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What is the worlds fastest personal computer?
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macsforever
 
 
2006-03-28, 23:18

My older brother uses a PC, and we've been discussing whether the fastest personal computer is a top of the line custom built Alienware machine, or a maxed out Quad G5.

http://alienware.com/intro_pages/nvi...px?source=1926

We're basically comparing something like this, to the Quad G5.
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Brad
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2006-03-28, 23:34

*sigh*

Discussions of this nature are doomed from the start because there is no universally accepted definition of "fastest" regarding personal computers. Do you count cycles per second? What about benchmarking software? What if it's more optimized in software for one platform than another? Do you measure integer ops? Floating point ops? Perceived performance? Simulated or real-world?

Et cetera.

The results will widely vary depending on countless circumstances and criteria.

Don't bother.

The quality of this board depends on the quality of the posts. The only way to guarantee thoughtful, informative discussion is to write thoughtful, informative posts. AppleNova is not a real-time chat forum. You have time to compose messages and edit them before and after posting.
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Chinney
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2006-03-28, 23:43

My iMac G5 seems pretty fast. I think that it is the fastest in the world.
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MCQ
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2006-03-28, 23:56

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brad
*sigh*

Discussions of this nature are doomed from the start because there is no universally accepted definition of "fastest" regarding personal computers. Do you count cycles per second? What about benchmarking software? What if it's more optimized in software for one platform than another? Do you measure integer ops? Floating point ops? Perceived performance? Simulated or real-world?

Et cetera.

The results will widely vary depending on countless circumstances and criteria.

Don't bother.
Quoted for emphasis.
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BlueRabbit
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2006-03-28, 23:58

The Apple ][e under my bed is definitely the fastest computer in the world. That 1 MHz 6502 is really, really fast. And the 3.5" floppy drive is definitely the disk of the future. 400 kb on a disk! Amazing!
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torifile
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2006-03-29, 00:48

My iMac Core Duo is. But only if I allow the wifi waves to penetrate my brain tissue and infect me with its raw energy. I know I'm going to die of some horrific disease, but that's the cost of having the fastest personal computer in the world.
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Artap99
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2006-03-29, 01:15

My iPod Shuffle is wicked fast. Even when I plug it into a Windows PC. Plus, it plays songs (faster than any other computer in the world).
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HezMah19
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2006-03-29, 03:13

My Watch, the Casio Sea-Pathfinder WR100M is the fastest Computer in the world, it can calculate time to the millisecond instantly.

It also has a 10 year battery, yep, take THAT MBP!





jm.
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Windowsrookie
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2006-03-29, 03:23

my wrist pda is the fastest.
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gsxrboy
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2006-03-29, 04:03

I have one of those uniden dec wireless digital phones.. it runs at 5.8ghz .. I am trying to hack osx on the screen, when I do that will be the fastest pooter eva.
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WrestleEwe
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2006-03-29, 05:58

My Sun Sparcserver 1000E, with 6x 60MHz Sparc procs, 786MB mem, 8x 2GB HDD, single speed CD-ROM and weighing in at 35KG is probably the fastest computer in the WORLD!11@@1

MSRP at release in 1994 was $133,000. I paid $10 for it 1 year ago...

PS; it's too slow to run Firefox...
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OmegaB
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2006-03-29, 06:24

The Alienware machine is faster.

Why? Because we don't fucking care.

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WrestleEwe
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2006-03-29, 06:51

Oh yeah. NOW I get the question...

Beacuse the Alienware machine is more streamlined, it will probably have a higher terminal velocity when falling.

But then again, the PM does have speed-holes, so who knows?

Good question, maybe we can donate both machines to Scratt for scientific testing purposes...
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chucker
 
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2006-03-29, 06:54

My 700 Mhz G3 iBook pwnz j00 4ll.
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ZachPruckowski
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2006-03-29, 09:09

I've got to say that either computer maxed out is gonna be way the heck up there. I mean, once you add a GB of RAM for each of the 4 cores, the PM is expensive, and anything Alienware isn't cheap.
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spotcatbug
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2006-03-29, 09:40

If "the world" includes orbitting around the world, then the computers on the Space Shuttle are likely the fastest. When in orbit, they zip around the Earth at X* miles per hour!

*Feel free to Google for the value of X. I'm busy.

Ugh.
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Windowsrookie
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2006-03-29, 11:40

My laptop beats all of you n00bs!

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curiousuburb
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2006-03-29, 13:47

Fastest computer period would belong to the 1976 era hardware on board Helios 2, which orbited the sun while relaying data from 1976 to mission end in 1981. Its maximum velocity was a whopping ~ 150,000 mph (251,350 kph). Definitely the fastest, but hardly 'personal'.

