The reason to go for A1G3XE instead...

[mikeymike]

@ Helgis75

Even if altivec support wasn't mentioned (it was, btw) in the OS4 featurelist, that would be an incredibly short-sighted attitude.  If an OS doesn't take advantage of a significantly performance-enhancing architecture in one revision, you can be quite certain it will do, as soon as possible (ie. a patch for the operating system at a later date).

[KennyR]

Is it really a G4 overheating problem holding things up?

Well, I won't try to force my opinion on anyone (because it might be wrong, for one thing), but look what the problems the Pegasos-1 had with Articia. G4s became pointless before the April fix because they were a hell of random crashes, thanks to Articia. The description of the A1G4XE's problems are eerily similar.

[CaptainFrank]

Hello,

> G4s became pointless before the April fix because they were a hell of random crashes, thanks to Articia. The description of the A1G4XE's problems are eerily similar.

Well, how come mine works?

Regards,


Frank.

[Juzz]

Well, I won't try to force my opinion on anyone (because it might be wrong, for one thing), but look what the problems the Pegasos-1 had with Articia. G4s became pointless before the April fix because they were a hell of random crashes, thanks to Articia. The description of the A1G4XE's problems are eerily similar.

Well, I have an A1G4XE, and it is running just fine...
Though I am thinking of exchanging the cooler with the cooler I had on my SE + a zalman fan to blow some air over it (the Zalman model that's being mounted via the screws from pci/agp slots) - just to make sure that I don't run in to any heat problems (since it's getting hotter here in DK).

The current problems (DMA etc) are actually due to the VIA chip (and apparantly VIA are hard to get ahold of).

[logain]

1. VIA is surely not working to solve these "issue(s)"

2. the VIA bugs are well documented and the well
known "4in1" patch has just to be adopted to U-Boot,
strange that Hyperion didnt suceed to do this
the whole last year (before starting to sell
those machines)

3. The A1 G4 overheating problems (only in countries
south of britain has surely nothing to do with
the VIA

btw. my non-aprilized Pegasos was running just fine
too, but not correctly..;-)

[amigamad]

The only reason you have been talked into buying a g3 is because they are non upgradable and nobody wants  them eytech have loads of g3,s they phoned  to ask if i would change my order because i could have it now rather than wait a few weeks .Dont be conned by what is plain bull to shift a stock of unwanted boards, g3,s are a waste of space non upgradable and a even more out of date .I ordered a g4 and im not having nothing but the g4 as soon as g4s were mentiond i forgot the g3 existed . :-o  :-?

[KennyR]

Well, how come mine works?

I honestly don't know. Maybe there is a software patch in the firmware to slow down Articia a little?

[Juzz]

amigamad wrote:
The only reason you have been talked into buying a g3 is because they are non upgradable and nobody wants  them eytech have loads of g3,s they phoned  to ask if i would change my order because i could have it now rather than wait a few weeks .Dont be conned by what is plain bull to shift a stock of unwanted boards, g3,s are a waste of space non upgradable and a even more out of date .I ordered a g4 and im not having nothing but the g4 as soon as g4s were mentiond i forgot the g3 existed . :-o  :-?

I guess that depends upon which version of the G3 you are offered - the SE is non-upgradeable, but the G3XE is the one with the modular design, hence it is upgradeable.

[L8-X]

@amigamad

I think you'll find that the G3's are the XE based ones that CAN be upgraded to the G4.

[sTix]

The A1G4s are working just fine (one here, now) at
full speed WITH dma and so on, but the cooler that
came with the mobo was crap really, and some of
them weren't even mounted properly (which ofcourse
caused instabilities for some people).

..and the G4's aren't very hot, mine's running at 35-40C
under heavy load, but the G3s are even cooler..

[JetRacer]

L8-X: Heh, I know that one. "Gals, feck, liquooor!" :-)

[JetRacer]

The G4 is not slower than the G3 without software support. I havn't seen any benchmarks that confirms such.

Something that is pretty significant in this matter is which kind of Articia chip sits on the XE. Anyone care to have a peek? Is it Articia-S, or Articia-Sa?

Also, I would think twice before dumping the G4. The altivec isn't about some minor performance gain. It's some serius sh... ..stuff.

[amigamad]

@L8-X

I think you'll find that the G3's are the XE based ones that CAN be upgraded to the G4.

sorry my mistake :-)

[L8-X]

@amigamad

 :-D

[Kronos]

@JetRacer

That question is easy answered:

Articia-S, as the Sa doesn't exist (only 2 (?) revisions of the S.

[Ivan]

Not to rub salt in anyones wounds here but, i'm so glad
i'm waiting for OS4 to be released before picking up the
hardware. Ok, some of you are linux freaks and wan't
your system now, so you're getting them now. But even
linux isnt finished yet. Yeah MAI just released a new
kernal but all the SW fixes arent complete. Yay for
open source huh?

Why dosen't Eyetech just go pick up a load of fans
someplace and fly them over personally to get those
boards shipping sooner?

BTW, about the G3 and G4 comparison.. A Honda Civic is
faster than a Ferrari if you discount half the engine.
*cough* *choke* This is only good if you plan on
upgrading to a dual G4 later on. (just mho ofc)

... and i'll still wait till OS4 is released and it's
sitting on the shelf in my local shop.

Ivan