iPad 2 graphics capability

[mcc49]

Not everyone feels the need to upgrade and overlock their computers.
Not everyone feels the need to sysadmin/root the hell out of their phones to do stuff that most average user dont care about.

What most users do want is to be able to pick up a device and make the best use of all it's features without having to jump through hoops. This is where Apple products comes in.

By most users, I mean the users that exists outside a tech forum

 

[mattjd]

Compare an iPad to an Android tablet. You will understand why everyone would go for the iPad.

Apple products are overpriced but it's totally worth it because its not all about the hardware its the software as well and this is where Apple is excellent at. I've never had a hiccup with my iPhone 4 and my previous iPod's.

Macbook's are really simple and easy to use, they're great for daily usage tasks + media. Now compare them to overpriced Alienware computers they are overpriced as well but they are also crap and you can build similar spec for a fraction of the price which is just plain bonkers but you can not do this with Apple products because their software is dedicated to its hardware which is worth the cost.

I love how mobile technology is advancing so quickly I cant wait for the PSP2 and iPhone 6 (skipping iPhone 5 because of 2 year contract).

 

[Traffic_Warden]

Apple stuff ain't crap .... I use a PC for gaming and my IPad 2 for Internet and emails etc while out of the house or in another room to my Gaming rig

 

[Mr Krugga]

It's not that simple anymore. If Apple get real time ray tracing via the GPU then it will it many respects look better then a gtx 590 or a 6990. It is a very real possibility mobile device will look better graphically then desktop cards within a few generations. Its strongly looking like the mobile platform will be getting ray tracing first at useable speeds. Time will tell if I am right or wrong.

You really are a believer, aren't you? Mobile technology will never keep up with desktop GPUs in terms of graphics, it's plain and simple. They're designed to do different things and I can't see your "Apple" GPU making use of ray-tracing in foreseeable future (3-5 years).

If I am right games on an Ipad 4 with ray tracing could look absolutely stunning in comparison to next generation none ray tracing desktop PC cards. There are some really interesting bits of technology coming out for the mobile space. Free FSAA with zero performance loss is one such great idea.

But you're wrong, have no evidence for FSAA, talk bull**** about ray-tracing, you don't even have an idea what things in terms of future technology companies such as AMD and Nvidia predict. Sure, mobile technology is getting better every few months but its purpose is completely different to what you're trying to make out of it.

If you want a phone or tablets that can do 3d graphics then Apple are the best choice. Nvidia GPU chips are just too slow in the mobile market, way behind what Apple provide.

That's just a lot of rubbish talk, even my "old" Galaxy S has more horsepower in terms of graphics than iPhone 4. Things don't change with Apple as rapidly as you'd think, they usually lag behind the best at all times. This is one of the reasons technology geeks slate Apple, they just don't keep up (even though they do a damn good job in releasing mainstream products and making use of their features).

Apple are on a 12 months cycle which is double the length of Nvidia or ATI who are on a 6 month new product cycle at least from a GPU point of view.

Wrong again, Nvidia and AMD are not on a 6-month cycle. Of course the technology in development is progressing rapidly but the release cycle is more like 12-18 months now. And you can really skip every second generation and keep up with the latest features. ATI is no longer, by the way.

Did you not bother looking at the screenshots or videos all of which show FSAA? It's very clearly on.

FSAA is pretty much the default for the GPU chip. I don't think I have even seen a game for it that doesn't have FSAA, most likely as the 3dchip has no performance drop for FSAA. All the HD games upgraded for the Ipad2 so far have FSAA, at least all the ones I have seen.

You can see FSAA turned on in screen shots and videos and its mentioned all over the web. Do I really have to dig out side by side videos or can you find them yourself?

http://appadvice.com/appnn/2011/03/...eal-racing-2-hd-ipad-finally-rolls-app-store/ "Real Racing 2 HD on an iPad 2 will be stunned with full-screen anti-aliasing," plus there are side by side comparison videos on youtube where you can see FSAA on and off.

