Ultimate Powermac?
  • Order of the Butterfly
    Order of the Butterfly
    Ruud
    Posts: 335 from 2009/2/2
    From: Hampshire, UK
    Just for fun I've been looking at what sort of configurations of Powermac can be built if money is no object (and presuming that MorphOS will work on any setup) :

    How about a "Quicksilver" Powermac with a MAXPower G4/7448 2Ghz 1MB L3 cache fitted?

    or

    A MDD Powermac with a Sonnet Encore/MDX G4 Duet 1.8Ghz 7447A?


    For MorphOS I wouldn't be surprised if the top system would be the best despite the Quicksilver having a slower bus and memory than the MDD.
    The 7448 has 1MiB of L2 cache and an L3 cache which must give a nice performance boost over the 7447A.

    Anyway just daydreaming at work... :-)
    "We live, we die, we laugh, we cry"
  • »02.12.09 - 10:17
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  • Order of the Butterfly
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    dIGIMAN
    Posts: 273 from 2005/11/7
    Well dont know if its me but i have problems trying to keep overview of what machines can be used, which options do they have, what would be the best and what upgrade options do i have.

    I would prefer buying refurbished machines from vesalia or some other amiga dealer an paying a bit more and knowing what i get, rather then searching on ebay.
  • »02.12.09 - 11:25
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  • Yokemate of Keyboards
    Yokemate of Keyboards
    Zylesea
    Posts: 2057 from 2003/6/4
    Quote:


    Ruud wrote:
    Anyway just daydreaming at work... :-)

    Does your boss know? ;-)
    --
    http://via.bckrs.de

    Whenever you're sad just remember the world is 4.543 billion years old and you somehow managed to exist at the same time as David Bowie.
    ...and Matthias , my friend - RIP
  • »02.12.09 - 11:28
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  • Order of the Butterfly
    Order of the Butterfly
    Ruud
    Posts: 335 from 2009/2/2
    From: Hampshire, UK
    @digiMAN

    At the moment I'm sorting out some mac minis to sell ready setup with OSX/MorphOS dual boot so that people don't have to buy from ebay. I test all the hardware and give them a clean. I'm only doing it in my spare time but I've sold a couple so far. When MorphOS is out I may do the same with Powermacs.

    @Zylesea

    Yes, but I've decided to let myself off ;-)
    "We live, we die, we laugh, we cry"
  • »02.12.09 - 11:41
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  • Paladin of the Pegasos
    Paladin of the Pegasos
    pampers
    Posts: 1061 from 2009/2/26
    From: Tczew, Poland
    Ruud: Do mate, i might be a customer as well. I can imagine already PowerMac with 2Ghz in it and MorphOS...
    MorphOS 3.x
  • »02.12.09 - 13:38
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  • Yokemate of Keyboards
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    amigadave
    Posts: 2795 from 2006/3/21
    From: Northern Calif...
    I wish there were an Official announcement on the MorphOS website about the support for the Apple PowerMac G4 and it explained exactly which models were going to be supported.

    I have seen many QuickSilver G4 models sell for less that $100, but I would not want to buy one and later find out it is the wrong model and not be able to install and run MorphOS2.x on it.

    It is strange that the older model can be upgraded to 2GHz, but the newer last G4 models can only be upgraded to 1.8GHz.
    MorphOS - The best Next Gen Amiga choice.
  • »02.12.09 - 19:29
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  • Order of the Butterfly
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    Ruud
    Posts: 335 from 2009/2/2
    From: Hampshire, UK
    @amigadave

    Well in the original posting it did say that the "Quicksilver" had not yet arrived. So I suppose it's difficult to say which models will be supported when not all have yet been tested.

    As for the upgrade issue. Yes it's a little strange there isn't a 2Ghz upgrade for the MDD model, but maybe there hasn't been the demand as the 1.8Ghz Sonnet is duel cpu. So for OSX twin 7447A's at 1.8Ghz must beat one 7448 at 2Ghz but for us MorphOS nuts, the one 7448 sounds better :-)

    [ Edited by Ruud on 2009/12/2 20:00 ]

    [ Edited by Ruud on 2009/12/2 20:01 ]
    "We live, we die, we laugh, we cry"
  • »02.12.09 - 19:59
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  • MorphOS Developer
    RSchmidt
    Posts: 12 from 2006/10/30
    It was a Sawtooth/1.8ghz machine so that covers the older hardware generations but I need to solve the gfxcard issue first:-)
    Please no 7448 cpucards as they aren't supported in MorphOS yet, only 7447a,7455/7 cpus.
    If you wanna be secure look for MDD/F800 configs because that's what I have here.
  • »02.12.09 - 20:49
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  • Order of the Butterfly
    Order of the Butterfly
    Ruud
    Posts: 335 from 2009/2/2
    From: Hampshire, UK
    Quote:


    RSchmidt wrote:
    It was a Sawtooth/1.8ghz machine so that covers the older hardware generations but I need to solve the gfxcard issue first:-)
    Please no 7448 cpucards as they aren't supported in MorphOS yet, only 7447a,7455/7 cpus.
    If you wanna be secure look for MDD/F800 configs because that's what I have here.



