The Exynos 2600 GPU is causing waves online after its Xclipse 960 benchmark scores were revealed. With the power of 8 compute units (CUs), the GPU of the Exynos 2600 is actually out ahead of several high-end solutions and this is a strong proof for the in-house graphics development of Samsung.
In the past the Exynos 2600 had performed dismally on Geekbench tests when it came to its CPU performance. The recent scores are so much better, but. The Exynos 2600 GPU has already made an appearance on 3D Mark’s Steel Nomad Light, with the Xclipse 960 managing to score 3,135 points (23.23 FPS). This even beats out theAdreno 830 GPU powering Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite, indicating Samsung is set to be competitive at the flaghship level.
The Exynos 2600 GPU has 4 Work Group Processors (WGPs) with 8 CUs as per the Geekbench listing. Although the hardware is underclocked and runs at a quite lowly 555 MHz, it’s still faster than current-gen GPUs. One one occasion where it can’t be complianed about, is in teh Exynos 2600 GPU score, which is decent when you pitt it up against the Dimensity 9400 that scores lower in the benchmarks.
One thing to note is this is an ES with no power limit. The consumer variant of the Exynos 2600 GPU could have lower thermal and power limits and could result in slightly lower real-world performance. Nevertheless, it can only get better as Samsung refines the firmware over time.
The most interesting part, though, of the leaked details is the architecture change on the Exynos 2600 GPU. The Xclipse 960 is also said to be a break away from the RDNA AMD-based models of the past, and a completely in-house creation. The new GPU was developed involving Samsung working directly with a Huawei engineer making it the first Xclipse GPU not to be based on AMD IP, sources say.
This is a turning point for Samsung in terms of graphic power. With the Exynos 2600 GPU, Samsung is not just going back on the front foot, but signaling its intention to design full custom SoCs. Of course, if the claimed scores translate to real world performance, then maybe the Exynos 2600 GPU may actually give a run for the money in the premium smartphone space in 2025.
