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

CPU Loaing Test - Adobe Photoshop 8 and iTunes	L2 Cache	L3 Cache	Time, Sec.

Reference Apple Systems

PM G4/466MHz Digital Audio	1MB SPB SRAM	0MB	1522
PM G4/2x 533MHz Digital Audio	1MB SPB SRAM x2	0MB	700
PM G4/667MHz Digital Audio	0MB	1MB DDR SDRAM	1254
Apple eMac G4/700	256k On Chip	0MB	1330
Apple iMac G4/700 15"	256k On Chip	0MB	1458
iMac 1GHz (167MHz, 768MB, GF4MX 32MB)	256k	0MB	989
PB G4 17" 1.33GHz (167MHz, 512MB, R9600 64MB)	512k On Chip	0MB	863
PM G4/2x 1.25GHz FW800	256k	2x1MB DDR SDRAM	329
PM G4/2x 1.42GHz FW800	256k	2x2MB DDR SDRAM	299
PM G5/1.6GHz (800MHz Frontside Bus)	512k On Chip	0MB	592
PM G5/1.8GHz (900MHz Frontside Bus)	512k On Chip	0MB	514
PM G5/2x 2.0GHz (1GHz Frontside Bus)	512k On Chip	0MB	229

Acceleration Cards

OWC Mercury Extreme G4/800MHz	256k	2MB SPB SRAM	1056
Sonnet Encore/ST G4/800MHz	256k	2MB DDR SRAM	1043
OWC Mercury Extreme G4/1GHz	256k	2MB SPB SRAM	902
Sonnet Encore/ST G4/1GHz	256k	2MB DDR SRAM	892
Sonnet Encore/ST G4/1.2GHz	256k	2MB DDR SRAM	789
GigaDesigns G-Celerator G4/1.25GHz	256k	2MB SPB SRAM	787
OWC Mercury Extreme G4/1.25GHz	256k	2MB SPB SRAM	787
OWC Mercury Extreme G4/1.33GHz	256k	2MB DDR SRAM	743
Sonnet Encore/ST G4/1.4GHz	256k	2MB DDR SRAM	727
GigaDesigns G-Celerator G4/1.25GHz @ 1.467GHz	256k	2MB SPB SRAM	706
OWC Mercury Extreme G4/1.467GHz	256k	2MB DDR SRAM	711
GigaDesigns G-Celerator Dual G4/1.0GHz@1.2GHz	256k x2	2MB SPB SRAM x2	413
GigaDesigns G-Celerator Dual G4/1.2GHz@1.33GHz	256k x2	2MB SPB SRAM x2	383
PowerLogix PowerForce Dual G4 2x1.2GHz (7457)	512k x2	2MB SPB SRAM x2	369

Time to execute Photoshop 8 test script while iTunes 4 visuals are running full screen in the background. All times in seconds, shorter bars are better. The above test is a seriously difficult task for any processor to run. If you wish to duplicate it, this is what is involved. I would use caution - this CAN AND WILL overheat processors. For more information on this test, see this Photoshop Benchmarking article I wrote. If you have problems with your machine locking up while running this test, investigate the thermal bond between the heatsink and processor - this will stress your computer more than anything! Set your monitor's resolution to 1280x1024, millions of colors. Open iTunes and play a song. For this test I chose a 10 minute live version of a Rolling Stones track, and had it repeat in a loop so all of the processors tested in this series would be having the same visual patterns displayed. Some of the iTunes visuals differ in CPU load, and this levels the playing field, so to speak. Expand the iTunes window to fill the screen Activate the visual effects, at full screen resolution. Open Photoshop Select the action script to run, and start the stopwatch.