System Performance Cont'd

Now that we've gone over the more general purpose system benchmarks we can focus on new benchmarks that emphasize GPU performance much more strongly. For the most part we haven't had huge issues here like we've had with good CPU and general performance benchmarks, but it's important for us to keep our benchmarks up to date in terms of workload balance and overall performance.

3DMark Sling Shot 3.1 Extreme Unlimited - Overall

3DMark Sling Shot 3.1 Extreme Unlimited - Graphics

3DMark Sling Shot 3.1 Extreme Unlimited - Physics

One of our first new benchmarks designed to better test the GPU is 3DMark's Sling Shot ES 3.1 test, which is designed to test a GPU's performance when the application is either using OpenGL ES 3.1 or Metal. As one can see, the Snapdragon 820 and Exynos 8890 have basically comparable GPU performance in this test and in the physics test as well. Once again we're seeing how core count and clock speed are basically the primary determinants of performance in the physics test when the device isn't strongly limited by thermals. I wouldn't draw any real conclusions from this as generally game CPU code can extract ILP unlike what we're seeing in this test.

Basemark ES 3.1 / Metal

Basemark ES 3.1 / Metal Offscreen Test

Basemark ES 3.1 / Metal Onscreen Test

In this test we start to see that the Mali GPU in the Exynos 8890 and the PowerVR GPU in the A9 are providing a noticeable advantage over the Snapdragon 820's Adreno 530 to a noticeable extent.

GFXBench 4.0 Car Chase (On screen)

GFXBench 4.0 Car Chase (Off screen 1080p)

GFXBench 3.1 Manhattan ES 3.1 (Onscreen)

GFXBench 3.1 Manhattan ES 3.1 (Offscreen)

GFXBench 3.0 Manhattan (Onscreen)

GFXBench 3.0 Manhattan (Offscreen)

With GFXBench we can see that in Car Chase and Manhattan the Adreno 530 actually manages to pull away. However, because we have basically zero architecture disclosure on the Adreno 530 there's really no way for us to explain what's going on here and why. The reasons for the difference in performance could be related to drivers or architecture or architecture implementation and in the absence of information it's probably best to avoid making blind guesses. Regardless of these details, the Snapdragon 820's GPU should be more than enough for playing the latest games, but unless you use Samsung's automatic game optimizer system to set render resolution to 1080p it won't do as well as the iPhone 6s but given that most Android games target a much lower spec level it's likely that you won't have any problems given that the Adreno 530 is on the bleeding edge for Android SoCs.

System Performance Revisited Camera Architecture and UX
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  • mrochester - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    The problem with this assessment is that it means there's not a single tech website out there that isn't biased towards Apple, as you put it. I've actually seen Android Authority being accused of being biased towards Apple. My conclusion based on what I've witnessed is that some Android users just have a massive inferiority complex.
  • mrochester - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/tonybradley/2014/09/23...
  • retrospooty - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Your premise is nullified by pointing out the difference between "some" and "all". The fact that some people are spastic does not mean all are. I am simply pointing out the difference between the first 15 years at Anandtech and the past few years.
  • KoolAidMan1 - Saturday, July 9, 2016 - link

    Yup, Android is their god.
  • benzosaurus - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    That's mostly just an artifact of how Apple releases things— most other vendors let details about new products come out in stages over a couple weeks, whereas Apple goes from "we can neither confirm or deny that product even exists" to "here, get your grubby paws on one" in about two hours. I suspect the total number of articles is similar.
  • retrospooty - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    You must have been asleep the past 3-4 years
  • Psyside - Saturday, July 23, 2016 - link

    Please explain the absence of comparasion of the S7 to the iPhone in the charging section, while there is a negative "the iphone is clearly better" in every other section?

    Put off your glasses.
  • Frenetic Pony - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    The i-phone has almost the exact same camera module. I'm so glad you, oh mighty lord of vision that can see things others can't and ignored that all data points and etc. are here to correct everyone. Or maybe you and everyone else on the internet could drop the retarded tribalism. Could replace 99% of internet commentary with caveman grunts and "uhhh... duuuuhhhhh... Team A better. Team B dumbwit! Derrrrr...."
  • Psyside - Saturday, July 23, 2016 - link

    If anyone is having any doubts about the huge BIAS, you might missed the fast charging page.

    While, there is an comparasion and downplaying of the S7 in every way imaginable and ALWAYS compared to the iPhone 6s + (which is not the phone to be compared to, it should be the S7 Edge) the insane bias is clearly showed in the charging part, when there is NO SINGLE comparasion with the iphone, because its 2x worst in charging times, and would lose to every single android phone as well, this approve the clear bias and no one can deny it after it.

    Josua Ho, i'm very disappointed and will ignore all of your future reviews!
  • Bigbank - Tuesday, January 9, 2018 - link

    Rock and roll bro!
    S7 is quite amazing
    Let's smash the iPhone to the junk pile😂

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