"Hi Mike,
Over on the Ars forums Ps7Bench results for a dual G5 have been posted. They are better than I thought they would be. Out front by a *very* nice margin. Some of the PS pros say that some of the tests in this bench are hardly ever used (e.g. watercolor filter). Hopefully a new PS bench will appear.
-ADDRAGYN
PS7Bench
Ars thread

Scores (Normalized, higher score is better)

2x 2000 G5 OSX 10.2.7 (G5 plugin) 555 (energy settings highest perf)
2x 3060 Xeon (OC'd 2400)          488
2x 2930 Xeon (OC'd 2400)          471
   3200 P4 (800MHz)               427
   3000 P4 (800MHz)               405
   3495 P4 (OC'd 3.06)            386
   3060 P4 XP Pro (533 FSB)       358 HT
2x 2200 Xeon PC 800 RDRAM CPQ Evo 357 HT
2x 1500 G4 (OC'd 1420)            348
2x 1333 G4 DDR OS9.2 (oc'd 1.25)  346
   1800 G5 OSX 10.2.7 (G5 plugin) 344 (energy settings highest perf)
2x 1420 G4 OSX 10.2.4             338
2x 2400+Athlon MP                 338
2x 1250 G4 OS 9.2.2j              337
   3200+Athlon XP                 332
   1800 Opteron(dual-chnlDDR 333) 332
2x 1333 G4 DDR OSX10.2.2(oc 1.25) 326
   1800 OPteron(singl-chnlDDR333) 320
   3000+Athlon XP                 318
2x 1250 G4 OSX 10.2.5             318
2x 1250 G4 DDR OSX 10.2.1         316
2x 1800 Athlon MP                 312
   2800+Athlon XP Barton          298
2x 2000 P4 Xeon                   286
2x 1200 G4Powerlogix(867MHzG4/QS) 285 upgraded
2x 1533 Athlon MP                 285
2x 1533 Athlon MP                 283
   2530 P4 mobile (OC'd 1400)     282
   2700 P4B (OC 2400, 600 MHz FSB)280
2x 1466 Athlon XP                 279
   1600 G5 OSX 10.2.7w/G5 Plugin  276 *MacNNscores
   2666 P4 (DDR 333)              269
2x 1000 G4 DDR 10.2               267
   2400+Athlon XP                 262
2x 1000 G4 OS9                    260
2x 1000 G4 OSX 10.1.5             254
   2400+Athlon                    252
   2400 P4B (800MHz)              251
   2400b (sis 648 DDR400)         251
   1600 Centrino IBM T40          250
   2400 P4 (533MHz bus)           249
   2400 P4 B                      241
   2340 P4 (overclock)            239
   1600 Centrino Dell D800        236
   2400 P4                        234
   1800+Athlon XP (1533 MHz)      226
   1577 oc'd Athlon XP (Lestat)   221
2x 1000 G4 OSX 10.2.2 (upgraded)  218 ?!(dual 533 logic board)
   1548 Athlon XP                 214
   1670 Athlon XP (2000+)         213
   1667 Athlon XP                 211
   1400 Athlon XP 1600+ xp pro    200
1x 1533 Athlon MP                 197
   1300 Centrino Sony VAIO Z1A    196
   1000 G4 17" Powrbk OSX 10.2.6  196
   2000 P4 Xeon                   194
   1400 Athlon XP 1600+'98SE      191
   1000 G4 OSX TiPbk 10.2.2       185
2x  533 G4 OSX 10.1.5             175
2x  533 G4 OS 9.2.2               174
   1800 P4                        173
   1200 AthlonMP                  168
   1508 Celeron (overclock)       167
   1400 PIII Tualatin             160 **?
2x  550 G4 OSX 10.2.3 (OC Cube)   160 **?
2x  500 G4 OSX                    152
2x  450 G4 OS9                    151
   1333 Athlon TBird              147
2x  450 G4 OSX 10.1.5             143
    800 G4 Pbook OSX  1MB L3      135
    733 G4 (miro7)                134
    667 G4 PBk OS9 noL3           127
    667 G4 PBk OSX 10.2.3 no L3   125
    466 G4 OS9                    123
    667 G4 OSX TiPBk 10.1.5 noL3  121
    866 PIII                      114
    466 G4 OSX 133 MHz bus        112
    550 G4 Powrbk OS9*            104
    500 G4 Pbook (OC'd 400)       103
1x  450 G4 OSX 100 MHz bus        101
   1000 Athlon TBird (PS6.01)     100
    550 G4 Powrbk OSX*             95
    933 Transmeta Crusoe Sony      78
    700 G3 iBook                   74
    600 G3 iBook OS 9.2.2j         70
    233 PII                        30

" It is not quite as easy to set up ram disks on OS X, but it is possible: http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20020530084607311
I have not tested it, but the hint above links to a GUI tool to set up a ram disk:
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/1462
http://www.clarkwoodsoftware.com/rambunctious/ramb2.html (Rambunctious 2.0)
Thanks for creating the absolute best Mac hardware site around! I have enjoyed and used the site more years than I can remember.
-Erik"

"I want to add more details about my experience with the drive (see former drive report dated 9/11/2003)

TOAST 6:
- DVD burning: Buffer Underrun is grayed out (available with CDs)

- Burning 4x DVD media (tried DVD-R) pops up a buffer underrun error after writing Lead-In

I had written a posting at the ROXIO forum and I received a response from a ROXIO specialist as follows:

1) The fact that the drive constantly buffer underruns is a design issue. It has a tiny cache.

