I’m not sure if anybody has every really compared Apple Mac products to various PC computers, so here goes. ( Yes, I know the easiest way to get two sane people into a fight is a discussion of Mac vs PC. You can get pretty much the same result with a Nikon vs Canon debate ) In the almost two years since I posted the Free Photoshop Radial Blur Benchmark test, I’ve gotten results from at least 50 PC users and many Mac users. With the latest release of the new Intel i7-930X processor, the amazing processing power the Mac Pro’s have can be equaled by a PC costing 1/3 as much.
Looking at the chart we see the fastest result from a Mac Pro with a base price of $6199 and a test time of a 9.3 seconds. Now with the release of the Intel 6 core Sandy Bridge i7-3930K we have an overclocked time of 10.6 seconds on a custom built high end PC machine that has a $2000 price tag. That seems like an awful lot more money for a really nice looking shiny case the has a fruit on it. Note: Prices are current as of December 20th, 2011.
————————— Test Results —————————
| CPU | Operating System | Photoshop Version | Test Time |
| Intel 2 x 2.93 GHz 6 Core Xeon Westmere – $6199 Base Price | OS X 10.6 | CS5 64 bit | 9.3 Seconds |
| Intel i7-3930k 3.2 GHz Sandy Bridge overclocked to 4.8 GHz – $2000 Maximized | Win 7 64 bit | CS5 64 bit | 10.8 Seconds |
| Intel i7-3930k 3.2 GHz Sandy Bridge overclocked to 4.29 GHz – $2000 Maximized | Win 7 64 bit | CS5 64 bit | 11.7 Seconds |
| Intel 2 x 2.93 GHz Quad Core Xeon Nehalem | OS X 10.6 | CS5 64 bit | 13 Seconds |
| Intel i7-2700k 3.4 GHz Sandy Bridge overclocked to 5.1 GHz – $1800 Maximized | Win 7 64 bit | CS5 64 bit | 13.4 Seconds |
| Intel 6 Core Xeon Westmere 3.33 GHz – $3699 Base Price | OS X 10.6.4 | CS5 64 bit | 14.2 Seconds |
| Intel i7-2600k 3.4 GHz Sandy Bridge overclocked to 5.1 GHz – $1750 Maximized | Win 7 64 bit | CS5 64 bit | 14.2 Seconds |
| Intel i7 970 3.2 GHz overclocked to 4.0 GHz | Windows 7 64 bit | CS5 64 bit | 15.6 Seconds |
| Intel 2 X 3.2 GHz Quad Core Zeon “Nahelem” | OS X 10.6.8 | CS5 64 bit | 15.6 Seconds |
| Intel i7 970 3.2 GHz overclocked to 3.8 GHz | Windows 7 64 bit | CS5 64 bit | 16.2 Seconds |
| Intel 6 Core Xeon Westmere 3.33 GHz | OS X 10.6.8 | CS5 64 bit | 16.7 Seconds |
| Intel 2 x 2.4 GHz Quad Core Xeon Westmere | OS X 10.7.2 | CS5 Extended | 16.7 Seconds |
| Intel i7 overclocked to 4.1 GHz | Windows 7 | CS4 | 17.1 Seconds |
| Intel i7-2500k 3.3 GHz Sandy Bridge overclocked to 4.4 GHz | Win 7 64 bit | CS5 64 bit | 17.6 Seconds |
| Intel 2 x 3.2 GHz Quad Core Xeon | OS X 10.5 | CS4 | 17.9 Seconds |
| Intel i7-2600 3.4 GHz – $899 Base Price | Win 7 64 bit | CS5 64 bit | 19.6 Seconds |
| Intel 2 x 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Xeon | OS X 10.5 | CS4 | 19.9 Seconds |
| Intel i7-2600k 3.4 GHz ( 8M Cache ) | Windows 7 Pro 64 bit | CS 5 64 bit | 20.0 Seconds |
