The IIsi uses RAM for video, which it takes from the 1 MB of memory
on the motherboard. This creates a use-of-memory conflict between video
and system software, reducing performance. IIsi-RAM-Muncher by
Paul Ripke addresses this by preventing the system from using the first
megabyte of memory. As the benchmarks below demonstrate,
IIsi-RAM-Muncher provides a real performance boost.
The drive, an 80 MB Apple-branded Quantum ProDrive LPS, was
formatted with Apple HD SC Setup 7.3.5. The drive was tested with
Norton and optimized before benchmarking.
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 2 October 1998 under System 7.5.5 with all
inessential extensions off. Computer attached to a portrait monitor and
tested in both 1-bit and 4-bit video modes. 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 munch? CPU graphics disk math
32KB 4-bit no 3.84 5.42 2.08 3.90
64KB 4-bit no 3.84 5.46 2.07 3.96
128KB 4-bit no 3.84 5.40 2.11 3.90
256KB 4-bit no 3.84 5.40 1.88 3.90
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 through 128KB, then drops.
The second set of numbers compares performance at different video
settings and with IIsi-RAM-Muncher.
cache video munch? CPU graphics disk math
64KB 1-bit no 5.03 6.98 2.11 5.40
64KB 1-bit YES 5.28 7.22 2.12 5.71
64KB 4-bit no 3.84 5.46 2.07 3.96
64KB 4-bit YES 5.26 6.10 2.17 5.70
These results show that the IIsi runs 28-36% faster on the CPU,
graphics, and math tests with 1-bit video than in 4-bit mode.
The big surprise is that with IIsi-RAM-Muncher, CPU and math
performance are virtually identical at both video settings - and
IIsi-RAM-Muncher makes an even bigger difference than switching from
4-bit to 1-bit.
Speedometer 4.02
The system was tested on 2 October 1998 under System 7.5.5 with all
inessential extensions off. Computer attached to a portrait monitor and
tested in both 1-bit and 4-bit video modes. 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 munch? CPU graphics disk math
32KB 4-bit no 0.24 0.30 0.82 0.55
64KB 4-bit no 0.24 0.31 0.80 0.55
128KB 4-bit no 0.24 0.30 0.81 0.55
256KB 4-bit no 0.24 0.30 0.73 0.55
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 up to 128KB. At 256 KB it
drops 10%, which is unexpected.
cache video munch? CPU graphics disk math
64KB 4-bit yes 0.32 0.32 0.85 0.83
64KB 4-bit no 0.24 0.31 0.80 0.55
Speedometer 4 shows no perceptible difference at different video
settings. Improvement due to IIsi-RAM-Muncher is similar to that found
under Speedometer 3.
Go to the Mac IIsi
profile.
