Review of Powerlogix's Single/Dual G4 7447A and 7457 CPU Upgrades

A Click shows your site support to my Sponsors

The Source for Mac Performance News and Reviews

Review: Powerlogix's 7447A & 7457 CPU Upgrades
(Single and Dual CPU - 1.2GHz to 1.8GHz)
Tests in Quicksilver G4/733
By Mike
Published: 7/1/2005
Updated: 8/9/2005 (for 1.7/1.8GHz results)

= Links to Review Topics Pages =

Intro | Benchmarks | Apps Tests | Game Tests | Installation | Specs/Design

Introduction

This review covers 5 Powerlogix G4 CPU upgrades:

Dual G4/1.8GHz (7447A w/512KB L2 per CPU, no L3)
Dual G4/1.7GHz (7447A w/512KB L2 per CPU, no L3)
(the 1.7 runs at appx 1.73GHz in a 133MHz bus Mac)
Single G4/1.8GHz (7447A w/512KB L2, no L3)
Dual G4/1.2GHz (7457 w/512KB L2 and 2MB L3 per CPU)
Dual G4/1.2GHz (7447A w/512KB L2 per CPU, no L3)

Prices change frequently so I'm not going to try and keep up with them here - for current pricing (and other models including a single 2GHz 7447A and models for the Cube), see OWC's Powerlogix G4 CPU upgrades pages.
Unlike other brands of upgrades based on these CPUs, the PL models have an on-board temperature sensor (reads the board/PS temperature) and (depending on speeds/bus mulitipliers used) support for Dynamic Frequency Switching which if enabled automatically reduces CPU speeds during idle and low load periods for reduced power use and heat. (I think DFS would be a big plus for a Cube upgrade.) See the page here on CPU Director 2.1 Features for more details on that. I originally didn't think I'd care for DFS but it worked surprisingly well and was responsive with little apparent effect on performance in apps and game tests. (Compare 1.7GHz (w/DFS enabled) results here with the 1.8GHz model which had DFS disabled for all the tests.)
I know Powerlogix has a rocky past history but these upgrades ran well in this system and I used them for almost 2 months total, including a 24-hour, 100% CPU load stress test. (For warranty and 30-day MBG, info see the Specs page.)
As usual I have pages with comparison tests of benchmarks, common apps and 3D games showing stock Quicksilver G4/733 performance vs. all 5 of the CPU upgrades. (Same machine/system, OS, video card, etc. used for all tests.) As you'll see from the test results, the upgrades made a huge difference in performance and going back to the stock CPU was almost painful...
For full details on the base system's hardware and software, see the system details listing below.

Review Table of Contents:

Benchmark Performance: Includes Altivec Fractal demo, CineBench 2003, XBench test results.

Applications Performance: Tests with QT 7.0.1 H.264 Playback performance, H.264 conversion tests, iTunes 4.80 MP3/Lossless encoding, multitasking, iPhoto 5.0.2 export, Photoshop 7 (21 filter tests), and File compression.

Games Performance: Tests with Call of Duty, Halo, Unreal Tournament 2004, Splinter Cell, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Doom3 and Quake3.

Installation: Comments on installing the upgrade, what's included, deep sleep tests, system and OS compatibility. Also includes comments on heat and noise.

Specs/Design: Details of the upgrade's CPU, Cache and Fan.

CPU Director 2.1 Features: Screenshots and info on power management, thermal reporting, etc.

Test System Details:

Apple "Quicksilver" Tower
OS X 10.4.1 (Tiger) w/all updates as of 6/26/2005
G4 733MHz CPU w/256KB L2 cache (no L3)
133MHz (SDR) bus w/640MB RAM
Hitachi 250GB SerialATA Hard Drive
Firmtek SerialATA PCI card (2 port)
OEM DVD ROM drive
Retail ATI 9800 AGP 128MB graphics card
Airport active for all tests

Display used was a Sony FW900 CRT. The hard drive was not optimized. Although later software updates are now available, I didn't apply them to ensure the same versions of -everything- was used with the 2nd batch of upgrades as used with the first batch from June 2005.

You can follow my preferred path through the review by continuing to the next page, or use the links below to jump to a specific page.

Index of PL 7447A/7457 CPU Upgrades Review Pages
Intro | Benchmarks | Apps Tests | Game Tests | Installation | Specs/Design

- or -
Back to WWW.XLR8YOURMAC.COM

Copyright © 2005.

No part of this sites content or images are to be reproduced or distributed in any form without written permission.
All brand or product names mentioned here are properties of their respective companies.

