Zidoo X9S Realtek RTD1295 Android & OpenWrt TV Box System Info & Benchmarks

Zidoo X9S is the first Android TV box based on Realtek RTD1295 quad core Cortex A53 processor that I’ve received for review. So in this post, I’ll show some system information with CPU-Z, and Android & OpenWrt Settings, and run typical Android benchmarks such as Antutu 6.x, Vellamo, and 3Dmark.

Zidoo X9S / Realtek RTD1295 Android System Info

CPU-Z detects Realtek RTD1295 is a quad core ARM Cortex A53 processor clocked between 600 MHz and 1.4 GHz with an ARM Mali-T820 GPU, and uses an unknown governor… But in adb shell, tje command “cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor” reports an ondemand governor is used.

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The system runs Android 6.0.1 on top of Linux 4.1.17 (I think it’s the first time I see a Linux 4.x kernel used in a TV box…), and with 1920×1080 resolution. Total RAM is shown to be 1672 MB, most probably because some RAM is reserved for the GPU and VPU out of the 2GB RAM. There’s only 8.91 GB internal storage out of the 16GB eMMC flash, which is quite lower than on other TV boxes, but there’s at least one reason for this: OpenWrt is also running in the box. Zidoo however told they plan to optimize this in order to offer more space to the user.

realtek-rtd1295-storage-ntfs-exfat-ext4-sata-usb3Another interesting aspect of Realtek RTD1195 is support for USB 3.0 and SATA storage, and with the 12V/3A power supply that comes with the box, I could connect both a USB 3.0 hard drive to the USB 3.0 port, and a SATA drive (CNXSoft shown above) to the external port.  My USB 3.0 drive has 4 partitions, and with the exception of BTRFS, all other file systems could be mounted: NTFS, exFAT, and EXT-4. NTFS is implemented with Paragon NTFS, a commercial implementation, which usually delivers much better performance than NTFS-3G.

Zidoo X9S / Realtek RTD1295 OpenWrt System Info

So let’s have a look at OpenWrt. First I can see some OpenWrt process within Android using adb shell:


and I also scan Zidoo X9S IP address from my Ubuntu machine to discover a few oen ports:


So there are port SSH and HTTP ports running, but you can’t access SSH just yet, as you need to set the root password first. To do, you can access the configuration page from Zidoo (http://127.0.0.1), or any browser on your LAN (http://[ZIDOO-X9S IP address]). zidoo_openwrt_rtd1295_luciIt should redirect you to LuCI interface, and you can login with no root password. There’s a security issue here, as your personal files may be exposed if you forget to set the root password, or to disable OpenWrt if you don’t need it.

zidoo-openwrt_set_password In order to set the root password, go to System->Administration input your password, and click on Save & Apply.

Now that we have configured the system, we can check the status, and see that it’s running OpenWrt Chaos Calmer 15.04.

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You can also enable/disable some OpenWrt services within Android itself by going to Settings->More->Openwrt Settings.

Zidoo X9S / Realtek RTD1295 Benchmarks

Zidoo X9S got 34,973 points in Antutu 6.x, in the expected range for a quad core Cortex A53 processor @ 1.4 GHz. The result is  a little lower than  Antutu 6.x for Amlogic S905 processor @ 1.5 Ghz.

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The 3D score is quite faster thanks to the Mali-T820MP GPU, but UX, CPU and RAM scores are lower.

Moving on to Vellamo, Zidoo X9S got 1,457 for Multicore, 831 for Metal, and 2,638 for Browser using Chrome (the stock browser is not an option in X9S firmware). This compares to 1,589 for Multicore and 1,235 for Metal achieved by MINIX NEO U1 TV box based on Amlogic S905 SoC. The browser score for the latter (2,157 points) is not directly comparable since it was done with the stock Browser, not Chrome.
vellamo_zidoo-x9s
Finally, I’ve tested 3D graphics performance again using 3D Ice Storm Extreme 1.2.

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Click to Enlarge

The total score (4,574 points) is surprisingly only slightly higher than on Amlogic S905 with Mali-450MP GPU (4,327), and significantly lower than on Amlogic S912 with ARM Mali-T820MP3 (5,752), which is supposed to have the same GPU as Realtek RTD1295, maybe it’s clocked lower on the latter, or RAM performance has an impact on the score. Zidoo X9S does not come with any heatsink on the processor, but instead a metal shield covered with “graphite nano thermo material”, so it might be a cooling issue too.

