by
rob-ART morgan, mad scientist
This THIRD page was added to the
original
test page
and second
page
on 9/1/02 to show how rendering time is affected by
network transfers.
Also includes Final Cut Pro test results.
When we did a
Cinema 4D render while doing a disk transfer,
someone said that wasn't demanding enough. So, at
their suggestion, we did a network transfer while
rendering, a scenario that exercises at least three
subsystems simultaneously:
Initially, we
used a normal network hub, which limited transfer
bandwidth to 100BaseT. I decided to utilize Gigabit
Ethernet full speed by using a CAT 5e cable to
connect the test systems to another PowerMac. That
actually helped the DDR Power Mac gain an even
larger advantage (up from 9% to 13%). This is the
first "significant" speed advantage the DDR has
shown us.
Just for fun, I
timed how long it took to transfer eight documents
totalling 3.6GB over the Gigabit mini-network. It
took 91 seconds in the case of the DDR Power Mac.
That's a transfer speed of 39MB/sec!
Kewl.
Some of you asked
for Final Cut Pro 3 results. For this test, I
created a 2 minute 19 second movie (using the 6
clips from the iMovie tutorial dropped in 3 times)
and exported it as a high quality Final Cut Pro
movie. The DDR Power Mac was only 4.5%
faster:
Another reader
said, do a RENDER, not an EXPORT. So we tried
rendering the same movie with a WIND BLUR effect.
The DDR Mac was only 1% faster.
CONCLUSION
The NEW DDR
Power Mac finally showed the SDR Power Mac its hind
quarters in a real world test. It was 13%
quicker when we exercised the ATA and Ethernet
subsystems while doing the CPU intensive Cinema 4D
render. That would tend to support the theory that
the DDR Mac can handle full system loads
better.
Those who
suggested that the DDR mac would excel at Final Cut
Pro are going to be disappointed. It was only 1 to
4.5% faster in our two tests.
Again, I see the
DDR as an evolutionary step toward the "killer"
Power Mac still to come. Today we get a DDR Power
Mac strangled by a single, slower bridge and system
bus. "Tomorrow," we get a DDR Power Mac liberated
by dual frontside bus and equally fast system
bus.... we hope and pray.
TEST
NOTES
The "SDR" Power
Mac 1GHz MP had 1GB of PC133 CL2 SDRAM.
The "DDR" Power Mac 1GHz MP had 1.25GB of PC2700
CL2.5 DDR RAM
Both booted and ran apps from an IBM 120GXP drive
with OS X "Jaguar" installed.
The Cinema 4D
"Render Scene" test used 1024x768 screen setting.
Sample file was "scene0.c4d" from CineBench2000 +
attending texture files. Cinema 4D was launched
first and test file opened. The network copy was
then started. Third, Cinema 4D's "render scene"
command was executed. Time in seconds appears at
lower left of screen.
The QuickTime
Export from Final Cut Pro included these
settings:
VIDEO - DV/DVCPRO - NTSC, Best, 30fps
AUDIO - MPEG-4 Audio, 44.1kHz, 16 bit, Stereo
INTERNET - Hinted Streaming (no
optimization)
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