SPEED TESTS by Category
CPU, FPU,and Rendering Speed

October 15th, 2004 (Updated) -- How Fast Does MOTION Move On Your Mac? -- added GeForce 6800, 9800 XT, iMac G5, and more info on how RAM and VRAM affects performance.

October 7th, 2004 (Updated) -- See results for the iMac G5 running AppleWorks, iMovie, iTunes, FileMaker Pro, Photoshop, and Motion -- compared to other Macs

September 27th, 2004 (Updated) -- Power Mac G5/2.5 versus Pentium 4, Dual Xeon, Dual Opteron, and Dual Athlon

September 14th, 2004 (Updated) -- Test Results On The G5/2.5GHz MP Power Mac Versus Others (Added Bryce, Motion, and Quake3 results)

July 24th, 2004 -- Cinebench ratings for G5/2.5GHz MP versus others

May 25th, 2004 (Updated) -- "Stock" versus "Configure To Order" 15 inch PowerBook -- 64MB or 128MB VRAM? 4200rpm, 5400rpm, or 7200rpm DRIVE? (Added random READ and WRITE results)

May 5th, 2004 Updated -- eMac 1.25GHz versus iMac 1.25GHz versus PowerBook 1.25GHz versus 1.25GHz Power Mac -- added iBook 1.2GHz

April 28th, 2004 Updated -- The Best versus The Best: Two NEW "Rev B" 15" Aluminum PowerBooks (1.5GHz, 1.33GHz) Take On The Fastest Power Macs -- updated with 12" PowerBook G4/133GHz game results

12/17/03 Updated -- The shootout you've been waiting for: Dual 64 bit Opteron versus Dual 64 bit Power Mac G5! (Photoshop results added)

12/10/03 -- Various brands of DDR400 memory compared on a Dual G5.

11/22/03 (Updated) -- G5 versus G5 versus G5 -- Dual G5/1.8 added

11/17/03 (Updated) -- Special Page Comparing G5/2GHz to G4/1.42GHz.

11/29/03 (Updated) -- 3D Gaming on the three G5s -- Dual G5/1.8 added

11/14/03 (Updated) -- Real World test results for new G4 iBooks versus other Apple laptops.

9/19/03 (Updated) -- How do the NEW PowerBooks compare to Power Macs?

6/22/03 -- The Xbench Page compare PowerBooks and iBooks has been updated

05/08/03 -- Power Mac G4 versus Pentium 4 versus Xeon -- we wanted to see of the Xeon is really the fastest desktop in the world.

04/12/03 -- Do I really need dual G4's? Isn't one enough? Isn't a PowerBook just as fast as a Power Mac? Get answers in this comparison of dual and single processor Power Macs (and PowerBook 17) each running at 1000 MHz.

03/18/03 -- Real World Test Results for the 1.42GHz MP Power Mac versus others.

9/26/02 Update -- Thee pages of results for the 1.25GHz MP DDR Power Mac done in the local Bare Feats lab.

9/1/02 Update -- Three pages of DDR Power Mac versus SDRAM Power Mac, both running Dual 1GHz G4's. (Includes L1, L2, L3, RAM Memory Speed Graph.

8/27/02 Update -- Is the new 867MP a better buy than the 1000MP? And what about 3D games on the 867MP? (Update adds iMac G4 17" to CPU tests.

8/10/02 -- Solo 1GHz Xserve versus Dual 1GHz Xserve versus Dual 1GHz Power Mac: Does DDR really make the Xserve the fastest?

8/9/02 Update -- Pentium 4 and Athlon XP/MP versus G4 Power Macintosh running Photoshop, Bryce and Cinema 4D.

7/11/02 -- The "700 Club" -- eMac G4/700 versus iMac G4/700 versus iBook G3/700. (Refresh your screen. I added the PowerBook 667 to the graphs.)

7/9/02 -- PRELIMINARY: The PowerBook G3 "Pismo" Finally Gets A G4 Upgrade. Is it worth $299? (7/10/02 -- 3D Game results added along with comparisons to TiBooks.)

