So.. what are we all buying?

[Tafka]

JurassicCamper wrote:
I was going to order my A1 XE(G4) mobo today.
I emailed eyetech with some questions but havn't got a responce yet.

I asked a question as well and the response I got was less than professional.  They really need to change their attitude if they hope to appeal to the mainstream market.

It wasn't worded like "Thank you for your enquiry" more like "What are you asking that for?".  In fact it was almost like they were trying to make me feel stupid for asking the question.  As far as I'm concerned the only stupid question is one that isn't asked.

I have to admit it did put me off buying from them a little bit.

[magic2002]

You rich buggers talking about the G3s the G4s how about lending me some cash for my G4`s Some of us are now broke you know... :-D  :-o  ;-)  8-)

[Desolator]

"You rich buggers talking about the G3s the G4s how about lending me some cash for my G4`s Some of us are now broke you know..."

Yes, donate every spare coin to Desolators AmigaOne fund.  :-D

[Phoenix]

I cant afford anything!!

Donations welcome :-(  :-(

1. What Memory is recommended ?

Registered SDRAM (PC133)

2. Does the Mobo come with a LinuxPPC CD Distro ?

Yes, 1 or 2 (depending on how much they can squeeze on a cd) CD's containing SuSE Linux

3. Does the mobo come with all leads i mean AMR Header, ATX blanking plate, usb header leads, floppy ide etc. decent manual. Like PC mobo's

Don't Know

4. Do you need a CPU Fan ?

I've *heard* that you'll only need a heatsink, but don't quote me on that.

5. Can I use USB mice / keyboards or only when OS4 is finished. Is it PS2 only until then ?

USB, but don't quote me on that one either  :-D

6. What PCI / AGP cards are supported ?

Not sure about this, but some form of Radeon (7500, 8500) should be ok. I'd wait for confirmation on this one.

Personally, I'm going for a G3 XE.  :-D

/Regards
Stefan "Syke" Falk
www.amigaextreme.com

[amigamad]

My money has been sent to eyetech  for amigaone g4 xe at 800mhz might as well buy the top of the range board.

[fuzzybear]

to JurassicCamper:

Here are some answers:

RAM:
1.  Most definately PC133 Registered RAM, there are certain brands that will not work either, so be careful.  We are bundling the RAM with the boards we're selling in Canada (to ensure everything works correctly)

Linux:
2.  Yes LinuxPPC distribution.

Included leads:
3.  Should be a yes - but could depend on who is suppling the case etc.

Heat:
4.  Recommended Heat Sink or Heat Sink and Fan - CPU runs quite cool, a decent Heat Sink should be ok

USB Mice/Keyboards:
5.  Should be able to use USB once OS4.0 is completed, but I'm not 100% sure.  At least the hardware part is there, just need to add the correct drivers.

Video:
6.  Looks like ATI will be the supported video card of choice.

Hopefully this answers some questions.


Justin
www.livewiresystems.ca/Amiga.html

[Darrin]

Well I've already ordered a G3-XE as I'm not convinced that the G4 will give enough "bang-for-the-buck" performance increase, but I figure that if I'm wrong or an even faster G4 comes out then I'll be able to upgrade my existing XE board.

I also ordered it in a nice case with 4 x 5.25" bays, 2 x 3.5" bays, front mounted USB ports and a 300w PSU.

I've been impressed by cheap, low-end ATI Radion cards in my PC's so a 7000 or 7500 Radion should be enough to keep me happy.

[CodeSmith]

Does anyone know which ATI cards will be supported?  I put my order for a G4 XE this morning, and I'm considering getting a Radeon 8500LE (~$100 cheaper than the 8500 and barely noticeable performance difference).

[olegil]

Darrin wrote:
Well I've already ordered a G3-XE as I'm not convinced that the G4 will give enough "bang-for-the-buck" performance increase, but I figure that if I'm wrong or an even faster G4 comes out then I'll be able to upgrade my existing XE board.

I also ordered it in a nice case with 4 x 5.25" bays, 2 x 3.5" bays, front mounted USB ports and a 300w PSU.

I've been impressed by cheap, low-end ATI Radion cards in my PC's so a 7000 or 7500 Radion should be enough to keep me happy.

Uhm, you realize the G4 is out this year with the G3 out next year, right?

[olegil]

@MikeB:

39.9/900 > 32.1/733, so if both was clocked to same frequency the G3 would be faster (1%). In this case the G4 is actually clocked faster, so it wins by 13%. Still it's not 30% like you claimed ;-)


On floating point the G4 would beat the G3 by almost 40% (based on those numbers) if clocked to same frequency.  Add the 14% higher frequency and we're talking almost 60% more FPU performance even before the Altivec is considered. But FPU isn't used enough these days. The Altivec is actually more useful than a good FPU. Of course, the G4 has both ;-)

[MikeB]

@ olegil

In this case the G4 is actually clocked faster, so it wins by 13%. Still it's not 30% like you claimed

Actually what I said in my initial posting was:

"G3/G4's integer performances (does not utilize Altivec) is basically the same at similar clock speeds." & "However the floating point performance is roughly 30% better at the same clock speeds for the G4. "

But I should note that for my initial posting  I wasn't referring to the official benchmarks provided by Motorola and IBM, which I however did  use for my previous posting within this thread!

The Altivec is actually more useful than a good FPU. Of course, the G4 has both

For almost all software the G4 will offer similar or higher performances as compared to a G3, at the same clock rate. And I agree software using the G4's vector unit will mostly greatly outperform similar software, running on a similar clocked G3s.  :-)

[olegil]

@MikeB:
Ah, soirry. It seems we need to discuss faster. I had forgot the original wording ;-)

Anyway, all I wanted was some facts to back up your statements, and you seem to have convinced me. Good job, man :-)