In August this year, it was announced that the new version of 8DMark would addSolar Bay Test Project, after evaluating the real-time ray tracing performance of Android and Windows devices, UL Solutions announced that the Solar Bay test project will also be used before Apple unveils the new iPhone 15 series at its autumn conference.Compatible with iOS devicesAccording to the news, it can even be used on Mac models equipped with Apple Silicon processors.
The Solar Bay test project, which is used for iOS devices and Mac models, will use Apple's Metal API computing resources to evaluate the real-time ray tracing effect on the device side.
In addition, the Solar Bay test project for iOS devices only supports iPhone or iPad models equipped with A13 processors or later, while the part for Mac models only supports models equipped with Apple Silicon processors.
The Solar Bay benchmark is based on the Vulkan 1.1 API and utilizes two new test procedures: "Port Royal" and "Speed Way." These include the addition of more than three scenarios and more than doubling the linear test scale at each stage to measure the device's real-time ray tracing performance.
A single Solar Bay test takes approximately 20 minutes to complete, and the results are displayed graphically, allowing users to assess device performance. Results are adjusted for differences between different device platforms, allowing users to compare performance across iOS, Android, Windows, and Mac devices using the same metrics.
In this update, UL Solutions also officially renamed the app originally listed on the App Store as "3DMark Wild Life Benchmark" to "3DMark" to make it easier for users to identify and download it.
Currently, 3DMark is also available for free on iOS and Android, while the Windows version needs to be purchased for US$34.99. As for Mac models equipped with Apple Silicon processors, the iOS version can be downloaded and used through the App Store.
