Overclocked G4 to be used in the new Power Macs?
We have heard rumors from different sides.
Some said 1Ghz is the max while other said 1.2 or 1.4Ghz
Assuming that both 1Ghz &1.4 Ghz rumors are true. Then we come to a 'conclusion'
Apple only get 1Ghz G4s from Moto and then Apple overclocks them to 1.2 - 1.4...
I know this sounds nuts but overclocking is pretty normal on the PC side.
[ 01-21-2002: Message edited by: Leonis ]</p>
Some said 1Ghz is the max while other said 1.2 or 1.4Ghz
Assuming that both 1Ghz &1.4 Ghz rumors are true. Then we come to a 'conclusion'
Apple only get 1Ghz G4s from Moto and then Apple overclocks them to 1.2 - 1.4...
I know this sounds nuts but overclocking is pretty normal on the PC side.
[ 01-21-2002: Message edited by: Leonis ]</p>
Comments
<strong>We have heard rumors from different sides.
Some said 1Ghz is the max while other said 1.2 or 1.4Ghz
Assuming that both 1Ghz &1.4 Ghz rumors are true. Then we come to a 'conclusion'
Apple only get 1Ghz G4s from Moto and then Apple overclocks them to 1.2 - 1.4...
I know this sounds nuts but overclocking is pretty normal on the PC side.
[ 01-21-2002: Message edited by: Leonis ]</strong><hr></blockquote>
The rumors saying 1.4 say that they will be apollo chips.
the rumor saying 1.0 is saying that they will be 7451's (is that the right #?--whatever is in the PMs now)
I dont think apple can overclock 7451's past where Moto gets them... at least not by much more then 133MHz.
<strong>What is overclocking? I mean, what's the difference between overclocking a chip and having it just come out that way from the plant?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Moto (and every other chip manufacturer) "rates" their chips at a certain speed when the come from the plant that they know they will work confortably with. You can change this speed by messing with the bus multiplyers (read: overclocking). THis is a very "dumbed down" explanation, but thats the way I understand it to be and I'm no engineer, so thats as good of an explanation your goona get from me...
<strong>What is overclocking? I mean, what's the difference between overclocking a chip and having it just come out that way from the plant?</strong><hr></blockquote>
From what I gather, the chips are rated at what they are stable at. Overclocking works, but above the rated speed I believe you start taking chances with stablity. Anyone?
<strong>
From what I gather, the chips are rated at what they are stable at. Overclocking works, but above the rated speed I believe you start taking chances with stablity. Anyone?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Chips are rated in batches. FWII, a small sample of chips from the same wafer are stressed tested. Whatever level that sample passes at (+ a margin of safety), is what the rest of the batch is rated. It may very well be that 20% of a batch can only run at 800mhz, whereas the rest can handle 1000mhz. Nonetheless, the entire batch is labeled as 800mhz because that is what they can safetly guarentee for the ENTIRE batch.
A classic example of this was the original 6100/66. Quite a few could be clocked to 80mhz, and quite a few manufacturers sold overclocking kits. However, there was a small number that couldn't get much past 66mhz. What chip you had in your machine was the luck of the draw.
Overclocking refers to clocking above the manufacturer's ratings. Having said that, manufacturers typically don't always test every chip, and instead the batch is rated based on a small sample. A Mac accelerator maker recently got in trouble (I don't remember who) for selling overclocked chips in their upgrade cards. At first this sounds underhanded...but on the other hand, if Motorola didn't bother to test the entire batch, and the accelerator maker found that 40% of their 350 mhz chips could safely run at 400mhz, then is it really overclocking? Maybe they just did a more thorough job of binning than Motorola. It's really a gray area.
Anyway, no: Apple wouldn't really sell machines with overclocked chips. What every they sell is based upon the binning that Motorola feels safe with.