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#1 2007-10-30 3:57 pm

pkmgarf
Member
From: Sussex, WI
Registered: 2007-06-13
Posts: 479

Upgrade Review...Finally

Well, I finally got my Mac how I want it..for now.  After waiting for a few replacement Sonnet cards to come for the used one I bought off of eBay (warranty replacements), getting a monitor with DVI input and more money than I wanted to spend, my Mac is happy again.

Here's what I had and what I have:

Before...
Dual 500mhz G4 (7400), 1.25GB PC100 RAM, ATI Rage 6..

Now...
Dual 1.8ghz G4 (7447), 1.25GB PC100 RAM, Nvidia Geforce 6200

As a first hand test, everything is more responsive.  OS X loads really quickly (and I thought it was relatively fast before..compared to Windows that is), and my shiny new 19'' LCD runs at 1440x900 without a problem.  Now for the "hard" data....I tested with Cinebench, Xbench and Unreal 2004....

((I'm breaking it up into three seperate posts to make it easier to navigate))

Last edited by pkmgarf (2007-11-01 10:32 am)

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#2 2007-10-30 3:58 pm

pkmgarf
Member
From: Sussex, WI
Registered: 2007-06-13
Posts: 479

Re: Upgrade Review...Finally

Xbench

Baseline (everything stock)
Results    23.59   
    System Info       
        Xbench Version        1.3
        System Version        10.4.10 (8R218)
        Physical RAM        1280 MB
        Model        PowerMac3,3
        Processor        PowerPC G4x2 @ 500 MHz
            Version        7400 (Max) v2.9
            L1 Cache        32K (instruction), 32K (data)
            L2 Cache        1024K @ 250 MHz
            Bus Frequency        100 MHz
        Video Card        ATY,Rage6
        Drive Type        WDC WD400BB-00DEA0
    CPU Test    32.36   
        GCD Loop    53.42    2.82 Mops/sec
        Floating Point Basic    20.23    480.61 Mflop/sec
        AltiVec Basic    197.75    7.88 Gflop/sec
        vecLib FFT    28.08    926.44 Mflop/sec
        Floating Point Library    21.90    3.81 Mops/sec
    Thread Test    43.67   
        Computation    43.74    886.10 Kops/sec, 4 threads
        Lock Contention    43.61    1.88 Mlocks/sec, 4 threads
    Memory Test    21.14   
        System    19.24   
            Allocate    44.76    164.36 Kalloc/sec
            Fill    22.06    1072.77 MB/sec
            Copy    11.33    233.96 MB/sec
        Stream    23.46   
            Copy    25.83    533.43 MB/sec [altivec]
            Scale    26.72    552.08 MB/sec [altivec]
            Add    20.97    446.71 MB/sec [altivec]
            Triad    21.44    458.63 MB/sec [altivec]
    Quartz Graphics Test    26.33   
        Line    26.75    1.78 Klines/sec [50% alpha]
        Rectangle    20.09    6.00 Krects/sec [50% alpha]
        Circle    21.14    1.72 Kcircles/sec [50% alpha]
        Bezier    34.28    864.59 beziers/sec [50% alpha]
        Text    38.12    2.38 Kchars/sec
    OpenGL Graphics Test    39.85   
        Spinning Squares    39.85    50.55 frames/sec
    User Interface Test    9.28   
        Elements    9.28    42.61 refresh/sec
    Disk Test    40.26   
        Sequential    52.68   
            Uncached Write    59.04    36.25 MB/sec [4K blocks]
            Uncached Write    71.24    40.31 MB/sec [256K blocks]
            Uncached Read    51.26    15.00 MB/sec [4K blocks]
            Uncached Read    39.31    19.76 MB/sec [256K blocks]
        Random    32.57   
            Uncached Write    13.26    1.40 MB/sec [4K blocks]
            Uncached Write    60.10    19.24 MB/sec [256K blocks]
            Uncached Read    79.02    0.56 MB/sec [4K blocks]
            Uncached Read    55.18    10.24 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Baseline + Geforce6200
Results    24.30   
    System Info       
        Xbench Version        1.3
        System Version        10.4.10 (8R218)
        Physical RAM        1280 MB
        Model        PowerMac3,3
        Processor        PowerPC G4x2 @ 500 MHz
            Version        7400 (Max) v2.9
            L1 Cache        32K (instruction), 32K (data)
            L2 Cache        1024K @ 250 MHz
            Bus Frequency        100 MHz
        Video Card        Geforce 6200
        Drive Type        WDC WD400BB-00DEA0
    CPU Test    32.09   
        GCD Loop    53.48    2.82 Mops/sec
        Floating Point Basic    20.25    481.20 Mflop/sec
        AltiVec Basic    197.92    7.89 Gflop/sec
        vecLib FFT    27.09    893.71 Mflop/sec
        Floating Point Library    21.85    3.81 Mops/sec
    Thread Test    41.10   
        Computation    43.15    874.18 Kops/sec, 4 threads
        Lock Contention    39.24    1.69 Mlocks/sec, 4 threads
    Memory Test    21.76   
        System    19.66   
            Allocate    49.88    183.16 Kalloc/sec
            Fill    21.38    1039.39 MB/sec
            Copy    11.66    240.90 MB/sec
        Stream    24.36   
            Copy    27.00    557.74 MB/sec [altivec]
            Scale    27.99    578.33 MB/sec [altivec]
            Add    21.70    462.21 MB/sec [altivec]
            Triad    22.04    471.41 MB/sec [altivec]
    Quartz Graphics Test    29.17   
        Line    28.01    1.86 Klines/sec [50% alpha]
        Rectangle    23.49    7.01 Krects/sec [50% alpha]
        Circle    24.91    2.03 Kcircles/sec [50% alpha]
        Bezier    35.57    897.23 beziers/sec [50% alpha]
        Text    40.16    2.51 Kchars/sec
    OpenGL Graphics Test    28.09   
        Spinning Squares    28.09    35.63 frames/sec
    User Interface Test    10.69   
        Elements    10.69    49.04 refresh/sec
    Disk Test    43.16   
        Sequential    62.07   
            Uncached Write    66.73    40.97 MB/sec [4K blocks]
            Uncached Write    69.68    39.42 MB/sec [256K blocks]
            Uncached Read    45.29    13.25 MB/sec [4K blocks]
            Uncached Read    76.74    38.57 MB/sec [256K blocks]
        Random    33.08   
            Uncached Write    13.68    1.45 MB/sec [4K blocks]
            Uncached Write    61.28    19.62 MB/sec [256K blocks]
            Uncached Read    77.57    0.55 MB/sec [4K blocks]
            Uncached Read    53.73    9.97 MB/sec [256K blocks]

