1 Oh no! He killed Kenny! He's a bastard!

2 He did? Bastard!

3 The dual G5 is a sweet machine. It does, unfortunately, have one serious flaw. Its memory access design guarantees serious bottlenecks. I wouldn't turn one down, though, especially since I need a new server ASAP.

4 Its memory access design guarantees serious bottlenecks.

I wasn't aware of that. Do you have a link to more information?

5 The dual g5 system has a single memory controller, which is going to cause delays when both processors need data/instructions at the same time (and that could happen a lot) - one of them is going to have to wait. They have done a lot to optimize performance of the memory controller, which will help.

FYI, the Athlon64 processor has the memory controller built right in, so you end up with a controller for each processor. A controller for each processor is really needed for optimum performance. However, for typical use, e.g. a web server, it's not really that important. If you start running crypto cracking software or real time weather modeling, you'll want the extra performance boost.

6 Right. Yeah, the Opteron is a more scalable design, but the dual G5 is still better than, say, a dual Xeon system. (1GHz vs. 400 or 533MHz bus.) (Though the bus designs are somewhat different.)

I'm not sure how much of an issue this is on a dual-processor system, but it does seem to be a real problem with quad-processor Xeon boxes.

7 I'd have to agree. I don't particularly care for Intel designs. I always buy AMD (apples being way overpriced for what you get) - and I'll be sticking with 32-bit processors for a while, I'm afraid, since I can't justify a 64-bit processor for my needs (web server, mail server, MySQL database, etc). BTW, unless you have very specific needs such as graphics renderings, there is not a single good reason to spend the money on a G5 (or any other 64-bit system).

Ok, one good reason. The bragging rights are damn important.