Samsung Galaxy S 4 Review - Part 1
by Brian Klug on April 24, 2013 12:01 AM ESTGPU Performance
Both CPU and GPU clocks are higher on Samsung's version of the Snapdragon 600 (APQ8064AB). While the Snapdragon 600 used in HTC's One (APQ8064T) features a max GPU frequency of 400MHz, in the Galaxy S 4 the max frequency moves up to 450MHz. The increase in max frequency alone is modest (~12.5%), but the gains in GLBenchmark are far more pronounced for whatever reason.
As always, we'll start with low level analysis beginning with GLBenchmark's fill rate test:
Interestingly enough, fill rate is actually lower than on the HTC One. With so many variables at work here it's difficult to say exactly why this is, but the lowest hanging fruit is to blame it on memory bandwidth differences. Without getting inside the Galaxy S 4 (or more extensive poking around) it's unclear what speed Samsung is running its memory at, which could explain the differences here. We tried tossing the Galaxy S 4 in the freezer and re-running the test but performance didn't improve substantially. Note that GLB's fill rate benchmark is the only one that did not show the Galaxy S 4 ahead of HTC's One in raw performance.
The low level triangle tests all show significant performance gains over the only other Snapdragon 600 based phone we have (HTC One). Again, I'm not really sure what's going on here with APQ8064AB but the gains here are greater than what clock speed alone can be responsible for. Samsung could be running at higher GPU frequencies more aggressively than HTC or it could have software advantages (a newer Adreno driver perhaps?) or there could be more to this APQ8064AB mystery than we realize.
Egypt HD delivers a fairly sane number however. The Galaxy S 4 manages to outperform the HTC One by around 17% here. Again it's unclear why we're seeing greater performance than clock scaling alone would provide but the net is that the Galaxy S 4 does deliver better GPU performance than other Snapdragon 600 based devices today.
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blue_urban_sky - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
I am very interested in the sock browser you mention."I find it difficult to hover my finger over the screen without touching it, but in the gallery and sock browser it is admittedly sometimes useful."
wenugopal - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
Just curious, isn't galaxy s4 using LPDDR3 RAM, as opposed to LPDDR2 which is used in HTC One ? Hence, higher speeds ?Brian Klug - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
Absolutely true, there's more to it than that though for things like CPU performance.-Brian
scaramoosh - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
I have big doubts that DDR2 and 3 makes much difference, we never see much of a difference on the PC in day to day use, only benchmarks.B3an - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
DDR3 is significantly faster than DDR2 on PC now. You can definitely notice a difference without benchmarks depending on what you're doing. Stupid comparison though because phones are too different.UpSpin - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
because the RAM gets used for both CPU and GPU I think the upgrade to DDR3 makes a noticable difference, at least for the GPU. (the same way dual channel gives Intel IGP performance a boost compared to single channel)Mithos - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
Man, I DO value removable battery as I'm the type that likes buying an extended battery for business trips. I rely on the GPS, constant mail checking and of course calls.But all that aside, I prefer the construction and UI the HTC One presents, yet it does not have expandable battery.
Ohhhh cruel world and it's first world problems.
Nice review, thank you for the hard work.
Gigaplex - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
What's stopping you from getting a portable battery powered phone charger?Toss3 - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
Removable battery does not just limit you to buying a separate one, but enables you to buy a 4500mAh after market battery that lasts two full days without charging. You cannot do that with the HTC One.UpSpin - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
but this dramatically increases the size of the smartphone. I would rather buy a battery powered smartphone charger, which I can store in a bag or jacket and keep the already large smartphone comfortably sized. It's already thin, no question, but it's wide and long, and if it becomes thicker it becomes harder to use and to store it in a pocket.