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MacPicasso MP540/3D Overdrive Review

2D Tests of the MP540 Card

Intro | 2D Performance | 3D Performance | Game Performance | Movie Playback | Features | Summary

2D Performance

The MP540 is the 2D card part of the pair, containing 4 MB of 10ns SGram running at 100mhz, a "Harlekin" graphics chip with integrated 200mhz RamDac. (The chip is rumored to be a Cirrus Logix part, but with the bonded on heatsink I can't check. I found it odd that a heatsink is used when the part never gets warm.) Resolutions of 512 x 384 to 1600 x 1200 are supported, but I suggest 1024x768 as the maximum for best performance, especially if running higher color depths.
It is important to run both the "Monitors and Picasso" easy install and the MP540 install to ensure all drivers are installed. The former installs only the control panel, and the latter installs the MacPicasso_Accel_PPC, MaPi_MPEG_Accel, and MaPi_YUV_Accel extensions. Without these extensions performance is severely compromised. The printed manual I had showed only the Monitors and Picasso installing, not mentioning the required MP540 installation. A later version of the manual is now available in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format for existing owners.
For comparisons of 2D speeds, I used two cards in a similar price range - the ATI Nexus GA and IXMicro Ultimate Rez (for reviews of these cards click here.) I ran most tests at 1024x768, the maximum I suggest using with the MP540 card for performance reasons. MacBench 4.0 scores are shown below:

Thousands Colors Mode - 1024x768

As you can see, the MP540 does fairly well at this color depth and resolution against the other cards. You'd never "see" a 10% difference in speed, and most users would not notice even a 20% difference in normal use. However as shown below as color depth increases the MP540 card starts to run out of breath, while the Nexus GA and Ultimate Rez performance stays fairly flat. The performance hit from higher color depths makes me wonder if the MP540 memory bus is only 32-bits wide.

Millions Colors Mode - 1024x768

Increasing color depth costs more than 30% in performance on the MP540, while the other cards show very little performance loss.

Millions Colors Mode - 1152x870
As shown in the above graph, color depth takes the biggest bite out of the MP540's performance. The Ultimate Rez and Nexus GA perform much better at higher resolutions and color depths in 2D. However 2D is only one aspect of this combo. The MacPicasso MP540/3DO does much better when displaying 3D, Movies and Games.
On a scale of 1 to 10, I rated 2D speed a 6.

Index of MacPicasso MP540/3DO Review Pages
Intro | 2D Performance | 3D Performance | Game Performance | Movie Playback | Features | Summary
- or -
Back to WWW.XLR8YOURMAC.COM

Copyright © Mike, 1998.

No part of this sites content or images are to be reproduced or distributed in any form without written permission. All brand or product names mentioned here are properties of their respective companies.


MacPicasso MP540/3D Overdrive Review
2D Tests of the MP540 Card
Intro \| 2D Performance \| 3D Performance \| Game Performance \| Movie Playback \| Features \| Summary
2D Performance
The MP540 is the 2D card part of the pair, containing 4 MB of 10ns SGram running at 100mhz, a "Harlekin" graphics chip with integrated 200mhz RamDac. (The chip is rumored to be a Cirrus Logix part, but with the bonded on heatsink I can't check. I found it odd that a heatsink is used when the part never gets warm.) Resolutions of 512 x 384 to 1600 x 1200 are supported, but I suggest 1024x768 as the maximum for best performance, especially if running higher color depths. It is important to run both the "Monitors and Picasso" easy install and the MP540 install to ensure all drivers are installed. The former installs only the control panel, and the latter installs the MacPicasso_Accel_PPC, MaPi_MPEG_Accel, and MaPi_YUV_Accel extensions. Without these extensions performance is severely compromised. The printed manual I had showed only the Monitors and Picasso installing, not mentioning the required MP540 installation. A later version of the manual is now available in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format for existing owners. For comparisons of 2D speeds, I used two cards in a similar price range - the ATI Nexus GA and IXMicro Ultimate Rez (for reviews of these cards click here.) I ran most tests at 1024x768, the maximum I suggest using with the MP540 card for performance reasons. MacBench 4.0 scores are shown below: Thousands Colors Mode - 1024x768 As you can see, the MP540 does fairly well at this color depth and resolution against the other cards. You'd never "see" a 10% difference in speed, and most users would not notice even a 20% difference in normal use. However as shown below as color depth increases the MP540 card starts to run out of breath, while the Nexus GA and Ultimate Rez performance stays fairly flat. The performance hit from higher color depths makes me wonder if the MP540 memory bus is only 32-bits wide. Millions Colors Mode - 1024x768 Increasing color depth costs more than 30% in performance on the MP540, while the other cards show very little performance loss. Millions Colors Mode - 1152x870 As shown in the above graph, color depth takes the biggest bite out of the MP540's performance. The Ultimate Rez and Nexus GA perform much better at higher resolutions and color depths in 2D. However 2D is only one aspect of this combo. The MacPicasso MP540/3DO does much better when displaying 3D, Movies and Games. On a scale of 1 to 10, I rated 2D speed a 6.

Index of MacPicasso MP540/3DO Review Pages Intro \| 2D Performance \| 3D Performance \| Game Performance \| Movie Playback \| Features \| Summary - or - Back to WWW.XLR8YOURMAC.COM
Copyright © Mike, 1998. No part of this sites content or images are to be reproduced or distributed in any form without written permission. All brand or product names mentioned here are properties of their respective companies.