PowerVR G6400 vs Qualcomm Adreno 619 vs Qualcomm Adreno 650

PowerVR G6400

The PowerVR G6400 from Imagination Technologies is a fast mobile graphics solution that is used in tablet and smartphone SoCs like the Intel Merrifield series (e.g., Atom Z3460). Chips including this GPU are available from G2 2014 on and the performance is situated in the low high-end.

Architecture and Performance

The GPU is based on the series 6 (Rogue) and integrates four clusters with two TMUs each and a scalar Unified Shader architecture. The chip does offer more than twice of the performance compared to the SGX543MP3 from the Apple A6, while maintaining the same clocks. Even very demanding mobile games can be played without problems (as of 2013). Among others, the GPU supports OpenGL 3.x/4.x, OpenGL ES 3.0 as well as DirectX 10.

Energy Consumption

The manufacturer designed the PowerVR G6400 as a comparatively "wide" chip to achieve a high performance and a high energy efficiency at the same time. As a result, SoCs with the G6400 can also be used in smartphones. However, it does occupy a comparatively large area on the chip in return.

Qualcomm Adreno 619

The Qualcomm Adreno 619 is a mobile graphics card for mid-range smartphones and tablets (mostly Android based). It is included in the Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G SoCs and based on the Adreno 600 architecture (like the Adreno 630, which should be fully compatible in software).

The performance is 60% better compared to the Adreno 612 graphics card and in our benchmarks on par with the 700 series cards.

The GPU supports modern standards like Vulkan 1.0 (according to Wikipedia), OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 2.0 and DirectX 11 (FL 11_1).

Qualcomm Adreno 650

The Qualcomm Adreno 650 is a smartphone and tablet GPU that is integrated within the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865, 865+ and 870 SoCs. The chip will be available from early 2020 and will be used mainly in high-end Android devices. The base clock speed of the GPU is 250 MHz and the boost depends on the used SoC. For the 865 it is 587 MHz, the 865 Plus increased to 846 MHz and the 2021 870 reached 670 MHz.

According to Qualcomm, the Adreno 650 GPU offers a 25% improved performance over the Adreno 640, its predecessor, which is integrated into the Snapdragon 855 SoC. The enhanced performance is achieved by the Adreno 650 having 50% more compute units (ALUs) than the Adreno 640. Furthermore, the clock speed of the pixel shaders was also increased by 50%.

The performance in our first benchmarks of a reference system positions itself above the ARM Mali-G76 MP16 and e.g. in 3DMark Sling Shot Extreme even on the top spot. In GFXBench only the Apple A13 GPU is able to best the Adreno 650 (regarding smartphone GPUs).

As a novelty, the GPU driver can be updated in the Android Play Store. Furthermore, some features are running under the Elite Gaming brand (e.g., 144 Hz display support, desktop forward rendering). 

The Adreno 650 supports Vulkan 1.1, DirectX 12, OpenGL ES 3.2, and OpenCL 2.0 FP. Furthermore, games and videos can use HDR10+ and Dolby Vision (with a supported display). The 650 supports 2 displays with up to 4K 60 Hz / QHD+ 144 Hz.