Samsung announces that it produces the Snapdragon 820 SoC using its second-gen 14nm FinFET process

posted by Alan F. / Jan 14, 2016, 12:05 AM

Samsung announces that it produces the Snapdragon 820 SoC using its second-gen 14nm FinFET process

In the middle of a press release announcing that Samsung had started mass production of chips using its second-generation 14nm FinFET process, the company officially confirmed something that was only a speculation earlier. Samsung is producing Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 chipset using the second-generation 14nm process technology.

This means that the Snapdragon 820 chipset includes the LPP (Low Power Plus) feature. This will allow it to run at a 15% higher speed while consuming 15% less battery life when compared to chips made using Sammy's first-gen 14nm FinFet process.

"We are pleased to start production of our industry-leading, 2nd generation 14nm FinFET process technology that delivers the highest level of performance and power efficiency. Samsung will continue to offer derivative processes of its advanced 14nm FinFET technology to maintain our technology leadership."-Charlie Bae, Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing, System LSI Business, Samsung Electronics

Samsung will no doubt use the new technology to produce the Exynos 8890 that will be found under the hood of the Samsung Galaxy S7. The first-generation 14nm FinFET process was used to produce Samsung's version of the Apple A9 chipset. The same technology was employed in the production of the Exynos 7420, which powers the Samsung Galaxy S6, Samsung Galaxy S6 edge, Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ and the Samsung Galaxy Note 5.

source: Samsung

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34 Comments

1. Sidewinder

Posts: 515; Member since: Jan 15, 2015

It'll be pretty interesting to see how the Samsung made snapdragon stacks up with its own Exynos flagship

posted on Jan 14, 2016, 12:07 AM 5

2. Arch_Fiend

Posts: 3951; Member since: Oct 03, 2015

Sd820 VS E8890 Is Completely Fair Because Of It.

posted on Jan 14, 2016, 12:12 AM 3

3. NonFanBoy

Posts: 180; Member since: May 28, 2015

Exynos 8890 will probably have a more powerful CPU but Snapdragon 820 will have a better GPU. Currently CPU performance of SoCs are fast enough already, but its the GPU performance that matters with the high resolution displays and VR gaining momentum. Also a SoC is not just about the CPU and GPU, the Snapdragon modem will likely be superior to the Shenon modem used in Exynos as Shenon is still relatively young. There are other things as well like improved security offered by Snapdragon with Smart Protect, the new finger print sensor and a few other things. Snapdragon would likely be more power efficient as well because of the lower number of cores. All in all, Snapdragon seems to be a better choice but then again, until both the SoCs are in the market, everything is mere speculation.

posted on Jan 14, 2016, 12:30 AM 4

4. Arch_Fiend

Posts: 3951; Member since: Oct 03, 2015

Exactly Whichever Soc Has The Best GPU Is The Better Soc.

posted on Jan 14, 2016, 12:31 AM 2

10. johanbiff

Posts: 415; Member since: Mar 31, 2015

is there any info on how the t880-mp12 hold up against the adreno 530?

posted on Jan 14, 2016, 12:49 AM 1

14. Arch_Fiend

Posts: 3951; Member since: Oct 03, 2015

I Don't Think Any Gpu Benchmarks Have Been Leaked. Well There Is This But It Doesn't Include E8890 Scores Tho.http://www.gsmarena.com/snapdragon_820_off_the_charts_on_antutu_scoring_131000-news-15468.php Better To Wait On Official Scores By Released Devices.

posted on Jan 14, 2016, 1:13 AM 1

21. vincelongman

Posts: 5677; Member since: Feb 10, 2013

We have the Kirin 950's T880 MP4, which gives us a rough idea of how the E8890's T880 MP12 could perform T880 MP4 Manhattan 3.0 Offscreen: 18.2 fps So if the E8890's T880 MP12 was also clocked at 900MHz it could get roughly around 54 fps (18 fps*3) But its not that simple, we need to take into account: e.g. *GPUs almost scale linearly, but not quite 100% linearly *Thermals/efficiency, Samsung probably wont clock their T880 MP12 at 900MHz otherwise it may throttle, maybe something like 500-700MHz *TSMC's new 16FF+ vs Samsung's new 14LPP *Samsung's E8890 probably has more memory bandwidth *Kirin's 3 year old ARM CCI-400 vs Samsung's new custom SCI interconnect And much more

posted on Jan 14, 2016, 1:43 AM 2

34. may_czos

Posts: 955; Member since: Nov 22, 2014

@vincelongman You can't simply add cores and their performance. It's not that simple. Only 70% of the next core's performance adds up. So even though E8890 will have many GPU cores, it won't uoutperform Adreno 530. They will be pretty close with a small edge to the Adreno in terms of performance and huge edge thanks to lower power consumption.

