The Amiga 4000 Tower: Performance Numbers

Benchmark information from several programs on several Amigas

By Michael Webb, Editor-in-Chief, MikeWebb@CompuServe.COM

The following performance information was obtained using several Amiga systems, as indicated in the first table. In each case, I attempted to optimize each system for performance, by remapping ROM into fast RAM where possible, activating CPU caches, etc. Most, if not all, of the tests performed probably took place with multitasking and interrupts disabled.

For a discussion of these tests and their results, see this page of the review.

First, I must make a few notes about the software used in this performance evaluation:

Also, the software used in this evaluation (as much the benchmarkers as the actual applications) is not to be considered absolute and/or empirical in its results. Like anything that can be used in the same general manner (for performance analysis), by definition, its accuracy is limited by the methods it uses for examination. Probably the most striking example of this is the large differences between SysInfo's and SysSpeed's MIPS measurements. Despite using the same units, they produce very different results. Therefore, take all of these numbers with a grain of salt. But for relative comparisons of the same software on different Amigas, the results are probably fairly trustworthy.



System Information

NameCPUFPUMMUCPU ClockChipsetChip RAMFast RAMOSDevice Interface
A50068000NoneNone7.14 MHzECS2 MBNoneAmigaOS 3.1None
A120068020NoneNone14.28 MHzAGA2 MBNoneAmigaOS 3.016-bit IDE
A500/A53068030688826803040 MHzECS2 MB8 MBAmigaOS 3.116-bit SCSI
A4000T68060680606806050 MHzAGA2 MB48 MBAmigaOS 3.132-bit SCSI


SysInfo

Test NameA500A1200A500/A530A4000T
Dhrystones5251287602537333
A600 68000 7MHz0.892.4310.2663.59
B2000 68000 7MHz0.751.848.6153.40
A1200 EC020 14MHz0.401.054.6528.82
A2500 68020 14MHz0.250.622.9318.15
A3000 68030 25MHz0.110.271.308.06
A4000 68040 25MHz0.020.070.332.04
CPU Mips0.541.346.2838.96
FPU MFlopsN/AN/A1.1427.94
Chip Speed vs A6000.873.481.636.33
CommentWhat can I say!Excellent!Smell the Rubber?Phone Me NOW!!!
HD Speed in BYTES/SECN/A956,7291,131,5565,386,520


SysSpeed
(NTSC Low Res 320x200 used for display tests)
(Results of Intuition "SwapScreen" test sometimes determined by screen refresh rate)
"N/A" indicates that the hardware needed for the given test was not present in the given system, or that the test could not be performed for unknown reasons

Test Type and NameA500A1200A500/A530A4000T
MEMORY TESTS (MB/S)
Cache ReadN/A7.0024.97190.79
ReadROMb0.250.872.9323.65
ReadROMw0.551.985.5531.28
ReadROMl1.123.709.9737.76
ReadFastbN/AN/A2.9317.56
ReadFastwN/AN/A5.5526.80
ReadFastlN/AN/A9.9731.37
WriteFastbN/AN/A3.6920.31
WriteFastwN/AN/A7.9021.97
WriteFastlN/AN/A17.3121.96
Fast2FastbN/AN/A2.589.86
Fast2FastwN/AN/A4.9813.36
Fast2FastlN/AN/A9.3313.58
Fast2FastmN/AN/A9.7412.85
Fast2Fast16N/AN/AN/A17.11
ReadChipb0.250.650.180.90
ReadChipw0.551.370.361.81
ReadChipl1.122.940.403.63
WriteChipb0.251.360.221.69
WriteChipw0.552.680.443.39
WriteChipl0.894.990.446.78
Chip2Chipb0.220.660.110.59
Chip2Chipw0.471.370.221.18
Chip2Chipl0.832.960.222.36
Chip2Chipm1.292.860.222.36
Chip2Chip16N/AN/AN/A3.02
Fast2ChipbN/AN/A0.221.60
Fast2ChipwN/AN/A0.443.04
Fast2ChiplN/AN/A0.445.61
Fast2ChipmN/AN/A0.435.76
Fast2Chip16N/AN/AN/A5.54
DRIVE TESTS (OP/S)
CreateN/AN/A25411
OpenN/AN/A88523
DirScanN/AN/A2186074
DeleteN/AN/A1971449
Seek/ReadN/AN/A4723178
DRIVE TESTS (MB/S)
CreateFileN/AN/A1.044.17
WriteFileN/AN/A0.952.94
ReadFileN/AN/A0.963.08
RawReadN/AN/A1.07N/A
INTUITION TESTS (OP/S)
OpenWin1626510
OpenWin256N/A4N/A5
WinLayer162559
WinLayer256N/A3N/A4
SizeWin168161764
SizeWin256N/A7N/A53
MoveWin1611211636
MoveWin256N/A20N/A37
ConOutP16367093162
ConOutP256N/A61N/A141
OpenScr1625620
OpenScr256N/A2N/A15
SwapScr1626307060
SwapScr256N/A19N/A60
GRAPHIC TESTS (OP/S)
ScrollX_1637482849
ScrollX_256N/A22N/A22
ScrollY_1639502951
ScrollY_256N/A22N/A23
PrintTxt16246553518939
PrintTxt256N/A329N/A456
RectFill16359522344536
RectFill256N/A232N/A235
DrwElpse163165164566
DrwElpse256N/A46N/A304
DrwCircle162962157542
DrwCircle256N/A44N/A291
WrtPixel16331578041853972401
WrtPixel256N/A6031N/A46406
HorLines16419583349607
HorLines256N/A262N/A268
VerLines166209636501013
VerLines256N/A432N/A448
DiaLines16502734462759
DiaLines256N/A336N/A344
AreaElps16214397264
AreaElps256N/A36N/A163
AreaCir16204290237
AreaCir256N/A34N/A143
AreaFill16131194134206
AreaFill256N/A109N/A113
CPU/FPU TESTS (MILLION OP/S)
MIPS1.034.6513.1166.35
MFLOPSN/AN/A0.8826.53


