Ouya flunks 3DMark benchmark test

Futuremark has run benchmarking tests on the Ouya console — and has found it depressingly lacking.

3DMark is designed to test the gaming and graphics capabilities of PCs and, as of very recently, Android devices. It gives the hardware a ranking compared to other rigs in the same category.

So naturally, with the release of the Android version of the software, it made sense to test Ouya, the Android-based dedicated gaming console. James Coote, who developed the upcoming Ouya game Executive Star, teamed up with Futuremark to run a few tests.

The results were pretty poor. This highest ranked device, at the time of writing, is the Xiaomi MI-2s with a score of 11,334. Ouya is currently ranked number 78 on the list with a score of just 4010. Admittedly, with 258 Android devices benchmarked, that still puts it in the top 50 per cent, but its score is still a lot closer to zero than it is to the top.

That said, it's tough to be surprised; the first-gen Ouya with its Tegra 3 processor and just 1GB of RAM, has already been drastically overtaken by phones. However, the first-gen version of the console is still a product in beta — when the actual consoles ship to buyers in June, we can probably hope to see a few performance tweaks.

At this stage, it's also important to note that the Ouya can probably handle with aplomb most Android games that get thrown at it — and at US$99, it's a boatload cheaper than a new Samsung Galaxy.

You can watch the benchmark test below, and see the results on the Futuremark website here.