Updated Apple hardware is coming soon
What I've seen is preliminary but it is on good faith that I share this information. Updated hardware is imminent, but I do not pretend to have a date or release. I have some sketchy details however. Basically there are 2 different systems, one based on an MPC7450 variant made on a SOI process and the other is the first of the MPC8500 (G5) made on a .13 micron SOI manufacturing process. The 7450 is scaling to beyonf 1.0GHz but most motherboards have 866 and 1.0GHz versions. They are all on 133MHz system boards with the full complimet of divices that exist in modern systems, including ATA/66 and IEEE1394a ports. Some of the motherboards have 4 USB ports on the motherboard however, but this is not strange as the Quicksilver motherboards have the same provisions however Apple had not implimented that feature on those units. All systems are being sent with a full 2MB of L3 cache. No duals have been seeded.
The 8500 systems are encased in Quicksilver cases, however much of the internals have been moved and shifted around to provide adequate heat removal and space for component positioning. G5's have a 400 or 500MHz system bus that runs at a 16bit-wide data path. This is the RadipIO bus to a controller that controls most of the onboard peripherals such as AGP 4x (may be 8x docs are vague), 2 PCI busses, Gb Ethernet, IEEE1394b running at 800/1600Mbps, USB 1.1, an IDE interface, and some other system level peripherals. Audio is digital. Processor speeds are 1200/1250MHz to 1400/1500MHz. The processor has a memory controller included on die connected to the core by a 256bit memory bus running at one quarter the processor clock speed. The controller supports 2 memory bus but Apple only uses one so the internal width is cut to 128 bit at one quarter processor core speed. This provides more than enough bandwidth for PC2100 and the controller is designed to handle PC2700 memory although for Apple PC2100 is easier to design for because of motherboard considerations. To design for PC2700 they would need to cut support for a DIMM slot because the distance from the processor is more than allowed. This is the reason why the 133MHz motherboards only have 3 DIMM slots. The 2 PCI busses are 64bit with support for 66MHz slots. One bus controls 2 slots while the other controls the other 2. If you insert a 64bit/33MHz card in one slot, that whole bus will run at 33MHz even if the other card has 66MHz support. But the other bus will be free to handle 66MHz cards. Also of note is that these units have NO L3 cache but L2 was 512KB. I have no information on what kind of support the G5 has for L3 or if it even has L3 cache support. With a very fast memory interface, I fail to see the reason why it would need to waste pin outs on L3 cache support.
This is good hardware. I have the impression that Apple may offer both models at the same time. The G4 models may even support a higher configuation such as 933MHz and 1.133GHz. But in Q3 of this year the 7451 is supposed to migrate to the same process as the G5 thus boosting speeds to, in my estimation, 1.2GHz to 1.5GHz. This is just speculation on my part.
The 8500 systems are encased in Quicksilver cases, however much of the internals have been moved and shifted around to provide adequate heat removal and space for component positioning. G5's have a 400 or 500MHz system bus that runs at a 16bit-wide data path. This is the RadipIO bus to a controller that controls most of the onboard peripherals such as AGP 4x (may be 8x docs are vague), 2 PCI busses, Gb Ethernet, IEEE1394b running at 800/1600Mbps, USB 1.1, an IDE interface, and some other system level peripherals. Audio is digital. Processor speeds are 1200/1250MHz to 1400/1500MHz. The processor has a memory controller included on die connected to the core by a 256bit memory bus running at one quarter the processor clock speed. The controller supports 2 memory bus but Apple only uses one so the internal width is cut to 128 bit at one quarter processor core speed. This provides more than enough bandwidth for PC2100 and the controller is designed to handle PC2700 memory although for Apple PC2100 is easier to design for because of motherboard considerations. To design for PC2700 they would need to cut support for a DIMM slot because the distance from the processor is more than allowed. This is the reason why the 133MHz motherboards only have 3 DIMM slots. The 2 PCI busses are 64bit with support for 66MHz slots. One bus controls 2 slots while the other controls the other 2. If you insert a 64bit/33MHz card in one slot, that whole bus will run at 33MHz even if the other card has 66MHz support. But the other bus will be free to handle 66MHz cards. Also of note is that these units have NO L3 cache but L2 was 512KB. I have no information on what kind of support the G5 has for L3 or if it even has L3 cache support. With a very fast memory interface, I fail to see the reason why it would need to waste pin outs on L3 cache support.
