[Q] Does dual cores matter? - General Questions and Answers

Having a bad experience with SGS i9000 til now: (using cfw 2.3.4 with custom kernel - oced to 1200hz - ext4)
- Random lags
- Random crash/restart/freeze
- Slow task-switch
Does dual cores mobilephone like SGS 2, Optimus 3D, HTC sensation or Atrix actually will perform better (i bet so) than my current SGS?
Does Android OS and apps already optimized to use both cores?

i don't know if the apps or optimized yet, but i have noticed a little more "pep" in my daily use from my photon 4g compared to my Evo, even when i had it overclocked things weren't this smooth, so from a performance stand point, it's way better then most single cores, but then it's a whole new ball game when your dealing with dual core (tegra 2 vs snapdragon/qualcomm)

I can't say I really noticed much difference going from a SGS to Atrix, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if motoblur was playing apart in that.

Hmm... I tested SGS II the other day... it somehow much smoother than my current SGS with SGS II mod in it.
Strange, both phones clocked in 1.2ghz but SGS II is dual cores.
Didn't know that would affect the performance that much.
Switching transition from browser to games (restarted though...) to other apps seems flawless.

Anyone tried to compare a Desire with Sense 3.0 ROM with the Sensation? with 3D rosie - with weather live wallpaper and all other fancy stuffs turned on?
I am thinking of getting a dual core device but I am also not sure of the difference with the single core in real world, so I hope my question can help clarify me that.

shintorrent said:
Having a bad experience with SGS i9000 til now: (using cfw 2.3.4 with custom kernel - oced to 1200hz - ext4)
- Random lags
- Random crash/restart/freeze
- Slow task-switch
Does dual cores mobilephone like SGS 2, Optimus 3D, HTC sensation or Atrix actually will perform better (i bet so) than my current SGS?
Does Android OS and apps already optimized to use both cores?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes,dual core processors are better than single core processors.
They provide better threading (which guarantees no lags and better process switching as each core can handle a certain process) and less power consumption (believe it or not,but they do).
The random restarts could be due to the kernel,the ROM or the fact that u are overclocking.
And it's got nothing to do with the apps,it's the kernel.
U see,the kernel is the link between the hardware and the firmware,so apps don't need to be optimized.
The manufacturers adjust the kernel and add some scripts to help handle the processes.
Clue,same apks that run on single core phones run on dual core phones.

Dual cores are significantly better. Yes, they do offer better threading, and less power consumption, but the thing you are missing is having a dual core processor running at 1.2 ghz is the equivalent of a single core processor running at 2.4 ghz, plus better task handling.All tasks will be smoother, and more multitasking features will be allowed.
This does not necessarily mean you will have no lags, sorry, but the experience will be better.

Based on everyone opinions... I can conclude Dual Processors are better for multi-tasking and better threading.

shintorrent said:
Based on everyone opinions... I can conclude Dual Processors are better for multi-tasking and better threading.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agree

By the way,it isn't correct that a dual core 1.2 is better than a single 2.4
You don't just put on 2x speed!!!
A single 1.5 is faster when it comes to operation response time than a dual 1.2, but a dual 1.2 is better to handle several linked or independent tasks running at the same time.
Sent from my Huawei_8100-9 using XDA App

The answer is pretty obvious, but to be honest high clock single core processors are more than enough for daily tasks.
I have been using my OCed G2, with no problems. It does everything I can throw at it, no problem. IMO, they have created too good of a product.
Same goes for computers. Hardware is becoming increasingly powerful, while still doing the same tasks.

gtmaster303 said:
The answer is pretty obvious, but to be honest high clock single core processors are more than enough for daily tasks.
I have been using my OCed G2, with no problems. It does everything I can throw at it, no problem. IMO, they have created too good of a product.
Same goes for computers. Hardware is becoming increasingly powerful, while still doing the same tasks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course you can do everything with a single core processor,but these are the actual differences between single and dual:
1-better threading which provides better multitasking operations.
2-less power consumption which means more time on the battery.
3-ability to overclock each core at a time provides you with both outrageous speed and better multitasking.
4-overclocking dual core processors is better than single cuz of the buffer space being bigger.
Sent from my Huawei_8100-9 using XDA App

