page 7
Segment Two -
Processor
Performance Boosts
November
1st , 2003
Time to replace
the original radiator and this is trickier than you’d think. After
you slab on some heat transfer compound you have to position the finned
radiator on the processor and carefully replace the two spring clips.
Sounds easier then it is and the Sonnet’s Motorola G4 chip isn’t
in the exact same position in relation to the finned radiator pad that
the original processor was. Consequently, the radiator’s contact
pad is not centered over the processor for optimal cooling.
The contact pad on the Apple heat sink isn't centered
on the Sonnet's kit G4 processor chip Click pic
for enlargement.
For the price that Sonnet charges for the Encore/ST kits (about 10 –15% more than the highest competitor), we really think that they should include their own finned radiator with a fan for optimal processor cooling. If you’d disconnected any cables, reconnect them and button up the case and plug things in. It’s time to turn on the revitalized G4 Sawtooth (or similar model) and see how much improvement we have.
After installing
the new processor and also the new video card (discussed later) we ran
some benchmark applications like Xbench, and SpeedRun for OS X. Speed
RunX placed the single processor G4 1.25GHz Sonnet Encore/ST just 5.29%
slower than two brand new G4 Dual 1.25GHz PowerMacs.
Red dot indicates Sonnet
Encore/ST G4 kit PowerMac
This is pretty darn
respectable, considering that you’re comparing an old Sawtooth with
a 100MHz bus compared (59.8% slower than) to a 2003 “Mirror Door”
model with a 167MHz bus! Hmm, so much for the bus bandwidth argument eh?
Also consider that both G4 1.25GHz were dual processor models. Has Apple
over sold the dual processor’s capabilities?
X-Bench marks, which reports over-all system speed (not just the processors speed value in isolation, as SpeedRun does), shows the upgraded Sawtooth performance as being almost 40% slower than the Dual Processor G4 1.25 PowerMac. But in X-Bench test, the huge difference in RAM type (Double Data Rate vs. Single) and bandwidth (333MHz DDR-RAM vs. 100MHz SDR-RAM) is the killer for the older PowerMac’s, even with the new processor.
GigaDesign
G-celerator (‘G’ for great) -
The G-celerator GC5-1000-D2 is an impressive daughter card replacement
for the G4 PowerMacs. You’ve not likely seen anything else like
it’s design if you’re familiar with ones from the other major
upgrade kit makers and we liked it a lot! It’s sexy, quiet even
with the cooling fan running and it’s capable of over-clocking.
Removal of the original
Apple G4 processor module is the same as we covered with the previous
kit. Placing the 1GHz G-celerator onto the card standoffs posts is simple
and clean. Since the kit has it’s own processor cooling assembly,
you will not be reusing the original radiator from the original Apple
G4 processor.
GigaDesign G-celerator GC5-1000-D2 installed, ready to
go
The card provides it’s own power to run the fan atop the copper fin cooling radiator; very nice. There will likely be no need to set jumpers as long as you ordered the right kit for your intended target PowerMac.
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