Gamers would have heard of teraflop more often than not, but how many understand what it means? We will explain all of this in the best possible way to help you understand. For those who have never heard of a Teraflop before, it is one reason why the Xbox Series X is more powerful than the Xbox One.
People who are looking to purchase new desktop GPUs or Graphics cards for gaming and professional work should understand teraflop (core speed). For example, a GPU with a higher teraflop count does not necessarily mean it is more powerful than another competing brand.
If we look at the Xbox One X, it has a 6-teraflop GPU when compared to the 4-teraflop graphics processing unit found in the Xbox Series S. However; we can safely say the Series S is the more capable, seeing as its GPU is faster and is based on a newer architecture called Zen 2.
What is a Teraflop?
Before explaining a teraflop, we should first note that a FLOP means floating-point operations per second. A floating-point operation includes decimal points and irrational numbers, which means they are more complex than fixed-point operations.
Furthermore, floating-point calculations are primarily used to measure the computing power of a computer system or, better yet, the system’s overall performance capability. The higher the floating-point numbers, the better graphical performance you would get.
Floating-point calculations or floating-point arithmetic are used to approximate rational numbers that cannot be represented finitely in base 2. When it comes to floating numbers, there is no fixed number of digits after the decimal point; it keeps going. That is where the approximation is made. The more the GPU can crunch the data, the more digits can be taken, and hence, the approximation will be more accurate.
To simplify things even further, a teraflop means a computer can process up to 1 trillion floating-point operations per second. Therefore, we can safely say that since the Xbox Series X is pushing 12 teraflops, it should hit 12 trillion floating-point operations per second.
So, the higher the teraflop of a GPU, the faster it will crunch through data, predominantly if it consists of 4K textures.
Read: Tips to Optimize Windows for gaming.
How Much Do Teraflops Matter for Gaming?
The answer is yes, but whether we will see a generational leap in gaming performance in every area with Microsoft’s new consoles remains to be seen. With a higher teraflop count, it should be much easier for the Xbox Series X to play video games at 4K.
Teraflops are not really important when comparing gaming consoles. But they do tell which console has the more powerful specs and computational power.
But it doesn’t end there because that 12 teraflops of performance could also greatly improve raytracing. Not to mention, Microsoft is using variable-rate shading (VRS) to improve performance, so the Xbox Series X may very well punch above its weight in the future.
Additionally, a higher teraflop count can help increase the frame rate in games. However, if the processor is not up to scratch, it wouldn’t matter much in real-world performance.
Developer Tools Are Essential as Well.
With the release of the Xbox Series X/S and the PlayStation 5, we see where the Sony console outperforms the Xbox in several games. This has come as a surprise to many because Microsoft touted the Series X as the most powerful console, and rightfully so, it is from a spec-sheet point of view.
Still, the power of a console Windows computer means nothing if the game developer tools are not mature enough; as multiple reports so far show, the PlayStation 5, while the weaker console on paper, is performing better with several games than the Series X.
This is because developers have access to PlayStation 5 developer tools long before Microsoft released updates for the Game Developers Kit (GDK). As it stands, things will likely improve in future games.
What’s the Relationship between Teraflops and Gigahertz?
Gigahertz measures a processor’s clock speed, while Teraflops measures the number of floating-point operations a processor can perform per second.
How Are Teraflops Different than Petaflops?
They are not different, but it’s only a term given to a high set of numbers that cannot be pronounced in words. Similar to 1000 is called Thousand. One petaFLOPS is equal to one quadrillion FLOPS. It is one thousand teraFLOPS. Similarly, one teraFLOPS is equal to one trillion FLOPS. However, the performance gap will be huge.
What is the fastest supercomputer FLOPS count?
Currently, the Fugaku supercomputer, developed by Fujitsu and Japan’s national research institute Riken, is the world’s fastest supercomputer. Its 442 petaflops score makes it the world’s most powerful supercomputer.
Are Teraflops Important Factor When Selecting a GPU?
While they measure how good the GPU is, what is even more important is support for more polygons and high resolutions when it comes to gaming. So you don’t have to worry too much about it. Most modern GPUs are well made, and there are many other factors, including heating; support for modern game features such as Ray Tracing is more important.