Related

[INFO] Sensation NEW Benchmark Scores

Hey I thought it would be cool to just have a seperate thread for this so people can stop asking so much al throughout the other threads.
I've seen 2342 so far on the released version compared to the model in prerelease which was 1300 score. Thats a very fast speed.
Post yall quadrant scores here.
Remember also that all who view this the sensation has a qhd screen.
Makes a difference.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App
And as I've been reading on other topics there might be a incompatibility problem due to two cores. It's new chipset and has different architecture etc. Lets give it some time.
mr.orange303 said:
Remember also that all who view this the sensation has a qhd screen.
Makes a difference.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
really? I wonder what goes into that technology. I kind of wanted the screen to be a full size 4.3 inch screen.. with the width the same size as the evo. I just love the space u get
I got a very low 1589 on the first Quadrant...
samjpullen said:
I got a very low 1589 on the first Quadrant...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you prefer SGS 2 after using both? I'm asking because of your signature.
samjpullen said:
I got a very low 1589 on the first Quadrant...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In real world testing. Can you feel lag at all?
Coming from the g2x. Its almost lag free. But has other problems.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App
not accurate
Figure_desire said:
And as I've been reading on other topics there might be a incompatibility problem due to two cores. It's new chipset and has different architecture etc. Lets give it some time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Helllo
People have been saying that the sensation is getting low scores because benchmark programs are not designed to test both cores.
I find that most people are throwing around nothing but assumptions for reasons i really cannot understand. Do you know for a fact whether those benchmark programs are optimized only for one core, or is your enthusiasm for the sensation subconsciously pushing you to say that ?????????????
The author of smartbench has posted a comment on another thread in this forum that one of the main reasons smartbench 2010 was pulled out and smartbench 2011 released was testing dual core phones. he added that he does not know why is the sensation getting such low scores as compared to other dual core phone, but will investigate and come back.
So irrespective of my personal preference to HTC phones, and if smartbench author cannot find a bug in his smartbench 2011 leading to low scores on sensation, i have to say that the sensation CPU does not seem to be at the same performance level as other dual core phones
check post #239
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1081531&page=24
That's on the low end compared to other qHD devices but not bad.
Any other benchmarks with the final release?
Figure_desire said:
Do you prefer SGS 2 after using both? I'm asking because of your signature.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First impression is yes, but i have only had to play with the Sensation for about 8hrs or so
mr.orange303 said:
In real world testing. Can you feel lag at all?
Coming from the g2x. Its almost lag free. But has other problems.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The overall UI is pretty fast, but web browsing... not as clear cut as i would have expected from the specs, the Ram used by Sense seems to be the problem.
I got a score of 2306 in quadrant advanced, only did one run as waiting to root before going further :S
samjpullen said:
I got a very low 1589 on the first Quadrant...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sam, I saw your youtube video of browser performance for Sensation. That flash pinch-zoom thing was horrible. Was this consistent across all websites?
I would have expected better. I feel most of the guys might know about this, rest of us who were unaware, check out Sam's youtube channel. Keep up the good work mate!
I just digged more into the CPU in QSD8x60 It seems to be the same scorpion cpu that ships in the MT4G. According to my data the exynos CPU is 16% faster than the qsd8x60 at the same clock speed ( 2.5 DMIPS vs 2.1 DMIPS ) being architecturally different as exynos is cortex a9 and the other one is Custom Cortex A8 so the lower score. The Sensation Smartbench productivity score is exactly 2.4x that of a stock mt4g. Other things that are affecting smartbench is the Memory Score, I/O of Sensation is around 0.5x that of GS2 and 2d score is around 0.25 x (lower due to more resolution) of that of GS2 maybe due to the fact GSII has hardware acceleration. In real day use Memory, I/O arent going to be affecting stuff much. The CPU on Exynos is faster, GSII has hardware acceleration and I/O and Memory score on the GSII are much higher. When it comes to graphics at the same resolution they are both on the same speed when on the same resolution but difference comes due to sensations qHD display. So for the performance in day to day life the Sensation isn't gonna be much of a difference over Desire HD or the GSII when executing single threaded apps which are 99% apps on Android market and like with most >1ghz CPU you wont experience lag and for the graphics they are gonna be much much faster and better. The Linpack score which tells you the speed of execution of apps written in Java which most Android apps are it is going to be same as GSII, No difference. When executing Native Apps GSII will be faster but when it comes to Native Apps, Most of the Native Apps are games which depend more on the gpu so here too both are same. When it comes to Multimedia Sensation is faster than GSII as it has a 128bit pipeline but both are capable of decoding/encoding 1080p at 30fps and no one is gonna go beyond that. It will only be different when using anything that is on Neon.
To sum it up
Both Phones are extremely powerful and perform better than each other in different scenarios. They are at a point where the difference are minor when coming to performance. To buy a device it entirely depends on your choice as IMO they are both no.1 at the android device table right now. You wont be disappointed by any of those
Do you have the device yet?
charnsingh_online said:
I just digged more into the CPU in QSD8x60 It seems to be the same scorpion cpu that ships in the MT4G. According to my data the exynos CPU is 16% faster than the qsd8x60 at the same clock speed ( 2.5 DMIPS vs 2.1 DMIPS ) being architecturally different as exynos is cortex a9 and the other one is Custom Cortex A8 so the lower score. The Sensation Smartbench productivity score is exactly 2.4x that of a stock mt4g. Other things that are affecting smartbench is the Memory Score, I/O of Sensation is around 0.5x that of GS2 and 2d score is around 0.25 x (lower due to more resolution) of that of GS2 maybe due to the fact GSII has hardware acceleration. In real day use Memory, I/O arent going to be affecting stuff much. The CPU on Exynos is faster, GSII has hardware acceleration and I/O and Memory score on the GSII are much higher. When it comes to graphics at the same resolution they are both on the same speed when on the same resolution but difference comes due to sensations qHD display. So for the performance in day to day life the Sensation isn't gonna be much of a difference over Desire HD or the GSII when executing single threaded apps which are 99% apps on Android market and like with most >1ghz CPU you wont experience lag and for the graphics they are gonna be much much faster and better. The Linpack score which tells you the speed of execution of apps written in Java which most Android apps are it is going to be same as GSII, No difference. When executing Native Apps GSII will be faster but when it comes to Native Apps, Most of the Native Apps are games which depend more on the gpu so here too both are same. When it comes to Multimedia Sensation is faster than GSII as it has a 128bit pipeline but both are capable of decoding/encoding 1080p at 30fps and no one is gonna go beyond that. It will only be different when using anything that is on Neon.
