It's not an Apple vs PC topic but..

[Diabolus]

I am curious... are there benchmarks out there (reliable ones) that give the performance of the 64 bit processing from Apple against AMDs processors?

My boss is vehement that Apple and their processing architecture is a lot better than anything out there, and I would like to, as I do in other cases, to prove him wrong

Any help is appreciated.

 

[jfall]

Tell you boss to go here http://news.com.com/2100-1042_3-5180251.html?tag=cd_lede

 

[mrweirdo]

If i rember corectly SPEC can test both cpus I'm interested in seing the results

 

[Eug]

I own a Mac, and follow Mac stuff. But...

No question, the dual Opterons 248s are generally faster than the dual 2.0 G5. Plus, Apple does not have a real 64-bit OS at this point. I think there is a beta 64-bit Linux out there for the Power Mac G5 somewhere, but Mac OS X doesn't support more than 4 GB memory addressing per app. (The OS will see up to 16 GB on current hardware however.)

Furthermore, Opterons have on-board memory controllers, and G5s do not. Thus, dual Opterons will have more total memory bandwidth that dual G5s. One help to the dual G5s though is they do run DDR400 dual-channel, so it is pretty good. No ECC support on the dual G5 Power Macs, but that is supported on the G5 Xserves.

Benchmarks? It really depends. For certain benchmarks, the dual Opterons wipe the floor with the Mac. For other benchmarks the dual G5 Power Mac will wipe the floor with the dual Opterons (even though on average the dual Opterons will be faster).

Now, if Apple introduces dual G5 2.5 Power Macs soon, then the comparison will be much harder, since the 2.5 GHz G5 will be close the the Opteron 248 in overall speed, or possibly slightly faster. However, while IBM has already announced the 2.5 GHz G5, who knows when Apple will be able to ship them?

And of course, it really depends on what software you'll be running. Who cares how fast the Opterons are if you want to run Apple's Final Cut Pro? And who cares how fast the G5s are if you want to run IBM's DB2?

 

[sharq]

Do people just not use search engines anymore?
Pcworld tests from a search on google for "g5 amd 64 benchmark" this one was in the first 3 or 4 on that page. You can do more searching on your own.

EDIT: That link may not be comprehensive, but PCworld magazine is something almost every person involved in technology has heard of.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Did he say better or faster?

 

[Eug]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
Did he say better or faster?

Good point. Faster doesn't automatically mean better. OTOH, one could still argue that in some ways the Opteron architecture is "better". eg. In multiprocessor designs, because of the integrated memory controller, the Opteron could be called "better".

However, it's clear that the dual G5 architecture is very nice. And the case design is very cool too.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Eug

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
Did he say better or faster?

Good point. Faster doesn't automatically mean better. OTOH, one could still argue that in some ways the Opteron architecture is "better". eg. In multiprocessor designs, because of the integrated memory controller, the Opteron could be called "better".

However, it's clear that the dual G5 architecture is very nice. And the case design is very cool too.

Better is more subjective than faster. That was basically my only point.

I like them both.

But I can say with confidence that Intel's ia32e isn't better. In fact it's worse, and I don't care if it is faster. Opinions are grand.

 

[WackyDan]

Originally posted by: Diabolus
I am curious... are there benchmarks out there (reliable ones) that give the performance of the 64 bit processing from Apple against AMDs processors?

My boss is vehement that Apple and their processing architecture is a lot better than anything out there, and I would like to, as I do in other cases, to prove him wrong

Any help is appreciated.

Not to be picky.....But statement should hve been... "IBM and their processing architecture ".

 

[Eug]

Originally posted by: WackyDan

Originally posted by: Diabolus
I am curious... are there benchmarks out there (reliable ones) that give the performance of the 64 bit processing from Apple against AMDs processors?

My boss is vehement that Apple and their processing architecture is a lot better than anything out there, and I would like to, as I do in other cases, to prove him wrong

Any help is appreciated.

Not to be picky.....But statement should hve been... "IBM and their processing architecture ".

I guess it depends on what they mean by "processing architecture".

According to IBM, the system controller in the Power Macs is designed by Apple and only fabbed by IBM. Whether this is completely true or not I dunno, but IBM is quick to claim the G5 CPU is designed by IBM.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: WackyDan

Originally posted by: Diabolus
I am curious... are there benchmarks out there (reliable ones) that give the performance of the 64 bit processing from Apple against AMDs processors?

My boss is vehement that Apple and their processing architecture is a lot better than anything out there, and I would like to, as I do in other cases, to prove him wrong

Any help is appreciated.

Not to be picky.....But statement should hve been... "IBM and their processing architecture ".

Just to be picky, the PPC platform was a joint venture between IBM, Motorolla, and everyone's favorite villian Apple.