Speed

We ran our usual speed tests in Mac OS X 10.2, Jaguar, on both the original 450 MHz CPU and the PowerLogix 1 GHz CPU. We also posted the results from our 800 MHz flat panel iMac for comparison. Here are the results:

Action	Cube 450 MHz	Cube 1 GHz	iMac 800 MHz
SpeedRun 1.1.3 - Total Score	252	410	294
- Graphics	230	282	259
- Hard Disk	305	559	307
- Processor	168	270	196
- RAM	302	528	413
CocoaBench 1.1 - Total Score	10	17	14
- Number Crunching	10	19	14
- Image Processing	11	18	16
- File I/O	10	11	12
SpeedX 1.2-Typ. Ins. (MIPS)	422	763	608
- Fast Integer Ins. (BIPS)	0.89	2.81	2.30
Altivec Fractal 1.1.1(GFLOPS)	1.50	3.53	2.80
Startup to Desktop (sec)	53	48	-
Launch Classic (sec)	36	26	45
Let1kWindowsBloom (sec)	61	33	46
AppleWorks Scroll 100p (sec)	13	11	12
Quake III Arena (fps)*	34	68	44

SpeedRun and CocoaBench are similar to the venerable MacBench used to benchmark the classic Mac OS. We think CocoaBench is a better benchmark because of its more consistent results in our experience. However, they both demonstrate a substantial increase in speed for the 1 GHz CPU of anywhere between 60 and 90 per cent.

SpeedX measures speed in instructions processed per second. The 1 GHz is faster by 80 per cent in general instructions to over 200 percent in fast integer instructions.

Altivec Fractal measures the speed of the Altivec (or Velocity) engine in floating point calculations used in graphics. The 1 GHz CPU is 135 percent faster than the original 450 MHz CPU.

Launching Actions: The time to start up was 10 percent less and the time to launch Mac OS 9.2.2 in Classic Mode was 28 per cent less with the 1 GHz CPU.

Let1kWindowsBloom measures the time to open and close 1000 Finder windows. The 1 GHz CPU did so nearly 50 per cent faster.

Scrolling a 100 page document in AppleWorks 6.2.4 was 15 per cent faster.

3D Games: The 1 GHz CPU doubled the frame rate in Quake III Arena 1.30 demo game.

Clearly, the 1 GHz CPU greatly increases the G4 Cube's speed.