The Source for Mac Performance News and Reviews

Review: OWC's Mercury ZIFs 350MHz and 400MHz Models Published: 10/17/99

Real World Performance Tests

Intro | Benchmarks  | Appl. Tests | Software Controls  | Docs/Installation | Specs/Design | Summary

Applications and Game Performance

This page lists test results in common Mac applications like Bryce 2, Infini-D 4.01, After Effects 3.1, and popular 3D games. I also include results with other systems or upgrades for comparison. To see additional results with other systems and CPU Upgrades, visit my G3 Apps Tests page and the many other previous CPU upgrade reviews.

Infini-D Tests

I used the same Infini-D 4.0 tutorial file rendering test as I've done in past reviews using the 'Chapter 7 completed' scene. Rendering quality was set to Ray Trace, medium anti-aliasing, shadows on, patch detail low. The table below shows the results of the Mercury ZIFs along with other systems/upgrades for comparison. Infini-D was allocated 40MB of RAM for the tests. Unless otherwise indicated, all tests used OS 8.1 and RAM was interleaved. Infini-D 4.01 Make Movie Tests (Minutes:seconds) Upgrade/System Time Notes OWC Mercury 400 ZIF (Beige G3) *Overclocked* @434/217/66 36:24 (Spec Proc. ON) OWC Mercury 350 ZIF (Genesis/9500) *Overclocked* @400/200/50 40:59 Spec Proc. OFF OWC Mercury 350 ZIF (Genesis/9500) 350/175/50 46:41 Spec Proc. OFF CarrierZIF (Genesis/9500) 440/220/55 35:48 Spec Proc. ON CarrierZIF (9600/350) 450/225/60 38:34 Spec Proc. OFF RAM not interleaved Blue & White G3/400 (400/200/100) 47:23 OS 8.6, 256MB 2CLK RAM Stock Apple G3/233/117/512K (Beige G3) 69:19 66MHz bus As shown above, Infini-D performance was excellent, outperforming even a B&W G3/400.

Bryce 2 Tests

I also ran tests in Bryce 2, using the samples scenes in the KAI folder called "Magical Knight I" and "Alexandria II". Bryce 2 was left at the default memory allocation of 16980k, antialiasing was on, screen resolution was set to 1024x768, thousands colors. Unless noted otherwise, test systems used OS 8.1, RAM was interleaved and Speculative Processing was on. The PowerCenter Pro does not support interleaved RAM. Note that bus speed matters little in these tests and apparently OS 8.6 or the B&W G3 extension set were reasons that in this test a B&W G3/400 often trailed upgraded older Macs. Bryce 2 Rendering Tests (Minutes:seconds) Upgrade/System Magical Night I Alexandra II Notes OWC Mercury 400 ZIF (Beige G3) *Overclocked* @434/217/66 2:36 3:31 (Spec. proc. On) OWC Mercury 350 ZIF (Genesis/9500) 350/175/50 3:15 4:23 Spec. proc. Off CarrierZIF (Genesis/9500) 440/220/55 2:31 3:25 Spec. proc. Off CarrierZIF (PowerCenter Pro) 450/225/60 2:31 3:25 (No support for interleaved RAM) Blue & White G3/400 (OS 8.6, 256MB RAM) 400/200/100 2:50 3:53 PowerTower Pro 180 (604E, OS 7.6, 128MB RAM) 180/51/1MB 6:37 9:04   8500/120 w/1MB L2 (604, OS 7.6, 128MB) 120/40/1MB 11:36 15:32 using PowerLogic 1MB L2 Cache . Bryce (like all rendering apps) performance is primarily CPU speed dependent so an upgraded older Mac can outperform even the B&W G3.

After Effects 3.1 Tests

The following is a chart showing the time to render a short special effects movie (10MB file size) in Adobe's After Effects 3.1. After Effects 3.01 Make Movie Tests (Minutes:seconds) Upgrade/System Time Notes OWC Mercury 400 ZIF (Beige G3) *Overclocked* @434/217/66 3:18 (Spec. Proc ON) OWC Mercury 350 ZIF (Genesis/9500) 350/175/50 4:04 Spec Proc. OFF CarrierZIF (Genesis/9500) 440/220/55 3:15 Spec Proc. OFF Stock B&W G3/400 @400/200/100 3:34 OS 8.6 (3:33 w/8.5.1) Stock 8600/250 (604E, OS 7.6, 128MB) 250/50/1MB 5:54 OS 8.1 8500/120 w/1MB L2 (604, OS 7.6, 128MB) 120/40/1MB 12:18 PowerLogic 1MB L2

I did not run Photoshop 5 tests for this review, but you can get an idea of performance with various CPU upgrades from past CPU card reviews and results noted on my Photoshop 5 Performance page.

