A NenaMark 2 benchmark score for an unknown device based on Qualcomm’s upcoming 28nm Snapdragon S4 “Krait” MSM8960 SoC has just surfaced. The device seems to have 1.5Ghz CPU, a 1024x600 resolution display powered by an Adreno 225 GPU and running Android 4.0.3.

The Adreno 225 GPU scores 54.9 fps in the benchmark. To put things in perspective, a Galaxy S2, powered by the Mali-400 MP4 scores 46.2 fps. The important difference here is that the Galaxy S2 has an 800x480 resolution display, which makes the Adreno 225’s performance that much more impressive while powering a higher resolution display.

What remains to be seen is how the Adreno 225 stacks up against the current king-of-the-hill, the PowerVR SGX543MP2, the custom GeForce GPU in Tegra 3 and other upcoming GPUs such as the Mali T-604 and whatever Apple comes up with in its A6 chip. Given the raw performance offered by these next-gen GPUs, it won’t be long before we get console-quality gaming on our handheld devices.

Source: GSMArena via Nena

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  • B3an - Sunday, January 29, 2012 - link

    Look at Android on Tegra 2, it's a laggy mess. Anand has said a few times that he believes it's partly down to the GPU. And thats with just 1280x720.
  • Alexvrb - Sunday, January 29, 2012 - link

    The hardware is only half the equation. Look at the shitty Adreno 200 in first-gen WP7 devices. They're smooth as butter, and the Adreno 200 is a DOG. Future revisions of Android (especially vanilla non-carrier-raped setups) should be decent on the UI front regardless of whether they have the most powerful GPU, as we're hitting the "good enough" point.

    Although in terms of mobile graphics for gaming purposes, there's a reason Sony went with a decent-clocked SGX543MP4 with dedicated VRAM. Smokes anything Nvidia could show them at the time they were building, especially for the power/thermal envelope they were targeting. I look forward to seeing what Series 6-powered chips can do.
  • zorxd - Monday, January 30, 2012 - link

    Exactly.
    Also note the crappy SGX535 in the iPhone 4. Much slower than a Tegra 2.
  • B3an - Sunday, January 29, 2012 - link

    BTW i seriously doubt your Amiga can handle 1080p at a smooth 60FPS (which a UI needs to be). No chance.
  • mwarner1 - Monday, January 30, 2012 - link

    While I am a big Amiga fan, AGA's highest resolution is 1440x580 and that is interlaced - impressive for it's time, but not exactly high resolution in this era.
  • zorxd - Sunday, January 29, 2012 - link

    current GPUs are fast enough for the GUI
    Just like integrated graphics are fast enough for Windows Aero
  • shompa - Sunday, January 29, 2012 - link

    GPU will be more and more important since Android 4 is accelerated with OpenGL.

    One of the reasons why Apple A class SoCs are so much faster in real world testing is that Apple can accelerate its OS/programs with NOVA SIMD extensions. Androids "open" approach does this impossible since some hardware don't even have NOVA. Their work around is OpenGL.

    Apple have 10 + year experience in accelerating its OS/Programs with Quartz Extreme and Altivec. Instead of using brute force, they like "elegance". SIMD is always faster then brute force CPU.
  • zorxd - Monday, January 30, 2012 - link

    SIMD isn't "always faster" (not all programs can be SMID'ed) and it is even less relevant when you start moving your stuff to the GPU. The GPU is a much larger SMID unit.
  • metafor - Tuesday, January 31, 2012 - link

    Altivec (and the SIMD instructions Quartz used) are CPU features....
  • Sttm - Saturday, January 28, 2012 - link

    I have been trying to play GTA 3 and some other games on my Droid but just using a touchscreen to play is awful. I don't know if there is a way to make touchscreen controls for a full 3D player controlled movement game actually fun. So while the GPU power might double or triple, the types of games that play well on the touchscreen hardware might not change. Maybe the Xperia Play successor could fix this a bit, or Microsoft gets a Xbox WP8 phone out there with triggers and joysticks.

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