Athlon 64 versus PowerMac G5 benchmarks: "Not even close"

[Asher]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
If you comprehended it, why have you been grasping at straws for so long trying to find a reason for my files still being around? First it was my fault, since I was obviously too dumb to "change my region"? Then, it was because of a change in Apple policy caused by the complaining of people like you. Now you say it is because of credit cards, acting as if you knew that the whole time. Jesus, and you wonder why no one trusts you anymore?

The last two are not mutually exclusive like you seem to assume. Apple did change their policy, which means even if your creditcard was switched to a Canadian bank it wouldn't be an issue. But surely you knew that...

And I have already admitted that I didn't know about the policy change until recently, Apple didn't exactly publicize it. So when you said yours weren't deleted after you changed your regional settings and all that to Japan, I really didn't have an explanation for you, other than PEBKAC. But I did look it up and they did change their policy.

Help me out here though -- what is with you and this lame technique? It's remarkably sad that for at least the last half-dozen or so Apple threads you never even discuss the content at hand and you just throw out constant ad hominems and bring up the iTunes and "I live in Japan look at me" stories...

Would it kill you to be on topic and to debate what's up for debate, rather than ranting that I'm not to be trusted because you don't seem to understand much of what was said about the iTunes deal in the first place...

I think it must also be said that I do appreciate the humour of this all though. Wasn't it just yesterday you were calling me a liar, but then changed that to "bending the truth"...and here you are, bending the truth beyond recognition to save face.

And for the record, I don't think it's true that "No one trusts me anymore" -- you and Agathon seem to have been hitting it off pretty well with your mutual rump-humping and chant about how I'm not to be trusted, no one else says a damn thing. Though I'm sure others don't trust me, too, just not "everyone".

[Drake Tungsten]

Would it kill you to be on topic and to debate what's up for debate, rather than ranting that I'm not to be trusted because you don't seem to understand much of what was said about the iTunes deal in the first place...

Since when have I "ranted" about your untrustworthiness? I just state that fact occasionally and that would be it if you didn't insist on coming up with outlandish excuses for your behavior. I don't care enough about you to keep the "debate" going if you don't participate, so If you're sick of me, just don't answer. This will probably be impossible for you, as you always have to have the last word, but it would be the best course of action.

Wasn't it just yesterday you were calling me a liar, but then changed that to "bending the truth"...

I said you bend the truth, but to such an extent that I personally would consider it lying. My position hasn't changed.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
Since when have I "ranted" about your untrustworthiness?

Surely this is a rhetorical question.

[laurentius]

Asher I think testing cpu speed on some specific software and making too big conclusions from the results is a bit silly since theres about zillion reasons for the speed differences.

Reasons like: these are not native Apple programs, did they use any kind of emulators to run those programs, maybe its OS' fault, maybe there was bad code in the software, it may have been ported in favour to Windows, the software wasnt 64-bit was it? Maybe G5 performs better on 64-bit software? Maybe they should use programs like SuperPi too?

[Asher]

Originally posted by laurentius
Reasons like: these are not native Apple programs

Quicktime is not a native Apple program?

did they use any kind of emulators to run those programs

No

maybe its OS' fault

Who cares? If you buy a PowerMac, you use OS X.

the software wasnt 64-bit was it?

It was 32-bit on both sides, since OS X isn't 64-bit and the Windows XP 64-bit is still in beta.

Maybe G5 performs better on 64-bit software?

How does that make any sense? If anything, the Athlon will get even faster and more precise while the G5 will just get more precise. The G5 gets access to the same amount of registers in 32-bit and 64-bit mode, the Athlon gets the number of public registers available doubled by upping to x86-64 for a 20-30% performance gain.

Maybe they should use programs like SuperPi too?

We've already established that the synthetic benchmarks ran better thanks to SPEC and NASA's testing, this was "real world" testing.

[laurentius]

Sorry Asher I just edited my post...I know editing posts later is a bad habit but you're so quick to answer and I thought you were sleeping or something....dont you ever sleep in canada?

[Asher]

The thing is, though, the only program people have tested so far that runs just as well if not better on Apple than PC hardware is Photoshop -- which isn't much of a surprise.

Synthetic CPU benchmarks show the Athlon 64 to be more powerful, we've known that for quite a while now. People were saying to wait until the real-world independent tests come out.

And now we have some. I really don't think porting and whatnot is an issue (Adobe supports both platforms), QuickTime and Photoshop are both used and they're both heavily Apple optimized, and Word is used which is arguably PC-optimized. But in the end -- who cares? These are real programs real people will use, and what good is it if it takes 3x as long to do on a top of the line Apple computer that'll set you back $3000 versus a $2000 AMD box?

[laurentius]

Well, AMD has a tradition of making very fast CPUs. It's entirely possible that Athlon 64 is faster. BTW who makes the G5 chips?

[Asher]

IBM.

The G5 is a very much cut down Power4, which is a 2001-era chip.

[laurentius]

IBM huh. Havent really been the cutting edge for some time have they...If ever. Take it like this Asher, its the fastest Mac CPU ever

[Agathon]

If this is about the PC World article then it ought to be taken with a pinch of salt. Some of those machines cost quite a bit more than the top end G5. In any case the comparisons are hardly knock down proof.

For instance comparing Mac performance on Premiere when Adobe has stopped developing it for the Mac because it was being spanked by Final Cut Pro due to performance issues among other things is a bit daft.

And as for Word - as a user of Word X I can say it is definitely sluggish - but that's MS' fault for poor programming, not Apple's.

Some people claim to have had much better results from Quake. Check out arstechnica's forums for some discussion of it. I'd expect the AMD to beat the G5 in this test anyway, since PCs tend to be better for games. More work to be done here.

That leaves Photoshop. If these benchmarks are accurate then the dual 2 GhZ G5 beats everything apart from the Polystation 2 which costs $500 more than it does. And it comes pretty close to that. If they are accurate that is, and there is no skullduggery.

This hardly justifies the "no contest" rubbish. But then, exaggeration seems to be the norm these days.

[Drake Tungsten]

And as for Word - as a user of Word X I can say it is definitely sluggish - but that's MS' fault for poor programming, not Apple's.

You're right on that.

This hardly justifies the "no contest" rubbish. But then, exaggeration seems to be the norm these days.

[DaShi]

This thread is too polemical for my tastes.

[Harovan]

Originally posted by laurentius
Take it like this Asher, its the fastest Mac CPU ever

Yes, that fits nicely. Just like WinXP is the best Microsoft Windows Operating System ever.

[laurentius]

Yeah just like Koff is the best finnish beer in the world.
And Ayinger Ur-Weisse being the best beer in the world