 The Source for Mac Performance News and Reviews |
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By Mike Published: 3/14/2003 |
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| Game Performance Tests | |
This page lists test results in popular 3D games like Quake3, Unreal Tournament X PR3 and Return to Castle Wolfenstein. The graphs include tests of:
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| Quake3 Tests: | |
| Tests were done with the latest Quake3 version (1.32) as of this review date. I used the default "High Quality" Quake3 setting w/all game options on. (Only the resolution was changed.) The Quake3 config file had only one tweak - s_chunksize was set to 4096 vs the default (for v1.32) 2048. For the dual CPU tests, r_smp was set to "1" (to use both CPUs). The single CPU results were with r_smp=0. As with every game test I've ever run on a Mac here, audio (sound) was enabled, although music volume is set to 0. (Some readers have asked about this since the GF4 Ti video card review, so I just wanted to make it clear that sound is always enabled.) I know some are tired of seeing Quake3 scores, but it's still a popular Mac game and does show a good delta with faster CPUs (until the graphics card becomes a bottleneck, as you can see in the line graph below at the higher resolutions.) As you can see, at higher resolutions FPS rates drop as the graphics cards used run out of breath basically, regardless of CPU used. (Soon you'll see a card that doesn't however...)  Note: The MDD (Mirror Drive Door) Dual 1GHz system used an OEM Radeon 9000 Pro card. Other results were using an ATI 8500 AGP card unless otherwise noted (like the PL Dual 1GHz extra test with 9000 as well as 8500 card.)
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| Return to Castle Wolfenstein Tests: | |
| I used the RTCW Multiplayer demo first used in my PL 1GHz Cube review back in August, sent by a reader (thanks Tzunami) back then. (You can download the demo using the button in the sidebar at http://ultimatedataserver.de.vu/.)
(Note with v1.41, you have to change the "59" in the demo filename to "60".) I ran tests with the "High Quality" in-game settings, audio enabled, but music volume set to 0 (and using the internal speaker).
 I then ran the same HQ settings test at 1280x1024 resolution.
 At 1280x1024 the graphics card limits begin to come into play so the faster CPU doesn't deliver a linear increase in framerates, although there is some improvement over a 1GHz upgrade. (I doubt most Mac owners play RTCW at more than 1280x1024 so I didn't test higher resolutions as well as the fact that as resolutions rise, the graphics card limits become the bottleneck.) | |
| Unreal Tournament Tests: | |
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I used the latest UT X PR3 version as of this review date. Medium Quality settings, 1024x768 mode, music volume set to 0, decals and dynamic lighting enabled, "Min Desired FPS" set to 0. I used UTBench rather than Wicked400, since UTBench has more varied gameplay, but still has lots of action. Framerates seen in actual play will usually be significantly higher than what is shown with the UTbench benchmark however (in my experience). However since it's impossible to play matches the exact same way, I used UTbench for a relative comparison. (UT scores on macs have always been low, regardless of system or graphics card in my experience, but the game is a lot more playable than the UTBench scores would have you think. During normal gameplay with the faster CPUs, FPS rates often are over 100FPS.)
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Other Sources of Game Performance Comparisons:
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The next page comments on installation of the CPU upgrade. Or you may use the links below to jump to a specific page. |
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