HiSilicon Kirin 980 vs Intel Xeon D-1540

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


HiSilicon Kirin 980 CPU1 vs CPU2 Intel Xeon D-1540
HiSilicon Kirin 980 Intel Xeon D-1540

CPU comparison

In this CPU comparison, we compare the HiSilicon Kirin 980 and the Intel Xeon D-1540 and use benchmarks to check which processor is faster.

We compare the HiSilicon Kirin 980 8 core processor released in Q4/2018 with the Intel Xeon D-1540 which has 8 CPU cores and was introduced in Q4/2015.
HiSilicon Kirin (29) Family Intel Xeon D (79)
HiSilicon Kirin 980 (2) CPU group Intel Xeon D-1500 (22)
7 Generation 1
Cortex-A76 / Cortex-A55 Architecture Broadwell
Mobile Segment Desktop / Server
-- Predecessor --
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The HiSilicon Kirin 980 is a 8 core processor with a clock frequency of 2.60 GHz. The processor can compute 8 threads at the same time. The Intel Xeon D-1540 clocks with 2.00 GHz (2.60 GHz), has 8 CPU cores and can calculate 16 threads in parallel.

HiSilicon Kirin 980 Characteristic Intel Xeon D-1540
8 Cores 8
8 Threads 16
hybrid (Prime / big.LITTLE) Core architecture normal
No Hyperthreading Yes
No Overclocking ? No
2.60 GHz
2x Cortex-A76
A-Core 2.00 GHz (2.60 GHz)
1.92 GHz
2x Cortex-A76
B-Core --
1.80 GHz
4x Cortex-A55
C-Core --

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 980 Characteristic Intel Xeon D-1540
-- 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-G76 MP10 GPU no iGPU
0.72 GHz GPU frequency --
-- GPU (Turbo) --
Bifrost 3 GPU Generation --
7 nm Technology
2 Max. displays
10 Compute units --
160 Shader --
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
4 GB Max. GPU Memory --
12 DirectX Version --

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-G76 MP10 GPU no iGPU
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) No
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) No
Decode / Encode Codec h264 No
Decode / Encode Codec VP9 No
Decode / Encode Codec VP8 No
No Codec AV1 No
Decode / Encode Codec AVC No
Decode / Encode Codec VC-1 No
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG No

Memory & PCIe

Up to 8 GB of memory in a maximum of 4 memory channels is supported by the HiSilicon Kirin 980, while the Intel Xeon D-1540 supports a maximum of 128 GB of memory with a maximum memory bandwidth of 34.1 GB/s enabled.

HiSilicon Kirin 980 Characteristic Intel Xeon D-1540
LPDDR4X-2133 Memory DDR4-2133
8 GB Max. Memory 128 GB
4 (Quad Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
-- Max. Bandwidth 34.1 GB/s
No ECC Yes
-- L2 Cache 12.00 MB
2.00 MB L3 Cache --
-- PCIe version 3.0
-- PCIe lanes 32
-- PCIe Bandwidth 31.5 GB/s

Thermal Management

The HiSilicon Kirin 980 has a TDP of 6 W. The TDP of the Intel Xeon D-1540 is 45 W. System integrators use the TDP of the processor as a guide when dimensioning the cooling solution.

HiSilicon Kirin 980 Characteristic Intel Xeon D-1540
6 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 45 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The HiSilicon Kirin 980 has 2.00 MB cache and is manufactured in 7 nm. The cache of Intel Xeon D-1540 is at 12.00 MB. The processor is manufactured in 14 nm.

HiSilicon Kirin 980 Characteristic Intel Xeon D-1540
7 nm Technology 14 nm
Chiplet Chip design Monolithic
Armv8-A (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
-- ISA extensions SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2
-- Socket BGA 1667
None Virtualization VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d
No AES-NI Yes
Android Operating systems Windows 10, Linux
Q4/2018 Release date Q4/2015
-- Release price 594 $
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Rate these processors

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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
HiSilicon Kirin 980 (97%)
Intel Xeon D-1540 (98%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
HiSilicon Kirin 980 (55%)
Intel Xeon D-1540 (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 980 HiSilicon Kirin 980
8C 8T @ 2.60 GHz
681 (93%)
Intel Xeon D-1540 Intel Xeon D-1540
8C 16T @ 2.60 GHz
736 (100%)

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 980 HiSilicon Kirin 980
8C 8T @ 2.60 GHz
2576 (49%)
Intel Xeon D-1540 Intel Xeon D-1540
8C 16T @ 2.00 GHz
5214 (100%)

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 980 HiSilicon Kirin 980
8C 8T @ 2.60 GHz
885 (100%)
Intel Xeon D-1540 Intel Xeon D-1540
8C 16T @ 2.60 GHz
837 (95%)

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 980 HiSilicon Kirin 980
8C 8T @ 2.60 GHz
2778 (60%)
Intel Xeon D-1540 Intel Xeon D-1540
8C 16T @ 2.00 GHz
4663 (100%)

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 980 HiSilicon Kirin 980
ARM Mali-G76 MP10 @ 0.72 GHz
520 (100%)
Intel Xeon D-1540 Intel Xeon D-1540
@ 0.00 GHz
0 (0%)

AnTuTu 8 Benchmark

The AnTuTu 8 Benchmark measures the performance of a SoC. AnTuTu benchmarks the CPU, GPU, Memory as well as the UX (User Experience) by simulating browser and app usage. AnTuTu can benchmark any ARM CPU that runs under Android or iOS. Devices may not be directly compareable if the benchmark has been performed under different operating systems.

In the AnTuTu 8 benchmark, the single-core performance of a processor is only slightly weighted. The evaluation consists of the multi-core performance of the processor, the speed of the RAM and the performance of the internal graphics.
HiSilicon Kirin 980 HiSilicon Kirin 980
8C 8T @ 2.60 GHz
412594 (100%)
Intel Xeon D-1540 Intel Xeon D-1540
8C 16T @ 2.00 GHz
0 (0%)

Estimated results for PassMark CPU Mark

Some of the CPUs listed below have been benchmarked by CPU-monkey. However the majority of CPUs have not been tested and the results have been estimated by a CPU-monkey’s secret proprietary formula. As such they do not accurately reflect the actual Passmark CPU mark values and are not endorsed by PassMark Software Pty Ltd.
HiSilicon Kirin 980 HiSilicon Kirin 980
8C 8T @ 2.60 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Xeon D-1540 Intel Xeon D-1540
8C 16T @ 2.00 GHz
10061 (100%)

Devices using this processor

HiSilicon Kirin 980 Intel Xeon D-1540
Huawei P30
Huawei P30 Pro
Huawei Honor 20
Huawei Honor 20 Pro
Huawei Mate 20
Huawei Mate 20 Pro
Huawei Nova 5T
Unknown

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