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MacWindows Special Report: Running Windows 95 on a Macintosh.

Virtual PC 2.0 and SoftWindows 95 5.0

Products Tested

• Connectix Virtual PC 2.0 with Windows 95, $149
• Insignia Solutions SoftWindows 95 5.0, $199*

For the OrangePC coprocessor board, we used the test results from our last batch of testing:

• Orange Micro OrangePC 530 w/Cyrix 166 MHz 686, 16 MB RAM, Windows 95, $887. OrangePCi version 2.2**

*Note: the current version of SoftWindows 95 is 5.0.3. This version would not have affected our test results, according to Insignia, but add features. Some these are listed in the features section below.

**Note: the current version of the OrangePCi software is 3.0.2. It offers 32-bit driver support and other new features. MacWindows is currently testing OrangePCi 3.0.2 with a higher-end OrangePC board.

We did not test Insignia Solution's RealPC (which comes with DOS) with a copy of Windows 95 installed on top of it. Insignia claims that RealPC with Windows 95 will run at the same speed as SoftWindows 95 5.0.

See MacWindows Solutions for a brief description of these products with links to the manufacturers' web sites.

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Current emulator features

Improvements over previous versions include the following:

Virtual PC 2.0

• 3Dfx graphics accelerator card support for games
• Improved DirectX support: emulation of a new video_ adapter, (the "S3 Trio 32/64") and a new drivers makes DirectX usable in 2.0
• Drag and drop file copying, from Finder to Windows desktop, and Windows to Finder.
• 2-way cut and paste (version 1.x could on cut and paste text from Mac to Windows)
• Sound input (8-bit) is supported.
• The maximum amount of memory you can assign to the PC has been raised from 64 MB to 128 MB.

SoftWindows 95 5.0.3

• 3Dfx graphics accelerator card support for games (users of versions 5.0 - 5.0.2 must download enabler here).
• SoftWindows 95 now uses the same setup dialog found in RealPC. This is an improvement, as it is easier to setup memory than in version 4.
• SoftWindows is now Sound Blaster Pro and Sound Blaster 16 compatible.
• Macintosh joysticks will now control PC games.(Already in VPC 1.0.1.)
• DirectX (Windows 95 games) support is now faster
• Pentium MMX support in now included, another area which will benefit games. (Virtual PC already had MMX.)
• Version 5.0.2 added support for Plug and Play joysticks with Windows 95, sound import, ODI networking on G3 Macs, PowerBook 3400 PCMCIA Ethernet and other 3rd party Ethernet cards, and bug fixes (see the Insignia's update page).

Usability Comments

Installation of the OrangePC board takes longer than installation of emulators. You have to open the Mac, insert the board, and connect the monitor using the special cable that comes with the board. However, installing the software, including Windows 95 (or NT), for the OrangePC board is just as easy for the Orange Micro as for either emulator. all three products use a one-click installation method, which is easier than installing your own copy from the Microsoft install disk.

Setting memory in SoftWindows 95 5.0 has improved over version 4.0, but is still more complex than with Virtual PC or the OrangePC 530 board, and might require an extra 5 minutes for a new user to learn.

Virtual PC's drag and drop copying of files between Mac and Windows works very well, and is the easiest method to copy files that any product has come up with.

• Changing the Windows desktop size is easier in SoftWindows 95. While Virtual PC uses Windows Control Panel, SoftWindows 95 has a Mac menu item.

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  Test Results

  Results Graphs

  • Tests were conducted with Windows 95, the CorelDRAW Suite, and Microsoft Office 97 and timed with a stop watch. The 13 graphs are displayed in three groups:

  Processor- and graphics-intensive test (click here to see graphs)

  • Corel PhotoPaint, Gaussian blur on "apple" sample file
  • CorelDRAW, rotate the "eye" sample file by 65 degrees
  • Microsoft Excel 97, recalculate all cells in 100-cell by 100-cell spreadsheet file
  • Microsoft Excel 97, create a 3-D graph of a 6-by-15-cell portion of spreadsheet file
  • Microsoft Word 97, scroll 50,000-word file
  • Microsoft Word 97, replace "the" with "teh" (720 replacements)

  Disk-intensive (database) test (click here to see graphs)

  • Microsoft Access 97, "Northwind" sample database, run query "Category Sales, 1995"
  • Microsoft Access 97, "Northwind" sample database, run crosstab query "Quarterly Orders by Product"
  • Microsoft Access 97, "Northwind" sample database, create report "Summary Sales by Quarter"
  • Microsoft Windows 95 Find file "Northwind," a sample database file, part of MS Access 97

  Launch applications and files (click here to see graphs)

  • Microsoft Access 97, launch from Windows 95
  • Microsoft Word 97, launch and open 50,000-word file from Windows 95
  • Microsoft Excel 97, launch and open 100-cell by 100-cell spreadsheet file from Windows 95

  Analysis of Results

  • The Orange Micro OrangePC 530 card was up to 4 times faster than either emulator in several tests. It did very well on all tests, and neither emulator could come close, except when compared to the emulators running on the Power Mac G3/300. (Unfortunately, we could only test the card on the Power Mac 7500 -- it would have benefited from the fast disk access of the G3/300.) The OrangePC 530 would have been even faster had we given it as much RAM as we gave the emulators.

