> apparently the three processors you've mentioned would outperform that
> (of course, all based on - as you pointed out - a very artificial test).

Based on that benchmark, a 1.8 GHz PA6T core would marginally (by 1.3%) outperform a 1.7 GHz 7448 (that's the maximum stock clock rate according to Freescale) as well.

> Acube's pricing, based on performance, is worse than A-eon's.

Taking only one core of the PA6T into account, Dhrystone performance of the 1.8 GHz PA6T is twice that of the 1.0 GHz PPC460EX. I expect a full Sam460ex system to be priced somewhat less than half of the X1000. On the other hand I expect real life performance of one 1.8 GHz PA6T core to be much better than only twice that of the 1.0 GHz PPC460EX, add to that AltiVec capability, faster bus, larger caches and the option to use the 2nd core whenever OS4 will support that. So yes, you may be right in your estimation.

> as to the max speeds of the processors you've mentioned, they appear to be higher
> than the PA6T (unless that runs at 2.0 and so far its only been seen running at 1.8).

Not quite. The PPC470 is clocked at up to 1.8 GHz as well (in the LSI Axxia, while being specified at only 1.6 GHz max by IBM btw).

> Wouldn't we still be better off with G5 Powermacs.

Performance wise, probably yes. But not everyone would be happy with the high wattage of the PPC970 I guess. That's where the PA6T shines in comparison. In real life performance (i.e. not Dhrystone) I expect the PA6T to have significant higher performance/wattage figure than the PPC970 by providing only slightly less performance/clock.

> there are the 7447 and 7448 upgrades. A 1.8Ghz might or might not
> outperform an X1000

In terms of Dhrystone an e600 core above 1.72 GHz would outperform a 1.8 GHz PA6T core. So the overclocked 1.8+ GHz G4 upgrades deliver more DMIPS than a 1.8 GHz PA6T core. In real life performance though I think a 1.8 GHz PA6T core would outperform an equally clocked 7448.

> but its going to walk all over anything from Acube.

Yes, that's for sure.

> As HD video decoding with current MorphOS supported hardware can be problematic
> at really high res, why worry about even slower hardware than the Pegasos?

I'm just curious to the whole thing. Be assured that I definitely won't downgrade from my 1.5 GHz G4 ever :-)