Game Performance Tests:

Tests were done in Rave Quake and Unreal v224b7. Since your video card is a major factor in the speed and quality of 3D games, the first gamer's purchase should be a fast 3D card such as a 3Dfx Voodoo 2, Voodoo3 or perhaps a Rage128, and plenty of RAM (games like Unreal and Quake 3 both need 90MB+ now). If you're well equipped with RAM (128MB or more) and have a G3 CPU already, a gamer's best investment is a fast 3D video card which will boost speeds and provide better visuals as well. The Beige G3's onboard ATI RagePro is a severe limiter with today's latest games (Unreal, Quake2, Q3test). Since the RagePro is really too slow for Quake2 or Q3test and the fact that the Proformance 3 in the Genesis doesn't have Opengl drivers as of this date, I've didn't test those games with the upgrades for this review. One reason these Mercury ZIFs are attractive is that the cost savings may allow you to buy a video card as well as the CPU upgrade for the same cost as some brand name G3 upgrades of the same speed. That way you address two factors (CPU and Video) that are important to game performance. The world's fastest CPU can't make a older video chip draw any more frames after its saturated nor can it provide the improved 3D features seen in some of the modern 3D video cards (see my video cards page for reviews). Had I not be pressed for time (reviews of the iMac DV SE and Apple G4/450 in the works), I'd have tested with other video cards in the Beige G3, but realize a Voodoo3 or Rage128 would likely double the RagePro's game performance as you can see from some of the results below. RAVE Quake 1.09 Timedemo Demo 1 Results Results in Bold are with the review card All numbers are frames per second (higher is better) System/Upgrade 640x480 800x600 1024x768 OWC Mercury 350 ZIF in Genesis (350/175/50 w/Proformance 3) 63.5 49.5 37.4 OWC Mercury 400 ZIF in Beige G3 (@ 434/217/66 w/RagePro) 24.5 15.4 11.6 Beige G3/333 (w/Voodoo2) 47.4 31 N/A Stock B&W G3/400 (400/200/100 w/Rage128 Orion) Card in 66MHz PCI slot 63.0 44.2 27.8 MAChCarrier450 in Genesis/9500 (@ 450/225/45 w/Rage128 Orion) 57.8 43.7 29.3 Apple Beige G3 233/512K (RagePro 6MB) 21.5 15.9 11.0 Unreal v224B7 (latest version as of this review date) was used along with my Unreal ini files (high quality textures, high detail actors, etc.). These settings were too much for the Beige G3's onboard RagePro chip and there were some texture problems seen during the tests. (ATI's latest universal installer 4.01 drivers were used with the Beige G3.) I've included some Beige G3 results with faster video cards to show you how gamer performance increases when a modern/faster 3D card is used in that system. The links on the video card names in the table go to reviews that I've done in the past of them. Unreal 224B7 Castle Flyby Tests High Quality Textures/Actors (using my Unreal.ini files listed here) All numbers are frames per second (higher is better) System 640x480 800x600 1024x768 OWC Mercury ZIF in Genesis/9500 (400/200/50) w/Proformance 3 34.8 32.5 30.5 OWC Mercury ZIF in Beige G3 (434/217/66) w/ATI RagePro 11.1 7.68 7.29 MAChCarrierZIF 450 in Genesis/9500 (450/225/45) w/Rage128 Orion 32.4 25.7 19.8 G3/400 CPU Upgrade in Beige G3 (400/200/66) w/Voodoo3 46.6 43.5 38.4 B&W G3/400 w/Voodoo3 Card in 66MHz PCI slot 50.1 44.0 40.5 B&W G3/400 Rage128 Orion Card in 66MHz PCI slot 42.7 33.5 21.6 As noted in my Interleaved RAM article, Unreal performance improves as much as 22% from interleaving RAM, based on tests with the same CPU card/speed. The Voodoo3 is throttled because of this when running in the PowerCenter Pro. Other Sources of Game Performance Comparisons: My Video card reviews page lists articles and reviews with comparisons of literally every fast Mac 3D video card currently on the market. My searchable Mac Game Framerates database has over 500 entries (and growing) of Mac 3D game framerate reports using Unreal, Quake1, Quake2, Q3test and/or Falcon4. Systems range from 603e models to Apple's latest AGP/G4s. You can limit searches by game title, video card, CPU speed, Mac model (or any combination). This database can be a great tool to see what effect CPU speed and video card have on game performance. Articles in the Game News page sidebar. For 3Dfx video card specific information, see my new www.mac3dfx.com site.

The next page describes the cache control software for those that use the Mercury ZIF with an XLR8 CarrierZIF base card. Or you may use the links below to jump to a specific page.

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