Fastest computer departure from Earth would be the Mongoose-V and MIPS R3000 systems on the New Horizons mission, which left for Pluto at a record escape velocity of 36,600 mph

Fastest current laptops would be Thinkpad 760XDs or similar on the ISS, currently doing between 17,000 and 18,300 mph... some astronauts bring their own computers for DVD watching as opposed to the original spec IBM units... IIRC there have been Vaios on ISS (launch weight is a big issue... not sure what the current crew is packing or what the Expedition 13 crew plans on bringing up)

There have also been Macs in space, including an old Mac Portable on the Shuttle... (Macs are also famous for the first email from space, via said Mac Portable over Applelink)

A few more recent Macs in Space projects were proposed or still pending.

Curiously, you can do the ISS PowerBook thing yourself, via a carry bag made with actual ISS flown Soyuz Parachute fabric.

And more than 150 spacecraft run PowerPC derivative RAD6000 (which Guinness claims it the most powerful computer in space) or RAD750 chips, including the Mars Rovers.

For the old school fans, you might be interested in early computers in space history, or in Great Microprocessors of the past, including the RCA 1802 (silicon on sapphire) which runs the Voyager probes and can still be bought today.

So yes, macgeekforever, it's all in how you interpret the question.

Last edited by curiousuburb : 2006-03-29 at 14:00. Reason: more linkage added to make up for spotcatbug's nice try
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Oskar
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2006-03-29, 14:22

Oh my god, the "my crappy computer is the fastest" and "wouldn't it be funny to take the word 'fast' literally" got old around post #71. Please, everyone, shut the hell up or answer the question seriously.

I almost got a migrane reading this thread.
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Brad
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2006-03-29, 14:26

Quote:
Originally Posted by Oskar
Please, everyone, shut the hell up or answer the question seriously.
See my first reply.

There is no real answer to the question. The question is a joke; thus, its answers are jokes.
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Oskar
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2006-03-29, 14:32

Well of course it's subjective to an extent, but one could try comparing the PM with that Alienware machine. You'll never come up with something conclusive, but it's always possible to say what's the best machine for a specific job. For example, the Alienware almost certainly does gaming better (four GPUs???).
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Kickaha
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2006-03-29, 14:45

Well considering I can now go get time on one of a number of the Blue Gene machines for my own research, I think you have all beat.

Take that. Nyah.
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spotcatbug
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2006-03-29, 14:46

Quote:
Originally Posted by Oskar
but one could try comparing the PM with that Alienware machine.
All right, then go for it.
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Wickers
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2006-03-29, 14:54

My internet penis computer is this big fast!
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 10x teh fastness!
(not to scale)
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mattf
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2006-03-29, 14:56

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brad
The question is a joke; thus, its answers are jokes.
Yippee. For once I can disagree with Brad. I don't think it's a case that the question is a joke, so therefore the answers are too, more a case of the old adage "Ask a stupid question, get [lots of] stupid answer[s]".

When comparing two top-end machines from different houses, the question shouldn't be "Which is faster?" but "Which is more suitable to my needs?"

edit: Ad-hominem attack removed. Tut tut me.
edit2: Typo in edit1 fixed.

Last edited by mattf : 2006-03-29 at 15:28.
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murbot
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2006-03-29, 15:37

Quote:
Originally Posted by gsxrboy
I have one of those uniden dec wireless digital phones.. it runs at 5.8ghz .. I am trying to hack osx on the screen, when I do that will be the fastest pooter eva.
Yeah, those are fast. It can process some pretty wicked amounts of audio faster than hell. I remember once trying to time the audio transfer with my watch and it was like faster than my reaction time to push the buttons. Crazy fast. In fact we have 2 of these, so I'm effectively running at 11.6GHz when I hold one to each ear. It was pissing my mom off though, because she ended up hearing me answer all of her questions before she was finished asking them.

Great thread.
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turbulentfurball
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2006-03-29, 16:59

Chuck Norris has the world's fastest computer. It must outperform all others to avoid a sound roundhouse kicking into submission.
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chucker
 
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2006-03-29, 17:01

What about Jack Bauer?
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Wickers
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2006-03-29, 17:03

Quote:
Originally Posted by turbulentfurball
Chuck Norris has the world's fastest computer. It must outperform all others to avoid a sound roundhouse kicking into submission.
  • E-Waste was a growing problem in the late 90's, till Chuck Norris finally found a computer able to comply with his demands.
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turbulentfurball
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2006-03-29, 17:04

Jack Bauer doesn't need a computer. His brain runs OS XI.
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