The mobile phone performance described in this paper is only for the performance analysis of SOC. Of course, in addition to SOC performance, camera, screen performance and other aspects are very important. To measure the SOC performance of a mobile phone, we mainly analyze it from three aspects: CPU, GPU and DSP. Generally speaking, these three points are our central processor, graphics processor and video hardware module, which also directly affect the hardware performance of our mobile phone. CPU is the most critical part of the mobile phone, which directly dominates the performance of the whole mobile phone. GPU accelerates the 2D/3D of mobile phones, performs graphics rendering and other work, which directly affects the game performance. DSP is the video hardware decoding module, which is responsible for the hardware decoding of the video. Of course, RAM also directly affects the performance of mobile phones. However, most mainstream mobile phones have 1G or even 2G RAM, so it will not become a bottleneck in most operations. Therefore, we will describe it in three directions:

1. CPU general performance

Before explaining the general performance of CPU, let's take a look at some mainstream mobile CPUs. First, the four core "Four King Kong" of Android platform.

The first mobile quad core processor adopts a "4+1" core design, and one of the "companion cores" is used for ultra low load applications. With A9 core and 40nm process, it has high heat value and excellent general performance.

: The first self-developed quad core in China, with multiple patented technologies, adopts A9 core and 40nm process. However, due to the "conservative" frequency fluctuations, the heat and power consumption control is excellent and the general performance is good.

: Samsung's quad core processor, A9 core, 32nm HKMG technology, used in many flagship models, has excellent power consumption control, and its general performance is temporarily the strongest in Android (of course, it will be different when its boss Exynos 5250 comes out).

: The Krait Snake core independently developed by Qualcomm, the ARMV7 instruction set, and the 28nm process are used. It is the last batch of quad core processors to be launched, with good general performance.

Of course, Exynos 4210 (4212), OMAP 4470 (4460), MSM8960 and other dual core processors are mainstream CPUs. They are not fuel efficient and their strength cannot be underestimated.

Here we have to mention Apple's A6 and Similar to Qualcomm, Apple also uses ARMV7 instruction set and does not directly use the A9 core. The performance of A6 and A6X is amazing. Although the frequency is only 1.3G and 1.4G, the general performance of A6 and A6X is no less than Exynos 4412 in some single thread tests, which shows that A6 and A6X are powerful. A6 and A6X also use 32nm HKMG process.

What is CPU general performance? The general performance of CPU is related to the efficiency of mobile phone's general processing and soft video. In short, it is the running speed and efficiency of a mobile phone. Of course, the CPU also contains the neon module, which is a multimedia acceleration module inside the CPU and is critical to video performance. At that time, NVIDIA's Tegra2 had poor video performance because of the omission of the neon module. CPU general performance will affect many user experiences, ranging from sliding desktop and menu response to large web pages and software video decoding. How can we test the general performance of CPU? Of course, the traditional method is a popular part of running points. Here are some commonly used CPU scoring software:

Quadrant scoring is an old Android scoring software, but with the development of multi-core CPUs, quadrant scoring is becoming increasingly unreliable, especially in I/O, there are still various cheating and nefarious problems, so the reference value of this scoring is really low.

Anthare runs points, a popular run points software in recent years, but it is also unreliable, mainly reflected in the GPU. It can not squeeze the GPU enough, and most mobile phones can run to full frames. There are also some cheating problems.

In addition to these "entertaining" software, the following two scoring software are relatively stable:

Geekbench， A score running software developed for iPhone 5, which separates integer operation and floating point operation, and adds two scores related to memory. However, this software is relatively "draughty", and often there is a problem that the difference between two consecutive tests can be hundreds of points. Therefore, to get a relatively accurate score, it needs several tests to determine.

Cfbench， Test CPU multithreading performance

Of course, in addition to the traditional scoring software, you can also use web pages, simulators, video software and other software for performance testing. The common ones are:

Sunspider web page javascript performance test mainly tests single thread performance, so it is not difficult to explain why A6 processor and Exynos 4412 are not equal in this test.

Similar to browsermark

GBA simulator, which is also a biased gate method to test the general performance of CPU single thread, is sensitive to CPU efficiency and frequency.

BSPlayer software decoding, which is not easy to explain. It is just the actual software decoding through the CPU.

