Amlogic S805 is a quad core Cortex A5 processor for entry levels Android media players, S802 is a quad core processor with faster Cortex A9 cores clocked @ 2.0 GHz, and S812 is an upcoming upgrade of S802 with HEVC/H.265 hardware video decoding, and Gigabit Ethernet support. I’ve already written about the features differences between AML8726-MX, S802, S805, and S812, but since I now have some devices I can make direct comparison between S802 and S805. It’s quite clear on paper than S802 should be significantly faster than S805, so the only question to answer is by how much, but I’ve been asked to do it, and it could be a fun exercise. 
The hardware devices used for the comparison are two Android media players: EM6Q-MXQ for S805 and Probox2 EX for S802, and I used the results from three Android benchmarks: Antutu 5.1, Vellamo 3.x, and 3Dmark Ice Storm Extreme. Let’s go straight to the results.
| Amlogic S805 | Amlogic S802 | Delta | |
| CPU | Quad core Cortex A5 r0p1 @ 1.5 GHz | Quad core Cortex A9 r4 @ 2.0 GHz | |
| GPU | Quad core Mali-450MP | Octa core Mali-450MP6 | |
| Antutu 5.1 | |||
| Overall (Both “non-verified” scores) | 16647 | 38966 | 134.07% |
| Multitask | 3066 | 6653 | 116.99% |
| Runtime | 1047 | 2497 | 138.49% |
| RAM Ops | 1405 | 3308 | 135.44% |
| RAM Speed | 1420 | 2539 | 78.80% |
| CPU Integer (multi-thread) | 1398 | 2952 | 111.16% |
| CPU float-point (multi-thread) | 1442 | 3785 | 162.48% |
| CPU Integer (single thread) | 882 | 1917 | 117.35% |
| CPU float-point (single thread) | 931 | 2142 | 130.08% |
| 2D Graphics(1920×1080) | 936 | 1650 | 76.28% |
| 3DGraphics (1920×1080) | 3021 | 9713 | 221.52% |
| Vellamo 3.x | |||
| Metal | 566 | 955 | 68.73% |
| Multicore | 1139 | 2352 | 106.50% |
| Browser | 1060 | 1423 | 34.25% |
| 3DMark – Ice Storm Extreme | 2325 | 6970 | 199.78% |
Sources:
- EM6Q-EMX Review for all S805 benchmarks
- AndroidPC.es for Probox2 EX Vellamo and 3Dmark Ice Storm Extreme scores.
- Probox2 EX Antutu 5.1 screenshots [1] and [2]
Without much surprise Amlogic S802 is faster than Amlogic S805 for all tests, most of the time well over twice as fast. In Antutu, RAM speed and 2D graphics are “only” about 75% faster with S802. The 2D graphics perfromance may also have impacted the Browser test in Vellamo which is only 34% faster. At first glance, the 3D GPU scores may be confusing. How can an octa core Mali-450 GPU can be three times faster then a quad core Mali-450 GPU in benchmarks. I think the difference may comes from the number of fragment cores rather than the total of GPU cores. I understand Mali-450MP6 used in S802 is comprised of 2 vertex cores and 6 fragment cores, whereas the quad core Mali-450 found in S805 may just have 2 vertex cores, and 2 fragment cores, and the benchmark may be more sensitive to fragment cores, so 6 cores outperform 2 cores by 3 times. At least. that’s my theory.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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nice comparison…IMHO also a temperature test (over the box and over the heatsink) could be interesting.
Any link to compare rk3188-s802-AML8726-MX?
@Jibril
I’ve already got some temperature data, but the problem is that it’s device specific, rather than SoC specific:
After Antutu:
Tronsmart Vega S89 Elite (S802): Top: 40 °C, bottom: 53 °C
EM6Q-MXQ (S805): Top: 39°C, bottom: 51°C
To measure, I just use an infrared thermometer, and I scan the case to find the highest temperature.
I have not done any measurement directly on the heatsink (might be a problem due to bright color).
Also bear in my that S805 only has a small heatsink, but S802 products have larger heatsinks.
The CPU governor is set to performance in EM6Q-MXQ, and it is set to hotplug (ondemand) for S802 devices. I’m not sure how much this could affect power dissipation.
@twubir
Not yet, but maybe something I could do soon.
@cnxsoft
thanks
@cnxsoft
Comparison (maybe less detailed) with RK3188/3288 would be handy too.
@twubir
Now we’re just waiting for Thribir!
Would love to see comparison between RK3288 and Amlogic S802. I am looking to get my first mini pc, been holding off to see if RK3288 is more powerful than S802.
@AMPC Derp
I’ve actually already done that, but you’d be forgotten not to have noticed it because it’s hidden in a long review.
http://www.cnx-software.com/2014/08/27/review-of-uyesee-g1h-rockchip-rk3288-android-tv-box/
Scroll down below the Antutu benchmark screenshot to see the comparison table.
When you buy a device, you should not just think about CPU/GPU performance. The internal flash performance is also very important.
Then there is firmware/software support. If you plan to use XBMC, it’s not quite ready for prime time in RK3288 yet (many issues), but Kodi 14 should fix that. Also note that although 3D GPU benchmarks have similar scores in S802 and RK3288, playing actual games are much better in RK3288, thanks to a higher frame rate.
RK3288 CPU has better architecture and GPU is also higher lever. But as always all depend on software implementation and RK3188 has really bad video pipeline(too much memcopy) so I hope they fix it in RK3288 sdk as there will be big problem for 4K 60fps
this is really nice comparison
If you have some time try som of phoronix benchmarks
some wav to mp3/aac or video encoding 🙂
Can somebody explain why tv stick (CS868) has better wifi performance then tv boxes with antenna ??
@cnxsoft
it could be very useful
@onebir
yeap, today I’ll meet at the bar with him ))
@cnxsoft I have to agree.
One seems to forget that most of the s805 devices have hardware decoding for H.265/HEVC where the s802 devices don’t.
In the real world the s805 with hw H.265 support would be a better choice, considering that this coding will be the future.
Don’t get me wrong, if the main purpose is gaming or apps I agree with s802, but for XBMC and other video playerss, s805 its better for sure.
ok…I’ll wait the s812-h
I own a My Gica Quad Core TV Box . The specs say that the CPU is Arm Cortex A9 Quad Core
GPU Mali-450 Octa -Core Ram 1G DDR3 OS Android 4.4 ( Support OS Upgrade )
Has an S 802 processor.
My question : Is this unit 32 bit or 64 bit.
Thank you for an early reply.
@George Kissoondath
ARM Cortex A9 is a 32-bit core.
You can check the first chart @ http://www.cnx-software.com/2015/04/09/relative-performance-of-arm-cortex-a-32-bit-and-64-bit-cores/ to see which ARM cores are 32-bit and which ones are 64-bit
Do I need a wifi connection to use this
@Phil
You can use WiFi or Ethernet for Internet access.
If you just want to play videos from USB storage, you don’t even any Internet access.