Intel OpenGL Performance: OS X vs. Windows vs. Linux

The updated Ubuntu 12.04 LTS installation was first tested, then an Ubuntu 12.10 development snapshot with its stock drivers, and then another newer Ubuntu 12.10 snapshot while dropping in the Intel Git Linux graphics components. These Git components included the Linux 3.6 kernel, xf86-video-intel 2.20.4+, libdrm, and Mesa 8.1-devel git-bee2edb. So "Ubuntu 12.10 20120822 + Git" represents the very latest Intel Linux graphics driver state for Sandy Bridge at the time of testing.

As for the OpenGL benchmarks used in this comparison, the tests were chosen based upon what's available for Linux/Windows/OSX via the Phoronix Test Suite with OpenBenchmarking.org. The tests chosen are natively available for at least two of the platforms and of similar port quality across the supported platforms, in order to ensure this is a fair comparison. The test profiles included Lightsmark, OpenArena, Tremulous, Urban Terror, Warsow, X-Plane, Xonotic, and Nexuiz.

Let's begin looking at this Intel OpenGL graphics comparison under Windows, OS X, and Ubuntu Linux...