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G3, G4, G5...

ero87

ero87

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 17, 2006
1,196
1
New York City
Hey all, pretty simple question.

I've been a mac-convert for about 1 year now, but I still don't know what the G's meant in the powerpc macs. What's the difference between a G4 and a G5? just kinda curious.
 
G5's are just faster. It's like... Pentium C compared to Pentium D.

That's a wrong comparison, but it's similar in that it's just a step up.
 
G4 = G3 except it had altivec which helped a lot IF that program knew how to use it. G5 is the red headed stepchild that Jobs put up for adoption as soon as it was born.:D
 
ero87 said:
Hey all, pretty simple question.

I've been a mac-convert for about 1 year now, but I still don't know what the G's meant in the powerpc macs. What's the difference between a G4 and a G5? just kinda curious.
Click to expand...

I'm guessing the "G" related to the introduction of the "Gossamer" motherboard, but that's just a shot in the dark.

Difference between a G4 and a G5? = G1 ;)
 
SC68Cal said:
I was under the impression that the "G" basically meant "Generation"
Click to expand...

Yep... Generation... Had nothing to consumer vs. professional. When the G3's first came out they where smoken fast... compaired to the intel's (or atleast that's what apple led you to believe). But they where in all the top of the line powermacs.
 
As said before, G is for Generation. The G2's were mainly 603e and 604 PPC chips, although the 7xxx series had 601's. The G1's where the first PPC's and were mainly the 601 processors.

I'm glad they ditched the name, I was getting bored with it all.
 
It is short for "Guttenbergs". You see, Macs are rated in units that are equal to 5X the decline of Steve Guttenberg's career. So the G5 moves about 25X faster than the time between Cocoon and Polica Academy 3.
 
calebjohnston said:
G5's are just faster. It's like... Pentium C compared to Pentium D.

That's a wrong comparison, but it's similar in that it's just a step up.
Click to expand...

The G5's are not just faster. It was a completely new chip, pretty much from the ground up. Yes, it used similar technologies from the G3 and G4 as it is still a PowerPC processor, but it is so much more than just "faster."

That analogy is more appropriate when talking about the G3 to G4. The addition of altivec made the G4 faster, but only when the software was optimized for the Altivec engine, aka the Velocity engine.
 
G4 sounds cooler than G3, and they supported higher clockspeeds. G4 is up to Dual 1.8 GHz/Single 2.0 GHz, while G3 is up to Single 1.1 GHz.:D
 
Josias said:
G4 sounds cooler than G3, and they supported higher clockspeeds. G4 is up to Dual 1.8 GHz/Single 2.0 GHz, while G3 is up to Single 1.1 GHz.:D
Click to expand...

It didn't just sound cooler. There was a big difference between the 750 Series (G3) and the 7400 series (G4). Most importantly, a vector processing unit.
 
I was wonderring the same thing...i thing it is generation. Also, why was there never a G1 or G2?
 
disconap said:
It is short for "Guttenbergs". You see, Macs are rated in units that are equal to 5X the decline of Steve Guttenberg's career. So the G5 moves about 25X faster than the time between Cocoon and Polica Academy 3.
Click to expand...

ouch. someone just got served.
 
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