Microsoft-approved website shows how well Windows games run on Snapdragon X series ARM processors

[Redaktion]

Microsoft has made a grand reveal of laptops running on ARM chips. While the company has promised a lot of improvements, the question of how well Windows games run on the Qualcomm Snapdragon X series processors wasn't quite delved deep into. Well, for those looking for info on it, there's the website WorksOnWoA.com, which has already 1,481 titles tested.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Microsoft-approved-website-shows-how-well-Windows-games-run-on-Snapdragon-X-series-ARM-processors.840117.0.html

[Hotz]

Almost sounds like it uses the same kind of Emulator to run games as Linux...

[Jakubs]

Wine is not an emulator

[Im not steve]

What make windows slower compared to linux is that windows is a bloated OS.

Microsoft need to make windows modular as linux does so users cam install only what they needed.

[RobertJasiek]

windows is a bloated OS.

Not all versions of Windows have bloatware and Index / Windows Search but current consumer versions have some. That does not mean that Windows is bloated but it means that the out-of-box experience is. Spend an hour for settings and the bloatware is gone. If you do not know which settings, spend a day informing yourself. OEMs may include crapware, which needs extra hours for deinstallation or deactivation.

So not Windows per se is bloated but typical initial installations need time and effort for debloating.

Once bloat- and crapwares are tamed, Windows is fast. As fast as XP or Windows 7.

While this is bad for sure, do not misinform people by exaggerating description!

[Neenyah]

windows is a bloated OS.

Not all versions of Windows have bloatware and Index / Windows Search but current consumer versions have some. That does not mean that Windows is bloated but it means that the out-of-box experience is. Spend an hour for settings and the bloatware is gone.

...

Once bloat- and crapwares are tamed, Windows is fast. As fast as XP or Windows 7.

While this is bad for sure, do not misinform people by exaggerating description!

This article is about the upcoming Snapdragon SoCs; the X Elite (and Plus) ARM chips work only with Windows 11 (and with Linux) so the fact that older Windows versions aren't much bloated is of not much help in this case here.

All Windows 11 options are extremely bloated even if you debloat everything down to nothing, even Tiny11 (which is spyware) is bloated more than Windows 10 Home stock variant. And then with 24H2 there is even more bloat coming, including implemented malware straight from Microsoft themselves:

https://x.com/ripcache/status/1792972157464748243

https://www.techradar.com/computing/windows/microsoft-reveals-ai-powered-recall-feature-to-transform-windows-11s-searchability-while-confirming-hardware-requirements

"So, how does Recall work?

In the past we've seen reports of a rumored feature, often referred to as 'AI Explorer,' that would enable you to search through your past activity on your PC. It looks like this has manifested as the Recall feature, and it'll be privy to all the activity on your PC including what apps you use, how you use those apps, and what you do in them (for example, conversations in WhatsApp). Recall will record all of this activity going forward, saving snapshots of it in your PC's local storage."

So yes, it is extremely bloated and it will be bloated even more like it or not.

[RobertJasiek]

Windows 11 [is] extremely bloated even if you debloat everything down to nothing

IYO, what bloat remains after your (insufficient?) debloating efforts?

Recall [...] 'AI Explorer,' [...] will be bloated even more like it or not.

We need to await whether this can be deactivated by deactivating one or several Windows Services, group policy object settings or GUI settings. So far, nobody could say anything about such, if any, possibilities.

[Neenyah]

Just checked the site, for some of the games I actively play. People have a very loose definition of "perfect".

For example:

• Age of Empires 2 DE runs at 24.82 fps (need 45 minimum)
• Counter Strike 2 runs at 75 fps (need 120 minimum)

Both are clearly not playable at that level of performance, especially not Counter Strike 2 where frame timings are horrendous and average od 75 is around 20 fps 1% lows. There is more but I'm lazy to keep listing because it's all 20-50 fps nonsense categorized as "perfect". Right...

[Hotz]

Also... Half-Life 2 -> Unplayable.

which otherwise runs on every Linux system, and potato computers.


Haven't looked up anything else, but these many incompatibilities are exactly the reason why I wouldn't buy a Qualcomm PC now. This surely needs to mature first.

[Neenyah]

IYO, what bloat remains after your (insufficient?) debloating efforts?

The fact that you have to do various kinds of workarounds to use local account on installation ([email protected] still works in 24H2, tried it yesterday) is a forced bloat on its own. There is simply too much to list because everything not needed to operate is a bloat by definition. Tracking users' activities is a bloat; you can use ShutUp10++ and disable everything and W11 will still enable options on another update (literal bloat) so you have to disable them again just for some of them to still stay active (which you can verify with netstat -a and see what's calling where).

