The Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge Review: Part 2
by Joshua Ho on July 5, 2016 8:00 AM ESTSystem Performance Cont'd
Now that we've gone over the more general purpose system benchmarks we can focus on new benchmarks that emphasize GPU performance much more strongly. For the most part we haven't had huge issues here like we've had with good CPU and general performance benchmarks, but it's important for us to keep our benchmarks up to date in terms of workload balance and overall performance.
One of our first new benchmarks designed to better test the GPU is 3DMark's Sling Shot ES 3.1 test, which is designed to test a GPU's performance when the application is either using OpenGL ES 3.1 or Metal. As one can see, the Snapdragon 820 and Exynos 8890 have basically comparable GPU performance in this test and in the physics test as well. Once again we're seeing how core count and clock speed are basically the primary determinants of performance in the physics test when the device isn't strongly limited by thermals. I wouldn't draw any real conclusions from this as generally game CPU code can extract ILP unlike what we're seeing in this test.
In this test we start to see that the Mali GPU in the Exynos 8890 and the PowerVR GPU in the A9 are providing a noticeable advantage over the Snapdragon 820's Adreno 530 to a noticeable extent.
With GFXBench we can see that in Car Chase and Manhattan the Adreno 530 actually manages to pull away. However, because we have basically zero architecture disclosure on the Adreno 530 there's really no way for us to explain what's going on here and why. The reasons for the difference in performance could be related to drivers or architecture or architecture implementation and in the absence of information it's probably best to avoid making blind guesses. Regardless of these details, the Snapdragon 820's GPU should be more than enough for playing the latest games, but unless you use Samsung's automatic game optimizer system to set render resolution to 1080p it won't do as well as the iPhone 6s but given that most Android games target a much lower spec level it's likely that you won't have any problems given that the Adreno 530 is on the bleeding edge for Android SoCs.
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10basetom - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link
I would say the Exynos model is a little better than the SD820, but not significantly so.lilmoe - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link
No. It's a lot better. Almost generational. I went on a weekend trip with a friend who has a SD variant, the differences were too significant to the point he bought the Exynos variant....Even the camera processing is better. The Samsung sensor is even better than Sony's as well.
Ratman6161 - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link
As I read the article, I was sort of wondering at Samsung's rational for having two different versions. The Exynos seems to win a lot of the benchmarks and overall seems like the better SOC. I know I've been very happy with the 7420 in my Note 5.MonkeyPaw - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link
They may not be able to produce enough of them, so they dual source.adramaleck - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link
From my understanding the radio is part of the SOC on both chips. The US (Verizon and Sprint) is the only major market where CDMA is still in use. So in the rest of the world Samsung can sell one model which supports GSM frequencies and their own SOC. However, since Verizon (and I assume Sprint) require CDMA support in order for them to allow the phone on their network, Samsung probably find it more cost effective to use the Qualicom chip instead of adding support to the Exynos or producing their own.lilmoe - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link
What I was hoping for is a comprehensive deep dive of the differences in hardware of the GS7 series.The "true" GS7 models are equipped with Exynos SoCs and all-made-by Samsung parts (including camera sensor). The rest are mix and match units that are comparable to the rest of the "generic" premium flock of devices (including the G5 and HTC 10), in which share common components and only differ in design.
I seriously wouldn't have minded a review that craps all over Samsung for this deliberate variety in handset hardware, but instead we get a rather lazy attempt of a review where the author is trying really hard to be underwhelmed. Totally not worth the wait...
SunnyNW - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link
This^. I visit the site quite often but have to agree "Totally not worth the wait..." I was under the impression that the delay might be to give us a detailed deep-dive into the different SOC architectures, you know the Kryo core and the new custom M1 from Samsung. Instead I am having a hard time understanding why it took so long to deliver this review, considering it as a whole...lolipopman - Tuesday, October 4, 2016 - link
Are you just going to disregard the GPU benchmarks? Or the fact that the throttling on Exynos is far more horrendous?Amazingly delusional.
zeeBomb - Saturday, July 9, 2016 - link
Holy crap. About time...rohanneo - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link
OH MY GOD!! I can't believe it. Been waiting for this article since months!!Really unprofessional of you guys to take TWO months for TWO parts of ONE REVIEW!! Be better next time.