    Although we didn't test games, the two Corel tests (Gaussian blur an rotate) showed that floating point performance was significantly better on the OrangePC board. Between the two emulators, SoftWindows 95 5.0 had better floating point performance than Virtual PC 2.

    On tests with integer math, such as Word replace text and Excel create chart, Virtual PC 2.0 started out slower than SoftWindows on the slower processors, closed ground with fast processors, and tied or ran slightly slower than SoftWindows on the Power Mac G3/300.

    SoftWindows 95 5.0 generally ran faster on the two Microsoft Access query tests on all processors, though not at the 32 MB RAM setting on the G3s. This suggests that 32 MB is not enough RAM for SW 95 version 5.0, which does seem to require a MB or so more than version 4.0. On the Access report creation test, both emulators were close, with Virtual PC slightly faster.

    On the faster processors, SoftWindows 5.0 ran slower than Virtual PC on tests with a lot of disk access, such as the Windows Find File, some database tasks, and scrolling. For launching applications and opening files, which has a lot of disk access, the results were mixed. In launching Microsoft Access (but not opening a file), SoftWindows was faster on the 604 and 604e processors, and Virtual PC was faster on the PowerBook G3 and 7500 w/G3, but SoftWindows was faster again on the G3/300. For the launching of Word and Excel, both of which did include the opening of files, both emulators were very close, with a slight edge going to Virtual PC. These are tests where the previous version, SoftWindows 95 4.0, was faster than version 5.0. In some cases, The older SoftWindows 95 4.0 was faster than the newer Virtual PC 2.0. (See previous special report.) This is partly because SoftWindows 95 5.0 uses a little more RAM than version 4.0, so at the same RAM setting, there is a slowdown. This is particularly evident at the 32 MB setting.

    We asked Insignia Solutions why SoftWindows 95 5.0 performance was slower in some of our tests. The company replied that performance increases were focused in SVGA and VESA graphics and floating point calculations. They also said this:

    "The main changes to the 5.0 CPU emulation were to speed up the FPU (as seen in Corel in your tests) and to improve the quality of code being generated. This means that it takes longer to produce the code, but it will execute faster when programs get to run. Consequently start-up times may be increased but program code (particularly repetitive program code) should decrease. If you are a regular user, rather than a benchmarker, I would recommend extensive use of TurboStart to make launch times go away."

A Note on the "Quitting the Finder" Trick

• Several readers have reported on a rumor that speaks of "tricking" the Finder into quitting to speed up the performance of Virtual PC, SoftWindows 95, and Real PC. This is nothing more than a rumor. Engineers from Connectix and Insignia Solutions have told us that these techniques do not in fact produce a performance gain.

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Feature Comparison

	Connectix	Insignia Solutions	Orange Micro
	Virtual PC 2.0	SoftWindows 95 5.0.3	OrangePC 536 (with 166 MHz Cyrix 686)
Cost	$149	$199	$887
Upgrade cost	$39	$99	processor, RAM are upgradable
Operating systems supported	DOS, Windows 3.x, Windows 95, Windows NT, Windows 98, OpenStep, and any OS that runs on Intel (However, readers have reported not being able to get Linux running on VPC. Connectix does not supply tech support for non-Windows OS's.)	DOS, Windows 3.x, Windows 95 (preliminary support for Windows 98)	DOS, Windows 3.x, Windows 95 Windows NT, Windows 98
Minimum Mac processor	180 MHz PowerPC 603 processor	66 MHz 601 PowerPC processor	Any Mac with PCI expansion slot
Maximum PC RAM	128 MB	No limit	128 MB (256 MB for model 550)
Sound	Sound Blaster Pro 8-bit sound input	Sound Blaster Pro and Sound Blaster 16 (though not 16-bit sound) Sound input, MIDI	Sound Blaster 16 input and output ports. (3D Wavetable sound chips on the 550 board).
DirectX games	Yes	Yes	Yes
MMX support	Yes	Yes	Pentium MMX processor available
Hardware graphics acceleration	Built-in support for 3Dfx graphics boards for games	Built-in support for 3Dfx graphics boards for games	No, but 2D/3D acceleration on the Orange PC 550 board
Support of PC SCSI devices	Yes	Yes	Yes
Joystick support	Mac joysticks	Mac joysticks, Widows 95 Plug and Play joysticks	Includes game port for any PC joystick
Access c: drive from Finder	Yes	No	Yes
Launch PC files from Finder	No	Yes	No
Drag and drop file copy	Yes	No	No
AppleScript support	No	Yes	No
AppleGuide help of Windows or DOS	No	Yes	No

