The ROG Phone 6D. Our review is finally here and it will be different from our usual phone review because the ROG Phone 6D phone needs a bit of introduction. We’ll also have a comparison with the ROG Phone 6 Pro – then we’ll go in-depth to find out the differences between these two phones. So, let’s begin.
Nasi-Lemak-Tech_728x90.jpg)
Okay, so what is the ROG Phone 6D? Technically, the 6D is the same as the base version ROG Phone 6. Everything is the same – same design, same cooling system, same motherboard layout with the chipset at the center of the phone, same battery capacity, and supports all of the same accessories too.
The only difference is the chipset. The ROG Phone 6 and ROG Phone 6 Pro uses the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset and the ROG Phone 6D and the ROG Phone 6D Ultimate use the MediaTek Dimensity 9000+ chipset. The Dimensity 9000+ chipset – as far as I can find – is created exclusively for the ROG Phone 6D series. It’s pretty much a souped-up version of the base version Dimensity 9000.
This is not the only difference, though. The ROG Phone 6, 6 Pro, and 6D use the exact same cooling system. The ROG Phone 6D Ultimate has something called the AeroActive Portal that opens up when the AeroActive Cooler 6 is attached. However, since we only have the ROG Phone 6D with us, the only difference will only be the chipset and thus, we have a direct comparison between the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 and the MediaTek Dimensity 9000+.
If you want to know more about the ROG Phone 6D’s gaming performance, then watch our other video here.
If we compare the gaming performance between the ROG Phone 6 Pro and the ROG Phone 6D – remember the ROG Phone 6 Pro is identical to the base version ROG Phone 6 – just that it comes with this fancy screen – we can see that the ROG Phone 6 Pro isn’t particularly performing better than the 6D.
Round 1 – Benchmarks
To draw a clearer line between the ROG Phone 6 Pro and the ROG Phone 6D, we have to look at benchmarks. We used a few but the one I want to focus here is 3DMark Wild Life Extreme Stress Test. It runs the Wild Life Extreme benchmark 20 times in a row.
Our testing methodology is simple. We make sure both phones are in X-Mode and in the same room at the same idle temperature before running the benchmark.
And the results are… we can see that the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 manages to sustain at 95.9% of its performance and only raised to 50°C at most while depleting only 12% battery over the course of the entire test.
For the Dimensity 9000+, the performance stability is only at 76.1% and the temperature raised all the way up to 55°C which is the thermal limit of the chipset. But, the battery depletion is also only 12%.
Funny enough, the starting temperature of the phone, despite being left on the table to reach thermal equilibrium, is actually different. The idle temperature of the Dimensity 9000+ is at 30°C whereby the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 is at 28°C. Interesting.
I’ll also flash some other benchmark results on the screen real quick. Generally, the benchmark scores on the ROG Phone 6 Pro is higher than the ROG Phone 6D too. I do want to highlight that I added the Geekbench ML benchmark in here for fun but I discovered that the ROG Phone 6D is generally a lot slower on both CPU and GPU backends, except for the NNAPI because it took too long, the phone got too hot, and the app just crashed.
Round 2 – benchmarks with the AeroActive Cooler 6
Okay, time for round 2 then. Introducing, the AeroActive Cooler 6. Actually, if you need an introduction to this cooler then watch our other dedicated review of this cooler first.
The reason why I’m bringing up this cooler is that I want to see how both these phones will compare against each other if we mitigate the effects of heat from the phone. The testing methodology remains the same – but I have to connect the AeroActive Cooler 6 to the phone, then a charger to the cooler, then turn on the “Frozen” mode in the Armoury Crate. That will make the fan go full speed with the thermoelectric cooler turned on.
I gotta say, the sustained performance on the Dimensity 9000+ improved a lot – but still not as good as the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. Based on the data we’ve gathered, the ROG Phone 6D is consistently hotter than the ROG Phone 6 Pro even with the cooler running at the maximum capacity.
The same sentiment applies to all other benchmarks – so I’ll just quickly flash them on the screen for your reference. Despite having a fan though, the ROG Phone 6D still cannot complete the Geekbench ML benchmark using the NNAPI backend. I presume that is because the algorithms are incompatible with the instruction set of the Dimensity 9000+ chipset.
There are more differences.
Let’s talk about game graphical quality. Technically, both these phones are using “flagship chipsets” but somehow the graphical qualities available are different. For example:
PUBG Mobile runs only at 60fps on both phones.
PUBG New State can run at 90fps on the ROG Phone 6 Pro but not on the ROG Phone 6D.
COD Mobile runs at 90fps on both phones so that’s good.
As for MLBB, both phones do not have 90fps option and I have no idea why.
And this discrepancy is caused by either the smartphone manufacturer’s software – in this case ROG, or the game developers have some sort of whitelist that dictates which phone can use which graphical setting. There is no reason why these two phones cannot run games like PUBG New State at 90fps.
That is the reason why we use Genshin Impact as the main game in our tests. It doesn’t discriminate so you can technically run the game at the highest graphical settings at 60fps on the lowest-end phone that you have.
Difference in efficiency
And now we’re done with the performance – let’s talk about efficiency. Both these phones are using the exact same screen with the same resolution and refresh rate. They both also have the same 6,000mAh battery. So, I set both these phones at 100 nits brightness and used the PCMark battery life test – and from our tests, the ROG Phone 6 Pro with the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 lasts a lot longer than the 6D.
How about the charging speed then? They both are gonna be the same since they’re using the exact same dual 3,000mAh battery design and support the same maximum 65W charging anyway.
The cameras are going to produce different results. I took a few random photos during my trip to IKEA recently and since these two phones are using different chipsets, that means they’re using different ISPs – image signal processors – and that is why the image produced after post-processing look different.
To have a look at all the pictures taken, watch our video at the top of this video.
Which should you buy?
And that marks the end of our review of the ROG Phone 6D and comparison with the ROG Phone 6 Pro. As for the starting prices, I’m going to show them here:
- ROG Phone 6 – RM3,599
- ROG Phone 6D – RM3,499
Some might say that our comparison is unfair since the ROG Phone 6 Pro comes with 18GB RAM whereby the ROG Phone 6D only comes with 12GB RAM – and I disagree. The amount of RAM doesn’t matter here since it the RAM capacity is not the bottleneck – the RAM speed is the bottleneck. Watch our other video at the top right corner to get a proper explanation.
To those who said that I shouldn’t be using the ROG Phone 6 Pro in this comparison, unfortunately, I can’t do anything about it. I only got the 6D so we’re proceeding with that. And it shouldn’t matter too – since the cooling system should be exactly the same between the ROG Phone 6, 6 Pro, and 6D.
So all in all, I think despite being RM100 cheaper, the ROG Phone 6D is just not worth the price for 3 reasons:
- Performance is just not that good. Even though you most probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference, the performance gap is apparent
- The temperature of the Dimensity 9000+ chipset is just too damn high. The temperatures are actually comparable to the Snapdragon 888 on the ROG Phone 5.
- Game graphical setting options. I don’t know who controls this but the options are always available on phones with Snapdragon chipsets rather than MediaTek chipsets.
And this also proves that it doesn’t really matter who makes your chipset if the chipset’s architectural design is not good in the first place. Both the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 and the Dimensity 9000+ chipset are made by TSMC’s 4nm process, yet the Snapdragon is clearly better.
Where to buy? (Affiliate links)
Like our Facebook Page here at NasiLemakTech.com for more news and in-depth reviews!
Also, join our Facebook Group for insightful information and memes!
Subscribe to our YouTube channel too!
