How big a deal is the FSB on the PB?

[SuperChuck]

As someone who wouldn't know a Front-Side Bus if it leapt from inside his Mac and danced around the room, I'd like to know if its inferior speed in the G4 Powerbook line is really that big a deal.

The most intense game I play is The Sims, so I'm not concerned with massive gaming/FPS performance.

On the other hand, I spend 95% of my time in Photoshop and Macromedia Studio. Is this FSB thing going to noticeably impact my workflow?

Although I like the idea of mobility, I don't absolutely need it, and if this FSB thing is going to make my PB look like a hobbling gimp compared to the inevitable PBG5, I'll get a WWDC Powermac and wait.

Thank you, in advance, for the technical lowdown.

 

[Jonathan Amend]

As someone who wouldn't know a Front-Side Bus if it leapt from inside his Mac and danced around the room, I'd like to know if its inferior speed in the G4 Powerbook line is really that big a deal.

The most intense game I play is The Sims, so I'm not concerned with massive gaming/FPS performance.

On the other hand, I spend 95% of my time in Photoshop and Macromedia Studio. Is this FSB thing going to noticeably impact my workflow?

Although I like the idea of mobility, I don't absolutely need it, and if this FSB thing is going to make my PB look like a hobbling gimp compared to the inevitable PBG5, I'll get a WWDC Powermac and wait.

Thank you, in advance, for the technical lowdown.

It doesn't really make that much of a difference. While it is one factor in the performance of a computer, it's mostly just marketing hype. Apple likes to boast of their G5's "FSB" of 1000 MHz although that's Hypertransport and Intel thinks their FSB runs 4 times faster than its actual is so they report 800 MHz instead of 200 MHz. The G4 now has a 166 MHz FSB which isn't that bad, but it's slow for many other reasons.

 

[Wyrm]

Although I like the idea of mobility, I don't absolutely need it, and if this FSB thing is going to make my PB look like a hobbling gimp compared to the inevitable PBG5, I'll get a WWDC Powermac and wait.

Thank you, in advance, for the technical lowdown.

The PB IS a hobbled gimp next to a dual G5 Powermac, and although the FSB is part of it, it is not the primary reason.
That's the price you pay for mobility. If the rumors are true then the WWDC Powermacs will make that gap larger... and a G5 PB, while better than a G4 PB, probably won't hold a candle to a PowerMac.

-Wyrm

 

[superbovine]

imho i think the FSB is important in the total computer arch. even if part of it is marketing hype it still is very important, especiall if the bus is running as fast of the ram. the FSB speed is also the way you calculate the processor speed. the formula is clock multipler * FSB Freq = Processor speed. http://homepage.mac.com/paul74/Multipliers.htm

so even if you say marketing hype the faster you bus is, it contributes to the overall processing power.

 

[Wyrm]

imho i think the FSB is important in the total computer arch. even if part of it is marketing hype it still is very important, especiall if the bus is running as fast of the ram. the FSB speed is also the way you calculate the processor speed. the formula is clock multipler * FSB Freq = Processor speed. http://homepage.mac.com/paul74/Multipliers.htm so even if you say marketing hype the faster you bus is, it contributes to the overall processing power.

In so much as the FSB is the datapath to other components, the throughput allows the processor to *process* more data (go figure). It is only important in the sense that it is usually a bottleneck for performance.

-Wyrm

 

[Wyrm]

*Quirk Please Ignore*

-Wyrm

 

[superbovine]

In so much as the FSB is the datapath to other components, the throughput allows the processor to *process* more data (go figure). It is only important in the sense that it is usually a bottleneck for performance.

-Wyrm

i alluded to that with the fact that i mention the its make a difference if the fsb runs as fast as the ram.