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Nexus 4 Undervolting

I've always been a big fan of undervolting. These are the lowest voltages I can get stable at these common speeds. I found I can underclock the Matr1x kernel further than some others I have tried for some unknown reason. How low have you been able to go? Also, what programs do you use to test stability? So far, I have been running Antutu test completion as a measure of stability. Any suggestions otherwise?
288MHz - 650mv
1.02Ghz - 800mv
1.51Ghz - 1000mv
ROM: Bionic AOSP V3
Kernel: Matr1x 6.5

Noob question~ Why do people undervolt?

WarToilet said:
Noob question~ Why do people undervolt?
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Click to collapse
To increase battery life,

The Long answer is that the CPU has a number of parameters where Clockspeed (MHz) and voltage (mV) are two. Clockspeed, well that is speed. Voltage is related to the amount of energy provided to the cpu, undervolting means that you feed the CPU less juice but demand that it runs at the same clocks. You are essentially starving the CPU,it uses less energy, but can become unstable if the voltage is insufficient to maintain operations. Manufactures always have extra voltage as a safety margin so power users can check their CPU bin (slow, normal, fast or faster) and lower voltages step by step until they crash the phone during a stress test, increase the voltage slightly and boom, your phone uses less battery power while being just as fast.

I undervolt to reduce heat. It makes a significant difference. The battery saving is minimal, but the temperature difference is VERY noticeable.

estallings15 said:
I undervolt to reduce heat. It makes a significant difference. The battery saving is minimal, but the temperature difference is VERY noticeable.
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Click to collapse
Took words from my mouth. This this and this. It reduces heat, which in turn reduces battery use. UV by itself doesn't save a lot of battery, it's the consequences of it. I'm normally not a fan of UV, but with current N4 sw/fw it NEEDS it. It's way too high.
Interesting observation. As of recently my phone jumps up by 3-5c from 37-38 hover. Never used to do it before, not until i got it up to 50c for about half an hour last week. Previously it would stay steadily at 37-38, now it spikes up now and again during use. What's interesting about is that once it goes over 40c battery use increases drastically. So i wonder if people that have really good battery life don't have phones that go over that temp often and vice versa.

I haven't played around with the values too much yet, just a -100mV across the board. This seems to work just fine, so I might experiment some more..
Using Franco test-r69 at the moment.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

I undervolt to prevent heating like others say. My Antutu scores drop like a rock when I'm at stock clockspeeds mostly likely due to thermal throttling. Now I can run it repeatedly without having scores drop. It saves battery and runs faster while running games even for very short periods of time, so I am a big fan of undervolting. :good:

Undervolt to reduce power usage, think of the stock voltage as normally being more than is required, think of running for a bus yet you have 2 minutes why waste energy when you can walk and still make it .
Undervolt for less power usage and less heat produced meaning battery performance is better (cooler battery is a more efficient one) and performance is up as you avoid any thermal limits in place .
Great stuff undervolting, I have managed to get -150mV across the board ( 1.5ghz @ 1000mV) and 288mhz is 162.5mV .

I came from a nexus s ... And one member of xda went to amazing lengths to show that undervolting really made very little differences in battery life ... And it def wasn't worth the instability .
He did loads of tests and I mean loads and basically showed that in helped so little that if you had a reboot you would use more power in rebooting then saving via undervolt
However . it is worth it for the heat decrease for sure
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

italia0101 said:
I came from a nexus s ... And one member of xda went to amazing lengths to show that undervolting really made very little differences in battery life ... And it def wasn't worth the instability .
He did loads of tests and I mean loads and basically showed that in helped so little that if you had a reboot you would use more power in rebooting then saving via undervolt
However . it is worth it for the heat decrease for sure
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The more the heat, the faster the battery drains. Since undervolting decreases heat, im sure it should increase battery life. Maybe not for browsing or calling, but playing a heavy 3D game.

is it normal that the higher the frequency the lower the voltage in setcpu?
screenshot: http://db.tt/k6r8c5oI
I'm quite new to nexus 4 undervolting, what's the average amount i can lower the voltages with? (i have a nominal CPU)
sent from my Nexus 4...

