 Updated: 1/19/04
Processor Performance
Graphics Performance
Game Performance
Drive Performance
Application Performance
Multitasking Performance
Past Results
Below you will find performance results for most of the currently
shipping machines. This
will, hopefully, give you an feel for the relative performances. We will be adding new
machines on an on-going basis ... so check back once in a
while.
New machines added to the list below include
the following:
- i20" iMac G4/1.25GHz /G4/1.25GHz/256K
- 15" iMac G4/1GHz/1GHz/1MB
- Power Mac G4/1.25GHz/1.25GHz /256MB
- Power Mac Dual G5/1.8GHz/1.8GHz/512K
Don't see performance information on the Mac you are interested in? Send a request for a performance comparison between any two Macs.
"Real World" Tests
The tests below are from our suite of real world application
tests. These tests feature a diverse selection of applications
commonly used by the Mac community. The test suite was designed
to render an accurate and well rounded picture of a machine's
performance. All of the tests below, except for the game tests and the CineBench tests,
were timed with a stopwatch. For timed scores, lower numbers are better. For the CineBench & Game scores higher numbers are better.
IMPORTANT: We have changed how we present the data below. In the past we expressed the performance differences as a percentage of a 'Base' machine. We are now showing the actual time it took for a machine to complete the test. In cases where the test was not timed, we give you the actual score.
Processor Intensive Tests
CineBench 2003 consists of a series of tests. This one, tests basic single CPU processing performance. . You can download the CineBench program to run on your own machine and compare scores. We used the version of CineBench that is not optimized for the G5 for this test, and the one below. The scores above are actual scores ... not timed tests. Higher numbers are better
This is the same test as above, however it will take advantage of dual processors if they are present. The scores above are actual scores ... not timed tests. Higher numbers are better
The Fractal program has been highly tuned to take advantage of the G4 and is precisely the type of work that the G4 was made for. It will also gobble up whatever processing capability is present. This is a good test for assessing the fundamental processing potential of each machine. Really highlights the processing advantage of a dual processor machines, and the G4 processor, when applications are tuned to take advantage of these features. You can download the Fractal program and run it on your own machine to compare scores. You will need to set the fractal to maximum count of 65536, to be consistent with our testing. This program has not been optimized to run on the G5 and runs comparatively slower on G5 machines.
A 5MB movie is converted to a QuickTime movie using default setting. At the moment this function of QuickTime does not take good advantage of dual processors.
Graphics Performance
This part of the CineBench program relies on the graphics card for graphics rendering. Download the program and run your own test. The scores above are actual scores ... not timed tests. Higher numbers are better
Let 1K Windows Bloom is a simple carbon application that opens and closes 1,000 windows. This gauges how fast screen redraws are taking place. You can download the small program to run on your machine and compare your scores, to the ones here.
Note that some of the machines above were running OS 10.3 and some were running an earlier version of OS X. Scores improve in this test when the machine is running 10.3. Since all machines now come with OS 10.3 installed, some of the older machines would do better in this test than is indicated above.
Game Performance
Giants is tuned to take advantage of the processor(s). Indeed, when run on a dual processor machine, you will see Giants fly ahead of the same game running on a single processor machine. It also helps to have a better graphics card.. The scores above are actual scores (frames per second) ... not timed tests. Higher numbers are better
4x4 EVO2 is a demanding racing game. It appears that this game is much more graphics card dependent than processor dependent. The scores above are actual scores (frames per second) ... not timed tests. Higher numbers are better
The copy folder test not only stresses drive
performance but also takes advantage of faster processing
capability & caching schemes.
Note that some of the machines above were running OS 10.3 and some were running an earlier version of OS X. Scores improve in this test when the machine is running 10.3. Since all machines now come with OS 10.3 installed, some of the older machines would do better in this test than is indicated above.
In the single file test the the processor
& caching capability of the machine is less of a factor.
Note that some of the machines above were running OS 10.3 and some were running an earlier version of OS X. Scores improve in this test when the machine is running 10.3. Since all machines now come with OS 10.3 installed, some of the older machines would do better in this test than is indicated above.
Application Performance
BareFeats Photoshop Test Suite - mimics a production type workflow in Photoshop. If you would like to run this test on your machine, and you don't have a copy of Photoshop, download it from Adobe. Then download the action file and drop it on the Photoshop icon We did not use the G5 plug-in for our Photoshop tests ... we couldn't get it to work. BareFeats was able to get the plug-in up and running and reported that it did little to improve score results for them.
A Macro (series of complex actions) was run in Microsoft's Word on a 500 page document. Word is part of Office X
CD-ROM drive speed and CPU processing power are the factors influencing the scores above. Our assumption is that the CD drive speed is the bottleneck in the top of the line Power Macs above. Four songs totaling 16.5 minutes in length were converted. Note: converting files off the hard drive on the Dual G5/1 GHz (rather than from the CD), took only half as long.
Multitasking Performance
The MP3 Encode, Photoshop Normal and Word Macro tests are all run at the same time.
More G5 results
Resutls for previous machines |
