In a dual-processor Power Mac G5, the cost of talking to peripherals is also reduced substantially by the machine’s efficient and highly integrated system chip set. Solid processing power and maximum bandwidth rule the day, and the Power Mac G5 has that combination down.
(By way of comparison, memory throughput on a 17-inch PowerBook is 535MB per second.) I’m not cutting Apple special slack. Using the University of Virginia’s Stream memory bandwidth benchmark, the Power Mac G5 moves data almost twice as fast as a dual-processor 3.06GHz Xeon system: 2.2GB per second versus 1.3GB per second. Apple won’t beat it until IBM gets serious about an architecture-tuned compiler for OS X.Īpple’s marketing choices aside, I believe that I/O throughput, especially memory performance, is infinitely more important than raw computing speed. The Intel compilers are used to create most commercial and performance-sensitive applications for x86 software running on Windows and Linux. The x86 architecture has the Intel compiler suite on its side. If you’re on the edge of your seat waiting for a characterization of the Power Mac G5’s performance, here it is: Comparing official Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC) dual-processor throughput tests with the unofficial numbers on Apple’s Web site, the 3.06GHz Xeon bests the 2GHz Power Mac G5 by some margin.īut wait, doesn’t Apple call the Power Mac G5 the world’s fastest PC? Yes, and I think that characterization was a big mistake from the beginning. The result, the Power Mac G5, delivers on the present need for rapid computing, deep multitasking, and responsive user interfaces - as well as the future need (current for some, including myself) for mainstream computers that rapidly process and analyze massive data sets. We’re due for a shift in standards.Įnter Apple, which got the bright idea of taking a pair of 64-bit IBM PowerPC CPUs, jacking them into server-class internal buses, and squeezing the whole thing into a desk-side tower chassis.
Companies large and small routinely set their expectations of computer systems according the capabilities of Intel-based x86 computers and 32-bit Windows.
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