Cleaner 5.02 MPEG Tests:
Cleaner 5.02 is the latest version of the popular Media Cleaner Pro utility by Terran (now owned by Media100). For a list of features and formats it supports (Mac and Windows) and why it's so popular, see this 2pop Cleaner 5 review and the Terran Cleaner 5 product page. This test used a 320x240 Sorensen QT movie converted to MPEG. (Using wizard settings of CDROM, 4x, High-End, MPEG settings. Data rate avg 2.0Mbits/sec.) The graph below shows the total time for the Beige G3 w/XLR8 MPe and my Dual G4/500 AGP system. (Timings were from Cleaner so there's no human stopwatch error.)
iMovie2 Export Tests:
iMovie2 was used for an easily repeatable test of movie export performance. I take the Tutorial project and stack the clips end-to-end (no transitions to reduce the number of variables). I export to CDROM Medium size movie, with the default settings (H263 codec, 320x240, 44KHz audio, etc.) The graph below shows the total time for the Beige G3 w/XLR8 MPe and my Dual G4/500 AGP system. (Timings were from a stopwatch so there's some chance of human error.) Tests were done with both Quicktime 4.12 and Quicktime 5 (beta) preview 3. As noted in my previous tests, QT5 shows dramatically higher performance for this test, even on a single CPU system.
It's amazing to see that QT 5 cut times nearly in half. (Note: iMovie 2.01 was used since both systems were running OS 9.04. (iMovie 2.03 requires OS 9.1.)
Photoshop Filter Tests:
PSBench's 21 filter action script was created as a cross-platform test of Photoshop performance, long before the G4 CPU based Macs were available. Only a few of the 21 filters in the test are accelerated by Altivec (Lighting Effects benefits most, about 4x faster). The overall score is heavily weighted towards non-Altivec supported filter functions (the filters that took longest to run don't benefit from Altivec), so the total test times don't show a large difference between a G3 or G4 of the same clock speed. However since users don't always use Altivec aware filters all the time, the results are still a valid comparison of system performance for the filter functions listed. Rather than just a simple graph showning total times for the filter series, as in my other reviews, I've listed each filter, its description and the time each system took to complete it. (Each filter is run 3 times, the avg. is displayed in the table below. PhotoShop's timing function is used, not a stopwatch.)
The graph below shows a comparison of the Beige G3 with XLR8's G4/500 MPe (dual CPU) in yellow, compared to several other systems.
Filter-by-Filter Performance Comparisons:
A web page isn't wide enough to show every system tested in the past here, so I selected several for a filter-by-filter comparison including my G4/500 Dual Processor system and a reader's G4/733 system. (This also allows you to compare performance filter-by-filter to see the difference by function, not just total time.) The table below shows the times in seconds to perform each of the 21 filter operations on a 10MB image. (Fastest filter times are in bold.)
