So.. what are we all buying?

[olegil]

In general a 800 Mhz G4 is significantly faster than a 600 Mhz G3, even without software utilizing Altivec.

Maybe in general, but it DOES depend on "what G3?". The 700MHz 750FX is faster than the 800MHz G4. Really. But it's not gonna be shipping until January, so if you want it before christmas, the G4 is your friend.

[olegil]

Did any of these test use a 750FX?

Edit:
The reason I'm asking is that the 750FX is rumoured to be at least 30% faster than the 750CXe on the same frequency. But if the 7451 is also 30% faster, it's gonna boil down to which has higher frequency. And the G4@800MHz beats the G3@700. Even though I think the G3 will be easier to overclock.

[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 ;-)

[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 :-)