zakoo2 said:
how can you guys undervolt? is there an app for that? i bought Franco's kernel updater app, but there's no option to undervolt in there.
edit: just found an app called setcpu, is that it?
sent from my Nexus 4...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can do it from franco kernel updater, from frequencies and voltages - voltages - cpu voltages
But i dont recommend you to undervolt if you dont know what you do.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

aimcr7 said:
You can do it from franco kernel updater, from frequencies and voltages - voltages - cpu voltages
But i dont recommend you to undervolt if you dont know what you do.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm familiar with undervolting both on PC and on phone, but i had a Motorola defy before my nexus and undervolting there was a bit different.
sent from my Nexus 4...

zakoo2 said:
is it normal that the higher the frequency the lower the voltage in setcpu?
screenshot: http://db.tt/k6r8c5oI
I'm quite new to nexus 4 undervolting, what's the average amount i can lower the voltages with? (i have a nominal CPU)
sent from my Nexus 4...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How are you able to undervolt with SetCPU? I'm not seeing that option using CM10, and Harsh's kernel.

italia0101 said:
I came from a nexus s ... And one member of xda went to amazing lengths to show that undervolting really made very little differences in battery life ... And it def wasn't worth the instability .
He did loads of tests and I mean loads and basically showed that in helped so little that if you had a reboot you would use more power in rebooting then saving via undervolt
However . it is worth it for the heat decrease for sure
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Former nexus s user here, the reason nexus s didn't benefit in battery life much was that it only had 1 core, and used a higher nm manufacturing process, 65nm -> 28nm. Lower voltages in the 28nm means that it multiplies the heat/power savings more than a 65nm, and the 4 cores multiply the savings by up to 4.

FatalityBoyZahy said:
How are you able to undervolt with SetCPU? I'm not seeing that option using CM10, and Harsh's kernel.
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Click to collapse
don't know, it was just there. did you try to reboot after installing the app?
I'm on Franco's kernel btw.
sent from my Nexus 4...

Pls what are the right values for under volting Samsung captivate
Sent from my SGH-I897 using xda premium

I am new to this and my battery goes +40°C when I play simple games... I am running Franco's kernel r71 should I do UV? If so how much? Thanks in advance
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

xtremer92 said:
Pls what are the right values for under volting Samsung captivate
Sent from my SGH-I897 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this is the lg nexus 4 forum.
sent from my Nexus 4...

Galaxy S4 and G2 are faster than G2

I'm trying to understand how a G2 that uses the same Snapdragon 800 and Adreno 330 could be faster than Nexus5.
Is seems that G2 is faster than N5.
Ridiculusly there are many test where Galaxy S4 beats N5.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3uZdVsND1E&feature=youtube_gdata_player
GS4 runs on a Snapdragon 600, how can be faster than N5?

Not sure why you are comparing benchmarks on phones http://www.anandtech.com/show/7384/

The only thing I care is real world performance and thermal throttling.
How is it running Real Racing 3 and other super-demanding games?

& this is why benchmarks are pure BS.
Here is a more realistic comparison in speed between the Galaxy S4 & the N5.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-F6bJ218Bc&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Sent from my Nexus 4 using XDA-Premium 4

ste1164 said:
Not sure why you are comparing benchmarks on phones http://www.anandtech.com/show/7384/
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very funny, I lost that article.

Android manufacturers are known to optimize for specific benchmarks, Anandtech did an article on this. I will only trust real world performance and analysis by reputable tech sites like AT.

sblantipodi said:
I'm trying to understand how a G2 that uses the same Snapdragon 800 and Adreno 330 could be faster than Nexus5.
Is seems that G2 is faster than N5.
Ridiculusly there are many test where Galaxy S4 beats N5.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3uZdVsND1E&feature=youtube_gdata_player
GS4 runs on a Snapdragon 600, how can be faster than N5?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google has always throttled their devices. So when you push it to the extremes in benchmarks for 5 min straight it throttles back the CPU therefore giving a lower score. Like said real world performance is what matters.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Even a 'cheating' S600 phones shouldnt be near an S800 phone. The N5 does seem to have very aggressive throttling indeed, indeed my HTC One beats my N5 in just about all benchmarks. Something im sure the devs will fix soon enough.

