The following is an unconfirmed rumor, so take it (or leave it) for what it’s worth. Our lone source on this one indicates that Apple Computer may be reviving the “Quadra” moniker for an upcoming quad processor G5 Power Mac. Yup, four G5s in one tower – now we know why the case is so roomy. Of course, Mac Quadras were single processor models only; this is a branding name deal only. All about reviving a bit of the nostalgic past and making it new, we guess.
That is the extent of the information. Rumor only. Grains of salt and all that, of course.
We’ll have more when/if possible.
See the “King of the Quadras,” released in May 1992, Apple’s Macintosh Quadra 950, complete with its “screamingly fast” Moto ‘040 33 MHz CPU here.
You know me. I’ll believe it when it ships.
Quadra xServe G5 anybody! First! Second! Sold!
BBC story is now IN, so no more rumours today.
Microsoft admits that their products are insecure. That is news!
No, I dont know you.
wow, quad processor G5’s in the Big Mac, now that would rock!
It would be rather special. Not a great deal of use to me, I don’t think I need that kind of power right now, but I bet plenty of people do.
Mind you, if I start using FCP a bit more, maybe something like this wil appeal to me.
I think it would be good just from a marketing standpoint. To demonstrate how well OS-X and the G5 scales. I don’t think a quad was viable with the G4 because of that weird shared bus limitation.
It would make perfect sense. Many other server platforms have 4 way and 8 way configurations. An xServe would be an excellent application, but unless you’re rendering or running 18 different high resource applications, 4 processors would just be a really expensive pissing contest.
More hard drive bays would be better utilisation of the space inside the PowerMac. Quad processors may sound impressive but that is the sort of feature that I would expect in something like the XServe, not on any desktop model.
here we go again. Stop posting these stupid rumors! This is supposed to be for NEWS! It ruins your credibility. Also stop posting those stupid MacOSRumors stories!
Will 4 processors really have an exponentially better effect upon video work, or will you get diminishing returns?
Also, would a 64-bit OS (and software) take better advantage of 4 processors better than a 32-bit OS?
Whoops…just wetted my pants!
Ok, stop with the rumors while I change my undies and get back to work.
Seems like a really good idea to me, but Many things wont take advantage of 4 processors, not many programs can use 2 processors at the same time, with a dual system all your little apps tend to run on 1 CPU and your front most programs gets 1 whole processor to itself, when you have 4 processors it stands to reason that 2 of them will be mostly unused by things such as: halo, dream weaver, flash, etc. I don’t think the software is in place to support such a move, the os is, but software makers suck big time at this.
‘hey’ – it’s really up to MDN what they post, not you. They’re not accountable to any of their readers. If you don’t like that all stories aren’t news, then why bother coming here ? You didn’t even need to read it. It’s got RUMOUR right at the start of the headline.
Other points : I’d prefer more room for hard drives too over processors.
64-bit OS. From what I understand, the OS doesn’t necessarily need to be 64bit because the G5 can run 32 bit or 64 bit instructions without needing a restart and a BIOS tweak (unlike other processors). The main limitation is that an individual app can’t address more than 4GB of RAM.
The OS itself has been tweaked to be able to address a 48-bit memory space, so that multiple applications hogging 4GB of RAM can run concurrently.
So also from what I understand, 64bit apps should happily run on top of a 32-bit OS. If they rely heavily on 32-bit services, then I guess that the advantages of their own 64-bit code could be limited. It might be possible to have introduce 64-bit subsets of critical routines without making the whole OS 64 bit, but I’m nowehere near sure about that (I’m posting it so that maybe someone who does know more about this stuff can fill in the gaps).
not likely as the 970 only supports 2 processors on the front end bus. You could do it, but it would be similar to linking two dual G5s together …
If what Steve says it right, then that’s the end of that one !
Wow. Don’t know if I beleive they would do it, but the thought of a new Mac model with the name Quadra really does tug at my nostalga strings.
The 900 and later 950 were the big guns of the time, and I worked on some, but the Quadra 800 is the model that I really loved. It was the workhorse of many a design studio at that time, the PPC was what ened it’s reign especially once the 604e came out.
I had a Quadra 800 for my own studio and it took good care of me for 5 or 6 years with a little extra RAM here and a video card upgrade there.
Johny
this is STUPID
I don’t know why people are so negative about this as a concept!
I seem to remember someone saying that a 970FX actually has 48-bit address capability (i.e the ability to support over 280 terabytes of RAM) and 64-bit maths. Putting 4 processors into a Mac, each with 16GB of RAM, seems a logical extension and would strike me as not even stretching the platform, especially if used in conjunction with the latest release of HyperTransport.
If this is a reality and gets combined with future 9xx processors, Apple will have a world-beating workstation for all kinds of applications, including 3D modelling, media production and science! I almost don’t care that Wintel will be used by lawyers and accountants, when Apple is being used by people who are genuinely creating things.
As I recall my Centris 660AV (later renamed Quadra) was the first to have voice recognition. Man, that was a cool machine for the time!
*sniff* I miss my quadra 840av. I left it behind when I bought my place last Nov. 🙁 I still have my powermac g3/266MT which now has a sonnet g4 400 in it. But it’s time for a new powermac and a replacement powerbook for my ti550. Movies to make. 😀
“Will 4 processors really have an exponentially better effect upon video work, or will you get diminishing returns?”
It won’t be exponential, but it would be linear: 2x the processors could equal 2x the performance, but it depends on what you’re doing. A home user editing with iMovie would not see much difference. A pro user editing in FCP with 25 concurrent video streams all with filters and effects would most definitely see a speedup.
“Other points : I’d prefer more room for hard drives too over processors”
There’s only two things in a computer you can’t put outside the box: processors and DRAM. Any type of storage or peripheral attachment can be outside, the G5s are well built for externals storage with all that Firewire, USB2, 1000bT Ethernet and PCI-X(think fiber channel). The G5 has essentially unlimited storage potential fast enough for multiple video streams.
I take your point on the external storage, but I don’t want to use extarnal storage. I would much prefer to have space for internal drives. They’re cheaper and I already have enough cables on the outside of the box – I don’t really want any more.
There are unconfirmed reports that the upcoming revision of teh G5 will provide room for additional hard drives. That’ll happen before an Quad I’d say. Another silly rumor.
I would venture to guess that if this name should come to pass it will be on a Dual system sporting the Dual Core G5 processor.
that would make the most sence to me.
I have dreamed of having an acutal Quad setup in the past, but Apple has never realy had that ability to put out such a product due to its low consumer capacity.
This makes a bit of sense since the new 970FX(?) is supposed to cost less to produce since it is on a reduced die-cut. Lower power consumption also make it look possible. Plus, if the cost to add an extra processor (or 3) is minimal, with premium placed on the markup for high-end users, it could stand to earn Apple a lot of attention and greenbacks for not a lot of extra engineering or component costs.
Though, methinks they might wait for the 980 to try this.
I’d say that this *could* be possible… But allot of things are possible
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I think that it’s far more likely that we’ll see a dual processor board G5/G6 w/ the dual-core PPC 980s(976s? 990s? whatever the dual-core chip is going to be called).. Maybe a yr from now… shrug. I think it would be a great use of the old name.. always liked the Quadra name…
Have a nice day!