New 3DMark Unlimited test for Android and iOS

September 9, 2013

We've added a new test to 3DMark for making chip-to-chip comparisons across mobile devices and operating systems. 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited provides an accurate way to measure component performance without vertical sync, display resolution scaling and other operating system factors affecting the result.

In Unlimited mode the rendering engine uses a fixed time step between frames and renders exactly the same frames in every run on every device. The frames are rendered in 720p resolution "offscreen" while the display is updated with small frame thumbnails every 100 frames to show progress.

Ice Storm Unlimited is included in 3DMark for iOS and can be added to the Android edition by updating to version 1.1.0.1179, available now from Google Play.

How to choose the right benchmark for your device

Forced vertical sync on Android devices limits apps to displaying a maximum of 60 frames per second. Your score will be shown as "Maxed out" if your device hits the vertical sync limit during a test. This indicates that the test is too lightweight for your device. 3DMark will recommend the best test for your device to avoid vertical sync limits.

3DMark Ice Storm

Use Ice Storm to make device-to-device comparisons of mainstream smartphones and tablets. Ice Storm includes two Graphics tests designed to stress the graphical (GPU) performance of your device and a Physics test to stress its processing (CPU) performance. Devices that are too fast for Ice Storm will be prompted to run Ice Storm Extreme instead.

3DMark Ice Storm Extreme

Ice Storm Extreme raises the Graphics tests' rendering resolution to 1080p and uses higher quality textures and post-processing effects to create a more demanding load for the latest mobile devices. Devices that are too fast for Ice Storm Extreme will be prompted to run Ice Storm Unlimited.

3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited

Use Ice Storm Unlimited to make chip-to-chip comparisons of different chipsets, CPUs and GPUs without vertical sync, display resolution scaling and other operating system factors affecting the result.