“Once again, Apple has thrown out some shiny new hardware for us to slobber on, so we thought we’d give you a peek at the very latest from Cupertino. The Power Mac G5 gets a big technology bump this time around, with new dual-core processors, a brand-new PCI Express architecture and some other very cool stuff that gets us geeks all misty-eyed,” PowerMac Computers’ web page states.
PowerMax has posted the following photos and descriptions:
• view inside the case
• what comes in the package
• new power cable and connector
• PCI-E slots
• rear ports, including dual ethernet jacks
• new multi-purpose antenna (AirPort and Bluetooth)
Full article with photos here.
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drool
I just wet my pants.
MW: I “actually” did.
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Four processors are only as good as your multi-tasking ability to use them.
Most programs can only use one processor because it has to “do A before B” instead of “A, B C and D at the same time”.
So there is only so much multi-threading a program can do, it’s actually slower throwing some things on another processor because the first one has to wait for the results to come back.
3D games really only need one processor for the engine, it’s the easy part. The video card handles the complex rendering anyway. Some 3D games are a bit faster by throwing the sound and the OS on another processor.
So with a PowerMac Quad, one has to really really multitask their hearts out in order to see any performance gains.
For instance with my Dual 2 I can watch 3 TV screens and listen to iTunes or 2 HD channels and play Doom 3. I don’t do it often, so 4 processors is nutz.
I say 90% of users of dual processors users don’t use what they got now, a quad is pure overkill as humans still mostly do one thing at a time.
4 things at once with a quad machine is serious overkill, but at that price is a great deal compared to everyone elses offerings.
first post
Everyone loves apple p0rI\I !!!
oh my god… that’s weird
oh well, at least i still got first post IN MY MIND!!!!!
FIRST POST
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Great pics slow site gee I wonder why????
This one serious computer fully configed over $22,000.00
I need one !!!!!!!!!!!!!
I didn’t see any slobber.
WOW! Can’t wait to see the service manual on this baby!!!
I just crapped my pants…
Anyone know if these are shipping or are in the Apple Stores yet? If so I’m I’m ready to buy!!!
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But not because of these pictures. It just kind of happened.
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MacDude, with all due respect, you’re on crack. EVERY speed-intensive Mac application that’s been written in the past five years has been optimized to take advantages of multithreading and multiprocessors (including pretty much everything from Apple and Adobe, and any 3-D game). Not only that, but even single-threaded apps are faster on multiprocessor machines if they happen to use system services like QuickTime (whose codecs are ALL multiiprocessor and multithreaded) or the asynchronous Carbon or Cocoa file managers, or scheduled audio, or OpenGL. And of course multiple single-threaded apps can run on different processors.
Last pic refers to the antenna doing double duty. Is the antenna that long strip beneath the latch? if so, then finally a better way than having those 2 antennas sticking out just waiting to be knocked off.
Okay, I finally ordered one of these silver gods to replace my blue and white Frankenmac (I call it that because it’s a G3, but I put a G4 brain in it, and have swapped out a number of other things over the years– DVD burners, hard drives, etc.) But I have two big questions as I move into the modern age:
1) How much RAM should I put in? Okay, I know that the answer is basically, more is always better than less. But I’m going to do Final Cut on here, Photoshop, etc. So what do people think is that basic amount that you ought not to be below? 2 GB?
2) Uh… what’s a PCI-X slot for?
Thanks…
I work in a professional video post production facility. We have 18 dual G5s, at least 18 G4 towers, and around 15 wintel systems. We deal with everything from DV to uncompressed HD for network broadcast and theatrical release. I have been very interested in this update both for work (hoping to add another 4 or 5 systems) and personal use (still have a B&W at home). Some of the update is very nice, some not so impressive.
My impressions.
Good:
-Dual Gig Ethernet with jumbo frame support. Move more stuff faster with less calls to the server.
-1 Meg L2 cache, just like the G3! That was a sad aspect of the G5,
Intel has been offering 2 Meg cache for a while now.
-PCIe, better video cards.
Weak:
-Still only two internal drives. Still only SATA 150. The G4 towers with support for 4 drives is perfect. 1) system drive, 2) data and project storage, 3&4) RAID 0 for uncompressed standard definition media. Make the internal controller support 4 or 6 channels and put the other SATA ports on the back of the machine. Firewire is neat but it’s not up to the rigors of professional editing.
-Price, model spread. It’s really time for a sub $2000 system. Make it a single 2.5 or just lower the old Dual 2.0. And why is there still a dual 2.0 system, just like the very first day the G5 was ever available.
-Optical Digital Audio. I just don’t understand what this is for. Most pro audio gear that interfaces on the consumer level uses coax, optical is for home theater and mini disc recorders. How about some analog RCAs? I don’t expect them to compete on a high end level, sometimes I just need a simple way to get audio in or out of a system without having to dig for the right converters.
-Quad processor, I realize this is more of an IBM issue (especially since apple didn’t want to get involved with development) but I’d really rather have seen the mythical dual 3.0. I don’t need to run 4 different apps at once. I need to run 1 app very fast, (After Effects, Final Cut, Avid, Photoshop, Maya, ratty old Cleaner).
Bad:
-Proprietary square power cord. There is a billion (guessing) devices out there that use the standard IEC power cord. Makes it real easy to move things around and reconfigure systems without having to wory about what cord goes with what box. Except for the ADC connector on the pre-aluminum Cinema Displays, almost every other wire I use for computer, video or audio is based on a universal standard that the right wire is any wire that conforms to that standard. The beauty of the ADC is that it reduced cable clutter, video, power, and USB all on one cable. Plus that cable was still a universal standard on all my Macs, until recently. The square end also means that you can’t plug it in by feel alone.
– PCIe, only. I have tons of PCI and PCI-X cards, I’m not going to buy one of these new Macs if I can’t use my hardware with it. Most Windows workstations with PCIe still offer traditional PCI/PCI-X slots. Luckily the old Dual 2.7 is now available for $2800.
That’s enough for now.
To the comment by macdude, there are multiple application for quad. I conduct neuroscience research and we run multiple mathlab programs at a time but it crashes alot and you cant even surf the web while doing experiments. this would work perfectly
Urr – D – it’s Matlab, not Mathlab.
So Yawn, you dont run multiple apps (After Effects, Final Cut, Avid, Photoshop, Maya, ratty old Cleaner) at once? What kind of grafx guy are you? As a Graphic/Web Designer I usually have 15 apps running, including Photoshop, 2 versions of Illustrator, Indesign, Quark, Acrobat, Safari, Word, Firefox, Golive, Mail, Toast, iTunes, FontAgent Pro, Word and sometimes more. Unless you are just running a renderfarm, multitasking and memory management are as important as raw speed, and a Quad with plenty of RAM would have alot of Both
The prices are in line with what they normally sell new PowerMacs for, but now they have greatly updated the spec (DualCore processors, PCIe, DDR2, Dual ethernet, and Brand new best of breed Vid Cards)
As for Audio in options, thats what the PCIe slots are for.
And complaining that Apple has moved to newer better tech that doesnt work with your old tech is pretty rediculous.
Mgmax. Start with 2 gigs to save money (and don’t get it from Apple – use Crucial, egghead or some other reliable vendor that guarantees the memory for life). If you decide you want more then add more a bit at a time to where you are happy.
Yawn
There’s nothing proprietary about that power cord. It’s quite a standard size and shape, providing you work in server rooms. I hope this doesn’t mean G5s need a dedicated commando socket for power though. Hate to think what that would do to someone’s electric bill.