Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

olePigeon · May 17, 2006, 11:41 AM

The Intel thread got me thinking. Why is the G5 motherboard seemingly so simplistic compared to the Intel/AMD motherboards? Were Apple and IBM/Motorola able to condense technologies into a fewer amount of chips to control things?

The differences are astounding for similar technologies. I wonder if Apple can bring some of that to Intel. Those PC motherboards are atrocious. Of course, you're generally not suppose to see the motherboard.

SSharon · May 17, 2006, 12:14 PM

If you weren't supposed to see it why make it so color coded and pretty? And why have a clear door on the G5s?

JK of course, but I think the reason is that the intel board has more features (like wifi) not that ibm and apple are so brilliant.

ghporter · May 17, 2006, 12:35 PM

Um.....That bottom board looks a whole lot like just about any micro-ATX Intel/AMD PC motherboard on the market. The yellow connectors at bottom left are USB, the red ones near bottom center are SATA, there's a floppy (black) connector, with two IDE controller connectors (green and white for primary and secondary) above it. Right next to the floppy connector is an ATX power supply connector. I've never seen a board like the top one. Which is suppposed to be which?

Mister Elf · May 17, 2006, 12:45 PM

Porter:
The top is a G5 motherboard, the bottom is a PC mobo.

Pigeon:
The G5 motherboard is "simplistic" because all of the components are on the other side of the board

.

ghporter · May 17, 2006, 12:47 PM

Originally Posted by Mister Elf

Porter:
The top is a G5 motherboard, the bottom is a PC mobo.

Of course it is. But SSharon seems to have had other thoughts.

Originally Posted by Mister Elf

Pigeon:
The G5 motherboard is "simplistic" because all of the components are on the other side of the board

.

That's pretty darn obvious; IOTTMCO as one of my calc teachers would put it.

olePigeon · May 17, 2006, 01:45 PM

Does someone have a picture of the reverse side of the G5 motherboard?

Lateralus · May 17, 2006, 02:11 PM

Aside from the heat pipe, it's as clean on the back as it is on the front.

Mister Elf · May 17, 2006, 02:11 PM

I was answering Pigeon with the last one; he specifically asked why the G5 motherboard was more simple than the x86 motherboard.

olePigeon · May 17, 2006, 02:16 PM

Originally Posted by Mister Elf

I was answering Pigeon with the last one; he specifically asked why the G5 motherboard was more simple than the x86 motherboard.

And judging from the reverse side, it would appear that it truely is simplistic.

Could an integrated video chipset make that much of a difference?

Lateralus · May 17, 2006, 02:22 PM

Nope. And from what I can tell, the PC board you pictured doesn't even have one.

tooki · May 17, 2006, 03:03 PM

Well, remember that the PC mobo takes the CPU directly; on the G5, some of the support components for the CPU are on the processor module rather than the mobo.

tooki

Millennium · May 17, 2006, 03:11 PM

Does anyone have an picture of an Intel/Mac motherboard for comparison?

Lateralus · May 17, 2006, 03:21 PM

iMac G5 - Version 1
iMac G5 - Version 2
iMac Core Duo

olePigeon · May 17, 2006, 03:33 PM

Wow, the iMac G5 and the iMac Duo look very similar.

Maybe the G5 Tower was unique.

G4ME · May 17, 2006, 11:44 PM

for the G5 vs the ATX you also have to consider the size of the boards, the G5 has more area so they can spread it out, where the ATX form factor confines the manufacture to compress and tighten up the usage of space.

Lateralus · May 18, 2006, 12:57 AM

Bigger or not, there's still nowhere near as many chips.

Scotttheking · May 18, 2006, 01:12 AM

Apple uses a kitchen sink design, most things are on one chip. Also, the Mac has a lot less on the board (less connectors, etc.) than the PC.
Finally, there is a lot more surface area and chips are on both sides, making it look a lot cleaner.
A lot of what is around the CPU socket of the PC, plus the socket itself, are on a daughtercard on the Mac.
It all makes it look a lot cleaner when in reality it is wasted space and less 'stuff'.

Spliffdaddy · May 18, 2006, 08:45 AM

The Apple motherboard is twice as big, has components divided between both sides, and lacks a CPU/voltage regulator.

The component count appears to be similar on both boards.

Obi Wan's Ghost · May 18, 2006, 08:47 AM

PC mobos rule!

olePigeon · May 18, 2006, 11:45 AM

Originally Posted by Spliffdaddy

The Apple motherboard is twice as big, has components divided between both sides, and lacks a CPU/voltage regulator.

The component count appears to be similar on both boards.

It's still ugly.

Lateralus · May 18, 2006, 11:59 AM

Originally Posted by Spliffdaddy

The component count appears to be similar on both boards.

The PC board has components on the backside as well.

CRASH HARDDRIVE · May 18, 2006, 12:15 PM

Clearly PC motherboard makers are limited by the fact that every board design must pack its components onto a board that fits the form factor. I recognize the PC board as a Gigabyte right off- from the graveyard of their old proprietary connector to the right of the CPU slot. They still haven't designed it out of their boards yet, and made use of that space.

Apple can stretch out a bit, because they can design a custom board for their own case design.

It would be interesting on the PC side to have a newer and larger form-factor to accommodate things like SLI and tons of I/O slots without sacrificing anything, but probably the expense is too high, vs. the need.

For anyone that really knows component design: what, if any, is the real-world advantage of having circuitry on both sides of a motherboard? (And please, no one say anything about looks. Most people could give a damn what a motherboard looks like-which is all subjective anyway, I'm talking performance-wise). The risers in the G5 must be colossal to have that entire heat-pipe assembly on the underside- but it's certainly interesting.

CRASH HARDDRIVE · May 18, 2006, 12:24 PM

Originally Posted by Lateralus

The PC board has components on the backside as well.

Actually, that particular Gigabyte board doesn't.

Spliffdaddy · May 18, 2006, 01:40 PM

Originally Posted by Lateralus

The PC board has components on the backside as well.

There isn't enough room to add components to the backside. It won't meet ATX specifications if there is more than 1mm of protrusion past the mounting holes.