To sum it up
Both Phones are extremely powerful and perform better than each other in different scenarios. They are at a point where the difference are minor when coming to performance. To buy a device it entirely depends on your choice as IMO they are both no.1 at the android device table right now. You wont be disappointed by any of those
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My g2x on froyo is higher than the sensation.
But I bet the sensation is just plain more reliable
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App
No but i have the datasheet of the processor in it and i know the scores its getting in benchmarks, these scores can be calculated even via the datasheet.
About G2X Tegra2 is plain sucky when it comes to dual core and it is slowest of the bunch. The Java Apps dont perform well and that is what android is based on. Native Apps are mostly games and tegra 2 is good but Sensation is better on both
charnsingh_online said:
I just digged more into the CPU in QSD8x60 It seems to be the same scorpion cpu that ships in the MT4G. According to my data the exynos CPU is 16% faster than the qsd8x60 at the same clock speed ( 2.5 DMIPS vs 2.1 DMIPS ) being architecturally different as exynos is cortex a9 and the other one is Custom Cortex A8 so the lower score. The Sensation Smartbench productivity score is exactly 2.4x that of a stock mt4g. Other things that are affecting smartbench is the Memory Score, I/O of Sensation is around 0.5x that of GS2 and 2d score is around 0.25 x (lower due to more resolution) of that of GS2 maybe due to the fact GSII has hardware acceleration. In real day use Memory, I/O arent going to be affecting stuff much. The CPU on Exynos is faster, GSII has hardware acceleration and I/O and Memory score on the GSII are much higher. When it comes to graphics at the same resolution they are both on the same speed when on the same resolution but difference comes due to sensations qHD display. So for the performance in day to day life the Sensation isn't gonna be much of a difference over Desire HD or the GSII when executing single threaded apps which are 99% apps on Android market and like with most >1ghz CPU you wont experience lag and for the graphics they are gonna be much much faster and better. The Linpack score which tells you the speed of execution of apps written in Java which most Android apps are it is going to be same as GSII, No difference. When executing Native Apps GSII will be faster but when it comes to Native Apps, Most of the Native Apps are games which depend more on the gpu so here too both are same. When it comes to Multimedia Sensation is faster than GSII as it has a 128bit pipeline but both are capable of decoding/encoding 1080p at 30fps and no one is gonna go beyond that. It will only be different when using anything that is on Neon.
To sum it up
Both Phones are extremely powerful and perform better than each other in different scenarios. They are at a point where the difference are minor when coming to performance. To buy a device it entirely depends on your choice as IMO they are both no.1 at the android device table right now. You wont be disappointed by any of those
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They doesn't quite make sense as the mytouch is a stock 1.4 chip MSM8255 the g2 and mytouch are basically the same processors underclocked to 1ghz. The sensation is a stock 1.5 dual core capable of 2.6 ghz overclock The score the sensation getting is the same the score my mytouch was getting out of the box. That indicates that the other processor isn't quite doing anything. At its not the same as a mytouch. The chip in the sensation is MSM8660 Dual-Core SoC with Adreno 220 GPU. Equivalent to the one with HTC evo 3d. QSD8x60 dual core hasn't even been introduced yet.
Sent from my demonSPEED Glacier using XDA Premium App
Killbynature said:
They doesn't quite make sense as the mytouch is a stock 1.4 chip underclocked to 1ghz. The sensation is a stock 1.5 dual core capable of 2.6 ghz overclock The score the sensation getting is the same the score my mytouch was getting out of the box. That indicates that the other processor isn't quite doing anything. At its not the same as a mytouch. The chip in the sensation is MSM8660 Dual-Core SoC with Adreno 220 GPU.
Sent from my demonSPEED Glacier using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it doesn't seem like most of the people hear understand the async tech used in the new qualcomm chip... there is soo much into it that i myself wonder if it is worth it to have a dual core phone at this point as much apps wont stress the first core enough to push the second core to a clock speed close to 1.2 ghz.. yes i do like the sync speeds of the sgs2 but still i think its over kill... to try to put it in lamens terms the sgs2 cores will be at 1.2 ghz in use and what ever mhz at rest while the sensation could have 1 core at a clock speed of 1.2ghz and the other at what ever to relieve the stress be it 3 4 5 6 hundred mhz so until we really get programs to mimic whats needed to make the second core jump to 1.2 ghz we will always wonder about benchmarks which are useless to me
boostedb16b said:
it doesn't seem like most of the people hear understand the async tech used in the new qualcomm chip... there is soo much into it that i myself wonder if it is worth it to have a dual core phone at this point as much apps wont stress the first core enough to push the second core to a clock speed close to 1.2 ghz.. yes i do like the sync speeds of the sgs2 but still i think its over kill... to try to put it in lamens terms the sgs2 cores will be at 1.2 ghz in use and what ever mhz at rest while the sensation could have 1 core at a clock speed of 1.2ghz and the other at what ever to relieve the stress be it 3 4 5 6 hundred mhz so until we really get programs to mimic whats needed to make the second core jump to 1.2 ghz we will always wonder about benchmarks which are useless to me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope I understand I said this early about lower benchmarks. I don't care about them and I do understand the qsd chip isn't similar to the msm Chipset. Similar processors would be g2 and the mytouch 4g as they have the exact same architecture. The mytouch architecture though similar being a a8 should be vastly different
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RADLOUNI said:
Helllo
People have been saying that the sensation is getting low scores because benchmark programs are not designed to test both cores.
I find that most people are throwing around nothing but assumptions for reasons i really cannot understand. Do you know for a fact whether those benchmark programs are optimized only for one core, or is your enthusiasm for the sensation subconsciously pushing you to say that ?????????????
The author of smartbench has posted a comment on another thread in this forum that one of the main reasons smartbench 2010 was pulled out and smartbench 2011 released was testing dual core phones. he added that he does not know why is the sensation getting such low scores as compared to other dual core phone, but will investigate and come back.
So irrespective of my personal preference to HTC phones, and if smartbench author cannot find a bug in his smartbench 2011 leading to low scores on sensation, i have to say that the sensation CPU does not seem to be at the same performance level as other dual core phones
check post #239
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1081531&page=24
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I said "there might be". That doesn't mean there is. Most of us don't have this phone so we're making guesses of course.
Early anandtech benchmarks say (don't want links again just search yourself) this chipset at default 1.5 ghz is better than other dual cores. 0.3 Ghz downclock doesn't effect that much. So we're suspicious that there might be incompability problem. Because chipset is new, phone is new etc. And that author doesn't have Sensation too. Then I said "lets wait". Is that ok for you?

