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Anyone here have a dual 867?

SilvorX

SilvorX

macrumors 68000
Original poster
May 24, 2002
1,701
0
'Toba, Canada
im thinking about getting a dual 867, and i was wondering:

-is it any good (as in is it fast/reliable/etc)?

-do the new powermacs take advantage of ddr ram (cuz i heard they dont)

-how well do applications run on it (ex: ie/office x/vpc/photoshop)

-is it worth the money or should i just get a G4 imac?

-whats the difference on the about this mac screen for a dual 867 (for when it displays the processor info)

-which is better, a dual 867 or a 933 quicksilver (for stuff like speed, classic compatibility, reliability, etc)

sorry for all the questions but im thinking more and more which mac im going to get in november
thanx
-Silv0rX
 
I love it

I have had one for a few weeks now.
I am very happy, no complaints.
I was waiting for Macs beyond the G4 to tell you the truth, but then I realized this ain't happening anytime soon. Hence I decided to go for the 867 while I wait for the next Mac paradigm (sorry spelling unsure). I really did not even consider the Dual 1 or 1.25ghz - in my truly modest opinion not worth so much more money, not to me anyway. Especially after reading about the lack of additional performance from ddr.

I would definitely for Dual 867 rather than 933. I think it is obvious, or almost so. The beauty of it is how you can run different processes at the same time w/o significant impact on performance.

I still have not had enough time to run many applications. The iXXXX applications seem to work great and FCP works almost like a charm and they all run really fast (again, this is such a relative concept!).

Again, I love it, I am super happy and now I can wait in peace till the next generation Macs.

Go for it !

gio
 
Re: I love it

Originally posted by giovanni
I have had one for a few weeks now.
I am very happy, no complaints.
I was waiting for Macs beyond the G4 to tell you the truth, but then I realized this ain't happening anytime soon. Hence I decided to go for the 867 while I wait for the next Mac paradigm (sorry spelling unsure). I really did not even consider the Dual 1 or 1.25ghz - in my truly modest opinion not worth so much more money, not to me anyway. Especially after reading about the lack of additional performance from ddr.

I would definitely for Dual 867 rather than 933. I think it is obvious, or almost so. The beauty of it is how you can run different processes at the same time w/o significant impact on performance.

I still have not had enough time to run many applications. The iXXXX applications seem to work great and FCP works almost like a charm and they all run really fast (again, this is such a relative concept!).

Again, I love it, I am super happy and now I can wait in peace till the next generation Macs.

Go for it !

gio
Click to expand...

I agree, i have had one for a while now (1 month anniversary the 24th!) and it is a steal for what you pay. I BTOed mine up to 3k (17", 9000, and Super) and so far its everything i want it to be and more. the 933 will see marginal gains in tasks that don't take advantage of Duals, but its not worth it for say the ATA 100,, front headphone jack (this is a godsend for me) and 2nd optical bay. When i tested MP3 rip, i got 15x, and this was with about 7 Apps open. I bet that will soar when I add some RAM though. I also get 60-70 FPS at 1280x1024 in UT X3. overall i am very satisfied, and it kills my Gs 400 PB, which was CPU loaded with just having those 7 apps open.
 
hmm jimong doesnt seem too happy bout his pmac ;) lol
everyones like "oh get a quicksilver" even tho dual processor and dual optical drives sounds promising and im into expansion (harddrive wise) so it would be better than the quicksilver
does the dual pmac take advantage of ddr ram or just run it as sdram?
 
it takes advantage of ddr ram...the front side bus is just lacking in speed...so i really dont know what it means...but does proccesing on the up and down cycles for the ram so it is dual data rate...basically the computer can send info to and from the RAM modules at twice the speed of a quicksilver....but the processor is running at a marginally improved speed of the QS (assuming it's a 167 fsb, not 133) which gives it a max of about 1.3 gb a sec instead of just 1.0....but all that really only matters when your maxing out the processors capabilities (im talking out of my ass so hopefully someone will confirm this)
 
Go for the dual, at my parents apple store we have all the macs. the 17 inch kicks ass but you will notice the lag in high end applications. it just depends what your are doing. althought the 17 inch is so cool looking and the screen is soo big, you have to see it in person. they are both great machines, just decide what you are going to be doing. i have the dual 1ghz and it is great, so fast.

iJon
 
ya its basically time for process of elimination when im at the computer store, since its basically the same price (17" imac and dual powermac) but i dont really have a need for superdrive, but it includes a widescreen monitor (lcd)
but i really need to take advantage of my dvd-rom drive/40 gig drive cuz i dont want them to collect dust...
the 933 powermac seemed faster in my opinion than any pc ive used (cuz os 10.1.5 was speedy, stable, didnt act lazy) lol, so the dual 867 is probably pretty sweet...
 
