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AnandTech iPad 2 GPU benchmark
- Thread starter michaelz
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Piggie
macrumors G3
Excellent. Thanks for this. It's exactly the type of info I was waiting to find out.
Ok, so Apple need a slap for SHOUTING 9x performance, but putting that to one side, this is excellent. 🙂
MRU
macrumors Penryn
I believe the 9X performance thing is based on theoretical fill rate / poly count of the SGX543MP2 over the SGX535, and not 'actual' real world performance. But given those benchmark results it's clear to see that it's a genuinely massive upgrade and clearly the best GPU in any tablet on the market.
The fact the egypt test with FSAA didn't seem to be impacted by having AA enabled over the bench with it off, leaves me hoping many more ipad 2 optomized games will come with FSAA enabled. 🙂
Just read through that article and, frankly, I'm stunned. We knew the A5 was going to be a jump forward but was anyone seriously expecting those sorts of numbers?
More interesting, perhaps, is the difference between the A5 and Tegra 2, at least when it comes to gaming (granted you probably need to add 25% to the Xoom's scores to account for the resolution difference but even so...). Suddenly Apple's processor strategy (well, system on a chip strategy to be accurate) is looking like a very wise move indeed, especially if they can manage to jump from the current dual core GPU to a quad core next year. Which, as Sony will be using it in the NGP several months earlier, you wouldn't bet against. Now pair that up with an improved Cortex design (who knows, maybe the A15 will be an option this time next year) and that's one HELL of a powerful system. In fact maybe, just maybe, it's powerful enough to run...actually no, I'm not going to say the R word, let's just go with it having possibilities.
Here's another thought for you, if the A5 has this much raw grunt compared to the A4.... how else can Apple take advantage of it? Could we be about to see changes doing just that in iOS 5? For that matter, this thing is going to FLY in the iPhone 5 and the next iPod Touch, even if it is underclocked.
More interesting, perhaps, is the difference between the A5 and Tegra 2, at least when it comes to gaming (granted you probably need to add 25% to the Xoom's scores to account for the resolution difference but even so...). Suddenly Apple's processor strategy (well, system on a chip strategy to be accurate) is looking like a very wise move indeed, especially if they can manage to jump from the current dual core GPU to a quad core next year. Which, as Sony will be using it in the NGP several months earlier, you wouldn't bet against. Now pair that up with an improved Cortex design (who knows, maybe the A15 will be an option this time next year) and that's one HELL of a powerful system. In fact maybe, just maybe, it's powerful enough to run...actually no, I'm not going to say the R word, let's just go with it having possibilities.
Here's another thought for you, if the A5 has this much raw grunt compared to the A4.... how else can Apple take advantage of it? Could we be about to see changes doing just that in iOS 5? For that matter, this thing is going to FLY in the iPhone 5 and the next iPod Touch, even if it is underclocked.
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*sigh* No, no they don't. They have clearly and repeatedly stated UP TO 9x performance improvements. The fact that they're getting 7x improvements while running real code is a pretty good indication that under certain tests that claim is probably about right. They're right to shout about that, when was the last time we saw that big a jump in ANY next gen product? The only thing I can think that might, maybe, come close would be a new console launch... and even then you'd need to do something like PS2 to PS3 or, perhaps more accurately, PSP to NGP.
This is not a good news for people haven't get iPad 2 yet. More people will fight for it with positive reviews coming out.
MRU
macrumors Penryn
No Tegra 2 is actually late last years tech but its only really hitting mass market now because of all these google honeycomb tablets for which Tegra 2 was the 'reference' spec.
Tegra 3 will be out this year and closer to the ipad 2's gpu or better perhaps. But again we probably wont see mass adoption of the tech in Android devices till next year as manufacturers in many instances have still to get their Tegra 2 honeycomb device on the mass market.
Of course by next year the iPad 3 will probably use the Quad Core SGX543MP4 (the same GPU for the Sony handheld which will prob be hitting USA & Europe spring next year with Japan launch this winter). Ironically Sony's biggest competition is not the Nintendo 3DS, but more than likely the 2012 Apple iPhone & iPad.
Tegra 2 was hyped to high heaven but its graphics core was always odds-on to be weaker than the Power VR core(s) Apple seem to have gone with. The problem, really, is/was that the Tegra range is likely to be powering a lot of high-end Android devices in 2011 and so it got dragged into the middle of the holy wars and any chance of having sensible discussions got lost along the way.
henrikrox
macrumors 65816
Indeed. I was surprised to see this because Android has already done this when they got stuck with the awful performing Adreno 200 of the first generation Snapdragon as the reference for a while. As result they couldn't get 3D game that was anything close to the top of range iOS games. Even phones with superior graphics like the Galaxy S were mostly relegated to the lowest denominator, unless you were running emulators or playing ported Quake. Apple on the other hand, had picked a pretty powerful GPU for the iPhone 3GS which allowed them to milk the chip for another year with great results and now made yet another big leap with this.
On a related note, the Galaxy S' SGX540 still competes pretty well and the new OMAP4, used in LG Optimus 3D uses a higher clocked version of that chip which seems faster than Tegra2. Regardless the A5's GPU blows them all and it's an exciting news because it makes you wonder what developers will do with so many A5-equipped devices available in a year or so. (Apple TV gaming anyone?)
Piggie
macrumors G3
Tegra 2 was out in tablets for the public to buy last November, so as has been said, it's not exactly cutting edge now.
Tegra 3 should be out in Tablets this fall.
I don't have numbers to hand for Tegra 3, however I would say one thing.
Don't underestimate Nvidea when it comes to graphics 🙂
Tegra 3 should be out in Tablets this fall.
I don't have numbers to hand for Tegra 3, however I would say one thing.
Don't underestimate Nvidea when it comes to graphics 🙂
Very impressive. I wonder how long it will be until we get a ground up ipad 2 game that fully exploits it without worrying about being ipad1/iphone4 compatible.
I assume the iphone 5 will have similar specs so it'd be for that too.
I assume the iphone 5 will have similar specs so it'd be for that too.
Have you been following the quality issues that have plagued Nvidia over the last couple of years? There's a reason Apple dropped them in favor of AMD (ATI) in their new MacBook Pro line-up.
Tegra 3 looks pretty underwhelming for a chip that probably won't find hardware until next year.
Also the mobile GPU is an entirely different market from the desktop market. Maybe in the future that'll change but there's nothing ground breaking or anything special in nVidia's mobile GPU road map compared to others'.
Piggie
macrumors G3
Heat and Power requirements, but I don't know about "Quality"
As far as I'm aware Cuda to speed up the desktop leaves the ATI version standing, and Nvidea rule when it comes to Tessellation.
Apple can't use them due to stupid OCD issue Apple have with making a giant laptop on a stand and calling it a home computer, which has to ability to offer decent cooling.
Whilst I agree, low power and lot heat are great things to have, if I were to have my choice of cards for free, I'd pick Nvidea for the high end.
For tablets, I don't care. I'm just happy to have the fastest, whoever makes the chip 🙂
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Me too and Tegra2 kinda blows considering how much hype it got earlier. The more disappointing GPU is Samsung's Mali in Exynos which couldn't even beat Tegra2 despite Samsung's early promise that it'll be something like 4X better than the SGX540 which is still a very solid performing chip.
However for non-iOS mobile OS platforms the 3D so far has been mostly academic. They don't really have any game that'll push the limit of the latest 3D hardware. The Nokia N8 and Samsung Galaxy/Nexus S both had great 3D chips but didn't have anything to show case the power. (unless you count benchmarks, emulators and Quake)