UL Benchmarks has released a new 3DMark graphics performance benchmark. The new 3DMark Wild Life is headlined as being of great appeal as it is a cross-platform benchmark which lets you compare graphics performance across Android, Apple and Windows devices. Other feathers in its cap are the ability to run in ‘quick’ and ‘stress test’ modes, and comparing results not just between platforms but by OS version.
It is claimed that 3DMark Wild Life generates relevant benchmark results and comparisons by “rendering a demanding game-like scene in real time”. UL Benchmarks checks a number of important boxes with this new benchmark; it makes use of advanced rendering techniques and post-processing effects that are popular on modern mobile devices, and it uses the Vulkan API on Android and Windows, and Metal API on iOS – just like many popular modern gaming titles.
As mentioned in the intro there are two benchmark modes. ‘Quick’ is meant to hold a mirror up to short bursts of gameplay made popular by mobile gaming. ‘Stress Test’ by contrast puts your device under a heavy load for an extended time with a more immersive scene. A major difference is that in the ‘stress test’ mode, rather than simply outputting a single score at the end of the process, users get a chart of performance over time. The chart could provide useful feedback to users (and perhaps device makers), especially with a view to applying cooling to prevent throttling.
Further comparison tools provided by UL benchmarks for users of 3DMark Wild Life include charts of; your score vs others with the same device model, your score vs popular devices, and your score vs all devices. Moreover you can filter and compare by OS versions. This way you could check if a particular OS update really did deliver improved gaming performance or not. If you are a regular person with just the one modern daily driver mobile device you must keep in mind that you’d need the foresight to test ahead of an Android or iOS update as mobile OS updates usually aren’t easy to roll back.
3DMark Wild Life is a free update to both the Android and iOS mobile apps. On PC you can get this benchmark as part of the 3DMark Advanced Edition from Steam, the UL Benchmarks website, or Green Man Gaming. Current 3DMark Professional Edition subscribers can access this new benchmark for free too. It isn’t free on Windows for free 3DMark Basic Edition users.
I see that there are already users posting videos of their 3DMark Wild Life runs and results on YouTube. Current videos include GeForce RTX 3090, iPhone 11, and Galaxy S10 runs. You can also go to the website and look at filterable results in the 3DMark Score Explorer. The current record score is 109,396 on a PC featuring an Intel Core i9-9900KS and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090.