G4 and V3

[jasonrudolph]

So, if you were in a situation where you had G4 systems from V1 and could not upgrade to G5s just yet, what would you do to maximize performance?
I already have the 9800 pro installed. Is it possible to get 2 or 3 layers to playback on these systems, or do the G4s simply not have enough processing power? I am looking for ideas that I could possibly transfer over to a G5 once I can upgrade, maybe a drive array?

Thanks

[samsc]

So, if you were in a situation where you had G4 systems from V1 and could not upgrade to G5s just yet, what would you do to maximize performance?
I already have the 9800 pro installed. Is it possible to get 2 or 3 layers to playback on these systems, or do the G4s simply not have enough processing power? I am looking for ideas that I could possibly transfer over to a G5 once I can upgrade, maybe a drive array?

Thanks

i havent looked at the g4 performance for a while.
ill try and have a look this week.

the main performance problem is hard discs, and its the speed (rpm ) of the discs.
another thing you must do is put your media on a separate disc from the main disc.

you cant install a raptor inside a g4 without a firmtek sata card.
but to get the cheapest improvement i suggest a firmtek card ( if the work in g4's ) and a single raptor.
ill try and test this soon.
that might give you up to 3 layers.

R

[samsc]

So, if you were in a situation where you had G4 systems from V1 and could not upgrade to G5s just yet, what would you do to maximize performance?
Thanks

which g4 do you have?

[samsc]

which g4 do you have?

Do you have a single processor or a dual g4?

[jasonrudolph]

Dual processor 1ghz

[samsc]

Dual processor 1ghz

thats what i have( had ). ill give it a whirl.

[dannyb]

I've been running testing on the G4s in Austin. They seem to be holding up quite well. The biggest issue is still hard drive. I added a Raptor drive to mine and it helped quite a bit. That setup got it as close as I could to the G5 model. I would like to say I could get you more results but that won't be possible since I have no more G4s to test with.

My biggest response to you would be to add a good secondary drive to the system. Keep the operating system and Catalyst/PixelMad software on the current drive and use the secondary drive for content only. That setup has sped up the performance here. It the same basic setup I've been looking at for months. It works very well. You will just have to get a good second drive. It needs to be at least a 10K rpm drive. Most below that just don't have the performance.

Hope this helps.

db

[samsc]

I've been running testing on the G4s in Austin. They seem to be holding up quite well. The biggest issue is still hard drive. I added a Raptor drive to mine and it helped quite a bit. That setup got it as close as I could to the G5 model. I would like to say I could get you more results but that won't be possible since I have no more G4s to test with.

db

can you show a picture of how you installed your sata drive inside a computer with no sata support?

r

[Spam Butterfly]

I've had a 1.25Ghz DP G4 up against my G5. Very similar performance.
The important things here are, as Danny states: Get a decent drive for your media.
10K SCSI drive or something.
Run the latest version of Mac OS X.3.
Get yourself a Radeon 9800.

Hugh

[samsc]

I've had a 1.25Ghz DP G4 up against my G5. Very similar performance.
The important things here are, as Danny states: Get a decent drive for your media.
10K SCSI drive or something.
Run the latest version of Mac OS X.3.
Get yourself a Radeon 9800.

Hugh

disc drives are the limit to performance. and it is not the headline data rate. no IDE drives are good enough. And that includes all current firewire drives.
If you can get a SATA raptor inside an external firewire 800 case - then that would probably help.
Such things are just coming onto the market.
And will help if you are planning on using a laptop.

The latest generation of scsi 10k Atlas iV drives need to be used. or Western digital raptors.
Non-raid works better. and keep the operating system separate.


---

The G5 helps long term timing stability - which means your files will playback more accurately over longer time periods. And it helps with more processor intensive codecs, like photo jpeg and pixlet.
It also helps when you are using larger image sizes like 720p and 1080p.

But for standard dv file playback in non-critical timing applications - the main bottleneck is in the disc drives.