CPU Performance & Efficiency: SPEC2006 - The Snapdragon ...

The overall results for SPEC2006 are very good for the Snapdragon 865. Performance is exactly where Qualcomm advertised it would land at, and we ... Home> Mobile TheSnapdragon865PerformancePreview:SettingtheStageforFlagshipAndroid2020 byAndreiFrumusanuonDecember16,20197:30AMEST Postedin Mobile Qualcomm Smartphones 5G CortexA77 Snapdragon865 178Comments |AddAComment 178Comments +AddAComment Introduction&Specifications CPUPerformance&Efficiency:SPEC2006 SystemPerformance MachineLearningInferencePerformance GPUPerformance&Power FinalThoughts CPUPerformance&Efficiency:SPEC2006 We’removingontoSPEC2006,analysingthenewsingle-threadedperformanceofthenewCortex-A77cores.AsthenewCPUisrunningatthesameclockastheA76-deriveddesignoftheSnapdragon855,anyimprovementswe’llbeseeingtodayarelikelyduetotheIPCimprovementsofthecore,thedoubledL3cache,aswellastheenhancementstothememorycontrollersandmemorysubsystemofthechip. DisclaimerAboutPowerFiguresToday: Thepowerfigurespresentedtodaywerecapturedusingthesamemethodologywegenerallyuseoncommercialdevices,howeverthisyearwe’venotedalargediscrepancybetweenfiguresreportedbytheQRD865’sfuel-gaugeandtheactualpowerconsumptionofthedevice.Generally,we’venotedthatthere’sadiscrepancyfactorofroughly3x.We’vereachedouttoQualcommandtheyconfirmedinaveryquicktestingthatthere’sadiscrepancyof>2.5x.Furthermore,theQRD865phonesthisyearagainsufferedfromexcessiveidlepowerfiguresof>1.3W. I’veattemptedtocompensatethedataasbestIcould,howeverthefigurespublishedtodayaremerelypreliminaryandoflowerconfidencethanusual.Forwhatit’sworth,lastyear,theQRD855datawaswithin5%ofthecommercialphones’measurements.We’llbenaturallyre-testingeverythingoncewegetourhandsonfinalcommercialdevices. IntheSPECint2006suite,we’reseeingsomenoticeableperformanceimprovementsacrosstheboard,withsomebenchmarkspostingsomelargerthanexpectedincreases.Thebiggestimprovementsareseeninthememoryintensiveworkloads.429.mcfisDRAMlatencyboundandseesamassiveimprovementofupto46%comparedtotheSnapdragon855. What’sinterestingtoseeisthatsomeexecutionboundbenchmarkssuchas456.hmmerseeinga28%upgrade.TheA77hasanadded4thALUwhichrepresentsa33%throughputincreaseinsimpleintegeroperations,whichIdon’tdoubtisamajorreasonfortheimprovementsseenhere. Theimprovementsaren’tacrosstheboard,with400.perlbenchinparticularseeingevenaslightdegradationforsomereason.403.gccalsosawasmaller12%increase–it’slikelythesebenchmarksareboundbyotheraspectsofthemicroarchitecture. Thepowerconsumptionandenergyefficiency,ifthenumbersarecorrect,roughlymatchourexpectationsofthemicroarchitecture.Powerhasgoneupwithperformance,butbecauseofthehigherperformanceandsmallerruntimeoftheworkloads,energyusagehasremainedroughlyflat.Actuallyinseveraltestsit’sactuallyimprovedintermsofefficiencywhencomparedtotheSnapdragon855,butwe’llhavetowaitoncommercialdevicesinordertomakesomedefinitiveconclusionshere. IntheSPECfp2006suite,we’reseeingalsoseeingsomeveryvariedimprovements.Thebiggestchangehappenedto470.lbmwhichhasaverybighotloopandismemorybandwidthhungry.IthinktheA77’snewMOP-cacheherewouldhelpalotinregardstotheinstructionthroughput,andtheimprovedmemorysubsystemmakesthemassive65%performancejumppossible. ArmactuallyhadadvertisedIPCimprovementsof~25%and~35%fortheintandFPsuiteofSPEC2006.Ontheintside,we’reindeedhitting25%ontheSnapdragon865,comparedtotheS855,howeverontheFPsidewe’reabitshortastheincreasefallsinataround29%.TheperformanceincreasesherestronglydependontheSoCandparticularonthememorysubsystem,comparedtotheKirin990’sA76implementationtheincreaseshereareonly20%and24%,butHiSilicon’schipalsohasastrongermemorysubsystemwhichallowsittogainquitemoreperformanceovertheA76’sintheS855. TheoverallresultsforSPEC2006areverygoodfortheSnapdragon865.PerformanceisexactlywhereQualcommadvertiseditwouldlandat,andwe’reseeinga25%increaseinSPECint2006anda29%inSPECfp2006.Ontheintegerside,theA77stilltrailsApple’sMonsooncoresintheA11,butthenewArmdesignnowhasbeenabletotrounceitintheFPsuite.We’restillabitfarawayfromthemicroarchitecturescatchinguptoApple’slatestdesigns,butifArmkeepsupthis25-30%yearlyimprovementrate,weshouldbegettingthereinafewmoreiterations. Thepowerandenergyefficiencyfigures,again,takenwithagrainofsalt,arealsoverymuchinlinewithexpectations.Powerhasslightlyincreasedwithperformancethisgeneration,howeverduetotheperformanceincrease,energyefficiencyhasremainedrelativelyflat,orhasevenseenaslightimprovement. Introduction&Specifications