[tpicco]

Are dual processors all that much better all around? A friend of mine wants to outfit an art department for a magazine he's been publishing and is thinking of buying a used DP G5 if he can find one, because someone told him they were the bomb...

I have only ever used single processor Macs... Are they worth it? What situations do they work best in?

Thanking you all in advance...



(edited to fix atrocious grammar...)

[lenox]

Yes, dual processors are worth the hype. This might have not been true in the days of OS 9 and prior, when only a few choice apps would use both processors, but nowadays we have os x....and quite a few apps that like to use both processors.

My first dual processor mac was a dual 867mhz G4 mdd...I could never go back to a single cpu machine again!

[gururafiki]

Originally posted by lenox:
Yes, dual processors are worth the hype. This might have not been true in the days of OS 9 and prior, when only a few choice apps would use both processors, but nowadays we have os x....and quite a few apps that like to use both processors.

My first dual processor mac was a dual 867mhz G4 mdd...I could never go back to a single cpu machine again!

When you read about people's computers being Snappy™, then it is most likely because they have a dual processor machine.

[MORT A POTTY]

yes, they are the ****... that's why I'm getting a dual processor upgrade for my aging Quicksilver (single CPU, doh!)

[UnixMac]

Originally posted by tpicco:
Are dual processors all that much better all around? A friend of mine wants to outfit an art department for a magazine he's been publishing and is thinking of buying a used DP G5 if he can find one, because someone told him they were the bomb...

I have only ever used single processor Macs... Are they worth it? What situations do they work best in?

Thanking you all in advance...



(edited to fix atrocious grammar...)

Double the CPU is a lot more than just hype... it's faster, a lot faster!

[macaddict0001]

They are more than worth the hype.

[TimmyDee51]

I agree with everyone else. I will never buy a desktop with one processor again.

[driven]

I've used Single Processor Macs & Windows machines as well as Dual Processor Macs & Windows Machines.

On a Mac .... YES: It's worth the hype. Amazingly fast.

On a Windows machine: No ... not worth the cost increase. Only about a 20% improvement in speed ... on a good day.

[OreoCookie]

Yes. Having two CPUs has increasingly more benefits (on Windows, soon, too), simply because all major CPU manufacturers have dual core CPUs in their roadmaps, hence more and more effort will be put in threading software, so you benefit even more from a second CPU.

[greenmeanie]

come on if your not running a server where there is a high load of traffic there is no reason to own a DP.

[OreoCookie]

Originally posted by greenmeanie:
come on if your not running a server where there is a high load of traffic there is no reason to own a DP.

I'm not sure you understand the technological details of these things ...

Especially for people who encode videos (that includes even iDVD) benefit from a second CPU. Also, even if you have a server that has a high load, you don't necessarily need a second CPU (e. g. if your server is connected to a `slow' SDSL line). Even slow CPUs are plenty to saturate a 100 MBit line.

And besides, the development of new CPUs goes down that road anyway. If (for a little more) you get a computer which is considerably faster (i. e. it has a longer life span), then why not?

[Groovy]

Originally posted by greenmeanie:
come on if your not running a server where there is a high load of traffic there is no reason to own a DP.

haha you must be trolling because you are so wrong.

encoding video and audio much faster.
games much faster
3D work much faster
OS much faster (example main app gets 100% of 1 CPU while OS does quartz, GUI
and what not on the other CPU)
and yes by golly even photoshop is much faster
etc...

even non dual CPU aware apps are faster because all OS tasks and e-mail
checking and other stuff can be on one CPU while your non aware app gets
100% of the other CPU.

I have even seen greater than 2x speed up on apps. Most people
their first thought is IMPOSSIBLE and they would be wrong. We have some
single CPU boxes where the the main app was using 80% and everything else
was using 20% of the CPU. We moved to Dual boxes and the main app
was now getting 100% of 1 CPU and 80% of the other CPU and the rest
was getting the same 20%. the main app now received

80% + 100% and thus more than doubled its performance.

if you happen to be running 2 apps that need a lot of CPU then Dual
CPU is a must. Example: encoding video while also encoding audio
at the same time. A very common event where i work.

I would never buy a single CPU box. You get so much more with just a little
more money being spent. Tiger makes Dual CPUs even more efficient.

[d.fine]

Originally posted by gururafiki:
When you read about people's computers being Snappy™, then it is most likely because they have a dual processor machine.

I love my Dual 2.0 G5. At work there's a single 2.0 PC that I 'have' to use (thank god I get to take my pb) and it suck! I hate that machine, if I dare to open Illustrator and Photoshop at the same time, I'll be spinning my fingers for 15 minutes just to save a 50mb file. At home on G5 that takes about 10 seconds with a lot more apps open! DP rules.

[barang]

Roughly what percentage increase in speed is there for DP machines? Obviously you can't add two 2.0 ghz CPU's and get 4.0 ghz, due to
other factors. But would two 2.0's be about the same speed as a single 3.0 would be?

[MORT A POTTY]

Originally posted by barang:
Roughly what percentage increase in speed is there for DP machines? Obviously you can't add two 2.0 ghz CPU's and get 4.0 ghz, due to
other factors. But would two 2.0's be about the same speed as a single 3.0 would be?

definitely... and that's with a G4! (provided you can OC one to those speeds)

the G5s I hear have better SMP support, so I'd expect about a 70 percent increase.

[Catfish_Man]

Originally posted by barang:
Roughly what percentage increase in speed is there for DP machines? Obviously you can't add two 2.0 ghz CPU's and get 4.0 ghz, due to
other factors. But would two 2.0's be about the same speed as a single 3.0 would be?

It's totally dependent on what you're doing. Obviously the best you can get is a 100% improvement, but in the real world that rarely if ever happens. Worst case is probably around 5%, with various little background tasks being offloaded to the second CPU. For stuff like 3D rendering, or various video tasks, you'll get almost the full speed improvement. For general usage, you'll get some speed improvement, and also a responsiveness improvement because it'll be able to do two things at once instead of switching things rapidly to give the illusion of doing more than one thing at once.

[power142]

The dual processor model is worth it if the machine will do lots of heavy lifting ie running processor intensive applications frequently or for extended periods of time. It helps keep the machine usable while it is performing the calculations it needs to do.

Whether it is worth it economically is another question..... everything comes at a price, and it depends on whether you can justify the extra cost for a value-added item. Many people are very happy with their single processor machines - remember, these account for most Macs sold whether they are eMacs, iMacs, iBooks or Powerbooks. Dual processor models are the cream of the crop, and carry the price tag to prove it

[macaddict0001]

Originally posted by barang:
Roughly what percentage increase in speed is there for DP machines? Obviously you can't add two 2.0 ghz CPU's and get 4.0 ghz, due to
other factors. But would two 2.0's be about the same speed as a single 3.0 would be?

They would be more than that, usually there is a 75 to 90 percent speed up. so more than single 3. Personally I would take a dual 1.8 over a single 2.5 if it were to exist.

[greenmeanie]

if you look at the computer specs the DP's have a better bus speed which makes it "snappy" give that bus speed to the single and it will be snappy also

use a SCSI drive in a single cpu mac and it will feel "snappy"

and like i said is the dual prosessor worth the 3 sec advantage (guessing at this) its your wallet.

i think most people can do just fine with a single processor if they would give you the DP's bus speeds.

[iREZ]

Didn't they in the first single 1.6 G5 and 1.8G5 models (granted the 1.6 had less seing how its 200MHz slower)?

[Tarcat]

I have an old G4 533 dual. Its still plenty quick for everyday use. Great machine.