Quest Pro: Qualcomm XR2 up to 30 percent faster

Image: Meta

Meta’s new VR headset will be more powerful than Meta Quest 2, thanks to a modified XR2 chip.

The Snapdragon XR2 Gen 1, which is in practically every standalone VR headset, is several years old: Qualcomm introduced the chip in late 2019 and appeared in Meta Quest 2 in 2020. The Snapdragon XR2 is a derivative of the Snapdragon SoC for 865 smartphones. optimized for VR and AR, used in premium models of 2020 and therefore no longer updated.

According to hardware analyst Brad Lynch, Project Cambria (likely Quest Pro) will use a modified XR2 chip, which could also be used in the Meta Quest 3 next year. According to his source, the chip review will offer up to 30 percent more performancemainly thanks to a spatial separation of CPU and RAM.

Less waste heat, higher clock speed

CPU and RAM are typically overlapping, which reduces manufacturing costs but generates more waste heat. By separating the CPU and RAM, the manufacturer can clock the top chipLynch says.

The performance of a headphone chip is mainly limited by the generation of heat. Meta Quest 2’s XR2 is known to run at half load to avoid overheating. The Vive Focus 3 can access the full clock of the XR2 thanks to a more generous cooling solution, which results in up to 2.5 more CPUs. In return, you can hear the fan fully loaded and the headset is a bit heavier than the Meta Quest 2.

Extra power could go into resolution

Lynch says Meta could get even more performance out of the XR2 with better cooling. Quest firmware datamining has revealed that Project Cambria will get double fan.

According to Lynch, the combination of CPU and RAM separation, better cooling, and even faster RAM could provide a noticeable performance boost, which could be reflected, for example, in higher app resolutions.

These improvements would explain why Bloomberg expects a significantly higher CPU and graphics performance for Project Cambria.

Meta Quest 3 could still use the XR2

Lynch says the updated XR2 Gen 1 will appear first in Meta’s headphones and will likely be available for other manufacturers. He also speculates that Meta Quest 3 could receive the same chip and not an XR2 Gen 2 or similar.

This is suggested by the code name of the Quest 3 prototype: “Heureka865” refers to the Snapdragon 865 on which the XR2 Gen 1 is based. According to Lynch, the prototype uses a display that offers 30% more pixels than Meta Quest 2. This percentage would correspond to the performance gain of the modified XR2 Gen 1.

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