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Is Rosetta really this good?

timidpimpin

timidpimpin

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Nov 10, 2018
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So I have a late 2009 Mac mini running Snow Leopard. Today I was going through some old files, and found an old copy of Geekbench 2.2.7. And this is a copy that's had all but the G4 code removed via Monolingual.

Here's the amazing part... this mini scores about 2500-2600 on a universal or intel only version of Geekbench, but in Rosetta with the G4 code only version it scores a 3500!

How the hell is this possible?
 
timidpimpin said:
So I have a late 2009 Mac mini running Snow Leopard. Today I was going through some old files, and found an old copy of Geekbench 2.2.7. And this is a copy that's had all but the G4 code removed via Monolingual.

Here's the amazing part... this mini scores about 2500-2600 on a universal or intel only version of Geekbench, but in Rosetta with the G4 code only version it scores a 3500!

How the hell is this possible?
Click to expand...
Is the universal 2.2.7? Different versions get different scores.
 
bjar said:
Is the universal 2.2.7? Different versions get different scores.
Click to expand...

The Intel version I'm running is 2.4.3, so only slightly newer and still version 2. I ran it again and got 2900 this time on Intel, and the G4 code only version still gets 3500.
 
timidpimpin said:
The Intel version I'm running is 2.4.3, so only slightly newer and still version 2. I ran it again and got 2900 this time on Intel, and the G4 code only version still gets 3500.
Click to expand...
Maybe Rosetta is that awesome? I can test it on my 2010 Mac mini next weekend.
 
If it really is that good, it might open up some cool possibilities. I've always heard that using it had a significant performance toll.
 
AL1630 said:
If it really is that good, it might open up some cool possibilities. I've always heard that using it had a significant performance toll.
Click to expand...

That was the case with the Rosetta in Tiger and maybe Leopard also, but it got a lot better with Snow Leopard. And I'm finding it better than I ever remember.
 
Here's my limited experience: Photoshop CS2 was very sluggish on a 1.4 GHz Core 2 Duo with 2 GB RAM and an SSD running 10.6.8. Office X's and 2004's applications were fine.
 
I run Rainbow Six 3 on Leopard and Snow Leopard and besides some animations being quicker in SL there is no difference. Any other program I've used has not had any difference or problem.

I did have a lot of issues with Classic mode in OS X though
 
timidpimpin said:
So I have a late 2009 Mac mini running Snow Leopard. Today I was going through some old files, and found an old copy of Geekbench 2.2.7. And this is a copy that's had all but the G4 code removed via Monolingual.

Here's the amazing part... this mini scores about 2500-2600 on a universal or intel only version of Geekbench, but in Rosetta with the G4 code only version it scores a 3500!

How the hell is this possible?
Click to expand...
It's possible because it shows how unreliable GB is as a tool for benchmarking dissimilar systems. IMO the only thing GB can be reliably used for is determining how fast a system can run GB.
 
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I mainly use Snow Leopard as a gaming OS, and it allows be to run many PowerPC games very well in Rosetta. All at max graphic settings also.

Those games are Battlefield 1942, Oni, Return to Castle Wolfenstain, Quake 3 and others I can't think of ATM.
 
timidpimpin said:
I mainly use Snow Leopard as a gaming OS, and it allows be to run many PowerPC games very well in Rosetta. All at max graphic settings also.

Those games are Battlefield 1942, Oni, Return to Castle Wolfenstain, Quake 3 and others I can't think of ATM.
Click to expand...

part of that is the gpu...
 
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Amethyst1 said:
Here's my limited experience: Photoshop CS2 was very sluggish on a 1.4 GHz Core 2 Duo with 2 GB RAM and an SSD running 10.6.8. Office X's and 2004's applications were fine.
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure rosetta doesn't support altivec, so that's probably the main reason there. I think it was mainly implemented for office-type environments. I just use PPC macs for PPC apps.
 
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