XOpa
("WritePixel" results given for Graphic Tests; "OpenWindow, MoveWindow" results given for Intuition Tests; all are "per second")
"N/A" indicates that the hardware needed for the given test was not present in the given system

Test NameA500A1200A500/A530A4000T
Graphic Test NTSC Low Res 320x200x1-bit7393.114201.842168.7211566.8
Graphic Test NTSC Low Res 320x200x5-bit4766.610675.926530.488950.9
Graphic Test NTSC Low Res 320x200x8-bitN/A8182.6N/A57212.8
Graphic Test NTSC High Res 640x200x2-bit6678.513061.937304.1157550.9
Graphic Test NTSC High Res Laced 640x400x4-bit2275.411394.718591.1103509.6
Graphic Test NTSC High Res Laced 640x400x8-bitN/A6968.9N/A51748.5
Graphic Test DblNTSC Low Res 320x200x1-bitN/A14130.7N/A209032.1
Graphic Test DblNTSC Low Res 320x200x5-bitN/A10202.4N/A84512.0
Graphic Test DblNTSC Low Res 320x200x8-bitN/A6857.9N/A50369.5
Graphic Test DblNTSC High Res 640x200x2-bitN/A12748.2N/A153428.8
Graphic Test DblNTSC High Res No Flicker 640x400x2-bit2712.812747.730654.8153428.8
Graphic Test DblNTSC High Res No Flicker 640x400x4-bitN/A11073.0N/A99020.7
Graphic Test DblNTSC High Res No Flicker 640x400x8-bitN/A3883.4N/A27996.4
Intuition Test NTSC High Res 640x200x2-bit8.4, 22.117.0, 46.536.2, 52.462.4, 83.6
Intuition Test NTSC High Res Laced 640x400x4-bit3.2, 6.813.3, 22.614.8, 14.232.5, 31.3
Intuition Test NTSC High Res Laced 640x400x8-bitN/A7.6, 10.1N/A13.3, 13.9
Intuition Test DblNTSC High Res 640x200x2-bitN/A16.4, 43.9N/A61.0, 77.7
Intuition Test DblNTSC High Res No Flicker 640x400x2-bit3.5, 9.316.3, 37.323.7, 24.261.2, 60.5
Intuition Test DblNTSC High Res No Flicker 640x400x4-bitN/A12.3, 19.2N/A27.2, 25.2
Intuition Test DblNTSC High Res No Flicker 640x400x8-bitN/A4.2, 5.8N/A7.8, 7.7
Chip RAM Memory-Test (MB/s)3.0446.5941.6936.638
Fast RAM Memory-Test (MB/s)N/AN/A23.61729.508
Integer Add (results*1000) /s323.8583.14997.516891.9
Integer Multiply (results*1000) /s99.3218.61095.512722.6
Integer Divide (results*1000) /s33.4138.5536.31926.8
Integer Bit-Shift (results*1000) /s242.2512.33692.825906.7
Floating-Point Add (results*1000) /s22.352.4147.5944.7
Floating-Point Multiply (results*1000) /s24.135.3174.6972.8
Floating-Point Divide (results*1000) /s30.951.0219.11126.1
Floating-Point Sin/Cos (results*1000) /s1.42.012.234.2
Floating-Point Sqrt (results*1000) /s2.99.430.5182.9


Scenery Animator 68000
Test render of Mount Saint Helens; results are time in hours:minutes:seconds; time includes time for HAM conversion and/or display, where appropriate
"N/A" indicates that the test was not performed for lack of memory

Render ModeA500A1200A500/A530A4000TA4000T/CyberPatcher
Low Res 320x200x5-bit0:23:530:10:520:2:470:0:350:0:33
Low Res Laced 320x400x6-bit HAMN/AN/A0:3:310:0:320:0:34
High Res Laced 640x400x4-bit2:20:430:29:030:9:190:1:320:1:33
High Res Laced 640x400x8-bitN/AN/A0:8:070:1:340:1:30
Super High Res Laced 1280x400x8-bit HAMN/AN/A0:22:240:3:180:3:14


Scenery Animator 68020/68881
Test render of Mount Saint Helens; results are time in hours:minutes:seconds; time includes time for HAM conversion and/or display, where appropriate
"N/A" indicates that the hardware needed for the given test was not present in the given system

Render ModeA500A1200A500/A530A4000TA4000T/CyberPatcher
Low Res 320x200x5-bitN/AN/A0:2:200:0:580:0:38
Low Res Laced 320x400x6-bit HAMN/AN/A0:2:380:0:570:0:37
High Res Laced 640x400x4-bitN/AN/A0:7:460:2:270:1:39
High Res Laced 640x400x8-bitN/AN/A0:6:110:2:180:1:31
Super High Res Laced 1280x400x8-bit HAMN/AN/A0:17:410:5:550:3:40


CygnusEd
Global Search/Replace on 7865-line document (16023 occurrences of letter "i" changed to letter "a") run in NTSC Low Res 640x200 (autoscroll); results are time in minutes:seconds

Test NameA500A1200A500/A530A4000T
Global Search/Replace13:456:434:122:49