CPU, FPU,and Rendering Speed

6/22/03 -- MacSpeedZone has an exhaustive collection of real world tests comparing various iBook and PowerBook models.

6/22/03 -- MacSpeedZone also has searched all over the net for articles comparing Mac to PC.

5/31/03 -- MacWorld has posted some real world test results for the 17" PowerBook versus 15" PowerBook versus 12" PowerBook. By the way, if you are trying to decide between an iBook, 12" PowerBook and used/refurb 15" PowerBook, MacWorld has that comparison just for you.

12/26/02 -- Be sure you read XLR8YourMac's review of the Dual 1GHz upgrade in a Dual G4/533 Power Mac.

12/09/02 -- Here's some test results comparing the 3GHz Pentium 4 to a Dual 1.25GHz G4. Check out our updated Pentium 4 versus G4 page.

6/27/02 -- Dying for Xserve performance data? According to the testing done by Xinet, the Xserve blows away a similarly configured Dual 1GHz G4 Power Mac doing server duties. Very impressive. (See Xserve specs.)

04/01/02 -- MacSpeedZone compares Virtual PC 5.0 running on a Dual G4/800, Dual G4/1000, and Solo G4/933.

03/29/02 -- LightWave 3D 7.0 benchmarks on various PC and Mac models.

03/25/02 -- MacSpeedZone compares the G4/800, G4/933, and Dual G4/1000. They also have an article comparing them to 14 older models.

3/6/02 -- Here's the report from a brave soul who over-clocked his dual G4/1000 Tower to go 1200MHz *2 = 2400MHz!!!! He responded to my email and ran some of my real world tests. Compare his results to my page on the Dual 1000. See also XLR8YourMac's Dual G4/1GHz test results.

02/19/02 -- Did you know the theme you choose in OS X can affect your speed? Check out these Theme Test Results on XLR8YourMac.

10/29/02 -- MacSpeedZone has a comparison of the G4/733, G4/867, and Dual G4/800.

10/18/2001 -- XLR8YourMac has posted a report on the G4/500 and G3/500 ZIF upgrades from OWC.

1/23/2001 -- I missed this back in December but Mike Breeden posted an interesting comparison of Virtual PC 4.0 on a G4 versus Virtual PC 3.0 versus a Pentium II 350MHz, all three running a series of Photoshop filters. GOOD NEWS: VPC 4.0 was twice as fast as VPC 3.0. BAD NEWS: The Pentium II was more than twice as fast as VPC 4.0. In other words, Virtual PC 4.0 equivalent to a 150MHz Pentium II. Bummer.

11/13/2000 -- I don't think I ever posted this link. One site shows the use of the HINT benchmark to illustrate, "How much does the Altivec unit on Motorola's G4 chip improve floating-point performance?"

9/29/2000 -- PC World compared a Dual 1GHz Pentium to a Dual G4/500 using Photoshop. The G4 was equal to or faster in 5 out of 7 tests. The G4 didn't fair so well on the other tests (Illustrator, Bryce, Canoma, Canvas, etc.).

8/10/2000 -- MacWorld has updated their DUAL G4 POWER MAC results using Photoshop, SoundJam and Cinema 4D on both a 450 and 500 model. The advantage of the dual cpu models ranged from 25% to 100% depending on the application. Average advantage was about 60%. Use that to compute your bang per buck.

7/11/2000 -- Here's a table comparing the speed of RDRAM to SDRAM.

7/8/2000 -- Here's a great page that uses the HINT benchmark to show what AltiVec does for floating point operations.

6/20/2000 -- Accelerate Your Mac uses 21 Photoshop functions to compare a 1 Gigahertz Pentium III system to a G4/500 Power Mac.

6/3/2000 -- MacWorld tested the new "firewire" PowerBook G3/400 and G3/500. Note how much faster it does graphics than the "bronze" version.

6/3/2000 -- Here's a recent review of the newest VST Full Height FireWire drives.

4/17/2000 -- Check out the latest Price/Performance Ratio charts on the PerformanceMac site.

Also, how about a review of LightWave 3D versus Form-Z?

4/1/2000 -- Sharky Extreme has speed results for the Athlon 1 Gigahertz processor including Quake 2 and Quake 3 Arena frame rates compared to other Wintel machines.

A wonderful German site (MacInfo) has done extensive speed testing of the G4/400 Sawtooth.

3/22/2000 -- PowerBook "Pismo" G3/500 review by Mike Breeden (See especially the Photoshop test results.)

