Mediatek octa-core MT6592 vs Qualcomm SnapDragon 800

Starting from this year many of our tablet and smart watch models will be powered by MediaTek octa-core CPU. Mediatek has recently launched it’s newest product, MT6592 which is referred to as the first true octa-core processor in the world. With the terms of “true eight-core” processors are certainly a lot of waiting for how to review the performance of devices that use them.

The greater computational capabilities of the MediaTek MT6592 deliver premium gaming performance, advanced multi-tasking and enhanced web browsing for high-end smartphones and tablets . The MT6592 builds on the success of existing MediaTek quad-core mobile platforms, which have revolutionized price-performance efficiency for mobile devices, and are available in devices running Android ‘Jelly Bean’ including our M785 and M97 models. MT6592 enabled mobile devices will be running Android ‘Kit-Kat’.

Building on the advanced 28nm HPM high-performance process, the MT6592 has eight CPU cores, each capable of clock speeds up to 2GHz. The true octa-core architecture is fully scalable, and the MT6592 runs both low-power and more demanding tasks equally effectively by harnessing the full capabilities of all eight cores in any combination. An advanced MediaTek scheduling algorithm also monitors temperature and power consumption to ensure optimum performance at all times.

The MT6592 features a world-class multimedia subsystem with a quad-core graphics engine, an advanced video playback system supporting Ultra-HD 4Kx2K H.264 video playback and support for new video codecs such as H.265 and VP9, a 16-megapixel camera and a Full HD display. The SOC also features MediaTek ClearMotion™ technology for automatic frame-rate conversion of standard 24/30fps video to high-quality 60fps video for significantly smoother playback.

Enhancing mobile performance still further, the MT6592 incorporates the MediaTek advanced multi-mode cellular modem and a full connectivity capability for dual-band 801.11n Wi-Fi, Miracast screen-sharing as well as Bluetooth , GPS and an FM tuner. No other chip makers including Qualcomm cannot beat MediaTek on this.

In addition to MediaTek’s leadership in Heterogeneous Multi-Processing (HMP) in CPU, all of its mobile SOC’s including the MT6592 have been using a Heterogeneous Computing (HC) architecture, distributing the workload to different kinds of processors and other specialized computing engines to optimize performance.  These HC building blocks include the CPU, GPU, DSP, multiple connectivity engines, multiple multimedia engines, camera engines, display engines, navigation, and sensor cores. MediaTek is committed to apply the best-in-class technologies to each of these building blocks.

Is this chip could eventually disrupt the dominance of Qualcomm with its Snapdragon 800? According to result from Antutu benchmark test, it seems this can match the Snapdragon 800 chipset.
With 2GHz clock, the MT6592 got 32.606 score points, this processor is beat the 2.2 GHz Snapdragon 800 chipset as available on Sony Xperia Z1. While at lower clock, exactly 1.7 GHz, eight-core chipset exceeded 29.415 score points. Of course the numbers are not indicative of a major benchmark the performance of a device, but at least we have a good perspective to look forward to the performance of this processor.
Although Mediatek does not mention whether the results obtained from devices with screen resolution of 720 or 1080p, but at least the benchmark results of Zopo ZP998 smartphone, this is the first smartphone that uses the MT6592 processor, the phone packs with 1080p screen gives the figure 28.118 score points.

As you can see in the chart below, that’s a quit close to the scores of the Snapdragon 800.

AnTuTu 4
Higher is better

Samsung Galaxy Note 331,109
Sony Xperia Z130,850
LG G230,243
Sony Xperia Z Ultra29,185
Samsung Galaxy S427,613
HTC One26,389
LG Nexus 417,006

MediaTek has officially confirmed that the chip can run at 2GHz. The higher frequency should be able to return more than 30,000 points, and software optimizations might help improve the score even further, but that’s yet to be confirmed and remains just a speculation at this point.

A couple of months ago Qualcomm released a video bashing MediaTek’s octa-core chipset, saying that it’s not the number of core that matters, but their performance. It appears Samsung doesn’t share Qualcomm’s view on the matter, thought, as it also announced it’s working on a true octa-core Exynos chip. The company has confirmed it won’t update the Galaxy Note 3 or the Galaxy S4 with true octa-core capabilities, suggesting that it’s probably saving it for the upcoming Galaxy S5 flagship.