Power Mac G5 Toasts Dual Xeon 2.8GHz


Yes, a G5 can eat P4s for lunch in 4 out of 5 tests. But how does it fare against dual-processor Xeons? Le Matin (Switzerland) [attrib: MacBidouille decided to find out.

The G5 was a DP 2GHz; the Xeon a DP 2.8GHz. Both ran with 2GB RAM.

Running time-honored Photoshop tests (remember that Photoshop can be optimized for G5s), the results were as follows, with times in minutes and seconds:

Filter application test: G5: 1.14; Xeon: 2.07
RGB palette: G5: 0.50; Xeon 2.50
90 degree rotation: G5: 1.22; Xeon: 1.51
Gaussian blur: G5: 1.27; Xeon: 5.05

The Netzine used Jeroen Van Vulpen's pro set up to measure the differences. Reducing the memory allocated narrows the gap between the two to dead even on RGB and a narrower gap (still in the G5's favor) in the blur tests. However, Van Vulpen still thinks the difference is decisive: the G5's speed advantage can be significant. But it also demonstrates how differently and/or efficiently each system uses its resources.

Analysis: There are also a few G5 v. G4 speed comparisons there, which confirm most of what Bare Feats has already told us.

The Bare Feats stats are more rigorous and wide-ranging, but this is merely one of the first shots in the G5 v. Pentium v. Xeon v. Athlon64 speed stakes.