Apple Mac Upgrades - RAM, SSD Flash, External Drives and More

Final Cut Pro 4 - Export clip to MPEG-4	L2 Cache	L3 Cache	Time, Sec.

Reference Apple Systems

PM G4/400 Gigabit Ethernet	1MB SPB SRAM	0MB	693
PM 2x G4/450 Gigabit Ethernet	1MB SPB SRAM x2	0MB	586
Apple eMac G4/700	256k On Chip	0MB	406
Apple iMac G4/700 15"	256k On Chip	0MB	441
iMac 1GHz (167MHz Bus, 768MB RAM, GF4MX 32MB)	256k	0MB	298
PB G4 17" 1.33GHz (167MHz Bus, 512MB RAM, R9600 64MB)	512k On Chip	0MB	228
PM G5/1.6GHz (800MHz Frontside Bus)	512k On Chip	0MB	196
PM G5/1.8GHz (900MHz Frontside Bus)	512k On Chip	0MB	170
PM G5/2x 2.0GHz (1GHz Frontside Bus)	512k On Chip	0MB	146

Acceleration Cards

OWC Mercury Extreme G4/700MHz	256k	2MB SPB SRAM	360
OWC Mercury Extreme G4/800MHz	256k	2MB SPB SRAM	346
Sonnet Encore/ST G4/800MHz	256k	2MB DDR SRAM	317
OWC Mercury Extreme G4/1GHz	256k	2MB SPB SRAM	296
Sonnet Encore/ST G4/1GHz	256k	2MB DDR SRAM	294
GigaDesigns G-Celerator G4/1.25GHz (@ 1.2GHz)	256k	2MB SPB SRAM	263
OWC Mercury Extreme G4/1.25GHz (@ 1.2GHz)	256k	2MB DDR SRAM	260
Sonnet Encore/ST G4/1.2GHz	256k	2MB DDR SRAM	262
OWC Mercury Extreme G4/1.33GHz (@ 1.3GHz)	256k	2MB DDR SRAM	247
GigaDesigns G-Celerator G4/1.25GHz (@ 1.4GHz)	256k	2MB SPB SRAM	237
OWC Mercury Extreme G4/1.467GHz (@ 1.4GHz)	256k	2MB DDR SRAM	238
Sonnet Encore/ST G4/1.4GHz	256k	2MB DDR SRAM	238
GigaDesigns G-Celerator Dual G4/1.0GHz @ 1.2GHz	256k x 2	2MB SPB SRAM x2	238
GigaDesigns G-Celerator Dual G4/1.2GHz @ 1.3GHz	256k x 2	2MB SPB SRAM x2	225
GigaDesigns G-Celerator Dual G4/1.2GHz @ 1.4GHz	256k x 2	2MB SPB SRAM x2	216

Final Cut Pro 4 MPEG-4 Export. Shorter bars are better, all times in seconds. The test file was created using iMovie's included tutorial movies. Load all of the included clips and duplicate them 2x to have 3 movies in a row in the timeline. Save the file as raw DV footage and open the file using Final Cut Pro. In Final Cut Pro, then export the file to MPEG-4 format, with the following specifications set: In previous tests I had been exporting to MPEG-2 for use with DVD Studio Pro. A number of readers pointed out that this test will take effectively the same amount of time, and not require you to own DVD Studio Pro, as normal QuickTime installations can export to MPEG-4. I agree with that!