Benchmarks: IIcx

The IIcx uses a 16 MHz 68030 CPU, so performance is virtually identical to the Mac IIx. Drive is an 80 MB Apple-branded Quantum ProDrive LPS formatted with Apple HD SC Setup 7.3.5.

Remember that benchmarks are arbitrary. They measure certain types of performance that may or may not reflect the way you work.

Speedometer 3.06

The system was tested on 5 October 1998 under System 7.5.5 with all inessential extensions off. Computer attached to a 640x480 monitor and tested in 8-bit video mode except as noted. Results are relative to a Mac SE or Classic, which rates 1.0. Numbers rounded off to two decimal places.

The first set of numbers compares performance at different cache settings.

cache  video   CPU  graphics  disk   math
 32KB  8-bit   4.24   4.89    1.97   6.82
 64KB  8-bit   4.24   4.88    1.99   6.79
128KB  8-bit   4.24   4.94    1.98   6.81
256 KB  8-bit   4.24   4.93    1.97   6.74

The cache setting should have little influence on non-disk tests, which these numbers bear out. With this particular setup, cache size makes no appreciable difference.

The second set of numbers compares performance at different video settings.

cache  video   CPU  graphics  disk   math
 64KB  1-bit   4.24   5.81    1.98   6.79
 64KB  2-bit   4.24   5.06    1.98   6.85
 64KB  4-bit   4.24   4.84    1.98   6.85
 64KB  8-bit   4.24   4.88    1.99   6.84

Because the IIcx uses a NuBus video card instead of onboard video, bit-depth has no significant effect on non-graphics results. As is not uncommon, video at 8 bits is slightly faster than at 4 bits (easier for the computer to work with whole bytes), but running in 1-bit mode does speed graphics by 19%.

Speedometer 4.02

The system was tested on 5 October 1998 under System 7.5.5 with all inessential extensions off. Computer attached to a 640x480 monitor and tested in 8-bit video mode. Results are relative to a Quadra 605, which rates 1.0. Numbers rounded off to two decimal places.

The first set of numbers compares performance at different cache settings.

cache  video   CPU  graphics  disk   math
 32KB  8-bit   0.26   0.26    0.77   0.97
 64KB  8-bit   0.26   0.25    0.77   0.96
128KB  8-bit   0.26   0.25    0.77   0.97
256 KB  8-bit   0.26   0.25    0.75   0.97

The cache setting should have little influence on non-disk tests, which these numbers bear out. As above, with this particular setup, cache size makes no appreciable difference.

Speedometer 4 shows no perceptible difference at different video settings.

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