CPU Upgarde + Geforce6200
Results    43.69   
    System Info       
        Xbench Version        1.3
        System Version        10.4.10 (8R218)
        Physical RAM        1280 MB
        Model        PowerMac3,3
        Processor        PowerPC G4x2 @ 1.80 GHz
            Version        7455 (Apollo) v0.0
            L1 Cache        32K (instruction), 32K (data)
            L2 Cache        256K @ 900 MHz
            Bus Frequency        100 MHz
        Video Card        Geforce 6200
        Drive Type        WDC WD400BB-00DEA0
    CPU Test    96.91   
        GCD Loop    172.29    9.08 Mops/sec
        Floating Point Basic    63.53    1.51 Gflop/sec
        AltiVec Basic    359.21    14.32 Gflop/sec
        vecLib FFT    105.94    3.49 Gflop/sec
        Floating Point Library    56.11    9.77 Mops/sec
    Thread Test    123.03   
        Computation    146.43    2.97 Mops/sec, 4 threads
        Lock Contention    106.07    4.56 Mlocks/sec, 4 threads
    Memory Test    22.56   
        System    22.05   
            Allocate    151.97    558.07 Kalloc/sec
            Fill    25.82    1255.58 MB/sec
            Copy    11.02    227.60 MB/sec
        Stream    23.10   
            Copy    25.50    526.78 MB/sec [altivec]
            Scale    25.54    527.74 MB/sec [altivec]
            Add    21.18    451.11 MB/sec [altivec]
            Triad    21.02    449.59 MB/sec [altivec]
    Quartz Graphics Test    64.47   
        Line    52.05    3.47 Klines/sec [50% alpha]
        Rectangle    57.17    17.07 Krects/sec [50% alpha]
        Circle    59.37    4.84 Kcircles/sec [50% alpha]
        Bezier    76.14    1.92 Kbeziers/sec [50% alpha]
        Text    91.95    5.75 Kchars/sec
    OpenGL Graphics Test    67.21   
        Spinning Squares    67.21    85.26 frames/sec
    User Interface Test    25.73   
        Elements    25.73    118.11 refresh/sec
    Disk Test    35.48   
        Sequential    43.01   
            Uncached Write    31.19    19.15 MB/sec [4K blocks]
            Uncached Write    61.29    34.68 MB/sec [256K blocks]
            Uncached Read    76.77    22.47 MB/sec [4K blocks]
            Uncached Read    31.65    15.91 MB/sec [256K blocks]
        Random    30.19   
            Uncached Write    12.72    1.35 MB/sec [4K blocks]
            Uncached Write    51.63    16.53 MB/sec [256K blocks]
            Uncached Read    79.47    0.56 MB/sec [4K blocks]
            Uncached Read    45.61    8.46 MB/sec [256K blocks]