SystemPerformance Introduction&Specifications CPUPerformance&Efficiency:SPEC2006 SystemPerformance MachineLearningInferencePerformance GPUPerformance&Power FinalThoughts Tweet PRINTTHISARTICLE PostYourComment Pleaseloginorsignuptocomment. POSTACOMMENT 178Comments ViewAllComments UglyFrank-Monday,December16,2019-link IimaginetheTabS7willhavethis.MeanwhiletheiPadPro2020willmostlikelyhavemorethandoubletheGPUpower. Reply Kishoreshack-Monday,December16,2019-link That'snothowitworksbro Reply UglyFrank-Monday,December16,2019-link Itis.TheA12XhasmorethandoubletheS855'sGPUperformanceandwecanexpect~20%increaseinGPUperformance(A12XtoA13X)astheA12toA13hadasimilarincrease. Reply generalako-Monday,December16,2019-link Ok,butthenagaintheSD875(orwhateveritwillbecalled)isexpectedtobeonanewarchitectureafter3generation,whichgenerallymeans50%+jumpjustthere.Withthetransitionoverto5nm,youcanexpectevenmoreperformancefromthat.Thatwould,afterall,bethemostfaircomparisontotheA14(orA14X)on5nmlaterthisyear,duetoprocessnodecomparisons.SamewithCPUs(don'tforget,theA77intheSD865wasreleasedinthesummerbeforebyARM,andevenpresentedintheSD865inDecember). Reply close-Tuesday,December17,2019-link OverthepastfewyearsApplehasbeendoingaconsistentlybetterjobthanQualcommregardlessofprocessnode.Probablytheycanaffordtosincetheyareinfullcontrolofthewholetechnologystack,includingthesoftwarewhichmeanstheycansqueezeadditionalperformanceandefficiencylikethat.Butthisdoesn'tchangethefactthatyearafteryearA-chipsarebetterthantheircounterparts. Reply tuxRoller-Wednesday,December18,2019-link I'mnotsurethatappleismuch,ifatall,moreoptimizedthantheAndroidbsps.Ifyou'reawareofprooftothecontraryI'dbeinterestedinreadingit. Reply michael2k-Wednesday,December18,2019-link Itdoesn’tmeanoptimizedthewayyouenvisionit.Itmeansmoretailoredtothedesign,sinceApplehasafixednumberofsystemsithastosupport.Therearethreewaystoseeit:howmanyyearsdoesApplepushiOSupdates?Thatisafunctionofperformanceaswell,asastheOS.AnotherwaytoseeitisknowingthatAppleshipsiPhoneswithmuchlessRAM,meaningtheirOSandappshavetobedesignedtouselessRAMtoo.LikewisetheiriPhoneusuallyshipswithsmallerbatteries;bydesigningtheOS,SoC,andRAMsynergisticallytheycanuseasmallerbatterytoo.RAMhappenstouseenergyevenwhenidle,solessRAMdoestranslatetolowerenergyusage. Reply michael2k-Tuesday,December17,2019-link Yeah,butanythingQualcommdoestoboostperformance,Applewillbedoingtoo.The865isgoingtocompetewiththeA14in2020,andthe875willcompetewiththeA15in2021.SoifweexpecttheA14toboostperfby15%andtheA14Xtoboostperfby40%,andtheA15toboostperfagainby10%andA15Xtoboostperfagainby25%,you'llsee:855=1.00865=1.25875=1.50A13=1A13X=1.4A14=1.15A14X=1.96A15=1.26A15X=2.45TechnicallyQualcommhasmoreroomtoimprovewhenyoucomparetransistorbudgets:theA13isapproximately8.5btransistors,theA127btransistors.Incomparison,the855onlyhad6btransistors,perQualcommitself:https://www.qualcomm.com/media/documents/files/sna... Reply id4andrei-Tuesday,December17,2019-link The865competeswithA13notwiththefutureA14.ApplesetsthecadenceintheSoCspaceandhavedonesosincebreakingrankwithsheerperformanceandtransitiontoa64bitarch. Reply generalako-Tuesday,December17,2019-link Thisisjustmisrepresentative.ThepasttwogenerationsARM'sarchitecturehasbeenclosingthegaptoApple.Itclosedthegapbyaround30%inIPCwithA76,anddoingsobyaround15%inIPCwithA77(A77had27%IPCgainvs.A13's12%IPCgain).Thegaphasbeengettingsmaller,andhopefullyitwillcontinue.Butthefactisstillthatit'sclosingfortheperformancecores.Also,you'recomparisonsarewayoff.TheSD855wascomparabletotheA12,justastheSD865istotheA13,andsoonandsoforth.ThiswithprocessnodeandtheactualreleasedateoftheCortexCoreinmind. 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