Rosetta Performance
We released Geekbench Preview 2 for Rosetta yesterday, and we’ve started receiving performance results for Rosetta. Here are the results we received from Geekbench Preview 2 and Geekbench Preview 2 for Rosetta running on an iMac Core Duo with the following configuration:
- iMac Core Duo
- Intel Core Duo 2GHz
- 2GB RAM
- Mac OS X 10.4.5 (Build 8G1454)
We’re using the baseline scores (not the raw scores) from each benchmark, so in all cases a higher score is better. We’ve computed each benchmark’s score running under Rosetta as a percentage of its score running natively, and again, higher is better.
| Benchmark | Threads | Native | Rosetta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emulate 6502 | 1 | 183 | 85 (46%) |
| Emulate 6502 | 4 | 346 | 162 (46%) |
| Blowfish | 1 | 350 | 3865 (1104%) |
| Blowfish | 4 | 604 | 4589 (759%) |
| bzip2 Compress | 1 | 139 | 59 (42%) |
| bzip2 Compress | 4 | 263 | 120 (45%) |
| bzip2 Decompress | 1 | 139 | 69 (49%) |
| bzip2 Decompress | 4 | 269 | 135 (50%) |
| Mandelbrot | 1 | 148 | 74 (50%) |
| Mandelbrot | 4 | 281 | 139 (49%) |
| Latency | 1 | 586 | 251 (42%) |
| Read Sequential | 1 | 353 | 179 (50%) |
| Write Sequential | 1 | 161 | 134 (83%) |
| Stdlib Allocate | 1 | 143 | 10 (6%) |
| Stdlib Allocate | 4 | 156 | 9 (5%) |
| Stdlib Write | 1 | 153 | 151 (98%) |
| Stdlib Copy | 1 | 176 | 173 (98%) |
| Stream Copy | 1 | 119 | 88 (73%) |
| Stream Scale | 1 | 119 | 71 (59%) |
| Stream Add | 1 | 174 | 91 (52%) |
| Stream Triad | 1 | 177 | 83 (46%) |
I’m impressed with Rosetta; Geekbench performance running under Rosetta is 40% to 80% of what it is running natively. Plus, running Geekbench under Rosetta is comparable to running Geekbench natively on a Power Mac G5 1.6GHz (our baseline system), at least in the single-threaded tests.
Still, two benchmarks stand out. Stdlib Allocate’s performance is incredibly poor under Rosetta, while Blowfish’s performance is incredibly (and unbelievably) good. While we don’t have an Intel-based Mac at our disposal for development[1], my guess is a poor standard library implementation under Rosetta is holding back the Stdlib Allocate benchmark, while a bug in our Blowfish benchmark (or even Rosetta) is inflating the Blowfish benchmark.
Overall, I don’t think Rosetta performance will be a concern for almost anyone with an Intel-based Mac.
[1] Donations towards a Mac Mini Core Solo gratefully accepted, of course!
Trackbacks & Pingbacks
- Ichigo: Noterat » Benchmarks av Mac OS Xs Rosetta pingbacked Posted March 1, 2006, 11:04 am
- Rosetta Performance Revisited at Primate Labs Blog pingbacked Posted March 21, 2007, 11:06 pm
- phonglong.com » Blog Archive » A Case For Cocoa pingbacked Posted January 11, 2008, 1:43 am
Thanks. Thanks a whole lot.
You know, I think my PB 667 is comparable to my iMac 800. There are tradeoffs, and a lot of the time the PB just seems to edge out the iMac. Once, I had a Performat 5200! Got it for like $400 from Wal-Mart on clearence when they had a brand new on on display for about $1500! Dang.
Hey, I think those new Mac Minis are nice but $799? Really now. Should’ve had a slot on top for an iPod, and maybe throw in some sort of DVR software. It’s 2006 already!!!
I guess the Hi-Fi isn’t that hot. I’m too old to enjoy that kind of dynamic range. (I told a blonde the other day that my ears were ringing. She said, “You poor man — how do you decide which one to answer first?”)
Look, we appreciate the benchies and all. Nice work. I feel better about getting a Macinbunnysuit. But I’m still holding out for a good Classic emulator so I can still float PageMaker* and (get ready for this one) the Finances DA by Ed Neu (copyright 1989 for SoftDisk/Diskworld #10). Best blasted DA ever – and still no widgets come close! (It sucks to be me… ) Let’s you select to do Loans, Investments, Deposits and Withdrawals. Just select one field to figure, plug values into the others, and WHAM you got what you need. Most important app – I am serious. I have made heap big decisions with this baby.
(* And YES, I have Pages. And YES, it hurts to use it sometimes.)
What about FinancesOSX ?
http://www.beaveramb.org/MumboWare/
(found it on Google, just for you)
Hugin…
THANK YOU!
I’ve been looking for something like this for years and threw the towel around the middle of last year.
…
This came out at the end.
Amazing how sometimes a simple link in a comment in a blog post which is actually unrelated to the post itself can solve so much for your.
Thank you.
Hey, I think those new Mac Minis are nice but $799?
I think everybody is missing a lot by just looking at the price.
I bought the 2005 1.4mhz model, upgraded it, and now the Core Due model. After the RAM upgrade to 2 GB, I paid practically the same thing this year (less than $100 difference) for a far superior machine that I can apparently just pop out the CPU and put in a faster one. This is a better deal than last years.
If I compare the two machines:
G3 1.4mhz (Now 1.66ghz Intel Core Duo – 4x faster)
80 GB HD (was an upgrade, was 4400, now 5400rpm)
DVD-R, CD-R (was an upgrade)
Bluetooth (was an upgrade)
Airport Extreme (was an upgrade, was b, now g)
1 GB ram (both are upgrades, now 2 GB ram)
Nvidia 32 MB video, now integrated 64 mb
audio out, now audio in and out capable of 5.1 (an additional suport and superior features)
now an IR remote
2 USB, now 4 USB slots
(lost the 56K modem)
Additional software like (IR) Front Row and networked media (Nice replacent for DVR)
(did I forget anything?)
… And, the customer services was better. I got this machine the day after it was announced where last year I had to wait over a month for the upgraded one.