[Updated Feb. 3] — Imagination Technologies has published 3D benchmark results for a Texas Instruments (TI) SoC (system-on-chip) that incorporates its 2D/3D accelerated graphics coprocessor IP (intellectual property). Imagination claims to be the first company to announce “official and certified performance results” using FutureMark's 3DMarkMobile06 benchmark suite.

(Click for larger view of Proxicon frame capture)

Imagination calls FutureMark's 3DMarkMobile06 benchmark “the first benchmark intended to provide accurate, consistent performance measurements of embedded graphics solutions,” noting that the benchmark aims to measure “system-level performance of next-generation OpenGL ES 1.0- and 1.1-enabled devices.” The Khronos Group's OpenGL ES (embedded subset) is a royalty-free, open standard for 2D and 3D graphics in embedded systems, including mobile and handheld devices.

Samarai game frame capture (Click to enlarge)

Imagination used the 3DMarkMobile06 benchmark to test TI's OMAP2420 under both Linux and Symbian. The OMAP2420 incorporates Imagination's PowerVR MBX graphics coprocessor, along with an ARM1136 core, and is currently shipping in 902i-series NEC and Panasonic mobile phones that work with NTT DoCoMo's 3G UMTS networks in Japan.

Along with FutureMark's mobile benchmark technology, Imagination used two game chapters in its testing. The first, Samarai's “A robot samurai performs a kata in a traditional Japanese dojo,” has a “polygon budget” of 10K to 20K. The second, Proxicon's “Futuristic warriors defend their space station from attack with laser blasters,” has a budget of 15K to 20K, while featuring lighting, multi-texture, and character skinning, Imagination says.

Two TI development boards were used as test systems. The boards respectively target Linux and Symbian development, and as a result, have OMAP2420 processors that are configured differently, as shown below.

Â	Linux	Symbian
OS used	MontaVista Linux (2.4 kernel)	Symbian 9.1 (2005 week 42) (textshell running on RAM)
CPU clock	266MHz	300MHz
PowerVR clock	66MHz	50MHz
Bus speed	133MHz	100MHz

Compared to the default 3DMarkMobile06 setup, PVRTC texture compression and glMultiDrawElements were used under both OSes, Imagination says.

Results were as follows:

Â	Linux	Symbian
Game Test 1 Game Test 2 Fillrate with 1 texture units Fillrate with 2 texture units Triangle count without lighting Triangle count with lighting	37.30 fps 31.79 fps 36.09 Mpps 36.03 Mpps 2.06 Mtps 1.03 Mtps	37.76 fps 28.68 fps 33.73 Mpps 33.56 Mpps 2.36 Mtps 0.79 Mtps

David Harold, PR manager of Imagination, said, “The point is to show that the performance level is high enough that [each OS] can run some really involving content [on the chip]. We aren't really trying to show the differences between those OSes.”

TI's director of marketing, Avner Goren, stated, “TI's OMAP2420 processor is the performance leader for mobile 3D graphics, and its market-leading credentials are thoroughly reinforced by these benchmark results. PowerVR MBX is a high-performing core that offers a well-balanced graphics choice.”

Futuremark's EVP of marketing, Tero Sarkkinen, stated, “Prior to the availability of a workload-based benchmark, the industry has had to rely on unsubstantiated marketing claims and highly theoretical performance specifications, rather than actual real-world performance results.”

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