3/16/2000 -- How about a G3/466MHz upgrade in an iMac A, B, C or D? The maker is Newer Technology. They have a really cool product matrix for all their upgrades.

3/10/2000 -- Which is faster, Apple's PowerBook G3/500 or Sony's Vaio PCG-F490 650MHz? Duh. Let me guess...

2/29/2000 -- Review of the iMac upgrade from Newer.

2/18/2000 -- Four way G4/400MHz Shootout: PM 7500/G4/400 vs Beige DT G4/400 vs Yikes G4/400 vs Sawtooth G4/400.

12/18/99 -- Is a 2MB backside cache make a G4 run a lot faster than one with a 1MB cache? Seems there's only a 3% average gain in Photoshop.

12/14/99 -- Does the G4 start up and launch applications significantly faster than a G3? According to MacWeek, it does in their G4/400 versus G3/400 shootout back on 11/29/99.

MacWorld Online also posted their review of the G4/400 Sawtooth. What's really interesting is the fact that they are now using the same real world applications that I use for testing. Genius is contagious!

11/10/99 -- Did you know you can put a G3/500 in a Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh (TAM)?

10/28/99 -- It looks cool but is it fast? XLR8YourMac tests the Graphite iMac DV SE review. (I posted Bare Feats' iMac DV test results back on 10/12/99.)

MacSpeedZone uses a 233MHz iMac answer the question, "Is Mac OS 8.6 slower or faster than 9.0?

10/8/99-- Is the iBook slower or faster than other G3/300 Macs? MacBench 5.0 results indicate it's slower than a G3/300 minitower but faster than a PowerBook G3/292.

Macintouch has updated their G4 charts to include Sawtooth G4/450. Note especially AltiVec tests and drive tests.

Macintouch has a G4/400 review. Note especially the Photoshop test results using AltiVec filters. (Don't miss Bare Feats' AltiVec Photoshop tests)

Mike Breeden has G4 vs G3 results. Looks like it's no faster than a G3 unless you are running Altivec "aware" applications. My results confirm that.

MacSpeedZone found a G3 for the Twentieth Century Mac that gives the iMac a run for the money!

MacWorld has posted their mini-review of G3/466MHz ZIF upgrades (yawn).

MacWeek has posted their review of 400MHz upgrade cards. (Yawn) Here's something more timely from XLR8YourMac: 466MHz ZIF from XLR8 Interex.

2D and 3D Graphics Speed

05/17/03 -- Anandtech is a Windows PC site you'll want to monitor. They just tested the GeForceFX 5900 Ultra. It easily beats the Radeon 9700 Pro (and 9800) in Quake3 and UT2003 tests. Let's hope Apple offers a Mac version in their next generation Power Mac.

5/20/02 -- GeForce4 Titanium results are posted on XLR8YourMac.

4/1/02 -- PC World posted a test comparing the GeForce3, GeForce4 MX, and GeForce4 Ti 4600. It's fishy because it shows the GeForce4 Titanium slower than the GeForce3 and GeForce4 MX in Quake and Unreal tests. No way, dude!

3/4/02 -- XLR8YourMac has a report on the Radeon 8500 (Mac Edition) versus GeForce3 and GeForce4 MX. See also their Radeon 7500 versus GeForce4 MX tests.

02/07/02 -- Want to know just how fast the new GeForce4 Titanium is? Anandtech.com has a great chart that shows how the GeForce4 MX, GeForce3, Radeon 8500, and GeForce4 Titanium compare running Quake 3 1.30 at 1024 x 768 High Quality on an Athlon 2000+. Bottom line? GeForce Titanium ROCKS! I can't wait for Apple to offer a standalone kit.

01/24/02 -- AnandTech used the latest Unreal engine to test 15 different graphics cards on an Athlon 2000+ system.

1/21/2001 -- G4/533 with GeForce2 MX running CineBench, Quake III and other stuff.

12/28/2000 -- Sharky Extreme has a shootout of "high end" graphics boards for Windows PC's.

10/16/2000 -- RADEON speed test results links (See also Bare Feats results)

Accelerate Your Mac posted their full review of the Radeon retail card. They also have test results for the OEM version.

Sharky Extreme compared the 64M PC version of the Radeon to the PC version of Voodoo5 5500. In 32 bit mode, the Radeon is faster. (See page 9 of the review by Sharky Extreme. See also page 11.) However, if you run in 16 bit mode, the Voodoo5 pulls ahead at higher resolutions (see page 7).

