Next revision of G5 specs

pwharff

pwharff

Registered
I have been waiting for newer G5's to come out and am curious as to any predictions for the G5 specs for all 3 models? Also, when do you think it will happen? Here's my predictions (I hope :)):

1.8GHz PowerPC G5 -- $1799.00
900MHz frontside bus
512K L2 cache
1MB L3 cache
256MB DDR400 128-bit SDRAM
Expandable to 4GB SDRAM
120GB Serial ATA
SuperDrive
Three PCI Slots
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra
64MB DDR video memory
56K internal modem

Dual 2GHz PowerPC G5 -- $2199.00
1GHz frontside bus
512K L2 cache
1MB L3 cache
512MB DDR400 128-bit SDRAM
Expandable to 8GB SDRAM
160GB Serial ATA
SuperDrive
Three PCI-X Slots
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra
64MB DDR video memory
56K internal modem

Dual 2.5GHz PowerPC G5 -- $2799.00
1GHz frontside bus
512K L2 cache/processor
1MB L3 cache
1GB DDR400 128-bit SDRAM
Expandable to 8GB SDRAM
160GB Serial ATA
SuperDrive
Three PCI-X Slots
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 Ultra
128MB DDR video memory
56K internal modem

And maybe at the end of November, beginning of December (just in time for Christmas).
 
As much as I would love for that timeline to be true, I don't think it's realistic. With G5 just now shipping in quantity, Aple would never offer a speed bump this soon. That would be suicide because customers would be more willing to wait and Aple can't have people waiting forever.

At EARLIEST will be in January at whatever expo they usually have at the end of January. But, I'm thinking spring 2003 will be the next batch. March or April.

2.5 is too optimistic. I'm thinking 2.2, maybe 2.3.
 
Indeed MWSF seems more likely. Jobs said something about 3GHz within a year, so it's not entirely unrealistic to hope for 2.5 GHz within a half year.
 
Your forgetting, the bus speed is always half of the processor speed. So the bus speed of a 2.6 Ghz processor would be 1.3 Ghz. Although the rest sounds awsome to me:D
 
I also see 2.5 GHz by January. However, I think Apple will have enough of the faster chips by then to offer the middle model as 2.2 GHz DUAL and lowend as a single 2 GHz model. From every test I've seen so far it's clear that it's the duals you want. And by making the middle model dual (but still keeping a good MHz gap), they can make more money, since now people also drop back to the lowend model instead of buying the middle one, when they can't afford the highend model.
 
Originally posted by Cat
Indeed MWSF seems more likely. Jobs said something about 3GHz within a year, so it's not entirely unrealistic to hope for 2.5 GHz within a half year.
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same thing, that's why I thought of dual 2.5 and MWSF does sound more likely.

Originally posted by Stridder44
Your forgetting, the bus speed is always half of the processor speed. So the bus speed of a 2.6 Ghz processor would be 1.3 Ghz.
Click to expand...

Where is your proof of this? Yes I know that this is the case now, but upping the system bus is not as trivial as upping the CPU freq. The only reason the 2 current lower models have slower system bus is because thier full throughput of 1GHz was lowered to 8 and 9 hundred MHz for marketing reasons (although I may be wrong). I work for AMD (who helped find HyperTransport) and we have 1.6's, 1.8's and 2.2's running with a 1GHz system bus.
 
One minor note: the G5 does NOT support L3 cache because the system bus runs at half the processor speed, which is what L3 cache runs at anyway. I'd like to see the L2 cache expanded to 2MB or perhaps 4MB. Then I think Apple would command a lead far more difficult for Wintel world to approach, for a long, long time. Of course this would increase the cost of manufacturing substantially, and may even step into the Power 4's computational territory.
 
hmmmm, no one mentioned the GPU. Ok, it's more fun to talk about the G5, but the graphical unit can raise some speed as well. NVidia or Ati?
 
Didn't Steve say at the Apple Expo when the G5 was introduced that their would be a 3Ghz within a year of the release.
 
Hmmm. I'd like to say NVidia for the GPU by Jan, MWSF. Also I'll stick my neck out and say 2.4 GHz dually, 2.2 GHz single, 2.0 GHz single so Apple can brag their entire pro line is at or above 2.0 GHz. And it might allow them to put out a 1.x GHz G5 iMac. I heard IBM's 0.9 um transition is running on schedule. And they'll probably get a 1.1 GHz 750GX powered iBook out the door by then too.
 
I'm going to guess NVidia. Apple has always commented on the performance of NVidia over ATI. But who knows? :)

As for the G5s...Apple wil probably update them in January is my guess. They probably want to get as much power out as possible, but still allow people to get their hands on a model and have time to actually enjoy their hard earned G5. :D
 
Originally posted by chemistry_geek
One minor note: the G5 does NOT support L3 cache because the system bus runs at half the processor speed, which is what L3 cache runs at anyway. I'd like to see the L2 cache expanded to 2MB or perhaps 4MB. Then I think Apple would command a lead far more difficult for Wintel world to approach, for a long, long time. Of course this would increase the cost of manufacturing substantially, and may even step into the Power 4's computational territory.
Click to expand...

This was more of a joke than anything else. Your were the first to notice. =)
 
Steve Jobs promised 3 Ghz G5's by next summer, so they're going to have to make some significant updates soon to increment up to that. So they very well may have 2.5 Ghz G5's at MWSF (which is the January event, annually).
 
Steve also promised the first batch of G5s sooner than they delivered.

3G G5s may exist next summer, but they won't ship until the Fall, much like this year.

Yes, a speed bump will happen in January, but it won't be 2.5 gig. Mark my words. October 22, 2003, mindbend says no 2.5 G5s in January. It's not going to happen.

If I'm wrong, feel free to shove it in my face. I won't mind, cuz I'll be enjoying my new 2.5 gig G5. ;)

[I'm pretty sure I'm buying whatever they announce as the top G5 in January. Put me down for 2.2…that's right, we're debating over a 12% speed difference.]
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top