"BARE facts on Mac speed FEATS"

RECENT SPEED TESTS

QUICK TAKES! (Updated November 30th, 2005) GeForce 6800 GT with Dual Dual-Link DVI no longer available Virtual PC 7 on the Quad -- no speed demon Some Quad-Core owners complain about performance Deals on refurbished Dell 24" LCD displays GeForce 7800 Ultra is just a GTX on steroids PowerBook 1.92GHz Upgrade Coming, but not from Apple November 25, 2005 -- BLACK FRIDAY Hot Deals on Hot Products November 23rd, 2005 -- SHOOTOUT: What's the Best Boot Drive for the new Quad-Core G5 Power Mac? November 18th, 2005 -- SHOOTOUT -- PART TWO: More Quad-Core G5/2.5GHz Power Mac versus Single-Core Dual G5/2.5GHz Power Mac -- includes three new real world tests and regular graphics tests -- plus update on PART ONE. November 18th, 2005 -- REVIEW: Daystar 1.9GHz Upgrade for iMac G4 Flat Panel November 14th, 2005 -- REVIEW: MaxProtect II PowerBook Briefcase November 10th, 2005 -- UPDATE: iMac G5/1.9GHz Game Results added to iMac G5/2.1GHz Graphics Page November 5th, 2005 -- SHOOTOUT: New iMac G5/2.1GHz versus 'Old' iMac G5/2.0 and Dual Core G5/2.0 (CPU TESTS) November 4th, 2005 -- REVIEW: ATI's newest Radeon 9800 Pro Mac Edition (256MB, 2X/4X AGP) for G4 and G5 Power Macs November 1st, 2005 -- REVIEW: HighPoint RocketRAID 2224 PCI-X SATA II Host Adapter and X4 Enclosure with 'Infiniband' Connection October 31st, 2005 -- SHOOTOUT: Dual-Core G5/2.0GHz Power Mac versus Single-Core G5/2.0GHz Power Mac October 28th, 2005 -- SHOOTOUT: Hitachi Travelstar 7K100 versus Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and other notebook drives October 26th, 2005 -- PRE-TEST BRIEFING: Latest 15" and 17" PowerBooks -- analysis of new features and performance October 24th, 2005 -- PRE-TEST BRIEFING: New iMac G5/1.9GHz and 2.1GHz -- discussion of memory, graphics, and drive temperatures. October 21st, 2005 -- PRE-TEST BRIEFING: New Dual-Core and Quad-Core G5 Power Macs -- discussion of memory, graphics cards, and PCI Express October 14th, 2005 -- REVIEW: One, Two and Four Bay FireWire miniG Enclosures from TransIntl October 13th, 2005 (Update) -- SHOOTOUT: Flash Drives vs Pocket Drives vs Bus Powered FireWire Notebook Drives (Added iPod Nano) October 8th, 2005 -- SHOOTOUT: G4/1.67GHz PowerBook versus G4/1.5GHz PowerBook October 5th, 2005 -- REVIEW: FirmTek's SeriTek/2eEN4 Four Bay Hot-Swap SATA II Enclosure featuring "Direct-To-Backplane" and "Silent Heat Management" October 4th, 2005 -- REVIEW: TransIntl's miniG four bay SATA enclosure -- like a "mini me" for the G5 Power Mac September 29th, 2005 -- SHOOTOUT: Seagate Momentus 7200.1 2.5 inch 100GB 7200rpm drive versus other notebook drives (Power Consumption Stats and Analysis Added October 7th) September 22nd, 2005 -- QUESTION: Will a QuickSilver G4 Power Mac with a 2.0GHz CPU upgrade keep up with a G5/2.0GHz Power Mac? (PAGE ONE - CPU Crunching with and without faster CPU, PAGE TWO - 3D Graphics Upgrades with and without faster CPU) September 20th, 2005 -- EARLY RESULTS: FWDepot 2 Port SATA Cardbus Adapter for PowerBooks September 16th, 2005 (UPDATE) -- SHOOTOUT: RAID 5 versus RAID 0 using new RocketRAID 2220 SATA II PCI-X host adapter -- update on 2 Terabyte limit. September 7th, 2005 -- SPECIAL FEATURE: Sumajin Cord Wraps September 5th, 2005 -- EARLY RESULTS: LaCie Bigger S2S SATA II RAID Tower with Port Multiplication September 