posted on Jan 14, 2016, 8:22 AM 0

41. vincelongman

Posts: 5677; Member since: Feb 10, 2013

That's what I said Source for: "Only 70% of the next core's performance adds up." Pure BS If there's no thermal issues or bandwidth issues, GPUs almost scale linearly E.g. The A9X/A8X performs twice as well as the A9/A8 Only major GPU difference is the A9X/A8X have twice the GPU cores and bandwidth of the A9/A8 (also the A9X does lacks the A9's L3 cache, which should worsen GPU performance)

posted on Jan 14, 2016, 11:23 PM 0

23. joseanand

Posts: 27; Member since: Aug 14, 2014

there was a gfx benchmark leaked on weibo earlier they both have just 1fps difference. gsmarena.com/samsung_prepares_exynos_8870_chip_for_meizu_as_2016_chipsets_get_benchmarked-news-15740.php

posted on Jan 14, 2016, 1:59 AM 0

15. vincelongman

Posts: 5677; Member since: Feb 10, 2013

I'd prefer the most efficient SoC Minor speed differences in CPU and GPU speed aren't as noticeable in normal usage I want the SoC that uses the least battery and remains the coolest

posted on Jan 14, 2016, 1:15 AM 6

18. Arch_Fiend

Posts: 3951; Member since: Oct 03, 2015

That's Very Important As Well. I Feel Like The Efficiency Of The Sd820 And E8890 Will Be Similar Since They Will Be Using The Same 14nm FinFET process. Guess We'll Just Have To Wait And See.

posted on Jan 14, 2016, 1:31 AM 0

17. medtxa

Posts: 1655; Member since: Jun 02, 2014

Battery life matters more, even if its for gaming you would rather have lower fps but longer play time. Right?

posted on Jan 14, 2016, 1:22 AM 2

19. Arch_Fiend

Posts: 3951; Member since: Oct 03, 2015

Yes I Would Rather Play Longer If Possible, As Long As There Is Little To No Lag.

posted on Jan 14, 2016, 1:34 AM 0

20. TyrionLannister unregistered

Both will have almost exactly equal GPUs: http://thedroidreview.com/snapdragon-820-and-exynos-8890-gpu-comparison-which-chipset-takes-the-crown-6266

posted on Jan 14, 2016, 1:34 AM 3

22. vincelongman

Posts: 5677; Member since: Feb 10, 2013

This is what I'm expecting Samsung are fabbing Qualcomm's 820, they will know how it performs I reckon they will set their clock speed to just beat the 820's GPU

posted on Jan 14, 2016, 1:53 AM 1

24. Arch_Fiend

Posts: 3951; Member since: Oct 03, 2015

I Don't Think It Will Be That Similar. We'll Just Have To Wait And See Won't We.

posted on Jan 14, 2016, 2:34 AM 0

25. johanbiff

Posts: 415; Member since: Mar 31, 2015

if I don`t remember wrong, where there not a leak on t880 with over 100FPS in T-rex OS?

posted on Jan 14, 2016, 3:10 AM 0

26. johanbiff

Posts: 415; Member since: Mar 31, 2015

http://wccftech.com/samsung-mongoose-core-details/ here it is, prob just a test of what it`s capible off..think samsung will tone it down to Adreno 530 score

posted on Jan 14, 2016, 3:14 AM 2

29. alex3run

Posts: 715; Member since: May 18, 2014

Pretty much sure that Mali as usual will outperform Adreno. Or they will equate.

posted on Jan 14, 2016, 4:10 AM 0

31. marorun

Posts: 5029; Member since: Mar 30, 2015

Also SD 820 support both the ultra high speed onboard memory and SD at the same time with no slowdown. Also has an hardware based anti malware. Better Camera processing chip ect. As NonFanBoy said CPU are now more than fast enuf we need bigger GPU instead.

posted on Jan 14, 2016, 7:52 AM 0

33. may_czos

Posts: 955; Member since: Nov 22, 2014

@NonFanBoy, Exynos 8890 is going to score higher in multicore benchmarks because it has more cores. SD820 will be better in single score performance. They also "fixed" the Adreno GPU to achieve the best all around performance. Combined with incredible memory bandwidth SD820 should mean very fast and snappy real world perfoemance. 8890 will be no slouch either but I'm worried about the power consumption. 8 CPU and 12GPU cores will need a lot of energy. Samsung claims that 8890 will be 10% more power efficient than 7420. Thing is - with 50% performance increase it means significant increase in power consumption under load..

posted on Jan 14, 2016, 8:19 AM 0

37. johanbiff

Posts: 415; Member since: Mar 31, 2015

one thing I don`t get is Samsungs new finfet 14nm is by it`s own 15% more efficient then the old finfet 14nm. so how is 8890 only 10% more efficient then 7420? it should be atleast 25% if im not mistaken :\