[INFO] Benchmark results

Hi
I've been testing and comparing some of the top candidates og android phones on the market now.
The competitors are: Samsung Galaxy SII, Lg Optimus 2x (CM7) and HTC Sensation
And I must say, I'm pretty disappointed with HTC Sensation so far. Don't know if I'm just unlucky, or if we should expect an update on this in the future, but the GPU is way behind in comparison to the two others.
www.antutu.com benchmark results:
4578 - Samsung Galaxy SII
4456 - LG Optimus 2x
3758 - HTC Sensation
Goint through the details, the most worrying is HTC Sensation scores low on 2d/3d graphics, about half of what LG Optimus 2x scores, which is the winner, with a total of 297 + 350 in graphics. Sensation scores about 300 in total.
Qaudrant benchmark goes like this:
3678 - Samsung Galaxy SII
3120 - LG optimus 2x
2170 - HTC Sensation
Basically Samsung wins because of scoring higher on both CPU and memory (1gb ram)
LG Optimus 2x got he best GPU and Database IO (data transfer rate)
HTC Sensation is just way behind
What is your results? Is it just me, or could we hope for an update?
I have heard rumors about HTC Sensation only running on half of the kernels ind the GPU, is this true?
I heard it scores so low because of the Sense 3.0 requiring so much to run.
Maybe HTC should start concerning themselves more with function rather than form. I think everyone hear would rather have a faster device with less eye candy. If you look at what Samsung had done since the Behold II they have progressively toned Touch Wiz down with each iteration. I just hope we get the boot loader unlocked quick.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
I hated touchwiz, and still hate Samsung.
Always have liked the sense. To.each their own.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA Premium App
Sensation has such low benchmarks because it has qHD screen and Sense 3.0. Take Sense 3.0 away and this thing'll fly!
As I said in my own Sense 3.0 thread, having Sense 3.0 and qHD screen beats having high benchmarks. Benchmarks don't mean ANYTHING unless they're running the same UI overlay. Put them on stock/CyanogenMod and the Sensation will be a lot lot faster!
redbullcat said:
Sensation has such low benchmarks because it has qHD screen and Sense 3.0. Take Sense 3.0 away and this thing'll fly!
As I said in my own Sense 3.0 thread, having Sense 3.0 and qHD screen beats having high benchmarks. Benchmarks don't mean ANYTHING unless they're running the same UI overlay. Put them on stock/CyanogenMod and the Sensation will be a lot lot faster!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with this. Sense requires a lot of ram and so does the qHD screen. That's the only reason benchmarks are so low. Get some stock GB on here and you'll see the difference. It also explains why the chip is clocked at 1.2GHz. I wonder how much further it can be pushed, though.
ericc191 said:
I agree with this. Sense requires a lot of ram and so does the qHD screen. That's the only reason benchmarks are so low. Get some stock GB on here and you'll see the difference. It also explains why the chip is clocked at 1.2GHz. I wonder how much further it can be pushed, though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've heard the chip is underclocked to 1.2ghz to save battery...it apparently can go to 1.5ghz, at least.
jrwingate6 said:
Maybe HTC should start concerning themselves more with function rather than form. I think everyone hear would rather have a faster device with less eye candy. If you look at what Samsung had done since the Behold II they have progressively toned Touch Wiz down with each iteration. I just hope we get the boot loader unlocked quick.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you don't like sense then why buy the Sensation? That's like buying car that's a stick and then complaining because it's not an automatic. Yes sense is on the phone, yes sense may cause lower benchmarks, yes it's heavily intergrated. If those things bother you then perhaps purchasing a sensation was a mistake...not trying to start an argument, but really it illogical to complain about something you knew going in was a core part of the phone. I don't like touchwiz...so I don't purchase devices with touchwiz on them...it wouldn't make sense for me to buy a phone with touchwiz knowing I don't like it and then complaining about it.
Some ignorant people just don't get the fact. HTC had been advertised about Sense 3.0 for Sensation and we all do know it is a core part of the phone. So don't get the phone if you are for benchmarks isn't it? this sound silly, doesn't it?
Ah! Of course... the screen res is higher, that should influence on the benchmark for sure. Moto Xoom scores low also, but that too, has a higher res.
Im just concerned if it is still scoring lower when on stock. Does anyone have a true benchmark of the Adreno220, which is within the Sensation?
The benchmarks I found on the internet, the Adreno220/M8660 beats the crap out of LG optimus 2x and SGSII.
Anyone know if there is a truth to the "half cores only support" yet?
larsn84 said:
Ah! Of course... the screen res is higher, that should influence on the benchmark for sure. Moto Xoom scores low also, but that too, has a higher res.
Im just concerned if it is still scoring lower when on stock. Does anyone have a true benchmark of the Adreno220, which is within the Sensation?
The benchmarks I found on the internet, the Adreno220/M8660 beats the crap out of LG optimus 2x and SGSII.
Anyone know if there is a truth to the "half cores only support" yet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When we get s-off, we'll have some true benchmarks for all devices. Optimus 2x, Galaxy S II, Sensation, and possibly Moto Atrix. Put them all on latest release of CyanogenMod7 and benchmark them using a range of apps.
ImHuge07 said:
I heard it scores so low because of the Sense 3.0 requiring so much to run.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually its mainly because HTC chose to use old technology and use 2 second gen snapdragon chips which use the arm 8 instruction set, instead of using a cpu based on the new arm 9 technology which is what every other new dual core cpu is set up with.