| Photoshop 5.5 Tests |
|
PS5Bench Test
(10MB Image File)
|
HP Pavilion 1G
1GHz PIII CPU
256KB L2 at 1GHz
133MHz bus
256MB PC800 RAMBUS
Geforce 2 AGP (64MB)
Win98 SE
VM On |
Apple G4/500 AGP
500MHz G4 7400 CPU
1MB L2 at 250MHz
100MHz Bus
256MB SDRAM (222)
Rage128 Pro AGP (16MB)
OS 9.04
VM OFF |
Apple G4/500 MP
Dual 500MHz 7400 G4 CPUs
1MB L2 at 250MHz x2
100MHz Bus
1GB SDRAM (222)
Radeon AGP (32MB)
OS 9.04
VM OFF |
Beige G3
w/XLR8 MPe
Dual 500MHz G4 7400 CPU
1MB L2 at 250MHz
66MHz Bus
320MB SDRAM
Radeon PCI (32MB)
OS 9.04
VM OFF |
G4/733 w/Radeon AGP
733 MHz G4 7450 CPU
256KB L2 at 733MHz
1MB L3@244MHz
133MHz Bus
256MB SDRAM (222)
ATI Radeon AGP (32MB)
OS 9.1
VM OFF |
|
Rotate 90
|
0.2
|
0.2
|
0.2
|
0.3
|
0.2
|
|
Rotate 9
|
1.6
|
2.0
|
1.2
|
1.8
|
1.2
|
|
Rotate .9
|
1.5
|
1.9
|
1.2
|
1.6
|
1.2
|
|
Gaussian Blur 1
|
0.5
|
0.5
|
0.4
|
0.8
|
0.3
|
|
Gaussian Blur 3.7
|
1.3
|
1.4
|
0.9
|
1.6
|
1.1
|
|
Gaussian Blur 85
|
3.2
|
1.6
|
1.1
|
2.0
|
1.3
|
|
Unsharp 50/1/0
|
0.6
|
0.7
|
0.5
|
0.9
|
0.6
|
|
Unsharp 50/3/7/0
|
1.4
|
1.7
|
1.0
|
1.8
|
1.3
|
|
Unsharp 50/10/5
|
1.6
|
1.7
|
1.1
|
1.9
|
1.4
|
|
Despeckle
|
1.7
|
0.8
|
0.5
|
0.8
|
0.6
|
|
RGB-CMYK
|
2.6
|
4.0
|
4.2
|
4.1
|
2.3
|
|
Reduce Size 60%
|
0.6
|
0.4
|
0.3
|
0.5
|
0.2
|
|
Lens Flare
|
2.3
|
3.3
|
2.2
|
3.2
|
2.6
|
|
Color Halftone
|
3.5
|
3.0
|
3.0
|
3.1
|
2.4
|
|
NTSC Colors
|
3.2
|
3.4
|
3.5
|
3.4
|
2.7
|
|
Accented Edges
|
7.4
|
8.9
|
9.1
|
8.8
|
7.2
|
|
Pointillize
|
8.7
|
12.5
|
7.4
|
7.6
|
9.6
|
|
Water Color
|
15.8
|
18.7
|
19.3
|
18.6
|
15.9
|
|
Polar Coordinates
|
5.7
|
2.9
|
2.2
|
2.8
|
2.3
|
|
Radial Blur
|
21.2
|
29.9
|
16.2
|
17.4
|
15.9
|
|
Lighting Effects
|
1.2
|
1.7
|
1.2
|
1.4
|
1.3
|
|
PS5Bench Index
(time to complete)
|
85.8
Seconds
|
101.2
Seconds
|
76.7
Seconds
|
84.4
Seconds
|
76.4
Seconds
|
|
System
|
HP Pavilion 1G
1GHz PIII CPU
256KB L2 at 1GHz
133MHz bus
256MB PC800 RAMBUS
Geforce 2GTS AGP (64MB)
Win98 SE
VM On |
Apple G4/500 AGP
500MHz G4 7400 CPU
1MB L2 at 250MHz
100MHz Bus
256MB SDRAM (222)
Rage128 Pro AGP (16MB)
OS 9.04
VM OFF |
Apple G4/500 MP
Dual 500MHz 7400 G4 CPUs
1MB L2 at 250MHz x2
100MHz Bus
1GB SDRAM (222)
Radeon AGP (32MB)
OS 9.04
VM OFF |
Beige G3
w/XLR8 MPe
Dual 500MHz G4 7400 CPU
1MB L2 at 250MHz
66MHz Bus
320MB SDRAM
Radeon PCI (32MB)
OS 9.04
VM OFF |
G4/733 w/Radeon AGP
733 MHz G4 7450 CPU
256KB L2 at 733MHz
1MB L3@244MHz
133MHz Bus
256MB SDRAM (222)
ATI Radeon AGP (32MB)
OS 9.1
VM OFF |
Other Beige G3 Results: Based on past Photoshop 5.02 tests from my Formac G3/450 upgrade review, a stock Beige G3/233 took 254.0 seconds for this test. With the G3/450 ZIF upgrade installed and a VR128 graphics card, the total time was 130.0 seconds.
Photoshop 6.0 Tests:
I also compared the Beige G3 with XLR8 MPe Dual G4/500 to my G4/500 Dual processor AGP system using Photoshop 6.0. (The PShop 6.01 update was not applied.)
