Pegasos G4 Upgrade

[gary_c]

considering that GGS-Data is closed for the holidays, and pegasos-france doesn't have a website anymore, browsing their "Purchase site" became just silly (try it yourself).

What is silly (apart from the expired pegasos-france domain--Genesi ought to take the link off the page since the domain is no longer used)?  There are a number of sites in Europe on the pegasosppc purchase page  -- more than the two you mention. In any case, on the Pegasos G4 page it says to contact bbrv directly if you're interested in the G4/Pegasos1 combination.

-- gary_c

[MiniBobF]

The increase in performance of L3 Cache is to the order of 3%, (depending on the size of code executed). It's not some dumb excuse made up by small players in the Amiga market.

The company I work for has to add L3 cache to its designs not for performance increase, but due to a "must have the box ticked on the data sheet" mentality the marketing give us.

Them that be in the management are leaning on Motorola to release a white paper concerning the L3 cache performance increase. Or lack of!!

Neil Thomas, AKA MiniBobF

[takemehomegrandma]

@ Olegil

The Pegasos G4 will use the Motorola 7447 CPU, which seems to be pretty much exactly the same CPU as the 7457 (click on the links for info), except from the fact that the 7447 doesn't support L3 cache. So I guess there will be no L3 cache on the backside!

[olegil]

Well, spotted, Grandma :-)

Silly me for not spotting that...

I guess it comes down to price and availability, as well as the lack of speed gain. Apple are still hogging a lot of G4 CPUs, I guess...

[takemehomegrandma]

In any case, on the Pegasos G4 page it says to contact bbrv directly if you're interested in the G4/Pegasos1 combination.

Yes. The Peg1 and G4 are sold in "matched sets". The reason for this can be found in this thread.

[olegil]

Not quoting a price for a product that is "available now" is silly. Not quoting the MHz rating is also silly (yes, I know MHz isn't all, but a 1GHz 7447 compared to a 1.3GHz G4 can be compared pretty easily, imho ;-) )

I have since looked at a few more reseller-pages, but they all suck :-)

pegasosppc.com is a REALLY nice looking page, but when you keep getting referred to pages that look like crap (or even non-existant pages. Come on, a new website and it already has dead links?) the wow-factor doesn't last long :-)

I don't want to contact BB directly for purchasing something (do I have to email Alan to purchase an AmigaOne G4?), especially not since they have links to 20-odd webshops on their site.

[olegil]

Ah, ok. That's a rather bit drawback for those who already own a Peg1, isn't it? There's like 50% chance it will work on their board, is it? ;-)

[takemehomegrandma]

Ah, ok. That's a rather bit drawback for those who already own a Peg1, isn't it? There's like 50% chance it will work on their board, is it?

Nah, since you trade in your entire motherboard and get a perfectly working "matched set" in return, there is a 100% chance that it will work! :-)

[gary_c]

Ah, ok. That's a rather bit drawback for those who already own a Peg1, isn't it? There's like 50% chance it will work on their board, is it?

I don't recall the exact details but I believe there will be a board trade-in offer for Pegasos1 owners that will make it a more attractive option than just getting the G4 cpu card. Anway, if you have been following Genesi's practices involving nonworking boards, etc., you will know that the company goes more than half-way to make the buyer happy.

-- gary_c

[gary_c]

Not quoting a price for a product that is "available now" is silly.

Yes, I agree. I'd expect to find the price somewhere on the site or linked to.

Not quoting the MHz rating is also silly

This article was actually written about a month ago and just revised in a few places, to say "available now" instead of "available in July." I also think that there should be more details if in fact the product is "available now." I'm not sure if I'd call it silly, but it's incomplete. "Now" shouldn't mean "more or less now" in view of people's sensitivity to product announcements in this market.

I have since looked at a few more reseller-pages, but they all suck

I'll pass your comments along to the Phoenix Resellers group. Constructive criticism is always appreciated.  ;-)

Come on, a new website and it already has dead links?) the wow-factor doesn't last long

Well, some sites become outdated because the company is on life support or something. In this case the site has a dead link because the web team is extremely busy with a bunch of things all going on at once. I'll notify them about the dead link, though, if you didn't already.

I don't want to contact BB directly for purchasing something (do I have to email Alan to purchase an AmigaOne G4?), especially not since they have links to 20-odd webshops on their site

The boards in question aren't regular products. I assume they were used in testing the G4 daughterboards with Pegasos motherboards. These aren't being distributed through the resellers for that reason. It does seem a little strange to have to contact the CEO himself, even in this special case, but, if so, what the heck? Why not enjoy being able to say you bought it from the company president?  :-)

-- gary_c

[olegil]

Oooookay. Now I'm confused. It IS being advertised as an upgrade card, not a trade-in-offer on www.pegasosppc.com ;-)

[olegil]

Why not enjoy being able to say you bought it from the company president?

Because I find his communicative skills severly lacking in certain areas, and his business practice not excactly something anyone should be proud of?

Seriously, I got one of the first AmigaOnes at a good price directly from Alan, but I would prefer to buy from someone I can walk up to and grab hard if someone pulls a fast one over me ;-)

I prefer to buy over the counter from people with either beards or ties or both. Gives me quite a bit of an advantage in a complaint-situation :-)

[Dietmar]

I always wondered about CPU slot architecture, if you actually get the same performance out of it as if it were surface mounted.

It was a widely used design before x86  became multi GHz and FSB speed exploded, so apparently no inherent problems with a slot CPU. Anyway, the PPC does not leave much choice: the CPU does not have pins. It can only be soldered to the board (cost-effective but rendering the board non-upgradable) or be installed on a CPU card. That pretty much decides it for me.

[zacman]

>No L3 cache, right?

The 7447 does not have L3 support, 7457 has.

>Or is it that the cache is on the backside of the
>board?

Yes together with some nice stickers...

[meerschaum]

I always wondered about CPU slot architecture, if you actually get the same performance out of it as if it were surface mounted.

I dont think the shape matters... apples current G5 uses CPU cards AFAIK...

[bloodline]

I always wondered about CPU slot architecture, if you actually get the same performance out of it as if it were surface mounted.

AFAIK, Slots tend to be more (electrically) noisy than sockets.
This means you have to run the memory slower to keep it reliable. The best option is to include DIMM slots on the CPU card.

How much of this applies to the current Peg design I do not know. I am unaware of any drawbacks in the Peg design.  ;-)