    Thanks for the clarification :-)
    Is support for the 7448 likely to come in the future? It seems to be so rarely used, maybe it's not worth the bother?
    "We live, we die, we laugh, we cry"
  • »02.12.09 - 21:20
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  • Yokemate of Keyboards
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    Andreas_Wolf
    Posts: 12163 from 2003/5/22
    From: Germany
    > maybe there hasn't been the demand as the 1.8Ghz Sonnet is duel cpu.

    By that logic there wouldn't have been demand for single 7448 at 2.0 GHz for older PowerMacs G4 neither. There are dual 7447A/B at 1.8 GHz as well as dual 7448 at 1.7 GHz for the older systems.

    http://www.lowendmac.com/ppc/g4upgrades.html
  • »02.12.09 - 22:06
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  • Yokemate of Keyboards
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    magnetic
    Posts: 2129 from 2003/3/1
    From: Los Angeles
    Hey guys can I ask you what in the world you are going to need anything more than 1ghz with morphos other than encoding video? Just would love to know what you guys do with all that cpu power? :-)
    Pegasos 2 Rev 2B3 w/ Freescale 7447 "G4" @ 1ghz / 1gb Nanya Ram
    Quad Boot: MorphOS 2.7 | Amiga OS4.1 U4 | Ubuntu PPC GNU/Linux | OS X 10.4
  • »02.12.09 - 22:12
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  • Paladin of the Pegasos
    Paladin of the Pegasos
    pampers
    Posts: 1061 from 2009/2/26
    From: Tczew, Poland
    Magnetic: for me it's just a satisfaction :)
    MorphOS 3.x
  • »02.12.09 - 22:14
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  • MorphOS Developer
    RSchmidt
    Posts: 12 from 2006/10/30
    As I haven't seen a 7448 cpucard on ebay.de it's unlikely. As far as I know the difference between 7447/745x and 7448 is a bigger L2, faster busclock(which can't be used in an Apple as far as I know) and a faster Altivec unit so not that much for most MorphOS code.
  • »02.12.09 - 22:15
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  • Yokemate of Keyboards
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    Zylesea
    Posts: 2057 from 2003/6/4
    Quote:


    magnetic wrote:
    Hey guys can I ask you what in the world you are going to need anything more than 1ghz with morphos other than encoding video? Just would love to know what you guys do with all that cpu power? :-)


    Prolonging a short dick ;-) - what else?

    Dunno, probably 1080 hd vids work on a 2 GHz maschine, but the ram speed could stop it. Anway, in general I think there will always be demand for fast maschines (though I personally also like the low end systems like my Efika).
    --
    http://via.bckrs.de

    Whenever you're sad just remember the world is 4.543 billion years old and you somehow managed to exist at the same time as David Bowie.
    ...and Matthias , my friend - RIP
  • »02.12.09 - 22:29
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  • Yokemate of Keyboards
    Yokemate of Keyboards
    magnetic
    Posts: 2129 from 2003/3/1
    From: Los Angeles
    laire

    Do you think someone from Morph team can do a rough benchmark comparison with a Peg 2 and a Quicksilver or something? I'm wondering if I should sell my peg2 and go powermac...

    the memory is faster i'm sure and cpu cache but real world wise is it worth the upgrade?

    Also, is dual cpu supported??
    Pegasos 2 Rev 2B3 w/ Freescale 7447 "G4" @ 1ghz / 1gb Nanya Ram
    Quad Boot: MorphOS 2.7 | Amiga OS4.1 U4 | Ubuntu PPC GNU/Linux | OS X 10.4
  • »02.12.09 - 22:33
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  • Yokemate of Keyboards
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    Andreas_Wolf
    Posts: 12163 from 2003/5/22
    From: Germany
    > the memory is faster i'm sure and cpu cache

    CPU cache is not necessarily faster with a PowerMac G4 compared to Pegasos II G4. It depends on the specific PowerMac G4 model and upgrade status. I guess that non-upgraded Quicksilver and older have a slower CPU cache than Pegasos II G4.
    Similar regarding memory throughput (which is probably not that dependent on upgrade status): PowerMacs G4 older than Quicksilver have lower memory throughput than Pegasos II G4 I'd guess.

    > is dual cpu supported??

