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Rumor specs on new G4's

hey Backtothemac, thanx for the info. i know we are all praying for what youre saying to be out this July. G4, G5 whatever. It seems like its a G5 except for the 64Bit part. so lets see whats new about this latest G4

1. a faster bus speed
2.much faster processor
3.DDR ram thats expandible beyond 1.5GB (finally)
4.maybe a larger hard drive
5.faster superdrive
6.standard Nvidia card on the top of the line product
7.bluetooth standard
8.possible support for USB 2 and Firewire 2
9.a new case (lets see some of the ports in the front on this one)
10.OSX 10.2+

what else do you guys want from apple?
look if the new G4s dont have the USB 2 or firewire 2 support who cares, isnt that why they give you 4 PCi slots. so if all this holds up, im definately making the leap from PC to Mac. This will be a video/audio editing dream machine.
 
if they release a newer, faster Powermac this means there must be a considerable speed jump for the TiBook in store, right?

i was also thinking that i could rent a Mac until the new TiBooks are released. is this a good way to go?
 
Re: phish stopped shipment!

Originally posted by Grokgod
This rumor must feel pretty real to actually stop a shipment.

I was in the belief zone also till i got head slapped to my local disbelief zone by Backtothemac when he said that he was happy with his G3 even though he could have had a g4 iMac three weeks later.

Now, dont get me wrong, i 'm happy, he's happy. Its whats making him happy thats making me unhappy. Because to be happy about having a G3 when you should have gotten a G4 isnt the kind of happy we all call happy its called head happy. the kind of happy that doesnt go away, its that permanent smile that doctors call rationalization, or to the layman, slap happy.

Now I'm not trying to make anyone unhappy with this kinda talk. G3 talk always kinda brings a frown to my face anyway. But if we're trying to count to 5 and get too happy at 3, thats hardly going to land us at a decent 4.5.

Now my frown shouldnt spoil the party because I am a flexible guy. I can go with the flow of almost any half winded, I got a friend that holds Jobs hand on saturday nights while he locks up his own personal G5 quad smp powermac that comes with multiple naked women to press the start up button. I would agree that Jobs waits for nothing and it makes perfect sense that he would have the best. But if your going to talk about G3's with patience then you force me to say the BORING words , "your not running OSX are you!" Or worse.

I dont love your rumor anymore!
Click to expand...

Grok, that is a slap happy funny post....:p

Now, let me explain my G3 iMac. Like I had said, my wife HAD to have the system right then, and could not wait until January to get the G4 iMac, plus, we could not afford the G4. Also, I figured that there would be hold ups on the G4 iMac, and there were, are. Now my little Flower Power hums in X.

It is a G3 600, I have a seperate swap partition set up for the swap file. I also have OS 9 on an external fire wire drive. X is on its own partition, Apps are on there own. I defrag twice a week to keep the little puppy running.... i replaced the internal Hard drive with a 7,200 rpm drive, and put a small fan in the case to keep things cool. Also, I have 1 Gig of Ram in it. So yes, it is fast. In fact, it will out run sub 600 MHZ G4's on a lot of applications (those that are not altivec :p ). My neighbor has a G4 533 with 256 Megs, and my little Flower Power will run just slightly slower than it on 80 % of what I do.

The biggest factor was cost. Everyone knew that the G4 iMac was going to cost, and I got this Flower Power from smalldog (new), Epson C60 printer, and H/K Soundsticks delivered overnight, for 1300.00. So all of this added together, I am happy with my G3 FOR NOW!!!

;)
 
ACK!!

Okay. Let's clear this up...........

Can Rapid I/O and DDR co-exist on the same mobo?

What are the speeds for Rapid I/O?

Is there DDR that runs at those speeds?

What kind of RAM does work with Rapid I/O that's affordable enough to manufacture with?

What does the Apollo G4 need to use Rapid I/O, DDR and/or larger amounts of RAM?

If you have 2 Apollos can they have their own RAM? How much per processor?
 
The only thing that sounds kind of weird to me is the use of RapidIO for the memory interface. 2 reasons for this.

First - the MPC8540 which is the embedded chip Motorola already has rolling, has an on-board 333MHz DDR controller. We don't know if the chip Apple will be using has this controller as well, but I don't see why it would not.

Second - RapidIO is actually a slower interface than 333MHz DDR, although it smokes PCI.

The only reason I can see that Apple would want to use RapidIO for the memory interface is they need the chip real estate for something other than the DDR controller and they figure they can handle all of the IO through one channel - ie the RapidIO channel.

Interestingly, if that is the case, it could explain the use of DDR RAM at "non-standard" frequencies, and previous rumours about problems getting DDR stable on the new mobo design.

