MediaTek MT6517 vs HiSilicon Kirin 955

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


MediaTek MT6517 CPU1 vs CPU2 HiSilicon Kirin 955
MediaTek MT6517 HiSilicon Kirin 955

CPU comparison

MediaTek MT6517 or HiSilicon Kirin 955 - 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 MT6517 has 2 cores with 2 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 1.00 GHz. Up to GB of memory is supported in 0 memory channels. The MediaTek MT6517 was released in 2012.

The HiSilicon Kirin 955 has 8 cores with 8 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 2.50 GHz. The CPU supports up to GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The HiSilicon Kirin 955 was released in Q2/2016.
Mediatek MT-Serie (72) Family HiSilicon Kirin (29)
MediaTek MT65xx A9 (7) CPU group HiSilicon Kirin 950 (2)
1 Generation 4
Cortex-A9 Architecture Cortex-A72 / Cortex-A53
Mobile Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor --
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The MediaTek MT6517 has 2 CPU cores and can calculate 2 threads in parallel. The clock frequency of the MediaTek MT6517 is 1.00 GHz while the HiSilicon Kirin 955 has 8 CPU cores and 8 threads can calculate simultaneously. The clock frequency of the HiSilicon Kirin 955 is at 2.50 GHz.

MediaTek MT6517 Characteristic HiSilicon Kirin 955
2 Cores 8
2 Threads 8
normal Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
No Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
1.00 GHz
2x Cortex-A9
A-Core 2.50 GHz
4x Cortex-A72
-- B-Core 1.80 GHz
4x Cortex-A53

NPU AI performance

The performance values of the processor's AI unit. The isolated NPU performance is specified here, the total AI performance (NPU+CPU+iGPU) can be higher. Processors with support for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can process many calculations, especially audio, image and video processing, much faster than classic processors.

MediaTek MT6517 Characteristic HiSilicon Kirin 955
-- AI hardware --
-- AI specifications --
-- NPU + CPU + iGPU --

Integrated graphics (iGPU)

The MediaTek MT6517 or HiSilicon Kirin 955 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.

PowerVR SGX531 GPU ARM Mali-T880 MP4
0.52 GHz GPU frequency 0.90 GHz
0.52 GHz GPU (Turbo) 0.90 GHz
-- GPU Generation Midgard 4
65nm Technology 16 nm
1 Max. displays 2
1 Compute units 4
-- Shader 64
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
-- Max. GPU Memory --
10.1 DirectX Version 11

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.

PowerVR SGX531 GPU ARM Mali-T880 MP4
No Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) Decode / Encode
No Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) Decode
No Codec h264 Decode / Encode
No Codec VP9 No
No Codec VP8 Decode / Encode
No Codec AV1 No
No Codec AVC No
No Codec VC-1 No
No Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

The MediaTek MT6517 can use up to GB of memory in 0 memory channels. The maximum memory bandwidth is --. The HiSilicon Kirin 955 supports up to GB of memory in 2 memory channels and achieves a memory bandwidth of up to --.

MediaTek MT6517 Characteristic HiSilicon Kirin 955
LPDDR2 Memory LPDDR4, LPDDR3
Max. Memory
0 Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
-- Max. Bandwidth --
No ECC No
-- L2 Cache --
-- L3 Cache --
-- PCIe version --
-- PCIe lanes --
-- PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The thermal design power (TDP for short) of the MediaTek MT6517 is --, while the HiSilicon Kirin 955 has a TDP of --. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently.

MediaTek MT6517 Characteristic HiSilicon Kirin 955
-- TDP (PL1 / PBP) --
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The MediaTek MT6517 is manufactured in 40 nm and has 0.00 MB cache. The HiSilicon Kirin 955 is manufactured in 16 nm and has a 0.00 MB cache.

MediaTek MT6517 Characteristic HiSilicon Kirin 955
40 nm Technology 16 nm
Chiplet Chip design Chiplet
Armv7-A (32 bit) Instruction set (ISA) Armv8-A (64 bit)
-- ISA extensions --
-- Socket --
None Virtualization None
No AES-NI No
Android Operating systems Android
2012 Release date Q2/2016
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


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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 MT6517 MediaTek MT6517
PowerVR SGX531 @ 0.52 GHz
4 (3%)
HiSilicon Kirin 955 HiSilicon Kirin 955
ARM Mali-T880 MP4 @ 0.90 GHz
122 (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 MT6517 MediaTek MT6517
2C 2T @ 1.00 GHz
0 (0%)
HiSilicon Kirin 955 HiSilicon Kirin 955
8C 8T @ 2.50 GHz
330 (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.
MediaTek MT6517 MediaTek MT6517
2C 2T @ 1.00 GHz
0 (0%)
HiSilicon Kirin 955 HiSilicon Kirin 955
8C 8T @ 2.50 GHz
989 (100%)

Devices using this processor

MediaTek MT6517 HiSilicon Kirin 955
Unknown Unknown

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