Intel Atom x5-Z8500 vs HiSilicon Kirin 960

Comparisons   11-03-2021
   Well, which processor or chip is better? Comprehensive data of benchmarks and speed tests Intel Atom x5-Z8500 vs HiSilicon Kirin 960, comparison of GPUs Mali-G71 MP8 and Intel HD Graphics (Cherry Trail).
   This performance comparison involves two processors: Atom x5-Z8500 is quad-core (SoFIA) and Kirin 960 is octa-core (ARM Cortex-A72). Both processors went through battery life test and power consumption test. A careful analysis of all the technical characteristics of the chipsets, so that it can be easier to understand, is presented in the form of the table.
   From the comparison video, you can get the results of joint benchmarking in special test applications like AnTuTu, PCMark, GFXBench, WebXPRT 3, Geekbench, Neocore, Quadrant, Octane V2, PassMark, Vellamo, Mozilla Kraken, 3DMark, even the gaming performance of SoCs in Minecraft Bedrock, Call of Duty: Mobile, PUBG, Sniper 3D, Garena Free Fire - The Cobra, Mortal Kombat, Real Racing 3, Fortnite etc.
   After reading the results of parallel benchmarks and videos, you already be able to figure out which CPU is better to buy Atom x5-Z8500 or Kirin 960 and which chip is better for gaming: Madout2, Need for Speed No Limits, Asphalt 9, CSR Racing 2.

Summary benchmark results

As a percentage of the maximum value based on a sample from the entire base of all processors
CPU Benchmark
Based on Antutu and Geekbench score

Atom x5-Z8500

Kirin 960

Battery life test
Power Consumption efficiency (how quickly the processor reduces the battery charge)

Atom x5-Z8500

54%

Kirin 960

50%

Gaming performance
Which CPU is better for gaming

Atom x5-Z8500

Kirin 960

Antutu v10, 9

Antutu benchmark separately tests the performance of the CPU, GPU, and memory speed

	Atom x5-Z8500	Kirin 960
Total score	71836	95769
CPU	20114	26819
GPU	27295	36393
MEM	11495	15324
UX	12928	17247

GeekBench 6, 5.2

This benchmark shows Multi-threaded and Single-threaded processor performance

	Atom x5-Z8500	Kirin 960
Single-Core	185	247
Multi-Core	836	1115

Comparison of specifications

CPU and Memory

	Atom x5-Z8500	Kirin 960
Frequency	1440 MHz	2400 MHz
Cores	4	8
Bit	64	64
Lithography	14 nm	16 nm
Transistors count
Core configuration	4x1.44-2.24 GHz SoFIA	4x2.4 GHz ARM Cortex-A72 4x1.8 GHz ARM Cortex-A53
Power consumption (TDP)	5 W	5 W
Memory type	LPDDR3	LPDDR4x
Max. Memory	8 Gb	4 Gb
Memory Frequency	1600	1600
Memory bandwidth	24	28.8
Neural Processor (NPU)	No	No
L1 cache	256 KB	64 KB
L2 cache	512 KB	4 MB
L3 cache	8 MB
Instruction set architecture (ISA)	ARMv8-A	ARMv8-A

In this comparison block, you should pay attention to the differences in clock speed and the number of cores. Here Kirin 960 is 40% better than Atom x5-Z8500 in terms of CPU frequency. Another difference is that Atom x5-Z8500 has 4 more core than Kirin 960. Also keep in mind that high CPU frequency affects battery life through power consumption.

GPU and Media

GPU	Intel HD Graphics (Cherry Trail)	Mali-G71 MP8
GPU Frequency	600 MHz	1037 MHz
GFloPS	115.2	282
# of Cores	16	8
# of Shader Units
Display	1920 x 1080 pixels	2560 x 1600 pixels

The frequency of the GPU does not always directly indicate its performance. To fully evaluate all the capabilities of a graphics chip, you should take into account the number of Shader Units and Cores, as well as how many GFlops it has.

Gaming benchmark

Fortnite Mobile
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG Mobile)	16.8	21.1
Garena Free Fire - The Cobra	26.4	36.9
Call of Duty: Mobile	18.1	23.8
Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5 Mobile)	13.5	18.5
Minecraft: Pocket Edition	17.9	22.5
Real Racing 3	33	46.1
Sniper 3D	58.1	81.2
Need for Speed No Limits	31.7	51.7
Mortal Kombat X	30.4	59
CSR Racing 2	37	40.6

The numbers in this table indicate the maximum FPS that was received on the device with the corresponding processor. Depending on the configuration of the gadget and graphics quality settings (Ultra, Medium, Normal), the results may differ quite significantly. We recommend that you better study the results of the Antutu v10, 9 and GeekBench 6, 5.2 becnmarks.

Cameras

Camera resolution	13 MP	20 MP
Image Signal Processor (ISP)
Video Encoding FPS	30	30
Video Encoding resolution	FullHD	FullHD
Codec support	H.264/AVC, H.265/HEVC	H.264

Networks and Navigation

Modem
Download speed	21 MBit/s.	600 MBit/s.
Upload speed	6 MBit/s.	150 MBit/s.
Navigation		GPS, Galileo, Glonass, Beidou
NFC support	No	No
5G support	Yes	No

Result:
The number of parameters for which Intel Atom x5-Z8500 is better: 6
The number of parameters for which HiSilicon Kirin 960 is better: 29
You need to understand that you should not sightlessly trust the software comparison on the table. You can watch benchmark video from beginning to end of parallel testing and hear what people say who really appreciated the capabilities of both chips Atom x5-Z8500 and Kirin 960, as well as read the test results at the links below.

Atom x5-Z8500 SoC - all data

• Devices lists
• Benchmarks
• PUBG mobile
• Fortnite Mobile
• Antutu v10
• GeekBench 6, 5 mobile
• 3DMark

• Atom x5-Z8500 specs and review.

Kirin 960 SoC - all data

• Devices lists
• Benchmarks
• PUBG mobile
• Fortnite Mobile
• GeekBench 6, 5 mobile
• Antutu v10
• 3DMark

• Kirin 960 specs and review.