Database Develop

Do custom rom's modifications improve speed or it's a kernel issue only?

Hi. I just wonder about this.
Many times, when a new firmware comes out, after 2-3 days there are custom roms based on it, with tweaks (edited build.prop for example) and other speed mods.
Do they really improve speed? I mean seriously, if someone tests the 3-4 most known stable custom roms, based on same android version, and with the same kernel, also with the same apps on it, will be any noticeable difference in speed?
I see other devs releasing a rom after 3 days, and I can't explain what kind of tweaks could give more speed being stable at the same time.
Maybe custom roms are just modded/themed stock roms, and when there's a speed differenve it's because of the kernel inside.
Just being curious about that (also could make the choice of the rom itself easier...)

Any opinion? From your experience at least.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk

A mixture of both .
jje

definately a mixture of both. They both make huge improvments over stock. in my opinion anyway

probaby karnel or speed
some costum rome improve your phone speed or karnel speed. especially visuality.

temyes said:
some costum rome improve your phone speed or karnel speed. especially visuality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't need to improve my phone's karnel speed, it gets enough girls as it is.
However in my experience speed improvement and the smoothness that comes with it are mainly the process of the kernel as that controls the interaction between android and the hardware, where most performance bottlenecks happen. The ROM itself adds functionality, appearence and most important of all...stability.
At least so it appears to me.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA Premium App

rschenck said:
I don't need to improve my phone's karnel speed, it gets enough girls as it is.
However in my experience speed improvement and the smoothness that comes with it are mainly the process of the kernel as that controls the interaction between android and the hardware, where most performance bottlenecks happen. The ROM itself adds functionality, appearence and most important of all...stability.
At least so it appears to me.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I partially agree. I mean, if we assume stock roms are stable, custom roms can;t be more stable.
So, they provide some speed, maybe because there are not so many system apps inside, and mostly they provide some nice mods (visual and functional).

[KERNEL][codename:BFS returns 0.09][Jul.24][Based on Air kernel 4.4][BFS][UKSM]

Q: Are you Dead?
A: No. But on these day, I'm do something else (learning C/Python). I will come back in some day.
This is an experimental kernel based on the latest Air kernel(v4.4). I patched and re-config the kernel for testing and/or for fun.
My patches will never ever comes into other kernels.
1. using ext4 subsystem for ext2/3.
A very funny thing is Air kernel enabled "using ext4 subsystem for ext2/3", but independent ext2 support enabled, too.
I know It is insignificant for the performance. But that makes me feel sick So I disabled independent ext2 support to get a smaller(0.5kb lower?) kernel.
2. using the BFS scheduler.
For small systems, the default scheduler - CFS, is a very complex things, and complex code cause a low performance in embedded systems. BFS is a simple scheduler for embedded systems. It can makes the CPU go faster. In fact, some people think it makes Android UI slower than before.
BFS is written by Con Kolivas.
For more information, you can visit Con Kolivas blog: http://ck-hack.blogspot.com/
3. UKSM
Linux kernel uses KSM to merging same pages for KVM virtual machine. Cyanogenmod modified Android, so KSM can work with Dalvik too. And we can get more RAMs. UKSM is a new project, it more powerful than KSM. It works without any modify. UKSM will scan all data in memory and merge them.
UKSM is a Chinese project, and it's still in development.
You can visit http://http://kerneldedup.org/en to learn more. But there only one page is available in English now.
Usage of UKSM: http://kerneldedup.org/en/projects/uksm/uksmdoc/usage/
4.Deadline for default I/O scheduler. (In v0.06)
CFQ cause low boot performance and missing app icons on my phone. So I set deadline for default scheduler.
WARNING: Don't use it with Jelly Bean, if you do it, your phone will unable to boot, unless you flash a Jelly Bean's kernel.
Latest version
The latest version is v0.09.
All version (included broken/buggy kernel) downloads: http://biergaizi.info/pub/
Voodoo color
It has Voodoo color only(no 65fps or blue color)
Download: http://biergaizi.info/pub/[BFS returns][Air kernel 4.4][0.09][voodoo-color].zip
65fps+Blue color
It has 65fps + blue color.
Download: http://biergaizi.info/pub/[BFS returns][Air kernel 4.4][0.09][65fps+blue].zip
Known Issue:
1.Random crashes/reboots.
Note1: I think it's a upstream issue.
Note2: Issue 1 was no longer exist in v0.06
Found a bug?
If you phone is crashed or auto-rebooted, please type this command after you first reboot:
cat /proc/last_kmsg > /sdcard/kernel_log.txt
Then you can find a file in your sdcard(usb mass storage) and its name is kernel_log.txt
Please reply and upload it for attach file, it can help me to solve the problem.
The source code is available from patches, sources on Github will remove soon:
http://biergaizi.info/pub/sources/
About the version number:
My zips' name are follow these rules:
[BFS returns][Air kernel x.x][x.x][voodoo-color]
.......^...............^.............^...........^
..Codename..Based on what...Main.....voodoo-color or
.....................version of....version....65fps+blue color
.....................Air kernel.....number
For example, [BFS returns][Air kernel 4.4][0.05][voodoo-color] is stand for:
the kernel's codename is 'BFS returns', based on Air kernel 4.4, the main version number is 0.05, and this kernel is a voodoo-color-kernel.
And I must talk about the main version number:
...x.........................xx..................x...............-...x.
...^..........................^..................^..................^
."Milestone".............times of.............small fix for.....complied version or zipped
version with major.....small changes......this release...version (changed kernel
....changes..........................................................config, version of gcc,
.........................................................................or fixed a broken zip file)
For example:
0.05 is stand for no major changes, and the fifth time of release with small changes, no small fix for it, just complied one time.

