Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. News

How an iPad just set a Geekbench record

By
Liquid nitrogen cooling the 2024 iPad Pro.
Geekerwan

Apple’s M4 chip is already setting records thanks to the help of an unconventional cooling method: liquid nitrogen. Apple’s latest ARM-based chip made its debut on the 2024 iPad Pro tablets earlier this month, which outperforms its predecessors and rival high-end desktop processors in terms of raw performance.

As reported on by Tom’s Hardware, the team at Geekerwan carried out the experiment using a Kingpin Cooling T-Rex Rev 4 CPU LN2 pot and slapping it to the back of the iPad Pro. When subjected to extreme cooling using liquid nitrogen, the M4 chip managed to go past the 4000-point barrier in Geekbench 6’s single-core benchmark. This achievement places it well ahead of some of the most powerful chips on the market, including Apple’s own M3 Max and the M2 Ultra.

Recommended Videos

Notably, the M4 chip comes in two versions: a 10-core configuration with four performance cores and six efficiency cores, available in the 1TB and 2TB models with 16GB of unified memory, and a nine-core configuration with three performance cores and six efficiency cores, found in the 256GB and 512GB models with 8GB of unified memory.

A slide from Apple's May 7, 2024 event showing the M4 chip and its internal cores, broken into performance cores and efficiency cores.
Apple

Although the M4’s performance cores already run at a robust 4.40GHz, the liquid nitrogen overclocking only increased the performance cores to 4.41GHz (an additional 10MHz). This slight boost was sufficient to surpass the 4000-point milestone in Geekbench 6.

Commonly used in high-end overclocking endeavors, liquid nitrogen can drastically reduce the temperature of a CPU. The extreme cooling minimizes thermal throttling and allows the chip to maintain higher clock speeds without overheating, thus unlocking its full performance potential. While the liquid nitrogen cooling setup is not feasible for everyday users, this benchmark result underscores the M4 chip’s potential. Consumers can expect exceptional performance in the upcoming iPad Pro, making it an ideal choice for demanding applications, from professional-grade software to high-end gaming.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Kunal Khullar
Kunal Khullar
Computing Writer
Kunal is a Computing writer contributing content around PC hardware, laptops, monitors, and more for Digital Trends. Having…
Apple has backed itself into a corner
Apple iPad Pro 11 with Apple Magic Keyboard.

Apple is rumored to finally be updating its new iPads at its forthcoming May 7 event. While this may come as a relief to anyone who’s been patiently waiting to upgrade their iPad Pro or iPad Air, a new report has thrown the whole situation into confusion.

That’s because the latest Power On newsletter from Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman claims that the upcoming iPad Pro will contain an Apple M4 chip. On first blush, that doesn’t seem all that unusual -- the iPad Pro has come with an Apple silicon chip for years, after all. But here’s the wrinkle: this launch plan would mean the iPad will get an M4 chip before the Mac, and that has all kinds of weird implications. By delaying the iPad for so long, it looks like Apple has left itself with a very odd update cycle for its chips this time around.
The end of the M3 Ultra?

Read more
The biggest threat to the MacBook this year might come from Apple itself
The MacBook Air on a white table.

MacBooks have held a dominant position in the laptop world for the past few years. Though there have been meaningful rivals from the Windows side of the aisle, the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro still feel like they hold an unshakeable lead at the moment.

But according to the latest reports, the most serious challenger to the MacBook's reign won't come from Windows -- it'll come from within Apple in the form of some very advanced new iPads.
What's a computer?

Read more
Could the Vision Pro replace your iPad? There’s just one problem
The front visor of the Vision Pro on display at an Apple Store.

In the time since it launched in early February, we’ve heard a lot about how Apple’s Vision Pro could replace some of the company’s other devices, especially the iPad. Now, prominent leaker Mark Gurman has joined the fray and lent weight to the idea of the headset becoming a tablet killer. But while that seems plausible, there’s one major problem with it.

Specifically, it’s the price. Because while Gurman’s Power On newsletter makes some good points about the Vision Pro’s strengths, it can’t get around the unavoidable obstacle that is the device’s $3,500 asking price. If the Vision Pro really is going to replace the iPad, a lot has to change first, especially given how wide of a range of prices the iPad line hits.
The iPad killer?

Read more