1st, 2005 -- QUESTION: When it comes to 2 and 4 drive RAID 0 sets, which is faster, FireWire 800 or Serial ATA? August 22nd, 2005 (Update) -- SHOOTOUT: ATI Radeon 9600 Pro PC and Mac Edition with Dual-Link DVI versus other Mac graphics cards -- includes info on the new Radeon 9800 Pro Mac August 22nd, 2005 (Update) -- SHOOTOUT: G4 Cube 'High-End' Graphics Cards -- results for Radeon 8500 added August 4th, 2005 -- SHOOTOUT:Dual Core Pentium versus Dual CPU G5 Power Macs. August 1st, 2005 -- REVIEW: MaxConnect Internal G5 Drive Assembly -- Optical and CPU bay used to put up to 9 drives in your Mac July 11th, 2005 -- REVIEW: FirmTek's SerTek/1VE2+2 PCI-X SATA host adapter -- 2 internal and 2 external ports -- plus it boots OS 9 and OS X July 11th, 2005 (Update) -- SHOOTOUT: Fastest 7200rpm SATA Drives for the G5 Power Mac (and G5 iMac)? -- Hitachi 7K500 results added July 1st, 2005 -- SHOOTOUT: Photoshop CS versus CS2 -- both running under Tiger July 1st, 2005 -- MAD SCIENCE: Homemade Heatsink for iMac G5's Hot Drive -- Here's the pictures by popular demaind June 29th, 2005 (update) -- SHOOTOUT: ATI Radeon X850 XT versus nVidia GeForce 6800 GT -- updated with more accurate GT results June 10th, 2005 -- REVIEW: Medea Fibre Channel VideoRAID -- Speed and Security June 4th, 2005 -- MAD SCIENCE: One Graphics Card, Three G5 Power Macs -- Will the G5 Power Mac with the highest clock speed be faster running graphics intensive applications? June 3rd, 2005 -- REDO: Radeon 9650 Versus Four Other Graphics Cards on a G5/2.7GHz Power Mac -- Includes Motion 2, iMaginator, and Four 3D Game Graphs May 28th, 2005 (Update) -- SHOOTOUT: iMac G5/2.0GHz versus G5/2.0GHz Power Mac -- Added iMac G5/1.8 iMaginator and UT2004 results (thereby comparing the GeForceFX 5200 to the Radeon 9600) May 10th, 2005 (Update) -- SHOOTOUT: G5/2.7GHz Power Mac Versus Other G5 Power Macs (G5/2.3GHz results added) May 10th, 2005 (Update) -- REVIEW: Dell 24" Widescreen LCD Display (added info on Blacks and Grays as well as Table of Features) May 4th, 2005 -- SHOOTOUT: G4/2.0GHz GigaDesigns Upgrade Versus G5/2.0GHz Power Mac April 29th, 2005 -- SHOOTOUT: Panther versus Tiger April 28th, 2005 -- RE-REVIEW: FirmTek 4 port external SATA PCI-X host adapter with "intelligent" hot-swap and dual-bay enclosures with "direct to backplane" feature. April 15th, 2005 -- REVIEW: Sonnet Technology's New 8 Port External PCI-X SATA Host Adapter (with Seagate and Raptor RAID) April 13th, 2005 -- MAD SCIENCE: FireGL X3 converted to run on as a Radeon X800 XT on a G4 Power Mac March 28th, 2005 (Update) -- Maya Shootout (two more render tests found) March 24th, 2005 -- TUNER TRANSFORMATION: G4 Cube into 'Killer Kube' (includes Mac mini comparison) CPU Tests - iMovie, iTunes, Photoshop, FileMaker Pro 3D Graphics - Halo, UT2004, Quake3, Cinebench Flyby March 16th, 2005 -- Doom 3 Test Results for Mid-Range Macs at 800x600 Medium, No Shadows March 11th, 2005 -- PERFORMANCE TWEAKS: Doom 3 for the Mac at 1600x1200 March 3rd, 2005 - SPECIAL FEATURE: Nikon D70 Digital SLR Camera February 28th, 2005 (Update) -- SHOOTOUT: Fastest G5 Macs versus Fast Windows PCs -- 2.6GHz Dual Opteron and Athlon FX55 added CPU Crunch Tests - After Effects, Cinebench, Photoshop, Bryce, and Maya 3D Graphics Tests - Halo, Doom 3, UT2004, and Quake 3 Arena February 24th, 2005 (Update) -- REVIEW: ATI Radeon