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Lateralus · Sep 12, 2006, 10:14 AM

Sonnet Encore/MDX G4 Processor Upgrade.

Shipping is set to begin in September. It's available at Dual 1.6GHz and Dual 1.8GHz for $499/599, respectively.

This is the first CPU upgrade to be available for the MDDs that isn't based around the exact same CPU that the MDD shipped with, as was GigaDesigns' upgrade.

The speed boost these 7447A-based upgrades offer isn't ginormous for those who own later-model MDDs with GHz+ CPUs, but it is still a pretty significant release because many had begun to wonder if there was something special about the MDDs in Firmware that prevented them from being upgraded with after-market CPUs, as they had been the only member of the G4 family to not have CPU upgrades available until now. But in addition to that, the 7448 is in the pipeline and offers the first real clock for clock speed boost for the G4 line we've seen in a long while, and it's fully pin-compatible with the 7447A and only takes a few minor tweaks in Firmware to work. And given that several other processor upgrade companies have been citing the 7448 in their Product Documentations, it shouldn't be long before they become available en mass and Sonnet grafts the 7448 to this upgrade.

I'm personally waiting for the sure-to-follow upgrade from GigaDesigns, so I can play with clock speed settings and voltages, which Sonnet locks down.

chefpastry · Sep 12, 2006, 10:28 AM

I've been waiting for upgrades to MDDs for a long, long time. While it's nice to see an upgrade finally available, I feel that it's too little, too late. I'm not sure how much (if any) performance benefits the 7447s will have over the 7455 since they don't have L3 caches especially for those who own dual 1.42GHz MDDs.

TimmyDee51 · Sep 12, 2006, 12:10 PM

Agreed. Far to little, far too late. Sinking $500 to $600 into an old computer may seem reasonable at times, but given how the architecture beyond the CPU (bus, drive interfaces, RAM, etc.) have changed, this isn't a great deal.

Eug · Sep 12, 2006, 12:20 PM

At those prices, I'd just buy a Mac mini.

Gossamer · Sep 12, 2006, 01:16 PM

Originally Posted by Eug

At those prices, I'd just buy a Mac mini.

That's what I was thinking. Unless you've got a lot of money sunk into PCI cards for audio/graphics, it's not worth it. The $600 mini will still beat the G4 pretty good, I'd bet.

baw · Sep 12, 2006, 01:30 PM

Some of us though actually like or are required to use PowerPC processors.

SSharon · Sep 12, 2006, 01:42 PM

Originally Posted by baw

Some of us though actually like or are required to use PowerPC processors.

I love my MDD and have added lots of things to it, but even coming from dual 1ghz I don't see how this is worth it.

Eug · Sep 12, 2006, 02:41 PM

Originally Posted by Gossamer

That's what I was thinking. Unless you've got a lot of money sunk into PCI cards for audio/graphics, it's not worth it. The $600 mini will still beat the G4 pretty good, I'd bet.

It would pound it into the ground in just about everything... except maybe some Rosetta applications.

Originally Posted by baw

Some of us though actually like or are required to use PowerPC processors.

Which apps are you running? Photoshop I could understand, but then I'd probably recommend considering a used/refurb G5 Power Mac and selling your old G4 Power Mac. It'd probably cost more, but trust me, you'd be MUCH happier with the performance.

Refurbished Power Mac G5 Dual 2GHz
Dual-core 2GHz PowerPC G5 processor
1GHz frontside bus per processor
1MB L2 cache per core
512MB of 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-4200)
160GB Serial ATA hard drive
16x SuperDrive (double-layer)
NVIDIA GeForce 6600 LE (128MB GDDR SDRAM)
$1599

Either that, or else just wait a year until your apps go Intel native.

I have a Sonnet G4 1.7 GHz 7447A Cube, and the performance sucks donkeys balls in some stuff. I just bought a Core 2 Duo iMac to replace my G5 iMac. The G5 iMac is going to replace the Cube. The Cube is being kicked to the curb.

newtech · Sep 12, 2006, 06:45 PM

My $0.02...

would be okay at $300-400 price point but not at that price structure

would be okay, MAYBE, if they were PPC 7448

would be okay if PPC 7457/7458 ( were there a 7458 ) at those clock freqs.

not acceptabe at all, at that price/performance level.

Someone in Sonnet's marketing dept. needs an immedate reality check.