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Primate Labs: New Mac Pro is a better value

updated 06:20 pm EST, Thu January 10, 2008

Primate Labs tests Mac Pro

Primate Labs today released figures regarding performance of the new Mac Pro versus the old eight-core model. The old model is configured with the eight-core Xeon X5365, running at 3GHz, while the newer model features the Xeon W5462 running at 2.8GHz per core. Both machines were tested using Mac OS X 10.5.1, with the new Mac Pro using 2GB of RAM, versus the former that uses 1GB. Primate Labs says that the tests that GeekBench 2 uses to calculate RAM scores relies more on the speed of the memory rather than the quantity, so it was deemed a fair test.

Despite using a slower clock speed, the new Mac Pro trumps the old in all tests except for Floating Point performance, which is also reflected in the Overall score. Using a 1.6GHz G5 as a baseline score, rated at 1000, Primate Labs found that the new model was approximately 8-percent faster than the former with respect to Integer Performance, while the previous Mac Pro excelled at Floating Point calculations, coming in at just over 11-percent faster.

Memory and Stream Performance showed large improvements over the earlier incarnation, earning 24- and 34-percent increases respectively. Overall performance for the new Mac Pro was measured at 7598, versus 7680 for the former – a 1-percent difference between the two.

Primate Labs says that the results were surprising, considering the new machine uses a slightly slower clock speed, but agrees that the upgraded architecture has contributed to these numbers. The review also mentions that the new Mac Pro is a much better value, only performing 1-percent slower (overall) than the last version at a significantly lower cost.


 
Previous Comments

shocking!

01/10, 07:01pm reply

I can't believe apple released a newer machine that's faster than its previous model. What the h*** will they think of next????

testudo

Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

0

oh shut up

01/10, 07:15pm reply

jesus you are really tiresome.

climacs

Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Sep 2001

0

re: shocking!

01/10, 07:45pm reply

you do realize that they're pointing out that the newer model at a LOWER clock rate is faster than the older one at a HIGHER clock rate?

also, the price-point for the newer (entry-level) machine is much lower than the older (top-end) machine.

scottnichol

Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 1999

0

something is wrong

01/10, 08:20pm reply

According to the original report (http://www.primatelabs.ca/blog/2008/01/mac-pro-performance-january-2008/) higher numbers are BETTER not worse. This is consistent with prior reports where the numbers are scaled in terms of how much better they are than a baseline Mac. That means that floating point was the one thing that was better than the old mac, the reverse of the conclusion.

jdien

Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Dec 2001

0

oops

01/10, 08:27pm reply

never mind. Got it reversed. Need sleep...

jdien

Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Dec 2001

0

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