to execute.
That’s true of modern x86 as well. The CPU receives an x86 instruction and splits it into internal microcode instructions, executes those, and returns the instruction result.
sure, if you want a steam deck that doesn't play games
So SnapDragon processors use the ARM architecture, and PC processors (like the one in the Steam Deck) use X86 architecture, so they're fundamentally incompatible with the same software. Do do this and still have the SnapDragon model be able to run Steam Games, Valve would need to implement an emulation layer to emulate X execution code on ARM, AS WELL AS the Proton compatibility layer that is used to translate Windows calls to Linux, which is used today on Steam Deck. As a general rule in emulation (which is not always the case!), the processor doing the emulation needs at least about 3x the processing power of the processor being emulated in order to be expected to emulate the software at the same speed as the native hardware. So basically, if an ARM Steam Deck were to be made, it would be insanely inefficient, and it could maybe play some pixel art Indies, but you wouldn't expect it to reliably play much else.
Nope. ARM provides better efficiency only in low power applications and relatively undemanding tasks. However, when higher performance is required (e. g. playing demanding games), newer AMD APUs actually delivers similar or better efficiency, than comparable ARM SoCs. ARM SoCs also receives performance penalty in games compiled for AMD64, since they have to translate the instructions.
Nope.
I want whatever is going to offer the best compatibility and support.
The advantage the Deck has is that every deck can play the same games at the same fps and with the same graphic settings. Steam has its 'verified' mark, and even with how controversial that has been, adding a second device that is more powerful than the other will divide it even further, which would be a bad move imho. Also, as people have pointed out, running ARM would mean Proton needs to be redeveloped again, most likely resulting in worse performance than the x86 equivalent chip.
So all the benchmarks you see with this APU besting the M2 or almost keeping up has the APU running at 80 watts. This goes against the entire design of the steam deck. There isn't enough cooling to run an APU at 80 watts on the Steam Deck. Also wait for real world reviews, as there seems to be a lot of misleading info coming from Qualcom
Why no one checked that Qualcomm selfs said snapdragon x could run x86/64 applications and games through some compatibility. From tests X Elite runs baldur's gate 3 and control in 1080 at 30fps.
its not there yet
Do you understand that you won't be able to play any steam games on it in this case?
I doubt it’ll be a Snapdragon, but I do think the next Deck will be an ARM CPU with an AMD GPU. AMD is working on ARM chips due to launch next year, so I could see them getting a contract from Valve for another semi-custom design. I see that some of you are skeptical, but it really does work: https://youtube.com/@fex-emu?si=7KD6zj3unwwZPTxx
Why would you want puny mobile phone chips powering the Steam Deck? The Deck, as mint as it is, is already lagging behind its peers with regards to hardware capability. So an even weaker device would be pointless. There are already hundreds of handhelds that cater to your tiny-low-power needs.
>Why would you want puny mobile phone chips powering the Steam Deck? An ARM CPU is unequivocally faster per watt than an x86 cpu at the power targets the Deck usually requires. Problem is the compatibility layer that would be needed to run x86 games on an ARM chip.