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Review: Powerlogix's G3/800MHz ZIF CPU Upgrade Tests in B&W G3 vs. various G3 and G4 CPU Upgrades By Mike B. Published: 3/25/2003 Updated 4/3/2003 for G4/550-600MHz tests

Benchmark Test Results

Intro | Benchmarks  | Apps/Game Tests | Software Controls | Installation | Specs/Design

Benchmark Tests

Benchmark tests were run with Altivec Fractal demo, CineBench 2000 and 2003, and GaugePro memory bandwidth test results. Of course Benchmarks are far less important than real world applications tests results. CineBench 2003 Results: Cinebench 2003 was released in Feb. 2003, so it was not available when I reviewed/tested the G4/400 and G4/500 ZIFs which were returned after that review. (CineBench 2003 is available at http://www.maxon.net/jumps/cinebench.html.) But I was able to test a G3/500, G4/450 ZIF and a loaner OWC G4/550 ZIF (tested at 550 and 600MHz) vs the G3/800 upgrade using Cinebench 2003. All tests were run at 1024x768, millions color mode under OS X 10.1.5. Higher numbers are better. Legend: CB 1 CPU = Single CPU render score GFX C4D = Graphics performance using Cinema's software mode OGL SL = Graphics performance using OpenGL Software Lighting mode OGL HL = Graphics performance using OpenGL Hardware Lighting mode SL Ratio = Gain from OpenGL Software Lighting over C4D non-GL mode HL Ratio = Gain from OpenGL Hardware Lighting over C4D non-GL mode As an FYI, here's the results with CineBench 2000 in OS 9.2 with the G3/800 and several other upgrades tested previously: Fractal FPU Benchmark: I used the freeware Altivec Fractal (Carbon) demo program (available here) to compare FPU/Altivec performance of the B&W system with the original G3/350 CPU, G3/500, G3/800 and G4 upgrades. Default settings were used. This demo of course shows a huge gain from Altivec support in the G4s. (Note: MegaFlops/sec = Millions of Floating Point Operations per Second.) Support of Altivec instructions dramatically increases performance with the G4 upgrades; much more of an increase than actually seen in common applications that support Altivec. GaugePro Memory Bandwidth Tests: Newer Tech's (R.I.P.) GaugePro has a simple memory bandwidth test included. I've seen a lot of variation with this utility, so all my tests were run immediately after a clean reboot, with no other apps running. (GaugePro 1.1 is available at OWC's Newer Tech software mirror page.) G4s have always shown higher rates with this test than G3s. As a FYI - GaugePro showed Altivec was fully supported/enabled with all the G4s installed in the B&W G3 without any addon software or cache enablers. (OS 9.1 and OS 9.2.1/9.2.2 installed with no addon cache enabler software.) Beige G3s require a cache enabler with any G4 upgrade. This may affect Altivec support in some cases. Altivec support requires OS 8.6 or later. (OS 9.1 or later preferred.)

For comparisons to other CPU Card upgrades and systems see the site list of CPU Card Reviews and Systems page.

The next page has results from real world applications. Or you may use the links below to jump to a specific page.

Index of PL G3/800 ZIF Review Pages Intro | Benchmarks  | Apps/Game Tests | Software Controls | Installation | Specs/Design - or - Back to WWW.XLR8YOURMAC.COM

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