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Meet the hot new breed of supercomputer. What makes a supercomputer “super” is its ability to execute at least one billion floating-point operations per second, a staggering measure of speed known as a “gigaflop.” Also known as the first supercomputer on a chip, the PowerPC G4, architected by Apple, Motorola and IBM, was the first microprocessor to deliver a sustained performance of over one gigaflop. Today, an 800MHz PowerBook G4 hits speeds of 6 gigaflops.
Behind the PowerPC G4’s phenomenal performance is its aptly named Velocity Engine. The perfect workhorse for tasks that choke traditional processors, the Velocity Engine processes data in huge 128-bit chunks, instead of the smaller 32-bit or 64-bit chunks used in traditional processors (it’s the 128-bit vector processing technology used in scientific supercomputers — except that we’ve added 162 new instructions to speed up computations). In addition, the PowerPC G4 can perform four (in some cases eight) 32-bit floating-point calculations in a single cycle — two to four times faster than processors found in PCs.  The PowerPC G4 with Velocity Engine works with the PowerPC architecture to accelerate the data-intensive processing required by next-generation video, voice and graphics applications. Among the G4 key features is a vector permute function capable of rearranging data in the registers — a priceless benefit when converting data from one format to another (often necessary with voice, video and graphics apps, which typically need to save data in a number of different formats). These vector processing advantages give the PowerPC G4 a significant edge for everything from digital video, graphics and 3D games to astronomy, the biosciences and predictive modeling. |
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 Benefits of preemptive multitaskingPreemptive multitasking works like a controller that enables the PowerPC G4 to process several different tasks simultaneously. The controller gives priority to your primary applications, while the PowerPC G4 continues to crunch away at other tasks in the background. Mac OS X uses this controller to monitor the processor at all times. The controller prioritizes tasks, makes sure activities are at peak levels, and allocates resources on the fly to ensure that every task has the processing power it needs. Applications can no longer tie up the processor exclusively, so your system is far more responsive to your requests. No more waiting for a process to complete. 
OpenGL performanceApple’s latest implementation of OpenGL, the industry standard gaming technology, plays a major role as well. OpenGL performance has been ratcheted up to previously unheard of levels, zipping texture memory from applications to 3D graphics cards in nothing flat for maximum quality and frame rates. To top it all, we’ve made it easy for software developers to optimize their applications to take advantage of the combined strengths of the PowerPC G4 processor, Mac OS X and OpenGL. Operations like image sharpening and blurring, sizing and resizing, color-mode conversions and filters are visibly faster — and doubly so with the PowerPC G4 dual processor configuration running on Mac OS X. You’ll notice the performance boost even more when you’re working with huge, multi-layered image files. And when you’re dealing with video, 3D graphics, movies, animation and special effects, nothing else even comes close. 
PowerPC G4 and Mac OS XYou can’t beat the phenomenal combination of the PowerPC G4 processor and Mac OS X. Mac OS X features preemptive multitasking that allocates processor cycles on an as-needed basis. Protected memory that keeps you up and running even if an errant piece of beta software decides to crash, and a symmetric multiprocessing capability that delivers unparalleled performance on dual processor Power Mac G4 computers. Fact is, with Mac OS X optimized to wring every last bit of performance out of the PowerPC G4 processor, you’ll notice improvements at every level. |
