Geekbench score - Why so low?

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Level 3

566 points

Geekbench score - Why so low?

Hello,

I have a Mac Pro 3,1 running at 3.0 ghz which isn't that much slower than the 3.2 2008 model. Why is my geekbench score so much lower than most of the 3.0 mac pros and 3.2 mac pros? Here are my specs:

Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro3,1
Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 3 GHz
Number Of Processors: 2
Total Number Of Cores: 8
L2 Cache (per processor): 12 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 1,6 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MP31.006C.B05
SMC Version (system): 1.25f4

I am also using the 64 bit version of Snow Leopard, and 32 bit kernel. In addition, I have a 4870 Radeon card.

2008 Mac Pro 8-Core 3.0Ghz Harpertown w/2GB memory, Mac OS X (10.6.1), 24" Apple LED Cinema Display w/MDP

Posted on Oct 13, 2009 2:13 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 13, 2009 2:54 AM in response to Nadav

Memory: 2 GB

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Answer 2

Nadav Author

Level 3

566 points

Oct 13, 2009 3:23 AM in response to Malcolm Rayfield

Are you sure thats the only reason? If I were to expand it to 32GB(not that i need that much), would the score be much much higher?

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Answer 3

Oct 13, 2009 3:32 AM in response to Nadav

It depends on the applications you are running. 1 GB per core is a normal amount of RAM.

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Answer 4

japamac

Level 7

24,400 points

Oct 13, 2009 4:48 AM in response to Nadav

Geekbench only tests processor and memory speed.

64 bit may test slower than 32 bit, depending on the machine..

Graphics card has nothing to do with Geekbench.

2GB of memory isn't optimizing the memory channel.

8x 1GB, 8x 2GB or 8x 4GB will give you optimal performance.
In other words, fill ALL 8 slots:
http://www.barefeats.com/harper3.html

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Answer 5

Nadav Author

Level 3

566 points

Oct 14, 2009 9:25 PM in response to japamac

Ok, give me advise.. right now are two 1GB chips for total of 2GB. What should I get from OWC? Should I get the 4GB package or 6GB?

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Answer 6

Nadav Author

Level 3

566 points

Oct 14, 2009 9:29 PM in response to japamac

Ok, another question.. Its amazing u don't have a intel mac but yet u know so much 🙂

I want to run Paralells or VM Fusion. How much memory is enough, or where do I want to be? Last nite, for instance, i was getting spinning beach balls while both emulators were loading. Remember, my 2008 mac pro which is the 3.0 model(not clovertown!!!!!!) has 2GB of memory.

Also, by seeing the benchmarks, the 3.2 version of the 2008 mac pro doesn't seem all that much faster than mine, except in cases with memory.

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Answer 7

japamac

Level 7

24,400 points

Oct 15, 2009 5:47 AM in response to Nadav

Hi-

You have two 1GB modules, so the cheapest route is to buy 6x 1GB modules for a total of 8GB.

Unless you use Adobe or Final Cut software, 8GB should be plenty.

Benchmarks should improve, as the RAM/CPU integration of your machine will be optimized with 8 slots filled.

As you could see from the Barefeats page, there isn't any improvement in bandwidth with more RAM.
The magic is in the configuration.

Your Geekbench score should improve, but real world performance is more important than a benchmark.

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Answer 8

Nov 21, 2009 10:51 AM in response to Nadav

Hi,

There are certain things you can do to easily increase your score. i have an imac and the first time i ran geekbench i got a score of roughly 8,000. i was able to increase that score by 450 points. i did this by restarting my computer and then running some applications and then closing them (it made my score worse if i just restarted it and immediately ran geekbench) and also turning up the screen to full brightness helps a lot i'm not sure why but it does, and i'm sure there are other little thins you can do to increase your score you just have to play around with it.

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