Quad processors ?
Even if Apple can get Macs running at 1.4ghz by the summer, that's still a full Ghz behind the fastest penitum offering. And while Apple can whine on about how Mhz doesn't matter, it's just not true when you're talking about rendering time. And if Apple is pitching it's high-end macs, pricetag and all, at high-end markets like video editing and 3d imaging, they better have a big rabbit to pull out of their fruit basket this summer. It's embarassing how poorly macs stack up to intel/amd machines.
So, let me ask: Is it possible that Apple could make all it's powermacs duals and make the top end model a quad processor?
Is OS X capable of running more than two processors?
Would a quad configuration actually mean four times the processing power?
<img src="confused.gif" border="0">
So, let me ask: Is it possible that Apple could make all it's powermacs duals and make the top end model a quad processor?
Is OS X capable of running more than two processors?
Would a quad configuration actually mean four times the processing power?
<img src="confused.gif" border="0">
Comments
as programmer said, since the G4 is still memory bound, without a signifigant memory overhaul, having quads would be extrmely helpful in minimal areas, and most memory intensive areas would not see major improvemnt...
see<a href="http://forums.appleinsider.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=001659"; target="_blank">here</a>...
Edit: typo
[ 05-17-2002: Message edited by: Paul ]</p>
3D rendering - PC's are faster, Video editing - Mac's are where it's at. This may mostly be because of software, but it is never the less the case.
Perhaps the support for faster memory and lots of it is called for.
By the way, by the time Apple release 1.4 GHz G4s, Pentium 4s will be at 3 GHz. I wonder how they cool those monsters.
Maybe the XServe 2, wich will be 2U, will have 8 drive bays, 4 1.4 GHz processors, and up to 8 GB RAM.
<strong>Also, quad processors will porbblay not appear in a desktop machine.
Maybe the XServe 2, wich will be 2U, will have 8 drive bays, 4 1.4 GHz processors, and up to 8 GB RAM.</strong><hr></blockquote>
moving to 2u would NOT be an upgrade...
either way you can already fit 4 G4's and 8 bay's in a 2u space... just buy 2 Xserve's
<strong>
3D rendering - PC's are faster, Video editing - Mac's are where it's at. This may mostly be because of software, but it is never the less the case.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I agree about video editing - I do quite a bit of it and would never use anything but final cut pro.
I also use after effects though, and I tell ya, even with a dual g4 533, it still takes a LONG time to render projects - time I'd rather be spending doing better animations than picking my nose, waiting for it to finish. And yes, i can finally do other things while it's rendering, but that's not really the point.
I think the ONLY major roadblock Apple has right now from wide adoption in high end fields has nothing to do with software - nothing compares to OSX. I use it every day at home and work and it has never crashed on me. It's amazing. A gift from the gods and all that. Photoshop 7 is awesome, illustrator 10 is stable. I'm in heaven.
But I tell ya, when you're rendering, whether it's final cut pro effects or after effects compositions, I really start thinking about buying an AMD machine just to have as a rendering helper. I'd rather spend the money on Apple hardware, but if it isn't good enough, why bother?
The thing that irks me so much is that they'd make a sheer mint if they'd just get off their arses and deliver some solid, heavy duty high-end equipment. It seems sometimes that they spend more time on the case than on the hardware. Makes no sense.
anyway, enough. I"ll likely get a couple of cheap amd machines while I wait around for apple to come to its sense.
Let's hope IBM takes over production of processors and surprises us with a g5 in july.
<strong>Also, quad processors will porbblay not appear in a desktop machine.
Maybe the XServe 2, wich will be 2U, will have 8 drive bays, 4 1.4 GHz processors, and up to 8 GB RAM.</strong><hr></blockquote>
That would make no sense! If they wanted to complement the xserve with a quad machine aiming for the render market, it'd be 1U and have ONE drive (or maybe even none -network boot only). If you wanted to use it as a server you'd hook it up to the RAID array.
[ 05-18-2002: Message edited by: powerdoc ]</p>
Thanks to its superior SMP, the 8-way 3GHz mac clearly has a performance edge over the dual 9 GHz pentium 5.
SMP is dead. Moto knows it, Apple is going to have to live with it, and in a couple of years, we're going to have some real groovy computers because of it.
<strong>You won't see 8-way SMP machines. Moto is moving away from SMP capable processors, and towards procs that support NUMA. Here's what you will see: 4, 8, and 16 way machines connected via RapidIO, each with local memory. DDR333 or DDR II controllers will be on chip.
