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#1 2007-06-26 9:35 pm
- longrifle
- Member
- Registered: 2003-09-08
- Posts: 118
1 GHZ G3 or 500 MHZ G4???
I want to be able to play itunes video on a B&W G3. Which is better for this purpose. Please no suggestions I just buy a newer Mac. Does the G4 help with video playback more than 500 more MHZ with the G3.
Thanks!
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#2 2007-06-26 10:09 pm
- D'Eyncourt
- OMGDICTATOR
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Re: 1 GHZ G3 or 500 MHZ G4???
I think we'll need some more details:
What video board will be accompanying each of those CPUs? A faster CPU + crappy video may still = crappy playback.
How much RAM with each? Too little RAM can still mean poor performance.
Which version of Mac OS X are you using with each? Depending on which version you are using you can still get poor performance with too little RAM in combination with 10.4 (with the minimum RAM being lower for 10.3). Apple says that 10.4 can work with 256 MBs, but I think you should have a minimum of 1 GB to get adequate performance (I think halve those numbers for 10.3).
BOYCOTT SONY
"I think the question now is not whether you went to Vietnam or whether you didn't, whether you fought in the war or fought against the war. I think the only question is whether we can find a president smart enough never to make a mistake like that again"--Molly Ivins, way back in 1992
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#3 2007-06-27 7:01 am
- longrifle
- Member
- Registered: 2003-09-08
- Posts: 118
Re: 1 GHZ G3 or 500 MHZ G4???
Stock Video Card (ATI Rage 16 MB) I plan to upgrade this.
1 GB of Ram.
10.3 now maybe 10.4 later.
Not than it matters too much for this but it also has a superdrive and two hard drives.
So, G4 500 or G3 1000????
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#4 2007-06-27 7:13 am
Re: 1 GHZ G3 or 500 MHZ G4???
the g3 n use xpostfacto possibly? macsales.com
Core Mini 1.66ghz 2048ram 320gb
DLSuperDrive Tiger uses for stupid intel stuff
12 Aluminum 1.5ghz 1280ram 250gb
SLSuperDrive Panther uses for Logic Express
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#5 2007-06-27 8:44 am
- longrifle
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- Registered: 2003-09-08
- Posts: 118
Re: 1 GHZ G3 or 500 MHZ G4???
NSX wrote:
the g3 n use xpostfacto possibly? macsales.com
Why xpostfacto? The Machine already supports 10.4 and not considering 10.5. Does altivec help with video playback or does raw speed?
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#6 2007-06-27 2:30 pm
- D'Eyncourt
- OMGDICTATOR
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Re: 1 GHZ G3 or 500 MHZ G4???
I would consider upgrading the video first if you can. I think that the 16 MB of video RAM is your bottleneck now.
BOYCOTT SONY
"I think the question now is not whether you went to Vietnam or whether you didn't, whether you fought in the war or fought against the war. I think the only question is whether we can find a president smart enough never to make a mistake like that again"--Molly Ivins, way back in 1992
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#7 2007-06-27 2:42 pm
- Mr. T
- Uses STOS implicitly
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- Registered: 2002-04-02
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Re: 1 GHZ G3 or 500 MHZ G4???
Apple says you need a 1GHz G4 for iTunes video playback. They also mention a "16MB video card" which just tells me that the video card isn't involved in the decoding (probably h.264)
I would guess that iTunes video playback benefits from AltiVec, but I can't say to what degree. Since the G3 and G4 offer comparable performance at similar clock speeds (except in the case of AltiVec) it's impossible to say which would be faster for your purpose.
However, there is something we do know: Since Apple says you need a 1GHz G4 to decode iTunes video at full speed, then we already know that a 500MHz G4 is unsuitable for that purpose. A 1GHz G3 may or may not be suitable, but at least it will increase the overall performance of your machine much more than a 500MHz G4 would.
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#8 2007-06-27 7:24 pm
- longrifle
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- Registered: 2003-09-08
- Posts: 118
Re: 1 GHZ G3 or 500 MHZ G4???
Mr. T wrote:
Apple says you need a 1GHz G4 for iTunes video playback.
WTF! Last I look Apple had G4 500 for video playback. Gawd, even a QS is technically out of the picture! Some how I doubt a G4 between 733 and 1 ghz can't do playback but I would like to hear from others who are running front row or iTunes video on less than a 1 GHZ. Otherwise I'm going for a emac (cheaper than a mini).