I get a 20X rip in iTunes on my Dual 800... not with the superdrive though, thats with a MUCH faster firewire cdrw attached. the superdrive is realllllly slow. i was getting 5-9x with it.:(
 
ouch :( ya the superdrive/combo drives are way TOO slow :(, thats one of the reasons y im adding on my 16x dvd rom drive as a 2ndary optical drive if i get a dual pmac
n theres combo drives out there for about $100 US or so that have almost the same burning speed as a high end burner and 16x dvd...dont u think apple should be upgrading their hardware line cuz it looks like they should...but they shouldve kept the burner model, cuz i think it was 24x and one burner and one dvd rom drive wouldve been fine with me....
 
I have one!

Ahhh, I love my new Dual 867...
I got an educational deal (college) on mine so I was able to get the whole package with upgraded ATI 9000 and 80 gig hard drive for $1664, a good deal, I must say... :cool: Then I bought another 512mb of ram for $127 from OWC, so now I have a kickin system!!!!

I couldn't ask for any more out of it, and my favorite part is how good it is at multitasking, I can be talking to people, listening to mp3s, downloading a file and browsin the net, with no lag! And I was rippin mp3s at 21x with the quality set to the highest (192) Of course, that's a big change from the OS 9 days and my grape 333 imac (maybe 3x if I was lucky)!

Yeah, not to mention how easy it was to upgrade, but you all know that. Plus, the second fan kicks in once in a blue moon, so it's not loud at all (in my opinion...). I'd been lookin for a new computer in the <$2000 range, and at first I was lookin for a laptop, but this deal was SO good I couldn't pass it up. And it kicks arse at games as well, even in OS 9 (since I've only been downloadin demos... I'm a poor college student) but I "borrowed" my friends warcraft III disc, so now I've been playin that and it runs flawlessly.

My advice... BUY IT!!!!!!!!!!
 
lol since it sounds like u really love it, i'll check it out when i go to the mac store
hopefully i'll end up getting a pmac, if not probably a low end imac or high end emac...
 
Is the faster bus, Radeon 9000, bigger HD, and the Super Drive worth paying $1000 more for a dual 1Ghz G4? I might trade in my old G4 today, and I'm trying to decide if it'd be better to save money, and add features that I'd need, or just go get the dual 1Ghz, with plenty of features...
 
I've had the privilage of using one at my local apple store. I also ran simple benchmarks for SilvorX using the apple store wide range of preloaded programs such as photoshop 7 and VPC 5.0. It was great. Most normal programs loaded in under 3 seconds (example: internet explorer, quicktime player, itunes, etc). VPC fully booted in 45 seconds and photoshop took somwhere around 14 seconds to fully load. O an I ran these time trials w/ ichat running and two IM windows open, so without ichat on, these programs will load even faster.

Amazing specs saying it only costs 1699. Add 256 MB more RAM (or 512 if your a big poweruser) and a Raedon 9000 Pro (Making it abround 1800 bucks, which is still reasonable) and you got a top notch system for an extremely reasonable price (even tho 1800 bucks in canadian dollars is a large figure somwhere in the range of like 3700 $CDN)
 
actually it'dd be $2700 ;) lol

ya hopefully i get a monitor b4 i get the puter, then when i get the puter, i get 512 megs more ram....
for photoshop that sounds a lil slow, but ive never used photoshop so it may be slow on all os's
 
Originally posted by SilvorX
actually it'dd be $2700 ;) lol

ya hopefully i get a monitor b4 i get the puter, then when i get the puter, i get 512 megs more ram....
for photoshop that sounds a lil slow, but ive never used photoshop so it may be slow on all os's
Click to expand...

hehe oops.... Guess my math is a little off. 1000$CDN isnt THAT much.... hehe :p ;)
 
Originally posted by G5orbust


hehe oops.... Guess my math is a little off. 1000$CDN isnt THAT much.... hehe :p ;)
Click to expand...
hmm *checks* ouch only $630 US, the canadian economy is getting crappy now days :(
 
grr, i hate it when ppl are like "hahaha you want a mac? u must be a damn idiot! only idiots would ever buy a mac" n actually someones saying that right now...
 
