MediaTek Dimensity 1080 vs Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


MediaTek Dimensity 1080 CPU1 vs CPU2 Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
MediaTek Dimensity 1080 Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)

CPU comparison

MediaTek Dimensity 1080 or Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) - which processor is faster? In this comparison we look at the differences and analyze which of these two CPUs is better. We compare the technical data and benchmark results.

The MediaTek Dimensity 1080 has 8 cores with 8 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 2.60 GHz. Up to 16 GB of memory is supported in 2 memory channels. The MediaTek Dimensity 1080 was released in Q4/2022.

The Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) has 4 cores with 8 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.50 GHz. The CPU supports up to 16 GB of memory in 4 memory channels. The Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) was released in Q4/2023.
Mediatek Dimensity (36) Family AMD Ryzen 5 (85)
MediaTek Dimensity 10xx (2) CPU group AMD Sephiroth (Steam Deck Refresh 2023) (1)
2 Generation 4
Cortex-A78 / Cortex-A55 Architecture Sephiroth (Zen 2)
Mobile Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The MediaTek Dimensity 1080 has 8 CPU cores and can calculate 8 threads in parallel. The clock frequency of the MediaTek Dimensity 1080 is 2.60 GHz while the Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) has 4 CPU cores and 8 threads can calculate simultaneously. The clock frequency of the Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) is at 2.40 GHz (3.50 GHz).

MediaTek Dimensity 1080 Characteristic Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
8 Cores 4
8 Threads 8
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture normal
No Hyperthreading Yes
No Overclocking ? No
2.60 GHz
2x Cortex-A78
A-Core 2.40 GHz (3.50 GHz)
2.00 GHz
6x Cortex-A55
B-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.

MediaTek Dimensity 1080 Characteristic Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
Mediatek APU 3.0 AI hardware --
MediaTek APU 3.0 @ 4.5 TOPS AI specifications --

Internal Graphics

The MediaTek Dimensity 1080 or Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) has integrated graphics, called iGPU for short. The iGPU uses the system's main memory as graphics memory and sits on the processor's die.

ARM Mali-G68 MP4 GPU AMD Custom Radeon Graphics (Steam Deck)
GPU frequency 1.00 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) 1.60 GHz
Vallhall 2 GPU Generation --
6 nm Technology 7 nm
1 Max. displays 2
4 Compute units 8
64 Shader 512
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
-- Max. GPU Memory 8 GB
12 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-G68 MP4 GPU AMD Custom Radeon Graphics (Steam Deck)
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec h264 Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec VP9 Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec VP8 Decode / Encode
Decode Codec AV1 No
Decode / Encode Codec AVC Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec VC-1 Decode
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

The MediaTek Dimensity 1080 can use up to 16 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The maximum memory bandwidth is 44.0 GB/s. The Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) supports up to 16 GB of memory in 4 memory channels and achieves a memory bandwidth of up to 102.4 GB/s.

MediaTek Dimensity 1080 Characteristic Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
LPDDR5-5500, LPDDR4X-4266 Memory LPDDR5-6400
16 GB Max. Memory 16 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 4 (Quad Channel)
44.0 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 102.4 GB/s
No ECC No
-- L2 Cache 2.00 MB
-- L3 Cache 4.00 MB
-- PCIe version 3.0
-- PCIe lanes 8
-- PCIe Bandwidth 7.9 GB/s

Thermal Management

The thermal design power (TDP for short) of the MediaTek Dimensity 1080 is --, while the Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) has a TDP of 15 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently.

MediaTek Dimensity 1080 Characteristic Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
-- TDP (PL1 / PBP) 15 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down 4 W
-- Tjunction max. 100 °C

Technical details

The MediaTek Dimensity 1080 is manufactured in 6 nm and has 0.00 MB cache. The Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) is manufactured in 6 nm and has a 6.00 MB cache.

MediaTek Dimensity 1080 Characteristic Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
6 nm Technology 6 nm
Chiplet Chip design Monolithic
Armv8-A (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
-- ISA extensions SSE4a, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, FMA3
-- Socket FF3
None Virtualization AMD-V, SVM
No AES-NI Yes
Android Operating systems SteamOS (Arch Linux)
Q4/2022 Release date Q4/2023
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

Here you can rate the MediaTek Dimensity 1080 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 3.9 stars (24 ratings). Rate now:
Here you can rate the Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 3.8 stars (4 ratings). Rate now:


Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks
MediaTek Dimensity 1080 (80%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) (100%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks
MediaTek Dimensity 1080 (56%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) (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.
MediaTek Dimensity 1080 MediaTek Dimensity 1080
8C 8T @ 2.60 GHz
1034 (80%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
1296 (100%)

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.
MediaTek Dimensity 1080 MediaTek Dimensity 1080
8C 8T @ 2.60 GHz
2509 (56%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 2.80 GHz
4510 (100%)

Cinebench 2024 (Single-Core)

The Cinebench 2024 benchmark is based on the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxon's 3D program Cinema 4D. The benchmark runs are each 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.
MediaTek Dimensity 1080 MediaTek Dimensity 1080
8C 8T @ 2.60 GHz
0 (0%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
57 (100%)

Cinebench 2024 (Multi-Core)

The Multi-Core test of the Cinebench 2024 benchmark uses all cpu cores to render using the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxons Cinema 4D. The benchmark run is 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.
MediaTek Dimensity 1080 MediaTek Dimensity 1080
8C 8T @ 2.60 GHz
0 (0%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
275 (100%)

Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
MediaTek Dimensity 1080 MediaTek Dimensity 1080
8C 8T @ 2.60 GHz
0 (0%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
975 (100%)

Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
MediaTek Dimensity 1080 MediaTek Dimensity 1080
8C 8T @ 2.60 GHz
0 (0%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 2.80 GHz
4359 (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.
MediaTek Dimensity 1080 MediaTek Dimensity 1080
8C 8T @ 2.60 GHz
732 (100%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 3.50 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.
MediaTek Dimensity 1080 MediaTek Dimensity 1080
8C 8T @ 2.60 GHz
2219 (100%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 2.80 GHz
0 (0%)

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.
MediaTek Dimensity 1080 MediaTek Dimensity 1080
ARM Mali-G68 MP4 @ 0.00 GHz
0 (0%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
AMD Custom Radeon Graphics (Steam Deck) @ 1.60 GHz
1638 (100%)

AnTuTu 9 Benchmark

The AnTuTu 9 benchmark is very well suited to measuring the performance of a smartphone. AnTuTu 9 is quite heavy on 3D graphics and can now also use the "Metal" graphics interface. In AnTuTu, memory and UX (user experience) are also tested by simulating browser and app usage. AnTuTu version 9 can compare any ARM CPU running on Android or iOS. Devices may not be directly comparable when benchmarked on different operating systems.

In the AnTuTu 9 benchmark, the single-core performance of a processor is only slightly weighted. The rating is made up of the multi-core performance of the processor, the speed of the working memory, and the performance of the internal graphics.
MediaTek Dimensity 1080 MediaTek Dimensity 1080
8C 8T @ 2.60 GHz
473498 (100%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 2.40 GHz
0 (0%)

Performance for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)

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. The performance is given in the number (trillions) of arithmetic operations per second (TOPS).
MediaTek Dimensity 1080 MediaTek Dimensity 1080
8C 8T @ 2.60 GHz
4.5 (100%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 2.40 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

MediaTek Dimensity 1080 Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
Unknown Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)

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