| Photoshop 6.0 Tests |
|
PS5Bench Test
(10MB Image File)
|
Apple G4/500 MP
Dual 500MHz 7400 G4 CPUs
1MB L2 at 250MHz x2
100MHz Bus
1GB SDRAM (222)
Radeon AGP (32MB)
OS 9.04
VM OFF |
Beige G3 w/XLR8 MPe
Dual 500MHz G4 7400 CPU
1MB L2 at 250MHz x2
66MHz Bus
320MB SDRAM
Radeon PCI (32MB)
OS 9.04
VM OFF |
|
Rotate 90
|
0.2
|
0.4
|
|
Rotate 9
|
1.2
|
1.8
|
|
Rotate .9
|
1.1
|
1.6
|
|
Gaussian Blur 1
|
0.3
|
0.6
|
|
Gaussian Blur 3.7
|
0.6
|
1.1
|
|
Gaussian Blur 85
|
1.0
|
1.8
|
|
Unsharp 50/1/0
|
0.4
|
0.7
|
|
Unsharp 50/3/7/0
|
0.9
|
1.3
|
|
Unsharp 50/10/5
|
1.0
|
1.6
|
|
Despeckle
|
0.3
|
0.5
|
|
RGB-CMYK
|
5.9 |
5.7
|
|
Reduce Size 60%
|
0.3
|
0.5
|
|
Lens Flare
|
1.9
|
2.7
|
|
Color Halftone
|
2.5
|
3.0
|
|
NTSC Colors
|
2.6
|
2.6
|
|
Accented Edges
|
7.8
|
7.6
|
|
Pointillize
|
7.3
|
7.4
|
|
Water Color
|
17.4 |
16.8
|
|
Polar Coordinates
|
1.6
|
2.1
|
|
Radial Blur
|
15.9
|
16.9
|
|
Lighting Effects
|
3.9
|
4.3
|
|
PS5Bench Index
(time to complete)
|
74.1
Seconds
|
81.0
Seconds
|
|
System
|
Apple G4/500 MP
Dual 500MHz 7400 G4 CPUs
1MB L2 at 250MHz x2
100MHz Bus
1GB SDRAM (222)
GeForce2MX AGP (32MB)
OS 9.04
VM OFFVM OFF |
Beige G3 w/XLR8 MPe
Dual 500MHz G4 7400 CPU
1MB L2 at 250MHz
66MHz Bus
320MB SDRAM
Radeon PCI (32MB)
OS 9.04
VM OFF |
PhotoShop Summary:
The dual G4/500 (Gigabit Ethernet) system has a faster bus/memory speed (1/3 faster), faster graphics card/interface, hard drive/controller ect. so some may say this isn't really a fair test. However I compared them since as with any expensive upgrade, you should consider the upgrade cost vs. getting a new system. (I didn't have a dual G4/533 system to test, but for these filter tests the difference is very small I suspect.) Although it trailed the dual G4/500 AGP system a bit in most filters, I was surprised to see the XLR8 upgraded Beige was faster in a few filters than the Dual G4/500 AGP system. I can only guess the XLR8 MP plugin and control software was the reason why.
With the amount of RAM allocated to PhotoShop (with a 10MB image size), in these filter tests the hard drive and graphics card should have a minimal effect. I suspect the faster RAM/System bus speed is primarily responsible for the differences in performance for the filter tests. To be honest, I never thought I'd see a Beige G3 be able to come close to my dual G4/500 in Photoshop performance.
(For gamers, the faster graphics card port and other features of the later G4 systems would make them a better choice than upgrading a Beige G3. The onboard firewire ports and faster IDE interface of the later G4s is also a plus, especially if you've not upgraded your Beige G3 with a faster IDE controller or Firewire card.)
CineBench 2000 Tests:
As regular readers know (from past reviews and the Video card/System performance database here) Maxon, makers of Cinema 4D (a 3D modelling/rendering/animation program) has a benchmark program to gauge/compare performance in 3D applications called CineBench 2000. The CineBench test consists of the following tests:
- A wireframe and shaded terrain spin (using Cinema software and then OpenGL acceleration)
- A "Fly-through" of a fairly detailed scene in both wireframe and shaded mode (using Cinema software and then OpenGL acceleration)
- Rendering of a sample scene (using both processors if present)
The scores below compare the Beige G3 w/XLR8 MPe upgrade (w/Radeon PCI card), my Dual G4/500 AGP system (w/Radeon AGP card) and a reader's G4/533 AGP system (w/Radeon AGP card). Scores are in 3 categories: Shading (Cinema's software 3d), OpenGL (hardware accelerated 3d), and Rendering (time to render a sample scene. The software is MP aware and the Rendering scores reflect the dual CPU test results. (Higher numbers are better.)
There were some dual G4/533 entries in the database with lower scores than the ones I used, (about the same as my dual G4/500), so results can vary depending on graphics card drivers used, etc. (The dual G4/533 results used OS 9.1, other systems used OS 9.04 which could also be a factor.) Graphics mode for all systems in the graph was 1024x768, millions colors. Each used an ATI Radeon card with 1.1.1 drivers. (The Beige used a PCI Radeon since it has no AGP slot.)