TheRiceKing said:
Actually its mainly because HTC chose to use old technology and use 2 second gen snapdragon chips which use the arm 8 instruction set, instead of using a cpu based on the new arm 9 technology which is what ever other new dual core cpu is set up with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As other people have stated, this view is nonsense. Scorpion is a parallel development to A9. It has advantages and disadvantages in comparison.
lol if you want to try and call it nonsense... I'm really just trying to help educate you and explain, but you can continue to think that if you wish
Scorpion incorporates some ARM 9 features, its basically like ARM 8 and a half and that is being optimistic -_-'
TheRiceKing said:
Actually its mainly because HTC chose to use old technology and use 2 second gen snapdragon chips which use the arm 8 instruction set, instead of using a cpu based on the new arm 9 technology which is what ever other new dual core cpu is set up with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your post is wildly inaccurate... First of all there is no ARM 8 instruction set. All A8, A9, and Scorpion processors use the ARMv7 instruction set. Second, Scorpion is Qualcomm's own architecture, it is not based on the A8 design, they created their own design from scratch. It is not as simple as A9 > A8 for this reason. The Scorpion architecture implements features that are not available on A8 but are available on A9. The main difference between the Scorpion and the A9 is the number of pipeline stages. The Scorpion has 13 while the A9 has 8. This is positive and negative for both, as more pipeline stages improves throughput, but is more costly if an instruction has to be aborted and the pipeline flushed.
I have gotten a lot of responses telling me that the Scorpion is based off A8 and tweaked. This is not correct. If it were simply tweaked, it would not be able to have a clock over 1 GHz without overclocking, as that is the limitation of the A8 architecture. It also could not support dual cores, again a limitation of A8. The Scorpion also has partial support of out-of-order processing. This is impossible on an A8 processor, but is fully supported on an A9.
You are correct in saying that every other dual core is based off an A9 processor because the A9 is the only design you can license from ARM that can support dual cores. The only alternative is for a company to license the instruction set itself and design their own architecture (Qualcomm's approach). I should also point out that the A9 processors are synchronous, while the MSM8260 is asynchronous, allowing separate clock speeds and voltages to each core, which can greatly increase battery performance (especially on processes that only utilize 1 core).
I will agree that A9 is more advanced than Scorpion, but it is not by nearly as much as the "Scorpion is A8" argument would indicate. The MSM8260 can also support clock speed up to 1.5 GHz, so the Sensation can be overclocked without actually overclocking the processor.
LittleMerc said:
Some ignorant people just don't get the fact. HTC had been advertised about Sense 3.0 for Sensation and we all do know it is a core part of the phone. So don't get the phone if you are for benchmarks isn't it? this sound silly, doesn't it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly! I don't understand the logic of people that purchase a device that they know has certain features and then complain about it. That's like buying a phone with a slide out keyboard and then complaining saying you don't like the fact that it has a slide out keyboard. My thing is, Sense is not a surprise. Everyone knew going in that it was there, and they know what it is and how it works. If certain people don't like that, then they probably shouldn't have bought the phone. Doesn't make sense to complain about getting exactly what you were paying for.
mpjohns3 said:
Your post is wildly inaccurate... First of all there is no ARM 8 instruction set. All A8, A9, and Scorpion processors use the ARMv7 instruction set. Second, Scorpion is Qualcomm's own architecture, it is not based on the A8 design, they created their own design from scratch. It is not as simple as A9 > A8 for this reason. The Scorpion architecture implements features that are not available on A8 but are available on A9. The main difference between the Scorpion and the A9 is the number of pipeline stages. The Scorpion has 13 while the A9 has 8. This is positive and negative for both, as more pipeline stages improves throughput, but is more costly if an instruction has to be aborted and the pipeline flushed.
I have gotten a lot of responses telling me that the Scorpion is based off A8 and tweaked. This is not correct. If it were simply tweaked, it would not be able to have a clock over 1 GHz without overclocking, as that is the limitation of the A8 architecture. It also could not support dual cores, again a limitation of A8. The Scorpion also has partial support of out-of-order processing. This is impossible on an A8 processor, but is fully supported on an A9.
You are correct in saying that every other dual core is based off an A9 processor because the A9 is the only design you can license from ARM that can support dual cores. The only alternative is for a company to license the instruction set itself and design their own architecture (Qualcomm's approach). I should also point out that the A9 processors are synchronous, while the MSM8260 is asynchronous, allowing separate clock speeds and voltages to each core, which can greatly increase battery performance (especially on processes that only utilize 1 core).
I will agree that A9 is more advanced than Scorpion, but it is not by nearly as much as the "Scorpion is A8" argument would indicate. The MSM8260 can also support clock speed up to 1.5 GHz, so the Sensation can be overclocked without actually overclocking the processor.
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Click to collapse
Wow, informative post. That should stop the A9 >A8 (Scorpion) because it's a bigger number rubbish, for a while.
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using XDA App