6/12/02 UPDATE -- Bare Feats finally gets a PowerBook G4/800 in the lab. (Now charts include the 700MHz iBook, as well as old & new 667.)

4/6/02 -- What G4 Power Mac Makes The Best Digital Video "Engine"? (updated at 4:30pm Hawaiian Time)

3/4/02 Updated -- Pentium 4 and Athlon XP/MP versus G4 Power Macintosh (added G4/933)

3/3/02 Update -- The G4/933 Power Mac has been added to the Dual 1GHz Power Mac results (along with G4/800, G4/800MP, G4/800 iMac, etc.)

02/11/02 UPDATED -- How Fast Is The New iMac G4/800? (NEW G4/800 Power Mac results added for comparison including Final Cut Pro 3.0 test.)

11/24/2001 Update - Test results on the Titanium PowerBook G4 revision B versus the Revision A versus iBook 2001 Revision A & B! (It keeps growing... Added a fourth page with Final Cut Pro results and another Photoshop test.)

11/9/01 -- How much speed does the RTMac "realtime preview" card add to the DV editing process? Is it worth $999?

10/10/2001 -- What's the Best OS X Platform, the G4/867 or the G4/800MP?

10/7/2001 (update) -- How Fast Is Quake 3 Arena 1.30 Beta On A Dual G4/800 Running OS X 10.1? More tweaks got it up to 184 frames per second. Now includes a second set of graphs comparing the Dual G4 800Mhz to a Pentium 4 1600Mhz.

9/17/2001 UDPATE -- Results on the new G4/733 (no L3), G4/867, and Dual G4/800 compared to previous models.

6/1/2001 -- How does the iBook 2001 compare to the PowerBook G4 Titanium?

5/15/2001 -- Dual Duel -- Various Dual G4 Power Macs compared.

5/11/2001 -- Which Power Mac G4 model runs Final Cut Pro 2.0 the fastest?

5/6/2001 -- Is Final Cut Pro 2.0 really that much faster than 1.2.5?

3/30/2001 -- Do applications run faster under OS X than under OS9?

3/23/2001 -- Lost in the shuffle: G4/667. How does it compare to the 733 and Dual 533?

3/20/2001 -- XLR8's NEW Dual G4/500 ZIF upgrade breathes new life in Beige MiniTowers and DeskTops!

3/14/2001 (updated) -- Which is faster, G4/733 or a Dual G4/533? Includes Single G4/533 numbers. (Also in FRENCH.)

2/12/2001 Updated -- Is the Titanium G4/500 PowerBook significantly faster than the G3/500 Pismo or an upgraded G3/500 Wallstreet? Updated to include the G4/400 Titanium and the Sony VAIO Laptop. The original posting is available in FRENCH at MacGeneration.

2/9/2001 -- How does the DUAL G4/533 Power Mac compare to the "old" DUAL G4/500 Power Mac? Or a SINGLE 533MHz G4? Or a 1GHz Pentium?

1/19/2001 -- Is the Titanium G4/500 PowerBook significantly faster than the G3/500 Pismo or an upgraded G3/500 Wallstreet?

1/8/2001 (updated) -- Dual G4/500 versus Pentium 4 1.4GHz versus Athlon 1GHz. (Replaced 3 filter Photoshop test with 20 filter test.) 9/15/2000 -- Should I upgrade the CPU on my G4/400 Sawtooth or sell it and buy a new Dual G4 machine?

9/11/2000 -- Real world test results from six of the newest, fastest Macs including the dual G4/500, dual G4/450, and Power Cube 450.

9/8/2000 -- Will The NewerTech G3/466 Upgrade Make A PowerBook Wallstreet Run Like A Pismo? Yes and No.  

Updated 7/21/2000 -- Finally! A G4 iMac upgrade. And it screams like a Sawtooth. I call it "iTooth." See test results compared to the G4 Sawtooth and iMac DV Special Edition!

7/4/2000 -- Is a Blue & White with a G4 ZIF upgrade and a Voodoo3 card as fast with Photoshop as a G4 Graphite minitower with a Voodoo3 card?

