Nokia N8 GPU compared, again

The OpenGL ES Benchmark is a benchmarking application written to test the abilities of a mobile device’s2D and 3D graphics rendering capabilites as it relates to speed/efficiency of use OpenGL ES API’s.



Open GL API’s are used in a large number of consumer electronics including but not limited to mobile phones & consumer gaming systems. Due to their use in a number of mobile operating systems as the official graphics rendering API’s it allows a significantly higher degree of cross-platform/device comparisons to be made in lieu of  OS-to-OS differences.



Through my regular forum hopping, I chanced upon an image showing a comparison between a number of currently available devices and other devices still awaiting release. The image clearly shows that the N8 is definitely among the top contender with regards to graphics capabilities. However, just looking at the GL benchmark homepage and top 5 available, one would be inclined to believe that the N8 is eclipsed only by the Samsung I9000.

Fortunately, drilling deeper into the results data as shown in the image below shows rather clearly the N8 leading and handily beating the I9000 in a number of different tests comprising the overall benchmark. One may argue that this is due to differences in resolution, but given that the resolution difference between the two is equivalent to a factor of  5/3 or 1.66667 times more pixels that the I9000 has to push compared to th N8, some of these tests indicate almost a doubling of performance with the N8. Given that the I9000 running a 1GHz “Hummingbird” applications processor and a PowerVR SGX 540 GPU widely accepted as top of the current class, it must be said that signs look promising with regards to rendering capabilities of the newest Nokia imaging king.

Of course, benchmarks alone don’t determine the speed at which the UI will run or even what the user’s experience with the device will be. This sort of performance of the  GPU though would play handily into Symbian’s favor with its GPU accelerated UI, something which  Android seemingly lacks. Hopefully Nokia and developers can both capitalise on this promising piece of HW.

Another thing to note would be that the GPU has been confirmed yet to be a broadcom GPU most likely the same BCM2727 being bandied about the internet as evidenced by the following screens. Note the line GL_renderer which mentions “VideoCore III HW” the same core found in the BCM2727.

More information on the Broadcom GPU/VPU can be found here.

http://www.curiouscat.org/Steve/Media/2727-PB01-R.pdf

and

http://www.broadcom.com/products/Cellular/Mobile-Multimedia-Processors/BCM2727

Thanks Ahmed360

Edit:

The Iphone4 has been added to the GL Benchmark site as of today

http://www.glbenchmark.com/compare.jsp?benchmark=glpro11&showhide=true&D1=Apple iPhone 4&D2=Nokia N8

The iPhone is better at textures by a noticeable margin than the N8 but seems worse at skinning and lighting.

Caveat: There are quite a few Extensions and optimisations for the Iphone 4 when compared to the N8

Results page and large images

http://img412.imageshack.us/i/47982663.jpg/

http://www.glbenchmark.com/result.jsp

Tags: BCM2727, Broadcom, Gaming, GPU, graphics, N8, Nokia N8, PowerVR SGX, specs

Category: Android, Nseries, S60, Technical Specifications