My dad wants to know if I buy a 1.6Ghz G5, will we ever be able to upgrade it to a higher speed if a third party decides to offer an upgrade... or is it there forever and we can't do anything to the processor... I dont think that that is possible does anyone know?
Comments
That said, the dual 2Ghz is by far the biggest bargain. With Moore's Law proving less true with the coming years, I can see that machine lasting a half-decade in the very least. Get yourself one of those nice 20" Cinema Displays, and you won't need to think about upgrading until we're using sub-atomic particles to do the floating-point wizardry. Okay, so maybe that's a slight stretch, but still.
Originally posted by Steve
Because the G5 thrives among its rich bandwidth, the potential is questionable. Fitting a processor on an expansion card made sense back when G4's only had 133MHz busses in the high-end, and PCI could accommodate that. Even with PCI-X, 800MHz FSB is some very big shoes to fill. That, and the day of the daughter card is over. The G5 is probably the first step, especially with its perfectly-engineered cooling, of a new era in which systems are built around the processor, not the other way around.
That said, the dual 2Ghz is by far the biggest bargain. With Moore's Law proving less true with the coming years, I can see that machine lasting a half-decade in the very least. Get yourself one of those nice 20" Cinema Displays, and you won't need to think about upgrading until we're using sub-atomic particles to do the floating-point wizardry. Okay, so maybe that's a slight stretch, but still.
Um. . . . . The processor daughtercard is not PCI at all. It's AMD hypertransport IIRC. If you can upgrade x86 chips, there's no reason why G5 upgrades can't happen. They will definitely exist some time down the road a bit, but the fact that the G5 uses hypertransport just means that uppgrade manufacturers have less engineering to do, and the time to market will actually be shorter than usual.
So yeah, there should be plenty of upgrades available for the g5.
Originally posted by MacUsers
My dad wants to know if I buy a 1.6Ghz G5, will we ever be able to upgrade it to a higher speed if a third party decides to offer an upgrade... or is it there forever and we can't do anything to the processor... I dont think that that is possible does anyone know?
The bottom line is that no one knows for sure what will be doable in the future. Chances are you will be able to. Even if it means sending it some place. But, really, are you going to want to upgrade a 1.6ghz G5 any time soon? And, if not, wouldn't it then be time for a new computer?
Originally posted by Steve
I thought Apple's connection to AMD ended with AirPort.
<nitpicking>
AMD also made the SCSI controllers for old, old Macs, like the SE and Plus. If you open an old compact Mac you should see the AMD logo on one of the chips near the SCSI port.
</nitpicking>
Actually I had no idea that AMD and Apple were linked at all these days. The SCSI controllers where the only example I knew of.
Originally posted by Scott
Has your father ever upgraded a CPU?
We have upgraded our old PowerBooks, iMacs, Performas, and Power Macs
Advanced Micro Devices, Alliance Semiconductors, Apple Computers, Broadcom Corporation, Cisco Systems, NVIDIA, PMC-Sierra, Sun Microsystems, and Transmeta
From www.hypertransport.org.
ZIF = upgradable
no ZIF = love what you got.
Originally posted by MacUsers
We have upgraded our old PowerBooks, iMacs, Performas, and Power Macs
I see. For some people this need to upgrade is theoretical because they never have done it and never will.
Originally posted by \\/\\/ickes
Maybe someone could settle this by popping off a G5 heat sink and telling us if the processor sits in a ZIF or soldered on.
ZIF = upgradable
no ZIF = love what you got.
Given that the same motherboard is used in multiple configs (I think) I would bet that there is a socket.
Originally posted by Splinemodel
Given that the same motherboard is used in multiple configs (I think) I would bet that there is a socket.
Doesn't the 1.6 have a different motherboard than the 1.8 and Dual 2.0? Since the 1.6 only allows for 4GB of RAM, I though it must have a differeant motherboard.
Originally posted by CubeDude
Doesn't the 1.6 have a different motherboard than the 1.8 and Dual 2.0? Since the 1.6 only allows for 4GB of RAM, I though it must have a differeant motherboard.
the 1.6 does use a different, yet similar motherboard. the main differences being the RAM slots and PCI expansion.
this tech note descibes the processor module:
link
i haven't found any info as to whether the 1.8 and 2.0 use different motherboards (i.e. if the 1.8 has the connection necessary for a 2nd CPU. i'm guessing not)
As far as processor upgrades, the answer is maybe: The bus and the system controller are clocked much closer to CPU speed than in the Motorola solutions, but we know that the 970 is capable of more bus ratios than the one Apple is using, and we know Apple is using the highest one (2:1 DDR). So a CPU upgrade that uses a 3:1 or 4:1 ratio is theoretically possible.
The nature of Elastic Bus is such that it will take some serious engineering work to make the upgrades happen. So don't expect them too soon or too cheap.
It seems impossible that Apple will hold the bus ratios at 2:1 even for the next revision, 3:1 and 4:1 seem likely candidates -- CPU's tend to scale a lot faster than memory/FSB throughput.
Already I see the possiblitiy of one neat solution for over-clockers with DEEP pockets: DUAL G5 upgrade cards. Seems nuts now, but with a process shrink more cooling, why not? (So long as the technical gremlins can be tamed)
Imagine a dual G5 card that plugs into the old SP slot. (Certainly won't have as much total bandwidth available) but you could see a certain class of user forking over the cash to turn his dual 2Ghz into something like a QUAD 2.5 !!!
I'll say the first upgrades will appear within 18-24 months.
And with the motherboard of the 1.8GHz G5 you can surely see that the LIF slot for the second CPU simply was not soldered on where as the mobo for the dual has both soldered on.
I can only assume that the 1.6 mobo is further restricted by not having 4 of the DIMM slots soldered on.
Also looks like the rectifiers have their own little mini heatsink:
Notice the heat pumps moving the heat towards the piggy back heat sink. Here are some more pics at MacScoobyDoobie.
Dork Alert.
I'm impressed and confused with the G5. I guess I should hunt for a datasheet. I guess the end message is that if there are smart people on earth, there will be a g5 upgrade. Hell, there was a 7200 upgrade.