Ok, lets get this straight from the start, All elephants have an average maximum speed of 25 miles per hour. So if you line up 4 elephants on one side and 8 on the other, let them all know that there is a juicy Cassava melon at the end of the run, set them off at the same time ... they will all reach the end at about the same time.
However if you run the race again with each elephant harnessed to a cart full of 3 tons of Cassava melons, they will once again reach the finish line about the same time, but on one side you will have 24 tons of melons (the 8 elephants), and on the other 12 tons (the 4 elephant side). Clearly if you need to get a lot of melons to market on a consistent basis, you are going to want the 8 elephants ... The 8 elephants can do more work.
As you will see from the results below, if you are able to max out the processing resources of the 8 core Mac Pro, you will get work done almost twice as quickly as it would be done on a 4 core machine of the same speed. And there is the rub ... Most general purpose applications can't take full advantage of 8 cores, or even 4 cores ... at least not yet. Only a few specialized, processor intensive applications can do that. Also if you are in a production, or semi production type environment where you are consistently running multiple processor intensive applications at the same time (say prepping a DVD for a burn while running a workflow process on a large Photoshop image), you will be able to max out, or get close to maxing out the resources of the 8 core machine. For those in these demanding situations the 8 core machine will provide more flexibility, but for the average joe who wants a Road Runner, not a Pachyderm, processor speed will usually trump processing capacity.
But let's not blame the hardware (which clearly can be maxed out), for shortcomings in other areas of the computing platform, which may need to catch up to what the hardware currently has to offer.
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
For timed scores, lower numbers are better. For the CineBench & Game scores higher numbers are better. Of course the higher the percentage, the better the performance. We have provided processor (CPU) capacity usage for each machine, for the tests where this is appropriate. You will notice that in some of the tests both the 4 core 3GHz Mac Pro and the 8 core one have similar time scores, but the 8 core machine is only using half the processing capacity of the 4 core machine.
Mac Pro Two 3GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5300 (8 cores total)- Z0D8-8C3GHZ1GB - April 2007
CPU Usage - 12%
486
172%
Mac Pro Two 3GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon 5100 - Z0D8-3GHZ250GB - August 2006
CPU Usage - 25%
493
174%
Mac Pro Two 2.66GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon 5100 - MA356LL/A - August 2006
CPU Usage - 25%
440
155%
Mac ProTwo 2GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon 5100 - Z0D8-2GHZ250GB - August 2006
CPU Usage - 25%
332
117%
CineBench 9.5 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 9.5 version of CineBench. The scores above are actual scores ... not timed tests. Higher numbers are better
Mac Pro Two 3GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5300 (8 cores total)- Z0D8-8C3GHZ1GB - April 2007
4546
188%
Mac Pro Two 3GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon 5100 - Z0D8-3GHZ250GB - August 2006
4661
193%
Mac Pro Two 2.66GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon 5100 - MA356LL/A - August 2006
4112
170%
Mac ProTwo 2GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon 5100 - Z0D8-2GHZ250GB - August 2006
3616
150%
This part of the CineBench program relies on the graphics card for graphics rendering. Download the program and run your own test. This test is highly sensitive to improvements in the software that drives the graphics card.
Mac Pro Two 3GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5300 (8 cores total)- Z0D8-8C3GHZ1GB - April 2007
CPU Usage - 65%
111.4
225%
Mac Pro Two 3GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon 5100 - Z0D8-3GHZ250GB - August 2006
CPU Usage - 67%
153.6
164%
Mac Pro Two 2.66GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon 5100 - MA356LL/A - August 2006
CPU Usage - 75%
167.2
150%
Mac ProTwo 2GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon 5100 - Z0D8-2GHZ250GB - August 2006
CPU Usage - 75%
208.8
120%
Don't see performance information on the Mac you are interested in? Send a request for a performance comparison between any two Macs. If you have a question regarding the results here, shoot us and email using this address
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Basic Stats
Mac Pro - Z0D8-3GHZ81GB
Two 3GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5300
8MB shared L2 cache per processor
1.33GHz, 64-bit dual independent buses
1GB memory - 667MHz DDR2
NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT
256MB Graphics Memory
250GB Hard Drive 7200 rpm
16x SuperDrive
(DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Two independent 10/100/1000BASE-T
Two FireWire 800 ports
Two FireWire 400 ports
Five USB 2.0 ports
Three full-length PCI Express slots
Released 1/4/07 More Stats ...
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Mac Pro Two 3GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon 5100 - Originally: $3,299
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Extras = Canadian Dollars
New, Closeout, OpenBox, Refurbished and Used
Note
We receive a small commission on computers purchased using the links above. Though this adds no cost to your purchase price it does help us defray the cost of running MacReviewZone and MacSpeedZone. Your support is appreciated
Basic Stats
Mac Pro
Two 3GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon 5100
4MB shared L2 cache per processor
1.33GHz, 64-bit dual independent buses
1GB memory - 667MHz DDR2
NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT
256MB Graphics Memory
250GB Hard Drive 7200 rpm
16x SuperDrive
(DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Released 8/06 More Stats ...
= Unavailable = Unknown/Delay = Installation Fee ($20 to $40)
Extras = Canadian Dollars
New, Closeout, OpenBox, Refurbished and Used
Note
We receive a small commission on computers purchased using the links above. Though this adds no cost to your purchase price it does help us defray the cost of running MacReviewZone and MacSpeedZone. Your support is appreciated!
Basic Stats
Mac Pro - MA356LL/A
Two 2.66GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon 5100
4MB shared L2 cache per processor
1.33GHz, 64-bit dual independent buses
1GB memory - 667MHz DDR2
NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT
256MB Graphics Memory
250GB Hard Drive 7200 rpm
16x SuperDrive
(DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Released 8/06 More Stats ...
= Unavailable = Unknown/Delay = Installation Fee ($20 to $40)
Extras = Canadian Dollars
New, Closeout, OpenBox, Refurbished and Used
Note
We receive a small commission on computers purchased using the links above. Though this adds no cost to your purchase price it does help us defray the cost of running MacReviewZone and MacSpeedZone. Your support is appreciated!
Basic Stats
Mac Pro - Z0D8-2GHZ250GB
Two 2GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon 5100
4MB shared L2 cache per processor
1.33GHz, 64-bit dual independent buses
1GB memory - 667MHz DDR2
NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT
256MB Graphics Memory
250GB Hard Drive 7200 rpm
16x SuperDrive
(DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Released 8/06 More Stats ...
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Monday, April 16, 2007
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