HiSilicon Kirin 659 vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 MSM8996 benchmark which processor is better

Kirin 659 vs Snapdragon 820 MSM8996

Comparisons   11-03-2021
   Well, which chip or processor is better? Detailed compare data of benchmarks HiSilicon Kirin 659 vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 MSM8996, speed testing of GPUs Mali-T830 MP2 and Adreno 530.
   This performance comparison includes two processors: Kirin 659 is octa-core (ARM Cortex-A53) and Snapdragon 820 MSM8996 is quad-core (Kryo 280). Both processors went throughpower consumption test and battery life test. A thorough analysis of all the technical characteristics of the chips, to make it easier to understand, is summarized in the table.
   From the video comparison, you can get the results of parallel benchmarking in software tests such as Vellamo, Neocore, PassMark, PCMark, WebXPRT 3, Mozilla Kraken, Octane V2, Quadrant, 3DMark, Geekbench, AnTuTu, GFXBench, even the gaming performance of CPUs in Mortal Kombat, PUBG, Call of Duty: Mobile, Sniper 3D, Real Racing 3, Garena Free Fire - The Cobra, Minecraft Bedrock, Fortnite etc.
   After looking at the data these benchmarks and videos, you already be able to know which CPU is better to buy Kirin 659 or Snapdragon 820 MSM8996 and which chip is better for gaming: Asphalt 9, CSR Racing 2, Madout2, Need for Speed No Limits.

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

Kirin 659

Snapdragon 820 MSM8996

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

Kirin 659

52%

Snapdragon 820 MSM8996

52%

Gaming performance
Which CPU is better for gaming

Kirin 659

Snapdragon 820 MSM8996

Antutu v10, 9

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

	Kirin 659	Snapdragon 820 MSM8996
Total score	75358	125956
CPU	21107	35262
GPU	28630	47872
MEM	12052	20152
UX	13572	22681

GeekBench 6, 5.2

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

	Kirin 659	Snapdragon 820 MSM8996
Single-Core	195	257
Multi-Core	877	1133

Comparison of specifications

CPU and Memory

	Kirin 659	Snapdragon 820 MSM8996
Frequency	2360 MHz	2200 MHz
Cores	8	4
Bit	64	64
Lithography	16 nm	14 nm
Transistors count
Core configuration	4x2.3 GHz ARM Cortex-A53 4x2.0 GHz ARM Cortex-A53	4x2.2 GHz Kryo 280
Power consumption (TDP)	5 W	11 W
Memory type	LPDDR3x	LPDDR4x (Dual Channel)
Max. Memory	6 Gb	8 Gb
Memory Frequency	933	1866
Memory bandwidth	28	29.8
Neural Processor (NPU)	No	No
L1 cache	64 KB
L2 cache	4 MB
L3 cache	4 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 659 is 6% better than Snapdragon 820 MSM8996 in terms of CPU frequency. Another difference is that Kirin 659 has -4 more core than Snapdragon 820 MSM8996. Also keep in mind that high CPU frequency affects battery life through power consumption.

GPU and Media

GPU	Mali-T830 MP2	Adreno 530
GPU Frequency	900 MHz	624 MHz
GFloPS	61.2	497.98
# of Cores	2
# of Shader Units		256
Display	1920 x 1080 pixels	3840 x 2160 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		25.2
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG Mobile)	17.1	48.8
Garena Free Fire - The Cobra	28.6	52.5
Call of Duty: Mobile	19.5	27.1
Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5 Mobile)	14.6	44.3
Minecraft: Pocket Edition	18.2	63.7
Real Racing 3	50.1	105
Sniper 3D	62.9	84
Need for Speed No Limits	40	84
Mortal Kombat X	41.5	68.3
CSR Racing 2	34.3	57.8

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	16 MP	28 MP
Dual Camera resolution	8 MP
Image Signal Processor (ISP)		Qualcomm Spectra
Video Encoding FPS	30	30
Video Encoding resolution	FullHD	4K (Ultra HD), 2K, FullHD
Codec support	H.264	H.264/AVC, H.265/HEVC

Networks and Navigation

Modem		Qualcomm Snapdragon X12 LTE modem
Download speed	300 MBit/s.	600 MBit/s.
Upload speed	150 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 HiSilicon Kirin 659 is better: 10
The number of parameters for which Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 MSM8996 is better: 29
Please note that you do not need to blindly trust the automatic comparison on the table. You can watch benchmark video from beginning to end of joint comparison and hear what those who really appreciated the capabilities of both processors think, as well as read the test results at the links below.

Kirin 659 SoC - all data

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

• Kirin 659 specs and review.

Snapdragon 820 MSM8996 SoC - all data

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

• Snapdragon 820 MSM8996 specs and review.