3/16/2000 -- Which is faster, an iMac D with a NewerTech iMAXpower 466MHz upgrade or a new iMac DV 400?

2/18/2000 -- 400MHz Shootout. Beige Desktop and PM 7500 with the help of bargain G3/G4 upgrades, cheap/fast hard drive, and a Voodoo3 3000, go head to head with a G4 Sawtooth and a G4 Yikes.

1/5/2000 -- Can a Beige Desktop with a G4 ZIF upgrade "run with the big dogs"?

12/28/99 -- Which is faster, a "closeout" G4/400 Yikes or the G4/350 Sawtooth?

12/17/99 -- The "obsolete" G4/400 Yikes dukes it out with a G4/400 Sawtooth Rev B.

11/17/99 -- Which is faster? The Sonnet G3 & G4 upgrades? Or the XLR8 G3 & G4 upgrades?

11/1/99 -- XLR8's NEW MACh G4 CarrierZIF and G3/500 take on a G4/400 Yikes. She's my little Deuce Coupe and now you DO know what she's got.

10/27/99 -- The Battle of the 10X G3/500's: Sonnet versus PowerLogix

10/18/99 -- "The King Has No Clothes." The G4/450 Sawtooth may not be worth the extra $900. Check out the newest speed tests compared to the Yikes & others.

10/12/99 -- Bare Feats checks out the speed of the new iMac G3/400 against other Macintosh models.

10/8/99 -- If you upgrade a G3/450 to a G4, how fast will it go?

10/6/99 -- BARE FEATS compares a Blue and White with G4 ZIF upgrade and PowerLogix AltiVec Enabler to a G4/400 Yikes!

10/1/99 -- "She's my little deuce coupe. You don't know what I got!" Want to see a tricked out 7500 that beats a G4/400 Yikes in 6 out of 10 "races"?

9/20/99 -- How much speed does a G4/400 gain from the AltiVec plug-ins when running Photoshop 5.5 effects?

9/20/99 -- Is the new G4/400 any faster than a G3/400? More tests results on a G4/400 including Quake2 frame rates and MacBench Graphics ratings.

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SPEED TESTS by Category
2D and 3D Graphics Speed

October 15th, 2004 (Updated)-- GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL at 1920x1200 -- UT2004, Halo, Quake3, and Motion. See also results with 1280x1024 resolution.

October 11th, 2004 -- iMac G5 versus iMac G4 in 3D Gaming: Three Times Faster? NOT! (See proof that Apple's graph needs correcting.)

October 7th, 2004 (Updated) -- We've re-run Halo and UT2004 at what we call our "Normal Real World" settings comparing the iMac G5 to a PowerBook and two PowerMacs.

September 16th, 2004 -- Radeon 9800 XT (in a G5/2.5GHz) Versus Others (Motion RAM Preview, UT2003, Quake3)

June 24th, 2004 -- G5 Graphics Cards At "Sane" 3D Game Settings.

June 9th, 2004 -- Radeon 9800 Pro Special 256MB Mac Edition versus other Radeon AGP graphics cards -- at "Extreme" 3D Game Settings.

01/26/04 Updated -- The 3D Game Page for Dual 64 bit Opteron versus Dual 64 bit Power Mac G5. (Restored graphs even though graphics card core clock speed differed.)

12/31/03 -- Halo Shootout between a lone Pentium 4 and many Macs.

11/29/03 (Updated) -- 3D Gaming on the three G5s

7/25/03 -- ATI Radeon 9800 Pro Addendum: Quake3 and UT2003 at 1600x1200 and 1280x1024.

7/17/03 -- ATI Radeon 9800 Mac Edition (retail) versus others (1024x768).

5/12/03 -- Unreal Tournament 2003 results were added to the PC vs Mac 3D Game Page.

04/04/03 -- Radeon 9700 Pro Mac Edition versus GeForce4 Titanium Mac Edition.

10/18/02 -- How Does The Radeon 7000 (PCI) Mac Edition Compare To The Other Graphics Cards?

