Difference between 3gb and 4gb ram for gaming

[Juwk]

Hello everyone,

For a heavy gamer, would there be much difference between a 3gb and a 4gb iPad?. He plays fortnite a lot. I found a deal on a iPad 12.5” pro 2nd gen with 4gb ram and A10X chip but I’m also thinking about getting the new iPad mini 5 as it has the newer processor(A12) but has less ram(3gb). As far as screen size, he doesn’t care either way. I would appreciate any input.

 

[iapplelove]

Nope

 

[Steve121178]

Depends how optimised the game is. Some more modern games will be optimised for iPad Pro specs, most older games won't be.

I'd say any difference will be negligible with most games & apps. The biggest difference is with the GPU & CPU performance. I'd expect the iPad Pro's GPU & CPU to trounce the latest iPad Air & Mini.

The ProMotion display tech on the iPad Pro is also vastly superior to any other iPad.

 

[MhaelK]

You should make your choice solely based on screen size between these two models, they are as different tablets as two iPads can be.

 

[MyopicPaideia]

Depends how optimised the game is. Some more modern games will be optimised for iPad Pro specs, most older games won't be.

I'd say any difference will be negligible with most games & apps. The biggest difference is with the GPU & CPU performance. I'd expect the iPad Pro's GPU & CPU to trounce the latest iPad Air & Mini.

The ProMotion display tech on the iPad Pro is also vastly superior to any other iPad.

The A12 is much faster than the A10X both compute and graphics. The better gaming machine will be the mini or the Air over the 1st and 2nd gen iPad Pro, no question.

 

[MhaelK]

The A12 is much faster than the A10X both compute and graphics. The better gaming machine will be the mini or the Air over the 1st and 2nd gen iPad Pro, no question.

Im no expect on this subject but in other threads people are saying the the GPU of the a10X is vastly superior of the GPU of the a12. This with the added ram will male the a10X ipad better for some things and a12 ipad better for others.

 

[EugW]

The A12 is much faster than the A10X both compute and graphics. The better gaming machine will be the mini or the Air over the 1st and 2nd gen iPad Pro, no question.

Incorrect. The A10X has a faster GPU than the A12. Perhaps you are thinking of A10, which is slower, but A10X and A10 are very different beasts.

That said, A12 is very decent for GPU. The main benefits of the 10.5" Pro with A10X are ProMotion, quad speakers, better camera, flash.

 

[AutomaticApple]

The A12 is much faster than the A10X both compute and graphics.

For graphics, that isn’t the case.
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Hello everyone,

For a heavy gamer, would there be much difference between a 3gb and a 4gb iPad?. He plays fortnite a lot. I found a deal on a iPad 12.5” pro 2nd gen with 4gb ram and A10X chip but I’m also thinking about getting the new iPad mini 5 as it has the newer processor(A12) but has less ram(3gb). As far as screen size, he doesn’t care either way. I would appreciate any input.

It hasn’t necessarily been confirmed that the iPad Mini 5 will get 3GB of RAM. Wait for the RAM specifications to come out.

The iPad Air 3 on the other hand, probably will get 3GB of RAM.

 

[MyopicPaideia]

For graphics, that isn’t the case.

Yes, it is.

A10X

A12

 

[Howard2k]

Yes, it is.

A10X

A12

Wow. That’s pretty compelling at a glance.

 

[EugW]

Yes, it is.

A10X

A12

Yes in GFXBench, the A12 does well. In some tests the A10X is a bit faster, and in a few tests the A12 is faster. In the Geekbench Metal test though, the A10X is much faster.

However, as mentioned before, IMO the more significant benefits are the speakers, ProMotion, and camera + flash.

 

[Hym tix]

with mixed results on the GPU tests, I would personally choose the Pro 10.5 over the Air 10.5.

Keep in mind this is all just speculation not based on actual usage since the Air 10.5 is not yet released in the wild. Even those A12 GPU benchmarks from @MyopicPaideia are only including results from the 2018 iPhones (not the Air 10.5). We don't know if they have over-clocked the GPU or CPU since there is larger space for heat dissipation, or if graphics performance will be taxed due to driving more pixels on the iPad.

If it really matters to you, wait till someone does a side-by-side comparison with apps and games performing more intensive tasks.

 

[rui no onna]

Yes, it is.

A10X

A12

Grain of salt. A10X supports a max resolution of 2732*2048 (5.6 million pixels). The A12 devices thus far tested max out at 2688*1242 (3.3 million pixels). Even the Pro 10.5 has a few hundred thousand more pixels than the XS Max at 2224*1668 (3.7 million pixels).