Mischief - Yes you can have RapidIO and DDR on the same mobo. RapidIO is about 10Gbps if I remember right and 333MHz DDR is about 16Gbps. RapidIO is only 8 bits wide so there is not actual RapidIO RAM, at least not that I know of - you have to bridge to it thru a controller. To make an Apollo use DDR and RapidIO, you would have to rip out the 133MHZ memory and PCI interfaces and replace them with RapidIO and DDR interfaces.
 
Okay, so:

A G4 with Rapid I/O on the motherboard would solve the PCI/Mobo speed issue.

Is it possible to put the RAM on a daughter card with the processor(s) (like the original iMac) so DDR can be used locally for the CPUs and the rest of the machine work via Rapid I/O?

In this config all the non-CPU tasks would work at 10Gb/sec and the CPU/RAM tasks could scream along at 16Gb/sec.

Is Rapid I/O backward compatible to PCI and AGP? It'd suck to lose all the stuff that's out there for the sake of a faster bus.
 
Yes the RAM could go on a daughter card with the CPu - although you do not have to. It can sit on the mobo no problem.

Yes RapidIO is compatible to PCI meaning you can bridge to it no problem.
 
Originally posted by cb911
if they release a newer, faster Powermac this means there must be a considerable speed jump for the TiBook in store, right?
Click to expand...

There's got to be!! Ask your friend about that, Backtothemac. Even better, maybe he'll say that new TiBooks will come out at a special spring event, sometime sooner than July (please oh please)

-p
 
So if Rapid I/O can do all this without being on the Die with the CPU........

We could see a PAINFULLY FAST G4 quite soon.

I think it's about time to sell a kidney in lieu of a new tower.;) :D
 
Mischief - I think I mislead you somehow.

The RapidIO interface does have to be on the die with the CPU.
 
Aaaahhhhhhhh.......... I see.

So existing mobo designs are what we're stuck with until there is a die-level change to the G4. (shrug) No suprise. So if there's a change in chip architecture the whole who-makes-the-G5 issue comes up again.
 
re: ports on the front...

Originally posted by OSUbuckeyefan


ewwwwwwwwwwwwww nooooooooooooooooooo! ;)
Click to expand...

Not all ports should be on the front, but a firewire and usb up front would be extremely convenient. Notice how many VCR's have a/v input on the front these days? crawling 'round back every time you want to plug something in is a pain.
Power, monitor, modem, ethernet, audio in can all stay in the back or side or wherever since you don't change those up too often, but audio out, usb, and firewire are plugged in and out often enough to warrant better access.
______________________
Another sole member of the anti-zealot campaign.
 
thank you SPG, ofcourse i meant only the firewire and USB ports in the front. and im not even talking about al lof them. maybe 2 of each at most. for those people who use firewire and USB devices constantly its alot easier then finding them in the back, apple should have a little flip down switch or little secret compartment where they are stored so the case still glistens with apples beauty.
 
G4/G5

I'm still unclear on why people are upset that's it's "only" a G4. The Gx name is meaningless. The jump from 7400 to 7450 was bigger than the jump from Pentium II to Pentium III but they still called it a G4. As for it having the same core, a new pipeline, a new memory controller, and a new manufacturing process sound like a new core to me.

The only thing that sounds kind of weird to me is the use of RapidIO for the memory interface. 2 reasons for this.

First - the MPC8540 which is the embedded chip Motorola already has rolling, has an on-board 333MHz DDR controller. We don't know if the chip Apple will be using has this controller as well, but I don't see why it would not.

Second - RapidIO is actually a slower interface than 333MHz DDR, although it smokes PCI.

The only reason I can see that Apple would want to use RapidIO for the memory interface is they need the chip real estate for something other than the DDR controller and they figure they can handle all of the IO through one channel - ie the RapidIO channel.

Interestingly, if that is the case, it could explain the use of DDR RAM at "non-standard" frequencies, and previous rumours about problems getting DDR stable on the new mobo design.

Mischief - Yes you can have RapidIO and DDR on the same mobo. RapidIO is about 10Gbps if I remember right and 333MHz DDR is about 16Gbps. RapidIO is only 8 bits wide so there is not actual RapidIO RAM, at least not that I know of - you have to bridge to it thru a controller. To make an Apollo use DDR and RapidIO, you would have to rip out the 133MHZ memory and PCI interfaces and replace them with RapidIO and DDR interfaces.
Click to expand...

There have been fairly persistent rumors that the G5 (or next gen G4, there's some confusion about which it actually is) has an on chip DDR controller. There have also been persistent rumors about it using RapidIO, Hypertransport, 3GIO, MPX+, and pretty much any other tech you can think of. Basically, I think we'll have to wait, but I don't think we'll be disappointed. (The last update to the G4s was a teaser, the processor went from 7450 to 7455, which tells me that from Moto's point of view, this was basically a maintenance release. The real stuff is still coming [I hope])
 
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