Adreno 506 GPU: Specification and Review

Looking to buy a device powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 or 626 SOC and wondering how good will be the gaming performance of that device? Well, then you’ve arrived at the right place. You might be aware that Snapdragon 625 and 626 devices come with the Adreno 506 GPU which is in fact, a mid-range GPU by Qualcomm for its MSM8953 (Snapdragon 625 SOC). The reason why should one worry about a Smartphone GPU is that it is directly responsible for the gaming and rendering performance of your Phone. Better GPUs can run the games at a better frame rate on higher graphics settings at a better display resolution. Sounds great, right?

Snapdragon 625 SOC is present is some of the best mid-range devices we have got so far in 2017. Moto G5 and Redmi Note 4 to name a few. Most of these devices have captured the mid-ranged market, all thanks to their great performance, stability, and battery life. So how good exactly is the gaming performance of these devices?
Let’s find out!

Adreno 506 Specification:
Qualcomm Snapdragon 635 SOC

This GPU comes is present in the Snapdragon 625 and Snapdragon 626 SOCs. It is clocked at 650 MHz. According to Qualcomm, it has PC-class graphics. It is manufactured using the 14nm FinFET process and it supports the OpenGL ES 3.1+ API. It also supports a Full HD (1080p) display, which means you enjoy the games at a great display resolution.

For complete specs of Snapdragon 625, you can check out: Snapdragon 625 Processor

Adreno 506 Benchmarks:

This GPU does fairly well in Gaming. Throw any game at it and it will run it smoothly at Full HD and maximum settings. Here are the benchmarks of 2 popular Android Games:

Game Name Min FPS Avg. FPS Max. FPS
Dead Trigger 2 50 55 60
Asphalt 8 28 31 34

Check out the Gaming Performance of Redmi Note 4 which is powered by Adreno 506 GPU:

Adreno 506 Final Review:

As shown above, in the benchmarks score as well as real life gaming performance, it is clear that Adreno 506 GPU is one of the best mid-range GPUs we have ever witnessed. All thanks to the 14nm FinFET manufacturing process and the optimization by Qualcomm. Also, as we have seen in the video, the phone didn’t even cross 37 degrees after continuous gaming, this shows that this processor and GPU is ideal for long hours of gaming. So if you’re looking to buy a mid-range phone for gaming, you should definitely go with those phones that are powered by the Snapdragon 625 SOC. Also, we cannot ignore the fact that these are mid-ranged SOCs and GPUs. For this price, you’re getting a great price to performance ratio. I’ll rate this GPU 9/10.

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Which Phones have this GPU?

Looking to buy a phone which has the Snapdragon 625 SOC or the Adreno 506 GPU? This list might help you:

  • Moto G5 and G5 Plus
  • Redmi Note 4 (Indian Variant) and Redmi Note 4X
  • Asus Zenfone 3
  • Lenovo P2
  • Moto Z Play
  • Huawei G9 Plus
  • Oppo R9s
  • Samsung Galaxy C7 and C7 Pro
  • Samsung Galaxy On7
  • Vivo V5 Plus
  • Xiaomi Redmi 4/4 Pro and 4 Prime



11 thoughts on “Adreno 506 GPU: Specification and Review”

    • For the price of Oppo R9s, I would recommend getting a OnePlus 3T or Mi 6.
      Other Snapdragon 625 devices like the Redmi Note 4X and Moto G5 Plus do really well in gaming.

      Reply
  1. Hi Kashish
    This type of GPUs Adreno 500 series, have the speed clock fixed in any SOC device or each factory trough the firmware installed can increase or down speed clock to reach benchs to promove the device??
    In the same form, the factories (most china) can create devices with same CPU (ex; snapdragon 625, 650, 653 ) but imput diferent speeds to each group quadcore CPUs (ex: CPU SD652 with 4x 1.8 GHz ARM Cortex A72 +4x 1.4 GHz A53 or other factories create an device with SD652 with 4x 1.8 GHz ARM Cortex A72 +4x 1.2 GHz A53 to avoid batteries draine more quickly. The SD653 (octob2016) its newer of SD625 but the SD653 have an fab/process 28nm more old than SD625 14nm (fev 2016) Qualcomm go back step??
    Can also resume compare Qualcomm and Mteck ( x20/x30) ??
    thanks

    Reply

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