    Ruud already gave the answer in this very thread: MorphOS is going to support dual CPU configurations but utilizing only one CPU.
  • »03.12.09 - 00:00
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  • Yokemate of Keyboards
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    amigadave
    Posts: 2795 from 2006/3/21
    From: Northern Calif...
    @magnetic, I would sell your Peg2 quickly to someone that wants it because it can run both MorphOS and AmigaOS4.x. With the prices of old G4 PowerMac's being so low, you could probably get enough money to buy one AND upgrade the CPU to a 1.8GHz, or 2.0GHz third party accelerator upgrade with the money you can get for your Peg2.

    I think you can probably get a QuickSilver PowerMac for between $60 to $120 and the later MDD models aren't much more than that, but then you also need to figure the cost of a new MorphOS2.5 license when it is released as you can't transfer your Peg2 license to the PowerMac. Still, $200 to $375 for a fast MorphOS2.x system and license is a great deal. I am loving my 1.5GHz G4 MacMini that I am typing this on.
    MorphOS - The best Next Gen Amiga choice.
  • »03.12.09 - 04:05
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  • Yokemate of Keyboards
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    amigadave
    Posts: 2795 from 2006/3/21
    From: Northern Calif...
    Quote:


    RSchmidt wrote:
    As I haven't seen a 7448 cpucard on ebay.de it's unlikely. As far as I know the difference between 7447/745x and 7448 is a bigger L2, faster busclock(which can't be used in an Apple as far as I know) and a faster Altivec unit so not that much for most MorphOS code.



    I saw one G4 PowerMac on eBay (not .de) that was advertised as an upgraded to 2.1GHz G4 CPU (single I think) a few days ago. I don't know if the auction has ended so I may not be able to find it again. I think it was the QuickSilver model.

    Edit: Nice to see you posting here Ralph. Can you say if the next release of MorphOS, version 2.5 will have support for the G4 eMac and PowerMac models? Also, are we looking at more than, or less than six months of work before MorphOS2.5 is likely to be released (no firm commitment required, just an educated guess)?

    [ Edited by amigadave on 2009/12/2 20:18 ]
    MorphOS - The best Next Gen Amiga choice.
  • »03.12.09 - 04:09
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  • Yokemate of Keyboards
    Yokemate of Keyboards
    amigadave
    Posts: 2795 from 2006/3/21
    From: Northern Calif...
    Quote:


    magnetic wrote:
    Hey guys can I ask you what in the world you are going to need anything more than 1ghz with morphos other than encoding video? Just would love to know what you guys do with all that cpu power? :-)


    The extra CPU speed is good for those people that want to double, or triple boot their systems and only have one computer at their desk instead of two or three. ;-)
    MorphOS - The best Next Gen Amiga choice.
  • »03.12.09 - 04:13
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  • Yokemate of Keyboards
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    Andreas_Wolf
    Posts: 12163 from 2003/5/22
    From: Germany
    > I saw one G4 PowerMac on eBay (not .de) that was advertised as an upgraded to
    > 2.1GHz G4 CPU (single I think) a few days ago. I don't know if the auction has
    > ended so I may not be able to find it again. I think it was the QuickSilver model.

    http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220515258651

    But that's a strange one:
    - no mention of exact upgrade type (AFAIK 2.1 GHz didn't exist for any PowerMac G4 model)
    - bus speed of 167 MHz and RAM speed of 333 MHz would indicate FW800/MDD model, for which the fastest upgrade I know of would be (dual) 1.8 GHz
    - "Processor Manufacturer: IBM"
  • »03.12.09 - 16:01
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  • Yokemate of Keyboards
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    Andreas_Wolf
    Posts: 12163 from 2003/5/22
    From: Germany
    > As I haven't seen a 7448 cpucard on ebay.de it's unlikely.

    7448 1.8 GHz card for 350 USD:

    http://eshop.macsales.com/search/7448

    7448 2.0 GHz card for 399 EUR (German supplier):

    http://www.apfelklinik.de/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/148_164/products_id/402
  • »02.01.10 - 23:26
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  • Jim
  • Yokemate of Keyboards
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    Jim
    Posts: 4977 from 2009/1/28
    From: Delaware, USA
    Yes, that sounds right, 1.8 dual processors or a 2.0 single, but aren't both those options overclocked to reach those speeds?

    [ Edited by Jim on 2010/1/3 3:50 ]
    "Never attribute to malice what can more readily explained by incompetence"
  • »03.01.10 - 02:50
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  • Yokemate of Keyboards
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    Andreas_Wolf
    Posts: 12163 from 2003/5/22
    From: Germany
    > aren't both those options overclocked to reach those speeds?

    I guess they are. Freescale specs the 7448 at 1.7 GHz max.
  • »03.01.10 - 03:20
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