The new Galaxy S21 series of devices have been out commercially for a week now, and we’ve managed khổng lồ get our hands on two Galaxy S21 Ultras – one with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 888 So
C, & one with Samsung’s new Exynos 2100 So
C. Both chipsets this year are more similar than ever, both now sporting similar CPU configurations, and both being produced on a new Samsung 5nm (5LPE) process node.
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Ahead of our full device reviews of the Galaxy S21 Ultra (and the smaller Galaxy S21), today we’re focusing on the first test results of the new generation of So
Cs, putting them through their paces, and pitting them against each other in the new 2021 competitive landscape.
The Snapdragon 888
| Qualcomm Snapdragon Flagship So Cs 2020-2021 | ||
| So C | Snapdragon 865 | Snapdragon 888 |
| CPU | 1x Cortex-A77 2.84GHz 1x512KB p L23x Cortex-A77 2.42GHz 3x256KB p L24x Cortex-A55 1.80GHz 4x128KB p L24MB s L3 | 1x Cortex-X1 2.84GHz 1x1024KB p L23x Cortex-A78 2.42GHz 3x512KB p L24x Cortex-A55 1.80GHz 4x128KB p L24MB s L3 |
| GPU | Adreno 650 587 MHz | Adreno 660 840MHz |
| DSP / NPU | Hexagon 69815 TOPS AI(Total CPU+GPU+HVX+Tensor) | Hexagon 78026 TOPS AI(Total CPU+GPU+HVX+Tensor) |
| Memory Controller | 4x 16-bit CH 2133MHz LPDDR4X / 33.4GB/sor 2750MHz LPDDR5 / 44.0GB/s3MB system màn chơi cache | 4x 16-bit CH 3200MHz LPDDR5 / 51.2GB/s3MB system màn chơi cache |
| ISP/Camera | Dual 14-bit Spectra 480 ISP1x 200MP or64MP with ZSLor2x 25MP with ZSL4K video clip & 64MP burst capture | Triple 14-bit Spectra 580 ISP1x 200MPor84MP with ZSLor64+25MP with ZSLor3x 28MP with ZSL4K đoạn phim & 64MP burst capture |
| Encode/Decode | 8K30 / 4K120 10-bit H.265Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10, HLG720p960 infinite recording | 8K30 / 4K120 10-bit H.265Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10, HLG720p960 infinite recording |
| Integrated Modem | none(Paired with external X55only)(LTE Category 24/22)DL = 2500 Mbps7x20MHz CA, 1024-QAMUL = 316 Mbps3x20MHz CA, 256-QAM(5G NR Sub-6 + mm Wave)DL = 7000 Mbps UL = 3000 Mbps | X60 integrated(LTE Category 24/22)DL = 2500 Mbps7x20MHz CA, 1024-QAMUL = 316 Mbps3x20MHz CA, 256-QAM(5G NR Sub-6 + mm Wave)DL = 7500 Mbps UL = 3000 Mbps |
| Mfc. Process | TSMC7nm (N7P) | Samsung5nm (5LPE) |
Starting off with the new Snapdragon 888 So
C, Qualcomm’s new flagship mã sản phẩm makes iterative steps this generation, with the biggest changes of the new kiến thiết actually being in the khung of the new Hexagon 780 accelerator, which fuses together traditional scalar và vector DSP operations with tensor execution engines within one single IP block.
Of course, we’re also seeing upgrades elsewhere in the architecture, with the Snapdragon 888 being among the first So
Cs to use Arm’s new Cortex-X1 CPU IP, promising large performance gains relative khổng lồ last generation Cortex-A77 cores. The single X1 cores in the Snapdragon 888 clocks in at 2.84GHz – the same as the previous generation Snapdragon 865’s prime Cortex-A77 cores, and less than the 3.1GHz và 3.2GHz Snapdragon 865+ và recently announced Snapdragon 870 So
Cs.
Alongside the X1, we find three Cortex-A78 cores at 2.42GHz, again the same clocks as the previous generation 865 So
Cs, but this time around with double the L2 caches at 512KB.
The Cortex-A55 little cores remain identical this generation, clocking in at 1.8GHz.
Although we had been expecting 8MB L3 cache flagship So
Cs this year, it does look like Qualcomm opted lớn remain at 4MB for this generation – but at least the company dons the X1 chip core with the maximum 1MB L2 cache configuration.