sensation performance / aSMP info needed please

Hi,
i recently return my samsung (4th time) galaxy s2 becouse of various defects , i been looking at the sensation however i have a few questions , firstly for all its issues i like how fast and responsive the galaxay was however when i tryed the sensation i noticed its not as smooth as the galaxy or that much smoother then the desire hd.
One possible reason for this i noticed was that the sensation uses a asmp cpu , which seems a bit cheeky to me. I mean im buying a dual core phone so i would like both cores to work at the same time as opposed to one working then the second kicking in when the first is loaded. From what ive read ics should have better support for this setup , so i was curious does anyone think we will see that much of a difference bearing in mind the sensation is asmp.
I notice there`s a lot of talented devs from the desire development and hd which is encouraging so i was hoping to learn from various users how much of a performance increase there seeing in custom roms ie is the browser jerky like stock ??
Appreciate any / all feedback thank you
I'm interested in some more more info on this topic as well.....
Sent from my Sensation using xda premium
Read up!
ok so aSMP doesn't really work in the method of core 0 gets loaded then core 1 kicks in, thats way off.
basically SMP cpus like Tegra and Samsung's both cores run at the same speed, so core 1 follows core 0. This doesn't mean that core 1 is actually processing anything. In most cases due to gingerbread the phone is still mainly running on one core unless the app supports multicore.
aSMP allows the cores to run completely independent. This is great for battery life. Core 0 can do things like play games and stuff at full speed while core 1 handles background data.
so playing angry birds while syncing photos on flickr:
core 0 could be running at full 1.5Ghz
core 1 could be running at 500Mhz just do handle the syncing
This is basically the idea. We will get better support with ICS for full and proper support for multiple cores and the kernels will only get better as devs learn.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1233103
Hi,
Thank you for you detailed reply ive been following the thread you posted which is what led me to posting question here , i obviously misunderstood what was being said. That being said im no expert but if i buy a dual core phone id rather have both cores committed to one task like pc ... this is one of the things thats making me hold back on sensation. Althougth its a great phone with great ui and fantastic potential with future updates and dev support to the touch at present the galaxy s2 just seems smoother with the way its doing thing.
As i say thou im not expert i can appreciate theres other factor to take into account such as kernal etc, im just going with hands on usage and trying to evaluate the future potential for both devices before making a decision to which i should choose
tonnytech said:
Hi,
Thank you for you detailed reply ive been following the thread you posted which is what led me to posting question here , i obviously misunderstood what was being said. That being said im no expert but if i buy a dual core phone id rather have both cores committed to one task like pc ... this is one of the things thats making me hold back on sensation. Althougth its a great phone with great ui and fantastic potential with future updates and dev support to the touch at present the galaxy s2 just seems smoother with the way its doing thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The sensation's CPU works in a much more power efficient way, while still offering the speed of any other dual core CPU. It allows different clock speeds for different cores so applications using only a single core will be able to clock it differently to those using the other in the background. Computers, especially laptops work in a similar way, as there is a need for power efficiency. Realistically the Galaxy SII runs smoother due to it running a much less resource hungry skin on top of android, but both the CPU of the sensation and the Galaxy SII are both of a similar calibre, so it is very difficult to say which is better.
again thanks for the reply , defintly understand how this asmp buisness works more now which has given me some stuff to think about
tonnytech said:
Hi,
Thank you for you detailed reply ive been following the thread you posted which is what led me to posting question here , i obviously misunderstood what was being said. That being said im no expert but if i buy a dual core phone id rather have both cores committed to one task like pc ... this is one of the things thats making me hold back on sensation. Althougth its a great phone with great ui and fantastic potential with future updates and dev support to the touch at present the galaxy s2 just seems smoother with the way its doing thing.
As i say thou im not expert i can appreciate theres other factor to take into account such as kernal etc, im just going with hands on usage and trying to evaluate the future potential for both devices before making a decision to which i should choose
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Neither architecture, SMP or aSMP, will commit both cores to one task unless the app is multithreaded and it currently needs the use of both cores. This is the same way that multicore pc's operate. That's why when quad core CPU's first came out people said that they didn't feel any faster than comparable dual core chips - most existing apps at that time were written for single or dual threaded use so the third and fourth cores largely sat unused. The pc doesn't just force the use of the extra cores just because they are there (regardless of how they scale, aSMP or SMP).
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using xda premium
Also the new firmware has made it smoother due to extra optimisations. Web browser is not as good as the galaxy S 2 due that being GPU accelerated. Power wise the Sensation you will get somewhat more out of your battery life wise.
hardensm said:
Realistically the Galaxy SII runs smoother due to it running a much less resource hungry skin on top of android, but both the CPU of the sensation and the Galaxy SII are both of a similar calibre, so it is very difficult to say which is better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you look at my thread and see the post:
MSM8x60:
Adreno 220 GPU
2x Cortex A8 Based Cores
512KB L2 Cache
45nm
upto 333Mhz LPDDR2
Exynos 4210:
Mali 400 GPU
2x Cortex A9 Based Cores
1MB L2 Cache
45nm
support for LPDDR2/DDR3
Tegra 2:
ULP Geforce GPU
2x Cortex A9 Based Cores
1MB L2 Cache
40nm
support for 600Mhz LPDDR2
So the biggest thing is is that the Exynos is based on a new core micro-arch then the Snapdragon 2, also it has the ability to support DDR3 memory. To go into more detail about ARM Cortex.
Items that A8 and A9 have in common:
Jazelle RCT for JIT Compilation
Neon SIMD Instruction Set (Optional)
Thumb2 Instruction set
VFPv3 Floating Point Unit (Optional)
Cortex A8:
Superscalar Dual-Issue Micro-Arch
2.0 DMIPS/Mhz
Cortex A9:
Out-Of-Order Superscalar Micro-Arch
2.5 DMIPS/Mhz
Jazelle DBX for Java Execution
Dual-Core Processing Built In
The SGSII has a new generation architecture as so does the Tegra
This thread is iteresting. I want to continue that.
my cpu0 and cpu1 arrive at 1,7 ghz. so cpu1 doesnt arrive up to 500 mhz