Q&A:
What is a scheduler?
Your computer often has 1-8 CPUs only, a CPU can do one thing in one time only. But you can run 500 processes on it. Why? Because scheduler switches processes. For example, You have 1 CPU only, and you opened 100 processes, scheduler will let one process run some time, and interrupt it, then let the next process run. So, there is a single process running only. But CPU is very fast, and scheduler switches them quickly, so you can't feel it.
How long does the scheduler let one process run? Different schedulers have different answers. But all of them are using algorithms to schedule process rational.
The history of CFS & BFS?
5 years ago, there was a scheduler called CFS. It's a very high performance scheduler, so it replaced O(1) scheduler when it merged. Facts have proved that, it is really high performance, because it can use on a supercomputer with 4096 CPUs.
On a supercomputer, a priority is very important and useful. Because many people are connecting to the supercomputer and work on it, so, you must specify the priority to people, to share the resources fairly. CFS is this kind of scheduler: it has advanced priority system. Such as group scheduled, so we can specify the priority to every single user & usergroup.
But, Does the most people use the supercomputer??
For me, I still use a computer with legacy device: a Pentium M CPU sometimes. And I use SCMs, such as a MP3 player, or devices with ARM chips, such as routers, iDevices, and my Nexus S smartphone.
By design, CFS will use on everywhere. So, it can't optimize for the device you are use. For example, we still use a supercompuer to elaborate it: priority is important on the supercomputer, but how about on the SCMs or smartphones? There are only one user at the same time. But, CFS is trying to compute the priority of the users every second!! These things are useless on low-performance-devies, and cause the low performance. It really not optimized for the low-performance-devices.
So, Con Kolivas, the designer of CFS (he just wrote some paper for it, the developer is Ingo Molnár. He also is the developer of O(1), wroto CFS before Con Kolivas. Con Kolivas is very angry for that) wrote a new scheduler for low-performance-devices, called BFS, Brain **** Scheduler. Why Brain ****? Because it very easy and simple, and kind of stupid scheduler, but it can improve performance on low-performance-devices. It removed some "awesome" design, such as advanced priority, but a stupid and simple one, etc.
It really a bad scheduler for 8-core-systems, and a terrible scheduler for 16-core-systems. But a great system with single-core and dual-core. Con Kolivas said it will never be in to the mainline Linux kernel, because it isn't a general scheduler, but I will keep update for it outside the mainline kernel code.
But now, CFS is better than before too. Lots of people think, CFS is the winner now.
Tell me something about UKSM.
This is an improvement upon KSM.
Its new features:
1. Full system scan:
It automatically scans all user processes' anonymous VMAs. Kernel-user
interaction to submit a memory area to KSM is no longer needed.
2. Rich area detection:
It automatically detects rich areas containing abundant duplicated
pages based. Rich areas are given a full scan speed. Poor areas are
sampled at a reasonable speed with very low CPU consumption.
3. Ultra Per-page scan speed improvement:
A new hash algorithm is proposed. As a result, on a machine with
Core(TM)2 Quad Q9300 CPU in 32-bit mode and 800MHZ DDR2 main memory, it
can scan memory areas that does not contain duplicated pages at speed of
627MB/sec ~ 2445MB/sec and can merge duplicated areas at speed of
477MB/sec ~ 923MB/sec.
4. Thrashing area avoidance:
Thrashing area(an VMA that has frequent Ksm page break-out) can be
filtered out. My benchmark shows it's more efficient than KSM's per-page
hash value based volatile page detection.
5. Full Zero Page consideration(contributed by Figo Zhang)
Now uksmd consider full zero pages as special pages and merge them to an
special unswappable uksm zero page.
How to tweak UKSM?
http://kerneldedup.org/en/projects/uksm/uksmdoc/usage/
You are just add BFS patch to Air kernel, the kernel is useless, everyone can do it!!!
Yes, I am a patcher and a compiler. Some kernel in XDA, also just add some patch and small hack to improve proformance. And users will not compile their own kernels, right? I'm doing the same thing. I will do more work soon.