This is good hardware. I have the impression that Apple may offer both models at the same time. The G4 models may even support a higher configuation such as 933MHz and 1.133GHz. But in Q3 of this year the 7451 is supposed to migrate to the same process as the G5 thus boosting speeds to, in my estimation, 1.2GHz to 1.5GHz. This is just speculation on my part.
Comments
All we had before was MOSR and The Register to go on.
Give me G5 baby ! <img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" />
[ 01-27-2002: Message edited by: Leonis ]</p>
<strong>
What's the smile for?
So, why would Apple make 2 towers? One for pro-consumers? Or one as a back up in case the G5 isn't ready? No duals? or is that just that weren't seeded?
I do like this part-
[quote] This is good hardware. I have the impression that Apple may offer both models at the same time. <hr></blockquote>
woohhooo
PowerMac G4
867Mhz G4 256KB on-die L2 cache and 2MB L3 cache
133MHz bus
256MB RAM
60GB HD
CD-RW
GeForceMX4
Gigabit ethernet
$1799
1GHz G4 256KB on-die L2 cache and 2MB L3 cache
133MHz bus
256MB RAM
80Gb HD
SuperDrive
GeForceMX4
Gigabit ethernet
$2499
PowerMac G5
1.2Ghz G5 w/512KB on-die L2 cache 1:!
300MHz bus
512MB PC2100 DDR memory
100GB HD
SuperDrive
GeForceMX4
GigeWire (800Mbps/1600Mbps FireWire)
$3499
1.6Ghz G5 w/512KB on-die L2 cache 1:1
400MHz bus
512MB PC2100 DDR memory
120GB HD
SuperDrive
GeForce 4 Ti
GigaWire (800Mbps/1600Mbps FireWire)
$4499
Dual 1.4Ghz G5 w/512KB on-die L2 cache 1:1
350MHz bus
1GB PC2100 DDR memory
120GB HD
SuperDrive
GeForce 4 Ti
GigaWire (800Mbps/1600Mbps FireWire)
$5499
[ 01-27-2002: Message edited by: Nostradamus ]</p>
<strong>
What's the smile for?</strong><hr></blockquote>
mm, he's happy?
So will this post from Dorsal shut up the G5 nay sayers? Probably not, lol
<strong>How about this?
PowerMac G4
867Mhz G4 256KB on-die L2 cache and 2MB L3 cache
133MHz bus
256MB RAM
60GB HD
CD-RW
GeForceMX4
Gigabit ethernet
$1799
1GHz G4 256KB on-die L2 cache and 2MB L3 cache
133MHz bus
256MB RAM
80Gb HD
SuperDrive
GeForceMX4
Gigabit ethernet
$2499
PowerMac G5
1.2Ghz G5 w/512KB on-die L2 cache 1:!
300MHz bus
512MB PC2100 DDR memory
100GB HD
SuperDrive
GeForceMX4
GigeWire (800Mbps/1600Mbps FireWire)
$3499
1.6Ghz G5 w/512KB on-die L2 cache 1:1
400MHz bus
512MB PC2100 DDR memory
120GB HD
SuperDrive
GeForce 4 Ti
GigaWire (800Mbps/1600Mbps FireWire)
$4499
Dual 1.4Ghz G5 w/512KB on-die L2 cache 1:1
350MHz bus
1GB PC2100 DDR memory
120GB HD
SuperDrive
GeForce 4 Ti
GigaWire (800Mbps/1600Mbps FireWire)
$5499</strong><hr></blockquote>
Why did you raise the bottom line price? I don't think it would increase and after watching Apple price things lately, I can see the bottom G4 going back to $1599.
Also, he only mentioned 2 G5s, so 2 G4s and 2 G5s I think.
[ 01-27-2002: Message edited by: KidRed ]</p>
Oh, it tastes like Dorsal!
[ 01-27-2002: Message edited by: concentricity ]
[ 01-27-2002: Message edited by: concentricity ]
AH! Nothing but typos!
[ 01-27-2002: Message edited by: concentricity ]</p>
Uhm,
IF the info is correct, I'll have a G5 under my desk in the near future.
<strong>
mm, he's happy?
So will this post from Dorsal shut up the G5 nay sayers? Probably not, lol</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yeah, you're right, probably not.
Imagine the margines Apple would make on those.
Just about enough to offset the low margins from those thousands of new iMacs...
What does the back of the Quicksilver case look like for the G5 version? Does it look any different than the G4 version? Do you think it will ship in this case or could it just be for seeding purposes?