Samsung Galaxy Book 12 Review: OLED Display Meets S Pen And Portability


Galaxy Book 12 Graphics And Gaming Tests

Next, we tested the Samsung Galaxy Book 12's graphics capabilities with not only gaming benchmarks but a pro graphics test that measures the machine's ability to render 3D workloads on the CPU and integrated GPU of the processor. 

Cinebench R11.5
3D Rendering On The CPU And GPU

Cinebench is developed by Maxon, which is known for its Cinema 4D software. We use both of Cinebench’s integrated tests for CPU and GPU-driven workloads. The CPU test uses thousands of rendering objects to stress the processor, while the GPU test puts your system’s graphics chip to work with a short, 3D rendered scene involving a car chase. The CPU test is measured in points, while the GPU test is measured by the framerate. In both tests, higher numbers represent better performance.

Cinbench Samsung Galaxy Book 12

This test is largely dictated by raw clock speed on the CPU side, but as you can see, the Galaxy Book 12 puts up reasonably good scores for its ultralight class of device. In fact, it's sandwiched in between two versions of the HP Spectre X360 15t, a much larger convertible notebook with a lot more thermal headroom. Again, the benefits of Intel's 7th gen Kaby Lake series chip on board the Galaxy Book 12 show well here. 

3DMark Cloud Gate
Synthetic DirectX Gaming And Graphics Testing

Futuremark’s well-known 3DMark benchmark suite features tests aimed at different types of devices. We opted for the Cloud Gate and Sky Driver tests, for which we have plenty of comparison data but also as light-duty 3D graphics and gaming benchmarks that are well-targeted for thin and light notebook devices. Sky Diver is a bit more strenuous but still well within the limits of our test group. 

3DMark Cloud Gate Samsung Galaxy Book 12

3DMark Sky Diver Samsung Galaxy Book 12

Once again, and this time in a pure DX11 gaming workload, the Galaxy Book 12 hangs tough.  Frankly, at this point we expected to see a chink in the armor of this 12-inch hybrid 2-in-1 device, but that really hasn't been the case by any measure so far. In fact, it handily put a beating on Dell's XPS 13 2-In-1. Ouch. 

Far Cry 2 Game Test
DirectX 10 Game Testing
Sure, Far Cry 2 has been around the block a few times and is many years old, but it is still a good test for entry-level PCs and ultrabooks alike.  It features high quality textures, complex shaders, and dynamic lighting to create a rich and immersive environment powered with DX10-class effects. More importantly, it includes an exceptional benchmarking tool. We run the benchmark at 720p and 60Hz on the "High" detail preset with the DirectX 10.rendering path  It is actually still a great yardstick to see just how far integrated graphics solutions have come.

Far Cry 2 Samsung Galaxy Book 12

Far Cry 2 is a title that's unforgiving in a lot of respects, in that it's indicative of raw, legacy DX10 gaming performance. Long since a forgotten title, its a great equalizer in terms of driver optimization, or perhaps lack there of. Instead, whatever the platform yields in a standard DX10 gaming code path, that's what you get. It's also still fairly demanding in terms of its visual effects and will often spin up cooling systems of most laptops under load. Here, the Galaxy Book 12 drops a few more pegs, perhaps showing the limitation of its thermal envelope a bit more, but regardless, still maintaining playable frame rates. We're pretty certain gaming might not be your primary objective with a device like the Samsung Galaxy Book 12. However, it does have a respectable level of casual gaming horsepower on board with its integrated Intel HD 620 graphics engine. 

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