[G4] Which Computer is Best?

[Mike Linnett]

On 6 Jun 2011, at 20:31, kristen wrote:

> 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
> _______________________________________________
> 


Other points worth considering that I can think of:

-The G5 uses SATA drives, which are cheaper, faster, more readily available, and will continue to be so for a loooong time
-xbench (xbench.com) will do various benchmarks
-The G5 will probably run a better graphics card, if that's important to ya
-The G5 will support more (faster, possibly cheaper) RAM, which could be handy. The G4 is gonna top out at 2GB

I'd be tempted to keep both though, even if one of them is just under the stairs for when the other one eventually gives up. I guess that depending on what you're doing, they're probably pretty close to each other as far as performance goes. OS X is pretty good at using multiple processors, but the faster RAM/HD might give the G5 an edge? They'll both run 10.5 like a champ, but that's as far as they'll go