How fast is fast? How fast is a G5 1.4ghz?
Many people say 1.4 or 1.6ghz without really thinking about how amazingly fast that system would be. Lets take the 1.4 and compare it to a 867mhz G4.
Processor speed: taking into account the predicted increase in processor pipeline, the processor still manages to come be a clean 50% to 75% faster in raw guts.
The 32/64bit thang. While it won't benefit the average Joe, in fact it may not benefit the photoshop user - but it will benefit something Apple is big on now - 3d stuff. The maya team were told to program maya with 64bit in mind, and to havea 64bit version ready when Apple gave the go (I have a friend on the maya mac coding team). I'm sure some performance can be brought in here.
Altivec2. It's easily possible that motorola have upped their altivec core design (not from 1 altivec per chip to 3 per chip, but the core itself). More altivec instructions are expected, and you can bet Adobe took advantage of them in Photoshop 7. And who knows, maybe the G5 will sport even more altivec units.
The bus/ram speed. This is quite possibly the area the G5 will get so much of its speed boost from. The current G4's are being held back so much by a 133mhz bus, even they would be flying considerably faster if that was a 266mhz bus. With the G5, apple is expected to give a 266mhz bus with 266mhz DDR ram. Anything higher is doubtful. A 100% increase in bus speed alone gives it a healthy boost. DDR RAM gives it an additional 10-20% boost.
A 1.4ghz G5 would be some seriously fast piece of silicone. People just spout it here like its any old term
Personally, a DP1.1ghz G4, SP1.2ghz G4 would be fine from macworld. A G5 would be a godsend.
Processor speed: taking into account the predicted increase in processor pipeline, the processor still manages to come be a clean 50% to 75% faster in raw guts.
The 32/64bit thang. While it won't benefit the average Joe, in fact it may not benefit the photoshop user - but it will benefit something Apple is big on now - 3d stuff. The maya team were told to program maya with 64bit in mind, and to havea 64bit version ready when Apple gave the go (I have a friend on the maya mac coding team). I'm sure some performance can be brought in here.
Altivec2. It's easily possible that motorola have upped their altivec core design (not from 1 altivec per chip to 3 per chip, but the core itself). More altivec instructions are expected, and you can bet Adobe took advantage of them in Photoshop 7. And who knows, maybe the G5 will sport even more altivec units.
The bus/ram speed. This is quite possibly the area the G5 will get so much of its speed boost from. The current G4's are being held back so much by a 133mhz bus, even they would be flying considerably faster if that was a 266mhz bus. With the G5, apple is expected to give a 266mhz bus with 266mhz DDR ram. Anything higher is doubtful. A 100% increase in bus speed alone gives it a healthy boost. DDR RAM gives it an additional 10-20% boost.
A 1.4ghz G5 would be some seriously fast piece of silicone. People just spout it here like its any old term
Personally, a DP1.1ghz G4, SP1.2ghz G4 would be fine from macworld. A G5 would be a godsend.
Comments
A 1.6GHZ G5 (single core) would give x2 MHZ performance over a G4 800
It has been rumoured that INT & FPU are completely new giving 400% increase (whether this is MHZ for MHZ I don't know) (I'll assume worst case)
Already a 1.6G5 is 6-8x faster than 800MHZ G4
Add in 64bit (Most likely this doesn't do squat for the performance - Even in 3D as the G4's FPU is already 64bit.
Add in DDR (I think it will be 333mhz as this is what the 8540 uses) maybe 10-20% boost
Add in possible Altivec improvements (especially 64bit FPU- This could add 200-400% in 3d apps)
And I think its clear why Everyone under the sun wants a G5 on Monday
And this is for a single core. Imagine Dual core....
If G5 comes on Monday. Intel is gonna get the biggest bitch-slapping it has ever got.
[ 01-03-2002: Message edited by: MarcUK ]</p>