Programs that use both CPUs of a G4 Dual Processor PPC

[Mat]

Here is a list of programs that can use (without the help of Mac OS 9) both CPUs of a G4 Dual Processor Mac:

3ivx
Absoft Pro Fortran
Adobe AfterFX
Adobe GoLive
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Premiere
Alias Maya
Apple DVD Studio Pro
Apple Final Cut Pro
Apple Quicktime
Apple iDVD
Apple iMovie
Apple iTunes
Avid Media Composer
Deneba Canvas
Discreet Cleaner
Discreet Combustion
EIAS Universe 5.0
Emagic Logic Audio (only Plugins)
Eovia Carrara Studio
Filemaker Pro
Heuris MPEG Power Professional
id Software Quake 3
MOTU Digital Performer
Macromedia Dreamweaver
Macromedia Fireworks
Macromedia Flash
Macromedia Freehand
Maxon Cinema 4D
Metrowerks CodeWarrior
Microsoft Virtual PC
Newtek Lightwave
Omnigroup Giants: Citizen Kabuto
Pinnacle Cinewave (incl. DV100)
Propellerhead Reason
Roxio Toast
Sorenson Video Codec
SoundJam MP
Steinberg Cubase VST/32 5.1
Steinberg Nuendo
Toast Video CD
Toon Boom Studio
U&I Artmatic
U&I V-Track
Wolfram Mathematica

I found most of the list online at Macwelt, and added some further programs. Please feel free to add additional applications you know that use both CPUs under Mac OS 9.

[Protools5LEGuy]

Thanks!

[IIO]

Steinberg Nuendo
u&i V-Track
u&i Artmatic

Logic Audio afaik can only run the plug-ins in the seocnd processor (but thats better than nothing)

[IIO]

Quake 3   (fully supports it, but does not run any faster for that matter)

[Mat]

Updated the list. Thanks for the contribution. Perhaps we can become somehow "complete" with this list?
Yes, I read a swell that some other programs do not work really faster wirh 2 CPUs. But some shall get an speed improvement to 180%.

For me it is quite interresting, I diddn´t know that so many professional applications support two CPUs. That makes the Dualmacs immediatly more interresting for me.

[IIO]

yeah well, the 180% faster is probably really only true for some, mainly cubase, performer, and photoshop and after effects.

the latter two only while rendering, since many things you do in photoshop are a matter of in/out.

quicktime and quicktime based apps will also benefit largely from dual CPU.

quake and some other quake 3 eninge based games might even run slower as i heard.

[Mat]

I found an further interresting project with several programs. The "AppleSeed" software for clusterig and parallelization of Macs. It even works with Mac OS 8.5 . It seems to take care of Multiprocessors and later Multicores as Altivec and Carbon.

http://exodus.physics.ucla.edu/appleseed/appleseed9.html

Very interresting is their "Multiprocessing Development Page":
http://exodus.physics.ucla.edu/appleseed/dev/multiprocessing8.html

The "Power Fractal Software" is their Demo- and Measuring application, available for Mac OS 8.5 onwards:
http://daugerresearch.com/fractals/powerfractal.shtml

Sadly I cannot update the list above, else "AppleSeed" and "Power Fractal" should be added.

[MacTron]

This is another extensive list that include Altivec support info:

Company	Application	Multi-Processor	AltiVec
		Support	Support
Apple	AppleWorks	no	no
	DVD Player	yes	yes
	DVD Studio Pro	yes	yes
	Video Player	no	no
	Disk Burn	yes	yes
	FinalCut Pro	yes	yes
	iMovie 2	yes	yes
	iTunes	yes	yes
	Mac OS 7-8	limited	no
	Mac OS 9	asymetric	yes
	Mac OS X	symetric	yes
	Quicktime 4-5	yes	yes
	WebObjects	yes	yes
Adobe	After Effects	yes	yes
	Canoma	?	planned
	Illustrator 9	planned	yes
	Image Ready	yes	yes
	Pagemaker	no	no
	GoLive	no	no
	Premiere 6	yes	yes
	Photoshop 5.5-6	yes	yes
Absoft	Pro Fortran	yes	yes
Active Concepts	Funnel Web	yes	yes
Adrenaline	Charts Pro 1.5	?	yes
Alias|Wavefront	Maya	yes	yes
Ambrosia	SnapzPro	?	yes
Artel	Boris Series (all)	yes	yes
Asarte	DVDirector	yes	yes
	M.pack 3.5.1	yes	yes
	(all products)		yes
Avid	Media Composer	yes	no
	Symphony	yes	planned
Bitheadz	Unity	yes	yes
Blueworld	Lasso Server	yes	planned
	Lasso Studio	no	no
Buena Software	Effects Pack	yes	yes
	AltiVec Effect	yes	yes
	(more)	yes	yes
Cassady & Greene	SoundJam MP Plus	yes	yes
Connectix	VirtualPC 4	no	yes
Corel	Bryce 3D	yes	planned
	Draw	?	?
	Paint	?	?
Curious Labs	Poser	planned	yes
DCES	RC-5	yes	yes
Deneba	Canvas	planned	yes
	DenebaCAD	planned	planned
Digital Origin	EditDV	yes	yes
Discreet Logic	Combustion	yes	yes
Electric Rain	Swift 3D	yes	yes
Emagic	Logic Audio	?	yes
Filemaker	Filemaker Pro	yes	yes
Heuris	MPEG Power Pro	yes	yes
id software	Quake	planned	planned
iPIX	iPIX Viewer	?	yes
Linker Systems	Animation Stand	?	yes
Macromedia	Dreamweaver	no	no
	Freehand	no	no
	Fireworks	planned	yes
	Flash 4	planned	yes
Maxon	Cinema 4DXL 6	yes	yes
	Cinema 4D GO 5	yes	?
	Body Paint 3D	yes	yes
Media 100	Media Cleaner Pro	yes	yes
	CineStream	yes	yes
MetaCreations	Cararra	yes	?
	Ray Dream Studio 5	yes	?