I did have a look into that, the graphics don't amaze me, being able to render graphics in HD/Full HD resolution is pretty impressive in the real time. You can clearly see that physics is non-existent what means that it's either the CPU that is lagging behind or graphics that has not implemented any of these. And no, I did not notice FSAA in that video, will have a look again.

Of course I know what ray tracing is and anyone doing research knows its due in the upcoming mobile chips. It's not a question anymore of if, but a question of when, next gen or the gen after.

I will do some research on ray-tracing in mobile tech. now but I'm pretty sure that you misunderstood the purpose of implementing it in the forthcoming generations of mobile stuff.

We know next gen is meant to be x20 faster with a possibility of ray tracing although it will most likly be in the generation after. Anyone who thinks the Ipad 2 is a large jump forward should look at what's coming up with the next generation GPU chips. The SGX chip in the ipad 2 is just a refresh chip that's faster. The next generation is a true new 6 generation chip. This chip is going to be massively faster if it hits the target goals and PowerVR have a good track record of hitting the goals they state.

Graphically they are miles ahead of everyone else how can you say they are behind? You have it wrong anyway as I don't have a deep trust in Apple hardware. I have a good understanding of PowerVR hardware and trust in what PowerVR say. From a tablet or phone gaming point of view if you want the best graphics hardware and best looking games Apple are the best choice right now.

Whatever you call it, PowerVR's technologies aren't exclusive to Apple and although Apple makes them popular as they are, the latest technology is usually used by the competitors (I'm not talking about tablets here, I have not much idea about that market).

 

[phil128]

phil128 said "You cannot, and will not beat PC's. Plain and simple!"
It's not that simple anymore. If Apple get real time ray tracing via the GPU then it will it many respects look better then a gtx 590 or a 6990. It is a very real possibility mobile device will look better graphically then desktop cards within a few generations. Its strongly looking like the mobile platform will be getting ray tracing first at useable speeds. Time will tell if I am right or wrong.

Real time ray tracing will be possible once quantum CPU's are finally on the market.

 

[titaniumx3]

This argument has been played out in a different thread, but Pottsey simply refuses to face the fundamental fallacy of his theory that mobile graphics will catchup with desktop graphics, which is simply down to the physical limitations on mobile devices.

Graphics in mobile devices has been pretty much dead untill recently with the explosion of smartphones, so it's understandable why the performance jumps have been so large recently. Eventually they will hit the same obstacles as their counterparts, i.e. power consumption and heat generation. I wonder what Pottseys thoughts are on that.

Lastly, even if mobile graphics were catching up with desktop graphics for whatever reason, it makes no sense that nvidia and amd will just sit on their asses and not do anything about it!

 

[Rroff]

And I was quite impressed coz my phone has the equivalent of a voodoo2 (but with basic shader support) in it...

Doesn't look much fun to play by tilting the device tho... be interesting to see non-apple smart phones with these kinda capabilities tho.

 

[Spyhop]

I took Mac OS X years to implement ASLR (randomisation of memory address to prevent exploitation).

Linux on the other hand was already secured, as the technology was already implemented years ago.

You're in for a fun ride over the next few decades if you think tech and spec checklists are what matters most in computing.

Why the HELL should you have to pay for an OS which is based on open source technologies?

Because the things that actually add value, like tasteful and consistent UI, and fully managed hardware compatibility, are not?

I don't know why the choice of paying more for a better executed product is hard to understand. It exists in most other aspects of life.

 

[mattjd]

I dunno why!

I took Mac OS X years to implement ASLR (randomisation of memory address to prevent exploitation).

Linux on the other hand was already secured, as the technology was already implemented years ago.

That's in the past. We are talking about the present and future here

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I suspect that despite desktop graphics being "destroyed" by the new fangled mobile GPUs Apple will still be staying with AMD and Nvidia for their desktop graphics cards for the next few years.

 

[dbmzk1]

Interesting bit of info... the PSP2, or NGP or whatever they end up calling it, has the same GPU as the iPad2 only it has 4 cores instead of 2.