It's interesting that my score actually went down with the Geforce6200 with the stock processor.  I don't really know what to blam that on.  Also, it becomes pretty apparent that my 100mhz bus/RAM is really limiting my score here...

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#3 2007-10-30 3:59 pm

pkmgarf
Member
From: Sussex, WI
Registered: 2007-06-13
Posts: 479

Re: Upgrade Review...Finally

Cinebench

Baseline (stock everything)

CINEBENCH R10
****************************************************

Tester           : Pat

Processor        : Dual 500mhz G4/Stock GPU
MHz              : 500
Number of CPUs   : 2
Operating System : OS X 32 BIT 10.4.9

Graphics Card    : ATI Radeon OpenGL Engine
Resolution       : 1024x768
Color Depth      : <fill this out>

****************************************************

Rendering (Single   CPU): 366 CB-CPU
Rendering (Multiple CPU): 662 CB-CPU

Multiprocessor Speedup: 1.81

Shading (OpenGL Standard): 52 CB-GFX


****************************************************

CPU Upgrade + Geforce 6200

CINEBENCH R10
****************************************************

Tester           : Pat

Processor        : Dual 1800mhz G4/Geforce 6200
MHz              : 1800
Number of CPUs   : 2
Operating System : OS X 32 BIT 10.4.9

Graphics Card    : Nvidia Geforce 6200 Open GL Engine
Resolution       : 1440x900
Color Depth      : <fill this out>

****************************************************

Rendering (Single   CPU): 955 CB-CPU
Rendering (Multiple CPU): 1445 CB-CPU

Multiprocessor Speedup: 1.51

Shading (OpenGL Standard): 817 CB-GFX


****************************************************

Not much to say here.  I'm thrilled with the results.  The multiprocessor speedup went down a little, but oh well.

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#4 2007-10-30 4:18 pm

pkmgarf
Member
From: Sussex, WI
Registered: 2007-06-13
Posts: 479

Re: Upgrade Review...Finally

Unreal 2004
Now for the more subjective test.  All of the numbers below are based off of the command "stat fps" in Unreal.  The "low" is the FPS I saw when all bots were present unleashing hell on me at the same time.  The "average" is what I would consider to be the "normal" FPS throughout gameplay.  The "high" is the peak FPS.  Everything is based off of a deathmatch on Antalus with 4 bots.

The three quality levels are as follows:  low, mid and high.  Low is the lowest detail settings.  Mid is the game's defautls.  High is withe everything pegged and the options all turned on.

Resolutions are the same setup...low, medium and high.  The "high" varies a little, as I switched monitors with my new video card (needed one with DVI).  Low is 640x480.  Mid is 1024x768.  High is 1200x1600 on the tests with the Rage 6 and is 1280x1024 on the others.

Baseline (Stock everything)
Low Res
Low (detail) - 18-25 low - 35 avg - 50 high
Mid  - 10-18 low - 25 avg - 33 high
High - 8-12 low - 18-22 avg - 30 high (spike to 50?)

