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Castor · Feb 19, 2001, 06:08 PM

Hi all, I am very happy with my G4 533. It really screams! Especially the Open GL games like Quake III Arena & Star Wars Racer look like whole new updates on my G4 compared to my G3 300 Mhz. Wowee! Apple has made a killer Mac allright!

However, since I know there are always (very) early adaptors:
Has anyone tried overclocking a 2001 G4 yet? Any results?

Shamir · Feb 19, 2001, 06:40 PM

Hey I couldn't help but notice that you have the same computer that i want to buy. I just want to know how it is, and the ups and downs. Thanks

Shamir

bluedog · Feb 19, 2001, 07:10 PM

I would be curious if anyone has the spec.s on how to overclock these machines.

I have the dual533, would the clocking take care of both processors? Or are the boards that hold the processors different and may require different methods for overclocking?

BTW, the new G4s are lightning fast. The bus speed helps alot and the Radeon card gives the best performance I've ever seen on a mac.

Can't wait for the FSAA, when ATI updates their drivers and Apple incorporates FSAA (full-scene anti aliasing) into their OpenGL drivers.

Hip, hip, hooray! Its good to hear the 733s are shipping!

Castor · Feb 19, 2001, 07:42 PM

I sure know how that feels Shamir, I have had the same feeling while reading the reviews and opinions on this mighty Mac!
While I am using it for a few weeks now, I have put it through the motions for just a week. The first week was mainly transitioning files from my beige G3 and Blueberry iBook and installing stuff.

The G4 is a real dream. Its hd is very quiet and superfast! DV worthy if you ask me! After discussing it in this great forum, I have partitioned the disk in 4 partitions: OS9.1/apps, Scratch/temp, Documents and one for OSX The Geforce Nvidia card is IMHO, contrary to popular(?) belief, one helluva graphics card! Especially in games it blows me away, but its 2D accellaration is great too, much better than the ATI Rage pro in the beige G3 !

People may see that as a lame comparison, I am very pleased with the difference. The 128 mb is much better than the 64 of old, but you should upgrade the memory to 256 if you plan to use it professionally!

Together with my 15" LCD Apple display and the Pro Speakers, it adds up to the best Mac I have ever used!

A big thumbs up for the ADC connection! Everyday I set myself behind my desk and take a satisfied look at this configuration accompanied by my trusty iBook and some peripherals. And a last detail: the powerswitch has gotten a different color from the Sawtooth cases: it matches the LCD's switch and lights up in white!

As for buying advice, I think it is this way: The 667 and 733 are too expensive for my (oneman) designstudio's budget. The DVD writer is great, but wouldn't make me money yet. The dual processor is a more difficult decision;my guess is that multiprocessing won't take off before OSX has really been backed with all killer-apps. (Adobe, Macromedia, Maya ...)
This will take at least a year, while we work in classic mode

This means I have to pay for 2 yrs of MP power, since I use my Macs for barely 3 years. I am guessing my next mac will be a 2Ghz G5 MP?

Hope this helps!

Castor · Feb 19, 2001, 07:48 PM

Bluedog,

Do you know if this FSAA will wlso be featured with the Geforce MX card when using Open GL?

It sure is good to hear that the 733s are shipping! Apple keep up the good work and crush those Luna-tics when you launch OSX. Macromedia, Adobe get those apps ready this summer. And while I am addressing that... keep the uograde prices reasonable! How about *free* for users of the most recent versions?

Shamir · Feb 19, 2001, 10:33 PM

Thanks Castor :-). This is my 2nd Mac, my first was the Performa 400 w/o cd-rom support and modem :-p. I am very scared in buying the Mac. I do not know if it is the right move. My heart says to get it; while my mind tells me to be cautious.

I have a 17inch Multimedia Moniter which I will use w/ my PowerMac 533 and I will use my Altec Lansing 3 piece speakers w/the sub. I have my Road Runner cable connection so I am set with that also. As for software is my concern. I do alot of free-lance graphics work and HTML work. I am getting into video editing also which is a plus for the Mac. I know Mac's are perfect for the thinkers :-p, and the media extremists. I am also a real music listener and iTunes and Soundjam are there for my needs. I use Photoshop, and Dreamweaver most of the time with my media. I want to learn the iMovie thing b/c I do know that I will be doing alot of Movie editing this year with my film class which is a very good thing to have! I am so excited in getting it b/c I have seen iMovie and it is amazing.

How is the performance? Anything I should know that is bad about it? And some of the great things? Please help me!

Shamir

Shamir · Feb 19, 2001, 10:36 PM

I will probably partion mine into OS9/apps, Scratch etc like yers. Documents like graphics, word processing files and movies :-). The last will be for OS X! I have it all figured out.

I heard the G4 533 Mhz would be equavilent to the speed of the 1.2 ghz pentium, then i heard it would be equavalent to about 800 mhz + the new wiring config Mac has which makes it like 1.5 ghz. Is this true?

Jsnuff1 · Feb 20, 2001, 01:19 AM

just a little note, g4 533's are overclocked g4 500, apple didnt want people to think its really the same proccessor so they just overclocked the remaining 7400 500's to 533

doug young · Feb 20, 2001, 03:19 AM

The last will be for OS X! I have it all figured out.

Be careful: I read that your system must be in the first 8?Gig of the disk to boot, can anyone confirm the limit?

bluedog · Feb 20, 2001, 10:00 AM

Castor, I believe once Apple implements the OpenGL any vendor should be able to support and use it. So the short answer is, "I don't know, but I' pretty sure it will be implemented."

