The day a mid-range processor from MediaTek put the best of Qualcomm on the ropes

For years MediaTek has been in the shadow of Qualcomm. Less efficient processors, less powerful, with driver and support problems and with less compatibility with ROMs, third-party apps and others. During the last two years Qualcomm has dropped a gear in efficiencywith a generation Snapdragon 888 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 starring high consumption and high temperatures.

These issues appear to have been resolved thanks to the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, which replaces Samsung’s 5nm manufacturing process with TSMC’s. However, almost all the high-end that were born between January and July of this year, mount the Gen 1. We wanted to compare this processor with one of the MediaTek starsthe Dimension 8100.

Why? Because It is the first time that a MediaTek “mid-range” processor has managed to beat Qualcomm’s flagship. The rival to beat would be the Dimensity 9000, but there are no proposals for sale in Spain with this SoC, and it is even more striking that the processor that is below it is such a spectacle in performance.

Tests

For this comparison, the perfect scenario would have been the same phone in MTK Dimensity 8100 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 versions. There is no such mobile, so we have used different models. Specifically, the latest Sony Xperia I IV and the Realme GT Neo 3. Although there are individual differences in terms of dissipation and construction, Throughout the analysis, the data will make clear the differences in processor.

Regarding the tests, we have made a careful selection of benchmarks. We did not want to see who scores the most, simply, but to go from the most general to the most specific tests to measure all the points of the SoCs with relative precision.

• General AnTuTu: analyzes the CPU in multicore, tests the GPU, operations with RAM memory and ROM memory (sequential reading, sequential writing, etc.) last section of UX, where images, data, etc. are processed. It only offers an overall scoreso it is a general test to give context about the position that each SoC occupies.

• 3D Mark Wild Stress Test: one of the best GPU tests today. Wild Life is a 20-minute test that measures device performance under long periods of heavy load. It not only provides a score, but shows how has performance been sustained throughout the entire test.

• GFXbench Aztec Ruins OpenGL 1440p: While 3D Mark is a full GPU test, a twist is GFXBench’s Aztek Ruins test. This will offer a total score in FPS to know the graphic potential.

• CPU Throttling Test: with this test we seek to know the throttling of the CPU, the throttling it suffers and how much the performance drops.

• PerfDog gaming test: This test is more unknown, since it is not a mobile app. PerDog is a platform that allows you to measure the consumption, FPS and performance of any phone by connecting it to a PC.

The battery has been kept always above 50%to prevent any of these mobiles from lowering their performance through software.

AnTuTu

8100 | 8 Gen 1

The global AnTuTu score is not an infallible indicator of how powerful a processor will be, but it is certainly more than relevant that a “mid” range processor scores, for the first time, above Qualcomm’s high-end. In this case, the Dimensity 8100 has scored above the Gen 1 in CPU, GPU, and AnTuTu’s secondary tests.

3D Mark Wild Life

3D Mark Wild Life in unlimited mode is one of the best current tests to measure sustained performance. In other words, it not only measures the maximum score, but also tells us how the performance has been falling.

The MTK Dimensity 8100 remains stable throughout the test.

The Qualcomm drops to almost 50% of its maximum performance.

Here we appreciate that the maximum score has been higher in the Qualcomm, but the most relevant data has to do with the stability of the test: 92.5% stability in MediaTek, vs 52.8% in Qualcomm. The translation of this is remarkable, the MediaTek has fallen less than 8% in 20 minutes of testing, while the Qualcomm has fallen by almost 50%.

GFXbench Aztec Ruins OpenGL 1440p

This is one of the toughest tests to measure GPU, to the point that none of the phones we have tested have even reached 30 FPS. In this test, in which the Mali-G610 MC6 and the Adreno 730 are squeezed, we see that the score is higher in the MediaTek, 27 vs. 25 FPS. A relevant difference, since one of the weak points in MTK has always been the GPU.

CPU Throttling Test

In the 3D Mark graphics performance test we saw the Snapdragon drop by around 50% compared to 8% for the MediaTek. The data perfectly matches the CPU stress test. In this case, the MediaTek has maintained its performance at 90%. On the Qualcomm side, it has fallen to 65%, a more than notable difference. comment here that the temperature of both devices has been very similarabout 41 degrees Celsius, so this is not the only one that explains the throttling of the Snapdragon.

PerDog, gaming test

MediaTek

Qualcomm.

The three data you see in the graphs correspond to FPS rate, CPU usage and power consumption. In this test we wanted to assess the FPS that they have sustained and the consumption. We have played ‘Genshin Impact’ in Ultra settingsthe highest possible.

The MediaTek Dimensity 8100 has remained above 50 FPS almost at all times, with occasional drops in more graphics-intensive areas. The most spectacular thing is the consumption, which at no time has exceeded 4.5W.

For its part, the Qualcomm has had a harder time maintaining an average of 40 FPS, reaching consumption peaks of 11W, more than double compared to MediaTek. Such an abysmal difference in energy consumption is especially striking, the Gen 1 consuming much more with lower performance.

The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 as a solution

It could seem in this test that Qualcomm is in free fall and that MediaTek has advanced to the left. Until recently, this was practically the reading, but the trend can be reversed. The main problem with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 has been Samsung’s 5-nanometer manufacturing process, which has proven to be much more inefficient than TSMC’s 5-nanometer process.

With the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 comes this “new” manufacturing processand the first tests point to very similar results to those of the Dimensity 8100. On the MediaTek side, it is spectacular that a processor oriented to the mid-high range far outperform such an ambitious proposal from Qualcomm. MediaTek has gotten its act together and, if it continues down this path, the old stigmas it carries from the past can finally be eliminated.