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Arkham_c · Nov 2, 2003, 12:16 AM

I'm wondering if there is a G5-optimized RC5 out yet? I don't see one on distributed.net but I was curious. Anyone heard anything?

chris v · Nov 4, 2003, 02:26 PM

Not optimized, but there's a pre-release client dated 7-28-2003 that will at least run on the G5. Speeds on a dual 2 gig G5 are roughly equivalent to speeds on a 1.42 G4 at this time. No news on an optimized client that I can see. Maybe make some noise on irc.distributed.net.

CV

l008com · Nov 6, 2003, 05:53 AM

I'd stay away from irc.distributed.net if I were you. After talking to friendly macnn'ers on the macnn irc, going to dnet's is a rude awakening. In short, their all super-elitist assholes and there is no question you can ask that won't get ridiculed, and in the end they bitch at you to go look it up elsewhere. Which is funny because they promote their irc channel as a place to get help on their web site.
Also, they have said that the G5 will over very little speed boost vs. a G4, on a MHz per MHz scale. I on the other hand, don't believe them and I bet that a really well optimized G5 core will blow a G4 away similar to the way a G4 blows a G3 away, though not nearly as bad as the way a G4 blows a pentium away :-D.

Scotttheking · Nov 6, 2003, 10:18 AM

Originally posted by l008com:

Also, they have said that the G5 will over very little speed boost vs. a G4, on a MHz per MHz scale. I on the other hand, don't believe them and I bet that a really well optimized G5 core will blow a G4 away similar to the way a G4 blows a G3 away, though not nearly as bad as the way a G4 blows a pentium away :-D.

And I say that a straight altivec based core will be slower clock per clock then on the 7450/7455.

chris v · Nov 10, 2003, 09:57 PM

Originally posted by l008com:
I'd stay away from irc.distributed.net if I were you. After talking to friendly macnn'ers on the macnn irc, going to dnet's is a rude awakening. In short, their all super-elitist assholes and there is no question you can ask that won't get ridiculed, and in the end they bitch at you to go look it up elsewhere. Which is funny because they promote their irc channel as a place to get help on their web site.

Wow, everyone at irc.distributed.net has been pretty friendly to me. I've asked questions, and gotten straight answers pretty quick, and it's pretty funny sometimes, too. People post all sorts of bizzare links there I wouldn't see anywhere else. If you just had one bad experience, give it another shot. They're not all Mac-heads, but quite a few of the project staff are.

CV

l008com · Nov 10, 2003, 10:05 PM

I have one bad experience every time I visit. Extremely rude, "elitist" types. Nothing like the MacNN channel where people will simply talk to you and answer a question if you ask and they know the answer. What kills me is that they promote their channel from their web site as a place to get help/ask questions, but anything you seem to talk about thats related to dnet, pisses people off that you simply didn't look it up somewhere else.

discstickers · Nov 14, 2003, 04:41 PM

Originally posted by Scotttheking:
And I say that a straight altivec based core will be slower clock per clock then on the 7450/7455.

I believe the initial Ars Technica article on the G5 said that it's AltiVec unit was more similar to the 7400's than the 7450's. Meaning that, all things being equal, the 7450 would beat the 970 at AltiVec tests.

Misanthrope · Dec 24, 2003, 01:47 AM

Originally posted by discstickers:
I believe the initial Ars Technica article on the G5 said that it's AltiVec unit was more similar to the 7400's than the 7450's. Meaning that, all things being equal, the 7450 would beat the 970 at AltiVec tests.

This makes sense. The 7400/7410's had one Altivec unit whereas the 7450's and above have four.

But the G5 can execute about 200+ instructions per cycle, right? I mean, the G4 only does like 16, IIRC. (don't quote me here!)

Scotttheking · Dec 24, 2003, 01:53 AM

Originally posted by Misanthrope:
This makes sense. The 7400/7410's had one Altivec unit whereas the 7450's and above have four.

But the G5 can execute about 200+ instructions per cycle, right? I mean, the G4 only does like 16, IIRC. (don't quote me here!)

No, that's the number of instructions in flight at one time. The G5 can theoretically execute 5 instructions per cycle, but for altivec, it's more like 1 or 2 (for RC5 at least).