ChrisM75 said:
Even a 'cheating' S600 phones shouldnt be near an S800 phone. The N5 does seem to have very aggressive throttling indeed, indeed my HTC One beats my N5 in just about all benchmarks. Something im sure the devs will fix soon enough.
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Click to collapse
It doesn't have any throttling at all.
They just don't play the benchmark game like OEMs do.
The N5 is noticeably faster than an S4 in all tasks yet the S4 scores higher on Antutu for example.
benchmark apps are pure BS.
Which is better - having the fastest smoothest phone available or being slower at everything yet scoring higher on a benchmark app?
People need to get their priorities right.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using XDA-Premium 4

chrisjcks said:
It doesn't have any throttling at all.
They just don't play the benchmark game like OEMs do.
The N5 is noticeably faster than an S4 in all tasks yet the S4 scores higher on Antutu for example.
benchmark apps are pure BS.
Which is better - having the fastest smoothest phone available or being slower at everything yet scoring higher on a benchmark app?
People need to get their priorities right.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using XDA-Premium 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ALL phones have thermal throttling, thats not up for debate, what is up for debate is how aggressively they set the limits.
What many here fail to realise is that the 'cheating' that goes on is just thermal management tricks, nothing more than that. Samsung and the others have programs that detect benchmarks launching, and then set the thermal management to very light limits. In the case of the S4 they clock the GPU to the maximum rated limit and dont throttle it down (533MHz), whereas its normally limited to 480 for thermal management reasons. 533 is not an overclock, 480 is an underclock.
An N5 should be faster than an S4 even if the S4 is at 533, so either Google is heavily throttling the N5, or its got some serious optimisation work to do.

Benchmarks mean fcuk all and too be honest if that's all the op cares about them the nexus ain't for him.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

ChrisM75 said:
ALL phones have thermal throttling, thats not up for debate, what is up for debate is how aggressively they set the limits.
What many here fail to realise is that the 'cheating' that goes on is just thermal management tricks, nothing more than that. Samsung and the others have programs that detect benchmarks launching, and then set the thermal management to very light limits. In the case of the S4 they clock the GPU to the maximum rated limit and dont throttle it down (533MHz), whereas its normally limited to 480 for thermal management reasons. 533 is not an overclock, 480 is an underclock.
An N5 should be faster than an S4 even if the S4 is at 533, so either Google is heavily throttling the N5, or its got some serious optimisation work to do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again - look at the video link I posted above against the S4.
Which is better - faster phone throughout or a nice pretty score in a free benchmark app?
When will people learn - these apps are absolute junk and in No Way do they reflect the speed of the device or the power of the internals inside.
It seriously sounds like you'd accept a slower less powerful phone as long as it scored higher on the pretty charts in these apps.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

Anandtech pointed out that OEMs like Samsung boost CPU & GPU clocks during benchmarks, that's why you get higher numbers.
For Gods sake, it's the same SoC.

sblantipodi said:
I'm trying to understand how a G2 that uses the same Snapdragon 800 and Adreno 330 could be faster than Nexus5.
Is seems that G2 is faster than N5.
Ridiculusly there are many test where Galaxy S4 beats N5.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3uZdVsND1E&feature=youtube_gdata_player
GS4 runs on a Snapdragon 600, how can be faster than N5?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nexus 5 is absolutely faster than Galaxy S4 in real life usage, no doubt about it. When it comes to G2 its more even between the two.

chrisjcks said:
Again - look at the video link I posted above against the S4.
Which is better - faster phone throughout or a nice pretty score in a free benchmark app?
When will people learn - these apps are absolute junk and in No Way do they reflect the speed of the device or the power of the internals inside.
It seriously sounds like you'd accept a slower less powerful phone as long as it scored higher on the pretty charts in these apps.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats not what I said. Read again..
SOME benchmarks are purely about number crunching and the fact is the S800 should wipe the floor with the S600, if its not, something is going on.
While it doesnt matter if the device is smooth in real world usage it still points to the fact that the software needs a lot of optimisation to be done yet.

ChrisM75 said:
Thats not what I said. Read again..
SOME benchmarks are purely about number crunching and the fact is the S800 should wipe the floor with the S600, if its not, something is going on.
While it doesnt matter if the device is smooth in real world usage it still points to the fact that the software needs a lot of optimisation to be done yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its not just about smoothness.
Go look at some comparisons of the N5 vs Galaxy S4.
N5 is faster at booting, browsing speed, smoothness, speed of loading of apps, gaming frame rates & loading speeds - basically EVERYTHING!
so you either believe the benchmark app or the actual speeds of the devices.
Simply put - you'd prefer a slower phone so long as it scores higher in these apps.
If you want one of these s600 phones like the S4 & ONE - go & get one! - but don't expect anything to be faster than the N5 just because these free benchmarking apps tell you so.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using XDA-Premium 4

You should change the title. " Galaxy S4 and G2 are faster than G2 "

Lol.
This is the Nexus 4 performance discussion all over again.
Other Manufacturers use specific Dalvic patches that grearly improve performance in benchmarks.
If you really want to compare performance of the SoC use something like Geekbench that runs native
code and not ontop of the Dalvic Virtual Maschine.
---------- Post added at 06:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:46 PM ----------
aletto said:
You should change the title. " Galaxy S4 and G2 are faster than G2 "
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Click to collapse
It should be changed to "Galaxy S4 and G2 perform better then the N5 in useless Benchmarks that don't reflect real world performance"

The only thing obvious from the video comparing the N5 to the G2 is the on screen black levels.
Blacks seem blacker on the G2 in menus and in game, the N5's blacks are grayer.
Google doesn't seem to be interested in calibrating their Nexus line screens

Why does my golden retriever outperform my cat in the fishing dead ducks out of the pond test?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

CPU Binning and undervolt

Hi,
I saw BravoMotolora's article about CPU binning, and I thought that it would be great if we compare CPU bin and voltages.
It will be great to know the relationship between voltage and PVS number.
Please follow this procedure
1. Install a custom kernel that lets you do undervolt, e.g. franco.Kernel
2. Do what BravoMotolora said
3. Undervolt your N5 by 25MV
4. Run Antutu
Then, you might see your N5 rebooting or giving you a Antutu score.
If you get the score, go and try the procedure again
I got to -50MV with PVS1 N5.
Please post your results(undervolt that you did and your N5's PVS) here!

Can you not do this?

Do not do what? I mean most of guys here will do undervolt to save battery anyway so won't it be good to share some intel?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium HD app

I'm the same as OP... I have PVS 1 and the max I can UV is -50mV.

you do realize that many custom kernels set their voltages different than default/stock, and differ among themselves? for example, if you go -50mV less on using franco kernel, and go -50mV less using trinity kernel, it means nothing because their voltages differ to begin with. i mean you cant really compare each others voltages that way. you would need to write your voltages in real numbers, and cpu speed steps.

I honestly never saw a huge benefit in undervolting. It can also cause errors which lead to worse battery life.
Sent from my AOSP on HammerHead using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

johndrmr said:
I honestly never saw a huge benefit in undervolting. It can also cause errors which lead to worse battery life.
Sent from my AOSP on HammerHead using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agreed. i personally do better with underclocking, than with undervolting.

simms22 said:
agreed. i personally do better with underclocking, than with undervolting.
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Click to collapse
it's a lot easier to underclock 20% than to undervolt 10%, which approx. gives you the same active power savings. It's a lot safer too, if you don't have a spec sheet for the CPU handy.
underclocking does nothing to idle power (or leakage power) though

This phone does pretty well arlt idle I think. Can't imagine you would see much gain from UV.
Sent from my AOSP on HammerHead using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

klin1344 said:
I'm the same as OP... I have PVS 1 and the max I can UV is -50mV.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a PVS 2 and can undervotl -75mV accross the board and -87.5mV at 300Mhz.
So 2,26Ghz I can run at 0.975 Volt.
CM11 with Bricked Kernel.
Together with Sync off, Google hotword off and optimized automatic brightness I get constantly 5 - 5,5 hours screen on time with websurfing, mail and music stream.
Marcel

menting said:
it's a lot easier to underclock 20% than to undervolt 10%, which approx. gives you the same active power savings. It's a lot safer too, if you don't have a spec sheet for the CPU handy.
underclocking does nothing to idle power (or leakage power) though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Underclocking drops the performance of the phone, as the peak performance is not available when needed. Undervolting on the other hand gives you battery savings without affecting peak performance at all. If done too aggressively, it can make the phone unstable, but there is never any danger of hardware damage. The instability will at most cause errors, random reboot, or a freeze up. If this happens, you know you've pushed too far under, and you can bump voltage closer to stock after booting the phone back up. If running stably, undervolting is actually marginally better for your phone hardware than stock voltage because you are wasting less of the energy in heating up the chips and damaging them.

rajendra82 said:
Underclocking drops the performance of the phone, as the peak performance is not available when needed. Undervolting on the other hand gives you battery savings without affecting peak performance at all. If done too aggressively, it can make the phone unstable, but there is never any danger of hardware damage. The instability will at most cause errors, random reboot, or a freeze up. If this happens, you know you've pushed too far under, and you can bump voltage closer to stock after booting the phone back up. If running stably, undervolting is actually marginally better for your phone hardware than stock voltage because you are wasting less of the energy in heating up the chips and damaging them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i underclock, sometimes to 1036mhz max, with all 4 cores always on by default(no hotplugging). sure, in a benchmark itll score less, just like i expect to score more when im overclocked. but to the normal user, they would never be able to tell that my phone is only clocked to 1036mhz. meaning the user experience isnt lowered in any way. even intense gpu oriented games dont show that im running underclocked. so when you say it drops the performance, it isnt entirely accurate.

simms22 said:
i underclock, sometimes to 1036mhz max, with all 4 cores always on by default(no hotplugging). sure, in a benchmark itll score less, just like i expect to score more when im overclocked. but to the normal user, they would never be able to tell that my phone is only clocked to 1036mhz. meaning the user experience isnt lowered in any way. even intense gpu oriented games dont show that im running underclocked. so when you say it drops the performance, it isnt entirely accurate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, but CPU underclocking means always a drop in CPU performance.
When you compensate this drop in your case by always having all four cores active you produce more heat with the active cores.
(and I estimate it will produce more heat/battery depletion than the original phone settings. (max 2,26Ghz and variable core usage)
When you argue that in general a normal user is not realizing a drop in performance due to underclocking...fine.
But it will always be a drop in performance.
Undervolting in opposite to underclocking produces no drop in performance but actually a rise in efficiency. (and thats what CPU/GPU development is all about).
Less heat, less battery depletion, same performance.
Why not taking advantage of that by undervolting?
Its free lunch.

simms22 said:
i underclock, sometimes to 1036mhz max, with all 4 cores always on by default(no hotplugging). sure, in a benchmark itll score less, just like i expect to score more when im overclocked. but to the normal user, they would never be able to tell that my phone is only clocked to 1036mhz. meaning the user experience isnt lowered in any way. even intense gpu oriented games dont show that im running underclocked. so when you say it drops the performance, it isnt entirely accurate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with you here. 1036 mhz is a great CPU speed for running the device and most apps. Most games UC the CPU for better battery temp like in PPSSPP. Less temperature throttle and more stable frames per second.
Benchmarks are a difference story though but who cares about those. UC is lag free, and buttery smooth so why not?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

zz_marcello said:
Sorry, but CPU underclocking means always a drop in CPU performance.
When you compensate this drop in your case by always having all four cores active you produce more heat with the active cores.
(and I estimate it will produce more heat/battery depletion than the original phone settings. (max 2,26Ghz and variable core usage)
When you argue that in general a normal user is not realizing a drop in performance due to underclocking...fine.
But it will always be a drop in performance.
Undervolting in opposite to underclocking produces no drop in performance but actually a rise in efficiency. (and thats what CPU/GPU development is all about).
Less heat, less battery depletion, same performance.
Why not taking advantage of that by undervolting?
Its free lunch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
again, sure, if youre benchmarking the performance will drop, yes. but if its something that the user doesnt see or feel, then its irrelevant.
no extra heat is produced. also, i get 5.5-7h screen on time with very heavy use. granted, i use the browser much more than i game, but thats what i use my device for mostly.
when needing the extra performance, or wanting to, i overclock. everybody uses their device differently, has differing needs. i would never say one way is better or worse than the other way.

simms22 said:
again, sure, if youre benchmarking the performance will drop, yes. but if its something that the user doesnt see or feel, then its irrelevant.
no extra heat is produced. also, i get 5.5-7h screen on time with very heavy use. granted, i use the browser much more than i game, but thats what i use my device for mostly.
when needing the extra performance, or wanting to, i overclock. everybody uses their device differently, has differing needs. i would never say one way is better or worse than the other way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can do everything you are already doing, but also undervolt, and your battery life will increase, without affecting your performance. Your performance will be different than my performance (because I don't underclock), however imperceptible as it may be. So undervolting is still better than not undervolting, even for you.

Using EX kernel 3.27, underclocked to 1.5Ghz, undervolted to "700 min" and using "stock" thermal throttling setting. Rock solid and it barely even gets warm now. Responsiveness and performance is only a touch worse than stock; the only places I really notice any performance reduction is in intensive games and app install times. Battery life is massively improved.

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.

Misleading test against our note 4

So I was kinda worried when reading benchmark reviews of the note 4. They would show that the iPhone 6's gpu was superior and to prove that they used GFX bench.
Sure after trying it myself I noticed something pretty obvious.
They are comparing the note 4's 2k res against the 720p res of the iPhone 6.
When you look at the note 4's offscreen performance it's better or equal.
I made a screen show to show you all.
Anyone else want to show their results?

Its not misLeading at all onscreen and offscreen tests 2 different things. And onscreen is more important cuz shows real world performance(if games support 2k ofc)
Biggest misleading information was when all reviews done benchmarks werent updated to support new iphone resolutions. All was running on 640p which was 5s res.
They published reviews with 18 fps ofscreen and 30 fps onscreen for 6 plus and didnt even think about what was wrong . Both score should be same cuz both tests done in 1080p for 6 plus. Even reviews said "apple did a great job with 6 plus. While having higher res screen it still beat iphone 6 in onscreen tests." It was totaly wrong and misleading stuff.
Now all benchmarks updated to support new screens and all gpu benchmark scores lowered iphone 6 has like 40% better performance in onscreen than 6 plus. But they just didnt update their reviews and still has wrong information for people. And still comparing new phones with wrong scores from iphones.

I don't know why people are so obsessed with benchmarks. I would never buy a phone because it is faster in some worthless synthetic benchmark
Skickat från min iPhone med Tapatalk

easycure1974 said:
I don't know why people are so obsessed with benchmarks. I would never buy a phone because it is faster in some worthless synthetic benchmark
Skickat från min iPhone med Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Benchmarking gives a user an idea if their system is running normally. We do it with our pc's all the time. The note 4 has new hardware compared to the note 3. The new gpu adreno 420 has also a new architecture.
My point of the post isn't about the note performing low or anything but simply pointing out the lies about the iPhone being better when they obviously didn't point out that the note 4 is running 2k res vs the 1080p from the iPhone 6+. Even the s5 plus with the same hardware as the note 4 has higher scores because of its lower res.
Either way don't look at benchmarks to say your device is top dog but also don't Base your judgement on a device from inappropriate testing.

jetbruceli said:
Benchmarking gives a user an idea if their system is running normally. We do it with our pc's all the time. The note 4 has new hardware compared to the note 3. The new gpu adreno 420 has also a new architecture.
My point of the post isn't about the note performing low or anything but simply pointing out the lies about the iPhone being better when they obviously didn't point out that the note 4 is running 2k res vs the 1080p from the iPhone 6+. Even the s5 plus with the same hardware as the note 4 has higher scores because of its lower res.
Either way don't look at benchmarks to say your device is top dog but also don't Base your judgement on a device from inappropriate testing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When comparing PCs, they're (almost) always using the same CPU architecture and operating system. It's kind of a difficult comparison on phones, since they're often nothing alike.
I also don't understand why it's so important it's better than the iPhone. It's like if it's worse than the iPhone, it's utter ****. Which is not the case.

