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The iPad 2 promises blistering speed improvements over the first iPad,
thanks to its dual-core processor and separate GPU for crunching
graphics. And in our test, it delivers the goods like an Ocado van
strapped to a cruise missile.
We ran our benchmarks using the GLBenchmark
app, which is free to download from the iTunes store if you want to try
it yourself. We tested an iPad 2 and an original iPad running the
latest
iOS 4.3. Both had the same apps installed, too.
In some areas, such as CPU integer performance (a measurement of the speed it completes simple mathematical functions), we didn’t see any
improvement. But, almost across the board, we saw advances in graphics
performance. The iPad 2 was vastly better at rendering textures and
triangles, in particular. The improvement was big enough to be obvious
to the naked eye, as you can see in our video at the end of this story.
Here’s what these benchmarks mean for the iPad 2 in practice. In our
hands-on tests, we found that the iPad 2 is fast, but many of its speed
improvements come from the iOS 4.3 update. After we put the same update
on an original iPad, the two tablets ran close to neck-in-neck for most
tasks, such as opening apps and loading Web pages.
But for graphics-hungry tasks, like games, the GPU kicks in to give
more
detail and texture, and more plentiful enemies or other animated
objects on the screen at one time.
Apple poster-boy Infinity Blade has released
an update specifically for the iPad 2. Its makers called the iPad 2
“fantastic
for gaming“, but didn’t fess up about exactly how they had to tweak
their game to take advantage of the iPad 2’s muscle. Whatever they did,
we can vouch for the fact that it worked. Running the same updated version of
the game on the iPad 2 and the iPad, it was clear that textures were
more complex and edges were smoother on the newer tablet.
Bump up the resolution to full 720p and go full-screen to attempt to
see the difference in our shakycam footage. The contrast between the two was obvious in person. Both screens were set to
full brightness during this test, and the white iPad on the right is
the iPad 2.
If that video doesn’t do it for you, here is the biggest
table ever published on Crave with all the benchmark numbers. In every
case, higher is better.
| iPad 1 | iPad 2 | Change |
Unit | Per cent change |
|
| Swapbuffers | 594 | 595 | 1 | frames | 0 |
| GLBenchmark HD GPU skinning |
1800 | 1800 | 0 | frames | 0 |
| GLBenchmark HD CPU skinning |
1800 | 1799 | -1 | frames | 0 |
| GLBenchmark Pro GPU skinning |
693 | 1158 | 465 | frames | 67 |
| GLBenchmark Pro CPU skinning |
1095 | 1682 | 587 | frames | 54 |
| 3D rendering quality – Perspective correction |
100 | 100 | 0 | per cent | 0 |
| 3D rendering quality – Bilinear filter |
100 | 100 | 0 | per cent | 0 |
| 3D rendering quality – triliner filter |
100 | 100 | 0 | per cent | 0 |
| 3D rendering quality – Z-buffer precision |
100 | 100 | 0 | per cent | 0 |
| 3D rendering quality – Sub-pixel precision |
100 | 100 | 0 | per cent | 0 |
| Fill rate – Single-textured 1.1 |
166008800 | 855771616 | 689762816 | texel/s | 415 |
| Fill rate – Multi-textured 1.1 |
228412632 | 972647488 | 744234856 | texel/s | 326 |
| Lights – Ambient x 1 | 3716754 | 9791014 | 6074260 | triangle/s | 163 |
| Lights – Omni x 1 | 2750150 | 9806379 | 7056229 | triangle/s | 257 |
| Lights – Parallel x 1 | 3729281 | 9807360 | 6078079 | triangle/s | 163 |
| Lights – Parallel x 2 | 2804511 | 9806379 | 7001868 | triangle/s | 250 |
| Lights – Parallel x 4 | 1907984 | 9621786 | 7713802 | triangle/s | 404 |
| Lights – Parallel x 8 | 1116830 | 6618444 | 5501614 | triangle/s | 493 |
| Lights – Spot x 1 | 2445685 | 9758323 | 7312638 | triangle/s | 299 |
| Texture filter – Nearest |
6514138 | 9806379 | 3292241 | triangle/s | 51 |
| Texture filter – Linear |
6473827 | 9806379 | 3332552 | triangle/s | 51 |
| Texture filter – Nearest mipmap nearest |
6519984 | 9806379 | 3286395 | triangle/s | 50 |
| Texture filter – Linear mipmap linear |
6100318 | 9807360 | 3707042 | triangle/s | 61 |
| Texture size – 64×64 | 6459490 | 9807360 | 3347870 | triangle/s | 52 |
| Texture size – 128×128 | 6520634 | 9807360 | 3286726 | triangle/s | 50 |
| Texture size – 256×256 | 6478984 | 9806379 | 3327395 | triangle/s | 51 |
| Texture size – 512×512 | 6095793 | 9807360 | 3711567 | triangle/s | 61 |
| Texture size – 1024×1024 | 5863308 | 9807360 | 3944052 | triangle/s | 67 |
| Triangles – Flat shaded and colour |
6615804 | 9807360 | 3191556 | triangle/s | 48 |
| Triangles – Smooth shaded and colour |
6611850 | 9807360 | 3195510 | triangle/s | 48 |
| Triangles – Textured |
6515436 | 9807360 | 3291924 | triangle/s | 51 |
| Triangles Textured and colour |
5873742 | 9806379 | 3932637 | triangle/s | 67 |
| CPU float performance | 10000 | 13333 | 3333 | point | 33 |
| CPU integer performance | 12903 | 12376 | -527 | point | -4 |
