Snapdragon X2 Elite sees significant LLM and rendering performance drops after Adreno driver update
The promise of high-performance local AI is a cornerstone of the new Arm-based Windows ecosystem, but a recent driver update has severely undermined that experience for some Snapdragon X2 Elite users. Reports have surfaced indicating that a specific Adreno GPU driver update has caused massive performance regressions in both large language model (LLM) text generation and professional video rendering.
The culprit appears to be Adreno driver version 32.0.181.0. According to users on Reddit, updating to this version has led to steep performance drops, with some local AI workloads slowing down by as much as 87 percent. These regressions were highlighted by a Microsoft Surface Laptop 8th Edition owner who observed a sharp decline in text generation speeds when using llama.cpp’s OpenCL backend.
AI and Rendering Regressions
The impact on LLM performance is particularly stark when looking at the Qwen3 model family. Testing on the Snapdragon X2 Elite with the Adreno X2-85 GPU showed the following drops in tokens per second after moving from driver 32.0.172.2 to 32.0.181.0:
- Qwen3-0.6B: 98.1 to 12.8
- Qwen3-4B: 29.5 to 9.0
- Qwen3-Coder-30B-A3B-Instruct: 26.8 to 5.9
Interestingly, this slowdown seems isolated to a specific software path. The user noted that CPU-based token generation and NPU results remained relatively stable, moving by only a few percent. Furthermore, the Qwen3-0.6B model maintained a steady 90 tokens per second when run through WebGPU, suggesting the regression is specific to Qualcomm’s OpenCL stack. Prompt processing for smaller models remained unchanged, though it fell by 73 percent on the 30B model.
This performance degradation extends beyond AI into creative workflows. An ASUS Zenbook A16 user reported that Adobe Premiere Pro rendering times increased approximately sixfold after the update. Specifically, a 7-minute 1080p video that previously rendered in 1 minute and 40 seconds now takes roughly 10 minutes. While this specific report lacked benchmark data, it echoes previous stability issues from early September where users reported that a different X2 driver caused Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, and llama.cpp to crash upon initializing OpenCL.
Hardware Potential vs. Software Stability
These software setbacks stand in contrast to the raw hardware capabilities of the Snapdragon X2 Elite. Recent reviews of the X2 Elite Extreme in ASUS and HP laptops demonstrate significant strengths in CPU and NPU tasks. In Cinebench 2026, the X2 Elite Extreme-powered Zenbook A16 has shown the ability to outperform other thin-and-light laptops and even some higher-power systems in multi-threaded workloads, particularly when running on battery. Similarly, the platform's 80 TOPs NPU has decimated competitors in quantized AI benchmarks.
The timing of these driver issues is critical, as the Snapdragon X2 Elite is poised for a wider market push. The chips are expected to debut in a variety of new Windows laptops at CES 2026, including several Lenovo models such as the Yoga Slim 7x and IdeaPad 5x series. Qualcomm has previously claimed that the second-generation chips offer CPU performance roughly 75 percent faster than their predecessors, with GPU performance per watt more than doubling.
The discrepancy between the hardware's theoretical power and the current driver instability highlights a precarious moment for the platform. Because local AI is a primary selling point for these Arm-based laptops, any regression in the OpenCL stack directly impacts the perceived value of the hardware. The issue has been reported to the Qualcomm Developers Discord, and until a hotfix is issued, users relying on OpenCL-based AI or GPU rendering are advised to remain on driver version 32.0.172.2.
