First some CPU crunch tests...

If you are serious about Photoshop, get a G4.

 

For non-Altivec apps, the iMAXpower G3/466 shines.

 

Check it out. The iMAXpower G3/466 is faster than even the G4/400. I'm not sure what that means, to tell you the truth.

 

Now some 3D Game results...

 If you are a gamer, you need more than a faster CPU to get faster frame rates. And there is no way to upgrade the graphics on the iMac D (333). However, if you have an iMac A or B, you can add a Voodoo2 iWizard board. That iMac B on the graph with the Voodoo2 only has a 233MHz CPU!

 

 

Conclusion
The iMac 400 DV was a faster game machine but the iMac with the Newer Technology iMAXpower G3/466 was the winner of all the "normal" cpu intensive functions.

What a trip! A 466MHz iMac! From the first time I saw that daughtercard in the original iMac, I'm thinking "UPGRADE!" If you have one of the first three versions of the iMac, it's nice to know that you now have options like the Newer Technology iMAXpower G3/466 cpu. It just too bad the graphics chip was so lame on the early models. Personally, I think the current model with the RAGE 128, FireWire, and those sexy curved speakers is the best iMac design yet... especially the graphite Special Edition. Now if they just made one in with a G4...

The bad news is that there is no way you can upgrade the CPU on the DV model. Waa!

A few words about the hard drive speed. The iMac 333 originally came with a Western Digital Caviar 6 GB drive that clocked 10MB/sec sustained read/write. It was replaced under warranty with a Quantum Fireball CX 6 GB that clocks 15MB/sec. With the 466MHz CPU, the 15MB/sec speed remained unchanged. If you want to see faster hard drive speed, I'm confident that a Seagate Barracuda or Maxtor DiamondPlus would give you 25+ MB/sec.

Related Reviews
MacAddict tests the iMAXpower

Test Configurations & Procedures

Chart Name	CPU and Graphics
Sawtooth 400	Graphite "Sawtooth" G4/400 (1MB cache) with RAGE Pro 128 card from factory
iMac 400 DV	iMac G3/400 DV (512K cache) with soldered VR RAGE 128
iMac 466	iMac G3/333 (512K cache) with soldered RAGE Pro
iMac 333	iMac G3/333 with soldered RAGE Pro and Newer Tech iMAXpower G3/466 daughtercard (1MB cache)
iMac B Voodoo2	iMac G3/233 "B" (512K cache) with iWizard Voodoo2 upgrade added

• Photoshop 5.5 was given 80MB of application size. The test file was a 17 MB Photoshop photo. The THREE Photoshop effects were timed with a stopwatch. They included:
  1. ROTATE Clock Wise at 30 degrees.
  2. GAUSSIAN BLUR at 30 pixels
  3. MOTION BLUR at 30 degrees and 30 pixels
  The G4 obviously benefited from the AltiVec code and Velocity Engine.
• Although I am repelled by most benchmarking programs, MacBench 5.0 is one of the few that closely simulates "real world" usage. You need the CD-ROM to run the Graphics tests. It only costs $5 to order.
• Quake 2 TimeDemo 1 was run. Press "~" and enter "timedemo 1" and "~" again. Then press "~" the first time you "die." Frames per second are displayed at the bottom of the screen .

   

  BIG MAHALO TO...

  ...Newer Technology for the use of their iMAXpower G3/466MHz upgrade. You can buy it at their Newer Online Store for $499 net cost after trading in your old CPU daughtercard.

  ...My daughter, Stephanie, for the use of her iMac G3/333

  ...and the now defunct MicroConversions for the use of the iWizard Voodoo2. Many readers have asked me where to get an iWizard Voodoo2 board for their iMac (rev A or B). I found two sources:
  Other World Computing has it for $139
  Mac-O-Rama has it for $169