NOTE: Benchmarks only valid and comparable for PyMOL 0.99rc1 and 0.99rc2.
Subsequent versions of PyMOL have vastly different performance & memory characteristics and are not comparable.
Unix Visualization Workstations
	Single Core		Single Core		Single Core		Dual Core		Dual CPU		Dual Core
	1.7 GHz Athlon XP		2.1 GHz Athlon XP		1.8 GHz G5		1.8 GHz Core Duo		2.0 GHz Opteron		2.3 GHz G5
	Generic Linux PC		Generic Linux PC		20" iMac		17" iMac		Sun w2100z Linux		PowerMac
	Software OpenGL		Radeon 9800 Pro		GeForce FX 5200		Radeon X1600		Quadro FX 1100(*)		Quadro FX 4500
Price (when new, incl. display)	$1,000		$1,500		$1,900		$1,300		$5,000		$5,000
UPDATES_V1	0.3	0.1 X	4.1	1.2 X	3.3	1.0 X	4.1	1.2 X	2.1	0.6 X	4.6	1.4 X
SMOOTH_LINES_V1	0.6	0.0 X	86.6	2.1 X	41.0	1.0 X	113.5	2.8 X	83.6	2.0 X	141.1	3.4 X
JAGGED_LINES_V1	5.7	0.1 X	88.5	1.2 X	73.1	1.0 X	121.2	1.7 X	83.6	1.1 X	141.4	1.9 X
DOTS_V1	1.6	0.1 X	28.1	1.0 X	27.6	1.0 X	101.9	3.7 X	65.3	2.4 X	190.5	6.9 X
STICKS_V1	2.5	0.1 X	40.3	1.0 X	38.6	1.0 X	22.9	0.6 X	35.1	0.9 X	62.3	1.6 X
SURFACE_V1	4.0	0.1 X	56.5	1.1 X	53.5	1.0 X	58.3	1.1 X	64.5	1.2 X	81.6	1.5 X
SPHERES_V1	1.1	0.1 X	17.8	1.5 X	12.0	1.0 X	11.7	1.0 X	13.9	1.2 X	20.7	1.7 X
CARTOON_V1	6.1	0.1 X	102.1	1.2 X	85.2	1.0 X	174.1	2.0 X	138.7	1.6 X	216.8	2.5 X
BLITS_V1	15.3	0.3 X	75.4	1.4 X	54.2	1.0 X	68.2	1.3 X	45.5	0.8 X	83.7	1.5 X
SURFACE_CALCULATION_V1	21.3	1.3 X	25.9	1.5 X	16.9	1.0 X	28.5	1.7 X	31.0	1.8 X	22.8	1.3 X
MESH_CALCULATION_V1	49.4	0.9 X	65.7	1.2 X	53.0	1.0 X	77.2	1.5 X	78.8	1.5 X	75.8	1.4 X
RAY_V2_PX307200_TH01_HSH090	5.4	0.9 X	7.0	1.1 X	6.2	1.0 X	7.8	1.3 X	8.3	1.3 X	9.6	1.6 X
RAY_V2_PX307200_TH02_HSH090	5.4	0.9 X	6.9	1.1 X	6.2	1.0 X	14.3	2.3 X	15.8	2.6 X	17.7	2.9 X
RAY_V2_PX307200_TH04_HSH090	5.4	0.9 X	6.8	1.1 X	6.1	1.0 X	14.3	2.3 X	14.7	2.4 X	17.5	2.9 X
RAY_V2_PX307200_TH08_HSH090	5.4	0.9 X	6.7	1.1 X	6.0	1.0 X	14.3	2.4 X	14.9	2.5 X	17.4	2.9 X
RAY_V2_PX307200_TH01_HSH120	6.6	0.9 X	8.6	1.1 X	7.5	1.0 X	9.7	1.3 X	10.3	1.4 X	11.3	1.5 X
RAY_V2_PX307200_TH02_HSH120	6.6	0.9 X	8.4	1.1 X	7.4	1.0 X	17.5	2.4 X	19.7	2.7 X	20.1	2.7 X
RAY_V2_PX307200_TH01_HSH160	6.7	0.9 X	8.7	1.2 X	7.3	1.0 X	10.2	1.4 X	10.7	1.5 X	11.1	1.5 X
