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New G5 Power Macs "Fastest Desktop In The World"
Beyond the many numbers, the bottom line is that the new machines have a new architecture, and that the memory speed is now the bottleneck, not the processor or bandwidth speeds. So they can have up to 8GB of 128-bit DDR RAM, as it is efficient to keep data in memory. The memory bandwidth is one of the most talked-about features of the new architecture.
USB 2.0 is now included, as are FireWire 400 and 800, Bluetooth, AirPort Extreme, and digital audio in and out. The 4x SuperDrive is now standard, and it can house up to 500GB of internal storage.
For video, the GeForce FX5200 is standard on low-end models, Radeon 9600 Pro on high-end models.
The case of the new machines is redesigned too, from the ground up, focusing on decreasing noise and heat. It is an aluminum enclosure, with ports for FireWire and USB on the front, and a door on the side to get into the box. It has four distinct "thermal zones" with computer-controlled cooling with its nine (yes, nine) independent fans. And it is much quieter than its predecessor.
The G5 is 10 percent slower than the P4 and Xeon in SPEC int scores in single-proc units, but 20 percent faster in FPU scores, and the dual-proc G5 beats the dual-proc Xeon in all SPEC scores.
The models are a single 1.6 GHz ($1999), single 1.8GHz ($2399), and dual 2GHz ($2999). They will ship in August. A 3GHz processor will be available from IBM in 12 months.
Apple notes that recompiling apps for the 64-bit architecture is easy, and in some cases can be done in minutes.
There was no word about the heavily anticipated redesign of the 15" PowerBooks.
Why does Apple use DDR as opposed to say RDRAM or some other higher-speed technology? I mean, it might not be 64-bit compatible, I don't know, but they don't put it in their 32-bit machines either.
:-)
Ok, okay, I'm sure a thousand people are going to call me clueless now...
My journal has hot
We've been waiting for it for so long now.
:D:P
And now watch and laugh as x86 users take that classic Mac argument - MHz doesn't matter - and try to use it against every Mac user. But dear x86er, only yesterday, you said that MHz did matter!? I'm so confused...
The tables are turned. Now you have something very pretty, you have Microsoft Office, you have some decent games, you have pro applications, you have UNIX, you have open source...
It's all there, and the speed argument is over. This is what every geek has been waiting for.
iqu
Steve Jobs must be back in the shrooms again.
Or maybe there was a misprint. Should be:
"Fastest Desktop in My World".
.sigs are for post^Hers.
For 3000 bucks, you'd have to compare the G5 against 2 or 3 P4 based systems. Otherwise it's like AMD comparing an Athlon based system against a Pentium Pro based system.
Honk if you're horny.
Look at the benchmark graph at Apple's site for them! (here: http://www.apple.com/powermac/
They compare a Dual-CPU G5 to a Dual-CPU Xeon machine; but strangely only to a SINGLE-CPU P4 machine?
Gee why could that be?
Perhaps because those benchmarks are pure-CPU benchmarks, and will scale very close to linearly with extra processors.
Double those bottom numbers from the P4 and it handily beats the Dual-G5...
I browse at +5 Flamebait- moderation for all or moderation for none.
ugh... I hate it when Apple tries to pull this sh... stuff.
Take a look at some of the feature claims... apple G5 has spdif and optical out, PC's don't,... apple G5 has an airflow oriented case, PC's don't... apple G5 can fit everything you want with ease... impossile to cram stuff into a PC..... look at the side by side case pics, and what word springs to mind?
Cheap! That's a $25 computer show case! Heck.. the cables aren't even plugged into drives. They built a second-hand PC that doesn't even work right, and then complained that it's not aerodynamic.
Trust me, Apple, if I spent $1,999 on just the tower, my computer would be aerodynamic, fast, have digital out (and in!), have quad Opterons, >8GB of memory, and it would definitely be pretty.
The first rule of making a comparrison is to make sure the things you are comparing are comparable in the first place.
After all, those new Dell Dimensions sure are a lot spiffier than those Mac Quadra 650's.
-=-=-=-=-=
I'd rather be flamed than ignored.
...at least it isn't as faggedy-assed looking as the current (previous?) models.
If you don't care about your time or the quality of the software you use, you should stick with windows. Why do Mac users insist on projecting their frustration and discontent with their own machines, on us innocent (.. and happier) Windows users?
Sorry buds, I call BS. I was finally able to get to the Apple site.