| Intel i7 980X 3.33 GHz Overclocked to 4.03 GHz | Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit | CS 3 | 21.0 Seconds |
| Intel i5-2500k 3.30 GHz Sandy Bridge – $799 Base Price | Windows 7 64 bit | CS 5 64 bit | 21.5 Seconds |
| Intel i7 930 2.8 GHz Overclocked to 3.5 GHz | Windows 7 | CS 4 | 21.9 Seconds |
| Intel i7 950 3.06 GHz Overclocked to 4.0 GHz | Windows 7 64 bit | CS 5 64 bit | 22.3 Seconds |
| Intel i7 930 2.80 Over clocked to 3.5 GHz | Windows 7 64 bit | CS 5 64 bit | 24.0 Seconds |
| AMD Phenon II X6 1100T 3.3 GHz Over clocked to 4.2 GHz | Windows 7 64 bit | CS 5 64 bit | 24.2 Seconds |
| Intel i7 870 2.93 GHz | Windows 7 64 bit Ultimate | CS 5 64 bit | 24.4 Seconds |
| Intel i5 2500K 3.3 GHz | OS-X Hackintosh Lion 10.7.2 | CS 5 64 bit | 25.2 Seconds |
| Intel i7 875K 2.93 GHz | Windows 7 64 bit | CS 4 | 26.3 Seconds |
| AMD Phenon II X6 1090T 3.2GHz overclocked to 3.7 GHz GHz | Windows 7 64 bit | CS 5 64 bit | 26.4 Seconds |
| Intel i5 2300 2.80 GHz | Windows 7 64 bit | CS 5 64 bit | 26.8 Seconds |
| Intel i7 950 3.06 GHz | Windows 7 64 bit | CS 5 64 bit | 27.0 Seconds |
| Intel i7-2630QM 2.0 GHz | Win 7 64 bit | CS5 64 bit | 27.4 Seconds |
| Intel Quad Q9550 2.83 GHz Overclocked to 3.6 GHz | Vista 64 bit | CS 5 64 bit | 27.9 Seconds |
| Intel Core2 Quad QX9650 3.00 GHz | Vista 64 bit | CS 5 64 bit | 28.2 Seconds |
| Intel i7 860 2.8 GHz | Win 7 64 bit | CS 5 64 bit | 28.4 Seconds |
| Intel i5-750 3.30 GHz | Win 7 64 bit | CS 5 64 bit | 28.8 Seconds |
| Intel Core2 Quad QX9650 3.00 GHz | Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit | CS 5 64 bit Extended | 29.4 Seconds |
| Intel i5 750 2.66 GHz Overclocked to 4.1 GHz with Asus Turbo V | Win 7 64 bit | CS2 | 29.6 Seconds |
| Intel i7 920 2.66 GHz | Win 7 | CS5 | 29.7 Seconds |
| Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 3.0 GHz overclocked to 3.33 GHz | Win 7 Professional 64 bit | CS5 64 bit | 30.9 Seconds |
| Intel i7 920 2.66 GHz | Win 7 | CS4 | 31.1 Seconds |
| Intel i7 930 2.8 GHz | Win 7 Pro 64 bit | CS5 | 32.0 Seconds |
| Intel i7 870 2.93 GHz | Win 7 64bit | CS2 | 33.1 Seconds |
| Intel Core2 Quad Q9400 2.66 GHz | Vista | CS4 | 33.6 Seconds |
| AMD Phenom X6 1055T 6 Core 2.80 GHz | Win 7 64 bit | CS5 64 bit | 33.7 Seconds |
| Intel Q9400 Quad 2.66 GHz | Win 7 64 bit | CS4 | 34.2 Seconds |
| Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.40 GHz | XP Pro | CS3 | 36.8 Seconds |
| AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Editon 3.4 GHz OC to 3.86 GHz | Win 7 64 bit | CS5 64 bit | 38.4 Seconds |
| Intel Core i7 X920 2.0 GHz | Windows 7 Enterprise 64bit | CS5 | 40.5 Seconds |
| AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 3.4 GHz | Win 7 | CS5 | 42.6 Seconds |
| Intel Core i7-720qm 1.6 GHz | Win 7 64 bit | CS5 64 bit | 45.2 Seconds |
| Intel i5 680 3.6 GHz Dual Core | OS X 10.6.8 | CS5 | 47.3 Seconds |
| Intel i5 650 Dual Core 3.2 GHz | Win 7 64 bit | CS4 | 51 Seconds |