is basic material + fresnel "cheaper" than phong (and why is it not working as expected)

[MarcVdH]

is using basic material + fresnel considerably "cheaper" than using a phong material? (I am not sure about what i see in the performance profiler).
the fresnel seems to not behave as expected in my example patch, or does it?

https://cables.gl/edit/Dv97iL

[marioepsley]

Personally i find the fresnel more expensive, but certainly worth testing, I don't know for certain.
You have a white texture so I don't think you'll see the fresnel but it does look like its working correctly when you do this.