2. GPU performance

Let's also introduce the mainstream mobile GPU, the previous article“ ”There are also detailed introductions in this article, so let's not say too much here. First, we will introduce the common high-performance GPUs:

SGX543mp2: 67M/s triangle output, 2000M/s pixel filling (iPhone 4S, iPad 2, iPad mini)

SGX543mp4: 133M/s triangle output, 4000M/s pixel fill (The New iPad)

SGX554mp4: 266M/s triangle output, 8000M/s pixel filling (iPad4, because there are no detailed parameters officially, it is calculated by "double" claimed by Apple)

Geforce 16sp: 120M/s triangle output, 1600M/s pixel fill (One X, Nexus 7, Optimus 4X HD)

Adreno225:130M/s triangle output, 760M/s pixel filling (Padone, One S)

Adreno320: 200M/s triangle output, 3200M/s pixel filling (Millimeter 2, Optimus G, Nexus 4)

Gc4000: 200M/s triangle output, 2500M/s pixel filling (Huawei D1Q, Media Pad 10 FHD)

mali400mp4@275Mhz : 30M/s triangle output, 1100M/s pixel fill (Galaxy S II, dual core MX)

mali400mp4@400Mhz : 44M/s triangle output, 1600M/s pixel filling (Galaxy Note II, Galaxy S III, quad core MX)

Of course, the performance of the GPU cannot be measured only by the parameters. In many cases, the strength of the parameters can only be reflected in the score. However, due to the fragmentation of Android hardware, it is not the absolute performance of the GPU itself that is not strong enough, but the compatibility problem. Therefore, in addition to running points, we need to add actual game performance to comprehensively evaluate the performance of a GPU.

Common GPU scoring software:

Nenamark2

This software often appears in major evaluations, but it has two serious problems. One is that it can only score according to the original resolution of the device, which has limitations. For example, two devices using the same GPU will have a large difference in the score of Nenamark2 due to different resolutions. Another problem is that the performance is not squeezed enough. Many high-end devices can already achieve full frame 60fps, so some devices that do not lock 60fps have benefited from this software.

GLBenchmark2.5

Personally, I think this is the most reliable software for GPU absolute performance test at present. Because it has an "Offscreen" mode, that is, all devices run 1920 * 1080 resolution uniformly, so as to achieve the most fair competition.

Of course, the top 3D game test is also used to test the GPU. In addition to the difference in fluency, the special effects processing of the game itself should also be paid attention to. Of course, this involves a problem where game manufacturers focus on optimization, so it can not be used as a benchmark for GPU performance testing, but as a reference.

Common test GPU games:

N. O.V.A 3: Famous GPU killer. Few devices can run smoothly when the special effects are fully turned on.

Wild blood: the special effects of each GPU are quite different.

Wild Speed Racing 7: Some maps will cause great pressure on the GPU. In addition, different devices have different special effects.

NBA2K13: Smoothness Most devices will not be a problem, mainly because of the difference between special effects and character models.

3.DSP

First, correct an error. Many tests will mention that "the decoding performance of XXX GPU is poor", which is absolutely wrong. As we mentioned earlier, soft decoding tests the general performance of CPU. What about hardware decoding? Look at the DSP hardware decoding module. The hardware decoding module should work together with the CPU's neon module. Now the mainstream CPUs basically have neon modules, so most of the common 720P videos can be handled without too much trouble. But as enthusiasts, how can we only meet 720P video? In many cases, the real test of DSP hard solution performance is 1080P video with many parameters. Of course, the test of these videos has gone far beyond the scope of "enough is good". DSP is used for video hardware decoding, and works together with the neon module in CPU. We often say that there are two kinds of hard solutions. One is to use the neon module in the arm V7 architecture to support advanced SIMD and floating point operation instructions, that is, the CPU provides hardware acceleration for decoding. The other is the DSP integrated multimedia acceleration unit, which supports some general or own instruction sets or interfaces. Texas Instruments, NVIDIA, Qualcomm and other manufacturers have similar designs.

Common test software: BSPlay, Diceplayer. Common test videos: 1080P with high frames and high refs, 10bit video, etc.

The above is the author's personal opinion on mobile phone performance test. Of course, it is useless to just say some theories and test methods. Next, the actual test comparison will be added in the subsequent test to intuitively present the method of testing mobile phone performance.

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