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19 Comments
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Theguyuk
Theguyuk
8 years ago

It is to early to tell but for no valid technical knowledge on my part , it just feels odd that the recent Mali t820 GPU reviews seem so average compared to AMLogic s905. Being more recent design, would of expected more oomph, speed improvement.

tkaiser
tkaiser
8 years ago

Hmm… the screenshots suggest there happens a lot of thermal downclocking. And BTW it’s RealTek noch Rockchip (2nd paragraph)

target
target
8 years ago

Yes….it seems. Glad I could be of service my fellow friends. …but proof is in the pudding. Always lock the back door. Have a good week, I have further documentation to assest . yours ttruly. The edge

paul
paul
8 years ago


pls remember to explore the potentially good Wifi long range performance via the 2 external antenna, + USB3 +Gigabit, and to see if it is a fully featured OpenWRT with PCless downloading of torrents on VPN to internal storage (like on Asus Routers). I agree gamesplaying speed not most important for this class of device, and the fact it requires no CPU cooler could bode well for efficient low power consumption by turning off any features not currently in use, eg eSATA, HDMI in.

Gadget Friendly
Gadget Friendly
8 years ago

Interesting results, was def. expecting more grunt overall then S905s. Seems like itll be a pretty hard sell for zidoo @ 150 even though there is a ton of other stuff it can do under the hood.

Theguyuk
Theguyuk
8 years ago

I have read elsewhere that Kodi will not support this officially as chip breaks GPL licence and the Kodi used is a older version with bugs. Are those flaws and claims true? Warning for open source violators that do not comply with Kodi’s GPL license! There are a few SoC manufacturers, like example Allwinner and Realtek or media player using their chipsets, that violate the GPL license that Kodi (and XBMC before) is bound under. This type of violation done by forking and not releasing all source code that they integrate into Kodi / XBMC when they modify or add… Read more »

gsustek
gsustek
8 years ago

How is possible to run openwrt inside android? Is this dual boot?

R. D.
R. D.
8 years ago

While numbers don’t always reveal a device’s suitability for a given task, these numbers are somewhat unimpressive. Throughput thru the 820 is less than 1/3 that of the 760(RK3288). As flagships, 1295 and 912 are trounced(raw performance) when compared to the aging 3288, let alone the forthcoming 3399. That being said, Zidoo does nice F/W with extras seldom found elsewhere. The X9S’ HDMI In recording feature is where my curiosity for this device is focused. I think the X9S and the UT3+ are using the same Toshiba converter, which is very capable, but Ugoos still needs work on their implementation… Read more »

Memeka
Memeka
8 years ago

Don’t know why people are so amazed about the GPU. If you look at the performance quoted by ARM (can look on Wikipedia too) it’s clear 820 is as good as 450.
As with desktop GPU, consider first digit the generation, and second digit performance – 450 is middle range old generation, 820 is entry range newer generation.
The advantages of 820 are vulkan compatibility and gles3.1, not raw performance.

R. D.
R. D.
8 years ago

R. D. :
… I think the X9S and the UT3+ are using the same Toshiba converter, ….

I think I was wrong here, though I think they are both using Toshiba converters.
Info on these>> http://toshiba.semicon-storage.com/us/product/assp/interface-bridge/hdmi.html

Theguyuk
Theguyuk
8 years ago

@Memeka
Thank you for the clear explination☺

A extra question can a 450 be given vulkan compatibility and gles3.1, or does it need extra hardware for these abilities?

mirror
8 years ago

Model: ZIDOO_X9S Version:v1.1.26 ChangeLog: Fixed: 1,Some 4k vp9 videos show no picture when playback. 2,ANR problem occasionally happens when playback. 3,Connection failed when there are special characters in SSID of WIFI. 4,TV get no signal when deep color switched to 10bit or 12bit. 5,Time of chapters are inaccuracy in some BD movies. 6,Picture flutter when there are some special video signals in HDMI IN stream. 7,Low probability of ANR problem when recording via HDMI in. Optimize: 1,Compatibility of HDR movie improved 2,Weather app optimized. 3,Filemanager optimized. 4,user guide app optimized. App upgrade: Native player: 1,Add the search capability for download… Read more »

xxx
xxx
8 years ago

CNX
Please,can you make some benchmark table for the latest android boxes ,you have teated?
For this X9S,do you have Video antutu results?

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