Earlier this year, MediaTek unveiled the Dimensity 8500 for upper mid-range phones. The company promised big leap leap in performance and early leaks suggested an AnTuTu score of around 2.2 million points. So to test the claim, we have now benchmarked the Dimensity 8500 on Geekbench, AnTuTu, 3DMark, CPU Throttling Test and more. Now, let's see how it performs in our testing.
Dimensity 8500 AnTuTu Score
| AnTuTu V11 Benchmark | Score |
|---|---|
| Dimensity 8500 AnTuTu Score | 1,813,768 |
| CPU | 558,252 |
| GPU | 452,095 |
| Memory | 331,718 |
| UX | 471,703 |
In our first testing, the Dimensity 8500 scored 1,813,768 points on the AnTuTu V11 benchmark, running on the Poco X8 Pro. That is well short of the 2.2 million figure floated around the Dimensity 8500 leaks.
Frankly, it's almost identical to the 1.8 million points we got in our Dimensity 8400 benchmark on the Poco X7 Pro. In effect, the generational uplift on the Poco X8 Pro is next that much if we go by the AnTuTu score.
For comparison, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 achieved over 2.1 million points on AnTuTu, so Qualcomm's upper mid-range chip is around 33% faster in this test. To put it simply, the Dimensity 8500 delivers dependable performance here, but it's not the best in the upper mid-range segment.
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Dimensity 8500 Geekbench Score
| Geekbench 6 | Dimensity 8500 |
|---|---|
| Single-Core | 1,519 |
| Multi-Core | 6,308 |
Next, in the Geekbench 6 test, the Dimensity 8500 achieved 1,519 in single-core and 6,308 in multi-core. Both the single-core and multi-core performance is nearly the same as the Dimensity 8400 as both pack the same CPU cores, although the Dimensity 8500 is clocked slightly higher.
Yes, the Dimensity 8500 brings the same eight Cortex-A725 cores from the Dimensity 8400, with the prime core raised from 3.25GHz to 3.4GHz and the rest bumped by 200MHz each.
The single-core result is particularly underwhelming since the Poco X8 Pro doesn't even seem to push the prime core to its full 3.4GHz, as we found in the throttling test below. To give you some context, the Kryo CPU in our Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 benchmark scored 2,158 and 6,989 in the same test.
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Dimensity 8500 CPU Throttling Test
| CPU Throttling Test (15 Minutes) | Dimensity 8500 |
|---|---|
| Max GIPS | 367,178 |
| Average GIPS | 325,319 |
| Min GIPS | 302,554 |
| Throttling Percentage (Higher is better) | 84% |
Now, coming to the 15-minute CPU Throttling Test, the Dimensity 8500 held on to 84% of its peak performance, which is pretty good. For context, the Dimensity 8450 managed 77% in our Dimensity 8450 benchmark and even the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 settled at 80% in the same test.
Interestingly, the app recorded a maximum CPU clock of 3.25GHz during our test run, which happens to be the Dimensity 8400's prime clock speed. It suggests the Poco X8 Pro is tuned conservatively rather than pushing the prime core to its full 3.4GHz.
That also explains the modest Geekbench numbers. Basically, Poco has traded peak performance for stability and that has resulted in remarkbale sustained performance.
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Dimensity 8500 3DMark Score
| 3DMark Wild Life Extreme Stress Test | Dimensity 8500 |
|---|---|
| Best Loop Score | 4,268 |
| Lowest Loop Score | 3,020 |
| Stability | 70.8% |
Now, to evaluate the sustained graphics performance, we ran the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme Stress Test for 20 loops. In this test, the Dimensity 8500 posted a best loop score of 4,268 points and a lowest loop score of 3,020 points with stability of 70.8%.
The Mali-G720 GPU has gone from seven cores on the Dimensity 8400 to eight cores on the Dimensity 8500. As a result, the Dimensity 8500 pulls ahead by around 7% in peak graphics output while matching its stability.
| Dimensity 8500 | 3DMark Solar Bay | 3DMark Steel Nomad Light |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 5,649 | 1,442 |
| Average Frame Rate | 21.48 FPS | 10.69 FPS |
Ray tracing is one of the major features of the Mali-G720 MC8 GPU, so we put it through 3DMark's Solar Bay run. In this test, the Dimensity 8500 scored 5,649 points with an average frame rate of 21.48 FPS. And in the demanding Steel Nomad Light test, the Dimensity 8500 scored 1,442 points with an average frame rate of 10.69 FPS.
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Dimensity 8500 Speedometer 3.1 Score
Finally, we measured web browsing performance with the Speedometer 3.1 test on Google Chrome, where the Dimensity 8500 scored 12.5 points. It should offer a fluid and responsive experience while browsing heavy webpages.
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Benchmark Gallery
Dimensity 8500 Specs
| Specs | Dimensity 8500 |
|---|---|
| Process Node | TSMC 4nm (N4P) |
| CPU | Octa-core, Arm CPU |
| CPU Cores | 1x Cortex-A725 at 3.4GHz, 3x Cortex-A725 at 3.2GHz, 4x Cortex-A725 at 2.2GHz |
| GPU | Arm Mali-G720 MC8 with hardware ray tracing |
| NPU | MediaTek NPU 880 |
| ISP | Imagiq 1080, up to 320MP camera support, 4K 60FPS video recording |
| Storage and Memory | UFS 4.0 + MCQ, 4-channel LPDDR5X @ 9600Mbps |
| Modem | MediaTek 5G-Advanced modem, up to 5.17Gbps peak download, DSDA 2.0 |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.4 |
Verdict
Now, to conclude, the Dimensity 8500 is less of a new chipset and more of a polished Dimensity 8400. The CPU cores are the same, only the clock speeds have gone up and the only meaningful hardware addition is an extra GPU core.
That said, the throttling result is impressive as the thermals remained in check throughout our testing. The Mali-G720 MC8 also shows great performance in Wild Life Extreme, beating even the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4.
The only downside is that the Dimensity 8500 is nearly identical to the Dimensity 8400 and the ray tracing performance on the Poco X8 Pro is even behind the Dimensity 8450. As our Dimensity 8450 vs Dimensity 8400 comparison showed, phone-level tuning matters as much as the chipset itself.
To sum up, you should pick a Dimensity 8500 phone if you want sustained performance for long gaming sessions with a stronger GPU. However, if you already own a Dimensity 8400 phone, there is no reason to upgrade. And if peak CPU performance is your priority, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 is a great chip in this segment.