Mid Res
Low - 20 low - 24-28 avg - 43 high
Mid - 17 low - 20-25 avg - 35 high
**High - 6-13 low - 15 avg - 30 high

High Res
Low - 15-18 low - 20 avg - 28 high
**Mid - 8-10 low - 12 avg - 17 high
**High - 5-6 low - 8-10 avg - 10 high


Baseline + Geforce 6200
Low Res
Low - 15-25 low - 35-40 avg - 56 high
Mid - 18-20 low - 25 avg - 46 high
High - 15-18 low - 18-22 avg - 42 high

Mid Res
Low - 23 low - 30 avg - 42 high
Mid - 15-18 low - 25 avg - 35 high
High - 12-18 low - 20 avg - 40 high

High Res
Low - 15-20 low - 24 avg - 33 high
*Mid - 12-20 low - 12-22 avg - 31 high
*High - 12-14 low - 17-24 avg - 30 high

CPU Upgrade + Geforce 6200
Low Res
Low - 35-40 low - 60 avg - 96 high
Mid - 25-35 low - 35-40 avg - 65 high
High - 19-25 low - 30-35 avg - 58 high

Mid Res
Low - 35 low - 40-50 avg - 70 high
Mid - 25-30 low - 30 avg - 50 high
High - 20 low - 22-34 avg - 48 high

High Res
Low - 18 low - 28-35 avg - 49 high
Mid - 17-20 low - 22-27 avg - 40 high
High - 16-22 low - 18-28 avg - 35 high

*=Barely playable
**=Don't even think about playing

Well, after all of that typing...you can see that there has been a huge improvement.  I can comfortably play Unreal with almost any graphics settings that I want.  Granted, 20fps is kind of low, but 30 is definitely playable.  Overall, I'm really happy with my results.  Let me know what you guys think.


**EDIT**
I forgot to add this.  Photoshop used to take about 31-33 seconds to load.  Now it is 19 seconds.  Illustrator was 31s and is now 21s.  My total cost was as follows:

$360 for CPU (ebay) - Sonnet dual 1.8
$<100 for GPU (ebay) - Geforce 6200
$200 for monitor (store I work at) - Princeton 19'' widescreen LCD

Last edited by pkmgarf (2007-10-30 4:21 pm)

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#5 2007-10-30 4:53 pm

pirloui
Membre
From: Mabase
Registered: 2000-09-17
Posts: 2693
Website

Re: Upgrade Review...Finally

Congratulations smile
There aren't many G4 dual 1.8 around either..Exotic smile


product design portfolio / brothers art
Hackintosh C2Q 2.4Ghz - 4GB - GF9800GT - Mac Pro case
PowerBook G4 1,33Ghz - dead ram slot Apple won't acknowledge

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#6 2007-10-30 4:54 pm

pkmgarf
Member
From: Sussex, WI
Registered: 2007-06-13
Posts: 479

Re: Upgrade Review...Finally

^^^Yay for eBay.

Too bad it took Sonnet three tries to get me one that didn't overheat.  The first one (the one I got from eBay) was super glitchy and froze up.  The second launched me into Open Firmware.  The third is rock solid.  I have to say, I am suprised that Sonnet replaced it for me, being that I bought it used.

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#7 2007-10-31 7:03 pm

pkmgarf
Member
From: Sussex, WI
Registered: 2007-06-13
Posts: 479

Re: Upgrade Review...Finally

I guess it was decided that this would fit better in hardware hacking.  I wasn't sure, as I didn't really hack anything.  Oh well, now I know.

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#8 2007-11-01 12:21 am

NightCougar_37
For Gallia!!
From: The back of my Twilight Drake
Registered: 2001-07-22
Posts: 9143

Re: Upgrade Review...Finally

Nah this is the place. Probably won't get much interest in the general forums other than people who had no idea there was CPU upgrades.

Looks like it worked out. Think thats a 7447 tho. Sonnets so far hasn't taken the 48 plunge. Unless you got something special.


http://www.xboxlc.com/cards/sig/blueice/NC37.jpg

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#9 2007-11-01 10:32 am

pkmgarf
Member
From: Sussex, WI
Registered: 2007-06-13
Posts: 479

Re: Upgrade Review...Finally

^^^^Thanks...didn't realize my typo there.

I'm pretty sure that the support guy at Sonnet liked me and all, but not enough to give me anything THAT special...

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#10 2007-11-01 12:50 pm

dv
Negusa Negest
Moderator
From: Minneapolis, MN
Registered: 1999-08-30
Posts: 18099

Re: Upgrade Review...Finally

Yay upgrades!

Took you long enough to get it working. wink

Nice hardware.


"Now commences the process of cutting off the head, which generally takes from an hour to an hour and a half by an expert workman with a sharp blade." -Reuben Delano, Wanderings and Adventures

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#11 2007-11-01 5:00 pm

pkmgarf
Member
From: Sussex, WI
Registered: 2007-06-13
Posts: 479

Re: Upgrade Review...Finally

^^^^Yeah....well...umm.....cry

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