 

[EugW]

with mixed results on the GPU tests, I would personally choose the Pro 10.5 over the Air 10.5.

Keep in mind this is all just speculation not based on actual usage since the Air 10.5 is not yet released in the wild. Even those A12 GPU benchmarks from @MyopicPaideia are only including results from the 2018 iPhones (not the Air 10.5). We don't know if they have over-clocked the GPU or CPU since there is larger space for heat dissipation, or if graphics performance will be taxed due to driving more pixels on the iPad.

If it really matters to you, wait till someone does a side-by-side comparison with apps and games performing more intensive tasks.

I think the clock speed will be the same as the iPhones, judging by the Geekbench results.

In any case I'm not sure the 3 vs 4 GB will make much difference in gaming, except for app loads in some cases. The Air might have a small advantage in some regards, but I don't think it's going to be a big issue either way.

In this context I think the bigger concern are whether the other features matter to you, and if you think the Air might get updates for longer.

Mind you, I'm biased, I'm not really an iPad gaming, so my interest is in everything else outside of raw graphics power to run a demanding game.

Grain of salt. A10X supports a max resolution of 2732*2048 (5.6 million pixels). The A12 devices thus far tested max out at 2688*1242 (3.3 million pixels). Even the Pro 10.5 has a few hundred thousand more pixels than the XS Max at 2224*1668 (3.7 million pixels).

You need to compare the off-screen tests. They have fixed resolution and aren't limited by the 60 Hz screen refresh rate. The A10X beats the A12 in some tests, but the A12 does beat the A10X by a larger margin in other tests.

Where the A12 Air loses badly though is not having ProMotion. Honestly a lot of people won't care about ProMotion if they haven't ever seen it. However, now that I have a ProMotion iPad, I truly enjoy it. Now I want a ProMotion iMac.

 

[tps3443]

Hmm this is a tough choice. But the A10X has proven a point plus it has more memory.

4GB of ram definitely goes to good use on a iPad, even for just gaming.

I’d go for the iPad Pro 2nd gen if it were me. I can appreciate the more memory.

 

[rui no onna]

You need to compare the off-screen tests. They have fixed resolution and aren't limited by the 60 Hz screen refresh rate. The A10X beats the A12 in some tests, but the A12 does beat the A10X by a larger margin in other tests.

Where the A12 Air loses badly though is not having ProMotion. Honestly a lot of people won't care about ProMotion if they haven't ever seen it. However, now that I have a ProMotion iPad, I truly enjoy it. Now I want a ProMotion iMac.

A10X results for a lot of the offscreen tests are missing and most of the tests where A12 beat A10X were the "low end" tests. I expect it's a similar scenario as with A8X vs A9 where they're more or less on par.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/A12-Bionic-GPU-vs-A10X-Fusion-GPU_8896_8072.247598.0.html

Since games tend to be heavy, I'd say the 4GB Pro 10.5 has the advantage particularly if you ever need to switch to another app while playing.

Here's a comparison between Pro 10.5 and XS Max. Granted, it would be interesting to see if there's a performance penalty for RAM (e.g. dual channel vs single channel).

https://gfxbench.com/compare.jsp?be...&hwtype2=GPU&hwname2=Apple+Inc.+Apple+A12+GPU

 

[Avenger]

I’ve found games are several generations behind and don’t usually use the latest graphics power available. Maybe there are a few that truly max out the hardware’s potential. It would be nice if someone listed them.

 

[rui no onna]

I’ve found games are several generations behind and don’t usually use the latest graphics power available. Maybe there are a few that truly max out the hardware’s potential. It would be nice if someone listed them.

$$$-wise for the devs, that would make sense. Majority of iPad users are likely to be on older or less expensive models and they probably want their apps to work on as many devices as possible.

Still, wouldn't they code it based on hardware features available? For example, on PC gaming, if your GPU supports it, you can dial up enhancements such as PhysX, etc. It'll still perform well on lower end hardware. Those with higher end just get more eye candy.

 

[EugW]

I’ve found games are several generations behind and don’t usually use the latest graphics power available. Maybe there are a few that truly max out the hardware’s potential. It would be nice if someone listed them.

The latest games are built to the specs of the consumer iPads and iPhones, meaning A12, and more like A10 or even A8X, at least judging but what I've read about them. This is especially true for A8X, since the iPad Air 2 was the main top-of-the-line consumer iPad available for many years.

