Newest Power Macs Trounce Pentium PCs
Independent Study Shows PowerPC Processor-Based Macintosh Systems are Significantly Faster Than Pentium Systems
Boston, Massachusetts -- August 7, 1995 -- Apple Computer's newest Power Macintosh systems outperformed Windows computers based on equivalent clock-speed Pentium processors by up to 44% overall, according to a study recently completed by Competitive Assessment Services (CAS).
Introduced today (See release title, "Apple's New Power Macintosh Systems Provide Outstanding Performance at Affordable Prices," dated 8/7/95), the new, aggressively priced Power Macintosh systems--the Power Mac 7200/75, 7200/90, 7500/100 and 8500/120-extend the performance leadership established by the original Power Mac systems. In addition, these new computers offer the same powerful architecture found in the world's fastest personal computer, the Power Macintosh 9500.
The Power Macintosh 9500 and the new Power Macintosh 8500 feature the next generation PowerPC 604 microprocessor. According to Apple's processor vendors, IBM Microelectronics Division and Motorola RISC Microprocessor Division, the PowerPC 604 microprocessor today delivers the performance that's promised by the still unreleased Intel P6 processor. The 604 is capable of achieving an estimated SpecInt92 performance rating of 200, easily outperforming any of Intel's currently shipping processors.
While Spec marks are a low level metric, quantifying the optimized performance of the microprocessor at a purely technical level, application level tests like the CAS methodology, aim to duplicate a customer's actual experience.
An analysis of the CAS report on the new Power Macintosh systems revealed*.
*CAS conducted these tests with virtual memory turned on, and noted that users could expect even greater performance gains on the new Power Mac systems with virtual memory turned off.
What CAS Tested
The application-level benchmarks included ten different applications measured on 58 different tasks. The applications included spreadsheets, word processors, a database, document layout, business graphics, and other applications. The tasks measured included opening files, scrolling, spell checking, spreadsheet recalculations, graphing and a variety of other tasks. The applications used were Microsoft Excel, Word and FoxPro, Claris Works from Claris, Wolfram Research's Mathematica, Macromedia Freehand, Fractal Design Painter, FrameMaker from Frame Technology Corporation, Deltagraph Professional from DeltaPoint and Ashlar Vellum.
About the configurations
All systems were configured with 16 MB memory. The Pentium based computers were configured with 256KB L2 cache. The Pentium based systems were running Windows 3.1 or Windows for Workgroups 3.11 as configured from the factory. The Power Macintosh computers were configured with optional 256KB L2 cache and virtual memory on. The Power Macintosh computers were running System 7.5.2. All systems were set to the same graphics resolution and bit depth.
Processor/ MHz Computer PowerPC 604/120* Power Macintosh 8500/120 PowerPC 601/100 Power Macintosh 7500/100 PowerPC 601/90 Power Macintosh 7200/90 PowerPC 601/75 Power Macintosh 7200/75 Pentium/120 Dell Optiplex XMT 5/120 Pentium/100 Gateway P5100 XL Pentium/90 Dell XPS P90 Pentium/75 Dell Dimension XPS P75 Pentium/66 Compaq Deskpro 5/66M 486/33 Compaq Deskpro XE 433
The overall application level performance of the systems tested was:
Computer Relative Performance* Apple Power Macintosh 8500/120 6.18 Apple Power Macintosh 7500/100 5.23 Apple Power Macintosh 7200/90 4.54 Pentium 120 MHz 4.28 Pentium 100 MHz 4.01 Apple Power Macintosh 7200/75 3.95 Pentium 90 MHz 3.67 Pentium 75 MHz 3.16 Pentium 66 MHz 3.06 486DX 33 MHz 1.00 *In multiples of the performance of a 33 MHz 486DX
The performance results of the publishing and graphics applications tested was:
Computer Relative Performance* Apple Power Macintosh 8500/120 8.80 Apple Power Macintosh 7500/100 7.59 Apple Power Macintosh 7200/90 6.45 Apple Power Macintosh 7200/75 5.67 Pentium 120 MHz 4.90 Pentium 100 MHz 4.44 Pentium 90 MHz 4.08 Pentium 75 MHz 3.50 Pentium 66 MHz 3.27 486DX 33 MHz 1.00 *In multiples of the performance of a 33 MHz 486DX Graphics and publishing applications included Framemaker, Painter, Deltagraph and Freehand.
About the Testing by CAS
The application level testing was conducted by Competitive Assessment Services on equivalently configured Power Macintosh and x86 processor-based PCs running Windows. The tests consisted of measuring the actual elapsed time required to perform various tasks. Unlike processor-only or low-level benchmarks, the test results reflect application-level performance running real applications on actual systems. The tasks involved a mix of integer, floating point, disk and graphics activities.
This new report also highlights the contrast between artificial benchmarks like SPECmarks, which are subject to optimization by manufacturers, and real-world applications tests which aim to measure actual application-level performance.
CAS found the new Power Macs' overall performance on applications tested to be much higher than Pentium processor-based computers running at the same clock speed. Performance can vary from application to application; Apple encourages customers to perform their own tests.
Located in Huntington Beach, California, Competitive Assessment Services are providers of comparative computer quality standards. CAS reports testing scores as Geometric Mean Index scores. These scores were analyzed by Apple Computer in order to determine relative performance results as reported in the various application groups.
CAS is an independent test facility. CAS has been contracted by Apple Computer, Inc., (Apple) to perform the above suite of benchmarks with industry standard applications as tested on personal computer systems. The test procedures are designed to take full advantage of both Apple and Intel-based personal computer system architecture. CAS closely monitors test procedures to ensure reproducible system configurations and test results.
Apple Computer, Inc., a recognized pioneer and innovator in the information industry, creates powerful solutions based on easy to use personal computers, servers, peripherals, software, online services, and personal digital assistants. Headquartered in Cupertino, California, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) develops, manufactures, licenses and markets products, technologies and services for the business, education, consumer, scientific & engineering and government markets in over 140 countries.
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