X800 XT versus GeForce 6800 Ultra and others (Overclocked X800 XT numbers added) February 16th, 2005 -- REVIEW: Stock and optional drives for the Mac mini compared (boot, launch, etc.) February 4th, 2005 -- REVIEW: Mac mini versus its "siblings." CPU intensive tests (iMovie, iTunes, etc.) GRAPHICS intensive tests (Halo, UT2004, etc.) DISK intensive tests (boot, launch, duplicate, etc.) January 13th, 2005 (update) -- REVIEW: What's The Ultimate Boot Volume for G5 Power Macs? January 7th, 2005 -- REVIEW: FirmTek 4 Channel SATA PCI-X Host Adapter - External Ports or Internal Ports, Take Your Pick December 31st, 2004 -- Most Significant Performance Products of 2004 (the year in review) December 27th (Update) -- REVIEW: iMac G5 versus iMac G4 in 3D Gaming -- Original Review Unchanged -- (Apple recently updated their graph which originally showed the iMac G5 three times faster. The graph now closely matches our findings.) December 13th, 2004 -- REVIEW: GeForce 6800 GT versus Ultra at 1920x1200 (See also 1280x1024 results) December 3rd, 2004 -- REVIEW: Sonnet Lobs A Bombshell Called 'Tempo-X 4+4' Into The SATA Arena December 1st, 2004 -- PREVIEW: FirmTek Ships A 2 Port External SATA Host Adapter and 2 Drive Hot-Swappable Enclosure (that makes FW800 dual drives obsolete). November 30th, 2004 -- Do OpenGL 3D Games Run Faster Under 10.3.6? November 22nd, 2004 -- SPECIAL FEATURE: Macally IcePAD - the Perfect PowerBook Pedestal? November 15th, 2004 -- Wiebetech RackFire: Rack Mounted FireWire 800 RAID Box November 1st, 2004 (Updated) -- 'Solo' G5/1.8 Power Mac versus Dual G5/1.8 Power Mac versus iMac G5/1.8 October 29th, 2004 -- What Makes the Best 'Sneaker Net,' Flash Drives or Burnt CDs? October 28th, 2004 -- One of my fellow mad scientists has posted "Stage One" results for his Cube G4/1.5GHz upgrade. October 27th, 2004 -- Do Matching Pairs of Memory Make the iMac G5 Go Faster? October 19th, 2004 (Updated) -- Three Satellite Internet companies who are "Mac aware." October 15th, 2004 (Updated)-- GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL at 1920x1200 -- Motion render added to UT2004, Halo, and Quake3 results. See also tests at 1280x1024 resolution. October 15th, 2004 (Updated) -- How Fast Does MOTION Move On Your Mac? -- added GeForce 6800, 9800 XT, iMac G5, and more info on how RAM and VRAM affects performance. October 9th, 2004 -- Got a Blue'n'White or 'Yikes' Power Mac with 66MHz PCI slot? Check out our test of the ATI Radeon 9200 Mac Edition PCI graphics card. October 7th, 2004 (Updated) -- See results for the iMac G5 running AppleWorks, iMovie, iTunes, FileMaker Pro, Photoshop, and Motion -- compared to other Macs October 7th, 2004 (Updated) -- We've re-run Halo and UT2004 at what we call our "Normal Real World" settings comparing the iMac G5 to a PowerBook and two PowerMacs. September 24th, 2004 (Updated) -- RocketRAID, the first SATA PCI-X host adapter for Mac -- featuring 8 channels of raw throughput (added numbers on 6, 7 and 8 MaXLine III drives) September 16th, 2004 -- Radeon 9800 XT (in a G5/2.5GHz) Versus Others (Motion RAM Preview, UT2003, Quake3) September 15th, 2004 (Updated) -- What's The Fastest Mouse for Your Mac? (Add info on the Logitech MX1000 with laser sensor) September 14th, 2004 (Updated) -- Test Results On The G5/2.5GHz MP Power Mac Versus Others (Added Bryce, Motion, and Quake3 