Tuesday, May 3, 2011

The Galaxy Tab Wi-Fi slower than 3G

The Galxy Tab WiFi uses the same housing as the Galaxy Tab 3G, but is it really the same? Obviously not. A user version of "domestic" Tablet Samsung realized that if the technical details of the 3G version said "C110, 1GHz, Cortex A8 Hummingbird" for the processor, Wi-Fi version was satisfied with the indication "1GHz Cortex A8 processor.

After investigation, he discovered that the CPU was very different. Indeed, the Hummingbird Samsung uses a PowerVR SGX GPU while the 540 Wi-Fi Galaxy Tab merely a PowerVR SGX 530. The only SoC that uses the GPU with a Cortex A8 is the OMAP3 Texas Instruments, already used in the Galaxy SL.


Both chips are close, but still faster Hummingbird. In both cases, it is a SoC (System on a Chip), which combines processor, chipset and GPU onto the same chip. The processor is the same: an ARM Cortex A8 at 1 GHz. There are still a small difference: the cache is 256 kb on OMAP3 and 512 kb from Samsung.

For the GPU, the supplier is the same - Imagination - but the chip exchange. Samsung uses a PowerVR SGX 540, Texas Instruments a PowerVR SGX 530. Specifically, the first is about two times faster than the second. Finally, memory is managed in 64-bit Samsung and 32-bit at Texas Instrument, which limits a little performance.

In fact, early tests show that the Galaxy Tab 3G is more reactive than the Galaxy Tab Wi-Fi, which is quite logical. And the difference is low in normal use is expected to explode in programs that use the GPU.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for supplying us with this kind of information. :)

    ReplyDelete