Powermac G4 DP 1.25..vs..PowerPC 970 expectations

[branko]

I am leaning towards the DP 1.25 PowerMac, but then eventually I could wait (it is hard..) to September..

Do you really think that the PowerPC 970 will be that much faster ?

What average speed increase do you expect ?

Will the 970 be dual processors (meaning fysically not on core) ?

Isn't the 970 overhyped on performance ?

Will Apple rewrite its OS in 64 bits ?

Do we need to upgrade all applications again in such a case ? (switch to PowerPC)

To tell the truth I am kind of scared of being disappointed by the 970..

 

[Bear]

Re: Powermac G4 DP 1.25..vs..PowerPC 970 expectations

Originally posted by branko
I am leaning towards the DP 1.25 PowerMac, but then eventually I could wait (it is hard..) to September..

It's up to you how long you want to wait. There is no gguarantee when the 970 based PowerMacs will be available. (Availability is some time after announcement.)

Do you really think that the PowerPC 970 will be that much faster?

What average speed increase do you expect?

From the specs that have been released, a 970 will be faster than a G4 at a given clock speed.

Will the 970 be dual processors (meaning fysically not on core) ?

The odds say Apple will always keep at least one dual processor model in their line up (if not more).

Isn't the 970 overhyped on performance ?

Time will tell. Although I expect by now, IBM has some pretty good performance data for it.

Will Apple rewrite its OS in 64 bits?

Apple needs to do minimual changes to get Mac OS X running on the 970. I expect that Apple will release a 64 bit version of OS X within a year or so of the 970 models being released.

Do we need to upgrade all applications again in such a case? (switch to PowerPC)

Based upon the info I've seen, the 970 should be able to run 32 and 64 bit applications at the same time. Once OS X is updated to handle 64 bit applications that is.

In general, some applications won't benefit from a 64 bit version, so they may stay at 32 bit for a long time.

This is a much easier transition than the one from OS 9 to OS X was.

To tell the truth I am kind of scared of being disappointed by the 970..

Why don't you read up on the factual information available and make your own decisions about what it'll be like?

The better architecture of the 970 and the faster data buses with the larger caches make it sound like it will be a nice chip.

Relax, don't worry. Just wait and see what comes out.

 

[Mr. Anderson]

Even given all the 'facts' that are available to us about the 970, you can't really plan on anything until its officially announced - everything is speculation.

So your best bet is to carefully weigh your needs for a new computer vs. the indefinite amount of time you're going to have to wait on a new machine. We could see anywhere from 0 to 2 or more G4 speed bumps before the 970 is out. So if you have work to do that requires a fast machine, get the Dual 1.25 now and get to work. Otherwise if you have the luxury to wait, like myself, be consoled that you're at the mercy of Apple and their grand plans

D

 

[oldMac]

Buy the dual 1.25

There's no way to tell when the 970-based machines might come out. There's also no way to predict how they'll perform, though it's a good bet to say that they'll be faster than the current machines.

One of the big benefits of getting a dual 1.25 is that they're probably on the 2nd or 3rd revision of the motherboard by now which generally means "fewer potential problems". The first generation is always more susceptible.

My opinion - get the dual 1.25 and then enjoy your speed for a good 6 months while people on these boards pine for a 970 that won't possibly match the hype that's building.

 

[branko]

Idea's

So if you have work to do that requires a fast machine, get the Dual 1.25 now and get to work. Otherwise if you have the luxury to wait, like myself, be consoled that you're at the mercy of Apple and their grand plans
D

I think it is reasonable to assume that the next revision will include the PowerPC 970 (unless Motorola/Apple want to introduce a 1.6-1.8 Ghz G4)

The thing is if they introduce the 1.6-1.8 G4 DP, maybe the PowerPC 970 will not give a speedboost..

The PowerPC 970 was expected to be fabulous when announced more than a year ago ! But since then Motorola has improved speed as well. Maybe not so dramatic but still from 1 GHz (or even less when the 970 was announced) to 1.45 Ghz and as it seems that with the G4 performance scales lineary.. this represents a 45 pct improvement..
not to mention eventual speed boosts to 1.6-1.8 Ghz for the G4

I agree the PowerPC 970 has it seems scaleable to 3 Ghz in the future it is the way to go, but then if a PowerPC 970 at 1.8 Ghz is about 10 pct faster than a 1.45 Ghz DP G4, why should we wait...
(the 10 pct is purely random figure..)

The 1.25 DP G4 seems the most value/money PowerMac for me...

Some things I would like to see changed however :
- PCI bus speed improved
- USB 2 (have seen that some printers now use a USB2 interface) a PCI card is always possible.. but then ok a Mac is supposed to be well equiped..
- seems DDR RAM is not implemented the way it should..

 

[Dont Hurt Me]

dont forget this, that the 970 will fetch twice the instructions on a clock cycle and then execute 8 instructions on the clock cycle versus i think 3 for the g4 so in say 2 clocks it will execute 16 instructions vs 2 clocks g4 which executes 6 so with every clock cycle it runs further away from the g4 so i think if apple does put these in the powermac 1 cpu will outperform 2 g4s at the same clock. Again this may all be a dream and we may never see these chips but we can only hope.

 

[oldMac]

Originally posted by Dont Hurt Me
dont forget this, that the 970 will fetch twice the instructions on a clock cycle and then execute 8 instructions on the clock cycle versus i think 3 for the g4 so in say 2 clocks it will execute 16 instructions vs 2 clocks g4 which executes 6 so with every clock cycle it runs further away from the g4 so i think if apple does put these in the powermac 1 cpu will outperform 2 g4s at the same clock. Again this may all be a dream and we may never see these chips but we can only hope.

Won't happen in real life. Look for a max 50% processor speedup over a G4 at the same clock speed. Also, look for smaller caches (cheaper) since we'll finally get a full-speed interface to DDR from the processor.

 

[Catfish_Man]

Originally posted by Dont Hurt Me
dont forget this, that the 970 will fetch twice the instructions on a clock cycle and then execute 8 instructions on the clock cycle versus i think 3 for the g4 so in say 2 clocks it will execute 16 instructions vs 2 clocks g4 which executes 6 so with every clock cycle it runs further away from the g4 so i think if apple does put these in the powermac 1 cpu will outperform 2 g4s at the same clock. Again this may all be a dream and we may never see these chips but we can only hope.

It can fetch 8 but only dispatch 5 and one of those has to be a branch.

 

[Dont Hurt Me]

Originally posted by oldMac


Won't happen in real life. Look for a max 50% processor speedup over a G4 at the same clock speed. Also, look for smaller caches (cheaper) since we'll finally get a full-speed interface to DDR from the processor.

even 50% is a heck of lot better then what we see from motorola. And talking about motorola has their 7455 really made it to 1.42 ghz and if so why dont they ever mention this or post it at their website.( top secret?)