Apple Mac Upgrades - RAM, SSD Flash, External Drives and More

Final Cut Pro 4 - Export clip to MPEG-4	L2 Cache	L3 Cache	Time, Sec.

Reference Apple Systems

PM G4/466MHz Digital Audio	1MB SPB SRAM	0MB	576
PM G4/2x 533MHz Digital Audio	1MB SPB SRAM x2	0MB	482
PM G4/667MHz Digital Audio	0MB	1MB DDR SDRAM	363
iMac 1GHz (167MHz, 768MB, GF4MX 32MB)	256k	0MB	298
PB G4 17" 1.33GHz (167MHz, 512MB, R9600 64MB)	512k On Chip	0MB	228
PM G4/2x 1.25GHz FW800	256k	2x1MB DDR SDRAM	194
PM G4/2x 1.42GHz FW800	256k	2x2MB DDR SDRAM	175
PM G5/1.6GHz (800MHz Frontside Bus)	512k On Chip	0MB	196
PM G5/1.8GHz (900MHz Frontside Bus)	512k On Chip	0MB	170
PM G5/2x 2.0GHz (1GHz Frontside Bus)	512k On Chip	0MB	146

Acceleration Cards

OWC Mercury Extreme G4/800MHz	256k	2MB SPB SRAM	306
Sonnet Encore/ST G4/800MHz	256k	2MB DDR SRAM	300
OWC Mercury Extreme G4/1GHz	256k	2MB SPB SRAM	275
Sonnet Encore/ST G4/1GHz	256k	2MB DDR SRAM	270
Sonnet Encore/ST G4/1.2GHz	256k	2MB DDR SRAM	229
GigaDesigns G-Celerator G4/1.25GHz	256k	2MB SPB SRAM	228
OWC Mercury Extreme G4/1.25GHz	256k	2MB SPB SRAM	228
OWC Mercury Extreme G4/1.33GHz	256k	2MB DDR SRAM	220
Sonnet Encore/ST G4/1.4GHz	256k	2MB DDR SRAM	214
GigaDesigns G-Celerator G4/1.25GHz @ 1.467GHz	256k	2MB SPB SRAM	209
OWC Mercury Extreme G4/1.467GHz	256k	2MB DDR SRAM	209
PowerLogix PowerForce Dual G4 2x1.2GHz (7457)	512k x2	2MB SPB SRAM x2	209

Final Cut Pro 4 MPEG-4 Export. Shorter bars are better, all times in seconds. The test file was created using iMovie's included tutorial movies. Load all of the included clips and duplicate them 2x to have 3 movies in a row in the timeline. Save the file as raw DV footage and open the file using Final Cut Pro. In Final Cut Pro, then export the file to MPEG-4 format, with the following specifications set: In previous tests I had been exporting to MPEG-2 for use with DVD Studio Pro. A number of readers pointed out that this test will take effectively the same amount of time, and not require you to own DVD Studio Pro, as normal QuickTime installations can export to MPEG-4. I agree with that!