Snapdragon 820 & Exynos 8890

[lopri]

.. are now official.

First up, the Snapdragon 820 a.k.a. MSM8996

https://www.qualcomm.com/products/snapdragon/processors/820

CPU
Up to 2.2 GHz quad-core Qualcomm® Kryo™ CPU
64-bit

GPU
Adreno 530 GPU

Modem
X12 LTE

• LTE Advanced 3x20MHz Carrier Aggregation in the downlink, 2x20 MHZ in the uplink
• Cat 12/13 speeds up to 600 Mbps down/150 Mbps up
• Global Mode

RF360 support

Video/Audio
1080p and 4K Ultra HD capture, playback, and display
4K capture and playback with H.264 (AVC) and H.265 (HEVC)

Camera
Up to 28 MP
2x Spectra Camera ISP

Display
4K native and 4K external displays
Ultra HD on-device display concurrent with Ultra HD output to HDTV

X12 LTE offers 3x faster peak upload speeds and 33% faster peak download speeds compared to those of X10 LTE.

The new Qualcomm® Kryo™ CPU has 2x performance and efficiency when compared to the CPU of Snapdragon 810. The new Qualcomm® Hexagon™ 680 DSP also brings significant improvement to performance and battery life.

The Qualcomm® Adreno™ 530 GPU offers 40% improvement to graphics performance, compute capabilities, and power usage when compared to Adreno 430.

14-bit Qualcomm® Spectra™ camera Image Signal Processor (ISP) supports the capture of up to 28 megapixels.

 

[lopri]

And now Samsung's response is here: The Exynos 8890 a.k.a. M1 or "Mongoose"

Samsung Announces Exynos 8890 with Cat.12/13 Modem and Custom CPU

http://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/insights/news/24421

The Exynos 8 Octa is Samsung’s first application processor to include the company’s initial premium custom CPU cores based on 64-bit ARMv8 architecture providing over 30 percent improvement in performance and 10 percent in power efficiency compared to the Exynos 7 Octa. This chip also supports enhanced heterogeneous multi-processing for efficient usage of the eight cores, four custom and four ARM® Cortex®-A53, to deliver the highest performance and power efficiency in its class.

 

[lopri]

Well, that was quick. (my search, that is)

https://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/search?q=msm8996

Looks like a bunch of test runs were conducted on Nov. 4th and Oct. 16th. Scores are hugely different and there is a clear pattern emerging other than the dates.

Clock speed: 1593 MHz (Oct. 16th) -> 1459 MHz (Nov. 4th)
OS: 32-bit (Oct. 16th) -> 64-bit (Nov. 4th)

Comparison: https://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/compare/3838920?baseline=4071628

Odd memory behavior on 64-bit which appears to be causing a bottleneck. Assuming that will be fixed + 64-bit bonus, it looks quite promising.

 

[ChronoReverse]

Interesting that they choose a 2+2 approach

 

[TechGod123]

Interesting that they choose a 2+2 approach

I don't think its big.LITTLE

 

[poofyhairguy]

UFS 2.0, HEVC, and a new quad core design? Yes please.

 

[Thanatosis]

UFS is inferior to the PCIe solution used in the iphone 6s, I hope they go Apple's route in the same manner they went with a big core design. I bet it pays off.

 

[Andrei.]

I don't think its big.LITTLE

Well it pretty much is.

 

[lopri]

AT reports:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9778/qualcomm-snapdragon-820-experience-hmp-kryo-and-demos

It is a custom 2+2 configuration. I am curious if this acts more like a dual-core or a quad-core. One might say (cynically, in my view) the 65% power consumption in comparison to S801 is purely a result from 28nm -> 14nm transition, but without more information it is tough to make any prediction at this point.

Qualcomm's official product brochure (PDF): https://www.qualcomm.com/documents/snapdragon-820-processor-product-brief

It is built on 14nm LPP process, which is more advanced manufacturing process than the one used by Exynos 7420 (14nm LPE).

 

[lopri]

A new 64-bit run just popped up today.

Xiaomi Gemini

ST: 2140
MT: 4762

Wozers!

Edit: Upon a quick glance, I see a few revisions.

Oct. 16th: ARM implementer 81 architecture 8 variant 1 part 517 revision 0
Nov. 4th: ARM implementer 81 architecture 8 variant 0 part 577 revision 1
Today: ARM implementer 81 architecture 8 variant 1 part 517 revision 1

So the one tested today appears to be a revised version of the chip that was tested on Oct. 16th. It also appears to run full-steam on 64-bit, recording a higher score. Very nice.

 

[TechGod123]

A new 64-bit run just popped up today.

Xiaomi Gemini

ST: 2140
MT: 4762

Wozers!

Edit: Upon a quick glance, I see a few revisions.

Oct. 16th: ARM implementer 81 architecture 8 variant 1 part 517 revision 0
Nov. 4th: ARM implementer 81 architecture 8 variant 0 part 577 revision 1
Today: ARM implementer 81 architecture 8 variant 1 part 517 revision 1

So the one tested today appears to be a revised version of the chip that was tested on Oct. 16th. It also appears to run full-steam on 64-bit, recording a higher score. Very nice.

Isn't that single core similar to the A9?

 

[lopri]

Close enough. A9's ST score is 2500+.

(Of course we need to consider clock speeds, but still)

 

[TechGod123]

Close enough. A9's ST score is 2500+.

(Of course we need to consider clock speeds, but still)

Whoa. Didn't realise how much of a beast the A9 is.

 

[lopri]

A9 is a beast, yes. It looks like the S820 is shaping up to be a beast as well.