On the GPU side of things, Qualcomm’s new Adreno 660 GPU now clocks in up to a peak 840MHz – a whopping 43% higher frequency than the Snapdragon 865 GPU. The company’s performance claims here are also astonishing, promising a +35% boost in performance. We’ll have to see how this all ends up in terms of power consumption & long-term performance in the later dedicated GPU section.
What’s quite different for the Snapdragon 888 this year is that Qualcomm has moved from a TSMC N7P process node lớn Samsung’s new 5LPE node – the generally wildcard in this whole situation as we haven’t had any prior experience with this new 5nm node.
The Exynos 2100
| Samsung Exynos So Cs Specifications | ||
| So C | Exynos 990 | Exynos 2100 |
| CPU | 2x Exynos M5 3200MHz LPDDR5 / 51.2GB/s6MB System Cache | |
| ISP | Single: 108MPDual: 24.8MP+24.8MP | Single: 200MPDual: 32MP+32MP(Up lớn quad simultaneous camera) |
| NPU | Dual NPU + DSP + CPU + GPU15 TOPs | Triple NPU + DSP + CPU + GPU26 TOPs |
| Media | 8K30 & 4K120 encode và decode H.265/HEVC, H.264, VP9 | 8K30 và 4K120 encode &8K60 decodeH.265/HEVC, H.264, VP9AV1 Decode |
| Modem | Exynos Modem External(LTE Category 24/22)DL = 3000 Mbps8x20MHz CA, 1024-QAMUL = 422 Mbps?x20MHz CA, 256-QAM(5G NR Sub-6)DL = 5100 Mbps(5G NR mm Wave)DL = 7350 Mbps | Exynos Modem Integrated(LTE Category 24/18)DL = 3000 Mbps8x20MHz CA, 1024-QAMUL = 422 Mbps4x20MHz CA, 256-QAM(5G NR Sub-6)DL = 5100 Mbps UL = 1920Mbps(5G NR mm Wave)DL = 7350 Mbps UL = 3670 Mbps |
| Mfc. Process | Samsung7nm (7LPP) | Samsung5nm (5LPE) |
On the Samsung LSI side of things, we find the brand-new Exynos 2100. Unlike the Snapdragon 888’s more incremental changes in terms of So
C design, the new Exynos is a rather large departure for Samsung’s So
C division as this is the first flagship thiết kế in many years that no longer uses Samsung’s own in-house CPU microarchitecture, but rather reverts back lớn using Arm Cortex cores, which in this case is also the new Cortex-X1 and Cortex-A78 cores.
From a high-level, the CPU configuration of the Exynos 2100 looks nigh identical to lớn that of the Snapdragon 888, as both are 1+3+4 designs with X1, A78 và A55 cores. The differences are in the details:
The X1 cores on the Exynos 2100 clock slightly higher at up lớn 2.91GHz, while the Cortex-A78 clock in significantly higher than the Snapdragon as they reach 2.81GHz. The Cortex-A55 cores are also quite aggressive in terms of frequency as they now reach 2.20GHz – so overall across the board higher clocks than the Snapdragon variant.
Where the Exynos isn’t as aggressive though is in its cache configurations. Most importantly, the X1 cores here only feature 512KB of L2 cache, which is a bit weird given the all-out-performance philosophy of the new CPU. The Cortex-A78s also see the usage of 512KB L2 caches, while the little A55 cores feature 64KB L2’s – less than the Snapdragon counterparts.
Much like the Snapdragon, the L3 cache also falls in at 4MB rather than the 8MB we would have hoped for this generation, however Samsung does surprise us with the usage of an estimated 6-8MB system level cache, up from the 2MB kiến thiết in the Exynos 990.
On the GPU side of things, we see a Mali-G78MP14 at up khổng lồ 854MHz. That’s 27% more cores và 6.7% higher frequency, và the company is also boasting massive performance gains as it touts a 40% generational improvement.
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Let them fight
In today piece, we’ll be mostly focusing around CPU and GPU performance, as an especially interesting comparison will be to see how the two designs vì chưng against each other, given that they both now use Arm’s newest Cortex-X1 cores và both are sporting the same manufacturing node.
The GPU comparisons will also be interesting – & maybe quite controversial, as the results won’t be what many people will have been expecting.
While we would have liked to lớn showcase AI performance of the two So
Cs – unfortunately the software situation on the Galaxy S21’s right now means that neither So
C are fully taking advantage of their new accelerators, so that’s a topic to lớn revisit in a few months’ time once the proper frameworks have been updated by Samsung.
