Thursday, September 28, 2017
The Snapdragon 600 series of SoCs
The Snapdragon 600 series of SoCs
In my eyes, the most interesting and dynamic section of the mobile market is the mid range. These are largely phones priced approximately between �130 and �250 and generally offer a specification that is more than acceptable for most users.
While there are multiple vendors offering SoCs in this price bracket, the largest is, of course, Qualcomm. In this post I will outline the core components of the 600 series SoCs and provide a look up table for the currently active model numbers.
Snapdragon 600 series Overview
Qualcomm offers its Snapdragon 600 series of SoCs to the mid range, with the series fitting between the entry level 400 series (Quad core A53s) and high end 800 series (6-8 core ARM or Quad core Kryo).
Unlike the 400 and 800 series, the performance spread through the 600 range is quite substantial, which once again makes it the most interesting of the series for me.
Before we get to the SoCs, it is worth looking at the cores that are contained within them.
Big and Little ARM Cores
ARM Cortex A53
The A53 is a little ARM core, optimised for power efficiency over performance.
ARM Cortex A72
The A72 is a big ARM core, optimised for performance. A72 offers around 50% more performance than A53 at the same frequency.
The A72 is the successor to the A57, as found in the 2015 Snapdragon flagships the 810 and 808. It offers both a performance improvement (around 20%) over the A57, as well as a notable reduction in power consumption (around 15%). The power reduction in particular was a welcome enhancement after the overheating issues that plagued flagship Snapdragon 810 phones throughout 2015.
GPU cores
The following GPU cores are found within Snapdragon 600 series SoCs:
Adreno 405
Qualcomms entry level GPU in the 600 series
Adreno 506
I have not managed locate benchmark scores for the Adreno 506, as found in devices running the Snapdragon 625 such as the Samsung Galaxy C7 (which, as of the time of writing, has not been released). It goes without saying performance will be somewhere between the 405 and 510.
Adreno 510
In my tests, the Adreno 510 in the Snapdragon 650 offers around 3 times the performance of the Adreno 405
Current Snapdragon 600 series members
| Model | Process | Cluster 1 | Cluster 2 | GPU |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 615 | 28nm LP | 4 x 1.7Ghz A53 | 4 x 1.0Ghz A53 | Adreno 405 |
| 616 | 28nm LP | 4 x 1.7Ghz A53 | 4 x 1.2Ghz A53 | Adreno 405 |
| 617 | 28nm LP | 4 x 1.5Ghz A53 | 4 x 1.2Ghz A53 | Adreno 405 |
| 625 | 14nm | 4 x 2.0Ghz A53 | 4 x 2.0Ghz A53 | Adreno 506 |
| 650 | 28nm HPm | 2 x 1.8Ghz A72 | 4 x 1.4Ghz A53 | Adreno 510 |
| 652 | 28nm HPm | 4 x 1.8Ghz A72 | 4 x 1.4Ghz A53 | Adreno 510 |
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