Custom ROMs vs Stock ROMs: CPU/GPU Performance

So first, check out the post I did a while back if you are unfamiliar with what rooting is by clicking here. Don’t worry, I’ll wait…

Ok, so now that we’re all on the same page with what rooting is and the benefits it brings, I think it’s time we put some science-y stuff to it. Aside from the customization benefits (changing your phone to exactly what you want it to look like, act like, etc.), I think there is a major benefit that everyone can relate to; performance.

How much better can your phone run once it is rooted and you load a custom ROM on it? Let’s find out.

I. CPU/GPU Benchmark Performance

So when you load a custom ROM, chances are you will see immediate performance increases from optimizations the developer of the ROM has made to the system. On top of that though, you can also see a lot more gains when you overclock the phone (another thing you can do once rooted). Overclocking the phone basically tells the CPU of the phone that it is safe to run at a higher speed than the speed it was set to when it left the factory. Some developers have gotten huge speed increases safely with certain phones and in turn the phones can perform a lot faster than normal.

So let’s test a popular new phone’s CPU/GPU performance stock from the factory, then with a popular custom ROM, and finally with that custom ROM and an overclocking mod.

First test will be using a benchmarking test called Quadrant Benchmark:

Quadrant Benchmark Tests (T-Mobile G2)
Stock ROM	1646/1652/1564 = Average of 1620.66
Popular Custom ROM (CyanogenMod 6.1 RC4)	1775/1856/1773= Average of 1801.33 [11% increase over stock]
Popular Custom ROM w/ Overclocking (1.8ghz up from normal 800mhz)	2794/2897/2862 = Average of 2851 [75% increase over stock]

Linpack Benchmark Tests (T-Mobile G2)
Stock ROM	32.456/33.044/32.979 = Average of 32.826
Popular Custom ROM (CyanogenMod 6.1 RC4)	33.214/33.307/33.136 = Average of 33.219 [1% increase over stock]
Popular Custom ROM w/ Overclocking (1.8ghz up from normal 800mhz)	58.502/57.936/59.456 = Average of 58.631 [78% increase over stock]

So it would seem that even just loading a custom ROM with more features than the stock ROM gives an automatic slight increase in performance. And that overclocking your phone after loading a custom ROM can give you a huge increase in performance, but even with that, the true test is user experience…

II. Real World Performance

User Experiences

Now, this isn’t quite a scientific test, but through using the phone daily people might notice differences in the way their phone responds. Sometimes it’s just a “smoother” feeling through out, other times it’s less crashes or lag time when doing everyday things.

We can’t really put that into a test, but we’d love for anyone using custom ROMs to leave their own personal experiences below in the comments!

So I think with all that, it’s pretty evident that rooting and using custom ROMs can be a huge benefit to your device. Not too mention, Google’s already condoned it and almost all rooting methods can be undone if you ever feel like going back to stock. So why not give it a try?

To get started, head over to our How To’s section at the top of our site, then click on Android and then click on your specific phone and you’ll be presented with all the rooting procedures for that phone. Good luck and welcome to the wide world of rooting!

UPDATE: By request here is the ROM and Overclocking Kernel links so you can get them on your device too 🙂

Overclocked Kernel
Cyanogen ROM