Snapdragon 820 comparison

[Evann]

Hi,

 

so i got my OnePlus 3 a couple weeks ago, and I'm really curious how well a mobile phone CPU (in this case a Snapdragon 820) compares to a desktop CPU (Atom, Celeron, Pentium..)..

 

especially because this:

 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andromium/the-superbook-turn-your-smartphone-into-a-laptop-f

 

.. is starting to be a "thing"  

 

Haven't found something like a comparison review or something, hope you can help me.

 

Thanks! 

[arch_linuxos]

It's not a logical thing to compare - that's why there aren't any ;).

 

It's basically impossible to compare, in fact. The Snapdragon 820 is based on ARM architecture, which functions very differently than x86_64 used in laptops/desktops and stuff. They're designed for very low power consumption and heat - you very very rarely see them get to 50-60C.

 

You also can't compare the core count/speed in MHz. This is even worse than comparing AMD to Intel because they aren't even using the same instruction set.

 

This is like comparing apples and peanuts. They're just not remotely the same thing.

 

You can't run Windows on an ARM processor, nor can you run OSx. Some flavors of Linux will work, but they'll be pretty slow and you'll probably struggle to find any programs written for ARM based Linux.

 

[Evann]

2 minutes ago, arch_linuxos said:

It's not a logical thing to compare - that's why there aren't any ;).

 

It's basically impossible to compare, in fact. The Snapdragon 820 is based on ARM architecture, which functions very differently than x86_64 used in laptops/desktops and stuff. They're designed for very low power consumption and heat - you very very rarely see them get to 50-60C.

 

You also can't compare the core count/speed in MHz. This is even worse than comparing AMD to Intel because they aren't even using the same instruction set.

 

This is like comparing apples and peanuts. They're just not remotely the same thing.

 

You can't run Windows on an ARM processor, nor can you run OSx. Some flavors of Linux will work, but they'll be pretty slow and you'll probably struggle to find any programs written for ARM based Linux.

 

aren't there some simpe benchmarks.. that work on both system, and can make a comparison? Don't see why this wouldn't work. 

[arch_linuxos]

3 minutes ago, Evann said:

aren't there some simpe benchmarks.. that work on both system, and can make a comparison? Don't see why this wouldn't work. 

They're just not the same thing, period. Sure, they're both CPUs, but ARM and x86_64/amd64 are just not the same thing at all. Maybe 3DMark? But there's never been a reason to compare, they're just different things.

 

if you want a general answer though, just know that Windows and any game (including Minecraft) would run like absolute crap on an 820, especially since its thermal limit is so low.

 

Sorry if that came off a little rude, I'm just not sure how to explain it.

[arch_linuxos]

http://www.walkerb.net/blog/x64-vs-arm/

 

Comparison article here  outlines the basic differences.

 

It explains how the two systems are mutually exclusive. An ARM system cannot run on x86_64 and vise versa.

 

ARM uses RISC instructions, which is Reduced instruction set. x86_64 uses CISC, Complex instruction set. ARM processors simply don't have the ability to do complex logical steps like "desktop" processors. What takes one step on x86-64 could take three on ARM.

 

An 820 is like an Intel Atom. That's a rough comparison, but generally correct.

[Cracklingice]

About the only thing you could do is compare the results of some sort of productivity thing such as encoding a video, but even then it's just comparing the single task.

[incarnate]

1 hour ago, Evann said:

aren't there some simpe benchmarks.. that work on both system, and can make a comparison? Don't see why this wouldn't work. 

Why don't we compare gpu processing performance to cpus then? Because they work entirely different. It is the same as x86 vs ARM. ARM cpus use a barebones, minimal instruction set. Meaning that more advanced instruction sets have to be emulated in software. x86 have a huge instruction set.

 

They are products of different needs. There are no unbiased benches that work for both. Benches made using reduced instruction sets would skew the results just as much as non reduced sets would.

[Evann]

50 minutes ago, incarnate said:

Why don't we compare gpu processing performance to cpus then? Because they work entirely different. It is the same as x86 vs ARM. ARM cpus use a barebones, minimal instruction set. Meaning that more advanced instruction sets have to be emulated in software. x86 have a huge instruction set.

 

They are products of different needs. There are no unbiased benches that work for both. Benches made using reduced instruction sets would skew the results just as much as non reduced sets would.

As in my mainpost pasted, how well do you think would such Notebooks work?

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andromium/the-superbook-turn-your-smartphone-into-a-laptop-f

[arch_linuxos]

1 hour ago, incarnate said:

Why don't we compare gpu processing performance to cpus then? Because they work entirely different. It is the same as x86 vs ARM. ARM cpus use a barebones, minimal instruction set. Meaning that more advanced instruction sets have to be emulated in software. x86 have a huge instruction set.

 

They are products of different needs. There are no unbiased benches that work for both. Benches made using reduced instruction sets would skew the results just as much as non reduced sets would.

That's a good analogy I'll remember that one! 

[incarnate]

4 hours ago, Evann said:

As in my mainpost pasted, how well do you think would such Notebooks work?

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andromium/the-superbook-turn-your-smartphone-into-a-laptop-f

It's impossible to tell for sure until release, but if I were a betting man, I'd wager the usb connection will definitely be a bottleneck

[Evann]

49 minutes ago, incarnate said:

It's impossible to tell for sure until release, but if I were a betting man, I'd wager the usb connection will definitely be a bottleneck

surely it will - usb 2.0  will probably only provide ~30MB/s. But for what do you need storage speed? How much do you think is taken by the Video Transfer from Smartphone to MonitorScreen? 

[incarnate]

18 hours ago, Evann said:

surely it will - usb 2.0  will probably only provide ~30MB/s. But for what do you need storage speed? How much do you think is taken by the Video Transfer from Smartphone to MonitorScreen? 

It's not just video, but that depends on how much the video output is compressed and how low the output resolution is and framerate. 30 mb/s isn't much bandwidth at all and that is a best case scenario.

 

In the end, it will work, but will likely be a sub par experience with low performance. However, we'll have to wait to see. It's all speculation at this point. But I'd rather spend an extra 150 and get a netbook with a quad core clovertrail atom cpu then go for this accessory for a phone.