iPad Pro iPad Pro 12.9 M1. Slow and lagging graphics in games

[FrostLK8]

Honestly the overall performance is incredibly disappointing for a $1,700 device.

The people who say that Divinity: Original Sin 2, Genshin and similar work smooth obviously haven't played them or haven't played them long enough. The M1 iPads - and I have several, so it's not my particular unit - start overheating in no time flat and consequently even "optimised" games lag horribly.

Divinity in particular gets frame drops everywhere, and Genshin Impact can only run on Low or Lowest smoothly. Even Medium lags. And it's the same thing with several other graphic-intensive games, the same story keeps repeating: overheat and then lag everywhere.

You'll see a bunch of half-done reviews play these and other games for 5-10 minutes smoothly in Tutorial areas and wrongly conclude that everything works but the reality is that it doesn't, the iPad merely has a very small window where it didn't overheat yet. You can't play for an hour without lag, never mind for several hours.

EDIT: And I mean all of the above in normal ambient temps, ~25 deg C. But the iPads still lag heavily in games.

On a related note - does anyone know if iOS 15 could potentially improve this? Is there even anything to improve from Apple's side (idk, stop the nonstop throttling maybe)?

 

[Johnny365]

I also have experienced some lag, dropped frames, etc. in games. I don't understand it. People say games have to be optimized for the new chipset, but clearly that shouldn't have to be done? I don't know.

 

[FrostLK8]

What bothers me is that even the supposedly optimized ones run poorly. Take Divinity - it had months to optimize and it still overheats and lags. Genshin lags on anything except low. PUBG doesn’t lag but that’s just because the settings are the same ones that have been available for years, since the 2018 Pro (can’t expect decency or any player-friendly upgrades there, it’s Tencent after all). Then there’s 1-2 graphically demanding beta RPGs I’m running which also lag. It’s a really badly performing device so far gaming-wise.

I just wonder whether it’s a chip that doesn’t fit into its form factor, or the OS, or the games… or a combination of all, possibly.

 

[pdoherty]

What bothers me is that even the supposedly optimized ones run poorly. Take Divinity - it had months to optimize and it still overheats and lags. Genshin lags on anything except low. PUBG doesn’t lag but that’s just because the settings are the same ones that have been available for years, since the 2018 Pro (can’t expect decency or any player-friendly upgrades there, it’s Tencent after all). Then there’s 1-2 graphically demanding beta RPGs I’m running which also lag. It’s a really badly performing device so far gaming-wise.

I just wonder whether it’s a chip that doesn’t fit into its form factor, or the OS, or the games… or a combination of all, possibly.

Seems people disagree with your suggestions on Divinity performance on iPads with the M1 CPUs.

https://www.reddit.com/r/iosgaming/comments/nutc3s

 

[FrostLK8]

Seems people disagree with your suggestions on Divinity performance on iPads with the M1 CPUs.

https://www.reddit.com/r/iosgaming/comments/nutc3s

Nah - the reason is that it was only tested for 12 minutes. If it’s played for a few hours, there won’t be any disagreement.

Also, fwiw, PerfDog doesn’t show FPS accurately in WiFi mode (which must be used to measure battery performance). But OK, those are small differences vs. wired, so the main reason is just simply test duration.

 

[Johnny365]

I agree, they need to leave the testing for longer durations of time. 1 hour should be minimum and see how the numbers change.

 

[jsmith1]

Honestly the overall performance is incredibly disappointing for a $1,700 device.

The people who say that Divinity: Original Sin 2, Genshin and similar work smooth obviously haven't played them or haven't played them long enough. The M1 iPads - and I have several, so it's not my particular unit - start overheating in no time flat and consequently even "optimised" games lag horribly.

Divinity in particular gets frame drops everywhere, and Genshin Impact can only run on Low or Lowest smoothly. Even Medium lags. And it's the same thing with several other graphic-intensive games, the same story keeps repeating: overheat and then lag everywhere.

You'll see a bunch of half-done reviews play these and other games for 5-10 minutes smoothly in Tutorial areas and wrongly conclude that everything works but the reality is that it doesn't, the iPad merely has a very small window where it didn't overheat yet. You can't play for an hour without lag, never mind for several hours.

EDIT: And I mean all of the above in normal ambient temps, ~25 deg C. But the iPads still lag heavily in games.

On a related note - does anyone know if iOS 15 could potentially improve this? Is there even anything to improve from Apple's side (idk, stop the nonstop throttling maybe)?

Need more to tell honest performances of devices so that people on the fence can have all the facts…I couldn’t even say how my own phone sucked without getting a timeout, that kind of biased is the exact reason devices don’t get designed to the price point they want for them…to many gullible people that don’t care to hold them accountable.

I have said for awhile now that the design of the iPad is going to overheat with faster and faster chips etc…, truth is that they need to redesign for better cooling and trust me they are, just not saying as to sell these.

thanks for the facts about it.

 

[UBS28]

Just buy a $499 Xbox Series X which runs AAA games at 4K @ 120 fps. It is even able to run the most demanding games like Flight Simulator X which brings expensive gaming PC’s to it’s knees.

AAA games are developed and optimized for consoles in the first place anyway.

 

[GregJohn]

Honestly the overall performance is incredibly disappointing for a $1,700 device.

The people who say that Divinity: Original Sin 2, Genshin and similar work smooth obviously haven't played them or haven't played them long enough. The M1 iPads - and I have several, so it's not my particular unit - start overheating in no time flat and consequently even "optimised" games lag horribly.

Divinity in particular gets frame drops everywhere, and Genshin Impact can only run on Low or Lowest smoothly. Even Medium lags. And it's the same thing with several other graphic-intensive games, the same story keeps repeating: overheat and then lag everywhere.

