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 The Source for Mac Performance News and Reviews |
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10X G3 CPU Upgrade for PCI Macs Published: 8/31/99 |
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| Applications and Game Performance | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| This page lists test results in common Mac applications like Photoshop 5, Bryce 2, Infini-D 4.01, After Effects 3.1, Premiere 4.2 and many popular 3D games. To see additional scores with other systems and G3 Upgrades, visit my G3 Apps Tests page and the many other previous CPU upgrade reviews. For a searchable database of hundreds of entries for 3D game framerates, see my new Mac Game FPS database.
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| 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 XLR8 CarrierZIF (with XLR8 400Mhz ZIF module) in several systems along with other systems/similar 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 (the PowerCenter Pro does not support interleaved RAM)
As shown above, Infini-D performance was excellent, outperforming even a B&W G3/400.
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| 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 the many close times and that all CarrierZIF scores were faster in this test than a B&W G3/400 with OS 8.6. Bryce2, like most rendering apps, is primarily CPU speed dependent.
Bryce performance (like all rendering apps) is primarily CPU speed dependent so an upgraded older Mac can outperform even the B&W G3 with the right CPU.
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| After Effects 3.1 Tests | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The following is a chart showing the time to render a special effects movie (10MB file size) in AE with the CarrierZIF and other systems. Resolution was set to 1024x768, thousands colors as was common on all but the Photoshop 5 tests.
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| Photoshop 5.02 Tests: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I also ran a complete PS5Bench (21 filter test) series. Only the total time to complete the tests are shown, but for more details on PSBench and the name of every filter used see my Photoshop 5 Performance page which lists other systems including PCs (Pentium III/Dual Pentium II). PSBench settings are 1024x768, millions colors, VM off, Interpolation set to bicubic (better) and Photoshop should be allocated enough RAM (I use 80MB) to avoid any swap file activity from the 10MB test image filter actions.
Note that disabling "Speculative Processing" (often called Branch Prediction) actually improved Photoshop performance (I repeated the tests to verify this). See my article on interleaved RAM for Photoshop 5 tests with and without interleaved memory. |
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450MHz CPU Speed 1MB Cache at 225MHz 45MHz Bus 512MB RAM Spec Proc OFF ATI Rage128 Orion OS 8.1 VM OFF |
400MHz CPU Speed 1MB L2 at 200MHz 100MHz Bus 192MB SDRAM Rage128 16MB OS 8.5.1 VM OFF |
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See my Photoshop5 Performance page for more results including Pentium III/Dual Pentium II
Interesting Note: a Pentium III 500Mhz (500/250/100) Windows 98 system with 256MB SDRAM took 165.7 seconds to complete this test. Adobe's Pentium III Photoshop SSE update was applied prior to the test.
| Game Performance Tests: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tests were done in Rave Quake, Quake2, Q3test 1.08 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 (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 faster 3D video card is a far better investment for improved game performance and visuals as well. But as shown in the flat FPS scores, a card like the Voodoo3 can't seem to be saturated even with the fastest G3 CPU.
As shown in the above table, the original OEM Rage128 had a slower clock speed. The rev 2 and retail Rage128 Orions with later drivers improved performance.
(Note: that's not a typo - for some odd reason repeat tests showed the
Q3Test 1.08: I used Q3Test v1.08 (latest currently available) for all tests. Graphics settings in the game were :
The tables below show Q3Test performance with each of the card/system combos in frames-per-second:
Unreal 224B7: The table below summarizes results from the 3rd cycle timedemo of the 'Castle flyby' scene. (All tests used the same detail settings - see my FPS Database entry page to download Unreal.ini files for RAVE and 3dfx cards.)
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 PowerCenter Pro design obviously throttles Unreal performance of the Voodoo3 partly due to a lack of interleaved RAM. Graph of Gaming Boost in the PowerCenter Pro Many readers with PowerCenter Pros have been disappointed in 3D game performance, even with a fast card like the Voodoo3. The lack of interleaved RAM capability (and the older PCI controller) seem to be a major bottleneck. To isolate the benefit from the MAChCarrier 450 for PowerCenter Pro owners I ran game tests with the Voodoo3 and the stock 210/60/1MB system and with the MAChCarrier running at 480/240/60. The graph below shows the results:
As shown in the graph above, the PowerCenter Pro showed substantial gains from the G3 CPU but still trails the performance of Macs with interleaved RAM or the B&W G3 with a similar video card. |
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Summary: Overall applications and game performance was very good, hampered in some cases by factors in the older mac logic board . |
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| The next page describes the software cache control supplied with the card. Or you may use the links below to jump to a specific page. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Copyright © Mike, 1999. No part of this sites content or images are to be reproduced or distributed in any form without written permission. Users of the web site must read and are bound by the terms and conditions of use. |
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