[G4] Which Computer is Best?

[kristen]

On Monday 06 June 2011 10:00:52 Alan Kidner wrote:
> I am currently running a Power Mac G4 (FW 800) but have recently been
> given a Power Mac G5.After initial excitement at the prospect of a newer
> and better computer I am now wondering if swapping would really be an
> advantage.The G4 has a 1.25GHz duel core processor while the G5 only has
> a single core processor at 1.6GHz. Which is the best computer?
> 
> Benchmarks posted at http://www.primatelabs.ca/geekbench/mac-benchmarks
> suggest that the G4 is better with a score of 1082 compared with the G5
> at 918.Is this the end of the story or are there other factors I should
> consider?
> 
> Is there any free software I could use to benchmark these machines for
> myself?
> 
> Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.

	Because your asking about single processors vs dual processors you must 
consider the software involved. A single processor can process 1 task at a 
time. The 1.6Ghz processor can do this faster then a 1.25Ghz can. However the 
dual processor can work on multiple task at the same time. One processor 
working on a single process while the other processor works on a separate 
process. There is a catch to this. The software must be written for multiple 
processors or the dual processor drops to the equivalent of a single 
processor.

	It might well be that the G5 can handle your software better then the G4. 
Depending on that software being processed. These days I think all software is 
written for multiple processors since that is all that's marketed. If you are 
running OS X then your operating system is designed for multiple processors 
and will take advantage of those. But if your application isn't designed for 
multiple processors, well only 1 processor will be used for that application 
all the same.

	I don't think you can quantify which is 'best' as there are many factors 
involved. What might be best varies depending upon the task at hand. If you 
look however at what the computer market is doing then you can see dual 
processors are preferred to single processors. Or to be more accurate, multi-
threading is preferred to single threaded processors. 

Kristen