The PowerLogix PowerForce47 G4/7447 Series Cube Processor Upgrade is one of the most advanced Processor Upgrades ever for your G4 Cube PowerMac!
In 2002, PowerLogix was the first to ship G4 processor upgrades for PowerMac G4 AGP and Cube models. Later, PowerLogix was the first to ship the new 7457 processor upgrades for these same machines.
Now, in 2005, PowerLogix is the first to ship Dual 7447 and 7457 Processor Upgrades for your G4 Cube, setting a new performance benchmark.
A Perfect Complement to your Cube
The PowerForce47 Cube Upgrade provides a great performance boost while also generating less heat than 7451 and 7455 based processor upgrades.
A Better Solution for Power
When the challenge of meeting the power requirements of the next generation G4 Cube processor upgrades was first approached, it was expected that a new, higher power VRM module would be provided to replace the Apple stock VRM.
The Apple Cube VRM happens to be a relatively complicated device which takes the single 28v power in and converts it to the three different voltages required by the system. While a new VRM can solve the processor power requirement issue, it still is dependent on a power distribution pathway which Apple did not necessarily design for the higher power load. Further, this VRM would likely generate more heat and adding to that, would be larger and interfere with the internal airflow of the Cube.
A note about airflow: The Power Mac G4 Cube utilizes a natural convection cooling design. However, that is not enough to keep an ugpraded Cube cool (or a factory stock Cube, as many owners have found out over the years). A fan was designed to be installed into the chassis of the Cube, but it was decided at the last minute to not include it. There is even a power plug built into the unit to plug this missing fan into. We ship a low noise fan with this upgrade to keep everything as cool as possible, because heat can and will cause component failure prematurely. This is cheap insurance for your investment.
Sometimes it's the simple solutions that are the best - this is one of those times. The great minds at PowerLogix realized that rather than needing to replace the three voltage Apple VRM module, a single voltage VRM could be utilized right on the processor upgrade board! This solution completely bypasses the Apple VRM (which results in it running cooler) and gets clean, correct power straight to each processor through separate and independent onboard power supplies. It's a better way to power the Cube Processor upgrades with less complication and cost as well.
The PowerForce47 Cube upgrade is the 2nd upgrade in the PowerLogix line to feature the PowerLogix Cube VRM Bypass Technology, the right solution to meet the needs of today's higher speed and higher power requiring single and dual processor upgrades that also takes a load off the Apple VRM at the same time.
The Coolest Running Cube Upgrade
It's all about experience. PowerLogix has more experience with more Cube Upgrades installed than any other manufacturer. New for 2005, the PowerForce47 with VRM Bypass technology are the culmination of that experience resulting in one of the best Cube Processor upgrades you can buy.
Power Management:
The PowerForce G4 '47 has unique hardware features that, when combined with the new CPU Director 2.1, result in the ultimate in power management. This results in significantly lower power draw and operating temperature than any competing product.
A thermal sensor is built onto the circuit board of all PowerForce G4 '47 single and dual CPU models. This sensor is centrally located between the CPU(s) and the power supply, so as to provide a useful temperature reading. This sensor provides temperature data to CPU Director, Powerlogix's proprietary software utility.
CPU Director includes a thermal pane which appears when used with any PowerLogix CPU card that has an embedded thermal sensor. This pane shows instantaneous real time temperature, as well as a graph of temperature over time. This way the user can see the temperature change as the CPU is exercised. It can also help to diagnose problems (a fan that has failed for example.)
In addition to the reporting capabilities, CPU Director includes exclusive power management software code that allows the CPU to run as efficiently as possible.
Dynamic Frequency Switching(OS 10.3.5 to 10.4.x, not applicable to 10.5.x) :
CPU Director now also supports DFS, or Dynamic Frequency Switching. DFS allows the operating system to dynamically choose either full or half CPU speed depending on the software load. The user can set the parameters for this via the Energy Saver System Preference. Since the majority of tasks do not need full throttle CPU power at all times, when set for 'Automatic,' the operating system increases clock speed as needed, and decreases it as needed, on the fly - all without user intervention.
We have produced this Quicktime video showing how DFS works. The computer is running CPU Director, Safari, TextEdit, iTunes, and SnapzPro X is running in the background (to record the movie.) Despite running all those applications at the same time, the computer runs at half speed the majority of the time.
The video shows how Energy Saver increases the CPU speed on the fly, per the CPU demand. For example, clicking on a link on a webpage will boost CPU speed to 1.8 GHz, but once the page loads, the computer drops back down to 900 MHz.
The user can select 'Automatic' (whereby the operating system sets CPU speed); or 'Highest', which sets the CPU to full speed at all times; or 'Reduced', which sets the CPU speed to half-speed at all times.
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Feature List: PowerForce47 G4 Cube Dual CPU Upgrade
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- Motorola/FreeScale PowerPC 7447A Processors (PowerPC G4 7447 technical specs)
- 512K of 1:1 L2 Cache
- 100MHz Bus Operation
- Onboard VRM Bypass technology
- Independent Power Supplies for each Processor
- 80MM x 80MM x 15MM Brushless Fan Designed specifically for the G4 Cube
- 1 Year PowerLogix/Other World Computing Warranty
- 30 Day OWC Money-Back Guarantee
(specifications and availability subject to change without notice)
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Performance Benchmarks
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Baseline Items Test Results
Upgrade Items Test Results
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Time to export 500MB DV File to MPEG-4 Using Quicktime 6 |
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Higher is better
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Lower is better
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Lower is better
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Lower is better
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Higher is better
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| Dual Processor |
| PowerLogix Dual G4/1.5GHz 7447 PowerForce47 |
157.67 |
324.72 seconds |
374.21 seconds |
153.22 Seconds |
20.20 FPS |
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System Requirements
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- Mac OS 9.2.2 - Note: OS X Required for Dual Processor Operation, when booting in to OS 9.2.2, Dual Processor will operate in single processor mode.
- Mac OS 10.3.5 and later - including the latest 10.5 "Leopard"!
*CPU Director is not supported under Mac OS X 10.5 and is not necessary for full system performance. CPU Director is compatible with Mac OS X 10.3.5-10.4.9.
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Product Photographs: Click for larger images
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