A chief difference between the Vibe K5 and the K5 Plus is the chipset. Whereas the Plus relies on the Snapdragon 616, the K5 gets a 400 series chip, the Snapdragon 415. Unlike the 410, however, the 415 incorporates an octa-core CPU with four Cortex-A53 cores that go up to 1.4GHz, and another four capped at 1.0GHz. So in effect, the 415 sits closer to the 616, than it does to the 410 with its quad-core CPU.
And it's not just the processor, the GPU is the same Adreno 405 as in the K5 Plus' Snapdragon 616. Both SoC's are manufactured on a 28nm process too. Additionally, the Vibe K5 comes with 2GB of RAM, just like its Plus sibling.
All this considered, we didn't expect significant differences in benchmark performance, certainly not to the extent suggested by the 600 vs. 400 family difference. If anything, the lower resolution of the K5 coupled with otherwise similar hardware might actually mean better scores, we thought.
Well, it doesn't, not for the most part. In GeekBench, where raw CPU performance is measured, the K5 is only some 11% behind the K5 Plus in single-core tests, though the difference becomes more pronounced in multi-core.
The quad-core budget Galaxies and the Xperia E5 are no match for the K5, not in single-core and certainly not in multi-core tests. Then again, 600-series Snapdragons found in the Moto G4 and Oppo F1, for example, are noticeably more powerful.
Higher is better
Higher is better
Overall performance is examined in Basemark II 2.0, and the Vibe K5 does a reasonably good job. Again quad-core entry-level devices are far behind, but the K5 is the lowest-ranked of the octa-cores. The Snapdragon 616-equipped Redmi 3 isn't much better though, and neither is the Helio P10 in the m3 note. The Oppo F1 makes better use of its S616, in this test at least, and the Xperia XA proves the P10 is capable of a lot more.
Higher is better
Antutu comes next, in current and older flavors. In the latest pre-6 release, the Vibe K5 scores about 35K points, inching ahead of its Plus brother. Order is restored in Antutu 6, where the Plus regains the lead over the plain K5.
Higher is better
Higher is better
When it comes to graphics performance, you can easily tell that the Adreno 405 is much happier pushing 720p than FullHD, just by a quick glance at GFXBench numbers. In the offscreen test the the K5 lags behind the K5 Plus (lower clock rate possibly to blame), but pulls ahead in the onscreen part, rendered at the devices' respective actual resolutions. That said, the Oppo F1 and Xiaomi Redmi 3 still manage a couple of fps more than the K5.
Higher is better
Higher is better
Basemark X levels the field to 1080p rendering and the K5 is again slightly behind the Plus, but the Redmi 3 and the Oppo F1 speak louder for team Snapdragon 616.
Higher is better
So all in all, the Vibe K5 is marginally slower than the K5 Plus, with the exception of 3D gaming, where it can do twice as many fps as its slightly more expensive FullHD bro owing to the having a lowe screen resolution but the same GPU. Snapdragon 616 devices outperform the K5 in general, but the difference isn't as substantial as the difference we saw between last year's S615 vs. S410, and the K5 is certainly not lacking in oomph, especially given its price.
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