 

[Pottsey]

This argument has been played out in a different thread, but Pottsey simply refuses to face the fundamental fallacy of his theory that mobile graphics will catchup with desktop graphics, which is simply down to the physical limitations on mobile devices.....Eventually they will hit the same obstacles as their counterparts, i.e. power consumption and heat generation. I wonder what Pottseys thoughts are on that.

What fundamental fallacy? I already explained how it's not a fundamental fallacy in the other threads.

My thoughts on it are the physical limitations like power consumption and heat generation are that's its mostly solved by using a Tile Based Deferred Rendering architecture which is drastically different from what ATI and Nvidia use. This architecture also fix's the bandwidth problem.

With this architecture you need far less power and produce far less heat to match the speed of desktop cards architecture. Just look at how poor Tegra 2 performer at with 8 cores against 2 PowerVR cores.

Real time ray tracing will be possible once quantum CPU's are finally on the market.

Talk about being blind to the technology out there. PowerVR have been showing off ray tracing at all the big shows this year.

You really are a believer, aren't you? Mobile technology will never keep up with desktop GPUs in terms of graphics, it's plain and simple. They're designed to do different things and I can't see your "Apple" GPU making use of ray-tracing in foreseeable future (3-5 years).

A believer in PowerVR yes as they have a proven track record. Saying mobiles will never catch up with desktops is very short sighted. PowerVR said they expect first ray-tracing royalties in late 2012 and I quote ", Imagination does not expect real earnings to come in from Caustic until fiscal 2013."

My assumption is if real earning come in 2013 then they must expect to have it in real products in 2 years. With the statements PowerVR made saying ray tracing is coming for mobiles and the reasons they have Caustic is for it to go into mobiles. Then it's not farfetched to see a decent chance off PowerVR getting real time ray tracing in mobiles before PC users see it in desktop cards. If that happens we get to a state where mobiles will have better looking graphics then desktop cards. Why do so many people think this is farfetched and will not happen given the facts? I am not saying it will happen for sure but it seems like a real possibility.

But you're wrong, have no evidence for FSAA, talk bull**** about ray-tracing, you don't even have an idea what things in terms of future technology companies such as AMD and Nvidia predict. Sure, mobile technology is getting better every few months but its purpose is completely different to what you're trying to make out of it.).

What? I posted direct quotes, saying FSAA with a link. I pointed you to the location of a video with direct comparisons with and without FSAA. On top of all that's it's listed in the specs for the game http://firemint.com/real-racing-2-hd-features
Features section 3rd line down clearly says full-screen anti-aliasing

Read this http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2010/12/the-iphones-graphics-are-set-to-get-even-better/ The direct quote from PowerVR is “We would not have acquired this [Caustic] technology if we did not believe we could get it into handsets”. how am I talking bull? ray-tracing isnt something you can just pull out of a hat. So far Nvidia has been constantly behind PowerVR in mobile tech. Why do so many people think ray-tracing is farfetched and will not happen given the facts? I am not saying it will happen for sure but it seems like a real possibility.
So far Nvidia has been constantly behind PowerVR in mobile tech.

 

[Pottsey]

And I was quite impressed coz my phone has the equivalent of a voodoo2 (but with basic shader support) in it...

Doesn't look much fun to play by tilting the device tho... be interesting to see non-apple smart phones with these kinda capabilities tho.

Perhaps you should upgrade your phone or mobile device to one of the ones that has the power range of around a GeForce 8600 card. Must be a very old phone if its only at Voodoo 2 level.

 

[metalmackey]

If only Nvidia used a tile based deffered renderer (whatever that is LOL) maybe the 590s wouldn't go boom Oh wait, only PowerVR can do that and they think its not worth going into the desktop market again :s

 

[dazzerd]

Don't usually reply to fanboi threads but to op IF powervr can implement ray tracing into a vlp gpu then they are going to be doing something that intel.amd currently does via dedicated servers. That is multiple multicore xeon set ups.

You would have to agree that this would represent a paradigm shift in computing power and or software? You can see why people would be a little skeptical towards your claims?

 

[NqR]

JUST KEEP TO THE TOPIC!!!!!!!!!!!!



This topic is about ipad2