How much faster is a 7200 RPM Ultra 100 hard drive than the Quantum
Fireball SE 4.3A that came with my beige Power Mac G3? Lots!
Two years ago the Barracuda was the fastest 20 gig UltraATA drive on
the market, according to Bare Feats. The world has
moved on, but it's still a very fast, very responsive drive.
The new 20 GB drive was set as a master drive and replaced the
CD-ROM drive. All files were then copies from the Quantum drive, the
system booted from the Barracuda, and testing begun.
As with our earlier beige G3 benchmarks, the CPU is running at
267.28 MHz with a 512 KB 133.68 MHz level 2 cache and a 66.82 MHz
system bus. The computer has 288 MB of RAM installed.
Speedometer 3.06
The system was tested on 23 January 2002 using a full install of Mac
OS 9.2.2. Computer attached to a 12" mono monitor and tested in 8-bit
video mode at 640 x 480 resolution. Results are relative to a Mac SE or
Classic, which rates 1.0. Numbers rounded off to one or two decimal
places.
Keep in mind that Speedometer 3.06 is written for the old 68K Macs
and runs in emulation on Power Macs.
The first set of numbers compares performance with a 256K disk cache
with virtual memory disabled.
cache CPU graphics disk math
Quantum 125.1 51.4 9.14 633.3
Barracuda 134.8 49.5 28.09 631.0
Speedometer uses a small file size when testing the hard drive, so
the Barracuda drive scores over 3x higher than the aged Quantum. At the
same time, graphics and math performance suffer slightly.
Based on results from our earlier tests on the beige G3, we next
turned virtual memory on at the 320 MB setting. Here are our
results:
cache CPU graphics disk math
Quantum 125.1 50.1 9.36 631.9
Barracuda 134.8 49.5 28.62 632.4
We again find the hard drive score of the Barracuda over 3x that of
the older Quantum, again with slightly reduced graphics and math
scores.
For the next test, we set the default disk cache of 8 MB and left VM
on:
cache CPU graphics disk math
Quantum 125.1 50.1 11.49 631.9
Barracuda 134.8 50.7 20.50 629.8
Although we have double-checked that low CPU score, what's most
significant here is that the graphics score with the Barracuda is
higher than with the Quantum, indicating that the larger disk cache
demands less system resources than direct access to the drive. And
instead of triple the Quantum's drive score, the Barracuda only scores
78% higher when a huge cache is used.
Finally, we set the default disk cache of 8 MB and turn off virtual
memory:
cache CPU graphics disk math
Quantum 134.8 50.7 11.76 631.5
Barracuda 134.8 50.7 21.37 633.3
The Barracuda again outperforms the several year old Quantum, this
time by 82%. Considering the cost (about $100 for a 20 GB Barracuda
IV), if it weren't worth it for the space, it would be worth it for the
speed.
Speedometer 4.02
The system was tested on 23 January 2002 under a full install of Mac
OS 9.2.2. Computer attached to a 12" mono monitor and tested in 8-bit
video mode at 640 x 480 resolution. Results are relative to a Quadra
605, which rates 1.0. Numbers rounded off to one or two decimal
places.
The first set of numbers compares performance with a 256K disk
cache. Virtual memory was disabled for these tests.
cache CPU graphics disk math
Quantum 21.03 n/a 3.47 745.2
Barracuda 21.04 n/a 3.77 745.0
Speedometer 4 uses a larger data set than Speedometer 3, so the
Barracuda doesn't score at 3x the Quantum's speed. Instead, we measure
an 8% improvement using a 256K disk cache.
Based on results from our earlier tests on the beige G3, we next
turned virtual memory on at the 320 MB setting. Here are our
results:
cache CPU graphics disk math
Quantum 20.99 n/a 3.60 743.7
Barracuda 21.00 n/a 3.59 743.9
Here we see virtually identical scores, even on the drive
benchmark.
For the next test, we set the default disk cache of 8 MB and left VM
on:
cache CPU graphics disk math
Quantum 20.99 n/a 4.49 743.3
Barracuda 20.99 n/a 3.97 743.2
The Quantum was at its best in this test, actually managing to
outperform the much newer Barracuda.
Finally, we set the default disk cache of 8 MB and turn off virtual
memory:
cache CPU graphics disk math
Quantum 21.03 n/a 4.51 745.4
Barracuda 21.03 n/a 4.16 744.5
The Quantum wins the second benchmark using an 8 MB disk cache.
Impressive.
Based on Speedometer 4, we'd be hard pressed to recommend replacing
the old 4 GB Quantum drive unless we needed more space - but
Speedometer 4 is only one of four benchmarks we used.
MacBench 5
The system was tested on 23 January 2002 using a normal installation
of Mac OS 9.2.2. Computer attached to a 12" mono monitor and tested in
8-bit video mode at 640 x 480 resolution. The disk cache was set to 256
KB for all tests. Results are relative to a beige Power Mac G3/300,
which rates 1000.
Virtual memory was turned off and tests were run with a 256K disk
cache.
test CPU math disk
Quantum 828 890 622
Barracuda 830 891 1113
MacBench 5 measures the Barracuda at 79% faster than the Quantum in
this disk test.
Based on results from our earlier tests on the beige G3, we next
turned virtual memory on at the 320 MB setting. Here are our
results:
test CPU math disk
Quantum 804 884 603
Barracuda 813 889 1311
The Barracuda does even better with VM enabled, while the Quantum
did worse than on the earlier test. Overall, the Barracuda scored 117%
higher on the disk test.
For the next test, we set the default disk cache of 8 MB and left VM
on:
test CPU math disk
Quantum 804 884 1000
Barracuda 818 889 1781
While the Quantum reaches the 1000 mark on the disk benchmark, the
Barracuda soars to 1781, giving it a 78% advantage over the Quantum on
this disk test.
Finally, we set the default disk cache of 8 MB and turn off virtual
memory:
test CPU math disk
Quantum 830 890 984
Barracuda 830 890 1838
Although tied on the CPU and math scores, the hot Barracuda cleaned
up on the disk test yet again, this time with an 87% advantage over the
Quantum.
ATTO ExpressPro
For the final performance test, we tested both drives using
ExpressPro-Tools 2.4.1 from ATTO. We tested both drives with VM off and
with both 256K and 8 MB disk caches.
Using a 256K disk cache, the Quantum Fireball peaks at roughly 10.4
MB per second.
The 7200 RPM Barracuda really shows its stuff, offering an average
40% performance improvement over the Fireball drive that came with this
beige G3.
Testing the Quantum with an 8 MB disk cache made no significant
difference compared with the earlier 256K test.
If you thought the Barracuda was doing nicely before, compare the
peak and sustained performance using an 8 MB disk cache with the
256K disk cache. Nice becomes even nicer. Overall we're averaging 44%
better performance than using the Quantum drive with the same disk
cache.
Conclusion
Although we had mixed results under Speedometer 4, the other
benchmarks and simple things like faster boot times and quicker program
launches demonstrate the benefit of a fast hard drive - even in a 1997
beige G3 using an old IDE bus that tops out at 16.67 MB per second. In
fact, a Mac with a faster drive bus might see even better scores with
this big, fast, inexpensive drive.