Users of the web site must read and are bound by the terms and conditions of use.

The Source for Mac Performance News and Reviews
Review: Powerlogix's 7447A & 7457 CPU Upgrades (Single and Dual CPU - 1.2GHz to 1.8GHz) Tests in Quicksilver G4/733 By Mike Published: 7/1/2005 Updated: 8/9/2005 (for 1.7/1.8GHz results)
= Links to Review Topics Pages =
Intro \| Benchmarks \| Apps Tests \| Game Tests \| Installation \| Specs/Design
Introduction
This review covers 5 Powerlogix G4 CPU upgrades: Dual G4/1.8GHz (7447A w/512KB L2 per CPU, no L3) Dual G4/1.7GHz (7447A w/512KB L2 per CPU, no L3) (the 1.7 runs at appx 1.73GHz in a 133MHz bus Mac) Single G4/1.8GHz (7447A w/512KB L2, no L3) Dual G4/1.2GHz (7457 w/512KB L2 and 2MB L3 per CPU) Dual G4/1.2GHz (7447A w/512KB L2 per CPU, no L3) Prices change frequently so I'm not going to try and keep up with them here - for current pricing (and other models including a single 2GHz 7447A and models for the Cube), see OWC's Powerlogix G4 CPU upgrades pages. Unlike other brands of upgrades based on these CPUs, the PL models have an on-board temperature sensor (reads the board/PS temperature) and (depending on speeds/bus mulitipliers used) support for Dynamic Frequency Switching which if enabled automatically reduces CPU speeds during idle and low load periods for reduced power use and heat. (I think DFS would be a big plus for a Cube upgrade.) See the page here on CPU Director 2.1 Features for more details on that. I originally didn't think I'd care for DFS but it worked surprisingly well and was responsive with little apparent effect on performance in apps and game tests. (Compare 1.7GHz (w/DFS enabled) results here with the 1.8GHz model which had DFS disabled for all the tests.) I know Powerlogix has a rocky past history but these upgrades ran well in this system and I used them for almost 2 months total, including a 24-hour, 100% CPU load stress test. (For warranty and 30-day MBG, info see the Specs page.) As usual I have pages with comparison tests of benchmarks, common apps and 3D games showing stock Quicksilver G4/733 performance vs. all 5 of the CPU upgrades. (Same machine/system, OS, video card, etc. used for all tests.) As you'll see from the test results, the upgrades made a huge difference in performance and going back to the stock CPU was almost painful... For full details on the base system's hardware and software, see the system details listing below. Review Table of Contents: Benchmark Performance: Includes Altivec Fractal demo, CineBench 2003, XBench test results. Applications Performance: Tests with QT 7.0.1 H.264 Playback performance, H.264 conversion tests, iTunes 4.80 MP3/Lossless encoding, multitasking, iPhoto 5.0.2 export, Photoshop 7 (21 filter tests), and File compression. Games Performance: Tests with Call of Duty, Halo, Unreal Tournament 2004, Splinter Cell, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Doom3 and Quake3. Installation: Comments on installing the upgrade, what's included, deep sleep tests, system and OS compatibility. Also includes comments on heat and noise. Specs/Design: Details of the upgrade's CPU, Cache and Fan. CPU Director 2.1 Features: Screenshots and info on power management, thermal reporting, etc. Test System Details: Apple "Quicksilver" Tower OS X 10.4.1 (Tiger) w/all updates as of 6/26/2005 G4 733MHz CPU w/256KB L2 cache (no L3) 133MHz (SDR) bus w/640MB RAM Hitachi 250GB SerialATA Hard Drive Firmtek SerialATA PCI card (2 port) OEM DVD ROM drive Retail ATI 9800 AGP 128MB graphics card Airport active for all tests Display used was a Sony FW900 CRT. The hard drive was not optimized. Although later software updates are now available, I didn't apply them to ensure the same versions of -everything- was used with the 2nd batch of upgrades as used with the first batch from June 2005.

You can follow my preferred path through the review by continuing to the next page, or use the links below to jump to a specific page.

Index of PL 7447A/7457 CPU Upgrades Review Pages Intro \| Benchmarks \| Apps Tests \| Game Tests \| Installation \| Specs/Design - or - Back to WWW.XLR8YOURMAC.COM
Copyright © 2005. No part of this sites content or images are to be reproduced or distributed in any form without written permission. All brand or product names mentioned here are properties of their respective companies. Users of the web site must read and are bound by the terms and conditions of use.