RAY_V2_PX307200_TH02_HSH160	6.7	0.9 X	8.6	1.2 X	7.3	1.0 X	17.6	2.4 X	20.1	2.8 X	18.7	2.6 X
RAY_V2_PX307200_TH01_HSH200	6.6	0.9 X	8.6	1.2 X	7.1	1.0 X	10.0	1.4 X	11.2	1.6 X	10.6	1.5 X
RAY_V2_PX307200_TH02_HSH200	6.7	0.9 X	8.5	1.2 X	7.1	1.0 X	17.9	2.5 X	20.9	3.0 X	18.1	2.6 X
Graphics Average	4.1	0.1 X	55.5	1.3 X	43.2	1.0 X	75.1	1.7 X	59.1	1.3 X	104.7	2.5 X
Single-Threaded Average	16.0	1.0 X	20.8	1.2 X	16.3	1.0 X	23.9	1.4 X	25.1	1.5 X	23.5	1.5 X
Multi-Threaded Average	6.0	0.9 X	7.6	1.1 X	6.7	1.0 X	16.0	2.4 X	17.7	2.6 X	18.3	2.7 X
			/\
			same hardware, but
Windows Visualization Workstations			different os & drivers
			\/
	Single Core		Single Core		Single Core		Single Core		Dual Core		Dual Core
	2.2 GHz Pentium 4M		2.1 GHz Athlon XP		1.4 GHz Pentium M		2.2 GHz Athlon 64		2.0 GHz Athlon 64x2		3.0 GHz Pentium D
	WinXP Laptop		Win2k Desktop		WinXP Laptop (+)		WinXP Desktop		WinXP Desktop (+)		WinXP Desktop (+)
	GeForce4 460 Go		Radeon 9800 Pro		GeForce FX Go 5650		Radeon X1800XL		Radeon X800XL		GeForce 6800
Price (when new, incl. display)	$2,200		$1,500		$1,800		$2,600		$1,300		$1,900
UPDATES_V1	0.6	0.2 X	3.0	0.9 X	0.6	0.2 X	5.6	1.7 X	4.9	1.5 X	0.6	0.2 X
SMOOTH_LINES_V1	14.7	0.4 X	164.0	4.0 X	59.8	1.5 X	261.6	6.4 X	238.3	5.8 X	60.0	1.5 X
JAGGED_LINES_V1	47.8	0.7 X	165.4	2.3 X	59.8	0.8 X	290.8	4.0 X	245.9	3.4 X	60.0	0.8 X
DOTS_V1	26.4	1.0 X	77.0	2.8 X	29.8	1.1 X	255.0	9.2 X	167.9	6.1 X	36.9	1.3 X
STICKS_V1	39.5	1.0 X	56.6	1.5 X	29.9	0.8 X	84.0	2.2 X	84.2	2.2 X	59.7	1.5 X
SURFACE_V1	39.1	0.7 X	188.2	3.5 X	59.8	1.1 X	327.4	6.1 X	271.1	5.1 X	60.0	1.1 X
SPHERES_V1	15.8	1.3 X	52.6	4.4 X	20.0	1.7 X	92.4	7.7 X	77.7	6.5 X	21.8	1.8 X
CARTOON_V1	73.5	0.9 X	248.0	2.9 X	59.9	0.7 X	442.4	5.2 X	381.8	4.5 X	60.0	0.7 X
BLITS_V1	30.7	0.6 X	66.8	1.2 X	58.2	1.1 X	100.8	1.9 X	95.5	1.8 X	60.0	1.1 X
SURFACE_CALCULATION_V1	20.1	1.2 X	33.4	2.0 X	26.0	1.5 X	37.4	2.2 X	35.4	2.1 X	30.0	1.8 X
MESH_CALCULATION_V1	47.0	0.9 X	76.5	1.4 X	57.1	1.1 X	89.8	1.7 X	85.0	1.6 X	82.6	1.6 X
RAY_V2_PX307200_TH01_HSH090	4.7	0.8 X	6.5	1.0 X	4.5	0.7 X	7.1	1.1 X	6.7	1.1 X	6.4	1.0 X