Catalog:
Jul.24.2012 | 0.09:
1. Backported Codel queue management algorith from Linux 3.5.
Jul.23.2012 | 0.08:
1. Updated kernel source to Linux 3.0.38!
P.S: This time I didn't just copy r_data's code, I did it by myself. Because r_data is working on Jelly Bean's kernel and forgot to update this kernel!
Jul.15.2012 | 0.07:
1. New UKSM patchset.
2. r_data just updated him version information.
Jun.28.2012 | 0.06:
1. New UKSM patchset.
2. Deadline for default I/O scheduler.
3. Based on real Air kernel 4.4, not 4.3 weekly.
Jun.23.2012 | 0.05:
1.Updated kernel source code to Air kernel 4.4.
2.ext2/3 mounted by ext4 subsystem.
3.UKSM replaced KSM.
Apr.09.2012 | 0.03:
1.Update kernel source code to Air kernel 3.9.5.
2.There are not High Bigmem/Non-High Bigmem versions, because I don't want to build 4 versions. And I don't know my kernel is a what version. I think it's a High Bigmem version.
3.Source code are not on Github yet.
Apr.08.2012 | 0.02:
1.Use r_data's config, a major update!
2.Based on Air Kernel 3.9
3.Fix a BFS of bug.
4.Source code are not on Github yet!
5.[Apr.09]Quickfix: Fix the bad zip file.
Apr.05.2012 | 0.01:
1.First release.
2.Based on Air Kernel 3.8
3.BFS kernel.

biergaizi said:
Catalog
Apr.05.2012 | 0.01:
1.First release.
2.Based on Air Kernel 3.8
3.BFS kernel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm a huge fan of Air. I don't really get the idea of how BFS can improve an already awesome kernel, but I'll give it a try, and report back asap. Thanks for your work.
EDIT: Sorry, still not as smooth as Air. Going back to v3.8. Good job anyway. Cheers!
Sent from my Nexus S

apatal said:
I'm a huge fan of Air. I don't really get the idea of how BFS can improve an already awesome kernel, but I'll give it a try, and report back asap. Thanks for your work.
EDIT: Sorry, still not as smooth as Air. Going back to v3.8. Good job anyway. Cheers!
Sent from my Nexus S
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sorry for that. Because I just want to add latest BFS to the kernels for somebody who want to try it (included me). And I use Linux a long time, I just want to learn how to compile Android kernel.
But I can't get r_data's kernel config file, and I don't know his Email address. So, I write a terrible one. This kernel has lots of bugs. I think you was saw the version number of it, 0.01
I will still improve it.

Thanks.
I did a comparison of the performance of bfs and cfs a while back using the two kernels that provided both, Matr1x and GlaDOS. CPU scores improved with bfs but graphics deteriorated and i noticed UI lags with bfs. The results are still available to view on the kernel spreadsheet (see link in my signature).
kernels ; battery ; ROM ; gov/sched
Now with summaries in the first posts. Convenient for XDA app users!

Because BFS use interrupts for multitasking, so it cause UI lags. But the overall performance should improved I think.
Your test proved it. Thanks

biergaizi said:
because bfs use interrupts for multitasking, so it cause ui lags. But the overall performance should improved i think.
Your test proved it. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
终于! 有个中国人开始写内核了, 支持支持~~~

biergaizi said:
Because BFS use interrupts for multitasking, so it cause UI lags. But the overall performance should improved I think.
Your test proved it. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am curious... You said earlier you wanted to develop a kernel to use BFS... but then you said you "found" r_data's config file.... meaning he didn't give it to you, so you haven't actually "developed" anything... so that you can add a scheduler for users who typically don't use BFS.
By Bedalus' own own testing, the BFS causes some lags in UI functions, but "may improve overall system performance".
So I am curious; when there are well developed, and tested kernels like Matr1x, Glados, Steve Garon's, and the official Air Kernel with amazing performance, speed, smoothness and responsiveness, what benefit does your kernel offer?
I am a consummate kernel flasher, and guess I would like to know your sales pitch. You know benefits, etc.
While I try many kernels, I try none without some research first. and so far, sooner than later I return to Air Kernel for it's stability and responsiveness.
Thanks

