are benchmarks for Macs somewhat misleading? - Tech Support Forums

LinuxNewbie · September 14th, 2002, 09:48 PM

i'm talking the processor here. people always say "oh macs suck because they're only 800mhz" even though it's mac terms of course.... in benchmarks for programs that run on both Windows and Mac test speed for things like opening large (like 40mb) pictures and stuff like that.

now i just though of this... MacOS is by far superior to Windows right? it doesn't have anywhere near the lag, memory load and bloat right? when the benchmarks for a super fast P4 on Windows are equal to those on a dual 800mhz G4 Mac, is a lot of that speed actually from the OS and not the CPU? i ran a game server for Unreal Tournament (Tac Ops) on Windows before and i've also run one on that same computer on RedHat Linux 7.1. the Windows XP server took 50% CPU power on an AthlonXP 1700+ but on the Linux (in KDE) it only took about 10% CPU power.
would it be similar in the case of benchmarking a Mac against a P4 on Windows?

Scott Tiger · September 14th, 2002, 10:02 PM

i ran a game server for Unreal Tournament (Tac Ops) on Windows before and i've also run one on that same computer on RedHat Linux 7.1. the Windows XP server took 50% CPU power on an AthlonXP 1700+ but on the Linux (in KDE) it only took about 10% CPU power.

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Wow.. that's high praise for Linux indeed! I know nothing about macs but someone at work just gave me a sparc station Ultra 10 to play with and I was kind of wondering about this somewhere along the same lines you are.

Shawn

CERuppel · September 14th, 2002, 10:17 PM

As have alot of people lately. Bench marking has been moving into the main stream since AMD began to use 'Pentium' equivelent rateings.

Haven't got any links on hand, but try any of the tech mags and search for bench marks, you'll get a screenful.

As for how well the Mac compares to the Pentium/Atlon... I really don't know. The hardware and the protocols and the operating system and the ... With all the differences I'm not sure that a real comparison is possible.

LinuxNewbie · September 14th, 2002, 10:21 PM

hey i just thought of something!

i remember that Mandrake Linux 8.0 also has a distribution for PowerPC (MAC) architecture. somebody should install Mandrake 8.0 on a P4 (because everything is compared to how Intel is doing) and have Mandrake 8.0 on a Mac as well....make a very large GIMP file then see which one opens it faster. if it's the same OS, there shouldn't be any flaw in the test.

anybody feel like sacrificing some time and putting a spare hard drive into their mac and put Linux on it?

*edit*, hey why is your name Scott Tiger if you signed your name as Shawn?

Scott Tiger · September 14th, 2002, 10:39 PM

Scott Tiger is the user name and password for the default database in Oracle. I was studying up on Oracle when I came across this site. I had to come up with a user name pretty fast and Scott Tiger is what I used. No real magic behind the name, it's just what I pulled out of the hat.

I'm probably the least creative person in the world so that's the user name I've used for some time both here and in other forums.

I don't realy like to sign my name as Scott since it's not really my name and I don't consider it an alias. That name just came out of a hat and I've use it ever since.

Shawn

DemonKnight · September 18th, 2002, 05:10 AM

For that test to work you would need to use roughly the same hardware (aside from cpu) wouldent you? I mean what if you put an old 5400rpm drive in the P4 and a 15,000rpm scsi in the mac?

Theres to much infasis on the CPU nowadays.. (I dont really have much room to talk, but I just realized this right now..)