More CPU Cores = More Performance ?
One of the interesting things about choosing a phone is the performance . Many consumers assume that more cores would deliver better performance. But is this the truth or is it one of those terrible myths. Lets find out by diving into the tech world!
What is a CPU Core?
A CPU core is basically like a human brain. It performs tasks like opening apps and executes various underneath the hood operations. A core is the processing unit. We can think of a dual core(2 cores) processor having two brains.
Underneath an 8-Core CPU
When we talk about octa core CPUs in the case of PCs, all the 8 cores are there on a single physical chip. In terms of mobile there will be two physical chips each having 4 cores. We call this type of combination as a cluster.
Let us explore and find out what manufacturers are doing.
The MediaTek Approach
Mediatek has been always trying to get more and more cores on board. Mediatek believes in having a three tier performance structure. In their recent Helio x2o they have a cluster of 3 chips. It sports a deca core processor. The CPU has 2 different architectures(A53 and A72). Here is a a glimpse of the philosophy behind the x20.
As we can see, Mediatek says that since there are three levels of performance required, there should be 3 chips taking on each type of the load. Here is the exact configuration of the x20.
2x Cortex-A72 @ 2.5GHz (for Heavy load)
4x Cortex-A53 @ 2.0GHz(for Medium load)
4x Cortex-A53 @ 1.4GHz(for Light load)
There have been rumors about Helio X30 having a 4 chip cluster.
The Qualcomm Approach
Qualcomm does not chase the sheer number of cores. They have been looking at improving the architecture of the cores. Recently in many budget processors like the snapdragon 650 and 652, qualcomm has been using the big.LITTLE architecture which are the A72 cores. These are the most powerful cores offered by ARM(It designs the CPUs manufactured by different mobile CPU manufacturers like qualcomm). Though qualcomm has been exploring into having their own cores as they did in the Snapdragon 820. They introduced the new kyro cores which are very powerful.
The Samsung Approach
Samsung produces the best chips in terms of benchmarks. The latest Exynos 8890 has custom cores as well. We haven’t really felt that much power of their processors because of the software experience that Samsung has i.e. Touch Wiz. Touch Wiz really slows things down. Meizu has used a samsung processor in one of their devices. It would be interesting to see if other mobile manufacturers start using Samsung Processors.
The Apple Approach
Apple always has different plans when comes to performance and CPU side of things. Apple has stuck to a dual core processor. Well on paper it sounds as if it is nothing but it performs like a beast. There have always been articles saying that apple’s dual core crushes samsung’s octa core. What apple does is it designs its own processors and gets them manufactured from TSMC. The two cores that apple processors have are very powerful and deliver great performance. We do not how apple does it but their custom silicon is supreme.
The conclusion to draw is that more cores do not mean more performance. It depends on the software optimization done, the core architecture and various other things. When we talk about a CPU, the core count is just tip of the iceberg.
Therefore: