12-06-2024 07:38 AM
Why do two phones equipped with the same core show different scores in performance tests? For example, the latest ROG Phone 9 has broken three million points in the AnTuTu benchmark, but other phones equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Elite might only score around 2.8 million, a difference of about 10%. Given the same core, why is there a discrepancy in performance ratings?
To put it simply, we can compare a phone's core to a car's engine. The same engine can produce more power if modified to different extents. Similarly, a phone or computer's core has a theoretical performance limit, and many design elements around the core can significantly affect how close the actual performance comes to this limit.
Thermal design is a factor that can directly impact performance, due to something known as the "thermal wall."
What is a thermal wall? This term, commonly used in the industry, is similar to "overheating protection." When the temperature reaches a certain threshold, the core, to prevent self-destruction, must engage in self-protective measures. Just like how we want to stop for a breather after intense exercise, the computational core can also reduce its load to manage temperature, which, in turn, affects the maximum performance.
To prevent the core from "catching its breath" due to thermal limits, the most straightforward method is to enhance its cooling, allowing it to operate stably under greater loads and thus achieve higher performance.
For desktop computers, which have more space, it’s possible to use larger heat sinks and more powerful fans to manage heat. However, for mobile phones, which are limited by space, using larger heat sinks and adding fans are impractical solutions—after all, no one would accept a phone as big and thick as a brick. Phones must rely on passive cooling.
How to dissipate the heat of core components outward without overheating issues in a limited space is a significant challenge for the design team.
In the product introduction of the ROG Phone, one cannot overlook the thermal design. For instance, in the ninth generation, many components are layered in the exploded view. Excluding the external aerodynamic fan, the internal components include ceramic plates, heat pipes, a centrally placed processor, and an isothermal plate. The thermal design of the ROG Phone considers both conductive materials and hardware layout from the ground up to manage temperature.
Is all this effort to optimize worth it? Seeing how each generation of the ROG Phone pushes the limits of smartphones, I believe it is very much worthwhile.