3D Benchmarking on phones/tables is pointless when comparing to other devises 9 times out of 10 the screen res is not same and they never take this into factor.
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium
---------- Post added at 11:38 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:26 AM ----------
Mafle93 said:
When comparing PCs, they're (almost) always using the same CPU architecture and operating system. It's kind of a difficult comparison on phones, since they're often nothing alike. .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You clearly don't benchmark on PC
---------- Post added at 11:39 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:38 AM ----------
jetbruceli said:
Benchmarking gives a user an idea if their system is running normally. We do it with our pc's all the time. .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea but on PC we have option to set a fixed res to compare hardware.

demo23019 said:
3D Benchmarking on phones/tables is pointless when comparing to other devises 9 times out of 10 the screen res is not same and they never take this into factor.
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium
---------- Post added at 11:38 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:26 AM ----------
You clearly don't benchmark on PC
---------- Post added at 11:39 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:38 AM ----------
Yea but on PC we have option to set a fixed res to compare hardware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you often see benchmarks with 2 completely different types of RAM, GPU, CPU, OS and monitor resolution when doing HW comparisons?

Does your Note 4 perform how YOU want it to perform? If so, then who cares about benchmarks? This benchmark obsession has gotten completely out of control. I never run them, I benchmark my phones myself and decide if it's running to MY liking.

WizeGuyDezignz said:
Does your Note 4 perform how YOU want it to perform? If so, then who cares about benchmarks? This benchmark obsession has gotten completely out of control. I never run them, I benchmark my phones myself and decide if it's running to MY liking.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I completely agree. Benchmarks are a good as an indication of your device's performance. Nothing more. The software "feeling" is just as important for the overall experience, and it can't be measured as easily.

Mafle93 said:
I completely agree. Benchmarks are a good as an indication of your device's performance. Nothing more. The software "feeling" is just as important for the overall experience, and it can't be measured as easily.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah exactly. It's almost like letting an app decide if the food you just ate tasted good or not. Just judge it for yourself, screw all these synthetic benchmarks lol.

Benchmarks are only useful to find out performance differences, not which is the best or the better, like when you OC your phone.
From personal experience, benchmarks resulted as fake, because my own device was outperforming the one in their list or table not slightly, but 10 to 20%.
I am talking about Antutu benchmark.
I had the same issue wtih Quadrant.
I didnt bother anymore because I didnt want to stress test my phone any longer.

Mafle93 said:
Do you often see benchmarks with 2 completely different types of RAM, GPU, CPU, OS and monitor resolution when doing HW comparisons?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All the time people who generally benchmark build their own system .
You almost never see the same exact specs.
And when gpu benchmarking involved rules are set to run x resolution to get accurate comparison when comparing
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium

Not all games run native 2k. Hi quality 3d games will most likely upscale a 1080p to 2k on your phone. Don't worry about it. This monster is fast even at 2k.

demo23019 said:
All the time people who generally benchmark build their own system .
You almost never see the same exact specs.
And when gpu benchmarking involved rules are set to run x resolution to get accurate comparison when comparing
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok so here is the scenario for the pc, lets say you have the same mobo, gpu, cpu, ram and etc. You benchmark your completely new system and notice its not performing as well. Would using a benchmark then be helpful? YES
Second our devices share common specs with other devices. Galaxy s5 and Xperia z3, Note 4 and Nexus 6. These systems also produce different benchmarks. Of you own a Nexus 5 you will notice it doesnt play everything the same as the note 3. The note 3 was faster and smoother than the nexus 5. i would know I had both. I was so mad when I gave up my note 3. The nexus 5 ran poorly on benchmarks and would throttle instantly. I actually had to put it in the freezer for it come atleast close to the performance of the Note 3.
For me its really saying my note 4 is better than yours or your nexus 6 but it does suggest that I might get performance getting the note 4 over the G3