DP500 or Single800

vellax440vellax440
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I'm on the road to upgrading my G4 400 (AGP)'s processor, since I've messed with all the other components. I'm wondering, do you guys think it would be better to get a dual processor 500 or one of the new single 800 cards?



I'm a student, so mostly games and web work, but like 25% photoshop and maybe some 3d apps now and then.



My system: G4 400 (AGP), stock 10 Gig 5400RPM, IBM 120GXP 80Gig 7200RPM, 1 Gig of Ram, GeForce 3 graphics card.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    jambojambo Posts: 3,036member
    Purchasing advice goes in the Genius Bar.



    Moving there now...
  • Reply 2 of 7
    pastapasta Posts: 112member
    [quote]Originally posted by VellaX440:

    <strong>I'm on the road to upgrading my G4 400 (AGP)'s processor, since I've messed with all the other components. I'm wondering, do you guys think it would be better to get a dual processor 500 or one of the new single 800 cards?



    I'm a student, so mostly games and web work, but like 25% photoshop and maybe some 3d apps now and then.



    My system: G4 400 (AGP), stock 10 Gig 5400RPM, IBM 120GXP 80Gig 7200RPM, 1 Gig of Ram, GeForce 3 graphics card.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    I would recommend the DP 500, but that's entirely based upon my usage. If you typically only run one app at a time, you might be better off with the single 800. If, however, you're running multiple applications at a time, having a dual processor configuration will have a bigger impact on your performance.
  • Reply 3 of 7
    the all knowing 1the all knowing 1 Posts: 130member
    [quote]Originally posted by VellaX440:

    <strong>I'm on the road to upgrading my G4 400 (AGP)'s processor, since I've messed with all the other components. I'm wondering, do you guys think it would be better to get a dual processor 500 or one of the new single 800 cards?



    I'm a student, so mostly games and web work, but like 25% photoshop and maybe some 3d apps now and then.



    My system: G4 400 (AGP), stock 10 Gig 5400RPM, IBM 120GXP 80Gig 7200RPM, 1 Gig of Ram, GeForce 3 graphics card.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    I would opt for the Single 800 if you're the kind of student I think you are.



    In OS X, dual processors are handled by default, but they will only load-balance running programs. For example, if you want a bunch of programs open all at once all doing things, then the processors will each get half the programs (or threads, in geek-speak). Some programs, such as Photoshop, are optimized to take advantage of multiple processors and are multi-threaded. Thus running Photoshop (under OS X anyway) it will use the 2 500s equally.



    BUT most apps are not multi-threaded, and most games and such will want the higher-speed chip over multiple chips.



    Plus, a Dual 500 isn't linear scaling. Ie it won't perform as well as a Single 1 Ghz. So you're probly getting only 800 performance out of them anyway.



    SO DEFINATELY GET THE SINGLE 800!



    And private message me with further Qs.
  • Reply 4 of 7
    pastapasta Posts: 112member
    [quote]Originally posted by The All Knowing 1:

    <strong>



    I would opt for the Single 800 if you're the kind of student I think you are.



    In OS X, dual processors are handled by default, but they will only load-balance running programs. For example, if you want a bunch of programs open all at once all doing things, then the processors will each get half the programs (or threads, in geek-speak). Some programs, such as Photoshop, are optimized to take advantage of multiple processors and are multi-threaded. Thus running Photoshop (under OS X anyway) it will use the 2 500s equally.



    BUT most apps are not multi-threaded, and most games and such will want the higher-speed chip over multiple chips.



    Plus, a Dual 500 isn't linear scaling. Ie it won't perform as well as a Single 1 Ghz. So you're probly getting only 800 performance out of them anyway.



    SO DEFINATELY GET THE SINGLE 800!



    And private message me with further Qs.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Yeah, but OS X 10.2 will take much better advantage of dual processors, and early reports indicate a significant performance boost on a dual processor setup versus a single CPU setup. By the way, a dual CPU setup at 500MHz is theoretically capable of outperforming a single 1GHz.
  • Reply 5 of 7
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    There you go, you can tell all your friends that theoretically, your machine is faster than their 1GHz G4
  • Reply 6 of 7
    pastapasta Posts: 112member
    [quote]Originally posted by M3D Jack:

    <strong>There you go, you can tell all your friends that theoretically, your machine is faster than their 1GHz G4 </strong><hr></blockquote>



    No, you can tell them that theoretically, your machine is CAPABLE of being faster than their 1GHz G4.
  • Reply 7 of 7
    leonisleonis Posts: 3,427member
    Go for the dual.



    When you are running a lot of apps and doing a lot of things at the same time. The second processor really helps on this.



    [ 07-03-2002: Message edited by: Leonis ]</p>
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