Samsung Exynos 2200’s AMD RDNA2 GPU tested, up to 30% slower than Snapdragon 8 Gen1

Exynos 2200 GPU performance is significantly worse than Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen1

Samsung is yet to lift the embargo on full Galaxy S22 reviews, mainly because the company is still promising software updates that will improve the overall performance of the series. 

This has not stopped some tech enthusiasts and independent phone reviewers from testing these devices early though. One of such reviewers is Erdi Özüağ who managed to obtain not one but two samples of Galaxy S22 Ultra phones, each equipped with a different System on a Chip.

Samsung Exynos 2200 GPU performance, Source: Erdi Özüağ

The S22 Ultra will be available with either Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen1 or Samsung Exynos 2200. The availability will depend on the region where the devices are being sold. While the CPU performance is not expected to show significant differences, it was believed that a heavily promoted Samsung and AMD partnership would result in a superior mobile GPU. This chip known as Eclipse 920 based on AMD RDNA2 GPU is only available in Exynos 2200 SoC, while Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 features Adreno 730 GPU.

Samsung Exynos 2200 GPU performance, Source: Erdi Özüağ

The reviewer tested the phones in 3DMark Wild Life, Wild Life Extreme, and GFXBench GPU tests. TechPowerUp reports that Exynos 2200 is barely 7% faster than S21 Ultra with Exynos 2100 in 3DMark Wild Life. In fact, the gap between Qualcomm and Samsung chips in S22 Ultra is so vast that 8 Gen1 is 30% faster than Exynos 2200.

Single test runs may not paint the full picture here though, as mobile GPU performance tends to be heavily affected by the thermal limitations of the devices being tested. It is reported that Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen1 might see lower performance after multiple test runs, as suggested by some leaked screenshots from early impression videos:

Samsung Exynos 2200 GPU might still get an update before the official release, which should boost its performance and limit the discrepancies between Adreno and Xclipse GPUs.

Source (via TechPowerUP):