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New iPad Graphics and Processor Benchmarks: iPad 2, NVIDIA Tegra 3

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MacRumors

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Apr 12, 2001
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With the 3rd Generation iPad now out in the wild, we are starting to see more benchmarks comparing the new iPad to the iPad 2 and other devices.

Insanely Great Mac provides this nice overview video comparing both graphics and processor benchmarks between the new iPad, iPad 2 and original iPad.

They found that the extra Quad-Core GPU power found in the new iPad seems to primarily allow the new iPad preserve performance on the new Retina Display rather than providing any significant boost in the experience over previous devices. The new iPad, however, is pushing 4-times the number of pixels as the iPad 2, so you do get a distinct visual improvement, but raw framerates seem to be near identical on the tested benchmarks. Benchmarks, of course, are rather artificial measures of performance, and developers may find other differences between the two devices depending on the circumstance.

Meanwhile, LaptopMag pitted the 3rd Generation iPad against the NVIDIA Tegra 3. Apple specifically claimed that the new iPad's A5X chip had 4x the graphics performance as the Tegra 3. They did find, in at least one graphics benchmark, the iPad 3 did exceed the Tegra 3 by a comparable factor:





CPU (Processor) speed, however, was a different story. The Tegra 3's Quad-Core CPU did beat out the new iPad's Dual-Core CPU:




Apple specifically boosted the new iPad's graphics processing unit (GPU) from Dual-Core to Quad-Core in the A5X chip, but kept the same Dual-Core central processing unit (CPU) as the previous generation. The unreleased A6 chip is believed to be Apple's next generation Quad-Core CPU which is still in the pipeline.

Article Link: New iPad Graphics and Processor Benchmarks: iPad 2, NVIDIA Tegra 3
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2012/03/19/new-ipad-graphics-and-processor-benchmarks-ipad-2-nvidia-tegra-3/
Yvan256

Yvan256

macrumors 603
Jul 5, 2004
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I keep getting "This video is currently unavailable" with my HTML5 YouTube setting (Safari on OS X, Flash uninstalled).

I wish more people used Vimeo instead, I never have problems viewing videos on that website.
 
A

Anti-Lucifer

macrumors 6502a
Mar 9, 2012
776
2
Yvan256 said:
I keep getting "This video is currently unavailable" with my HTML5 YouTube setting (Safari on OS X, Flash uninstalled).

I wish more people used Vimeo instead, I never have problems viewing videos on that website.
Click to expand...

make sure you turn off the HTML5 version on youtube.com/html5/ page - after that, I have zero issues (with lag, not loading) on os x lion with flash uninstalled.

The iPad 2 played games just fine. With the higher resolution now, while being the same performance as an iPad2, it's a WIN.

There is really no need for a quad core: but I am a tad bit disappointed the web browser on the iPad 3 is not as fast as a pc or at least 2x faster web browsing than a regular iPad 2
 
w00t951

w00t951

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Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B179 Safari/7534.48.3)

firewood said:
So how do those fill rates and polygon rates compare with current game consoles?
Click to expand...

Going to Wikipedia can't be all that hard...
 
W

wjanoch

macrumors newbie
Oct 26, 2007
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Insanely Better

I've had mine for 3 days now. I didn't think much of the extra clarity at first, but I find I zoom in a lot less, and I smile more. Seriously. It's just that much nicer to look at.

It may not be larger on the screen, but it's far more beautiful.

And with Numbers, large spreadsheets are completely usable in a way they aren't on the lower rez earlier iPads. Having to zoom in and pan across columns just to read data was painful, but now it's unnecessary. There's also an issues with PDF files and others types, where they're designed for a wider screen then 1024 pixels, and the iPad 3rd Gen lets you see it all clearly.

If you're eyes are not good up close (far sighted), you may still have to zoom, but you still can, so it's at least as good, but probably still a little better since zooming is incremental (you can zoom part way in and still see more then iPad2).
 
Last edited:
SBlue1

SBlue1

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Oct 17, 2008
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i was hoping for a faster processor, but since there is no app or game out there pushing the ipad to its limits i guess apple was thinking that the A5x was still ok.
 
entropys

entropys

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Jan 5, 2007
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I bet the bandwidth constraints of the Tegra will mean in actual use the A5X will outperform the Tegra.

