Wow... it just keeps getting faster and faster!
NeatImage 4.5, 15 images, ISO 1600: 29.8 megapixels/minute
NeatImage 5.0, same 15 images: 53.6 megapixels/minute
So not quite 2x, but a pretty big jump nonetheless! I found an old post of mine ("Benchmarking and hyperthreading") where I said it took 7 minutes to process a 6-megapixel image on my 800-MHz Pentium III laptop. So in the space of 27 months, thanks to improvements in hardware and software, I've seen a 6250% increase in performance!
NeatImage 5.0 benchmarks
NeatImage 5.0 benchmarks
NeatImage Pro Plus 5.0 + dual Opteron 244 + Windows XP SP2 + FreeBSD 5.2
It may be less than 2x because of different measurement method. You measured the overall time required to process a batch, which includes disk reading/writing operations. We only compared the filter speed itself. Obviously the disk speed may vary depending on many factors (how much free space is available, how fragmented it is, etc.) while filter processing speed is very stable for a given type of CPU/RAM. Also, we may increase processing speed many times, but a slow disk may become the bottleneck then. Therefore we measured pure image processing speed only.
Also, you compared v4.5 and 5.0. v4.5 and v4.0 show different speed so it is not the same comparison as v4.0 vs v5.0.
In our tests, v5.0 works about 2.5 times faster than v4.0 on Pentium-based computers, and about 2.0 times faster on Athlon-based ones.
On my own P4, v5.0 works 2.6 times faster than v4.0, and 33.8 times faster than the very first public version of Neat Image (v1.0 beta1).
Vlad
Also, you compared v4.5 and 5.0. v4.5 and v4.0 show different speed so it is not the same comparison as v4.0 vs v5.0.
In our tests, v5.0 works about 2.5 times faster than v4.0 on Pentium-based computers, and about 2.0 times faster on Athlon-based ones.
On my own P4, v5.0 works 2.6 times faster than v4.0, and 33.8 times faster than the very first public version of Neat Image (v1.0 beta1).
Vlad