Snapdragon 8 Elite Has Full Linux Support, Making It Easier To Run PC Games Through Emulation, GPU Side To Require Patches To Ensure Optimum Performance

Qualcomm officially announced the Snapdragon 8 Elite less than a week ago, and it did not take long for the Linux kernel team to post various patches for the chipset. While future patches are inbound that will cater to the GPU, it pretty much means that the SoC can run PC games with the use of emulation, since it might take a while for native titles to launch for the platform.

It will also be possible to run professional PC applications on devices featuring the Snapdragon 8 Elite thanks to ‘day one’ Linux support

The Director of Engineering at Qualcomm put out a post that was spotted by @Richard_Milier on X, showing that the Snapdragon 8 Elite will have the capability to run PC-emulated games without experience issues. Sadly, this means that there will be some performance left on the table, as there are only a handful of newer titles available on Android. It might also take a long while for Qualcomm to convince developers to put some effort into porting these games, so the best alternative for now is emulation.

A 3DMark Steel Nomad Light benchmark test has shown that the Snapdragon 8 Elite is more powerful than AMD’s Radeon 780M running in the ASUS ROG Ally, meaning that it is more than capable of running AAA games, albeit with a few visual settings reduced. Over on the X thread, it is speculated that the performance upgrades the Snapdragon 8 Elite flaunts can deliver certain possibilities, such as making a Linux UI with touch and pen support. This change will enable various mobile devices and tablets to support professional PC applications, something that is already being done on some iPad models.

@cozy_OSS @4k_isn it seems the 8 elite already has a full linux support on day one (which means the pc emulator won’t have issues on it) while for the GPU side, it seem turnip is working on some patches pic.twitter.com/3v2A2VpzIj

— RichardMiller (@Richard_Milier) October 26, 2024

While it is undoubtedly impressive to see how far Qualcomm has come, there are a significant number of changes required. The company has certainly done wonders on the hardware front when unveiling the Snapdragon 8 Elite, but the software area is yet to be fully explored. Hopefully we will hear some positive development on AAA games running on this platform and more.