On Sep 9, 2009, at 1:20 PM, ah...clem wrote:
> > Bruce Johnson wrote: >> Len and Andreas clearly have more recent experience than I on this >> subject; I'd go with their recommendations and stick to the Dual 1 >> Gig. > > i can only add my personal experience. i do not use the apps you > mention. i do use apps (gaussian and spartan) that do very CPU > intensive tasks, that can take hours, days, weeks, or months to > execute a single instruction. there is no limit, really, other than > the size of the task given them, and my willingness to wait for the > answer. the computers that perform these computations are dedicated > machines. i never have other apps open when the computations are in > progress. i compared a QS/933 to a QS/1GDP and found that on > computations that required several hours to complete, the 933MHz was > (within 0.5%) exactly 93.3% as fast as the dual 1 gig. snip You hit the secret here, You have a dedicated machine for one app, but most people use their Mac for everything. Sounds like 2 things are going on with your machines: 1) The apps are not dual processor aware. Most apps are. Even VLC player is and will split the load across the 2 processors of a dual. 2) You are not doing anything with these systems while the apps are running. Since they do not appear to be dual processor aware, they are running at about 100% utilization on one processor, and the other is sitting near 0% I bet. To really see the difference, try viewing a video while they are crunching away on the other app. My guess is that the single 933 will be choking on trying to do that, while the dual will have very little problem. My DA with a single 933 had trouble playing back even the smallest H. 264 encoded video. With a dual 1.2 I can play them at full screen with no problems. Len --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
