On Saturday, January 29, 2005, at 07:20 PM, Michael Railton wrote:
Hi,
I recently got my hands on a dual G4 800Mhz processor card from a quicksilver and decided to put it in my Digital Audio G4 to replace the 1Ghz upgrade.
I wasn't expecting much better performance but was very surprised to find xbench gave a equal rating (+/- 1).
What I am wondering is if anybody has any opinions on which is better?
It *really* depends on what you're doing. Dual processors do have to be enabled in programs, though it's vastly simpler than in the old days of OS9. OS X makes it easy to program, but some programs make better use of dual processors than others.
If you're using those kinds of programs (iMovie, iDVD, Final Cut, Photoshop, most 3D modelling/rendering/animation apps) a lot you'll see a greater benefit of dual processors than if you're using office applications, web browsing, e-mail, etc.
OSX makes some use of dual processors, which is one reason for the roughly equal XBench scores. The other is that XBench scores (as is the performance of office applications, web browsing, etc) are also heavily dependent on video, disk and RAM subsystems; and those are the same between the two systems you're testing.
There's a benchmark called Cinebench <http://www.cinebench.com/> which is designed to test and compare systems used for 3D rendering; that will show you the difference between your system with the single processor and dual processors fully utilized.
-- "Wherever you go, there you are." - B. Banzai, Ph.D. Bruce Johnson
-- G-List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and...
Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- We have Apple Refurbished Monitors in stock! | & CDRWs on Sale! |
Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html>
G-List list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[email protected]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/>
iPod Accessories for Less at 1-800-iPOD.COM Fast Delivery, Low Price, Good Deal www.1800ipod.com
