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.

[Mat]

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.

No no, it uses both CPUs, as it is based on Quake III engine. I am just playing it the last two days with a Single-Core
Interresting that you had a huge performance gain, but IIO said above that Quake doesn´t run faster with a Dual CPU system.

[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.

No no, it uses both CPUs, as it is based on Quake III engine. I am just playing it the last two days with a Single-Core
Interresting that you had a huge performance gain, but IIO said above that Quake doesn´t run faster with a Dualcore.

I don't have a dualcore. The performance gain was when I replaced the G3 with the G4.

[Mat]

I don't have a dualcore. The performance gain was when I replaced the G3 with the G4.

I see. Sorry for "just scanning" and not reading your previous post carefully.

[IIO]

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

yes, but quake engine in general doesnt see any speed benefit from it.

[Graveyard]

Jesus Chrysler people!!!! Dual Core is ONE THING, Dual Processor is ANOTHER TOTALLY DIFFERENT THING! You either reffer to it as you should, or give it a rest! If someone came to visit this forum just now and laid an eye on this thread especially on the few last posts, he'd immediately leave under the impression that most people here talk out of their asses and can't make the difference between two different technologies...
I've said it before and i'll say it again. English is not my native language, but i don't go around calling FireWire fireware, or even worse as i've seen in other places with tons of english speaking people, calling it firmware or some stupid crap like that. Get your facts straight! Read a little bit and then post like crazy. Sorry, but i couldn't help myself...

PS: Dual or Multi Core technology is used nowadays in modern systems. But multi chip systems can have multiple multi core CPUs. Have a look at the Mac Pro for instance. Get it?
And by the way, there have NEVER EVER BEEN ANY "dual core" PowerMac G4 systems. Dual CPUs, sure! The first and last PPC DUAL CORE CPUs ever used in Macs were in the PowerMac G5.
 

[Mat]

Jesus Chrysler people!!!! Dual Core is ONE THING, Dual Processor is ANOTHER TOTALLY DIFFERENT THING!

Don´t be that hard with us. I belive we all know that there are no "Dualcores" for  Mac OS 9. As you can read above wa all used "Dualprocessor", "2 CPUS" and such terms. Later it evolved from my try to make a joke with "Singlecore" (what still is correct) and then I used once the wrong term Dualcore.
But I am absolutely sure that we all know that there are just Dualprocessor Macs around for 9, and no Dualcores. Of course you are right and we should be a bit more careful about using the right terms.

[Graveyard]

I am the kind of guy that takes a joke, and a pun! I don't mean to offend anyone, damn, that's the last thing i wanna do. My post was meant both as a joke and as a serious thing. You took it more than well if i may say Thank you for replying, but let us get back to the topic, shall we?

[devils_advisor]

Yes the topic was g4 dualcore 

[DieHard]

You guys are all drinking too much Coffee 

[supernova777]

time to switch to water + lemon 

[Mat]

BTW., making your Mac OS 9 Dualcore at least an Hexacore up to an 26x-Core or 58x-Core with a Magma Expansion Box is the Total Impact Card! ;-p

http://www.everymac.com/upgrade_cards/totalimpact/totalpower_g3/totalpower_g3_400.html

To be honest, I have no informations about realworld speed of such Multiprocessorcards cards. The last one seems to be the 4 x 500MHz G4 card, and I read that a usual Magma PCI expansion has not enough power for more than 4 boards, ...

Total Impact stated that 8 cards could be used together with the entire memory mapped into the Linux-Kernel back than.
For Mac OS 8 to 9 they replaced the Mac MP library with an own one, ... as said, I´ve never read anything about real computing power and especially about more than 1 card inside a Mac.

Here is another short info:
http://tweakers.net/nieuws/11875/pci-uitbreidingskaart-met-4-powerpc-g3-g4-cpus.html

One 4 x 500MHz G4 was 6300$ in 2001

[IIO]

btw graveyard, while you are on interpretational sovereignty for terminologies you should include apple inc. into your criticism.

they keep calling their computers "8 core" while in fact the have never been  that.

[filipetolhuizen]

Talking about dual cores and dual CPUs, has anyone ever seen the ultra rare dual zif bay? I could find something about it some time ago, but now I can't seem to find anything about it anymore.

[Mat]

Talking about dual cores and dual CPUs, has anyone ever seen the ultra rare dual zif bay? I could find something about it some time ago, but now I can't seem to find anything about it anymore.

Are you talking about the PCI Macs or Clones like the 9500/9600 or Umax Pulsar (S900) with 2 604(e) CPU slots/cards?

[Protools5LEGuy]

No, there is a rare Joesomething dual ZIF like for G3B&W and G4 PCI

[Mat]

Ups, I confused the PCI Macs Processor Card Slot with the ZIF. If i wouldn´t use in both slots Sonnet G4 Cards, … ;)

[pixitha]

Updating the dead links for Exodus from UCLA:

https://web.archive.org/web/20121107010154/http://exodus.physics.ucla.edu/appleseed/appleseed9.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20100719035223/http://exodus.physics.ucla.edu/appleseed/dev/multiprocessing8.html

[smilesdavis]

ApplePCI - Apple Multiprocessor and G4 PowerBook Expansion Chassis Fix

Digidesign Pro Tools: there was a Dual Processor OS 9 Fix and a Apple Multiprocessor and G4 PowerBook Expansion Chassis Fix

http://archive.digidesign.com/download/mp/

Apple Multiprocessor and G4 PowerBook Expansion Chassis Fix

This download is for anyone wishing to use Pro Tools on either:

Multiprocessor Apple G4 computers

Titanium Powerbook model 550 or higher with Magma CB2S or other Magma PowerBook Expansion Chassis with an ATTO SCSI card. See the MAGMA MAC Cardbus Expansion FAQ for Magma's information on the new Apple Titanium SCSI Fix and ProTools (including HD) testing.

Without this download:

Users with multiprocessor systems may experience -6042 errors unless they remove the Multiprocessor folder from their extensions folder, thus disabling the second processor.

Users of Titanium Powerbooks model 550 or higher are unable to use a Magma CB2S or other Magma PowerBook Expansion Chassis with an ATTO SCSI card for their Pro Tools hardware.

Other users will experience no benefit from this download and should not use it.

Download Includes:

ApplePCI (system extension)

ApplePCI Read Me (this document)