Those SPEC scores on Apple's site are WRONG. Check the SPEC results at the official SPEC website. A dual Xeon 3 Ghz machine kicks the crap out of those G5 scores.
The thing is, they used GCC. GCC sucks at the really high performance stuff on Intel. GCC has been tweaked out by Apple for the PPC. To be fair they need to use the tweaked out Intel compiler like on the SPEC website. Then you will see Apple lags behind.
Plus it depends on the Dell they got. Some are slower than others, but none are as slow as what Apple has listed.
The ratio of people to cake is too big
1984 is starting to look a lot like 1984 now isn't it?
Thanks for the chips IBM!
Thanks for the bailout Bill Gates!
Thanks for the chips again IBM!
Where would Apple be now if its "foes" didn't come to help out?
Not as much a flame as a question actually. I really do like PPC when compared to X86 and it is always good to add excitement of any sort in this industry.
Um..TARD...it is not the first DESKTOP 64-bit desktop computer/OS...NOT by a long shot...now take your PRO-APPLE lies someplace else... BTW i own a G4! So dont say im apple bashing cause im not...Im bashing you for your public display of Stupidity.... Thank you .. sure you will call it trolling but it doesnt make any of it less TRUE!!!
. I love the sound of burning women and screaming rubber....
No. It's being ACCURATE. But the Frothing Mac-Loonies don't like that do they. Fudging facts, misrepresentation, and outright lying are just fine, so long as their horse "wins", right?
In any case, at least it uses a lot of FreeBSD code for the UNIX kernel personality running on Mach. So considering that the UNIX personality IS a BSD derivative, then I suppose even by your standards it is UNIX, is it not?
No. How many times do I have to repeat myself. BSD == UNIX. Isn't this one of the reasons that The Open Group is taking Apple into court right now?
God. What's with the mindset (using "mind" rather loosely), that if you repeat bullshit long enough, it'll eventually become true?
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Of course you can encode MPEG4 in real time. On lots of different kinds of architectures... do you even know what MPEG4 is?
MPEG4 is a framework where you can combine different elements of different things -- sounds, text, video, still images, whatever -- into a single scene. In the "video" arena, there are several codecs you can choose from, at different bit rates, at different qualities, and at different sizes. Many of these combinations can be encoded on-the-fly by a moderately fast microprocessor or DSP.
Anyway, if you look at real performance numbers for the CPUs, I believe that you'll find that the 2Ghz G5 is faster than (say) a comparably-configured 3Ghz P4 on some things. The P4 is probably faster at others. For just about everything, they probably have similar performance. With a similar transistor count and silicon process, you expect reasonable architectures to come out with similar performance.
But can you get a dual processor Pentium? Of course the answer is "yes". Not only that, you can get 4x and 8x (and possibly more) Pentium and Xeon systems. You can also get 1x, 2x, and 4x, etc Opteron systems with a Hypertransport bus.
But obviously you didn't even investigate that... you just think that since Steve hinted at it, it must be true. You probably also think that this is the first CPU family to have a 64-bit datapath. How unfortunate.
The only true thing in your post is that, to my knowledge, no desktop PC system has a 1Ghz/64 bit bus to their chip. You can get an 800Mhz 64bit bus on the P4. The Opteron has its northbridge memory controller on chip, running at full frequency... so that would be the equivelant of an 1.8Ghz system bus (in some ways).
Please, investigate matters before you post. Or you just look like a fool. And not a fool in the good way. And you end up frustrating people like me. I'm embarrased for both of us.
-- Erich
Slashdot reader since 1997
This isn't a link to a dual cpu version, but you might be interested in what people on pricewatch are charging for tower Opeteron servers with U320 SCSI and 3 year warranties. It's significantly less than apple's low end G5 tower (and these are relatively higher end machines)
http://www.pricewatch.com/1/95/5527-1.htm
BTW, why don't you show me a quad G5 for under $2000. The marketing information alone is gonna set you back a cool thousand, much less the pretty case, hard drives, motherboard, and all that neat stuff that comes in computer systems. Why don't we all just quit it with the mac zealot BS and start looking at reality. And that is the fact that apple hardware, no matter how well/not well it performs, has a price permium over any other type of PC. Period. Whether or not this is a bad thing has nothing to do with what you are talking about.
k thx bye.
Two infinite things: your stupidity and mine. But I'm not sure about the latter. If my sig offends you, I'm sorry.