Asus Zenbook UX305 Ultrabook Review: Core M Powered

Next up, we have 3D graphics testing with 3DMark Ice Storm. Ice Storm Extreme raises the rendering resolution from 720p to 1080p over the standard preset, and uses higher quality textures and post-processing effects in the Graphics tests to create a more demanding workload. In Unlimited mode frames are rendered in 720p off-screen while the display is updated with thumbnails every 100 frames to show progress.

3DMark Ice Storm And Cloud Gate Synthetic DirectX Gaming And Graphics Testing

Let’s take a look at how the UX305, which has a CPU that could also be used in tablets, compares to some premium tablets on the market.

The UX305 performs very well in all three components of the Ice Storm Unlimited test, earning third place across the board.

The Cloud Gate test is aimed at entry-level PCs and laptops, and has two subtests: a processor-intensive physics test and two graphics tests. We run the test suite at its default 1280 x 720 resolution and at default rendering quality settings. Keep in mind that 3DMark Cloud Gate scores aren’t comparable to scores from say, 3DMark Fire Strike (gaming PCs) or Ice Storm (smartphones and tablets).

We see in this test that the UX305 isn’t a top-of-the-line performer when compared to premium ultrabooks. For the price and specification difference between the UX305 and some of these other systems, however, we don’t expect them to compete on the same field.

To get a feel for some light gaming performance, we fired up Far Cry 2:

Ubisoft Far Cry 2 DX10 Gaming Performance

Far Cry 2

When it comes to lush vegetation in a steaming, sinister jungle, no one pulls it off quite like Ubisoft does in its Far Cry series. Far Cry 2 uses high-quality textures, complex shaders, and dynamic lighting to create a realistic environment. The game’s built-in benchmark gives us a good look at a system’s performance with DirectX 10.

We didn’t expect the Core M-powered UX305 to produce chart-topping frame rates in this test. Although this test confirms these expectations that the UX305 isn’t designed for desktop-class gaming, but if you want to casually game on the system, it is capable of running older titles like this one.