Way back in 2024, Qualcomm made bold claims about the seamless performance of x86 Windows games on its Arm chipsets. However, those assertions may have been a touch optimistic. Fast forward to this week, and the company is unveiling the Snapdragon Control Panel alongside a suite of updates, signaling a promising shift for owners of Snapdragon X Elite laptops.
Enhancements in Software and Performance
In conjunction with the introduction of faster new chipsets, Qualcomm has rolled out several quality-of-life improvements on the software front. At the heart of these enhancements is the Snapdragon Control Panel, designed to compete with the GPU tools offered by NVIDIA and AMD. This new software brings familiar functionalities such as:
- Automatic game detection
- Per-game settings
- Adreno GPU driver updates
Qualcomm has also reported that its driver updates have resolved bugs and enhanced performance for over 100 games since last year, a significant step forward for gaming enthusiasts.
Moreover, the x86 emulation layer has received notable upgrades. Microsoft’s Prism Emulator now supports Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) x86 emulation on Qualcomm chips. Looking ahead, the more advanced AVX2 will be natively supported on the upcoming Snapdragon X2 Elite laptops, with further details expected at CES. Current Snapdragon X Series devices will also receive this update in the coming weeks.
Another hurdle that Qualcomm faced last year was the kernel-level anti-cheat technology, which rendered certain multiplayer games unplayable on its devices. However, in this week’s announcements, Qualcomm proudly highlighted the availability of Fortnite, made possible through Epic Online Services Anti-Cheat support. The company is actively collaborating with leading anti-cheat providers, including Tencent and Roblox, to broaden multiplayer support across its platforms.
