Snapdragon 810 Performance Preview

Testing Snapdragon 810

Benchmark Suite

For our first look at Snapdragon 810 we will be examining CPU, Web, and GPU performance.

Test Methodology

All handsets are benchmarked on a fully updated copy of the device's stock software. The table below lists other common device settings that we standardize to before testing.

Furthermore, for browser-based testing on Android, we're employing a static version of the Chromium-based Opera in order to keep the browser version even across all devices. Due to platform restrictions, Safari is the best choice for iOS-based devices, while Internet Explorer is the only game in town on Windows RT.

Comparison System Specs

For this analysis we will be focusing on SoCs rather than devices, specifically those found in tablets. To get a feel for Qualcomm's progress, we'll compare Snapdragon 810 to its predecessors—Snapdragon 805, represented by the Nexus 6, and 801, represented by the Sony Z3. Since we're not comparing displays, battery life, or onscreen GPU performance, mixing smartphones with tablets in our benchmark charts won't matter. The Nexus 6 was chosen because it displays less thermal throttling than the Galaxy Note 4 and has a more complete and up-to-date set of benchmark data than our other devices. For Snapdragon 801 we're using the Z3 because it's a top performer with consistent results free of thermal throttling. The Galaxy S5 actually has slightly better performance in multi-core CPU tests, but the Z3 pulls ahead in graphics, memory, and NAND.

We also include four other current tablet architectures for comparison: the 3-core A8X in Apple's iPad Air 2, an Intel Atom Z3580 in Dell's Venue 8 7000 (which is still stuck on Android 4.4, limiting it to 32-bit mode), an Nvidia Tegra K1 with Denver cores in HTC's Nexus 9, and Tegra K1 with ARM cores in Nvidia's own Shield Tablet.

We're also including some results for Nvidia's new Tegra X1 SoC with its Maxwell based GPU. Be advised however, that these numbers came from Tegra X1 development boards running Android Lollipop. Although we couldn't run our own versions of the benchmarks and couldn't verify clock speeds, we did see the benchmarks running. The SoC itself had a small heatsink (no fan), which Nvidia said represented the typical thermal dissipation capability of a tablet chassis.

The data for Snapdragon 810 comes from a Mobile Development Platform (MDP) tablet supplied by Qualcomm at its benchmarking workshop. Obviously, this tablet isn't shipping hardware (it's noticeably bulkier than a production device, which could improve its ability to deal with heat buildup) and the devices were running on AC power, so these results should be considered preliminary. We did however, install and run our own benchmarking software. As a point of reference, the Snapdragon 805 MDP tablet generally scored worse than shipping products.

Unfortunately, we'll have to wait for products to ship before we can get a feel for the 810's effect on battery life, since there wasn't enough time to collect battery drain data.

The table below contains all the pertinent technical specifications for today’s comparison units:

We should definitely see some interesting results considering how many different CPU and GPU architectures we're comparing. Will the 810 or Nvidia's unique Denver CPUs be able to outperform Apple's improved Cyclone CPUs? How close will the new Adreno 430 get to Nvidia's Kepler based GPU?