Quad core vs. Dual core speed

Question

Level 1

9 points

Quad core vs. Dual core speed

We just purchased a brand new 2 x 2.26 Quad-core Mac Pro running OSX 10.6.3, 12 GB RAM and is connected to an eSATA RAID Tower connected through a Lycom eSATA card. We've done some speed tests using AJA System Test and we are getting write speeds 30 to 40 MB/s slower the our 2 x 2.66 Dual-core system running OSX 10.5.8, 8GB RAM. The only other difference is we have a Kona 3 card installed in the Dual-core system.

I'm I looking at a hardware or software issue?

Thanks
Eric

Dual 2 x 2.66 Intel Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.8), FCPS2

Posted on Apr 6, 2010 1:31 PM

Reply

Answer 1

The hatter

Level 9

61,031 points

Apr 6, 2010 1:38 PM in response to TheUcho

Drivers; disk drives; port multiplier vs direct connect....

Have you taken out the Kona 3 to double check if it is limiting the bandwidth? Is it a 4x or 8x controller?

An disk drive enclosure only matters in using PM or direct connect.
eSATA is most often associated with consumer drives with multiple interfaces (eSATA/USB/FW).

Not everything even now is really ready for 10.6, and some ran better with 10.6.1 than 10.6.2. 10.6.3 is just one more wrinkle.

MacGurus sells and supports Lycom
http://www.macgurus.com

Reply

Answer 2

The hatter

Level 9

61,031 points

Apr 6, 2010 2:01 PM in response to TheUcho

PS: your 2006 2.66 etc is nearly 4 yrs old (tried and true?) with less bandwidth for memory and PCI cards (and used PCIe 1.1 vs 2.0). But it was a quad-core while your new system is an 8-core.

Both are dual processor.

The more I re-read, actually, the more confused the terms.

2009 8-core (2 x 2.26) has dual quad core.
2006 dual / dual-core 2.66

And there is a single processor 4-core 2009 2.66 model as well.
My bet / guess is you have TWO 2009 model year?
Do they both use DDR3? that would be 2009.
Look at the memory etc and do they both say Mac Pro 4,1?

It really is important to help us that you can clearly describe a system.

Reply