Apple iPad 2 GPU Performance Explored: PowerVR SGX543MP2 Benchmarked
by Anand Lal Shimpi on March 12, 2011 3:04 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Apple
- iPad
- GLBenchmark
- iPad 2
- Mobile
- Tablets
GLBenchmark 2.0
GLBenchmark 2.0—as its name implies—tests OpenGL ES 2.0 performance on compatible devices. The suite includes two long benchmarking scenarios with a demanding combination of OpenGL ES 2.0 effects - texture based and direct lighting, bump, environment, and radiance mapping, soft shadows, vertex shader based skinning, level of detail support, multi-pass deferred rendering, noise textures, and ETC1 texture compression.
GLBenchmark 2.0 is the best example of an even remotely current 3D game running on this class of hardware—and even then this is a stretch. If you want an idea of how the PowerVR SGX 543MP2 stacks up to the competition however, GLBenchmark 2.0 is probably going to be our best bet (at least until we get Epic to finally release an Unreal Engine benchmark).
Without AA, the Egypt test runs at 5.4x the frame rate of the original iPad. It's even 3.7x the speed of the Tegra 2 in the Xoom running at 1280 x 800 (granted that's an iOS vs. Android comparison as well).
With AA enabled the iPad 2 advantage grows to 7x. In a game with the complexity of the Egypt test the original iPad wouldn't be remotely playable while the iPad 2 could run it smoothly.
The Pro test is a little more reasonable, showing a 3 - 4x increase in performance compared to the original iPad:
While we weren't able to reach the 9x figure claimed by Apple (I'm not sure that you'll ever see 9x running real game code), a range of 3 - 7x in GLBenchmark 2.0 is more reasonable. In practice I'd expect something less than 5x but that's nothing to complain about. We'll be doing power analysis over the weekend so expect more detail in our full review.
Putting the PowerVR SGX 543MP2 to Use: Infinity Blade
As we pointed out in our iPad 2 Preview, at least one developer already picked up on the amount of extra GPU horsepower in the new iPad 2. Epic put out an updated version of Infinity Blade with support for the iPad 2. Run it on an iPad and you'll get the same old Infinity Blade, but run it on an iPad 2 and you'll get more detail, higher resolution textures and anti-aliasing.
Remember that iPad and iPhone devices are more closed than your PC. There's no adjusting detail settings or resolution, so the target frame rate is usually what's fixed. Developers are simply able to deliver a better looking experience at roughly the same frame rate with upgraded hardware. In the case of Infinity Blade, load times are reduced thanks to the Cortex A9 CPU cores and there is some improvement in frame rate but the biggest impact comes from the improved visuals.
Below is the comparison beween Infinity Blade on the iPad and iPad 2 we ran in this morning's preview:
Mouse over to see Infinity Blade on the iPad 2
There's far more detail in the character models as well as the environment. Lighting looks improved and the AA is definitely appreciated.
Mouse over to see Infinity Blade on the iPad 2
The gallery below has a bunch of side by side shots showing the improvements made to Infinity Blade for the iPad 2 vs. what you get when you run the game on a first generation iPad.
To Be Concluded...
We're still hard at work on our full iPad 2 review. We've got no less than four units running through battery life tests right now and there's still more to talk about in the review. We'll keep you posted, thanks for reading!
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
219 Comments
View All Comments
rish95 - Saturday, March 12, 2011 - link
Everyone spread this article around the internet! We need to shut up all the Android fanboys for a while.jharper12 - Saturday, March 12, 2011 - link
Ugh...DigitalFreak - Saturday, March 12, 2011 - link
I think your mommy has your titty dinner waiting for you, little man.jmcb - Sunday, March 13, 2011 - link
But but but....specs dont matter....I always hear that in articles like this.....until the iDevice is shown to be better spec wise...
So which one is it?
solipsism - Monday, March 14, 2011 - link
Of specs didn’t matter then there would never be a reason to upgrade an iDevice.You’re misinterpreting what is actually states: specs alone aren’t revealing if you aren’t considering the SW that will run on the HW.
Without an efficient, well written OS, SDK and drivers you need to have more RAM, faster CPU and GPU just to accomplish the same tasks. These tests show that the Xoom barely beats a year old iPhone with one core Cortex-A8, and get trounced by the iPad 2.
UltimateTruth - Monday, March 14, 2011 - link
As a gamer,it matters. However, how is that faster GPU going to work for you doing everyday tasks?LordSojar - Saturday, March 12, 2011 - link
"Everyone spread this article around the internet! We need to shut up all the Android fanboys for a while."^ Really? Are you that insecure? You have to bash other people's viewpoints to bolster your own? What sad sad people you are. You are "taking sides" for a company versus another? Are you that stupid? These companies want your money. They aren't your friends, and they really don't care about you at all; you could jump off a bridge tomorrow, your entire family could be wiped out... so long as you bought their product, they really don't care.
And yet... here you are... supporting one company or another. Why? Does it give you some satisfaction in knowing the product you bought is slightly superior to another persons? Grow up, all of you, Android or iOS user alike (or any other [INSERT BRAND HERE] user).
The iPad 2 is a decent piece of hardware with nice ascetic quality. iOS is a giant pile of garbage in regards to being a tablet operating system. Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) is far superior, but lacks the number of apps and isn't totally polished in terms of bugs or performance. Generally speaking, I'd say the two are equal... Why must you idiots bicker over any other points?
Gherkin - Saturday, March 12, 2011 - link
In what ways is iOS a giant pile of garbage? Especially in regards to Honeycomb? To make such a rude and biased comment seems like an insecure reaction to me.Seriously how is iOS garbage? It is more stable, more secure, more mature, etc., etc. Seriously, the iPad 2 is clearly better in almost all regards, both hardware and software. Why do you Android people so want Apple to fail? I mean your hate is so intense. You even admit the hardware is better, and you chastise the writer for making a big deal over a company, and yet your "garbage" comment is exactly the same thing. Every reviewer agrees, the iPad is superior to the Xoom and the software is superior to honeycomb. Just get over it. Apple's product.is better.
Juzcallmeneo - Sunday, March 13, 2011 - link
+1im not a fan of the xoom.. but am very curious to see honeycomb once it matures a lil more.
slickr - Saturday, March 12, 2011 - link
why would want such a device? You can't put it in your pocket and can't use it to do office work, its not a gaming device, its not for watching movies too small screen yet too big for anything else, so what is the point for this apart from throwing money away for browsing the web on a fat bulky and ugly looking tablet?