9/26/02 -- Test of 3D games with the Radeon 9000 and GeForce4 Titanium on the Power Mac G4/1.25GHz MP DDR Power Mac (Quake3 Arena and Unreal Tournament)

8/28/02 -- How about giving your old Sawtooth a new graphics card? (Tests with 4 of the newest, fastest 2D/3D accelerators.)

8/27/02 -- DDR vs SDRAM Power Mac 1GHz game results. (Quake3 and Unreal Tournament using the same three graphics cards.)

8/27/02 -- What about 3D games on the 867MP?

8/27/02 Update -- PAGE TWO -- more DDR vs SDRAM Power Mac comparison results. (Updated -- SDR and DDR Power Macs tested with the same three graphics cards.)

8/2/02 -- Pentium 4/2000 and G4/1000MP, both with GeForce4 Titanium, running Quake3 and Unreal Tournament.

7/4/02 Update -- Bare Feats tests the Gefen VGA to ADC Converter! (UPDATE: Does NOT work with Formac Gallery)

5/31/02 -- Kaboom! Finally got my slimy paws on a GeForce4 Titanium. So does it make a Dual G4 1GHz Power Mac the ultimate 3D gaming machine? And how does it compare to the Radeon 8500 and GeForce3?

10/7/2001 (update) -- How Fast Is Quake 3 Arena 1.30 Beta On A Dual G4/800 Running OS X 10.1? More tweaks got it up to 184 frames per second. Now includes a second set of graphs comparing the Dual G4 800Mhz to a Pentium 4 1600Mhz.

6/8/2001 -- How Does The GeForce3 Compare To The GeForce2 MX and Radeon?

4/13/2001 -- Can The "Dual Head" DX-Max AGP Graphics Card Run Two Displays As Fast As One?

4/11/2001 -- How about an Apple 30" Flat Panel for $1318?

3/26/2001 -- Is the 1.1.1 version of the GeForce2 MX extensions faster than 1.0.9? I'm not posting a special page to answer this but when I ran all my graphics tests, the only difference was in the "1024 Maximum" settings for Quake 3. The new drivers got 47 fps while the old drivers got 43 fps.

3/9/2001 -- Does The Flower Power iMac Have More Graphics Power Or Is It Just A Deeper Snow Job?

2/23/2001 -- Is the PCI version of the ATI Radeon very much slower than the AGP version?

1/26/2001 -- Which is faster, the GeForce2 MX or the Radeon? (Both boards and the RAGE 128 Pro are compared on a G4/466 Power Mac.) (also in FRENCH)

1/19/2001 -- Is the Titanium G4/500 PowerBook significantly faster than the G3/500 Pismo or an upgraded G3/500 Wallstreet?

1/12/2001-- Dual G4 running OS X and "Cocoa-ized" Quake III Arena breaks the 100 FPS barrier!

9/8/2000 -- Will The NewerTech G3/466 Upgrade Make A PowerBook Wallstreet Run Like A Pismo? Yes and No.

8/25/2000 -- What's the best all around graphics accelerator for under $300? The 3Dfx Voodoo5 versus the Formac ProFormance3 Plus versus ATI RAGE 128 Pro.

7/31/2000 -- Can an Athlon 1GHz with an nVIDIA card keep up with G4/400 and Voodoo5 card at HIGH QUALITY Quake III settings?

7/26/2000 -- How does the Voodoo5 5500 PCI compare to the Voodoo3 and RAGE 128 Pro? After you read the article, go to my special 3Dfx page to enter a contest to WIN A FREE VOODOO5 BOARD!

Updated 7/21/2000 -- Finally! A G4 iMac upgrade. And it screams like a Sawtooth. I call it "iTooth." See test results compared to the G4 Sawtooth and iMac DV Special Edition!

7/4/2000 -- Is a Blue & White with a G4 ZIF upgrade and a Voodoo3 card as fast with Quake3 Arena as a G4 Graphite minitower with a Voodoo3 card?

4/3/2000 -- Two reasons you have to junk your old Power Mac.