Windows Networking and Printing Features

	Virtual PC 2.0	SoftWindows 95 5.0.3	OrangePC 536 (with 166 MHz Cyrix 686)
Ethernet	Yes	Yes	Yes
Token Ring	No	Yes	No
Utilizes either MacTCP or Open Transport	No (Open Transport required)	Yes	Yes
Single IP address for both Mac and Windows Internet connections	No	Yes	No
NetBEUI, IPX networking	Yes	Yes	Yes
NDIS and ODI drivers included	No	Yes	Yes
Print to AppleTalk Postscript printer from within Windows (without adding anything)	Yes	Yes	Yes
Windows Internet software included	Internet Explorer StuffIt for Windows Adobe Acrobat Reader Word and Excel Viewers	Internet Explorer StuffIt for Windows Adobe Acrobat Reader Microsoft Office 97 Viewers PKZIP Macromedia Shockwave	Internet Explorer

See MacWindows Solutions for links to manufacturer sites and contact info.

Test setup and conditions

Hardware configuration:

Power Macintosh 7500

Hard drive: 3 GB Quantum
RAM: 48 MB in system
Level 2 RAM Cache: 512k
Processors:
132 MHz 604 Apple processor card
225 MHz 604e MaxPowr processor card from Newer Technology
250 MHz G3 MaxPowr G3 processor card with 512k, 2:1 backside cache

PowerBook G3, 250 MHz, 512k, 125 MHz level 2 cache, 32 MB RAM

Power Macintosh G3/300

Hard drive: 6 MB, Ultra SCSI 3
RAM: 96 MB in system
Processor: 300 MHz G3 with 512k, 2:1 backside cache

The OrangePC card was tested with the slowest PowerPC processor, the 132 MHz 604.

System Software and Settings

• For the emulators on the 7500, tests were repeated with RAM allocations set at 24 MB, 32 MB, and 40 MB on the 7500.
  For the Power Macintosh G3/300, the emulator RAM allocations were 24 MB, 32 MB, 40 MB, and 64 MB
  For the PowerBook G3, tests were conducted with 24 MB allocated to the emulator only.
• Mac OS 8.0 was used on the 7500 and PowerBook, OS 8.1 on the Power Macintosh G3/300.
• The disk cache was set to 1024k.
• Virtual memory was turned off
• AppleTalk and File Sharing were turned off.
• Display: full screen mode, 256 colors, 640 by 480 pixels (800 by 600 on the PowerBook G3).
• The virtual C: drive files were 350 MB in size.

PowerBook G3 tests were conducted at 800 x 600 full screen mode, while the other tests were conducted at 640 x 480 pixels. This probably accounts for the slightly slower results on the PowerBook G3 than on a Power Mac with G3 processor.

Test Procedure

• The Mac hard drive was defragmented before the installation of each product.
• No "saves" were made in the Windows environment, leaving the c: drive unchanged after each test.
• Tests were conducted one at a time: that is 1 measurement of test 1, then a measurement of test 2, etc.
• After 1 measurement for each of the 13 tests were taken, Windows 95 was shutdown.
• Windows was launched for the next round of tests.
• After finishing testing of an emulator at a particular RAM allocation, the RAM allocation was set to another number. (We used 24, 32, and 40 MB of RAM for each of the emulators.)
• The Mac was rebooted after changing the RAM allocation of the emulator, and testing proceeded as before.

Conclusions and recommendations

With the fastest Macs, emulators are sometimes matching the speed of low-end coprocessors boards in some tasks. This is new with the Power Mac G3/300. Generally, however, if speed is your main concern, the best option is an Orange PC card from Orange Micro. More RAM or a faster processor in the OrangePC card would improve it's speed beyond that of the emulators on the G3/300, and on other Macs, the hardware solution is many times faster than an emulator.

It should be noted that while extremely fast, Apple's G3/300 still does not use the fastest PowerPC hardware; Connectix says that if Apple were to increase the cache speed from 2:1 to 1:1, the emulator speeds would improve another 20% or so.

Among the two emulators, SoftWindows 95 5.0 is faster than Virtual PC 2.0, but how much depends on your Mac. The slower your Mac's processor, the better choice SoftWindows 95 becomes. If your Mac has a G3 processor, the choice is less clear, as each emulator won some of the races on G3s. SoftWindows 95 5.0 has better floating point speed, but Virtual PC has better disk access speed. For users with G3 processors, the choice of which emulator to use should be based on the other factors, such as the features listed in the Features table. Each emulator has some unique features -- you need to decide which ones are most important to you.

We recommend a Mac with 48 MB minimum for either emulator, or a minimum of 32 MB of RAM assigned to the emulator software. Increasing RAM assigned to the emulator increases performance, but the greatest increase was from 24 MB to 32 MB. However, processor speed is a far more important factor than the amount of RAM for emulators.