Installation & update
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G4 vs. G5: Part 2

David Maudlin
Virtuoso
Folks:

This is a follow up to the comparison I posted to ArchiTalk about a month ago, testing a G4 vs. a G5. These results add a new test using the G5 with Panther (OS X.3) and ArchiCAD 8.1. The full description of the test methods can be found at:
http://www.davidmaudlin.com/ArchiCAD/DigitalArchitecture/Extra/Speed/Speed.html

The machines and software are:
G4 Dual 1GHz/768 meg ram/OSX10.2.6/ATI 9000 Radeon Pro w/ 64 Meg/AC8.0.0v3+ USA
G5/8.0: G5 Dual 2GHz/1.5 gig ram/OSX10.2.7(G5)/ATI 9600 Radeon Pro w/ 64 Meg/AC8.0.0v3+ USA
G5/8.1: G5 Dual 2GHz/1.5 gig ram/OSX10.3(7B85)/ATI 9600 Radeon Pro w/ 64 Meg/AC8.1.0v1 USA
They all have more than 40 gigs of free hard drive space, and were attached to the same Apple 22" Cinema Display.

G4 - G5/X.2/8.0 - G5/X.3/8.1
1. BOOT UP COMPUTER
Push power button to appearance of desk top
1:17 - 1:08 - 0:47

2. LAUNCH ARCHICAD
Click on dock icon to appearance of file selection dialog box
0:16 - 0:05 - 0:03

3. QUIT ARCHICAD
Click on "Quit" button of file selection dialog box to disappearance of black arrow on dock icon
0:11 - 0:05 - 0:03

4. LAUNCH PROJECT
Drag file to dock icon to file being opened (includes launching ArchiCAD and loading libraries)
0:37 - 0:21 - 0:21

5. OPEN SECTION (Model)
Open section/elevation to model appearing in window
0:11 - 0:10 - 0:06

6. REGENERATE SECTION (Model)
Regenerating section/elevation to revised model appearing in window
0:05 - 0:04 - 0:03

7. GENERATE HIDDEN LINE PERSPECTIVE
Open 3D window and generate perspective
0:10 - 0:07 - 0:04

8. GENERATE PHOTORENDERING
Generate PhotoRendering
6:45 - 3:01 - 2:58

9. OPEN GL
Move in 3D window with Open GL enabled
0:30 - 0:17 - 0:13

10. PUBLISH
Publish a set of pmk files to hard disk
0:30 - 0:19 - 0:19

11. QUIT ARCHICAD
Select ArchiCAD>Quit ArchiCAD to disappearance of black arrow on dock icon
0:15 - 0:08 - 0:09

Some improvements, but not across the board. We still have ArchiCAD 8.2 to look forward to (March 04 ? with Apple recommended improvements). ArchiCAD 8.1 and Panther overall feel very responsive on the newest configuration.

For what it is worth.

David Maudlin
David Maudlin / Architect
www.davidmaudlin.com
Digital Architecture
AC27 USA • iMac 27" 4.0GHz Quad-core i7 OSX11 | 24 gb ram • MacBook Pro M3 Pro | 36 gb ram OSX14
5 REPLIES 5
Anonymous
Not applicable
Thanks for posting those times, makes for interesting reading, Im hope to be able to place order for a dual 1.8G5 soon.

David Said "We still have ArchiCAD 8.2 to look forward to (March 04 ? with Apple recommended improvements)."

Not sure 8.2 will happen, I think version 8.1 is version 7's silver bullet(box). Lets hope there is more optimization for G5s and Dual proccessors in version 9 (Dec 04?)

Perhaps someone could start up an ArchiCAD rumours site, a bit like macrumors .com. Voulnteers anyone?



JCovarrubias
Graphisoft Alumni
Graphisoft Alumni
G5 is the way to go it seems!

additionally - 8.2 is specifically being developed for speed improvements on Mac OS X..

(this is unofficial info, but not a rumour from GS US)
http://tr.graphisoftus.com/
Jeffry Covarrubias
GS US Technical Support Team Leader
P-C2D 1.86GHz/2GB w/ 256MB GeForce 8600GTS; G4 OS 10.4.10 1GHz/1GB "[that other software] is a fancy set of electronic marker pens"
Anonymous
Not applicable
My local reseller of ArchiCAD, guaranteed me that the Graphisoft has at this moment 7 seniors programmers working in the improvement of ArchiCAD 8.1 performance in the Mac OS X. If they (GS) gone a call it 8.2, I don´t know.
David Pacifico
Booster
I think to compare the G4 to G5, that you need to see how the G4 runs with 8.1 with the same RAM. David, I don't mean to make work for you, but the G4 may look better than you think. 1Ghz vs 2Ghz the G5 should show that ratio of improvment.
David Pacifico, RA

AC27 iMac i9, 32 gig Ram, 8 gig video Ram
Rick Thompson
Expert
David wrote:
I think to compare the G4 to G5, that you need to see how the G4 runs with 8.1 with the same RAM. David, I don't mean to make work for you, but the G4 may look better than you think. 1Ghz vs 2Ghz the G5 should show that ratio of improvment.
I was using 8.1 on a G4/800 with 1 gig ram. My dual G5 with 1.5 gi ram reduced the same rendering (sketch) from 12 min to 1 min 40 sec. Not exact, but clearly a hugh increase....for what it might be worth.
Rick Thompson
Mac Sonoma AC 26
http://www.thompsonplans.com
Mac M2 studio w/ display