Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 vs 7+ Gen 3: Which is best for gaming?

Modified Jun 30, 2024 06:08 GMT

Picture of Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 — Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 (Image via Qualcomm)

The Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 and the 7+ Gen 3 are two of the most powerful Android chipsets to date. From their core configuration, they appear to be cut-down variants of Qualcomm's flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, but there are enough differences to distinguish them from each other. However, they appear quite similar from a consumer point of view, which can be a bit confusing. The weird naming of these Snapdragon chips didn't help the situation either.

So, we are comparing the performance of the two processors in this article to tell you which is the best for gaming.

Note: Some aspects of this article are subjective and solely reflect the writer's opinions.

Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 vs 7+ Gen 3

Both Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 and 7+ Gen 3 are based on the ARM architecture and are designed by Qualcomm to be great mobile chipsets. But before we begin comparing the two, let's look at their specs first.

Specs comparison

Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 (Image via Qualcomm)

Here are the specs of Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 and 7+ Gen 3:

Specifications	Snapdragon 8s Gen 3	Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3
Core architecture	1x 3 GHz – Cortex-X4 4x 2.8 GHz – Cortex-A720 3x 2 GHz – Cortex-A520	1x 2.8 GHz – Cortex-X4 4x 2.6 GHz – Cortex-A720 3x 1.9 GHz – Cortex-A520
Core count	8	8
Max clock speed	3 GHz	2.8 GHz
L2 and L3 cache	1MB and 8MB	--
RAM support	LPDDR5X-4200	LPDDR5X-4200
GPU	Adreno 735	Adreno 732
GPU clock speed	1100 MHz	950 MHz
GPU shader count	768	768
Manufacturing process	TSMC 4nm	TSMC 4nm
TDP	6W	5.5W

As you can see, the two chipsets are similar to each other, including their core configuration. The differences lie in the CPU core clock speeds and the GPU clock speed, which can affect gaming performance tremendously. The Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is the one with the higher clocks.

Performance benchmarks

The specs can be a great judge of general performance estimates, but they cannot judge real-world performance differences. So, let's put the specs away and check out some actual benchmarks:

Benchmarks	Snapdragon 8s Gen 3	Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 3
GeekBench 6 (Single-core)	2019	1913
GeekBench 6 (Multi-core)	5570	5098
AnTuTu 10	1487526	1403474

The Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is 6% and 9% faster than the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 in CPU single-core and multi-core benchmarks. Even in the AnTuTu benchmark, the former is around 6% faster.

As we mentioned, the CPU core configuration is quite similar and is probably the reason why the difference is so low.

Gaming performance benchmarks

Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 supports ray tracing (Image via Qualcomm)

It's time we check the gaming performance difference between the two chipsets. For this, we will be relying on the 3DMark Wild Life benchmarking tool. It renders 3D scenes to see how the GPU inside the two processors perform and which can deliver the best results. Here's how the benchmark runs on Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 and 7+ Gen 3:

3DMark Wild Life Performance benchmark	Snapdragon 8s Gen 3	Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3
Score	11802	10511
FPS	72 FPS	62 FPS

The former chip manages to score 72 FPS in this benchmark, which is around 16% higher than the latter. The Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 has a 150 MHz higher GPU clock and is probably why it scored higher than the other.

Final verdict on Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 vs 7+ Gen 3

The verdict is clear. The Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is the best for gaming out of the two. It scores higher in both CPU and GPU benchmarks, which surprised me. I was expecting the gaming performance to be much closer since they are so similar, but it was quite significant.

It is around 16% faster, which makes it the best choice for mobile gamers at its position. The chip is found in phones such as the Motorola Edge 50 Ultra, which has a lot of fanfare due to its great performance.

Check out our other CPU comparisons:

Edited by Abu Amjad Khan