Early Benchmarks: Dual-Core G5 vs. Old Dual 2.5ghz G5.

How do the new single-processor, dual-core PowerMac G5s compare to older generation dual CPU PowerMacs? The dual-core chips are honkers, speed demons, quick, fast, etc.

It doesn’t take long for the Mac community to figure out ways to benchmark new hardware from Apple.

The new dual-core PowerMacs have already been ‘benchmarked’ and compared to previous models. Click Here for a look at typical test results using Xbench.

The only models of the new dual-core chip available are the single-processor 2.0ghz PowerMac and the single processor 2.3ghz PowerMac. The dual processor, dual-core chip PowerMac G5 is due to ship next month.

How do the new single-processor, dual-core chips compare to older, dual CPU PowerMacs? Pretty good, actually.

I took the test results from the link above, and ran a comparison Xbench test on my own dual 2.5ghz CPU PowerMac. My numbers are similar to those in the original benchmark test comparing the single processor, dual-core chips to dual processor, single-core chips (new vs. old).

CPU Test:
2.3 ghz Dualcore: 114.32
2.0 ghz Dualcore: 101.55
2.5 ghz Dual (old): 122.25
Jack’s 2.5ghz Dual: 126.27

As you can see, a single CPU with the new dual-core IBM PowerPC chip, even at a lower clock speed, is almost as fast as my year old 2.5ghz PowerMac with two chips.

Thread test:
2.3 ghz Dualcore: 113,74
2.0 ghz Dualcore: 96,91
2.5 ghz Dual: 125,90
Jack’s 2.5 ghz Dual: 121.19

Memory test:
2.3 ghz Dualcore: 121,99
2.0 ghz Dualcore: 110,32
2.5 ghz Dual: 103,73
Jack’s ghz 2.5 Dual: 104.51

Quartz graphics:
2.3 ghz Dualcore: 126,64
2.0 ghz Dualcore: 107,07
2.5 ghz Dual: 125,76
Jack’s ghz 2.5 Dual: 118.98

Open GL:
2.3 ghz Dualcore: 135,38
2.0 ghz Dualcore: 113,27
2.5 ghz Dual: 125,63
Jack’s 2.5 ghz Dual: 155.31

My PowerMac G5 has the stock ATI Radeon 9600 XT with 128 megs of VRAM. The 2.0ghz PowerMac has 128 megs of GDDR SDRAM but is the NVIDIA GeForce 6600 LE. The dual 2.3ghz model has the same graphics card but with 256megs of GDDR SDRAM.

User Interface:
2.3 ghz Dualcore: 121,58
2.0 ghz Dualcore: 118,98
2.5 ghz Dual: 99,94
Jack’s 2.5 ghz Dual: 106.09

Disk Test:
2.3 ghz Dualcore: 66,0
2.0 ghz Dualcore 82,3 (RAID-1)
2.5 ghz Dual: 69,3
Jack’s 2.5 ghz Dual: 57.57

The hard drive in my older PowerMac is the stock SATA model. I have a 120gig RAID setup but did not test Xbench on that hard drive.

TOTALS:
2.3 ghz Dualcore: 108,7 (winner!)
2.0 ghz Dualcore: 103,1
2.5 ghz Dual: 105,9
Jack’s 2.5 ghz Dual: 103.89

The low-end, single-processor, dual-core PowerMac G5 which sells for $1,000 less than what I paid for my dual CPU PowerMac G5 a year ago, is about the same speed. One chip vs. two chips.

These results are not definitive, of course. I’ve never been a big fan of Xbench as results are often inconsistent on the same machine simply running different tests. However, it’s close enough to give you an idea of what’s there.

These dual-core chips are about as fast, at lower clock speeds, as the older dual CPU PowerMacs.

The new high-end, dual-processor PowerMac G5 with dual-core chips should be a screamer.

Check out the daily list of our 9 Word mini-Reviews at NoodleMac, and Kate's daily in-depth Mac software reviews at PixoBebo.

Off Topic #58 - Do politicians use personal computers? Of course. We’ve heard Barack Obama prefers a Mac, while Hillary Clinton uses a Dell, though, apparently neither of the candidates can bowl. Does Obama’s potential vice president use a Mac? Even Clinton acknowledges Apple’s brand power but says she can’t afford a Mac. Maybe she’d win if she used a Mac.

Off Topic #23 & #18 - Want to speed up your Mac? Try Kate MacKenzie’s approach to the $7.99 speed increase. Do you have a back up system for your Mac? Kate’s PixoBebo shows you how to use Time Machine with SuperDuper! for the ultimate Mac back up. And she doesn’t even charge Mac360 readers to visit her site.