I noticed Sharky posted a new "High End 3D Video Card Shootout" which compares the Radeon and Voodoo5 to other Windows PC 3D cards.

9/15/2000 -- Mac Gamers Ledge previewed the hot new SUV racing game called "4x4 Evolution." It's smooth running and visually spectacular, especially if you have a RAGE 128, Voodoo5 or Radeon board. It's even wilder using the ProFormance3 Plus with 3D Goggles! Get your copy of the DEMO at MacUpdate. (For a list of all the downloadable Auto Racing Games, visit the Game Database.)

8/1/2000 -- Sharkey Extreme compares the Mac Voodoo5 to a Wintel Voodoo5. (This link takes you to the Hi Rez Quake II Arena results.)

7/18/2000 -- Sharkey Extreme tests the PC version of ATI's Radeon graphics card. He has an interesting graph comparing the Radeon, Voodoo5 and GeForce running Quake III Arena in HIGH QUALITY mode. Gamers.com has a list of many other sites road testing the Radeon.

6/29/2000 -- nVIDIA has announced a Macintosh strategy for their new graphics card. It might include an OEM deal with Apple.

6/27/2000 -- Cool pictures and details on the Voodoo5. Here's another Voodoo5 Preview including pictures.

5/25/2000 -- Voodoo5 wins a head to head quality comparison with the GForce.

5/24/2000 -- Have you "signed" the petition asking Apple to offer the new Voodoo5 AGP card as a "build-to-order" option? If not, please do. Then read the indepth article on Inside Mac Games on the Voodoo5.

5/11/2000 -- GForce versus Voodoo5 5500 on a Wintel. Read the graphs carefully. They are misleading and make the GForce look faster than it is, especially in high resolutions.

4/25/2000 -- ATI has released details on its new graphics processor they call Radeon. Can you say "1.5 gigatexels per second" boys and girls? (Read what the game developers think of this new hardware.)

4/25/2000 -- Here's a recent review of the Formac ProFormance3 card by Mac Gamers Ledge

4/12/2000 -- 3dfx Interactive® Inc. today announced that the Voodoo4™ 4500 PCI for Macintosh and Voodoo5™ 5500 PCI for Macintosh will be the first two Mac products released by the company. The Voodoo4 4500 PCI and Voodoo5 5500 PCI is expected to provide the fastest 3D and 2D performance for the Macintosh platform. They include both an analog and DVI port, allowing them to drive Apple's new, all-digital flat panel displays. The new boards will deliver ultimate fill rates and high visual reality through breakthrough digital cinematic effects and support for FXT1 texture compression, the T-Buffer digital cinematic effects engine, and full-scene hardware anti-aliasing. (See complete press release.)

4/1/2000 -- Sharky Extreme has speed results for the Athlon 1 Gigahertz processor including Quake 2 and Quake 3 Arena frame rates compared to other Wintel machines.

3/22/2000 -- PowerBook "Pismo" G3/500 review by Mike Breeden. Includes performance tips on Quake Arena and Unreal Tourney.

2/18/2000 -- Four way G4/400MHz Shootout: PM 7500/G4/400 vs Beige DT G4/400 vs Yikes G4/400 vs Sawtooth G4/400.

9/15/99 -- Accelerate Your Mac posted the review of Formac's ProFormance 3 graphics accelerator including comparisons to Voodoo3 and Orion RAGE 128. Don't forget to look at these, too:
Bare Feats tests ProFormance 3 against RAGE 128 and Voodoo3.
Inside Mac Games review of the ProFormance.

Here's 3 different reviews of a Voodoo3 board on a Macintosh:

1. AccelerateYourMac tests the 3Dfx 2000 and compares it to the Voodoo2, SLI, Game Rocket and RAGE 128.
2. Sharkey Extreme compares the Voodoo3 2000 to RAGE 128 on a B&W G3/350 using beta copies of 3Dfx drivers.

Don't miss my Voodoo3 vs RAGE 128 on 7500/400 and B & W G3/450.

Check out the Voodoo2 tests on Accelerate Your Mac with new 3Dfx drivers on both single and double Voodoo2 boards. Then check out the Voodoo2 SLI on Pentium II /300.

Check this out: A site where 3D boards for Wintel machines are ranked in order of average Frames Per Second (FPS) observed while running a collection of 3D games.

XLR8YourMac's RAGE 128 vs Game Rocket comparison using Quake3 Test.