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Earlier this month, MediaTek launched a new 4nm flagship Android smartphone processor, the Dimensity 9300. While it is a highly capable SoC, it lacks power-efficient CPU cores. The Taiwanese firm has fitted the chipset with four prime cores and four mid cores. Unsurprisingly, there are concerns about its efficiency and thermal management capabilities. It appears the company is relying on heavy performance throttling to keep the temperature in check.
A stress test shows the Dimensity 9300 throttling the CPU to stay cool
The Dimensity 9300 features one Cortex-X4 prime core clocked at 3.25GHz, three more Cortex-X4 cores at 2.85GHz, and four Cortex-A720 mid cores at 2.0GHz. MediaTek says this “groundbreaking All Big Core” design brings a 40% boost in peak CPU performance. However, with no efficiency cores, it was bound to be a power hog when running at its peak speed. There have been reports of the chip getting uncomfortably hot long before it arrived.
We expected MediaTek to throttle the CPU to ensure that the Dimensity 9300 doesn’t overheat. It has turned out that way. YouTuber @KaroulSahil recently ran the CPU Throttling Test on the new MediaTek processor to measure its performance. The test loads the CPU with up to 100 threads, which are a series of instructions or tasks. The test results posted (via Wccftech) on X show that the chip started throttling after just two minutes.
While throttling, one of the new MediaTek chip’s CPUs operated at a frequency of just 0.60GHz. Four of them ran at a speed of 1.20GHz while the other three reached a 1.50GHz frequency (the peak CPU speed is 3.25GHz). That’s a massive performance throttling. As you can see in the image below, the Dimensity 9300’s CPU was throttled to 46% of its max performance to avoid overheating and keep power consumption in check.
This test was carried out on the Vivo X100 Pro. The device features a vapor chamber to efficiently dissipate heat away from the processor and main board. However, that doesn’t seem to have helped the Dimensity 9300 perform at peak speed for much longer. The chip itself is fabricated using TSMC’s energy-efficient N4P 4nm process node but the lack of efficiency cores was always a problem.
CPU throttling in normal use should be lower
Of course, it isn’t like competing chipsets, such as Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, won’t throttle the performance during the CPU Throttling Test. The sole purpose of the test is to push chips to their limits. Even the most thermally efficient processors can’t pass the test without CPU throttling. The Dimensity 9300 may not throttle its CPU so much during normal use. However, from what it looks like, ditching efficiency cores wasn’t a wise move from MediaTek. It remains to be seen whether the company will stick to this CPU design for the Dimensity 9400 next year.
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