Apple Releases Power Mac Based on Dual-Core Processors

by Anton Shilov
10/19/2005 | 04:32 PM

Apple Computer Wednesday finally confirmed adoption of IBM’s recently released dual-core PowerPC 970MP central processing units (CPUs) with its new lineup of Apple Power Mac desktops aimed at users seeking for performance. The series computers boost performance of existing Mac workstations, add PCI Express interconnection to the Macs and also drive Apple’s two-button Mighty Mouse to the mainstream of Apple’s machines.

“The Power Mac G5 Quad delivers the workstation performance our creative and scientific customers demand. With quad-core processing, a new PCI Express architecture, and the fastest workstation card from NVIDIA, the new Power Mac G5 Quad is the most powerful system we’ve ever made,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide product marketing.

The new Apple Power Mac G5 lineup consists of models Dual 2.0GHz, Dual 2.30GHz as well as Quad 2.50GHz. The systems come with 512MB of PC2-4200 memory, which may be expanded to 16GB; NVIDIA GeForce 6600 LE or 6600 graphics cards (depending on the mode); 160GB, 250GB or up to a couple of 500GB hard disk drives; 16x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive as well as other necessary hardware.

Apple allows to configure the new Mac G5 computers according to personal requirements, for instance, acquire NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT with 256MB of GDDR3 memory or NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 with 512MB of memory graphics cards, install more memory or get advanced I/O devices.

According to Apple, four processing engines in the Power Mac G5 Quad 2.50GHz computers deliver ultimate performance boost when compared to the previous flagship Power Mac G5 2.70GHz computers:

• Final Cut Pro 5 encodes SD video content up to 60% faster;
• Adobe Photoshop runs a series of 45 commonly used filters and actions 43% faster;
• Adobe After Effects renders video effects up to 69% faster;
• LightWave 3D renders animation up to 59% faster;
• The scientific benchmark Bioinformatics Benchmark System (BBS version 3) completes a comparison of genomic sequences up to 39%.

Power Mac G5 Quad 2.50GHz will be available in early November at the price starting from $3299. The company continues to supply its Power Mac G5 with two 2.70GHz IBM PowerPC 970FX processors for $3299.

Apple now ships Power Mac G5 Dual with 2.0GHz and 2.30GHz processors for $1999 and $2499 respectively. The company substitutes its computers at the same price-points based on two IBM Power 970FX processors – the Power Mac G5 – clocked at 2.00GHz and 2.30GHz with systems running dual-core chips at the same clock-speeds. The machines with two chips may have advantage over those powered by dual-core microprocessors: computers with two CPUs have independent busses to their chips, whereas dual-core chips share single bus, which may result in lower performance.