Table Of Contents
5nm / 5LPE: What vì We Know? The Snapdragon 888 và Exynos 2100 5nm / 5LPE: What vì We Know? Memory Subsystem và Latency: Quite Different SPEC - Single Threaded Performance & Power Mixed-Usage Power và Preliminary Battery Life GPU Performance và Power: Very, Very Hot Conclusion & End Remarks
Introduction
The Exynos 2100 was unveiled in January 2021 as Samsung’s flagship mobile processor for the year. It was announced a couple of days before the launch of the Galaxy S21 series. These were the first handsets to utilize Samsung’s latest chipset. The Exynos 2100 is manufactured on Samsung’s advanced 5nm extreme ultra-violet (EUV) process node.
This chipset is the successor lớn the Exynos 990, Samsung’s last processor to lớn feature custom Mongoose cores. The company decided to lớn kill its custom CPU project in 2020 in favor of licensing ARM CPU IP for future processors. That’s precisely what it has done for the Exynos 2100.
The Exynos 2100 has a tri-cluster structure for the cores. ARM’s powerful next-generation compute platform is at the heart of this chipset. It also happens lớn be Samsung’s first flagship processor with an integrated 5G modem.
A powerful new GPU, tri-core NPU và image signal processor are all on board in addition khổng lồ the integrated 5G modem.
Exynos 2100 Specs
| Exynos 2100 | |
| Process | 5nm EUV |
| CPU | 1x ARM Cortex-X1 2.9GHz2x Cortex-A78 **GHz4x Cortex-A55 *GHz |
| GPU | Mali-G78 |
| Dedicated AI processor | Yes, Tri-core NPU |
| Display | WQUXGA (3840×2400), 4K UHD (4096×2160), 10-bit màu sắc depth120 Hz refresh rate support |
| 5G modem | Integrated,Peak 5G download speed of 7.35 Gbps |
| Storage | UFS 3.1, UFS 2.1 |
| Memory | LPDDR5 |
| Camera | Single-camera 200MPUp to lớn 6 sensors, four concurrently |
| Video Capture | 8K 30fps, 4K 120fps |
| Video Playback | 8K 30fps or 4K 120fps, 10-bit HEVC (H.265), H.264, VP9, HDR10, HDR10+ |
Processor Cores
The Exynos 2100 utilizes a tri-cluster structure for its processor cores. For maximum performance, it features ARM’s Cortex-X1 bộ vi xử lý core that can run at up khổng lồ 2.9GHz. Three high-performing Cortex-A78 cores are included in addition khổng lồ four Cortex-A55 cores for power nguồn efficiency. Samsung claims that this cài đặt enables the Exynos 2100 to deliver a 30 percent improvement in multi-core performance compared to the Exynos 990.
Graphics Processing Unit
Samsung has paired the Exynos 2100 by pairing it with the ARM Mali-G78 GPU. It has support for the latest APIs such as Vulkan and Open
CL. Graphic performance is said to have improved by 40 percent. Advanced multi-IP governor công nghệ is onboard to optimize the power nguồn usage of the GPU.
Memory & Storage
With the Exynos 990, Samsung moved its premium chipsets away from LPDDR4X memory lớn LPDDR5. This helped increase the memory controller frequency as well as the data rates. As such, the Exynos 2100 is compatible with LPDDR5 memory. It also has tư vấn for UFS 3.1 & UFS 2.1 storage memory types.
Camera
The Exynos 2100 is capable of driving up to lớn six individual sensors including four of them at the same time to lớn allow for richer multi-camera experiences. It can also power nguồn one ultra-high resolution 200-megapixel sensor. It can also process 8K video at 30fps.
5G Modem
As previously mentioned, this is Samsung’s first premium di động chipset with an integrated 5G modem. It provides a complete multi-band solution with tư vấn from 2G all the way up khổng lồ sub-6GHz and mm
Wave 5G. It can deliver a maximum downlink speed of up to 7.35Gbps in mm
Wave or up lớn 3.0Gbps in 4G networks.
Artificial Intelligence và Machine Learning
A new tri-core neural processing unit (NPU) provides superior AI and machine learning capabilities. The Exynos 2100 is capable of performing up lớn 26-trillion-operations-per-second which is over twice the efficiency of the previous generation NPU.
List of Exynos 2100 Phones
The following Samsung Galaxy smartphones use the Exynos 2100 processor:
