What Do I Have??

[TommyMacBrown]

Ok, I’m new to Macs, so bare with me.
I recently bought a Mac G5. It was sold to me as a 2.3 Dual Core, which should make it a late 2005, model # M9591LL/A. When I went to order more memory from Other World Computing, their site said if it was a dual core it would have a line under Hardware Overview which would say the # of cores. It doesn’t. To further confuse me, when I look under Memory on the machine, I see that the two following types are installed: DDR2 SDRAM PC2 4200U-444, and DDR2 SDRAM PC2 3200U-288. That I don’t understand. Or, is my machine a model # M9748LL/A ?
Or am I reading the page at OWC incorrectly?
Thanks in advance for your help!!

[eawmp1]

Look up system info under About This Mac in the Apple Menu

[TommyMacBrown]

Under Processor on the About this Mac it says Dual 2.3 GHz Power PC G5.
Click on more info, and on the next screen there is no heading titled "system Info".

I do appreciate you taking the time to answer. It strikes me as funny that no one eles has the time to help a newbie. makes you wonder.

[bozz2006]

On crucial.com they have a little widget that you download that scans your system and brings up the RAM that you need. Give that a shot.

[eawmp1]

When you said "sold to me" I wasn't sure YOU had actually checked the system info for you model number. Sounds like you've got mismatched RAM - the 4200 is correct.

See here:
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g5/stats/powermac_g5_dual_2.3.html
http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Upgrades.cfm?sort=pop&model=235&type=Memory&TI=2505&shoupgrds=Show+Upgrades

[TommyMacBrown]

I thank both of you.
I had forgot about Crucial's ram finder, and I am curious as to why the ram can be mixed and still work.
But I would still like to know the correct model # of the machine I bought.
Oh well, a piece of the puzzle at a time.
Thanks again

[bozz2006]

see if THIS (http://www.appleserialnumberinfo.com/Desktop/index.php)helps. Won't give you the model number, but it'll give you useful info. Then, you might want to check out this (http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g5/stats/powermac_g5_2.0_dp.html) site, specifically this link (http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g5/faq/powermac-g5-number-type-speed-pci-pci-x-pcie-slots.html), this link (http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g5/faq/differences-between-late-2005-dual-quad-core-powermac-g5.html) and this link. (http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g5/faq/powermac-g5-memory-type-supported-number-of-ram-slots.html) Then, you can cross reference with wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Mac_G5) to figure some stuff out.

That should help out some, I would think.

[gugucom]

Some RAM can run in a downgraded mode. So if you fit a wrong, slower specification it will degrade your memory bandwidth but will still make the system run. Obviously it is not such a good idea to fit such memory to your system because it will cause the system to run slower.

[TommyMacBrown]

Some RAM can run in a downgraded mode. So if you fit a wrong, slower specification it will degrade your memory bandwidth but will still make the system run. Obviously it is not such a good idea to fit such memory to your system because it will cause the system to run slower.

Yes, I have already made the decision to remove the 3200 memory and replace with 4200, but I didn't know that it slowed down the system and that you could even use it.

Thanks for the tip!

[TommyMacBrown]

see if THIS (http://www.appleserialnumberinfo.com/Desktop/index.php)helps. Won't give you the model number, but it'll give you useful info. Then, you might want to check out this (http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g5/stats/powermac_g5_2.0_dp.html) site, specifically this link (http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g5/faq/powermac-g5-number-type-speed-pci-pci-x-pcie-slots.html), this link (http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g5/faq/differences-between-late-2005-dual-quad-core-powermac-g5.html) and this link. (http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g5/faq/powermac-g5-memory-type-supported-number-of-ram-slots.html) Then, you can cross reference with wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Mac_G5) to figure some stuff out.

That should help out some, I would think.

Thanks, I have been to EveryMac many time. A wealth of info!