[Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge Guides, News, & Discussion] Eggleston11:
Gonna reply to this thread I made a while ago after a bit of testing. I think it would be a good starting point for anyone who is indecisive with kernels.

Today I thought I'd compare 2 kernels that I've been using a fair bit recently. Both are based on S7 edge firmware, but have counterparts for S8 ROMs. The disclaimer is that I didn't have time to try every version of the kernels, nor will I promise that my experience will be the same as yours.

Tkkg1994's Superstock vs Farovitus' Notorious kernel

The competitors

Superstock kernel

Created by the famous developer of Superman, Superstock, Batman and Ironman ROMs.

Recommended by the developer himself over his other more modded kernel (Superkernel)

Stock Samsung values for CPU and GPU speed

Safety net green

Other performance/battery enhancements as laid out on his page https://xdaforums.com/s7-edge/development/kernel-superstock-v1-3-5-t3453462 and below in the special features section.

Notorious kernel

Most popular custom kernel (by thread activity and likes)

Under clocked cores

Safety net green

Comes underclocked: Big: 312-1872 small: 234-1586

stock value for CPU speed

Plenty of performance and battery tweaks outlined in his page https://xdaforums.com/s7-edge/development/notorious-kernel-tw-dqd1-g93xx-g93xxd-3-t3600711 and below in the special features section.

They both sound pretty good, but it's the real life performance that matters right?

Versions used

I've used super stock 2.7.1 and 2.9 (the versions that came with superman ROM 2.6 and 2.7 respectively). 2.9 will be the one discussed today. I have found the performance quite similar between the 2 versions however.

I've used Notorious 1.9.1

Kernel Mods (that I used)

Both were kept very close to how the developers intended

I changed the to IO scheduler on Superstock to Zen

And I changed the internal IO scheduler on Notorious to Row, external to maple

Both I used Westwood TCP congestion control.

Both I kept with the stock governor (interactive)

no undervolt for notorious kernel

Conditions - my ROM and usage pattern

Superman ROM 2.7 with Magisk root

Debloated

Black theme, wallpaper and ui etc.

clock widget xperia running

Force doze with significant motion detector disabled

Greenify privileged mode (pretty much all social messaging apps greenified)

Magisk module to doze google play services

I turned off pretty much all the advanced features: smart alert, smart stay, don't turn on when dark etc.

Auto brightness on.

BT always on (connecting to car and smartwatch)

Location always on

4g, volte and viLTE on

WiFi off (I got plenty of data)

Charged to ~75% at night every day

Use was moderate. Involved BT audio on 15 minute drive to and from work. Variable tasks being done on phone: calls, texting, messaging (whatsapp, messenger lite), looking up internet, occasional remote desktop. 8-9hr day at work. Some messaging, calls, texting at home but less than at work.

No games on phone - I have a busy job and I have a PC, PS4 and WiiU.

Performance

Superstock has very good performance. Absolutely no lags. UI feels smooth and fluid. I don't game however.

Notorious feels smooth and snappy despite being quite underclocked. Developer sped up the boot animation fps. Maybe it's in my head (and therefore insignificant if any), but possibly a bit slower to start apps. No lags however. Again, I don't game on the phone.

Battery

Superstock

Very good battery. A fair bit better than stock. I could lose between 1-4% overnight (6-9hr sleep). Never bothered measuring SOT but the phone lost on average ~20-25% per day moderate use as outlined above.

Notorious

Excellent battery. On my off days, I found that notorious enters deep sleep faster than superstock leading to less idle drain. It also seems to drain battery slower when screen on. Would lose 1-3% over a 6-9hr sleep. Average day would use up about 12-17% battery moderate use as outlined above.

Special features

Superstock is a plain kernel that just works out of the box. Not many modding opportunities - can adjust clock speed within the stock range. No voltage change. Can use the 3 basic governors. conservative, interactive (stock), on demand. Can change IO scheduler and TCP congestion algorithm. Only notable feature is the safety net green. A few services disabled according to the developer, but that is about it.

Notorious is very customisable with mtweaks many governors to choose from (I only bother using interactive). Under/overvolt and under/overclock avaliable for CPUs. Under/overvolt and under/overclock available for GPU. Boeffla kernel wake lock blockers. IO scheduler change, TCP algorithm change. I changed very few settings, but it is also commonly undervolted. On the thread, people liked to use bluactive, impulse and relaxed governors rather than interactive. With Notorious, I found that undervolting didnt really increase battery life much and gave me the increased paranoia of silent corruption/ instability. I change the TCP and IO so that it theoretically optimises my user experience. Realistically, I found no difference compared to stock and it was more for my obssesive compulsive side.

Verdict

For a non-gamer like me who uses the phone for calling, messaging, internet, video, music notorious provides more than adequate performance with greater battery savings than superstock.

Superstock I'd imagine to have much greater performance under a big load. It was subjectively more responsive and faster when doing my low power tasks.

At the end if the day both were much better than stock for me in terms of battery. I'd say that Superstock would be more for performance and Notorious would be more for battery saving. Any questions or comments, ask away!