Benchmarks are meant to measure the speed of a device. It is primarily a comparative tool, widely used by, for example, IT journalists to measure differences in speed between devices. Some of those tools are ‘boring’, but especially when it comes to graphical measurements there is also a lot of eye candy. Nice to look at! We introduce you to some benchmark apps for iOS and iPadOS.
Benchmarks are about as old as computers exist. After all, it is always practical to be able to find out how fast a certain system is. There are many ways to measure speed. The most simple ones simply run a complicated calculation on a computer and measure how long it takes to complete. In that case, ‘the faster, the better’ applies.
This is not measured very accurately, because then only certain parts of a processor are put to work and not the rest of a system. Advanced benchmarks run a range of real world applications (or code thereof). Think of compressing a photo or file, encryption, photo editing, word processing and so on. After turning for a while (and possibly repeating) this results in an average.
That number gives a fairly reliable insight into the actual performance of a device, as the user ultimately experiences it. Comparing that number is much more interesting than a ‘formula race’.
Also read: Test your PC’s performance with these benchmark tools
geekbench
geekbench is an app from this category. The advantage of this app is that it is multi-platform. And with that, completely different devices such as, for example, a Windows PC and a iPad similar to each other.
The operation is simple: start the app on your – in this example – iPad. Tap the column at the bottom left SELECT BENCHMARK on CPU and then Run Benchmarkrepeat for computer. Wait until everything is completed and you will be shown scores. Through https://browser.geekbench.com/ios-benchmarks can be compared with other iOS/iPadOS devices.
If you score significantly lower (very much higher won’t happen unless you’re using a newly released device, perhaps) then you should see what’s wrong. Your tested device may be running in battery saver mode, for example. Running background apps can also negatively affect the score.
In short: Geekbench is a nice tool for speed measurement, just think of it as the CPU variant of the old roller dynamometer. But he’s also a bit boring to watch. That’s because Geekbench doesn’t focus on the graphics capabilities of your device. The GPU is included, but purely as an extra processor for specific tasks. Geekbench does say something about the GPU, but in a different way.
3DMark
There are also benchmarks that are specifically aimed at the – in particular – 3D capabilities of your device. And that’s where it gets interesting. Because in addition to a hard measurement method (which often looks graphically unattractive or not interesting), it often also includes a nice demo of what all the calculations look like in practice. An example of such an app is 3DMark Wild Life Benchmark.
Install the app and launch it. For the sit-back-and-relax mode, make sure the switch is behind Unlimited mode off; then click Start. You will now see a ‘movie’ of scenes calculated in real time. Older models of iPhones and iPads may struggle with this, in the worst case leading to a sort of slideshow. New versions run things smoothly. Ultimately, you will also see a score here that you can compare.
If the name 3DMark sounds familiar to you, then it may be right. The underlying company has been making 3D benchmarks for many years. First for the PC, where they also got the most out of the GPU and video card. And now also a long time for mobile devices. If you dig into the app store, you’ll come across more benchmarks from them. The older ones often run a lot better on older devices.
However, those versions are usually no longer kept up-to-date. And they tend to crash sometimes because they don’t work well with much more recent versions of iOS and/or iPadOS. But there’s no harm in trying, of course. It is unfortunately the reason that some of the older apps have since been removed from the app store. A pity, also for historical reasons.
By the way, don’t forget to remove these types of apps from your device after use. They take up a relatively large amount of storage space and these are of course typical of those apps that you forget you have installed!
Other benchmark apps
Orbital Flight is also a nice benchmark. One of a few years old, which means that both new and somewhat older devices can handle it just fine. Snow Forest is also a beautiful one, which will also delight children. Even if the latter was only because of the Explore mode in which you can change the main character’s clothes and do some other things. It’s mainly a more realistic approach to what the average game delivers in 3D work.
If your device has trouble with this and you still want to game, then it may be time for an upgrade. Gravity Mark GPU takes a different approach and is therefore more timeless. This app simply keeps adding 3D objects to a scene, until the frame rate drops below 30 frames per second. That can take a while with, for example, an iPad Pro based on the M1-based, but then you have something to look at in the meantime.
Finally, a separate benchmark is 8 Queens Performance. This calculates a chess problem, for which 92 solutions are calculated as quickly as possible.
This concerns 92 of the 16 million options where the 8 queens do not attack each other on an 8×8 chessboard. It is nice that you can specify the number of threads that the ‘solver’ can use. To do this, use the selection menu at the top right of the screen.
We can already reveal that solving the puzzle on an M1 device is lightning fast, even if you only assign a single thread. Admittedly: less graphic fireworks, but impressive. Try to solve these kind of brain teasers yourself with real chess pieces on a chessboard! Will become something of a life’s work for many people.
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