Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) vs MediaTek Helio P18

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) CPU1 vs CPU2 MediaTek Helio P18
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) MediaTek Helio P18

CPU comparison

Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) or MediaTek Helio P18 - 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 Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) has 4 cores with 8 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.50 GHz. Up to 16 GB of memory is supported in 4 memory channels. The Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) was released in Q4/2021.

The MediaTek Helio P18 has 8 cores with 8 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 2.00 GHz. The CPU supports up to 4 GB of memory in 1 memory channels. The MediaTek Helio P18 was released in Q1/2018.
AMD Ryzen 5 (86) Family Mediatek Helio (37)
AMD Aerith (Steam Deck) (1) CPU group MediaTek Helio P10 (3)
3 Generation 1
Aerith (Zen 2) Architecture Cortex-A53
Mobile Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor --
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) is a 4 core processor with a clock frequency of 2.40 GHz (3.50 GHz). The MediaTek Helio P18 has 8 CPU cores with a clock frequency of 2.00 GHz.

Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Characteristic MediaTek Helio P18
4 Cores 8
8 Threads 8
normal Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
Yes Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
2.40 GHz (3.50 GHz) A-Core 2.00 GHz
8x Cortex-A53
-- B-Core --

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.

Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Characteristic MediaTek Helio P18
-- AI hardware --
-- AI specifications --
-- NPU + CPU + iGPU --

Integrated graphics (iGPU)

The integrated graphics unit of a processor is not only responsible for the pure image output on the system, but can also significantly increase the efficiency of the system with the support of modern video codecs.

AMD Custom Radeon Graphics (Steam Deck) GPU ARM Mali-T860 MP2
1.00 GHz GPU frequency 0.80 GHz
1.60 GHz GPU (Turbo) 0.80 GHz
-- GPU Generation Midgard 4
7 nm Technology 28nm
2 Max. displays 2
8 Compute units 2
512 Shader 32
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
8 GB Max. GPU Memory --
12 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.

AMD Custom Radeon Graphics (Steam Deck) GPU ARM Mali-T860 MP2
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) Decode
Decode / Encode Codec h264 Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec VP9 No
Decode / Encode Codec VP8 Decode / Encode
No Codec AV1 No
Decode / Encode Codec AVC No
Decode Codec VC-1 No
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

The Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) supports a maximum of 16 GB of memory in 4 memory channels. The MediaTek Helio P18 can connect up to 4 GB of memory in 1 memory channels.

Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Characteristic MediaTek Helio P18
LPDDR5-5500 Memory LPDDR3-933
16 GB Max. Memory 4 GB
4 (Quad Channel) Memory channels 1 (Single Channel)
88.0 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 7.4 GB/s
No ECC No
2.00 MB L2 Cache --
4.00 MB L3 Cache --
3.0 PCIe version --
8 PCIe lanes --
7.9 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The TDP (Thermal Design Power) of a processor specifies the required cooling solution. The Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) has a TDP of 15 W, that of the MediaTek Helio P18 is --.

Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Characteristic MediaTek Helio P18
15 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) --
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
4 W TDP down --
100 °C Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) has a 6.00 MB cache, while the MediaTek Helio P18 cache has a total of 0.00 MB.

Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Characteristic MediaTek Helio P18
7 nm Technology 28 nm
Monolithic Chip design Chiplet
x86-64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) Armv8-A (64 bit)
SSE4a, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, FMA3 ISA extensions --
FF3 Socket --
AMD-V, SVM Virtualization None
Yes AES-NI No
SteamOS (Arch Linux) Operating systems Android
Q4/2021 Release date Q1/2018
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

Here you can rate the Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 3.8 stars (5 ratings). Rate now:
Here you can rate the MediaTek Helio P18 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 0 stars (0 ratings). Rate now:


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.
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
AMD Custom Radeon Graphics (Steam Deck) @ 1.60 GHz
1638 (100%)
MediaTek Helio P18 MediaTek Helio P18
ARM Mali-T860 MP2 @ 0.80 GHz
54 (3%)

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.
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
57 (100%)
MediaTek Helio P18 MediaTek Helio P18
8C 8T @ 2.00 GHz
0 (0%)

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.
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
275 (100%)
MediaTek Helio P18 MediaTek Helio P18
8C 8T @ 2.00 GHz
0 (0%)

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.
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
975 (100%)
MediaTek Helio P18 MediaTek Helio P18
8C 8T @ 2.00 GHz
0 (0%)

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.
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
4C 8T @ 2.80 GHz
4359 (100%)
MediaTek Helio P18 MediaTek Helio P18
8C 8T @ 2.00 GHz
0 (0%)

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.
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
849 (100%)
MediaTek Helio P18 MediaTek Helio P18
8C 8T @ 2.00 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.
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
4C 8T @ 2.80 GHz
3592 (100%)
MediaTek Helio P18 MediaTek Helio P18
8C 8T @ 2.00 GHz
0 (0%)

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.
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
1278 (100%)
MediaTek Helio P18 MediaTek Helio P18
8C 8T @ 2.00 GHz
0 (0%)

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.
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
4C 8T @ 2.80 GHz
4365 (100%)
MediaTek Helio P18 MediaTek Helio P18
8C 8T @ 2.00 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) MediaTek Helio P18
Valve Steam Deck Unknown

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