Giga Designs M5D-1213Q G-Celerator DUAL 1.33 GHz in a Digital Audio G4

By: Eric - Gurus forums moderator
(submitted 2/27/2005)

I. Intro & Installation | II. Temps and Cooling | III. System Tests | IV. Graphics Tests | V. Apps Tests

I. Introduction and Installation

Introduction

Purchased from: MacGurus (of course)

Date upgrade installed: 10/10/2004

Overall Impressions:

• A high-quality Giga Designs upgrade that's been rock solid from installation date.
• Massive performance boost all around, see benchmarks and tests.
• Can multi-task like a fiend.
• Snappier, smoother, and more responsive GUI.*
• Giga tech support is outstanding.
• In my system, the two CPU fans don't contribute any additional fan noise over the 120mm case and PSU fans.
• Based on my results, does appear to raise the case and HD temperatures -- well within spec for my HDs. I got the temps back down by installing a Quicksilver fan housing & fan (see Part II: Temps and Cooling).
• My only complaint about the short 12V leads for the M-series upgrades (see Installation below) was quickly corrected by Giga on later models. Giga's tech support is awesome.

*Whenever I shut down a 1.33GHz CPU with TinkerTool System, I notice also a difference with GUI, particularly with big apps like Final Cut Pro 3. The GUI is quicker and more responsive with two compared to a single 1.33GHz. You can 'see' the advantage of two CPUs, not only in sheer performance, e.g. faster render times.

If you have or still need a legacy, i.e. 9.x booting, Mac and have dual-processor savvy apps, this is a great way (price no object) to boost performance and to extend its life. I have no regrets. The price has dropped since I bought mine making this an even more attractive upgrade.


Upgrade:
For Digital Audio and Quicksilver G4s.
From Giga Design's site (at time of writing):

• Multi-Voltage Board Design
• Compatible with Mac OS 9.2.1, 9.2.2, 10.1.x, 10.2.x (Jaguar), & 10.3.x (Panther)
• 3 Year Limited Warranty
• Powered by Motorola 1250MHz 7455 Processors
• Tested at Guaranteed at 1.33GHz for 133MHz bus Power Macs
• 256KB L2 Cache operating at the processor seed
• 2MB L3 Cache operating at 1:6 the processor speed
• Includes DC-133 Cooler

What's in the box:

1. Giga dual CPU upgrade
2. 12V leads
3. Zip ties
4. Instruction manual
5. Warranty card
6. Drive 10 CD

System:
Digital Audio 733MHz:

• 1.5 GB RAM
• Seagate 120MB Barracuda 7200.7 (2MB cache) on motherboard ATA bus
• 2 x Seagate 80GB Barracuda IVs on Sonnet Tempo Trio*
• Stock 60GB Maxtor on Siig/Acard 6880M RAID card (in normal mode)
• Pioneer Superdrive 107
• Granite Digital FW800 card
• Graphics cards tested:

1. Nvidia GeForce 2MX (stock card)
   
2. ATI Radeon 9600 Pro (from a G5 with Techseekers tape modification)

For testing I used an OS X 10.3.5 volume, 3d and last partition (15 GB) on the 7200.7, with a fresh and lean install of the OS and applications needed for testing. The only system level addition was USB Overdrive X.

*For performance reasons discussed in the MacGurus forums, the Tempo Trio is no longer in my DA. But thanks to its native ATA operation in OS X, S.M.A.R.T. hard drive temperatures for the attached PATA drives, given in "Part II: Temps and Cooling," was possible.

Installation

Installation was straightforward with Giga's instructions. My DA already had the 4.2.8 firmware update required for DAs; information about the firmware update is in the instruction manual. It took10-15 minutes to remove the DA's heatsink cover, stock heatsink and CPU, and to install the Giga Designs dual CPU card in its place. The Giga card came with its own copper heatsink and dual CPU fans already attached. It took another another 15-20 minutes to run carefully the 12V leads for the M-series Giga around the motherboard; secure them with zip ties on the corners; and plug them into a 4-pin Molex HD connector. Before starting the DA, I reset the PMU, my standard operating procedure after changing CPUs.

The 12V leads come tailed with a pass-through 4-pin Molex HD connector. The leads I had I found too short; they reached where a 4-pin HD connector would plug into a HD in Bay 1 (front bay). The pass-through connector is too long to plug into a HD in Bay 1; the door won't close. So the pass-through connector has to sit on top of the HD. But it's very close to door, and there's the risk of wires' getting pinched or caught when the door is shut.

As mentioned above, Giga Tech Support was responsive to this (passed along by Gurus ruler Rick Stephens). This shortcoming was quickly corrected on later shipments; the 12V leads are now longer.


Next: Part II: Temperatures and Additional Cooling

I. Intro & Installation | II. Temps and Cooling | III. System Tests | IV. Graphics Tests | V. Apps Tests

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