 

[ChronoReverse]

2100+ ST at 1.6GHz is pretty promising assuming the Geekbench readout is correct. Huh, 2.2GHz is the speed of the fast cores? I wonder what the details are.

Especially considering there are some Android inefficiencies to go along with it. Interesting that the MT scaling is only a bit over 2x though, Krait quad cores usually get about 3x so I guess the lower power pair does have some performance penalties.

 

[lopri]

Well.. if it scores 2140 @1.6 GHz then this chip would be wiping the floor with everything else (including SkyLake) on the market.. heh. GB reports LITTLE core frequencies, so I am assuming the big cores are running at higher frequency. No assumption necessary, it is 2.2 GHz.

P.S. Remember that GB scores do not scale linearly with core counts for big.LITTLE chips.

 

[Dannar26]

This past year has left a bitter taste in my mouth. I'll need to see this chip in action before I allow myself to get excited.

810 and 808 were huge letdowns in 2015. Hopefully there will be a choice outside of Apple and Samsung this year.

 

[ThisIsChrisKim]

Well.. if it scores 2140 @1.6 GHz then this chip would be wiping the floor with everything else (including SkyLake) on the market.. heh. GB reports LITTLE core frequencies, so I am assuming the big cores are running at higher frequency. No assumption necessary, it is 2.2 GHz.

P.S. Remember that GB scores do not scale linearly with core counts for big.LITTLE chips.

It's also important to remember that GB scores across platforms (x86/x64 vs ARM) are not directly comparable. So while the scores from the A9 may look like they're competitive with Skylake, the results aren't directly comparable.

 

[lopri]

That is true but the the landscape is changing rapidly. I used to give x86_x64 blanket bonus for all the baggages it carries and its capability of doing heavy lifting, but that gap is shrinking fast, at least on consumer/end-user side. We may soon see true cross-platform software that will allow a real comparison on different platforms by executing identical workloads. I do not think x86_x64 will fare very well.

Back onto the S820: There is one more GB run uploaded after I posted the scores in my previous post yesterday. Even higher scores were recorded.

https://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/4159755

ST: 2162
MT: 5116

Its memory controller performs monstrously, beating both the 7420 and the A9. It downright doubles the former's scores on memory.

v. Exynos 7420
v. Apple A9

 

[StrangerGuy]

That is true but the the landscape is changing rapidly. I used to give x86_x64 blanket bonus for all the baggages it carries and its capability of doing heavy lifting, but that gap is shrinking fast, at least on consumer/end-user side. We may soon see true cross-platform software that will allow a real comparison on different platforms by executing identical workloads. I do not think x86_x64 will fare very well.

Back onto the S820: There is one more GB run uploaded after I posted the scores in my previous post yesterday. Even higher scores were recorded.

https://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/4159755

ST: 2162
MT: 5116

Its memory controller performs monstrously, beating both the 7420 and the A9. It downright doubles the former's scores on memory.

v. Exynos 7420
v. Apple A9

2162 @ 2.2GHz, the IPC is still only at Exynos 7420 level despite much better memory scores. I got a feeling the 820 (and the new Exynos 8890) is going to score even higher.

2016 is shaping to be a golden age of ARM.

 

[poofyhairguy]

2016 is shaping to be a golden age of ARM.

And Android. 6.0 was a very nice update, the best since KitKat.

 

[lopri]

2162 @ 2.2GHz, the IPC is still only at Exynos 7420 level despite much better memory scores. I got a feeling the 820 (and the new Exynos 8890) is going to score even higher.

I think you meant to say something different?

Edit: I mean, the S820's IPC based on GB scores is a good bit higher than that of the 7420.

Overall
7420: 1496/2100 = 0.71 GBP/MHz (Geekbench Point per MHz )
S820: 2162/2200 = 0.98 GBP/MHz

Integer
7420: 1649/2100 = 0.78 GBP/MHz
S820: 1873/2200 = 0.85 GBP/MHz

Floating Point
7420: 1258/2100 = 0.60 GBP/MHz
S820: 1953/2200 = 0.88 GBP/MHz

And the 820's insane memory performance will translate to awesome graphics performance.

 

[StrangerGuy]

I think you meant to say something different?

Edit: I mean, the S820's IPC per GB is a good bit higher than that of the 7420.

Overall
7420: 1496/2100 = 0.71 GBP/MHz (Geekbench Point per MHz )
S820: 2162/2200 = 0.98 GBP/MHz

Integer
7420: 1649/2100 = 0.78 GBP/MHz
S820: 1873/2200 = 0.85 GBP/MHz

Floating Point
7420: 1258/2100 = 0.60 GBP/MHz
S820: 1953/2200 = 0.88 GBP/MHz

And the 820's insane memory performance will translate to awesome graphics performance.

Oh I thought the 7420 was 1.5GHz tops. Turns out that was only for the A53 cores.

BTW Mali-T880MP12 for the Exynos 8890? Holy sheet.

 

[lopri]

v. S810 for fun. ^^

According to Wiki the S820 sports LPDDR4-1866. That is only a marginal bump compared to LPDDR4-1600 its predecessor used. The progress Qualcomm made on memory controller is nothing short of amazing.

Oh and I just saw the news about the Exynos 8890. Samsung's first custom cores.. hmm.. What a change of event. Qualcomm banged its head against wall trying to make ARM's big cores work, which Samsung has been doing for years. Now the table has turned and it is Samsung's turn to navigate an uncharted territory (which is Qualcomm's turf). Exciting times, indeed. I changed the thread title to accommodate the 8890. (hat-tips to StrangerGuy)

 

[GTRagnarok]

I'm thinking Samsung is preparing for 4K displays with that beefy GPU.