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surfdog17 · Jun 23, 2003, 04:02 PM

It was just a matter of time before this thread got started.

I was thinking of getting one of the new 2x 2.0ghz G5's (in my wet dream last night) and I understand it scores very well in floating point performace. Will this provide a huge boast to F@H or any of the other clients?

Shaktai · Jun 23, 2003, 09:20 PM

Originally posted by surfdog17:
It was just a matter of time before this thread got started.

I was thinking of getting one of the new 2x 2.0ghz G5's (in my wet dream last night) and I understand it scores very well in floating point performace. Will this provide a huge boast to F@H or any of the other clients?

Very hard to say at this point. In F@H one of the Mac clients problems is the compiler, but improved floating point should help. Also Gromacs is supposed to see some improvement before too long (a relative term) that should improve altivec performance. --I would think that the improved bus and memory speed would make a big difference on SETI or for that matter, any of the projects. We'll probably begin to know in a couple of months.

SciFrog · Jun 23, 2003, 11:41 PM

Too bad they didn't release them today. I was ready to get one like many others. Our crunching would have taken a nice needed boost.

Scotttheking · Jun 24, 2003, 12:56 AM

The dual is definitely better for DC.

Clients that will get a speedup: Any scientific one.
Clients that won't get much: RC5 (it can be sped up by using both the integer and altivec, but that's fancy coding, and I don't see it happening)

Shaktai · Jun 24, 2003, 02:53 AM

Originally posted by Scotttheking:
The dual is definitely better for DC.

Clients that will get a speedup: Any scientific one.
Clients that won't get much: RC5 (it can be sped up by using both the integer and altivec, but that's fancy coding, and I don't see it happening)

RC5 will need a core written for it as well. I am sure that will happen eventually.

I have been going over the specs, and have to agree that anything that uses floating point will see substantial gains. Once the GCC 3.3 compiler is available, it shouldn't be hard to convince folks to do a recompile for the 970's also.

We're going to have to wait a couple of months, but from what I see, it should be interesting. Damn I really, really want that dual 2.0. I made my mind up after the last time, that I will not buy the low-end again. Better to wait till I can get the high end, and then it will be usable longer. A better return on investment. In the interim I may consider an upgrade card for my 800 which I intend to keep anyway. Prices have been coming down on them.

slipjack · Jun 24, 2003, 11:13 AM

Absolutely Shaktai...

I've been totally happy with my dualie... the only complaint I had was fan noise, and the new machines are QUIETER. That was my real motivation to buy, since speed really hasn't been an issue for me. That, and the brushed aluminum chassie... hardware envy ooo ahh.

slipjack · Jun 24, 2003, 11:14 AM

If money is an issue, though, I still think you should go for a G4 dual. They are fast, powerful and more expandable (extra drive bays, extra media bay) than the new machines, although you can stuff more memory into the G5s. (8gigs!!! like anyone would want to pay just to have that much memory)