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#9 2007-06-28 11:37 pm
Re: 1 GHZ G3 or 500 MHZ G4???
oh sorry don't mind me then i thought tiger was not runnin on it
Core Mini 1.66ghz 2048ram 320gb
DLSuperDrive Tiger uses for stupid intel stuff
12 Aluminum 1.5ghz 1280ram 250gb
SLSuperDrive Panther uses for Logic Express
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#10 2007-06-29 11:31 am
- mrreet2001
- Member
- From: NW Ohio
- Registered: 2005-05-25
- Posts: 2600
Re: 1 GHZ G3 or 500 MHZ G4???
longrifle wrote:
Mr. T wrote:
Apple says you need a 1GHz G4 for iTunes video playback.
WTF! Last I look Apple had G4 500 for video playback. Gawd, even a QS is technically out of the picture! Some how I doubt a G4 between 733 and 1 ghz can't do playback but I would like to hear from others who are running front row or iTunes video on less than a 1 GHZ. Otherwise I'm going for a emac (cheaper than a mini).
if you would post the exact specs / model of the 2 computers in question ... I think that would help.
2.2Ghz BlackMB---15" 2.4Ghz MBP(work)---Dual 2.3Ghz G5 (4G Ram, 2x 250G HD)---1.5GHz Powerbook---1.6Ghz G5 iMac ---500Mhz iMac DV
2.4GHz PC --- 1.2Ghz PC laptop
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#11 2007-06-29 11:38 am
- Pithecanthropus
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- From: St. Cloud, MN
- Registered: 2002-12-30
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Re: 1 GHZ G3 or 500 MHZ G4???
You don't need xpostfacto, that's for beige g-3's.
For what it's worth...
I have a rev 1 B&W running 10.3.9, 1 GB RAM, and a 550 Mhz G4 processor. I have no problem running iTunes, but I don't watch a lot of videos.
Grandfatherly advice: You can drink 'em pretty, but you can't drink 'em smart.
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#12 2007-06-29 1:21 pm
Re: 1 GHZ G3 or 500 MHZ G4???
If the video podcasts count then I have no problem at all watching iTunes vids on my upgraded Gigabyte G4 @900mhz. But then I have a ati 8500/64 which is considerably more video card than they spec.
It has always been my understanding that altivec most came into play in processes like video playback/encoding so if that is true a 1ghz G3 may be considerably less powerful in this particular application.
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#13 2007-07-02 5:38 pm
- NightCougar_37
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Re: 1 GHZ G3 or 500 MHZ G4???
iTunes video is also dependant on HD speeds and access times. I have some choppyness on my 1.8Ghz Cube atm because it needs a Diskwarrior scan.
I think either upgrade would work but if you go a G4, get a 7410 G4 around that speed. Better performance for the $$ vs the 7400s.
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#14 2007-07-04 7:47 am
- loafer
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- Registered: 2000-11-10
- Posts: 271
Re: 1 GHZ G3 or 500 MHZ G4???
h.264 requires a g4 for encoding, 500 g4 won't have smooth playback of video right out of the store - but you could re-encode your video so it can playback on that kind of machine if you are desperate. I can't speak to the 1g g3 - but I would have my doubts also (400 g3 certainly can't do it.)
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#15 2007-07-12 11:09 pm
- Mr. T
- Uses STOS implicitly
- From: omnipresent
- Registered: 2002-04-02
- Posts: 3591
Re: 1 GHZ G3 or 500 MHZ G4???
Pariah wrote:
If the video podcasts count then I have no problem at all watching iTunes vids on my upgraded Gigabyte G4 @900mhz. But then I have a ati 8500/64 which is considerably more video card than they spec.
The R8500 doesn't decode h.264, so 900MHz G4 is the new minimum - at least for podcasts. But there may be other factors such as FSB speed, memory speed, and chip revision, however.
It has always been my understanding that altivec most came into play in processes like video playback/encoding so if that is true a 1ghz G3 may be considerably less powerful in this particular application.
Definitely. It's entirely possible that a G3 at twice the frequency might still be slower when it comes to h.264.
while (1) {fork();}
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#16 2007-07-16 9:03 am
Re: 1 GHZ G3 or 500 MHZ G4???
Adding my two cents:
My 1.467GHz G4 with a gig of RAM and a GeForce4Ti 4600 with 128 megs of VRAM struggles with iTunes videos from time to time. I highly doubt a 500 MHz G4 will be able to play iTunes videos at all.
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#17 2007-08-08 11:29 am
- Hartmut
- Member
- Registered: 2007-07-20
- Posts: 5
Re: 1 GHZ G3 or 500 MHZ G4???
that's interesting. Considering a computer with 500MHz processor and 256RAM could easily play back DVD movies with Dolby. That was my configuration 9 years ago, no issue. And now you need to quadrapole this to play compressed video from iTunes ..
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