Samsung Exynos 7904 vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 821

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Samsung Exynos 7904 CPU1 vs CPU2 Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
Samsung Exynos 7904 Qualcomm Snapdragon 821

CPU comparison

In this CPU comparison, we compare the Samsung Exynos 7904 and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 and use benchmarks to check which processor is faster.

We compare the Samsung Exynos 7904 8 core processor released in Q1/2019 with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 which has 4 CPU cores and was introduced in Q3/2016.
Samsung Exynos (46) Family Qualcomm Snapdragon (102)
Samsung Exynos 7872/7884/7885/7904 (4) CPU group Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 (3)
2 Generation 3
Cortex-A73 / Cortex-A53 Architecture Kryo
Mobile Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor --
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Samsung Exynos 7904 is a 8 core processor with a clock frequency of 1.80 GHz. The processor can compute 8 threads at the same time. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 clocks with 2.40 GHz, has 4 CPU cores and can calculate 4 threads in parallel.

Samsung Exynos 7904 Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
8 Cores 4
8 Threads 4
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
No Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
1.80 GHz
2x Cortex-A73
A-Core 2.40 GHz
2x Kryo
1.60 GHz
6x Cortex-A53
B-Core 1.60 GHz
2x Kryo

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.

Samsung Exynos 7904 Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
-- AI hardware Qualcomm AI engine
-- AI specifications Hexagon 680

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 MP2 GPU Qualcomm Adreno 530
0.77 GHz GPU frequency 0.62 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) 0.62 GHz
Bifrost 1 GPU Generation 5
16 nm Technology 14 nm
1 Max. displays 0
2 Compute units --
32 Shader 256
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
2 GB Max. GPU Memory --
11 DirectX Version 11,1

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 MP2 GPU Qualcomm Adreno 530
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) Decode
Decode Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) No
Decode / Encode Codec h264 Decode
No Codec VP9 Decode
Decode / Encode Codec VP8 Decode
No Codec AV1 No
Decode / Encode Codec AVC No
No Codec VC-1 Decode
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG Decode

Memory & PCIe

Up to GB of memory in a maximum of 2 memory channels is supported by the Samsung Exynos 7904, while the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 supports a maximum of 8 GB of memory with a maximum memory bandwidth of 14.9 GB/s enabled.

Samsung Exynos 7904 Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
LPDDR4-1866 Memory LPDDR4-3733
Max. Memory 8 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
-- Max. Bandwidth 14.9 GB/s
No ECC No
-- L2 Cache --
-- L3 Cache --
-- PCIe version --
-- PCIe lanes --
-- PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The Samsung Exynos 7904 has a TDP of --. The TDP of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 is --. System integrators use the TDP of the processor as a guide when dimensioning the cooling solution.

Samsung Exynos 7904 Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
-- TDP (PL1 / PBP) --
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Samsung Exynos 7904 has 0.00 MB cache and is manufactured in 14 nm. The cache of Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 is at 0.00 MB. The processor is manufactured in 14 nm.

Samsung Exynos 7904 Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
14 nm Technology 14 nm
Unknown 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
Q1/2019 Release date Q3/2016
-- 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.
Samsung Exynos 7904 Samsung Exynos 7904
8C 8T @ 1.80 GHz
276 (81%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
4C 4T @ 2.40 GHz
341 (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.
Samsung Exynos 7904 Samsung Exynos 7904
8C 8T @ 1.80 GHz
975 (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
4C 4T @ 2.40 GHz
864 (89%)

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.
Samsung Exynos 7904 Samsung Exynos 7904
8C 8T @ 1.80 GHz
289 (78%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
4C 4T @ 2.40 GHz
370 (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.
Samsung Exynos 7904 Samsung Exynos 7904
8C 8T @ 1.80 GHz
910 (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
4C 4T @ 2.40 GHz
752 (83%)

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.
Samsung Exynos 7904 Samsung Exynos 7904
ARM Mali-G71 MP2 @ 0.77 GHz
53 (11%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
Qualcomm Adreno 530 @ 0.62 GHz
476 (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.
Samsung Exynos 7904 Samsung Exynos 7904
8C 8T @ 1.80 GHz
1819 (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
4C 4T @ 2.40 GHz
1594 (88%)

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.
Samsung Exynos 7904 Samsung Exynos 7904
8C 8T @ 1.80 GHz
104389 (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
4C 4T @ 2.40 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

Samsung Exynos 7904 Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
Unknown Unknown

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