To download Cinebench for your own tests, see http://www.maxon.net/pages/download/benchmarks.html.
Quake3 v117 Tests: Since this upgrade is targeted at publishing/video professionals (not gamers), I only ran a simple series of Quake3 v117 tests at 32bit mode, high geometric detail, texture quality one notch from max and all game options on (HQ sky, ejecting brass, marks on wall, etc. were all enabled). As expected the G4/500 with 2x AGP Radeon card and faster system bus outperformed the Radeon PCI card. (Both cards uses the latest 1.1.1 drivers and OpenGL 1.2.1 under OS 9.04.)
For other video card/system tests see the Video articles page.
XLR8's Dual Processor Control Panel:
This page is already too heavy to show all the screens, but here's the main one from the XLR8 MPe Control Panel which shows details on each CPU including speeds (CPU, Cache, RAM), temperatures of each CPU and more. (Each tab is a page with more info/details.)
Availability & Pricing:
(Update - as noted above, in 2002 XLR8.com closed their doors. I don't know of any sources of this model anymore. The review loaner was returned in March 2001.)
System Configurations:
Other than the G4/733 reader's system (detailed in the table), here are the details on the systems I used for testing.
- Apple Beige G3/233 MiniTower (XLR8 supplied system)
- XLR8 MPe Dual 500MHz G4 CPUs (rev 2.9)
- 1MB of L2 Cache at 250MHz (x2)
- 66MHz system bus
- OS 9.04
- Virtual Memory Off
- 320MB RAM
- OEM 4GB IDE Hard Drive (ATA/3 onboard IDE)
- OEM CD-ROM Drive (IDE)
- ATI Radeon PCI w/32MB DDR SDRAM
(Using OpenGL 1.2.1 and latest 1.1.1 Radeon drivers)
- Apple Dual G4/500 AGP
- Dual 500MHz G4 CPUs (rev 2.9)
- 1MB of L2 Cache at 250MHz x2
- 100MHz system bus
- OS 9.04
- Virtual Memory Off
- 1GB RAM (222)
- OEM 20GB Maxtor IDE Hard Drive (ATA/66 onboard IDE)
- OEM DVD-ROM Drive (IDE)
- ATI Radeon AGP (retail) w/32MB DDR SDRAM
(Using OpenGL 1.2.1 and latest 1.1.1 Radeon drivers)
- Apple G4/500 AGP (fall 1999 system)
- 500MHz G4 CPU (rev 2.8)
- 1MB of L2 Cache at 250MHz
- 100MHz system bus
- OS 9.04 with Firmware update
- Virtual Memory Off
- 256MB PC100 RAM (222)
- 45GB IBM 75GXP IDE Hard Drive (ATA/66 onboard IDE)
- 6X DVD-ROM drive (IDE)
- ATI Rage128 PRO AGP w/16MB SDRAM
- HP Pavilion 1G
- 1GHz Pentium III (Coppermine)
- 256KB of on-die L2 Cache at 1GHz
- 133Mhz system bus
- Windows 98 Second Edition
- Virtual Memory Enabled
- Intel VC820 Motherboard
- 256MB PC800 RAMBUS RAM
- 40GB Maxtor IDE Hard Drive
- 10X Pioneer DVD ROM (IDE)
- 4x/4x/24x CDRW (IDE)
- Hercules Prophet II 64MB DDR
(Nvidia GeForce 2 GTS)
(owner replaced original GeForce 32MB DDR card)
- Intel 10/100 PCI network card
- SoundBlaster Live PCI audio card
Test Settings:
All tests used display settings of 1024x768, millions colors. Virtual Memory was off for all Macs tested. Photoshop had Interpolation set to bicubic (better) and Photoshop was allocated enough RAM to avoid any swap file activity from the 10MB test image filter actions. (128MB was allocated to Photoshop for the systems I tested.)
All tests with Photoshop 5.5 used the latest (5.5.2) Adobe Altivec Core Extension, MP extension and Lighting Effects filter.
On the 1GHz PC, Photoshop 5.5 tests included SSE support. (I did not have PShop 6 for Windows to test.) Windows background tasks like McAfee's anti-virus and the task scheduler were disabled. The Windows swap file was set to the same min/max size (384MB) - a common tip to improve performance by preventing Windows from resizing the swap file during apps use).
For more info or to download the PSBench action file, see PSBench Home Page. (There may be a later version of the action script there now, I've used the same one for about a year now to make sure all tests used the exact same script.) | 
