http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=77441
"Hey guys, I did a lot of number crunching.
Theoretically, having 1.28x as many pixels as the iPhone 4, it the iPad should only run ~80% as fast in terms of FPS. And, in fact, that is how it works out.
I've analyzed not only the overall tests but the low-level 3d tests such as shader usage and fill rate from http://www.glbenchmark.com/. Though the iPhone's CPU is indisputably down-clocked, the iPhone 4 and iPad both use the exact same GPU core with the same memory bandwidth and clock.
This is why Infinity Blade can have shiny armor on the iPhone 4 but not on the iPad; 20% difference can be huge when we're talking about the difference of a "shininess shader." However, the iPad can keep up with the iPhone 4 in terms of triangle throughput, etc. Which is why iPad HD games are smaller, for ex. Shadow Guardian is only ~3/4 the size on the iPad.
Hypothetically, SG uses extra textures for effects, such as specular highlights (shiny things) or bump mapping. These are areas that would slow down a scene by about less than or equal to about 20%. They don't need to be included on the iPad version because they can't be used and maintain the same framerate.
This is why you see shiny metal in Infinity Blade on the iPhone 4 and not on the iPad.
But do not lose heart, iPad owners! The hardware isn't anywhere near pushed to its limits. Unreal Engine 3 and Rage were adopted from console technology; the fundamental technologies are different when you come from a regular video card model to a deferred tile-based renderer like the ones used in iPads/Pods. If you look at the quality of Infinity Blade or Rage, and consider that they actually have a good amount of room for optimization, firstly the iPad won't be left behind much longer, and secondly the games we see actually are not the pinnacle of what is possible on the current hardware.
And iTouch 3g and iphone 3gs users rejoice; you get between 2/3 and 3 times better performance than the iPhone 4 with the same scenes, though your processor is slower!
Of course, there's a little bit more to the 20% extra performance the iPhone 4 has. It has a tiny little screen. In my opinion, though things "really shine" on the iPhone 4 Retina sometimes, mostly, having the huge screen and playing field makes up for some lost details. But that's just my opinion."
"Hey guys, I did a lot of number crunching.
Theoretically, having 1.28x as many pixels as the iPhone 4, it the iPad should only run ~80% as fast in terms of FPS. And, in fact, that is how it works out.
I've analyzed not only the overall tests but the low-level 3d tests such as shader usage and fill rate from http://www.glbenchmark.com/. Though the iPhone's CPU is indisputably down-clocked, the iPhone 4 and iPad both use the exact same GPU core with the same memory bandwidth and clock.
This is why Infinity Blade can have shiny armor on the iPhone 4 but not on the iPad; 20% difference can be huge when we're talking about the difference of a "shininess shader." However, the iPad can keep up with the iPhone 4 in terms of triangle throughput, etc. Which is why iPad HD games are smaller, for ex. Shadow Guardian is only ~3/4 the size on the iPad.
Hypothetically, SG uses extra textures for effects, such as specular highlights (shiny things) or bump mapping. These are areas that would slow down a scene by about less than or equal to about 20%. They don't need to be included on the iPad version because they can't be used and maintain the same framerate.
This is why you see shiny metal in Infinity Blade on the iPhone 4 and not on the iPad.
But do not lose heart, iPad owners! The hardware isn't anywhere near pushed to its limits. Unreal Engine 3 and Rage were adopted from console technology; the fundamental technologies are different when you come from a regular video card model to a deferred tile-based renderer like the ones used in iPads/Pods. If you look at the quality of Infinity Blade or Rage, and consider that they actually have a good amount of room for optimization, firstly the iPad won't be left behind much longer, and secondly the games we see actually are not the pinnacle of what is possible on the current hardware.
And iTouch 3g and iphone 3gs users rejoice; you get between 2/3 and 3 times better performance than the iPhone 4 with the same scenes, though your processor is slower!
Of course, there's a little bit more to the 20% extra performance the iPhone 4 has. It has a tiny little screen. In my opinion, though things "really shine" on the iPhone 4 Retina sometimes, mostly, having the huge screen and playing field makes up for some lost details. But that's just my opinion."