Hands-On Review--PowerLogix 1.4-GHz G4 Upgrade, Fastest G4 Cube on the Planet
Our Super Cube has been upgraded with 1-GB RAM, a fast 80-GB 7200 RPM Seagate Barracuda IV hard drive, a GeForce 3 graphics card and a PowerLogix 1.2 GHz G4 CPU upgrade. Because of all the upgrades, our Cube also has a Panasonic Panaflo low-speed quiet fan in its base. We plan to keep our Super Cube (we actually have several) running as fast as it can for as long as it can. While we have, and have had, many Macs, we think at least two of our Macs deserve to be preserved forever, the G4 Cube and the PowerBook 2400c--both are elegant engineering marvels. When PowerLogix released the 7457-based 1.4 GHz upgrade for the Cube we got one, installed it and ran it through our speed tests.
The PowerLogix 1.4 GHz G4 upgrade for the Cube comes with a quiet, low-speed Panasonic Panaflo fan plus two CDs and a DVD. The discs include installation instructions as a PDF file and as a video and a CD with a firmware patch. You must install the firmware patch before installing the new CPU. We had no problems installing the firmware patch or the CPU card since we have done it many times before--see here and here. PowerLogix makes it relatively easy with good instructions and the excellent video.
So how fast is it? We ran our standard speed tests consisting of several "canned" benchmarks and several so-called "real world" speed tests. The tests are explained in detail in this review of our Cube's first CPU upgrade, an 800-MHz PowerLogix PowerForce G4. They are easy to perform on your own computer for comparative purposes. Here are the results which include the tests for a completely stock 450-MHz G4 Cube 450, our Super Cube with a 1.2-GHz PowerLogix 7455 G4, our Super Cube with the new 1.4-GHz PowerLogix 7457 G4 (in red) and our Dual 2-GHz Power Mac G5.
|
Test
|
Cube
450 |
Cube
1.2 |
Cube
1.4 |
G5 Dual
2.0 |
| Benchmarks: | ||||
| Altivec Fractal 1.1.3 (GFLOPS) |
1.5
|
4.2
|
4.9
|
10.3
|
|
Cinebench 2003 - Rendering
|
48
|
110
|
126
|
521
|
|
- OpenGL Hardware Lighting
|
93
|
647
|
731
|
1295
|
| Let1kWindowsBloom 1.0 (sec) |
55
|
18
|
16
|
24
|
| Xbench 1.1.3 - CPU |
53
|
145
|
169
|
193
|
| - Threading |
42
|
106
|
124
|
209
|
| - Memory |
76
|
104
|
104
|
324
|
| - Quartz Graphics |
72
|
142
|
159
|
282
|
| - OpenGL Graphics |
81
|
124
|
125
|
178
|
| - User Interface Graphics |
103
|
207
|
243
|
343
|
| - Hard Disk |
56
|
90
|
91
|
106
|
| "Real World" Tests: | ||||
| Startup (sec)* |
52
|
34
|
32
|
48
|
| Shutdown (sec) |
13
|
9
|
8
|
8
|
| Launch Classic Mode (sec) |
25
|
18
|
16
|
11
|
| Copy 160 MB File (sec) |
19
|
11
|
11
|
14
|
| Copy 700 MB Folder 3600 Files (sec) |
147
|
70
|
68
|
84
|
| Scroll 142p Acrobat Reader File (sec) |
56
|
32
|
30
|
14
|
| Encode MP3 in iTunes 3.0.1 (sec) |
108
|
104
|
104
|
52
|
| Export QT Movie in iMovie 3.0.1 (sec) |
33
|
30
|
29
|
23
|
| Quake III Arena 1.32 (frames/sec) |
33
|
80
|
90
|
355
|
*After applying SpeedStart.
The new 1.4-GHz upgrade has a clock speed that is about 17% faster than the older 1.2-GHz model. Most of the CPU-related "canned" benchmarks show a 12-17% increase in speed. The so-called "real world" tests show somewhat smaller speed gains, the best being the framerate for the 3D game Quake III Arena at 12.5%.
We are pleased with the performance of PowerLogix's new 7457-based G4 CPU upgrade. It's the fastest G4 Cube on the planet! We are also very pleased to report that so far our Cube with the new 1.4-GHz CPU has NOT displayed the wake from sleep problem that has plagued many of our previous upgrades. Unless PowerLogix releases dual G4 CPU upgrades for the Cube, this may be about as fast as the G4 Cube will get as Apple moves its models to the newer G5 CPU made by IBM. (PowerLogix PowerForce G4 Series 100 1.4-GHz, MSRP $599)
Saw something? Send a tip
The archive ran on reader tips. What did you see, where, and do you want the credit?