After publishing a benchmark comparison between Amlogic S905 and Rockchip RK3368 yesterday, I was asked to do the same with Amlogic S805 and Amlogic S905. Since I already had the data, I just went ahead to write this post. Bear in mind that Amlogic S805 TV boxes run Android 4.4, while Amlogic S905 devices all feature Android 5.1. So while the table below should give a good estimate of the actual performance improvement between the two generation devices, Amlogic S905 performance will be amplified thanks to optimizations in Android 5.1, for instance the use of ART runtime instead of Dalvik.
With that in mind here are the results comparing the results I got with Videostrong K1 Plus (Amlogic S905) and MXQ S85 (Amlogic S805) TV boxes.
| Amlogic S905 | Amlogic S805 | Ratio | |
| CPU | Quad core Cortex A53 @ 2.02 GHz | Quad core Cortex A5 @ 1.488 GHz | |
| GPU | ARM Mali-450MP | ARM Mali-450MP | |
| Antutu 5.x | |||
| Overall | 28,027 | 16,448 | 1.70 |
| Multitask | 4,260 | 2,967 | 1.44 |
| Runtime | 2,721 | 1,057 | 2.57 |
| RAM Ops | 1,960 | 1,392 | 1.41 |
| RAM Speed | 2,420 | 1,590 | 1.52 |
| CPU Integer (multi-thread) | 2,310 | 1,390 | 1.66 |
| CPU float-point (multi-thread) | 2,483 | 1,468 | 1.69 |
| CPU Integer (single thread) | 1,587 | 882 | 1.80 |
| CPU float-point (single thread) | 1,510 | 930 | 1.62 |
| 2D Graphics(1920×1080) | 1,374 | 904 | 1.52 |
| 3D Graphics (1920×1080) | 6,126 | 2,996 | 2.04 |
| Vellamo 3.x | |||
| Metal | 763 | 551 | 1.38 |
| Multicore | 1,572 | 1,319 | 1.19 |
| Browser* | 2,002 | 816 | 2.45 |
| 3DMark – Ice Storm Extreme v1.2 | |||
| Total score | 4,304 | 2,308 | 1.86 |
| Graphics score | 3,684 | 1,950 | 1.89 |
| Physics score | 10,468 | 6,471 | 1.62 |
*Vellamo 3.x browser benchmark had an issue that underreported Amlogic S805 performance.
A ratio greater than 1 means S905 is faster than S805, and the new processor outperforms in all categories. This is especially true for the runtime test that combines a faster processor with a better ART runtime. So If you plan to upgrade your Amlogic S805 mini PC to a Amlogic S905 mini PC you’ll notice an obviously performance boost with the new processor.
That for the performance. Price-wise the most cost effective Amlogic S805 TV boxes sell for about $30 (even lower with discounts or promotions), while equivalent Amlogic S905 devices go for around $42, so the price difference is only about $12. Having said that, S805 is a mature platform, and as I found out with Videostrong K1 Plus, the firmware may not be polished yet in S905 devices currently shipping with for instance, the Google Play Store not working very well, and no DRM at all.
That means Amlogic S905 definitely offers a better performance than Amlogic S805, but at this point (November 2015), there’s probably no rush to buy an Amlogic S905 TV box, unless you are ready to go through some bugs at first, and the lack of DRM – which might not be fixable by firmware updates – is no issue to you.
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.
Support CNX Software! Donate via cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or purchase goods on Amazon or Aliexpress