Steviemac12 said:
I am curious... You said earlier you wanted to develop a kernel to use BFS... but then you said you "found" r_data's config file.... meaning he didn't give it to you, so you haven't actually "developed" anything... so that you can add a scheduler for users who typically don't use BFS.
.......
So I am curious; when there are well developed, and tested kernels like Matr1x, Glados, Steve Garon's, and the official Air Kernel with amazing performance, speed, smoothness and responsiveness, what benefit does your kernel offer?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
C'mon, give the kid a break, he's got his heart in the right place
It's open source and on a git somewhere; he is also crediting r_data.
So although it still isn't a very compelling kang of the Air kernel, he hasn't done anything sleazy.
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium

motorator said:
C'mon, give the kid a break, he's got his heart in the right place
It's open source and on a git somewhere; he is also crediting r_data.
So although it still isn't a very compelling kang of the Air kernel, he hasn't done anything sleazy.
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My apology... never said he did anything "sleazy". Re-reading now, It came off a bit... well not exactly as I intended.
Just trying to understand where he is going with his project.
Again... biergaizi no offense intended. I think I am having sour grapes (jealous) because I wish I could learn to do what you guys do.
will give this one a try and maybe I can be more constructive.
Thanks Motorator for the kick in the pants..

I'm in the same boat as you in that I wish I knew how to code or at least compile some of this stuff.
Don't take it the wrong way. I didn't mean anything harsh; I just don't want young'uns like the OP to get discouraged.
Maybe this gets traction, or maybe it goes the way of most hobby coding projects. Whichever it is, we should at least let him try
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium

motorator said:
I'm in the same boat as you in that I wish I knew how to code or at least compile some of this stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 on this.
I've been hanging out in this forums and I'm getting an itch to start contributing as well, that is, contributing beyond merely test-driving their creations and actually coming out with something useful myself.
I even have the beginnings of a plan on how to go about it. Wish me luck!

apatal said:
I even have the beginnings of a plan on how to go about it. Wish me luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All the best with your plan. I hope you succeed and motivate us all to also take part :thumbup:
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium

Nice try, and keep on going.

Steviemac12 said:
I am curious... You said earlier you wanted to develop a kernel to use BFS... but then you said you "found" r_data's config file.... meaning he didn't give it to you, so you haven't actually "developed" anything... so that you can add a scheduler for users who typically don't use BFS.
By Bedalus' own own testing, the BFS causes some lags in UI functions, but "may improve overall system performance".
So I am curious; when there are well developed, and tested kernels like Matr1x, Glados, Steve Garon's, and the official Air Kernel with amazing performance, speed, smoothness and responsiveness, what benefit does your kernel offer?
I am a consummate kernel flasher, and guess I would like to know your sales pitch. You know benefits, etc.
While I try many kernels, I try none without some research first. and so far, sooner than later I return to Air Kernel for it's stability and responsiveness.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In Linux community, there are lots of people don't develop anything, but just compile the source code into binary. And do you know Zen Kernel? It just add other hacker's(not in mainline kernel)patches into it.
Why I can't do the same thing in XDA

qtwrk said:
终于! 有个中国人开始写内核了, 支持支持~~~
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
谢谢支持。看来Unicode还是很强大的。
-------------------------
Unicode is really a great characterset.

biergaizi said:
In Linux community, there are lots of people don't develop anything, but just compile the source code into binary. And do you know Zen Kernel? It just add other hacker's(not in mainline kernel)patches into it.
Why I can't do the same thing in XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please accept my apology. Sometimes I talk out of my ass and this was one of those times.
Wish I could do what you are doing.
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium

Just flashed this kernel and I think it's pretty snappy, I think basing it on Air Kernel is a good idea. I would say that this is something we're missing here in the NS forums is a Kernel based on BFS, I know most kernels come with the option of either, but a focused BFS kernel is certainly not a bad thing, I used to love it back in my days on the Desire.
I remember the days of compiling kernels for my Linux boxes when I was younger, I now just let updates decide what's best since I was constantly tinkering and getting it wrong.

toyface said:
Just flashed this kernel and I think it's pretty snappy, I think basing it on Air Kernel is a good idea. I would say that this is something we're missing here in the NS forums is a Kernel based on BFS, I know most kernels come with the option of either, but a focused BFS kernel is certainly not a bad thing, I used to love it back in my days on the Desire.
I remember the days of compiling kernels for my Linux boxes when I was younger, I now just let updates decide what's best since I was constantly tinkering and getting it wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using Linux everytime. And I'm carzy, I think install from source will get a high performance(because I was had a laptop with legacy hardware, compile packages with march= is really works). So, I using Gentoo, compile everything.
But I'm also a funs of Fedora.
If today I'm lazy to compile:
I will boot Fedora
Else:
I will boot Gentoo

Vellamo benchmark better on ICS/JB, but user experience better in GB...

