Cinebench and Geekbench
on 'Nehalem' Mac Pros

Posted March 11th, 2009, by rob-ART morgan, mad scientist

We are still waiting for our 'early 2009' Mac Pro "Nehalem" test units to arrive. Meanwhile, using some of our test results and those from "remote mad scientists," we have compiled Cinebench and Geekbench results for some of the 2009 and 2008 models of Mac Pro, iMac, and MacBook Pro.

CINEBENCH 10
This free benchmark app uses real world code from Cinema 4D to render a sample project. It stresses all available cores. In the case of the Nehalem, hyperthreading fools the app into thinking there are 16 cores on the 8-core models and 8 cores on the 4-core models. The graph below shows the Cinebench rating for "Multi-CPU" render test.

GEEKBENCH 2
It's not only multi-core aware, but it includes some memory tests which explains why the Nehalem based Mac Pros beat the older Penryn based Power Macs with higher core frequencies. The graph below shows the overall 32-bit score.

There is also a 64-bit version of Geekbench. Fewer results exist for it since, for some unexplained reason, consumers will gladly spend thousands for a new Mac but resist purchasing a $20 serial number in support of a 'starving' Mac developer.

GRAPH LEGEND
RED bar means fastest
2.93 8-core = 'early 2009' Mac Pro 2.93GHz 8-core (OWC Lab and Cory Meeker)
2.66 8-core = 'early 2009' Mac Pro 2.66GHz 8-core (MacRumors Forum, Geekbench Browser)
2.26 8-core = 'early 2009' Mac Pro 2.26GHz 8-core (OWC Lab and MaxUpgrades)
2.93 4-core = 'early 2009' Mac Pro 2.93GHz 4-core (OWC Lab)
2.66 4-core = 'early 2009' Mac Pro 2.66GHz 4-core (OWC Lab)
3.2 8-core = 'early 2008' Mac Pro 3.2GHz 8-core (Bare Feats Lab)
3.0 8-core = 'early 2008' Mac Pro 3.0GHz 8-core (Bare Feats Lab)
2.8 8-core = 'early 2008' Mac Pro 2.8GHz 8-core (MacRumors Forum, Geekbench Browser)
2.8 4-core = 'early 2008' Mac Pro 2.8GHz 4-core (MacRumors Forum, Geekbench Browser)
3.06 2-core = 'early 2008' 24" iMac 3.06GHz 2-core (Bare Feats Lab)
2.93 2-core = 'early 2009' 17" MacBook Pro 2.93GHz 2-core (Geekbench Browser)
2.8 2-core = 'early 2008' 15" MacBook Pro 2.8GHz 2-core (Bare Feats Lab)

Special Thanks to the following for help with testing various systems:
OWC Test Lab
John Poole webmaster of Geekbench.ca and author of Geekbench
MacRumors Forum members
Cory Meeker of vogelha.us

Tech Specs on Mac Pros
Tech Specs on MacBook Pros
Tech Specs on iMacs

INSIGHTS
The new 'Nehalem' based Mac Pros definitely take performance hungry Mac users to new levels. There's more to come in terms of CPU intensive real world apps, GPU intensive apps, and Memory benchmarking apps. Until we can gather and post those results, take a gander at Apple's Mac Pro Performance Page.

CALL FOR BENCHMARKS
If you want to help us fill out the models missing from the graphs, please .

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APPLE RESELLERS

• Power Max (takes trade-ins)
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IF YOU NEED MEMORY FOR YOUR MAC PRO, we recommend...

• Other World Computing
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copyright 2009 Rob Art Morgan
"BARE facts on Macintosh speed FEATS"
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