IOW, expect the iPad Pro 10.5" with A10X and iPad Air (2019) with A12 to be reasonable for tablet gaming until 2022.

EDIT:

I just checked the Fortnite system requirements:

https://www.sportskeeda.com/esports/fortnite-system-requirements-for-pc-mac-android-ios/2

Basically it works on anything with 2 GB RAM, which began with A8/A8X for the iPad mini 4 / iPad Air 2, or A9 for the iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and iPhone SE.

I hear the performance isn't great on the iPad Air 2, but it works and is fully supported. This is a 5 year-old non-Pro iPad folks. And it apparently runs reasonably well on A10.

 

[tps3443]

I’ve found games are several generations behind and don’t usually use the latest graphics power available. Maybe there are a few that truly max out the hardware’s potential. It would be nice if someone listed them.

GRID™ Motorsport, “console quality”

Ark Survival Evolved “console quality”

Tropico “console quality”

Fortnite “console quality”

PUBG

Any of these games will use the power of a iPad Pro, mostly the first 3 games. Some of these titles allow 120FPS modes which is incredible. Also, even older titles run incredible! Grand theft auto comes to mind, I’ve been playing that game a long time on mobile devices, and it always ran pretty rough with around 15-30 frames per second. It runs incredibly good on my iPad, butter smooth, never a skip, or even the slightest stutter and the frame rate is always smooth!

We are just getting started in premium iPad gaming. And now that developers are seeing the potential of true mobile gaming. We will see more and more real console AAA titles being ported over. I’d pay $60 bucks right now if Skyrim came to iOS lol, and I think a lot of other people would too! It is going to be a exciting future for mobile gaming and owning a iPad.

We will be there soon enough.
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$$$-wise for the devs, that would make sense. Majority of iPad users are likely to be on older or less expensive models and they probably want their apps to work on as many devices as possible.

Still, wouldn't they code it based on hardware features available? For example, on PC gaming, if your GPU supports it, you can dial up enhancements such as PhysX, etc. It'll still perform well on lower end hardware. Those with higher end just get more eye candy.

That’s pretty much the run down of it. Even though the device can play the game, it usually looks and feels like crap on the minimum spec devices.

Grid on my iPhone SE looks and feels like a totally different game on my iPad Pro. It’s not even fun, and looks terrible. But on my iPad, it is really immersive and feels and looks amazing

 

[EugW]

Grid on my iPhone SE looks and feels like a totally different game on my iPad Pro. It’s not even fun, and looks terrible. But on my iPad, it is really immersive and feels and looks amazing

Which iPad Pro?

The SE is the slowest supported iPhone for Grid. It seems the cutoff for this game is A9 and 2 GB RAM.

 

[tps3443]

Which iPad Pro?

The SE is the slowest supported iPhone for Grid. It seems the cutoff for this game is A9 and 2 GB RAM.

My 11” 1TB, great gaming experience, I’ve never been so in to mobile gaming in my life ever.

I think the 10.5” 2nd gen would provide something pretty similar, plus the 120hz panel is great, doesn’t it have quad speakers too?

Those are a few features the make it sound very compelling vs. the new iPad Air. The iPad Air cpu May be faster in certain applications. But at the end of the day, the iPad Pro 2nd gen looks like it is standing against the test of time, especially since it is 25 months old now.

 

[EugW]

My 11” 1TB, great gaming experience, I’ve never been so in to mobile gaming in my life ever.

I think the 10.5” 2nd gen would provide something pretty similar, plus the 120hz panel is great, doesn’t it have quad speakers too?

Those are a few features the make it sound very compelling vs. the new iPad Air. The iPad Air cpu May be faster in certain applications. But at the end of the day, the iPad Pro 2nd gen looks like it is standing against the test of time, especially since it is 25 months old now.

Well, the 11" iPad is 92% faster CPU and 44% faster GPU than my 10.5" Pro. It does have 120 Hz and quad speakers too though, which are reasons I got it over the 2019 iPad Air. The Air (edu pricing) would have cost me as much as the 10.5" Pro (refurb pricing).

However, I didn't buy the 11" Pro because it was 52% more expensive too, and the games I usually play are like Solitaire so I don't need the best of the best 3D performance. The 11" was not available on the refurb store.

 

[tps3443]

Yep the 2nd gen pro is a better choice then he iPad Air. But, some buyers like the whole “Newness of it” I guess? Lol, so they may buy an iPad Air.