SMP is dead. Moto knows it, Apple is going to have to live with it, and in a couple of years, we're going to have some real groovy computers because of it.
SMP = Symmetric Multi-Processing
Symmetric means the processors are all the same kind. Multi-Processing means there are multiple processors. In what way is a RapidIO machine with more than one identical processor not an SMP machine?
I think what you mean is that shared-memory bus SMP machines are going away. These machines are still SMP, however.
<strong> In what way is a RapidIO machine with more than one identical processor not an SMP machine?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Maybe Apple will come up with AMP, delivering a maching with 4 empty CPU slots and the customers will simply be able to buy more CPUs as time passes, so the result could look like: 1 x 933G4, 2 x 1.133G4, 1 x 1.200G4. So basically when someone notices his PowerMac is not fast enough they pop in another G4 and off it goes. It would make for kinda cool speeds.. a 4.399 G4 PowerMac!
OK, so it _is_ far fetched and stupid, but fun!
NUMA architectures are unlikely to be the wave of the future (it's hard to architect an OS that actually runs well on such designs, I would say that the old NeXTdimension system was one of the exceptions, but that is an "easy" application).
SMP (regardless of bus archticture) will continue to be a strong player for high performance machines.
<strong>Quad processors, hmmm... Think of the sound all those neccessary fans would make! You would need earplugs to spend any kind of serious time with your machine.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I've been pondering this idea for quite some time:
sound proofed cases.
Line the case with sound proofing material and put "silencers" where the air enters and leaves the case. it would even beat the cube in dB, since the HD would be sound proofed too. The little "hatches" in front of the removable media drives would fit snugly and have dampening material in them too, of course. Actually, there are custom wintel case manufacturers that already make things almost like that. Hopefully it wouldnt be too expensive if the case was made with mass production in mind to begin with. Apple is good at things like that. Not to mention the concept would be much appriciated in the pro audio world, especially if there was room for a couple of extra HD's in there, like in the current case (those 10k and 15k rpm cheeta's aren't exactly quiet, but many audio pros feel they need them).
...and apple is coming out with a new case soon too
<strong>
I've been pondering this idea for quite some time:
sound proofed cases.
Line the case with sound proofing material and put "silencers" where the air enters and leaves the case. it would even beat the cube in dB, since the HD would be sound proofed too. The little "hatches" in front of the removable media drives would fit snugly and have dampening material in them too, of course. Actually, there are custom wintel case manufacturers that already make things almost like that. Hopefully it wouldnt be too expensive if the case was made with mass production in mind to begin with. Apple is good at things like that. Not to mention the concept would be much appriciated in the pro audio world, especially if there was room for a couple of extra HD's in there, like in the current case (those 10k and 15k rpm cheeta's aren't exactly quiet, but many audio pros feel they need them).
...and apple is coming out with a new case soon too
In a perfect world... "just adding soundproofing" would be fine... but in the real world... EVERYTHING is a tradeoff. To add ANY type of soundproofing is almost the equivalent to "insulating" the unit... the more "soundproofing" you do... the harder it will be for the enclosure to dissipate the internal heat OUT of the unit... unless you get into solutions that allow for multi-layer skins... and now we're talking added cost, added weight and added complexity to the unit for MINIMAL returns.
I'm not saying it "can't" be done... I'm just putting out the caveat that just "adding" a layer of sound absorption in the amounts to have any noticeable effect on the decible level WILL impact other aspects of the machine adversely... that's all.
<strong>
In a perfect world... "just adding soundproofing" would be fine... but in the real world... EVERYTHING is a tradeoff. To add ANY type of soundproofing is almost the equivalent to "insulating" the unit... the more "soundproofing" you do... the harder it will be for the enclosure to dissipate the internal heat OUT of the unit... unless you get into solutions that allow for multi-layer skins... and now we're talking added cost, added weight and added complexity to the unit for MINIMAL returns.
I'm not saying it "can't" be done... I'm just putting out the caveat that just "adding" a layer of sound absorption in the amounts to have any noticeable effect on the decible level WILL impact other aspects of the machine adversely... that's all.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Agree. One way to make more silent tower without increasing the heat issue is to make them bigger : not very good in a marketing and functional point of vue.
<strong>Am I the only one who's sick and tired of this "quad processor" nonsense?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Maybe look into some other threads then