Dual Core Dual Channel but only running on 1 core??

Howdy everyone,
i happened to come across an app on the market called CPU Gauge and this demonstrates to you exactly what each core on your phone is doing at all times, even in your notification bar at all times. Now i have noticed no matter what i do there only ever seems to be 1 core running which is pretty pants i reckon. how can i enable it to run dual cores all of the time? i dont understand it personally, why have a dual channel architecture if its hardly ever used? and surely it having to decide whether to use one core over two and to send data down both channels or just the one is probably a reason why we get lag? i am probably completely wrong but id rather the cpus always be on and drain battery if it improves overall performance
androidfanboi said:
Howdy everyone,
i happened to come across an app on the market called CPU Gauge and this demonstrates to you exactly what each core on your phone is doing at all times, even in your notification bar at all times. Now i have noticed no matter what i do there only ever seems to be 1 core running which is pretty pants i reckon. how can i enable it to run dual cores all of the time? i dont understand it personally, why have a dual channel architecture if its hardly ever used? and surely it having to decide whether to use one core over two and to send data down both channels or just the one is probably a reason why we get lag? i am probably completely wrong but id rather the cpus always be on and drain battery if it improves overall performance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Though a mod will move this thread please post questions in the general section this is for development purposes only..
But if what you say is true i will have to look into this. What rom are you currently running?
Just a rooted/overclocked LG stock gingerbread rom.
For me it shows 2 Cores working ,but second is ON only when needed (as it should be) So its OK. Lags are because of poor ram managment on LG software, I recommend Rushdroid ROM.
What I know, Android 2.3 and below does not provide a support for multi cores. However, ICS does support it. So, I think the phone will run much better when the ICS update comes.
abo_mara7 said:
What I know, Android 2.3 and below does not provide a support for multi cores. However, ICS does support it. So, I think the phone will run much better when the ICS update comes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nope. thasts only an urban legend But it can improve performance at some points, but I would be rather sceptic. Custom roms must be always better (what they are doing making software, making it slower on purpose? go Samsung way and hire cm team members)
In games it uses both cores but im dissapointed that when testing swapping between different apps and web browsing seemed to all be using just the one core, and that was with lags inbetween swapping from for instance gallery to browser. I love this phone great specs but it annoys me more and more to think LG really did have no clue when it came down to putting it all into action. is there any way to have 2 cores on at all times or atleast change the values that decide when to use second core/channel.
If anything it makes for an interesting discussion
IFLPI said:
nope. thasts only an urban legend But it can improve performance at some points, but I would be rather sceptic. Custom roms must be always better (what they are doing making software, making it slower on purpose? go Samsung way and hire cm team members)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It has a partial support, not 100%, and the proof is that all dual core phones which received ICD update, got a huge improvement in the performance, as their users said.
androidfanboi said:
In games it uses both cores but im dissapointed that when testing swapping between different apps and web browsing seemed to all be using just the one core, and that was with lags inbetween swapping from for instance gallery to browser. I love this phone great specs but it annoys me more and more to think LG really did have no clue when it came down to putting it all into action. is there any way to have 2 cores on at all times or atleast change the values that decide when to use second core/channel.
If anything it makes for an interesting discussion
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The processor works as it should be, all cores when needed. Check System Panel app. Ram is the issue here. On stock it will be always laggy. On rushdroid and samba there is good ram management. Almost 250mb for the user. On stock i doubt if there is 130mb free available.
@up: there is no evidence that GB supports 1 core only and ICS multiple cores. A better performance on ICS can be due to the bigger optimizations, and hw support (that can be buggy) like gpu enabled scrolling etc.
But Ive heard that ics supports fully multicores, and that is an urban legend for me (no evidence) Ics can be just more optimized than gingerbread (and more like honeycomb which was quite fast)
IFLPI said:
The processor works as it should be, all cores when needed. Check System Panel app. Ram is the issue here. On stock it will be always laggy. On rushdroid and samba there is good ram management. Almost 250mb for the user. On stock i doubt if there is 130mb free available.
@up: there is no evidence that GB supports 1 core only and ICS multiple cores. A better performance on ICS can be due to the bigger optimizations, and hw support (that can be buggy) like gpu enabled scrolling etc.
But Ive heard that ics supports fully multicores, and that is an urban legend for me (no evidence) Ics can be just more optimized than gingerbread (and more like honeycomb which was quite fast)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you are correct cores are working as they should be not a problem here at... Gingerbread supports multicore and does use the cpu to the max when needed, you don't need to run both your cores all the time if that was the case you would need to charge your phone every 3 hours....
The issue with our optimus 3d is it needs ram tweaks to keep it smooth, 512mb ram is good i am not complaining because it's dual channel and so on so the ram speed is amazing just to free up ram we have tweaks...
Also the cpu is used to the max when needed, when you make a call you do not need both cores working at the same time that would be pointless. But when you play games, browse the net and bench your device all cores are used at the same time...
if you want to try it (see the difference) with both cores enabled ,(and cpu speed at max) try system tuner app , in cpu setting put governor to "performance" the first core will go to max speed , then go to active tweak and there is an option to force all cpu on , try it , it will be hard for the battery... when you put governor back to hotplug , the second core will return on demand (on/off) . if you want to do it again after you have to redo all step and turn the force all cpu on off and on again...
i'm on v21D on rushdroid 3.6.3. Both cores show up as working. 1 core ususally hits 1.4ghz and 2nd one upto 1ghz during regular processing. Great app btw tnx for letting us know
Which kernel you use on rushdroid @1,4ghz?
IFLPI said:
Which kernel you use on rushdroid @1,4ghz?
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Click to collapse
Titan kernal v21d
Sent from my LG-P920h using XDA
Its not neccessary to use dual core all the times ,using dual core for small task degrade the performance that increasing. Since our phone have dual memory the cache plays an important role in deciding which core should be used.