If anyone knows how FSAA needs to be implemented to work, please post!

As for OSX requiring to be in the first 8GB of drive space. I'm sure by the release that will be taken out as a requirement. For anyone who has been following the 'beta' discussions, there are many features and requirements from each build that are moving targets.

If that doesn't happen in the 1.0 it surely will by any update to the OS.

Vive la Macintosh!

zac4mac · Feb 20, 2001, 10:47 AM

The G4 500's are running a 100 MHz FSB and a 5x multiplier. The 533's are the same chip with a 133 FSB and a 4x multi. My DP 500 is running at 550 after changing the multi to 5.5x and I would think you could get at least 4.5x on the new ones, bumping the speed to almost 600.

It's early and my math sux...think that's right now.

[This message has been edited by zac4mac (edited 02-20-2001).]

Feb 21, 2001, 03:17 PM

Originally posted by Jsnuff1:
just a little note, g4 533's are overclocked g4 500, apple didnt want people to think its really the same proccessor so they just overclocked the remaining 7400 500's to 533

that is incorrect. The G4 533s are actually underclocked 550mhz G4 7410 processors.

spicyjeff · Feb 21, 2001, 08:02 PM

No. The 466 and 533 are still 7400 cpus. Check your resources, the 7410 is not even rated to 550 by Motorola so how can it be undercloacked to 533? Apple is using 7400/500 chips at 533.

Feb 22, 2001, 01:50 AM

Originally posted by doug young:
Be careful: I read that your system must be in the first 8?Gig of the disk to boot, can anyone confirm the limit?

I just bought a G4 500 DP with a 40GB Disk. I partitioned the disk into 4 10GB partitions, with OSX PB on the fourth partition. I have no problems booting into OSX.

Feb 22, 2001, 03:22 AM

For what it's worth, from what I understand your 533 motorola 7410 chip is certainly well made and could run nicely up to 600mhz. This would void the warranty, of course, and maybe you would want to delay any voiding until the system is broken in a bit, but I read that it is possibly a faster chip than the 533mhz label implies.

In fact, is the 533mhz 7410 chip similar benchmarks to the 667mHz V'Ger? I guess no one knows yet. Even with the separated Altivec units in the VGer, it could be close.

schalliol · Feb 22, 2001, 03:26 AM

Jsnuff1, I just want to say that "apple didnt want people to think its really the same proccessor", but they couldn't even make it run at 500 since it's using the 133 bus. I suppose they could force the bus down to 100 (perhaps), but that wouldn't be smart. Sure they're noting that it's faster than a 500 (and is), but you make it sound like they're trying to decieve the customer.

Feb 22, 2001, 08:56 AM

Originally posted by spicyjeff:
No. The 466 and 533 are still 7400 cpus. Check your resources, the 7410 is not even rated to 550 by Motorola so how can it be undercloacked to 533? Apple is using 7400/500 chips at 533.

Gauge pro indicates that my dual g4 533 is using 7410 G4 processors. The 7410 is rated to 550mhz at this time.

[This message has been edited by Michael Orticari (edited 02-22-2001).]

Mrmac · Mar 1, 2001, 07:04 PM

My G4 533 with Newer Gauge pro says a PPC 7400 at 533 MHz.

Get the right info please...

On the chip, physically, it says PPC 7400

------------------
Sebastien Richard
Senior Mac Technician
SRS Technologie
[email protected]

Mar 1, 2001, 07:16 PM

Michael Orticari is right
dual 533 ships with 7410
single 533 ship with 7400

Bugs Bunny · Mar 2, 2001, 12:33 AM

My G4 533 just arrived, and Gauge Pro reports:
PowerPC 7410 (G4)

Sinemacula · Mar 2, 2001, 03:20 PM

Yup - my dual 533 has the PowerPC 7410s in it.

olePigeon · Mar 2, 2001, 08:35 PM

Ditto. So does that leave room for overclocking to maybe 550 or even 600MHz?

Mrmac · Mar 2, 2001, 09:37 PM

Don't know about you guys, but i'm not willing to solder stuff on my motherboard and risk killing it for just a 17 MHz boost???????????????

Get real!

------------------
Sebastien Richard
Senior Mac Technician
SRS Technologie
[email protected]

milhouse · Mar 5, 2001, 01:08 AM

guys,
Check out xlr8yourmac.com forums.
In the cpu upgrade section of the forum there is a thread about the successful OC from dual 533 to
DP 600.

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c0rvette · Mar 5, 2001, 10:57 AM

my g4 533 single is a 7410, it says so in gauge pro

mrchin · Mar 6, 2001, 11:48 AM

I feel so archaic with my DP 450. How fast can you overclock that thing, like only 466? Maybe I could overclock it to 500 and then sell it for some extra cash and get the Dual 533s.

Mar 6, 2001, 03:22 PM

You will only be able to overclock the processor in .5*bus speed increments. Meaning the next higher speed above 450mhz that you would be overclock to would be 500mhz. If you do sell the machine as a 500mhz machine you SHOULD say that it is overclocked, since, obviously, a machine that is overclocked running at 500mhz many not be as stable as a machine which is not overclocked running at 500mhz.

milhouse · Mar 6, 2001, 03:39 PM

Remember that you are not going to see a huge difference between a DP450 and a DP533 in terms of raw speed.
Prolly in the neighborhood of 10% +/-., depending on the apps you are running.

A new G4 will get you the gigabit ethernet and the 133 system bus which gives you access to any available DP cards based on that bus speed/multiplier.

Don't get MHz happy...