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Upgrade vs. New - Which is for you?
by Jamie Dresser
This is the 13th edition and final update of this set of benchmark tests.
6 tests have been updated to show comparisons with Power Macintosh G5 1.6, 1.8 and dual 2.0GHz systems. When either Mac OS X 10.2.8 comes out for both G4 and G5 systems, or Mac OS X 10.3 ships, we will completely redo all of these tests into brand new benchmarks. Until that time, these 6 tests are the only ones we will be updating.
In the 3 G5 systems the internal hard drive was used for booting and application launching, but the same FireWire hard drive as in the previous tests was utilized for the Photoshop scratch disk, and also the XBench disk testing.
I think you'll be pleased at how upgrade cards perform in comparison to these new G5s. Of course the dual G5 2.0GHz is the 900 pound gorilla in these tests, but weigh the costs between a fast upgrade and a fast new system. I for one am waiting out to at least the 2nd generation of G5. :>) I was extremely pleased at how the 1.467GHz upgrade cards performed.
The updated tests are as follows:
Test performed with G5 systems added
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133MHz Bus System & G5 Tests
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Time to boot system into Mac OS X 10.2.4 (10.2.7 for the G5s) |
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Time to rip a 7:26 audio track to MP3 format (192 Bit) using iTunes |
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Time to execute a 21 routine action script using Adobe Photoshop 7 |
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Time to open and close 1000 windows |
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CPU Loading (stress test) - iTunes & Photoshop |
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XBench 1.0 - Overall Score Comparison |
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If you already own a Power Macintosh G4, it's quite amazing that in less than 12 months we have gone from just one upgrade being available on the market for these machines, to over 20!! That's right, there are 4 companies currently vying for your hard earned dollars to bring your "not so old" system up to today's current standards. This is quite an amazing achievement considering about a year ago, most people were thinking that Acceleration products for the Macintosh platform were at a dead end. Things sure have changed!
Don't replace your AGP system until you check out these test results - keep money in your wallet, and better yet, don't bring noise & heat into your office!
Test Results
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clicking on each link will open up a separate window for comparison purposes.
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Mac OS X Testing
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100MHz Bus System Tests
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133MHz Bus System Tests
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Time to boot system into Mac OS X 10.2.4 910.2.7 for the G5s)
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Time to rip a 7:26 audio track to MP3 format (192 Bit) using iTunes
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Time to execute a 21 routine action script using Adobe Photoshop 7
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Time to open and close 1000 windows
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Time to export a 500MB DV File to MPEG-2 using Final Cut Pro
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AltiVec Fractal Carbon - Overall Score
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Quake 3 - Average Framerate
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Return To Castle Wolfenstein - Average Framerate
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Star Wars: Jedi Knight II - Average Framerate
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CPU Loading (stress test) - iTunes & Photoshop
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XBench 1.0 - Overall Score Comparison
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Mac OS 9 Testing
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100MHz Bus System Tests
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133MHz Bus System Tests
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Time to boot system into Mac OS 9.2.2 |
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Cinebench 2000 - Overall Score |
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MacBench 5- 3 tests run including: |
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Let's talk about the companies that are manufacturing these awesome upgrades for a bit-
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GigaDesigns has quickly established itself as one of the best upgrade manufacturers in the Mac market. Their products are quite new, and they have been in business only since January, 2003 - but don't let that keep you from considering their product, they are excellent, judging by the many happy owners responses at XLR8YourMac! And, take a good look at their 1GHz product, it tests consistently at 1.2GHz, making it a REAL bargain! |
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Other World Computing has been serving the Mac community since 1988 and this is our first processor upgrade for AGP Macintosh systems. The OWC Mercury Extreme raises the bar for the competition by bringing to market the fastest AGP processor upgrade to date at 1.467GHz. Another big plus over 2 of the 3 competitors is it's integrated fan & heatsink - no need to reuse a heatsink that was never intended to be used with a much faster processor. Combining the latest technology, top-quality components, and a heatsink engineered from the beginning to keep everything running cool, the OWC Mercury Extreme is a very solid upgrade. |
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PowerLogix was the first company to really start shipping "fast" upgrades for the AGP systems. Back in August, 2002 we were delighted to receive our first upgrades that really made it worthwhile to extend the life of your AGP system, the PowerForce Series 100 cards.
The latest PowerForce cards are available in both single and dual processors, the lineup from PowerLogix is sure to kick start your system back to top notch performance. And I did mention they make the only DUAL PROCESSOR upgrades for these systems? It's no surprise that they are at the top of the pack in these speed tests - at a price, of course. :>)
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Sonnet Technologies is the oldest, and one of the most respected companies in the Macintosh industry. Their acceleration products have always been rock solid performers, and their slogan is quite apt - "Simply Fast". With any of their Encore/ST upgrades, your AGP system will truly be up to speed, with a minimum of hassle. |
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In this round of testing, we have decided to standardize a few of the variables that make true head to head comparisons difficult. Instead of comparing stock systems with their different hard drives, video cards, etc, we have chosen to start comparing an "apples to apples" set of already upgraded systems. The following components were used in all aspects of the tests in each platform tested.
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Hard Disk Drive - 120GB OWC Mercury Elite Pro FireWire External FireWire Hard Drive - 7200RPM, 8MB cache, using a stock built in 1394a FireWire Port.
Why use a FireWire drive? This levels the playing field in respect to drive interface, it is identical when used on all platforms.
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CD-RW Drive - OWC Mercury Pro 52x24x52 CD-RW External FireWire Solution, using a stock 1394a FireWire Port. The external FireWire bus was used for the same reasons as listed above in the Hard Disk Drive section.
The OWC Mercury line of CD-RW drives use the highest quality mechanisms chosen for their compatibility and performance.
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Video Card - ATI RADEON 9000 Pro Mac Edition High Performance Dual Head Video Card, running at 1280x1024, Millions of colors, hooked up to a 17" Apple LCD Studio Display.
The ATI RADEON 9000 is a fine upgrade for any AGP based Mac system. It combines excellent performance with a reasonable price for the upgrade. It's a great bang for the buck!
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Memory - All of the following systems are utilizing 1GB of high quality OWC Memory, either 512MB PC-133 SDRAM CL2 chips or 512MB PC2700 333MHz DDR chips, depending on the system tested.
Upgrade any Macintosh system with OWC Memory and you won't be disappointed!
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TEST SYSTEMS
For testing and comparison purposes, the acceleration cards were installed into two systems
The above listed components round out the installed equipment - the same test equipment was utilized with both systems tested, there are no variables other than the bus speed.
Take a few minutes and check out the individual results from each test, comparing them to a stock Power Macintosh G4 system. There are an amazing 13 different Apple original systems included in the benchmarks, choose the system that most closely matches your own system you wish to upgrade.
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