PowerVR G6430 vs Qualcomm Adreno 680 vs Qualcomm Adreno 640

PowerVR G6430

The PowerVR G6430 from Imagination Technologies is a fast mobile graphics solution that is used in ARM SoCs like the Apple A7 (iPhone 5S). The chip is available since Q3/2013 and is one of the fastest solutions of its class at the time of the introduction.  

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. The exact clock is not yet confirmed unequivocally, but it should be north of 400 MHz (results in more than 100 GFLOPS). A comparison with other mobile graphics solutions shows that the G6430 is just slightly behind the tablet version of the Adreno 330 and it is therefore the fastest GPU of its class at the time of the introduction. 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 G6430 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 G6430 can also be used in smaller smartphones like the iPhone 5S. However, it does occupy a comparatively large area on the chip in return.

Qualcomm Adreno 680

The Qualcomm Adreno 680 is an integrated graphics card in the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx SoC for Windows laptops. According to Qualcomm it is 2x faster than the previous Adreno 630 in the Snapdragon 850 for Windows PCs with a 60% improved efficiency (thanks to the 7nm process). The performance should be similar to a Intel UHD Graphics 620 (e.g. in a 8th gen Core i5) when running native ARM64 compiled Windows apps and games. Running emulated 32 bit games (64 bit games compiled for AMD/Intel are not supported), the performance is notably slower.

Qualcomm Adreno 640

The Qualcomm Adreno 640 is a smartphone and tablet GPU that is integrated within the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC. The chip will be available from early 2019 and will be used mainly in high-end Android devices.

According to Qualcomm, the Adreno 640 GPU offers a 20% improved performance over the Adreno 630, its predecessor, which is integrated in the Snapdragon 845 SoC. The enhanced performance is achieved by the Adreno 640 having 50% more FP16 and FP32 compute units (ALUs) than the Adreno 630, while its 7 nm FinFET manufacturing process makes it 20% more efficient too.

The Adreno 640 will also support the Vulkan 1.1 API, something which is possible for other Adreno 600 series GPUs too.