Benchmark tests were run in MacBench 4.0 and the Motorola compiled version of BYTEMARK (not the latest DR/3 Version). I continued to use the older Bytemark to allow 1:1 comparisons with scores ran with it on the other G3 cards. Since the new version reports much higher Integer scores it would not be a fair comparison without retesting the other cards again, something that is not possible since they have been returned.

I use the standard practice of listing speeds in the format of CPU Speed/Cache speed (in mhz), so 250/166 would mean a CPU speed of 250 Mhz with a backside cache speed of 166 Mhz. As with all current PowerForce designs, the maximum bus speed possible is 45 Mhz (only the first PowerLogix production runs allowed faster bus speeds). I did not have to remove the PowerTower Pro 1MB motherboard cache dimm during the tests.

MacBench and BYTEMARK tests were run at several combinations found to be reliable in several days of use, but as with any card, your results may vary.

Remember that each card and system has some tolerance variation, so the speeds I obtained may not be possible in every card or system. The specific CPU chip on each card and your motherboard components and RAM can affect maximum reliable speeds. For this reason I've listed MacBench scores for both the stock 250/166 and the higher speeds that were reliable with this particular card/system combination during the review period.

The MacBench graphs below shows how the card scored at various speeds and shows its performance relative to both the stock PowerTower Pro 180 base system, and some of the other G3 cards I've tested. I've done this to allow you to see how the CPU performance of this card boosted the overall performance of the base PTP180, and to allow you to compare performance relative to other G3 cards I've tested.

In the first graph below the stock PowerTower Pro 180 scores are assigned a 100% rating, and the various Railgun speeds are normalized to that figure for comparison. In the second graph the Railgun scores are the baseline for comparison with the other G3 cards.

Notice how the ATI VR graphics score skyrocketed with a faster CPU. That illustrates my point about video cards often being CPU bound and that the CPU is almost always the limiting factor (exception is the 3Dfx cards, which have relatively flat performance regardless of CPU speed).

Notice how the disk score stays flat, as the stock interface/drive is already saturated with the 180mhz CPU. And notice that a slower bus speed did not hurt the disk scores at all (stock bus speed was 51mhz, the G3 CPU card used under 45mhz bus speeds).

The Railgun scores very well compared to more expensive 1MB Cache G3 cards.

I used the Motorola compiled version of rev 2 (not DR/3) BYTEMARK for the tests. You cannot compare scores from DR/3 to these results, as DR/3 returns much higher Integer scores (about 15%). For comparison, scores from the XLR8 266/177, MacTell 266/266 and PowerForce 220/110 card reviews are shown for reference:

I've started rounding off the results to two digits after the decimal since it makes easier reading. Again note that I used the rev 2 Bytemark (Motorola compiled), the latest DR/3 Bytemark delivers much higher Integer scores. I used the old version for comparison since that's what I used for the other cards.

To see who the Railgun compared in real world tests, the next page shows applications tests results.  

The Railgun did very well in the benchmarks especially for a card in this price range, so I rated Benchmark performance a 9.

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