3/31/2000 -- The high side of the low end meets the low end of the high side. Apple's iMac SE 400 and iBook SE 366 versus the PowerBook Pismo 400 & G4/400 Sawtooth.

3/16/2000 -- Which is faster, an iMac D with a NewerTech iMAXpower 466MHz upgrade or a new iMac DV 400?

2/18/2000 -- 400MHz Shootout. Beige Desktop and PM 7500 with the help of bargain G3/G4 upgrades, cheap/fast hard drive, and a Voodoo3 3000, go head to head with a G4 Sawtooth and a G4 Yikes.

1/5/2000 -- Can a Beige Desktop with a G4 ZIF upgrade "run with the big dogs"?

12/28/99 -- Which is faster, a "closeout" G4/400 Yikes or the G4/350 Sawtooth?

12/17/99 -- The "obsolete" G4/400 Yikes dukes it out with a G4/400 Sawtooth Rev B.

12/15/99 -- Are AGP graphics accelerators really faster than PCI accelerators?

11/17/99 -- Which is faster? The Sonnet G3 & G4 upgrades? Or the XLR8 G3 & G4 upgrades?

11/1/99 -- XLR8's NEW MACh G4 CarrierZIF and G3/500 take on a G4/400 Yikes. Note the Unreal and Quake II numbers.

10/29/99 -- Which is faster, a 3Dfx Voodoo3 3000 PCI board or a 3Dfx Voodoo3 2000 PCI board (with the 3000's ROM image -- heh, heh, heh)?

10/28/99 -- As a GAMER, should I put an iWizard Voodoo2 in my iMac A or B? Or should I invest in a closeout iMac 333MHz? What's the best Gamer iMac?

10/22/99 -- With new drivers for the Formac ProFormance3, I compare it to the RAGE 128 and Voodoo3.

10/21/99 -- Another reason to for a Voodoo3 2000 to beat up on a RAGE 128: New drivers and flashing the ROM with the 3000's code.

10/18/99 -- "The King Has No Clothes." The G4/450 Sawtooth may not be worth the extra $900. Check out the newest speed tests compared to the Yikes & others.

10/12/99 -- Bare Feats checks out the speed of the new iMac G3/400 against other Macintosh models.

10/8/99 -- If you upgrade a G3/450 to a G4, how fast will it go?

10/6/99 -- BARE FEATS compares a Blue and White with G4 ZIF upgrade and PowerLogix AltiVec Enabler to a G4/400 Yikes!

The updated Quake 2 chart includes Graphite G4/400, Blue & White G3/400, and a "hopped up" 7500 with CarrierZIF 400! See what graphics accelerators run Quake 2 best on each machine, Voodoo2 or RAGE 128 or Voodoo3! (Updated 10/6/99)

10/1/99 -- "She's my little deuce coupe. You don't know what I got!" Want to see a tricked out 7500 that beats a G4/400 Yikes in 6 out of 10 "races"?

9/26/99 -- Will games like Unreal leap forward with an AGP RAGE 128 graphics card? The answer might surprise you.

9/20/99 -- Is the new G4/400 any faster than a G3/400? More tests results on a G4/400 including Quake2 frame rates and MacBench Graphics ratings.

9/15/99 -- How does the ProFormance 3 from Formac stack up against the ATI Orion RAGE 128, Game Wizard Voodoo2, and 3Dfx 2000 Voodoo3 boards? Bare Feats has 2D & 3D results. (Updated 9/16/99 with 800 x 600 & 1024 x 768 test results.)

How about an "old" Power Mac 7500 G3/400 Carrier ZIF vs Beige G3/400 vs Blue & White G3/400?... And ALL three with Orion RAGE 128 and Voodoo2 boards?
Created 7/2/99, Updated 7/3/99.

Can a 500MHz G3 with a Voodoo2 board run PC Games like Unreal at acceptable speeds using Virtual PC 2.1?
Is your solution to PC software envy to spend $200 on an emulator for your Mac or $500 on a bargain Windows machine?

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