New in OS X: Get MacRumors Push Notifications on your Mac

Resubscribe Now Close

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

Monday March 19, 2012 1:35 pm PDT by Arnold Kim
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.
[ 85 comments ]


Top Rated Comments

(View all)

Avatar
adnbek
86 months ago

Make that 2,999,998 I just returned two to BB.


Yeah, too bad you couldn't make profit on them. :D
Rating: 12 Votes
Avatar
MRU
86 months ago
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.
Rating: 12 Votes
Avatar
Santabean2000
86 months ago

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.


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.
Rating: 9 Votes
Avatar
Kid A
86 months ago

What?


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!
Rating: 9 Votes
Avatar
kirk26
86 months ago

Make that 2,999,998 I just returned two to BB.


Why? Couldn't figure out how to turn them on?
Rating: 7 Votes
Avatar
Yvan256
86 months ago
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.
Rating: 6 Votes
Avatar
wilycoder
86 months ago

You're right, I only sold eight of them this Friday. Don't get me wrong $500 profit in one day is nothing to sneeze at but it's nothing compared to 2-3K I'd clear on average release weekend. Apple needs to hurry up with new iPhone so that fanboys can subsidize my next vacation :D

Damn scalpers.
Rating: 6 Votes
Avatar
Lennholm
86 months ago

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?


What a weird question, "Tegra 3 processor vs. iPad 3" and an even weirder conclusion. You don't think you would've gotten the same "What is..." answer about A5X if you asked about A5X instead of iPad 3?
There are those who care about the under the hood-components of a device and to those the Tegra name is established and well known. But of course to those who don't care the name is not known, but neither is the name "A5X"
Rating: 6 Votes
Avatar
ArizonaKid
86 months ago

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.


As been stated, Apple's the one that put the comparison out there. They didn't have to compare benchmarks at their keynote, but apparently they thought it was important enough to highlight.
Rating: 6 Votes
Avatar
skoorbevad
86 months ago
What?

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.

Rating: 5 Votes

[ Read All Comments ]