Hi! I would be interested in how you guys see this.
When I see the CPU speeds of recent POWER chips (not PowerPC, but the G5 derived from the POWER4+) it is very hard for me to believe, that the PowerPC developement wasn't able to compete with Intels /all-so-fast/ x86 chips. http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/power/hardware/index.html The POWER6 reaches speeds of 5 GHz in a server. Search for that on an Intel Itanium! Also, the last Power Mac G5 was able to address 16 GB of DDR2 memory with ECC. I cannot see the Intel version of it - the Mac Pro - be any step further than that. The cores are now up to 8 on the Mac Pro. With a POWER you could make it 32 if you liked, but that's not the point. Since the PowerPC 2nd generation MPC620 64-bits are possible. That was way too early, but where is Apples 64-bit operating system? When OS X 10.2 Jaguar was brand new the G5 came out - and was fully able to handle 64-bit. 10.3 Panther could have gone in that direction, but was still all 32-bit. 10.4 Tiger was starting with being able to run 64-bit console applications, and since 10.5 Leopard also GUI applications can be 64-bit. The kernel and drivers where still 32-bits. Now with 10.6 Snow Leopard - and PowerPC support gone for good - there is finally a 64-bit version available; including kernel and everything else. Nice, but for most Intel-Mac users it will still be 32-bits as for backward compatibility Apple chose to not install it on the desktop side. Only the servers get the full 64-bits. So, I took the freedom to take a look at what I have: Power Mac G5 Late 2005 @ 2.0 GHz: * a G5 970MP dual-core processor, devived from the POWER4+ * supports all 64-bit with 16 GB memory; native 32-bit support * an OS, that is 32-bits, but can at least run 64-bit applications: Leopard * not really any 64-bit applications (as they will be/are mostly Intel-only) Conclusion: my G5 is faster as a G4 was (I have 2x2 GHz), but not that much: my sister now has a G4 2x1.42 Ghz, and the speed difference just isn't so noticable. There is only one advantage of the G5 over the G4: it can be expanded with more memory (G4: 2 GB; G5: 8 GB or even 16 GB), and the CPU speed is generally faster (G4: up to 1.42 GHz without upgrades; G5: up to 2.7 GHz). Due to the lack of an advanced operating system on the PowerPC side a maxed out G4 is as good as a G5 generally is, excluding the memory expandability. If only Snow Leopard would have been compiled for the PowerPC platform as well... It could have been true 64-bit for those interessted in it. Just some thoughts... Cheers, Andreas --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