I bet a key reason the iPad doesn't have an A9 based quad core is because the A6 will be A15 based dual core. It would have been too hard from a marketing basis to explain the new dual core will be faster than the old quad core, and the quad would not have given any boost for most apps available.
 
thejadedmonkey

thejadedmonkey

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May 28, 2005
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So... 4x the pixels / 4x the performance = the same? It looks to me like this is right in line with the nVidia Tegra 3, but spec-bumped to be able to power the screen.
 
A

Anti-Lucifer

macrumors 6502a
Mar 9, 2012
776
2
I find it laughable really: no one will care what you name your GPU. Tegra what? I asked 5 people who are good friends what they thought of the tegra 3 processor vs. an iPad 3 (aka the 'new' iPad) - 5 out of 5 said, WHAT is tegra?

Here is the final conclusion for all the haters:

Apple knows what to do, how to do it right, and how to sell it. Most of these other iPad competitors love to give you specs and 99% of the time, if it runs like an iPad, people will not care what is Tegra.

Nerds and spec whores make up the 1% of buyers for any consumer gadget. The other 99% are intelligent people who know an iPad is better than anything else on the market right now. They are putting their money to prove it.

PS - I saw that fox show with J.Lo and marc antony - they actually use blackberry play books in the show. Terrible.
 
K

Kid A

macrumors regular
May 1, 2008
238
0
Obviously the leader of the Autobots is going to have a faster CPU than a freaking iPad. :rolleyes: This is soooooo not news.......

....Wait, what's that? :confused: it's a tablet branded with stolen IP. :eek: nevermind then.
 
bushido

bushido

Suspended
Mar 26, 2008
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good, seeing the same performance :) i feel less and less jealous and will keep my iPad 2 another generation
 
M

MacAttacka

macrumors 6502
Feb 23, 2012
376
0
Exactly what I expected. This is just the iPad 2 with a retina screen and the A5x is the horsepower that keeps it fed. This is perfect. Developers can develop epic games for the iPad 2 knowing full well it will run exactly as well on the iPad 3 in retina.

Developers can now target a basic iPad design and an iPad 2 design. iPad 3 will scale the same app in retina. iPad fragmentation has been saved.

iPad 1 is now past its best, but rest assured iPad 2 owners, your machine will still get the latest and greatest software as the iPad 3.

Also you trolls out there, we do not need brand new architecture EVERY SINGLE YEAR. Games can take years and millions to develop. iPAd 3 is perfect and I like these nice upgrades Apple offers every year.
 
MRU

MRU

macrumors Penryn
Aug 23, 2005
25,368
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a better place
People get too bogged down in specifications rather than user experience.



I imagine this thread will do nothing but foster more android and apple fanboy nonsense.
 
Santabean2000

Santabean2000

macrumors 68000
Nov 20, 2007
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SBlue1 said:
i was hoping for a faster processor, but since there is no app or game out there pushing the ipad to its limits i guess apple was thinking that the A5x was still ok.
Click to expand...

I think Apple also had to make a compromise when they discovered how much power the new display would need; 70% more battery already with he graphics.

Quad CPU to come later, perhaps when the manufacturing process shrinks down to be come more power efficient.
 
K

Kid A

macrumors regular
May 1, 2008
238
0
skoorbevad said:
What?
Click to expand...

Transformer Prime. Its Tegra CPU is apparently more Optimized for geekbenching than the A5X.

However, when you look at the article in total, and consider the Retina display and GPU performance, there's clearly More Than Meets The Eye to this article, than simply the numbers. :)

I don't know much about the Transformer Prime sales numbers, but it would seem that Apple can't Roll Out enough iPads!
 
M

MrVinney96

macrumors member
Jan 25, 2011
68
0
Holland :)
Good.

The graphics-benchmark is awesome. The processor benchmarks are kinda logical. A dual-core i5 will be smoked with a quad-core i7, so a quad-core Tegra 3 will smoke a dual-core A5X. But wait until Apple reveals the A6 chipset...
 
Yvan256

Yvan256

macrumors 603
Jul 5, 2004
5,081
998
Canada
Anti-Lucifer said:
make sure you turn off the HTML5 version on youtube.com/html5/ page - after that, I have zero issues (with lag, not loading) on os x lion with flash uninstalled.
Click to expand...

I still get the same "This video is currently unavailable" once I click to play the video. It does load fine and display the interface and a preview image of the video when the page loads, however.
 
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