results) August 23rd, 2004 -- Medea G-RAID offers a FireWire 800 storage solution with beauty and efficiency. August 21st, 2004 (updated) -- Which FireWire 800 Storage is FASTER -- Two LaCie d2 Extremes or One LaCie Big Disk Extreme? (updated with improved G5 results after flushing caches) July 24th, 2004 -- Cinebench ratings for G5/2.5GHz MP versus others July 23rd, 2004 -- The bargain Burly Box -- External SATA RAID for the "rest of us." July 9th, 2004 (Update) -- Does it matter what brand of SATA drive you use in your four drive RAID 0 set? (Seagate SATA RAID added to graphs) June 24th, 2004 -- G5 Graphics Cards At "Sane" 3D Game Settings. June 9th, 2004 -- Radeon 9800 Pro Special 256MB Mac Edition versus other Radeon AGP graphics cards -- at "Extreme" 3D Game Settings. May 25th, 2004 (Updated) -- "Stock" versus "Configure To Order" 15 inch PowerBook -- 64MB or 128MB VRAM? 4200rpm, 5400rpm, or 7200rpm DRIVE? (Added random READ and WRITE results) May 8th, 2004 (Updated) -- How Fast Does A USB 2.0 Drive Go On The eMac? PowerBook? G5 Power Mac? How does it compare to FireWire? May 5th, 2004 Updated -- eMac 1.25GHz versus iMac 1.25GHz versus PowerBook 1.25GHz versus 1.25GHz Power Mac -- added iBook 1.2GHz April 28th, 2004 Updated -- The Best versus The Best: Two NEW "Rev B" 15" Aluminum PowerBooks (1.5GHz, 1.33GHz) Take On The Fastest Power Macs -- updated with 12" PowerBook G4/133GHz game results April 26th, 2004 Updated -- Final Cut Pro 4 rendering -- G5 vs G4, Dual CPU vs Single CPU, Power Mac vs PowerBook -- added new PowerBooks and a few old Power Macs (G4/450MP, G4/533MP) April 15th, 2004 -- The Fastest SATA drive meets the BIGGEST: 10K WD Raptor versus Hitachi 7K400. 03/30/04 -- TransIntl's SwiftData 200 Puts 5 Drives INSIDE A G5 Power Mac. 03/26/04 -- FireWire 800 Speed Mysteries Solved: Dock vs Enclosure, 2.5 vs 3.5 inch RAID, PowerBook vs Power Mac 03/14/04 -- Word Processor Shootout -- Mariner Write versus MS Word X, AppleWorks, Think Free, and Nisus Express. 02/26/04 -- G5Jam -- Terabyte RAID INSIDE a G5 Power Mac 02/20/04 Updated -- Unreal Tournament 2004 SHOOTOUT between G5 Power Macs, the fastest G4 Power Mac, and the fastest G4 PowerBook. 02/20/04 Updated -- How Fast Is A FireWire 800 CardBus PC Card Compared To Built-In FireWire 800 On A PowerBook? 01/30/04 Updated -- Four Drive RAID 0 -- Ultra320 SCSI compared to SATA and FireWire 800 RAID sets. 01/26/04 Updated -- The 3D Game Page for Dual 64 bit Opteron versus Dual 64 bit Power Mac G5. (Restored graphs even though graphics card core clock speed differed.) 01/23/04 -- How Much Will A RAID 0 Scratch Volume Accelerate Photoshop CS When Editing Large (300MB) Documents? 10/02/03 Updated -- Optional Aluminum PowerBook drives (Stock 4200rpm vs 5400rpm vs 7200rpm options -- 80GN added to graphs.) 9/12/03 -- Drives lose speed as they fill up. Which Serial ATA drive loses the least? 9/10/03 -- Serial ATA RAID 0 striped pairs compared (Hitachi, Maxtor, Seagate) 9/9/03 -- Various Serial ATA drives compared (Hitachi, Maxtor, Seagate). 8/18/03 Update -- Serial ATA-150 versus Parallel ATA-133 and FireWire 800 7/25/03 -- ATI Radeon 9800 Pro Addendum: Quake3 and UT2003 at 1600x1200 and 1280x1024. 7/18/03 -- Acard's new 4 Channel HW RAID card and four fast drives take on the storage world. 7/17/03 -- ATI Radeon 9800 Mac Edition (retail) versus others (1024x768).