What about upgrading all the hardware *around* the PPC...

spotbugspotbug
Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
Ok, so Motorola can't produce the next generation, faster processor to put in a Mac and let us catch up to x86 a little more. Boo hoo - it's all Motorola's fault.



Well, there's more to a computer (and its speed) than the processor. I think Apple should use this opportunity to entice buyers with upgrades in all the other nooks and crannies of the PowerMacs. Faster bus, faster memory, faster i/o, graphics ... on and on. All of that stuff is doable... now.



A dual 1GHz (or even 800MHz!) G4 with a kick-ass computer built around it would be a VERY NICE bump.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 3
    majukimajuki Posts: 114member
    Yes, the bus is what is killing the performance now (aside from the ever growing difference in clock speeds.) I think a 266MHz FSB with DDR and faster I/O would do more justice to the CPU. The iMacs need to go to PC133 along with the iBooks. A 100MHz bus is killing some of the CPU performance.
  • Reply 2 of 3
    stoostoo Posts: 1,490member
    I agreee: although Altivec may be capable of some high gigafloppage, it has to be "fed".
  • Reply 3 of 3
    programmerprogrammer Posts: 3,458member
    The current processors are limited to a 64-bit wide 133 MHz bus. This limits the motherboard & memory performance to 133 MHz SDRAM levels and makes DDR impossible to implement. While its possible that they have changed the Apollo's design to increase the bus speed, I don't think that will happen -- I think the G5 will be the first to use a new bus technology, and it will be RapidIO or HyperTransport.
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