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| Google designs the Tensor G6 in-house, yet the results suggest its scheduler tuning still needs refinement. (Pictured : Pixel 11, edited) |
Google’s Pixel 11 has been put through another round of gaming benchmarks, and the results are a mixed bag. According to testing from Chinese reviewer 大米评测 (Rice Review), the Tensor G6 may not be the only issue standing between the Pixel 11 and better gaming performance. In fact, the data suggests inconsistent CPU core scheduling is doing a lot of damage.
The reviewer tested frame rates and CPU core clocks across three demanding titles: Genshin Impact, Zenless Zone Zero, and Honkai: Star Rail. Rather than pointing to a simple hardware ceiling, the logs show a Tensor G6 that sometimes refuses to wake up all of its cores properly.
Genshin Impact: Better after the 7.1 patch, but still behind
Genshin Impact was already a problem spot for the Pixel 11. The phone ran into a graphical glitch that was previously reported and was not fixed until Genshin Impact’s 7.1 update. After that patch, the Pixel 11 averaged 43.3 fps, with a 1% low of just 11.7 fps.
That still leaves it far behind rivals like the Xiaomi 15S Pro and iQOO 15, both of which hold averages around 60 fps. PerfDog logs from the test show the Tensor G6’s four C1-Pro cores running at an average of 2.1 GHz, which is actually higher than the single “Ultra” core’s average of 1.41 GHz.
On its own, that is not necessarily alarming. Genshin Impact is not a brutally CPU-heavy game, and the comparatively weak PowerVR GPU looks like the main bottleneck here.
Honkai: Star Rail: The clearest red flag
The scheduling issue becomes much harder to ignore in Honkai: Star Rail. On Vulkan, the Pixel 11 averaged only 19.1 fps, with a 1% low of 6.9 fps. The clock logs help explain why.
Throughout a 20-minute run, both Pro clusters reportedly stayed around 0.46–0.47 GHz. Meanwhile, the Ultra core dropped from a maximum frequency of 4.1 GHz down to roughly 1.1–1.46 GHz. In practice, that is close to “one core working, six idle.”
Rival devices in the same test had no such trouble. The Xiaomi 15S Pro averaged 57.6 fps, while the iQOO 15 hit 59.1 fps. For a phone running Google’s latest Tensor chip, that is a massive gap.
You can watch the original benchmark video and inspect the clock logs from 大米评测 here.
Zenless Zone Zero: A more normal pattern, but the gap remains
Zenless Zone Zero shows a more typical clock behavior. The Ultra core briefly reaches its maximum clock speed during the first five minutes before throttling back, which pulls down its average clock speed.
Even so, the Pixel 11 trails the Xiaomi 15S Pro and iQOO 15 by roughly 16 fps at a similar or lower power draw. It only manages to match Snapdragon 8 Gen 2-equipped devices such as the Xiaomi 13. That result is more consistent with the Tensor G6’s raw performance level, rather than a total scheduling breakdown.
What this means for Google and the Tensor G6
Taken together, the results suggest Google still has work to do on Tensor G6 scheduling. That is a separate issue from the chip’s underlying efficiency and performance ceiling, which was already documented in Geekerwan’s testing.
The good news for Pixel fans is that scheduling can sometimes be improved through software updates. The bad news is that Google has not confirmed whether this particular behavior will be addressed in a future patch. Until then, the Pixel 11’s gaming performance may remain frustratingly inconsistent—not because the Tensor G6 is always slow, but because it often refuses to use all of its cores properly.
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| Average frame rate and clock readings of the Pixel 11 in Honkai: Star Rail |
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| Average frame rate and clock readings of the Pixel 11 in Genshin Impact |
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| Average frame rate and clock readings of the Pixel 11 in Zenless Zone Zero |