Xbench : what the hell?

[taylorwilsdon]

I installed Xbench after reading an article at OWC that compared computers with different RAM installed (http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/Memory_Benchmark/Apple_MacBook/)

So, I ran the test. I had Firefox running, but not open and thats it. I scored a...

101 overall.

What the hell? I've got a core 2 duo Macbook Pro with 2GB RAM, why am I scoring lower then a 1.83ghz core duo Macbook with 512MB RAM? That thing doesn't even have a real videocard!?

I noticed that my disk scores were super low, like in the 30's low. This is why my score is low, but why? Help!

(I've already reset the pram, booted from OSX discs and verified/repaired the disk and its permissions) don't know what else to do.

edit - I've heard in the past that xbench is meaningless but it seems odd that the difference would be so big.

 

[livingfortoday]

That's because XBench is a big piece of crap. There, I said it. You shouldn't base your perceptions of how your computer runs on some crappy benchmark software, either way.

I like GeekBench, though it only tests CPU, I think.

 

[QCassidy352]

That's because XBench is a big piece of crap.

agreed. xbench means nothing. You can find scores that vary by dozens of points among machines that all have the same specs. It's neither accurate nor reliable - just forget it.

 

[MaaseyRacer]

Xbench is only valid if you run it on a straight out of the box new computer. Your disk speed slows it down greatly, especially when you have more than 50% of your drive filled (at that point you are loosing a lot of disk space to virtual memeory as well). If you have used your computer for more than a day, and have not cleared your cache or run an exit script xbench will give a slow result.

 

[princealfie]

I wouldn't Xbench anything except PC's. Macs don't need testing if they are the best already.