There's something I don't get it. I have been playing around with CM10 (JB) and Minimoto (GB). Using Vellamo scores as indicator, the performance in JB is much faster than GB. HTML5 scores of 1400 (JB) vs 600 (GB) and CPU scores of 400 (JB) vs 370 (GB). However, that does not translate into user experience.
CM10 is supposed to fast and optimized for speed, but I am getting serious lag. OS is not very responsive to touches, apps take a good one second longer to open than in Minimoto which is GB-based. Isn't ICS and JB supposed to have additional hardware acceleration that GB does not... so why is Minimoto outperforming CM10? I also frequently manipulate spreadsheets on my phone, and the scrolling performance is way smoother on Minimoto than on CM10. What's going on here?

The reason is RAM. There isn't enough really unless you set it to strict memory management.

MrObvious said:
The reason is RAM. There isn't enough really unless you set it to strict memory management.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not the RAM. Samsung Galaxy S has the same amount of RAM as the Droid 3, and it's more responsive...

Kexec Ducati is not memory efficient.
Sent from my DROID3 using xda app-developers app

^ what he said, kernel just isn't completely optimized for our phones yet.
All that new hardware acceleration takes code to make it work
Something quick u can try tho:
Depending on what kexec kernel compile your using you can try switching cpu governor from interactive to ondemand or one of the other choices.
Certain builds have it disabled, otherwise its set as default
interactive is buggy for some reason and causes crashes/some slowness.
I know it helped me a bit, even though it uses a bit more battery.
Sent from my XT862 using xda app-developers app

Thanks, maybe I'll dual boot/flash a CM10 and try full performance, but with battery issues and camera issues, I don't see how CM10 is stable enough for daily usage.
What's the point of running ICS/JB if the drivers are not optimized and/or if you need to force it at full performance mode to get acceptable performance? Isn't moving from GB -> ICS/JB about performance improvements?

AndroAsc said:
Thanks, maybe I'll dual boot/flash a CM10 and try full performance, but with battery issues and camera issues, I don't see how CM10 is stable enough for daily usage.
What's the point of running ICS/JB if the drivers are not optimized and/or if you need to force it at full performance mode to get acceptable performance? Isn't moving from GB -> ICS/JB about performance improvements?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some ppl want to be bleeding edge. Gotta be the newest.
Sent from my DROID3 using xda premium

Seeder entropy generator

Anyone used this app? Some users reported to have significant lag reduction when starting apps but in my case my O2X was already snappy so the difference is not night and day with this app running but it might have improved a little. I am still on stock GB (Spica's V20q rebuild) + Gueste Kernel 2.2.1 HOC SC
You can refer to the original thread for more information and get the APK : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1987032&nocache=1
Please share your results here! (mention your ROM / Kernel)...

I tried it and it should be working, but I don't seem to see any dramatic improvement.
Sure, there is a bit of improvement but it might be subtle or just placebo.
I'm running the CM10 on new bootloader btw.

arcee said its a placebo in his gplus

lopiop said:
arcee said its a placebo in his gplus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, that explains why I still lag out in Beach Buggy Blitz, and why that's no noticeable difference on my phone.

Ricardo Cerqueira said that it doesn't work, look at his post in G+: https://plus.google.com/115049428938715274412/posts/GWr72W9zmY2

Saw RC's comment about it before even knowing it existed, still tried it and might have experienced a very small difference which I still don't kown if it's just placebo or some part of the script which somehow speed things up a little.
This following discussion is pretty interesting though:
https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=42265#c114

I tried and I can see some difference, opening times are different, not instant opening, but better. Placebo? Placebo effect is documented to function... Anyway, still discussion goes ahead, and something new still comes out.

gramaglia said:
I tried and I can see some difference, opening times are different, not instant opening, but better. Placebo? Placebo effect is documented to function... Anyway, still discussion goes ahead, and something new still comes out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
arcee said it has something to do with maintaining higher cpu frequencies, thus making apps launch quicker

It works great on my one. One word that is satisfied.
Sent from my LG-P500 using Tapatalk 2

lopiop said:
arcee said it has something to do with maintaining higher cpu frequencies, thus making apps launch quicker
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i was thinking about it, so i changed minimum frequency to 1000mhz instead of 216 or 312 mhz. It's definitely snappier when i unlock the phone and start using it. but switching between apps, is still faster w/ seeder on.

