*Much faster is both more than 2 seconds and more than 10 percent. **First number is after upgrade and second number is

In comparison with the last Jaguar version on our stock G4 Cube, Panther is much faster in 2D graphics and in finder operations. Startup in our G4 is also much faster with Panther (10.3) than with Jaguar. But the 10.3.2 Update slows down the startup time significantly, 75 seconds versus 44 seconds. Applying SpeedStart 0.1 and rebooting twice recovers some but not all of the lost speed to 52 seconds, similar to Jaguar 10.2.8's startup time. Disk performance also seems to be slightly poorer with the 10.3.2 update. The major improvement is in 3D graphics, i.e. 33 fps vs 21-22 previously.

The dual 2-GHz Power Mac G5 tests also confirm a significant speed up in finder operations running Panther over its special version of Jaguar--10.2.8(G5). There is also a strange anomally with the Let1kWindowsBloom test and the G5 running Panther (10.3) or the 10.3.2 update that we can not explain--we ran it several times under a variety of circumstances and got the same results. Again, startup time in 10.3.2 prior to applying the SpeedStart patch was significantly slower than in 10.3. After applying the patch there is no significant difference between 10.3 and 10.3.2. The major improvement in 10.3.2 is again in 3D graphics, the Quake III Arena performance fps increased significantly from 291 to 355.

In summary, the Mac OS X 10.3.2 update is much faster than 10.3 in 3D graphics, most likely due to the new graphics drivers included with 10.3.2. Without the SpeedStart patch, startup time in 10.3.2 increases significantly.