2) The fact that we don't currently support BUP (buffer underrun prevention) on that drive is our issue and we know everyone is eagerly awaiting that addition to Toast

I also tried Dragon Burn and it works flawlessly. BUP and 4 x are fully supported.
Cheers, Joachim S."

Based on previous reports, the 1.06 firmware did not solve this problem with Toast 5/6.

" I ordered a Dual G5 with Radeon 9800 and Bluetooth on 6/26 from Apple's Federal Employee Store. Tonight, the online order status updated to "shipped" and I got a Fedex tracking number. No confirmation email yet, though.-Q "

" Mike, Just received an e-mail from Apple (time stamped 12:29 a.m. EDT) that my machine has shipped. I was one of the 09/22 crowd--original order was placed on 06/24--so it seems they're staying ahead of the game for now, especially given the other DPs that have apparently shipped in the last few days . . .
-Dion "

I also recently had a reader mention a strange order experience:

" reporting something interesting...
ordered my dual G5 on June 23rd.... got my order delayed to 9/22 like everyone else...but this morning suprise suprise !! my order status is saying order canceled (never cancelled my order) and right below there is a new order with estimated shipping of 10/22 and 300 can $ down on the price tag
Called apple store and the guy didn't knew why my order was cancelled and re-billed with a rebate but he assured me my order was still in the queue for early shipment... saying he didn't see any dual shipping yet and that all early orders were moved to a special factory for faster shipping... (?) he also told me to disregard the 10/22 est. shipping
so with all this mixed up info i was told, i d like to know if other people has seen there order delayed (again) and given a rebate (without even asking)
this could mean Apple is having a problem with the dual !!??
thx Felix "

As far as I know they are shipping now (since 9/15, depending on the order date and config I suspect). I've heard of free shipping offers or a $75 (I think) discount back when the first delays happened (Aug. 29th). Not sure what happened to your order and hopefully it will ship soon. If anyone else has a similar experience, let me know.

" Just though to let you know that iTV is at version 0.3.1 (http://home.arcor.de/a.thiede/)
Secondly, I got my WinTV Nicam+Radio (uses Bt878, dunno about the right model...) working with it where Xtelevision failed miserably...
Reijo"

I'll add this to the previous page on reports on OS X TV Tuner software/drivers as soon as I can. That page has reader reports from the past on iTV (v0.2), Xtelevision and a beta Formac ProTV driver.

• Powerlogix G4 Dual 1GHz in (gigabit) G4/AGP (rated 9)
• Sonnet G4 1.2GHz in G4 Cube (rated 10)
• XLR8 G4 500MHz in B&W G3 (rated 10)
  (My full reviews of G4 and G3 upgrades w/apps/game tests, install info, etc. are linked here.)

(Warning - Overclocking may not be reliable and could lead to hardware failure or corrupted data.) You can find the full reports by searching the database selecting the indicated Mac model and upgrade card brand/type. If you've upgraded the CPU on your Mac, please post an entry in the database. Search the database for entries from most every upgradable Mac model *before* you buy. (Searchable by mac model/upgrade brand). For detailed reviews with performance tests and install tips, see the CPU Upgrades page.)

DVD+R/RW + DVD-R/RW Drives:
• IDE Pioneer DVR-106 in G4/AGP (OS X)
  (incl. notes on buffer underun problems with Toast6, dragonburn - see news item above for details.)
  (Illustrated CD drive install guide here covers G4 towers up to the Digital Audio Model, Beige G3 MT, and B&W G3 Macs)
  
  Hard Drives:
• Firewire VST 30GB used w/G4 AGP (OS X)
• IDE Western Digital WD800 80GB in G4/Cube (OS X)
• IDE Western Digital WD800JB 120GB in (yikes) G4 no AGP (OS 9.2)
  (Illustrated guide to adding a 2nd HD here in B&W G3 rev2 and G4 towers up to the QuickSilver models.
  IDE articles page RAID section has an illustrated guide for adding 2 more drives in the side bays.)
  
  USB PenDrives:
• USB PNY Atache 256MB used w/G4 AGP (OS X)

You can find full owner reports (latest shown first) by searching the database by drive/brand/interface/mac models (the latest reports are shown first in searches). For guides to installing CD/CDRW/DVD drives or Hard drives in many mac models, see the IDE Articles page. The Firewire articles page also has guides on case kits, installing drives, etc.
If you've added a IDE, SCSI, Firewire or USB hard drive, CDRW, tape drive, etc. make sure you add a report to the database. (If you post an updated entry - make sure you use the same name, etc. as you did before so I can find your past entry. Thanks.)
(Incomplete entries are deleted. Do not post questions in the database, it's for drive reports not questions on what drive to buy - for that try searching the database for reports from owners of your mac model on the drive type/brand/interface, etc. you're interested in.)

• 1 year ago today
• 2 years ago today
• 3 years ago today