Adreno 3xx GPU Driver for Android 4.4.4 KitKat - flashable package

Greetings,
This driver is obtained from Qualcomm's 07 Aug 14 drivers for "Qualcomm Adreno 3xx GPU on Nexus 4, 5 & 7 devices running Google Android 4.4.4 KitKat".
All credits go to the folks at Qualcomm for making the developer version of these lib files available for us to play with.
This is for testing purposes only. Please don't flash without backing up first and then start screaming if something happens to your phone!
The package only contains files for Adreno 300 and 330. I cooked the packaged to be flashable on our SM-G900T or any SM-G900 with the Adreno 330 chipset.
I'm on a "XtreStoLite_G900T_ROM_v1.3_UVU1BNG3" ROM, which is a super clean/slim version of the stock rom. This is also Android 4.4.2, my AnTuTu benchmark results dropped from 37400 to 35800 after flashing this package.
I'm requesting someone with a KitKat 4.4.4 ROM to test this and report back their before and after benchmarks.
I appreciate your feedback,

Hmm, interesting.. I'm only on 4.4.2 or I would help out..

Turned out the 3D performance on antutu version 5 with this driver puts our phone one head and shoulder above everyone else!
Sent from my SM-G900T using XDA Free mobile app

Commodore 64 said:
Turned out the 3D performance on antutu version 5 with this driver puts our phone one head and shoulder above everyone else!
Sent from my SM-G900T using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And this means....... I'm sorry but I don't understand the purpose... Is this supposed to make Tw snappier?
Thanks in advance!

It is updating the video (graphics) drivers. It probably improves the touchWiz performance as well (don't have evidence to support this), but what i noticed was a huge performace increase in the 3D graphics score. This will make games run alot smooter and more efficiently.
To clarify, this file resembles how your Mac/PC has a video card with say NViDIA or ATi video cards and they have their own driver releases. Our phones graphic chipset is designed by Qualcomm and it gets its own drivers as well. Hope I answered your question, and didn't make it worse!
Sent from my SM-G900T using XDA Free mobile app

In order to get any real "TouchWiz/Nova/Apex/etc" performance increase from it you'd have to flash this, then venture into Developer's Options and enable Force GPU rendering and Disable Hardware Overlays. And even then our device is so performance driven that you likely would likely not even realize the difference other than giving the CPU a break for a few cycles and possibly seeing a battery life increase depending on whether the CPU or GPU pulls more juice. These drivers are largely made to increase the 3D performance of your device when gaming and while it wasn't meant for us I'm glad to see someone took the time to let us benefit from it.
I'm going to flash it on an NG4 (4.4.2) release and see how it holds up to GPU rendering no hardware overlays. I don't game so if you want an objective test on that someone will have to pick up my slack. I'll report back when I know if it truly impacts it.

Tried flashing the update and ran into a couple random fcs for a few apps. Nothing device-breaking or anything, but I also didn't notice any real difference in performance or framerate in games. But I do appreciate you posting this, I'm always up for trying a little experimentation on my device to find something new. Thanks man.

AlkaliV2 said:
In order to get any real "TouchWiz/Nova/Apex/etc" performance increase from it you'd have to flash this, then venture into Developer's Options and enable Force GPU rendering and Disable Hardware Overlays. And even then our device is so performance driven that you likely would likely not even realize the difference other than giving the CPU a break for a few cycles and possibly seeing a battery life increase depending on whether the CPU or GPU pulls more juice. These drivers are largely made to increase the 3D performance of your device when gaming and while it wasn't meant for us I'm glad to see someone took the time to let us benefit from it.
I'm going to flash it on an NG4 (4.4.2) release and see how it holds up to GPU rendering no hardware overlays. I don't game so if you want an objective test on that someone will have to pick up my slack. I'll report back when I know if it truly impacts it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anything?
Thanks in advance!

