When comparing the animation performance between these two platforms (using the same MicroSD card in both units) I’ve noticed a slightly smoother scroll in the 4B, both set at 720P and 90% text scaling, HDMI-1 output only.
Unit temperatures between 35c-40c
Should the performance be identical in both units?
Performance shouldn’t be identical. The Raspberry Pi 400 is clocked slightly faster than the 4B, which should give it the advantage.
There are a few reasons that could explain this result: if either one has had more use than the other, or been used at high temperatures for prolonged times, this could deteriorate the CPU in time and result in lower performance. There could also be differences in manufacturing which cause the 4b to be faster. The 4b also comes in a wider variety of RAM options. If the 4B has more RAM than the 400, this could result in less use of Swap space and in faster performance.
This is all theoretical of course, we would need multiple of these to test for ourselves and create a statistic, otherwise this is just anecdotal evidence. Sadly the Raspberry Pi 4b has been almost impossible to find since the chip shortage started.
Appreciate the input. If there are any tests you want me to run in the future (I have 2 4Bs and 2 400s, approximately the same age, all with 4GB ram), I would be happy to help out from here.
Thank you! I appreciate it.