You'll see a bunch of half-done reviews play these and other games for 5-10 minutes smoothly in Tutorial areas and wrongly conclude that everything works but the reality is that it doesn't, the iPad merely has a very small window where it didn't overheat yet. You can't play for an hour without lag, never mind for several hours.

EDIT: And I mean all of the above in normal ambient temps, ~25 deg C. But the iPads still lag heavily in games.

On a related note - does anyone know if iOS 15 could potentially improve this? Is there even anything to improve from Apple's side (idk, stop the nonstop throttling maybe)?

what Makes me mad about the performance is the 2018 iPad Pro can play max Genshin without the severe lag, but over time it dims a lot.
the 2021 iPad Pro…. I turn it to medium resolution and motion blur off and it still lags but it’s not as bad

 

[pdoherty]

I agree, they need to leave the testing for longer durations of time. 1 hour should be minimum and see how the numbers change.

The iPad will reach equilibrium between heat generation and heat dissipation far faster than an hour.

 

[pdoherty]

A YouTube review of the game - noting it only drops to 35 FPS during play, while staying at 60 most of the time.

 

[1BadManVan]

Just buy a $499 Xbox Series X which runs AAA games at 4K @ 120 fps. It is even able to run the most demanding games like Flight Simulator X which brings expensive gaming PC’s to it’s knees.

AAA games are developed and optimized for consoles in the first place anyway.

It’s definitely one hell of a system. Got mined hooked up to a 27” 165hz QHD monitor at a desk and it’s about as close to pc gaming as you can get.

 

[blairs1]

A YouTube review of the game - noting it only drops to 35 FPS during play, while staying at 60 most of the time.

while this is great, what about some of the more basic games that were mentioned? I believe myVEGAS bingo was mentioned about being slow and laggy - has this been fixed?

 

[pdoherty]

while this is great, what about some of the more basic games that were mentioned? I believe myVEGAS bingo was mentioned about being slow and laggy - has this been fixed?

Not familiar with that game so not sure.

 

[Johnny365]

A YouTube review of the game - noting it only drops to 35 FPS during play, while staying at 60 most of the time.

I think the frame dips are due to capturing the footage and running the frame rate tests on the same system, reducing CPU/GPU resources that would have otherwise been there had it not been screen-capturing. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[blairs1]

Not familiar with that game so not sure.

wondering if anyone here has the game, or can download any of the myVEGAS games to try - i'd hate to have a family member buy it and it runs awful for the 'basic' games.

 

[FrostLK8]

I think the frame dips are due to capturing the footage and running the frame rate tests on the same system, reducing CPU/GPU resources that would have otherwise been there had it not been screen-capturing. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Sadly, not the case - it lags like crazy even with absolutely no background app usage. The same guy has a bunch of videos on YouTube taken with an external camera showing how bad the Genshin lag is on both the new iPad and the new iPhone. Sure, they all look smooth the first 5 minutes but after that it’s a lagfest.

Nothing runs on these iPads smoothly while looking great so far. Not Genshin, not PUBG, not Divinity 2.

 

[ericwn]

I had some fun with GRID Autosport and that seemed to run well on my M1 12.9.

 

[pdoherty]

Sadly, not the case - it lags like crazy even with absolutely no background app usage. The same guy has a bunch of videos on YouTube taken with an external camera showing how bad the Genshin lag is on both the new iPad and the new iPhone. Sure, they all look smooth the first 5 minutes but after that it’s a lagfest.

Nothing runs on these iPads smoothly while looking great so far. Not Genshin, not PUBG, not Divinity 2.

A game dipping down from 60 fps solid into the 30s is not a problem, and I’m not sure why you’re trying to suggest it is. Divinity isn’t a RTS or FPS.

 

[GregJohn]

The iPad Pro 12.9 M1 still lags horrendously because it overheats so fast in some games. I know Genshin still performs like junk

 

[1BadManVan]

I had some fun with GRID Autosport and that seemed to run well on my M1 12.9.

Same, played quite a few races back to back with zero performance issues.

 

[FrostLK8]

A game dipping down from 60 fps solid into the 30s is not a problem, and I’m not sure why you’re trying to suggest it is. Divinity isn’t a RTS or FPS.

What?

"A game dipping down from 60 fps solid into the 30s is not a problem" since when exactly?

It sounds like you personally may not mind that in Divinity 2 since it's a slow turn-based game (far from the likes of Genshin and similar where smoothness does matter and show), but to blanket state "it's not a problem" sounds weirdly out of touch with gaming in general.

 

[pdoherty]

What?

"A game dipping down from 60 fps solid into the 30s is not a problem" since when exactly?

It sounds like you personally may not mind that in Divinity 2 since it's a slow turn-based game (far from the likes of Genshin and similar where smoothness does matter and show), but to blanket state "it's not a problem" sounds weirdly out of touch with gaming in general.

And for you to suggest a game “dipping” into what used to be fully-enjoyable frame rates in the original days of PC gaming (Doom, Quake, Unreal Tournament 2004, etc - where frame rates would drop below 20 fps often) is somehow terrible and unplayable is silly. You’re just spoiled.

 

[FrostLK8]

And for you to suggest a game “dipping” into what used to be fully-enjoyable frame rates in the original days of PC gaming (Doom, Quake, Unreal Tournament 2004, etc - where frame rates would drop below 20 fps often) is somehow terrible and unplayable is silly. You’re just spoiled.

Yes, because this is 2004 and people obviously buy $1,500 premium devices with premium games in order to play them at the same level we used to 20 years ago. You really thought that one out well. Much genius, such wow