[Q] Dual-core clock queries?

This is a hardware question, I have a friend who owns a Desire HD, now he goes on and on about how Single core phones are just as powerful as Dual core phones because, and this is his theory, a Dual core phone that says it is clocked at 1 GHz actually has either core clocked at 500 MHz, whereas the core in a Single core phone is clocked at 1 Ghz flat.
This just honestly seems like a frankly rubbish argument that doesn't make much sense to me, however I want to know if he's right, is there any literature out there that proves either way. Is he right? Or is he just being a boner?
Kryptyle said:
This is a hardware question, I have a friend who owns a Desire HD, now he goes on and on about how Single core phones are just as powerful as Dual core phones because, and this is his theory, a Dual core phone that says it is clocked at 1 GHz actually has either core clocked at 500 MHz, whereas the core in a Single core phone is clocked at 1 Ghz flat.
This just honestly seems like a frankly rubbish argument that doesn't make much sense to me, however I want to know if he's right, is there any literature out there that proves either way. Is he right? Or is he just being a boner?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
long story short, he is wrong. keep in mind dual core s different from dual processor. the processor of a dual core simply allows 2 instructions to be carried out at onece adding performance to programs that have lots going on at the same time, but is still the same otherwise. They seriously help with multitasking so on android they would really help .
lkrasner said:
long story short, he is wrong. keep in mind dual core s different from dual processor. the processor of a dual core simply allows 2 instructions to be carried out at onece adding performance to programs that have lots going on at the same time, but is still the same otherwise. They seriously help with multitasking so on android they would really help .
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Click to collapse
Correct! It allows 2 different "threads" to be computed at the same time. Your friend isn't all wrong though. Any app has to fully support dual threading. If it doesn't you will see the same performance from a 1ghz dual core phone and a 1ghz single core. Also remember the architecture of the CPU is important. In many cases a 1ghz phone may perform better than a 1.2ghz phone.
Sent from my MB865 using XDA
Well, almost.
Dual core means there are two independent processing units on the same chip. The chip itself operates at 1gigahertz, and that generally applies to anything on that die.
so your friend is wrong, as both cores run at 1 gig, but a lot more factors relate to actual performance.
In most cases, single core will not perform as well as a dual core at the same speed. (assuming they are the same arch)
Sent from my MB865 using XDA
Some dishonest Chinese sellers will do things like this.
Some places you'll see dual core NEC EV2 based tablets as "1ghz" even though it's two ~500mhz cores.
Other places you'll see a single core device deceitfully advertised as "dual core" as it includes a GPU in addition to the CPU.
They'll then add the GPU and CPU frequencies together and sell a 1.1ghz device as 1.5ghz.
(And don't get me started about seeing "Cortex A10" in the specs)
So long as we're discussing legitimate specifications, your friend is wrong
The most important thing is.... To tell your friend he is totally true.. When he revises his theory somedays later, then listen to him.
Sent from my ME865 using XDA
It really depends on the apps that you are running. Gingerbread does not fully support dual core processors but the Android (linux) kernel does. So if the apps you are running are written to take advantage of the extra core, they will run faster on a dual core phone. Where it does help to have an extra core is multitasking, with a dual core phone you will be able to smoothly run more apps at one time. But if you benchmark an app that only utilizes one core on both a single core and a dual core phone, the results will not automatically favor the dual core phone.

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