HiSilicon Kirin 960 vs NVIDIA Tegra X1

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


HiSilicon Kirin 960 CPU1 vs CPU2 NVIDIA Tegra X1
HiSilicon Kirin 960 NVIDIA Tegra X1

CPU comparison

In this CPU comparison, we compare the HiSilicon Kirin 960 and the NVIDIA Tegra X1 and use benchmarks to check which processor is faster.

We compare the HiSilicon Kirin 960 8 core processor released in Q4/2016 with the NVIDIA Tegra X1 which has 8 CPU cores and was introduced in Q1/2017.
HiSilicon Kirin (29) Family NVIDIA Tegra (2)
HiSilicon Kirin 960 (2) CPU group NVIDIA Tegra X1 (2)
5 Generation 2
Cortex-A73 / Cortex-A53 Architecture Cortex-A57/-A53
Mobile Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor --
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The HiSilicon Kirin 960 is a 8 core processor with a clock frequency of 2.40 GHz. The processor can compute 8 threads at the same time. The NVIDIA Tegra X1 clocks with 2.00 GHz, has 8 CPU cores and can calculate 8 threads in parallel.

HiSilicon Kirin 960 Characteristic NVIDIA Tegra X1
8 Cores 8
8 Threads 8
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
No Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
2.40 GHz
4x Cortex-A73
A-Core 2.00 GHz
4x Cortex-A57
1.80 GHz
4x Cortex-A53
B-Core 2.00 GHz
4x Cortex-A53

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Processors with the support of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can process many calculations, especially audio, image and video processing, much faster than classic processors. Algorithms for ML improve their performance the more data they have collected via software. ML tasks can be processed up to 10,000 times faster than with a classic processor.

HiSilicon Kirin 960 Characteristic NVIDIA Tegra X1
-- AI hardware --
-- AI specifications --

Internal Graphics

Graphics (iGPU) integrated into the processor not only enable image output without having to rely on a dedicated graphics solution, but can also efficiently accelerate video playback.

ARM Mali-G71 MP8 GPU NVIDIA Tegra X1 (Maxwell)
0.90 GHz GPU frequency 0.30 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) 1.00 GHz
Bifrost 1 GPU Generation 1
16 nm Technology 20 nm
2 Max. displays 1
8 Compute units 2
256 Shader 256
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
2 GB Max. GPU Memory 2 GB
11 DirectX Version 12

Hardware codec support

A photo or video codec that is accelerated in hardware can greatly accelerate the working speed of a processor and extend the battery life of notebooks or smartphones when playing videos.

ARM Mali-G71 MP8 GPU NVIDIA Tegra X1 (Maxwell)
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) Decode
Decode Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) Decode
Decode / Encode Codec h264 Decode / Encode
No Codec VP9 Decode
Decode / Encode Codec VP8 Decode
No Codec AV1 No
Decode / Encode Codec AVC Decode
No Codec VC-1 Decode
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

Up to 6 GB of memory in a maximum of 2 memory channels is supported by the HiSilicon Kirin 960, while the NVIDIA Tegra X1 supports a maximum of 8 GB of memory with a maximum memory bandwidth of 25.6 GB/s enabled.

HiSilicon Kirin 960 Characteristic NVIDIA Tegra X1
LPDDR4-1600 Memory LPDDR4-3200
6 GB Max. Memory 8 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
12.8 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 25.6 GB/s
No ECC No
-- L2 Cache 2.50 MB
4.00 MB L3 Cache --
-- PCIe version --
-- PCIe lanes --
-- PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The HiSilicon Kirin 960 has a TDP of 5 W. The TDP of the NVIDIA Tegra X1 is 7 W. System integrators use the TDP of the processor as a guide when dimensioning the cooling solution.

HiSilicon Kirin 960 Characteristic NVIDIA Tegra X1
5 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 7 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down 5 W
-- Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The HiSilicon Kirin 960 has 4.00 MB cache and is manufactured in 16 nm. The cache of NVIDIA Tegra X1 is at 2.50 MB. The processor is manufactured in 20 nm.

HiSilicon Kirin 960 Characteristic NVIDIA Tegra X1
16 nm Technology 20 nm
Chiplet Chip design Chiplet
Armv8-A (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) Armv8-A (64 bit)
-- ISA extensions --
-- Socket --
None Virtualization None
No AES-NI No
Android Operating systems
Q4/2016 Release date Q1/2017
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

Here you can rate the HiSilicon Kirin 960 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 4.0 stars (2 ratings). Rate now:
Here you can rate the NVIDIA Tegra X1 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 3.8 stars (6 ratings). Rate now:


Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks
HiSilicon Kirin 960 (100%)
NVIDIA Tegra X1 (76%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks
HiSilicon Kirin 960 (100%)
NVIDIA Tegra X1 (57%)

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)

Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The single-core benchmark only evaluates the performance of the fastest CPU core, the number of CPU cores in a processor is irrelevant here.
HiSilicon Kirin 960 HiSilicon Kirin 960
8C 8T @ 2.40 GHz
403 (100%)
NVIDIA Tegra X1 NVIDIA Tegra X1
8C 8T @ 2.00 GHz
308 (76%)

Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The multi-core benchmark evaluates the performance of all of the processor's CPU cores. Virtual thread improvements such as AMD SMT or Intel's Hyper-Threading have a positive impact on the benchmark result.
HiSilicon Kirin 960 HiSilicon Kirin 960
8C 8T @ 2.40 GHz
1393 (100%)
NVIDIA Tegra X1 NVIDIA Tegra X1
8C 8T @ 2.00 GHz
798 (57%)

iGPU - FP32 Performance (Single-precision GFLOPS)

The theoretical computing performance of the internal graphics unit of the processor with simple accuracy (32 bit) in GFLOPS. GFLOPS indicates how many billion floating point operations the iGPU can perform per second.
HiSilicon Kirin 960 HiSilicon Kirin 960
ARM Mali-G71 MP8 @ 0.90 GHz
245 (48%)
NVIDIA Tegra X1 NVIDIA Tegra X1
NVIDIA Tegra X1 (Maxwell) @ 1.00 GHz
512 (100%)

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Single-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
HiSilicon Kirin 960 HiSilicon Kirin 960
8C 8T @ 2.40 GHz
381 (100%)
NVIDIA Tegra X1 NVIDIA Tegra X1
8C 8T @ 2.00 GHz
0 (0%)

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
HiSilicon Kirin 960 HiSilicon Kirin 960
8C 8T @ 2.40 GHz
1521 (100%)
NVIDIA Tegra X1 NVIDIA Tegra X1
8C 8T @ 2.00 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

HiSilicon Kirin 960 NVIDIA Tegra X1
Huawei Honor 8 Pro
Huawei Honor 9
Huawei Mate 9
Huawei Mate 9 Pro
Huawei Mate 9 Porsche
Huawei MediaPad M5
Huawei Nova 2s
Huawei P10
NVIDIA Shield (1. Gen)
Nintendo Switch

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