Slicktune said:
Anything?
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't worry, I didn't forget about you. It takes a few days to really put it through its paces. But here is what you want to know: It works in 4.4.2 Touchwiz (Alliance Rom B4 for me)
Performance Increase in ROM function and control with "Turn Off Hardware Overlays" and Force GPU Rendering: Check
So I tested this by underclocking my CPU to the point where lag was perceivable in things likes app launching, keyboard typing, app draw opening, etc. I dropped it down to about 1200Mhz on all cores and then disabled HW Overlays. It was night and day. After the GPU took over rendering my CPU clock speed hardly moved all of the items previously lagging went right back to being fluid.
So does it help with Rendering in the ROMs? Yes, it definitely can.
The other concern people have is with battery life that goes with GPU rendering and the claims are that the GPU uses more power than the GPU. In my preliminary testing, what I noticed was lower overall CPU temps while Hardware Overlays was off, lower CPU clock speeds since it didn't need to render apps, and a small decrease in battery life.
In the power draw category I need more time with BetterBatteryStats and I need to adjust some variables. I want to underclock the GPU to the point of perceivable lag (if that is possible) and then I want to adjust the governor with KTweaker and see if I can't get better battery life. I will simultaneously lower CPU speeds to keep my core temperatures down and keep the battery cool. If these things are successful and battery life is interchangeable between the two, I may run the GPU full time for rendering the ROM. Keep in mind though, only custom kernels allow this kind of tweaking. If you use a stock ROM you are stuck with CPU and GPU clock speeds where they are so battery will drain faster.
Give me about a week to test my theory on this and see if I can find an equilibrium for CPU and GPU temperature and speed. I'll post the profile I used with KTweaker when I have my results. Until then, if you want to help and find your own settings and post them here along with battery life that would be awesome.
Edit: For what it is worth, to test application launch speeds and UI fluidity with the GPU I completely turned off system animations, I set Nova Launcher Animations Speed to Faster than light and scroll speed to "Fast" (personal preference). I got the same, or better response time using the GPU to render the UI.

AlkaliV2 said:
Don't worry, I didn't forget about you. It takes a few days to really put it through its paces. But here is what you want to know: It works in 4.4.2 Touchwiz (Alliance Rom B4 for me)
Performance Increase in ROM function and control with "Turn Off Hardware Overlays" and Force GPU Rendering: Check
So I tested this by underclocking my CPU to the point where lag was perceivable in things likes app launching, keyboard typing, app draw opening, etc. I dropped it down to about 1200Mhz on all cores and then disabled HW Overlays. It was night and day. After the GPU took over rendering my CPU clock speed hardly moved all of the items previously lagging went right back to being fluid.
So does it help with Rendering in the ROMs? Yes, it definitely can.
The other concern people have is with battery life that goes with GPU rendering and the claims are that the GPU uses more power than the GPU. In my preliminary testing, what I noticed was lower overall CPU temps while Hardware Overlays was off, lower CPU clock speeds since it didn't need to render apps, and a small decrease in battery life.
In the power draw category I need more time with BetterBatteryStats and I need to adjust some variables. I want to underclock the GPU to the point of perceivable lag (if that is possible) and then I want to adjust the governor with KTweaker and see if I can't get better battery life. I will simultaneously lower CPU speeds to keep my core temperatures down and keep the battery cool. If these things are successful and battery life is interchangeable between the two, I may run the GPU full time for rendering the ROM. Keep in mind though, only custom kernels allow this kind of tweaking. If you use a stock ROM you are stuck with CPU and GPU clock speeds where they are so battery will drain faster.
Give me about a week to test my theory on this and see if I can find an equilibrium for CPU and GPU temperature and speed. I'll post the profile I used with KTweaker when I have my results. Until then, if you want to help and find your own settings and post them here along with battery life that would be awesome.
Edit: For what it is worth, to test application launch speeds and UI fluidity with the GPU I completely turned off system animations, I set Nova Launcher Animations Speed to Faster than light and scroll speed to "Fast" (personal preference). I got the same, or better response time using the GPU to render the UI.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the detailed response, can I flash this over a cm rom or only "touch wiz" and/or after I updated/flash this no Mauer what rom I flash will it stay. ..?
Thanks in advance! I'm still a bit confused...

Slicktune said:
Thanks for the detailed response, can I flash this over a cm rom or only "touch wiz" and/or after I updated/flash this no Mauer what rom I flash will it stay. ..?
Thanks in advance! I'm still a bit confused...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't tried it on CM yet, I'm about to flash the 09/04 build of CM11 by Albinoman with KT's kernel. But I won't flash these drivers prior to running the build 24 hours or so to make sure there aren't bugs that existed before flashing the files. So, if you've been running CM for awhile and want to test this build just nandroid, flash, and report any issues.

AlkaliV2 said:
I haven't tried it on CM yet, I'm about to flash the 09/04 build of CM11 by Albinoman with KT's kernel. But I won't flash these drivers prior to running the build 24 hours or so to make sure there aren't bugs that existed before flashing the files. So, if you've been running CM for awhile and want to test this build just nandroid, flash, and report any issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ooo that sounds like a killer combo cm + kt kernel + adreno update = project slip n slide lol nah but I'm really curious of what results you might get [emoji4]
And once I flash this, can I go back or will it erase the update once I flash a different rom?
Thanks in advance!!

