Aspyr Media released the v1.2 patch to Quake 4 for the Mac two weeks ago. The new Mac patch enabled multiprocessor (dual core) capability that has been available in the Windows version, added several new multiplayer maps and enabled widescreen (16:9) resolutions, eliminating the vertical black bars on either side of the image. It also added a demo and enabled benchmarking capability on the Mac.
We finally got a chance to use Quake 4's new benchmarking capability to see how its new widescreen resolutions and dual core capability performed. We used our 2.16GHz MacBook Pro with a 30" Cinema Display and 20" 2GHz iMac G5 as test beds. The benchmarks, in frames per second, were obtained using the procedure and settings outlined in our Speedtest FAQ. We used the MacBook Pro for all of the tests with Quake 4's multiprocessor capability enabled (SMP on).
1. Resolution on the MacBook Pro--Med. Qual & SMP On
The resolutions are all 16:9 widescreen. 1280x800 is playable at 39 fps but on the slow side. 800x500 is very good at 66 fps but the resolution is low for a normal gamer. A good balance is 1024x640.
2. Video Quality on the MacBook Pro--1024x640 & SMP On
With a 1 fps difference, there is little reason to drop from medium quality to low. The loss of 12 fps, however, keeps us from using high quality.
3. Dual vs Single Core on the MacBook Pro--1024x640 & MQ
Using both cores provides a boost in frame rate of just under 15 percent in this combination of settings. We have seen the boost as high as 25 percent. It is disappointingly small but welcome anyway. Too bad there is no possiblility of benchmarking between the initial v1.0.4 and the new v1.2 due to the coding changes--we feel that v1.2 is slower by at least 10 percent based on running our own demo recording the same segment in each version. However, a recorded demo from each version is never exactly the same and that affects the frame rate.
4. MacBook Pro vs iMac G5
The 2.16GHz MacBook Pro is nearly twice as fast as the 2GHz iMac G5. While the iMac G5 has an older graphics system, an ATI Radeon 9600 card is no slouch but the ATI Radeon X1600 in the MacBook Pro is much better. Curiously, the iMac G5 got 28 fps regardless of the video quality or resolution settings within the range that we tested.
The MacBook Pro is turning out to be a very good game machine, running the latest demanding games like Doom 3 and Quake 4 at reasonably good frame rates with good quality video and reasonable resolutions. We can hardly wait to see how well the Intel-based Power Macs perform. They should get the second generation of Intel's dual core CPU's code-named Conroe and Woodcrest, the latter being a quad CPU, and marketed as Core 2 Duo CPUs. [Bill Fox]