Originally posted by G5orbust
I've had the privilage of using one at my local apple store. I also ran simple benchmarks for SilvorX using the apple store wide range of preloaded programs such as photoshop 7 and VPC 5.0. It was great. Most normal programs loaded in under 3 seconds (example: internet explorer, quicktime player, itunes, etc). VPC fully booted in 45 seconds and photoshop took somwhere around 14 seconds to fully load. O an I ran these time trials w/ ichat running and two IM windows open, so without ichat on, these programs will load even faster.

Amazing specs saying it only costs 1699. Add 256 MB more RAM (or 512 if your a big poweruser) and a Raedon 9000 Pro (Making it abround 1800 bucks, which is still reasonable) and you got a top notch system for an extremely reasonable price (even tho 1800 bucks in canadian dollars is a large figure somwhere in the range of like 3700 $CDN)
Click to expand...


Remember this is all with the stock 256MB. Everything will speed up significantly with at least a total of 512MB. The $100USD is not worth it for the ATI9000. There is not really any speed difference between it and the G4MX and even in some things the G4MX is faster. The biggest difference between the two is the hardware T&L on the ATI9000 though from what I have read the ATI9000 is hardly fast enough to take advantage of this.
 
Originally posted by G4scott
Is the faster bus, Radeon 9000, bigger HD, and the Super Drive worth paying $1000 more for a dual 1Ghz G4? I might trade in my old G4 today, and I'm trying to decide if it'd be better to save money, and add features that I'd need, or just go get the dual 1Ghz, with plenty of features...
Click to expand...


With education discount wich almost anyone can get I purchased my Dual Ghz/DDR for around $2400. I opted for the G4MX which took another $100 off the education price. I'm holding out for the ATI9700.
 
Originally posted by MacBandit



Remember this is all with the stock 256MB. Everything will speed up significantly with at least a total of 512MB. The $100USD is not worth it for the ATI9000. There is not really any speed difference between it and the G4MX and even in some things the G4MX is faster. The biggest difference between the two is the hardware T&L on the ATI9000 though from what I have read the ATI9000 is hardly fast enough to take advantage of this.
Click to expand...

Yeah theres a big difference. The 9000 has vertex and pixel shaders.. a biggie if you want good lookin games. Also it can support higher antialiasing and can do i think 4x AA in FSAA mode (for all u non-grahpics card people, that means 4x Anti-aliasing in full screen anti-aliasing mode)

BTW, anti-aliasing means getting rid of the jaggies that plague very complex scenes (or even not all that complex ones if u have a crapola graphics card). The higher the AA multiplyer, the smoother it gets. Most 128 MB graphics cards can handle 16xAA i believe.
 
Originally posted by G5orbust


Yeah theres a big difference. The 9000 has vertex and pixel shaders.. a biggie if you want good lookin games. Also it can support higher antialiasing and can do i think 4x AA in FSAA mode (for all u non-grahpics card people, that means 4x Anti-aliasing in full screen anti-aliasing mode)

BTW, anti-aliasing means getting rid of the jaggies that plague very complex scenes (or even not all that complex ones if u have a crapola graphics card). The higher the AA multiplyer, the smoother it gets. Most 128 MB graphics cards can handle 16xAA i believe.
Click to expand...


The highest current AA rate is 6x this is held by the ATI 9700. Yes the ATI9000 has AA support and all the other goodies but when they are all turned on the Frame Rates go in the gutter so it's hardly worth having them. I looked it up and the G4MX beat the ATI 9000 in Quake III Arena frame rates it wasn't by much but it beat it and this is with none of the special hardware support on the ATI9000 turned on so turn that stuff on and watch it perform even slower.
 
I just ordered my dual 867 last week and am eagerly awaiting it. I bto'ed it with a Superdrive and got rid of the modem. I threw in the 17" LCD so I can give my wife my G4/400 and 19" monitor complete.

I plan on taking the $200 MIR and getting a gig of ddr ram. I also plan on selling my Indesign on eBay for some more cash as I have no use for it.
 
bravo!

great move, you will not regret it. Sounds a lot like what I did with my wife, but yours is better of. My wife got my old b&w G3 :)
Anyhow, let us know what you think once you have had some time to play around with it
 
too bad canadians dont get anything free with the powermacs (while in the us u can get indesign free) but im thinking of getting the dual 867...but i was reading a comparison chart of the 867 compared to a couple different duals..and it didnt sound that promising for $2700 CDN :(, but hopefully thats something ram could fix..and maybe a video card upgrade someday...
 
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