Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 870

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 CPU1 vs CPU2 Qualcomm Snapdragon 870
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Qualcomm Snapdragon 870

CPU comparison

In this CPU comparison, we compare the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 and use benchmarks to check which processor is faster.

We compare the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 4 core processor released in Q4/2015 with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 which has 8 CPU cores and was introduced in Q2/2021.
Qualcomm Snapdragon (102) Family Qualcomm Snapdragon (102)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 (3) CPU group Qualcomm Snapdragon 865/870 (3)
3 Generation 7
Kryo Architecture Kryo 585
Mobile Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor --
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 is a 4 core processor with a clock frequency of 2.15 GHz. The processor can compute 4 threads at the same time. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 clocks with 3.20 GHz, has 8 CPU cores and can calculate 8 threads in parallel.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 870
4 Cores 8
4 Threads 8
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture hybrid (Prime / big.LITTLE)
No Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
2.15 GHz
2x Kryo
A-Core 3.20 GHz
1x Kryo 585 Prime
1.60 GHz
2x Kryo
B-Core 2.42 GHz
3x Kryo 585 Gold
-- C-Core 1.80 GHz
4x Kryo 585 Silver

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.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 870
Qualcomm AI engine AI hardware Qualcomm AI engine
Hexagon 680 AI specifications Hexagon 698 @ 15 TOPS

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.

Qualcomm Adreno 530 GPU Qualcomm Adreno 650
0.62 GHz GPU frequency 0.25 GHz
0.62 GHz GPU (Turbo) 0.67 GHz
5 GPU Generation 6
14 nm Technology 7 nm
0 Max. displays 1
-- Compute units 2
256 Shader 512
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
-- Max. GPU Memory --
11,1 DirectX Version 12.0

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.

Qualcomm Adreno 530 GPU Qualcomm Adreno 650
Decode Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) Decode / Encode
No Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) Decode / Encode
Decode Codec h264 Decode / Encode
Decode Codec VP9 Decode / Encode
Decode Codec VP8 Decode / Encode
No Codec AV1 No
No Codec AVC Decode
Decode Codec VC-1 Decode
Decode Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

Up to 12 GB of memory in a maximum of 4 memory channels is supported by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, while the Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 supports a maximum of 16 GB of memory with a maximum memory bandwidth of 44.0 GB/s enabled.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 870
LPDDR4-3733 Memory LPDDR5-5500, LPDDR4X-4266
12 GB Max. Memory 16 GB
4 (Quad Channel) Memory channels 4 (Quad Channel)
14.9 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 44.0 GB/s
No ECC No
-- L2 Cache 2.00 MB
-- L3 Cache 7.00 MB
-- PCIe version --
-- PCIe lanes --
-- PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 has a TDP of --. The TDP of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 is 10 W. System integrators use the TDP of the processor as a guide when dimensioning the cooling solution.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 870
-- TDP (PL1 / PBP) 10 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 has 0.00 MB cache and is manufactured in 14 nm. The cache of Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 is at 9.00 MB. The processor is manufactured in 7 nm.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 870
14 nm Technology 7 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 Android
Q4/2015 Release date Q2/2021
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
⌀ Multi core performance in 3 CPU benchmarks

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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Qualcomm Snapdragon 820
4C 4T @ 2.15 GHz
344 (35%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 Qualcomm Snapdragon 870
8C 8T @ 3.20 GHz
996 (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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Qualcomm Snapdragon 820
4C 4T @ 2.15 GHz
903 (28%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 Qualcomm Snapdragon 870
8C 8T @ 3.20 GHz
3240 (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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Qualcomm Snapdragon 820
4C 4T @ 2.15 GHz
367 (33%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 Qualcomm Snapdragon 870
8C 8T @ 3.20 GHz
1121 (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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Qualcomm Snapdragon 820
4C 4T @ 2.15 GHz
746 (24%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 Qualcomm Snapdragon 870
8C 8T @ 3.20 GHz
3110 (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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Qualcomm Snapdragon 820
Qualcomm Adreno 530 @ 0.62 GHz
476 (34%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 Qualcomm Snapdragon 870
Qualcomm Adreno 650 @ 0.67 GHz
1418 (100%)

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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Qualcomm Snapdragon 820
4C 4T @ 2.15 GHz
1362 (21%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 Qualcomm Snapdragon 870
8C 8T @ 3.20 GHz
6404 (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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Qualcomm Snapdragon 820
4C 4T @ 2.15 GHz
0 (0%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 Qualcomm Snapdragon 870
8C 8T @ 3.20 GHz
727650 (100%)

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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Qualcomm Snapdragon 820
4C 4T @ 2.15 GHz
0 (0%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 Qualcomm Snapdragon 870
8C 8T @ 3.20 GHz
651364 (100%)

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).
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Qualcomm Snapdragon 820
4C 4T @ 2.15 GHz
0 (0%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 Qualcomm Snapdragon 870
8C 8T @ 3.20 GHz
15 (100%)

Devices using this processor

Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Qualcomm Snapdragon 870
Unknown Unknown

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