Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 Performance Preview
by Anand Lal Shimpi on May 21, 2014 8:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Tablets
- Snapdragon
- Qualcomm
- Mobile
- SoCs
- Snapdragon 805
GPU Performance
3DMark
Although it's our first GPU test, 3DMark doesn't do much to show Adreno 420 in a good light. 3DMark isn't the most GPU intensive test we have, but here we see marginal increases over Snapdragon 800/Adreno 330. I would be interested in seeing if there are any improvements on the power consumption front since performance doesn't really change.
Basemark X 1.1
Basemark X 1.1 starts to show a difference between Adreno 420 and 330. At medium quality settings we see a 25% increase in performance over the Snapdragon 801 based Adreno 330 devices. Move to higher quality settings and the performance advantage increases to over 50%. Here even NVIDIA's Shield with Tegra 4 cooled by a fan can't outperform the Adreno 420 GPU.
GFXBench 3.0
Manhattan continues to be a very stressful test but the onscreen results are pretty interesting. Adreno 420 can drive a 2560 x 1440 display at the same frame rate that Adreno 330 could drive a 1080p display.
In an apples to apples comparison at the same resolution, Adreno 430 is over 50% faster than Adreno 330. It's also faster than the PowerVR G6430 in the iPad Air.
Once again we see an example where Adreno 420 is able to drive the MDP/T's panel at 2560 x 1440 at the same performance as Adreno 330 can deliver at 1080p
At 1080p, the Adreno 420/S805 advantage grows to 45%.
I've included all of the low level GFXBench tests below if you're interested in digging any deeper. It's interesting that we don't see a big increase in the ALU test but far larger increases in the alpha blending and fill rate tests.
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evonitzer - Friday, May 23, 2014 - link
+1 -- I amazed how quickly people have tired of smartphone innovation. Bring on the pixels! I'm still young(ish) and can resolve details quite well. I'm hoping for magazine level smoothness with no blockiness.lmcd - Friday, June 20, 2014 - link
...which is why we need color accuracy and gamut, a greater range of brightness settings, better refresh rates, and less ghosting and less burn-in.But not higher pixel density.
YouInspireMe - Saturday, May 24, 2014 - link
Because if they have to be able to drive BIG displays with the phone they may as well be able to brag about being able to do it ON the phone. And everyone will eventually have to be able to drive BIG screens OFF the phone.pjcamp - Thursday, May 22, 2014 - link
Scrolling performance on my old Galaxy S3 became perfectly snappy -- as soon as I ditched Touchwiz. All these stupid skins are the limiting factor, and there's really no purpose for them any more other than product differentiation.metayoshi - Thursday, May 22, 2014 - link
Yup. That Snapdragon S4 was more than good enough for basic AOSP Android. TouchWiz really killed the performance on that thing. I mean, I know more people with a Nexus 4 than a Nexus 5, simply because the S4 Pro is good enough to run Google's Android. I personally have a Nexus 5 because it's compatible with Sprint, and should have Triband with the whenever-it-comes 4.4.3 update. I used to upgrade my phone every time I had the chance, but I actually don't think I'll be upgrading as long as my Nexus 5 is in good working condition. SoC improvements aren't really that exciting for me anymore.Babar Javied - Thursday, May 22, 2014 - link
I am in the same boat. I upgraded to the Nexus 5 from the Galaxy Nexus since it was getting old. I don't see myself upgrading anytime soon. Not only is the SoC more than enough to handle what I want, it has plenty of RAM and the screen is great too. All of this with no bull-sh!t skins like touch wiz and you have what I feel to be a great phone.So I really hope google does not shutdown the Nexus division.
betam4x - Thursday, May 22, 2014 - link
I don't think they will. People i know are divided into 3 groups: iPhone Users, Samsung users, and Nexus users. Others do exist, but for the most part, Google's phones seem to be pretty popular.betam4x - Thursday, May 22, 2014 - link
I'm in the same (happy) boat. Downgraded from the Galaxy S III (rooted, unlocked, Cyanogenmod) to the Moto-X (republic wireless). My phone lasts 20-24 hours with pretty decent usage (screen is on 3-4 hours a day, always browsing the internet on this thing...) My Moto-X isn't rooted or unlocked, but it's the most enjoyable phone i've ever owned...and i'm a spec freak.betam4x - Thursday, May 22, 2014 - link
btw the reason the phone lasts so long on battery is due to republic wireless operating over wifi. when wifi is on, cellular modem is off...apparently the cell modem is a power hog on any phone.Eddie A - Saturday, May 24, 2014 - link
Too bad indeed. It seems they couldn't (or didn't have time to) re-engineer it in time to add an LTE modem (since the 805 doesn't include one). I believe it still should run smooth though...the 801 is still a beast. My Nexus 7 2013 for example has a resolution which is slightly lower than the G3's resolution with a lesser SoC (Snapdragon S4 Pro) and it flies with no lag/stutter at all, so my fingers are crossed. Yes it's somewhat disappointing but I'm still looking forward to having the G3 in my hands for the next couple of years.