Power Mac G5 2.3 vs. Intel C2D 2.2 Relative Performance

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Just a quick observation I have made, now that I have both an older PowerMac G5, with a dual 2.3 GHz PPC processor, and a new MBP with a Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz Intel processor. Given that as a general rule, a G5 GHz and a C2D GHz are roughly the same, and given the nearly insignificant GHz rating differential, I rather expected the MBP to either mildly outperform the older G5 or at least run at par with it.

This has not been the case, at least in all things. Of course, there is also the OS difference. My G5 runs Tiger while my MBP runs Leopard. Both are at the most current releases of their respective OS. Clearly there are significant architecture differences between these machines, but everything seems a little slower on the MBP.

What is worse, I find the MBP's performance in some things to be far more "jerky" than the G5's. The Dock is a good case in point. On my G5/Tiger, the icons expand and contract with a fluid grace as I run the mouse pointer along the Dock. On my MBP/Leopard, the icons of the Dock noticeably "jerk" from one size to another as they increase and decrease. It all lacks the amazing fluid smoothness of the G5/Tiger that so impressed me when I first looked at buying one (and still does impress me!).

All of this leaves me thinking that Apple's older G5 architecture was a really good thing. Those PPC chips were amazingly capable. In some ways, it is a shame that Apple had to move on to the Intel chips. I understand the reasons - I simply regret that the PPC line could not have carried on. Quite the machines these G5s are!

...of course, it could all be simply a Tiger/Leopard issue, given the OS differences. Can anyone who is running Leopard on a G5 comment on this?
 
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heh I got a pair of 1.25Ghz G4 eMacs here.....both of them kick the hineys out of three AMD systems I have, one a Sempron 3500 at 2Ghz, a Athlon XP 2400+ at 2Ghz and a Athlon XP 2500 at 2.1Ghz......the eMacs simply walk all over these systems in raw processing benchmarking......quite a feat !
 

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The PPC's RISC architecture is inherently superior to the x86, so this is no surprise. It's a shame none of the platforms that courted PPC ever became successful. In an alternate reality, had it not been for the dominance of Microsoft in the desktop computing market, it's likely we'd all be running PPC-based machines.
 
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Mac57, you could let me borrow the G5 and I'll compare it with my Mac?! :)
I had a 2.7 dual G5 and a CD 2GHz iMac at the same time and saw no difference between them.
Although the G5 Power Mac is an older machine, it was advanced for its time. Regular consumer model computers are finally catching up power-wise.
 
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Mac57 : Did both Mac have the same amount of memory? And don't forget that the HDD speed of your PowerMac is faster than the MBP. And you're not running the same OS.

My previous Mac mini G4 1.42Ghz was performing just as fast as my Athlon64 X2 4200+.... From booting to running Microsoft Office 2004 (WinXP SP2 and Office 2003 on the PC).

Now, both my PC have been upgraded, but still, I find my Macbook to perform on par with my Intel Quad Vista PC...
 
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In an alternate reality, had it not been for the dominance of Microsoft in the desktop computing market, it's likely we'd all be running PPC-based machines.

Yup, and we'd be running at 5 GHz now - the G6 tops out at that speed. Imagine, a 5 GHz computer - now THAT would be FAST!
 

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