Geekbench update renders 6.0 and 6.1 results incomparable
Geekbench has a new version of a benchmark.
The 6.1 update will make single core CPU performance up to 5% higher and multi-core CPU performance up to 10% better, depending on a setup. This is a result of various new features being implemented into the benchmark, such as the introduction of the AV512-FP16 instruction for image processing or the use of SVE instruction for machine learning functions.
More importantly, there are some changes to how background blur and horizon detection are used, this has a direct effect on high-end systems featuring 12 or more cores, especially those based on AMD Ryzen, Threadripper and Intel Xeon architectures.
The way Geekbench scores are shown in version 6.1 and 6.0 is different, so users should know that the results might not be the same and might not be comparable. What this means is that the official CPU ranking results should now assume a 5 to 10% margin of error, as it will take a few weeks before the ranking is populated with more 6.1 results.
Geekbench 6.1 changes:
- Upgrade to Clang 16 Geekbench 6.1 is built with Clang 16 on all platforms. Geekbench 6.1 also improves the optimization switches used when building Geekbench.
- Increase workload gap Geekbench 6.1 increases the workload gap (the pause between workloads) from two seconds to five seconds. The increased workload gap minimizes thermal throttling and reduces run-to-run variability on newer smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy S23.
- Introduce support for SVE instructions Geekbench 6.1 includes SVE implementations of several image processing and machine learning functions.
- Introduce support for AVX512-FP16 instructions Geekbench 6.1 includes AVX512-FP16 implementations of several image processing functions.
- Introduce support for fixed-point math Geekbench 6.1 introduces fixed-point implementations of several image processing functions. Geekbench uses fixed-point math to implement some image processing functions on systems without FP16 instructions.
- Improve Multi-Core Performance Geekbench 6.1 improves the multi-core implementations of the Background Blur and Horizon Detection workloads, especially on high-end desktop processors such as 12- and 16-core AMD Ryzens, AMD Threadrippers, and Intel Xeons.
Geekbench is a free cross-platform testing software for noncommercial use. The benchmark has tests CPU and GPU compute workloads featuring OpenCL, Metal and Vulkan graphics APIs.
Source: Geekbench
