M12N Amlogic S912 TV Box Benchmarks

Since Shenzhen Shiningworth MXQ Plus M12N is my first TV box powered by Amlogic S912 octa-core processor, I’ve decided to write a separate post to show system information with CPU-Z, and benchmark results with Antutu 6.x, Vellamo 3.x, and 3Dmark Ice Storm Extreme. Please note that it may not be representative of all Amlogic S912 boards, as mentioned in the teardown post, there are some concerns about the thermal design of M12N TV box.

M12N / Amlogic S912 System Info

I’ve merged CPU-Z’ SOC, DEVICE and SYSTEM data into a single table.

Click to Enlarge
Click to Enlarge

The app correctly detects an 8 core Cortex A53 processor @ 100 MHz to 2.02 GHz with an ARM Mali-T820 GPU. The brand for this particurlar device is MXQ, and Model m12n. Frame buffer resolution is 1920×1080, and memory and storage data are both OK for a box with 2GB and 16GB flash. The device runs Android 6.0.1 on top of Linux 3.14.29.

M12N / Amlogic S912 Benchmarks

With 8 cores and a faster GPU, I was expecting a much higher Antutu 6.x score with Amlogic S912.

Antutu_6_Amlogic-S912_M12N
The box however only achieved 41,303 points in Antutu 6.2, which compared to 38,032 points on Amlogic S905 based MINIX NEO U1 running Android 5.1 with the same Android 6.x benchmark. The 3D score is naturally higher because of the fast GPU, and also begin the MaliT-820MP3 GPU also supports OpenGL ES 3.1, which was skipped on Amlogic S905. UX, CPU and RAM scores are about the same, or slightly lower in Amlogic S912. So there’s a problem here either because of thermal design, or Android 6.0 Amlogic SDK still needs some work. I launched the benchmark again another day, and got 38,798 points.. 3D was a little higher (9,353), UX and CPU slightly lower (14,088 + 12,414), but RAM test collapse d to 2,943 points.

Vellamo 3.2 offers some more perspective, and one of the Multicore tests failed (see yellow “warning” triangle) because of a “Sysbench issue with Finepar: Invalid CPU mode”.
Vellamo_AMlogic_S912_M12N
For reference, MINIX NEO U1, one of the fastest and most stable Amlogic S905 TV boxes, got respectively 1,587, 1,235, and 2,157 points for Multicore, Metal, and Browser scores. Again, that’s not a pretty picture for Amlogic S912 or M12N TV box.

3Dmark Ice Storm Extreme provides a slightly more positive picture.

Click to Enlarge
Click to Enlarge

M12N achieved 5,752 points, against only 4,327 points for MINIX NEO U1. You’ll also note the CPU frequency appears to maxes out at 1.5 or 1.6 GHz instead of the claimed 2.02 GHz. M12N score is quite lower than the 7,512 points achieved in Rockchip RK3288 (ARM Mali-764 GPU) based Tronsmart Orion R28 running Android 4.4, and released in 2014.

Results are quite lower than what I would have expected, so there could be a problem with cooling (despite the rather short Android benchmarks), and/or Android 6.0 Amlogic SDK or M12N firmware might need some more work.

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19 Comments
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FireGate_13
FireGate_13
7 years ago

Disappointing.. After so many months waiting for a proper successor of the s812. Let’s see MINIX’s implementation although. Can you attach a proper cooler and retest?

Hulk Hogan
Hulk Hogan
7 years ago

Well the Problem is “MX…..”. AVOID anything that starts with MX or MXQ. Cheapest crap hardware, design and Software. I still got nightmares from the MXQ Pro Plus with S905…after Adding a proper Cooler and a Fan and updating the firmware to a modded one from Tronsmart the thing is finaly somewhat usable. So no matter how Cheap the price remember to stay AWAY from anything MX/MXQ.

Waiting for proper results from serious manufaturers.

DwainDibbley
DwainDibbley
7 years ago

Totally agree!

Theguyuk
Theguyuk
7 years ago

The old fact of, lower CPU count, mixed with faster better GPU and faster larger memory, will serve the average home user better, still holds true.

thesandbender
thesandbender
7 years ago

Given the discussion about the rather poor cooling solution in an earlier article it seems like there’s a good chance the chip is being thermally throttled. Can you take off the marshmallow… I mean thermal pad… and put a proper heatsink on there and rerun the test with the case off? Not sure if the unit is gratis or a loaner. It would be interesting to see the results because I’ve been waiting for this chip :/

Hulk Hogan
Hulk Hogan
7 years ago

“M12N score is quite lower than the 7,512 points achieved in Rockchip RK3288 (ARM Mali-764 GPU) based Tronsmart Orion R28 running Android 4.4, and released in 2014.”

Test a RK3288 with a actual Lolipop or Marshmellow Firmware (Like Wasser’s 4.0.9 Marshmellow for Beelink R89) and you will see even a bigger difference. Antutu 6.2 Score is arround 55.000 to 57.000 with my RK3288 !

Amlogic really dissapointing here and with their other SOCs.

After 2 Years RK3288 is still the king…only Shield beats it.

GanjaBear
GanjaBear
7 years ago

> With 8 cores

I don’t think there’s anything amiss here – that’s how big-little is supposed to work, right?

GanjaBear
GanjaBear
7 years ago

Have a look at the CPU score in the linked Minix review. It’s clear it’s identical to S912’s which points to big.little using just the “big” cores.

GanjaBear
GanjaBear
7 years ago

I have a vague recollection Odroid XU3/4 can’t use all cores simultaneously either, so it’s probably just marketing hype.

Henrique
Henrique
7 years ago

Interesting! Maybe it’s worth pressing the **Shillingworth** guys about? Does the HMP/GTS support work in 3.14 kernel or you actually need 4.x?

L.Chor
L.Chor
7 years ago

Shinnworth is ok,I think. I bought MXQ from 2014. still works well. Hulk Hogan : Well the Problem is “MX…..”. AVOID anything that starts with MX or MXQ. Cheapest crap hardware, design and Software. I still got nightmares from the MXQ Pro Plus with S905…after Adding a proper Cooler and a Fan and updating the firmware to a modded one from Tronsmart the thing is finaly somewhat usable. So no matter how Cheap the price remember to stay AWAY from anything MX/MXQ. Waiting for proper results from serious manufaturers. really funny, my mxq boxes work well. I sold a lot.… Read more »

Theguyuk
Theguyuk
7 years ago

As a interesting side comment my old Nvidia tegra 4 tablet 7″ blasts through Ice Storm Extreme, murdering the Amlogic score. Yet only has a 1280 x 800 display and 1.8ghz Quad A15 +1 cores, 72-core NVIDIA GeForce® GPU. Now it cost hell lot more at launch price, not far off Nvidia shield prices today. So I suggest it is the price Barrier that limits the Amlogic Soc, perhaps the cheapest components are not like for like against the most expensive? Needs considering. My 8 core 450 Mali GPU S802 gets higher scores in Ice Storm Extreme than my S905… Read more »

shaz
shaz
7 years ago

Hi is it possible if you can kindly provide the link for stock firmware for this box.installed the custom rom but need stock firmware to return the box.thanks

Anthony
Anthony
7 years ago

What octacore box to go for then? Or wait for minix?

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