[MacTron]

#2

Metrowerks	CodeWarrior 5	yes	yes
Microsoft	Internet Explorer	no	yes
	Office	no	no
MOTU	AltiVerb	yes	yes
	Digital Performer	yes	yes
Netscape	Navigator	no	no
	Communicator 4	no	no
	Communicator 6	yes	yes
Onadime	Composer	?	yes
Propellerhead	Reason	yes	yes
Proteron	N2MP3	?	yes
NewTek	LightWave 3D	yes	?
Numerical Design	NetImmerse 3D	?	yes
Quadmation	PlayerPRO	?	yes
Qbeo	PhotoGenetics 2	yes	yes
	VideoGenetics 1	yes	yes
Qdesign	Music Codec 2.1	yes	yes
Quark	Xpress	planned	planned
	QuarkWrapture	?	?
SETI@Home	SETI@Home	no	no
Sorrenson	Sorrenson Video	yes	yes
StarNine	WebStar 4.2	yes	yes
Steinberg	Cubase VST	yes	yes
Strata	Studio 3D Pro	yes	yes
Terran	Media Cleaner Pro	yes	yes
Terra Soft Solutions	Yellow Dog Linux	yes	yes
Toon Boom	Toon Boom Studio	yes	yes
Unsanity	Echo	?	yes
U&I Software	Videodelic	?	yes
Video Script	Video Script Pro	yes	yes

[MacTron]

But there is a big problem:
Only half dozen of this apps have actually some speed improvement.
Typically:
Photoshop, SoundJam/iTunes, Cinema 4D, Cubase VST, and may be a couple more ...

... and the dual Macs (specially the MDDs) ALWAYS have double heat inside that reduce the lifespan of most components, especially Power Sources and Video Cards.
So, we always have avoid to have valuable AGP and PCI cards inside a Dual G4.
... unless we live in the polar regions ... LOL

[supernova777]

so basically.. its not worth it .. to have a over heated system that supports dual processor when really in real world performance the difference was not that much improved.. or worth the risk of damaging hard drives + peripherals due to the increased heat

but still a very informative post from mat + mactron.
thanks for this info guys

[DieHard]

Great Thread guys

Yes, in an OS X or dual boot environment, the dual CPU is the way to go.

In a pure OS 9 environment, there are situations where a user may use one of the supported dual CPU Apps. most of the time, so it is obviously a great advantage to go Dual.

However, in the real world, I found found that some apps run un-stable under OS 9 with Dual CPU support (even if they claim to work properly)... so unfortunately, if I need a specific application that does not support a dual config. and actually runs less stable, then it ruins it for the rest of the list

So Conclusion... for me, a single fast CPU under OS9... hence an Xserve G4 1.33 single in an MDD

[MacTron]

Great Thread guys

Thank You.

Yes, in an OS X or dual boot environment, the dual CPU is the way to go.

Yes, it is, in symmetric multiprocessing systems like those based on Linux/Unix or NT kernels -to name a few- running on high end G5s, X86s or ARMs. But not in a G4, because the system bus can serve well only one CPU, not two, even in the "fast" 166 MHz MDDs. That's why -between other causes- the dual CPU software only show some speed enhancement in PURE CPU task, and those task are very unusual.

In a pure OS 9 environment, there are situations where a user may use one of the supported dual CPU Apps. most of the time, so it is obviously a great advantage to go Dual.

Of course, that's the best idea. If your work heavily rely on task that have a really enhancement in dual CPU, thats the way to go.

I don't have the data now. But you can enjoy an incredible 80% or 90% speed increase with dual CPU encoding MP3 with SoundJam/iTunes, encoding MPEG2 with Apple MPEG2 encoder, or even in Cubase in some workflows, not mine  

But in general, a fast ( or overclocked) single is the way to go in the "G4 world", IMHO

[IIO]

But there is a big problem:
Only half dozen of this apps have actually some speed improvement.
Typically:
Photoshop, SoundJam/iTunes, Cinema 4D, Cubase VST, and may be a couple more ...

photoshop and cubase are probably the most used programs on MacOS9 ... back in the days as well as today.

[filipetolhuizen]

RTCW might use 2 CPUs as well, and certainly takes advantage of Altivec.

[Mat]

RTCW might use 2 CPUs as well, and certainly takes advantage of Altivec.

You are talking about Wolfenstein from 2001?
Was there an Mac OS 9 version at all?

[devils_advisor]

Oh yes there is. Go over to mac garden

[filipetolhuizen]

RTCW might use 2 CPUs as well, and certainly takes advantage of Altivec.

You are talking about Wolfenstein from 2001?
Was there an Mac OS 9 version at all?

The same version works both on Mac OS 9 and OS X.

[Mat]

Oh yes there is. Go over to mac garden

Indeed! So filipe and you are responsible that I waste all my spare time now with hunting Nazi-Zombies, ... ;-p (Single CPU!)

[filipetolhuizen]

So it uses only one core, but I noticed a huge performance gain when I put a G4 from the Yikes! on my B&W, so it must be because of the Altivec.