Saturday, February 24, 2007

Xbench 24 inch Intel Core 2 duo iMac to 17 inch G4 eMac.

I just ran these tests using Xbench 1.3. The Intel iMac 24 inch, 2.16 Ghz, with 2 G of RAM and a Nvidia 7600 GT scored 110.56 using Xbench 1.3.

The 2003 G4 eMac (1 G RAM, 32 MB ATI 7500 video card) scored a whopping 30.20. Some quick math tells you that we have a 3.6x increase in overall performance. Many of the graphics results come in at 5x, while things like disk access are not that different. The CPU is a factor of 3 faster, and graphics around 5.

This seems reasonable. Although the eMac could play Halo "just", it managed about 20 to 25 fps. The Intel iMac would probably run it about 125 fps, since it runs Doom 3 at about 100 fps.

It is difficult to compare two completely different systems accurately. Different chip architectures, one is a dual core system, one is a G4. Normal use makes it hard to tell the difference. Internet browsing, email, listening to iTunes, all seem the same. Browsing 4000 pictures in iPhoto is something else completely. On the iMac 24, it is fluid, fast and seamless at any speed. Likewise, scolling through an iTunes library is equally effortless. This is where it feels 10 times faster. This is where you remember the eMac seemed fast when something took 2 seconds, but realize it was slow because nothing takes that long anymore.

Looking at other Xbench scores, I notice that this 24 inch iMac blows past a dual 2 Ghz G5. Finally a pro machine without having to buy an ugly aluminum box. The expandibility argument is about as valid as the WIndows argument now. This machine hooks up nicely to my WD MyBook Pro 500 G hard drive using Firewire 800 and it runs Windows. Looks like you can be a pro now and look cool.

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