Samsung Exynos 5430 Octa vs Samsung Exynos 5420 Octa

Samsung Exynos 5430 Octa

The Samsung Exynos 5430 Octa (also called Exynos 5 Octa) is a system-on-a-chip (SoC) for smartphones and tablets. It was launched in mid-2014 alongside the Samsung Galaxy Alpha and features four Cortex-A15 cores clocked at up to 1.8 GHz. Furthermore, there are four additional Cortex-A7 cores at up to 1.3 GHz, an ARM Mali-T628 MP6 GPU and a 2x 32 bit LPDDR3(E)-2133 memory controller up to 14.9 GB/s. As the SoC lacks an internal cellular modem, an additional module will be necessary for use in smartphones.

Processor 

Compared to the commonly used Cortex-A9 and Cortex-A7 architecture, the A15 cores offer an at least 50 percent better performance per clock as well as relatively high frequencies, which makes the Exynos 5430 one of the high-end ARM SoCs of 2014. On average, the CPU performance is roughly on par with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 or Nvidia Tegra 4. Compared to the very similar Exynos 5420 (28 nm), the more efficient 20 nm process allows a better utilization of the clock headroom leading to a slightly higher performance.

In addition, Samsung has integrated four Cortex-A7 cores clocked up to 1.3 GHz. Depending on the system load, the SoC will automatically switch between the more powerful A15 cores and the more efficient A7 cores to improve power consumption and battery life in a concept ARM calls "big.LITTLE". Similar to previous models, all eight cores can be used simultaneously, so that the chip can be described as a "true" octa-core SoC.

Graphics

Just like the Exynos 5420, the Exynos 5430 integrates a Mali-T628 MP6 GPU, which offers six shader clusters clocked at up to 600 MHz (122 GFLOPS). The Mali-T628 supports OpenGL ES 3.0, OpenCL 1.1 and DirectX 11 and offers a performance that is just sligthly behind the Adreno 330 (Snapdragon 801) or a PowerVR G6430 (Apple A7). However, Nvidia's Tegra K1 or the Apple A8 are even faster. Nevertheless, the GPU can run even the most demanding Android games at high resolutions (up to 2560 x 1600 pixels) and detail settings.

Power Consumption

Thanks to a new 20 nm process, the Exynos 5430 is significantly more efficient than the Exynos 5420 and other 28 nm high-end SoCs. Overall, the power consumption is still relatively high and best suited for medium-sized (or bigger) smartphones as well as tablets.

Samsung Exynos 5420 Octa

The Samsung Exynos 5420 Octa (also called Exynos 5 Octa) is a system-on-a-chip (SoC) for smartphones and tablets. It was launched in mid-2013 alongside the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and features four Cortex-A15 cores clocked at up to 1.9 GHz. Furthermore, there are four additional Cortex-A7 cores at up to 1.3 GHz, an ARM Mali-T628 MP6 GPU and a 2x 32 bit LPDDR3(E)-1866 memory controller up to 14.9 GB/s.

Processor 

Compared to the commonly used Cortex-A9 and Cortex-A7 architecture, the A15 cores offer at least 50 percent higher performance per clock, which makes the Exynos 5420 one of the fastest ARM SoCs of 2013. On average, the CPU performance is roughly on par with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 or Nvidia Tegra 4. 

In addition, Samsung has integrated four Cortex-A7 cores clocked up to 1.3 GHz. Depending on the system load, the SoC will automatically switch between the more powerful A15 cores and the more efficient A7 cores to improve power consumption and battery life in a concept Samsung calls big.LITTLE". In contrast to the previous Exynos 5410, all eight cores can be used simultaneously, so that the chip can be described as the first "true" octa-core SoC in its class.

Graphics

The Exynos 5420 integrates a Mali-T628 MP6 GPU, which offers six shader clusters clocked at up to 600 MHz (115 GFLOPS). The Mali-T628 supports OpenGL ES 3.0, OpenCL 1.1 and DirectX 11 and offers a performance that is just sligthly behind the Adreno 330 (Snapdragon 800) or a PowerVR G6430 (Apple A7). Thus, the GPU is one of the high-end solutions as of 2013 and can run even the most demanding Android games at high resolutions (up to 2560 x 1600 pixels) and detail settings.

Power Consumption

The Exynos 5 Octa should have an estimated maximum TDP of about 3 to 4 W on a smartphone. It is possible that sustained load will lead to throttling of the CPU or GPU, especially in smartphones.