Slicktune said:
Ooo that sounds like a killer combo cm + kt kernel + adreno update = project slip n slide lol nah but I'm really curious of what results you might get [emoji4]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll keep you posted. I wasn't impressed overall with it's performance in Touchwiz on battery life with the CPU underclocked, so I am branching out to a more AOSP-like build. I'll keep you posted to what I find out.

Commodore 64 said:
Turned out the 3D performance on antutu version 5 with this driver puts our phone one head and shoulder above everyone else!
Sent from my SM-G900T using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This can't be right because right now I haven't flashed the driver update and look at My score
Now imagine that's without kt kernel just stock kernel, I'm on xtralite 3.5a t-mobile, so what if I flashed the kt kernel AAAAND the adreno update.... would my phone explode?!?!
I'm thinking twice now whether I should flash thisor not. ..

You have a good point. I think antutu v5 also rescaled their scoring system. Anyway, post your new score if you decided you want to give it a shot.
Sent from my SM-G900T using XDA Free mobile app

This maybe off topic, but does this works on other devices like Z2 or HTC M8 using the same GPU?

43718 before
43292 after
All I did was reboot into recovery, flash the ZIP and then run the test, same clock speed etc..

92drls said:
43718 before
43292 after
All I did was reboot into recovery, flash the ZIP and then run the test, same clock speed etc..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lower score, what about gaming?

Slicktune said:
This can't be right because right now I haven't flashed the driver update and look at My score
Now imagine that's without kt kernel just stock kernel, I'm on xtralite 3.5a t-mobile, so what if I flashed the kt kernel AAAAND the adreno update.... would my phone explode?!?!
I'm thinking twice now whether I should flash thisor not. ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Commodore 64 said:
You have a good point. I think antutu v5 also rescaled their scoring system. Anyway, post your new score if you decided you want to give it a shot.
Sent from my SM-G900T using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
92drls said:
43718 before
43292 after
All I did was reboot into recovery, flash the ZIP and then run the test, same clock speed etc..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HD-man said:
Lower score, what about gaming?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You guys make me sad. Benchmarks are not now, nor will they ever be, an acceptable means for telling you how capable your device is. Your scores in AnTuTu are about as capable of telling you your phone's speed as your ESN is at telling people who your phone belongs to. It is just arbitrary numbers that will fluctuate up and down based on the slightest inconsistencies.
Drivers, just like in Windows/Linux/Mac, are meant to optimize the performance of your hardware. That's it. This driver likely optimizes the GPU cycles to make it more efficient and lower heat output while performing better in games. You know why hardware review sites start out with benchmarks saying what it can do in a perfect world but still ends the review by telling you it gets 75 FPS in Borderlands 2? They do that because while synthetic tests are nice, what would be the point if our games don't play better? It is the same concept here.
I'm begging you, uninstall AnTuTu, re-install your favorite mobile game and just base performance off of whether it plays better or not.
Side Note: Drivers didn't appear to do anything in AOSP CM11 when I gave it a try. Sorry I am so late on reporting in, college takes up a lot of my time. Also, using the GPU to draw your applications does eat more battery whether you use these drivers or not. So there is no marked improvement from lowering CPU speed and using GPU only to render.

92drls said:
43718 before
43292 after
All I did was reboot into recovery, flash the ZIP and then run the test, same clock speed etc..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AlkaliV2 said:
You guys make me sad. Benchmarks are not now, nor will they ever be, an acceptable means for telling you how capable your device is. Your scores in AnTuTu are about as capable of telling you your phone's speed as your ESN is at telling people who your phone belongs to. It is just arbitrary numbers that will fluctuate up and down based on the slightest inconsistencies.
Drivers, just like in Windows/Linux/Mac, are meant to optimize the performance of your hardware. That's it. This driver likely optimizes the GPU cycles to make it more efficient and lower heat output while performing better in games. You know why hardware review sites start out with benchmarks saying what it can do in a perfect world but still ends the review by telling you it gets 75 FPS in Borderlands 2? They do that because while synthetic tests are nice, what would be the point if our games don't play better? It is the same concept here.
I'm begging you, uninstall AnTuTu, re-install your favorite mobile game and just base performance off of whether it plays better or not.
Side Note: Drivers didn't appear to do anything in AOSP CM11 when I gave it a try. Sorry I am so late on reporting in, college takes up a lot of my time. Also, using the GPU to draw your applications does eat more battery whether you use these drivers or not. So there is no marked improvement from lowering CPU speed and using GPU only to render.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I figured since the OP stated he got less points in Antutu, I would go ahead and use the same app and test to compare...
F*ck me right?
Regardless, I don't notice anything different either, my stats are in the sig.