RAY_V2_PX307200_TH02_HSH090	4.7	0.8 X	6.4	1.0 X	4.5	0.7 X	7.2	1.2 X	13.2	2.1 X	12.5	2.0 X
RAY_V2_PX307200_TH04_HSH090	4.7	0.8 X	6.4	1.1 X	4.5	0.7 X	7.1	1.2 X	13.0	2.1 X	12.5	2.1 X
RAY_V2_PX307200_TH08_HSH090	4.6	0.8 X	6.4	1.1 X	4.5	0.8 X	7.1	1.2 X	13.1	2.2 X	12.1	2.0 X
RAY_V2_PX307200_TH01_HSH120	5.7	0.8 X	7.7	1.0 X	5.2	0.7 X	8.7	1.2 X	8.1	1.1 X	7.9	1.0 X
RAY_V2_PX307200_TH02_HSH120	5.6	0.8 X	7.8	1.1 X	5.2	0.7 X	8.7	1.2 X	15.7	2.1 X	15.1	2.0 X
RAY_V2_PX307200_TH01_HSH160	5.6	0.8 X	7.7	1.1 X	5.1	0.7 X	8.7	1.2 X	8.1	1.1 X	8.1	1.1 X
RAY_V2_PX307200_TH02_HSH160	5.6	0.8 X	7.6	1.0 X	5.1	0.7 X	8.7	1.2 X	15.3	2.1 X	15.2	2.1 X
RAY_V2_PX307200_TH01_HSH200	5.6	0.8 X	7.6	1.1 X	4.9	0.7 X	8.8	1.2 X	8.1	1.1 X	8.6	1.2 X
RAY_V2_PX307200_TH02_HSH200	5.6	0.8 X	7.5	1.1 X	4.9	0.7 X	8.8	1.2 X	15.5	2.2 X	16.0	2.3 X
Graphics Average	32.0	0.7 X	113.5	2.6 X	42.0	1.0 X	206.7	4.9 X	174.1	4.1 X	46.6	1.1 X
Single-Threaded Average	14.8	0.9 X	23.2	1.3 X	17.1	0.9 X	26.8	1.4 X	25.2	1.4 X	23.9	1.3 X
Multi-Threaded Average	5.1	0.8 X	7.0	1.1 X	4.8	0.7 X	7.9	1.2 X	14.3	2.1 X	13.9	2.1 X
	(*) Note hardware specification correction:						These benchmarks are run with default PyMOL
	A Quadro FX 3000 would run faster but cost						configurations on available hardware and are
	almost $1,000 more.  Sorry for the earlier goof!						not controlled for factors such as CPU or GPU
							memory size, memory speeds, or bus speeds.
	Higher numbers are always better and represent
	more work done per unit time.						The graphics benchmarks are based on how fast
							OpenGL accepts geometry data, returning the CPU
	But as with all benchmarks….						back to PyMOL to process another scene update.
							Actual screen refresh rates will depend on the
	PLEASE VIEW WITH SKEPTICISM!						display itself, the window manager, and the optimization
							strategy of the underlying OpenGL display driver.
	The weighting scheme between dimensions
	in the averages is arbitrary and may not reflect						(+) Thanks to Shane Hebert for the x2 data set
	the specific mix of tasks you perform regularly.						from his home-brew dual-core workstation and
							Pentium M-based laptop and friend's Pentium D