Power PC performance evolution

[derFunkenstein]

Hi all,

I’ve seen (and consumed!) a lot of media on how to fix up old Macs but not a lot of info on how performance changed over time. I tried something fun: six different processors from 601 100MHz to G3 400MHz in a PM7600 to try to suss out how performance changed over time. Video has been up for a few weeks but I haven’t really shared it. Hope you dig it.

 

[ClassicHasClass]

You haven't lived until you've tried a 1GHz G4.

And now for something completely different: is the 1GHz Sonnet G4 card worth it?

First of all, ObTenFourFox announcements: we are on track for TenFourFox Feature Parity Release 4 launching with Firefox 57/52.5 (but still ...

tenfourfox.blogspot.com

 

[JDW]

You haven't lived until you've tried a 1GHz G4.

Absolutely!

If you want to run OS X, more specifically Tiger, on a PPC Mac, you really do need something 1GHz or faster to make it "fun usable." The G4 Cube had a stock CPU speed of 450MHz, which was adequate for OS 9, but not for OS X. I later added 1.2GHz and faster CPU cards in my Cubes, which really makes OS 9 light your pants on fire, and Tiger runs very nicely too.

In comparison, I have a PowerMac 9600 with a 400MHz G4 upgrade card installed, and it takes what seems like an eternity to boot even OS 9.

This is also why I've never been a Takky fan and have opted for the Mystic upgrade on my Color Classic. The absolutely fastest PPC Takky is only about 500MHz, which sounds fast relative to the best LC575 board you can find, but again, that's akin to a stock G4 Cube.

This is also why I've never searched for PPC 601 upgrade cards for the LC575 board in my CC, because those are even worse, topping out at about 100MHz. I once had a brand new PM6100 at the office back in the 90's, and man was that thing slow.

This is largely why I am more enthusiastic about 68K Macs than PPC, plus I got my start in 1984 with the 128K Mac, so that's where the nostalgia is for me. PPC is neat to run some old games that simply don't work on my Intel Macs, but again, the fun starts at 1GHz+.

 

[derFunkenstein]

Oh for sure. I have come up completely empty getting a card faster than the 400MHz one I showed. Even those get stupid high prices on eBay these days.