We need to await whether this can be deactivated by deactivating one or several Windows Services, group policy object settings or GUI settings. So far, nobody could say anything about such, if any, possibilities.

It can be turned off, it can't be removed so it stays there in the OS, thus again - literal definition of a bloat. And "bug" will happen sooner or later when it will activate itself on its own after a random update, similar to Apple's recent bug of restoring long-deleted photos on iPhones and iPads. "It's just a bug."

Haven't looked up anything else, but these many incompatibilities are exactly the reason why I wouldn't buy a Qualcomm PC now. This surely needs to mature first.

Yep, this. Or simply use Linux once the updated kernel is ready (and Qualcomm works on that). Until we see reviews this seems like a perfect Linux chip but far from perfect Windows chip, that alone says more about the OS than the chip though.

[Neenyah]

We need to await whether this can be deactivated by deactivating one or several Windows Services, group policy object settings or GUI settings. So far, nobody could say anything about such, if any, possibilities.

It can be turned off, it can't be removed so it stays there in the OS...

Ok, so about this - it can't be turned off at all: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/copilot-plus-pcs?r=1#faq2

It's possible to just turn off some parts of logging or temporarily pause logging, but it's always active. Try to debloat that.

[RobertJasiek]

ShutUp10++

If this is your level of configuration, you fail. One needs to configure without using softwares (other than scripts collecting what otherwise would be done manually). For starters, see

home.snafu.de/jasiek/Windows10Telemetry.html

Windows 11 needs (just) a few more settings, which I have not compiled on a webpage yet.

It can be turned off, it can't be removed so it stays there in the OS, thus again - literal definition of a bloat.

By that definition, indeed (for most things).

And "bug" will happen sooner or later when it will activate itself on its own after a random update,

Such bugs in Windows are rare but there have been exceptional intentional code changes:

- during some major updates when Windows changes its appended name, such as 23H2
- the task scheduler's top level tasks tend to be reactivated unasked

similar to Apple's recent bug of restoring long-deleted photos on iPhones and iPads.

I do not recall such a Windows bug for Windows Vista to 11. (There were the CPU bugs Meltdown, Spectre etc. though.)

[Ccds]

Some of your complaints are weird 60+fps is playable, even 30fps is fine for an fps game.

[RobertJasiek]

it can't be turned off at all: www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/copilot-plus-pcs?r=1#faq2

This page describes only one threat of impossible turn-off: "On devices that are not powered by a Snapdragon® X Series processor, installation of a Windows update will be required to run Recall."

This would mean that Recall might be deactivated whenever a Windows update is not being installed.

Even so, when forced on us, I will check whether Recall Windows Services can be deactivated permanently.

[Neenyah]

ShutUp10++

If this is your level of configuration, you fail. One needs to configure without using softwares (other than scripts collecting what otherwise would be done manually). For starters, see

home.snafu.de/jasiek/Windows10Telemetry.html

SU10++ does exactly that though, all at once instead of doing it manually 🤷�♂️ Why would you disable Windows Defender btw? The single most useful thing in Windows (both 10 and 11). With it disabled you have disabled most Windows Defender Firewall (that's the name, yes) settings including added outbound customizations. You also didn't block unicast response which is mandatory to do in (Windows Defender) Firewall (it's "yes" by default). Outbound connections go on block all, allow only necessary stuff. The rest is very good but I'm really not sure why are you against SU10++ when it literally does exactly the same thing except disabling Defender and tinkering around Firewall.

Such bugs in Windows are rare but there have been exceptional intentional code changes:

- during some major updates when Windows changes its appended name, such as 23H2
- the task scheduler's top level tasks tend to be reactivated unasked

They are rare but they happen. I mean Microsoft is still uncapable to fix KB5034441 in Windows 10 for 7 months at this point and if you want to manually fix it there's a high probability to brick your whole Win10 installation.

it can't be turned off at all: www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/copilot-plus-pcs?r=1#faq2

This page describes only one threat of impossible turn-off: "On devices that are not powered by a Snapdragon® X Series processor, installation of a Windows update will be required to run Recall."

Yes, this article is about Snapdragon Elite and Plus so I'm talking about - the Snapdragon Elite and Plus features 🤔 Recall is coming to ARM chips with 40+ TOPS.