Dual 1.25GHz Dual G4 or single 1.6GHz G5 PowerMac?

[GameGuru]

I am noticing they are about the same price on ebay, anywhere from $1000 to $1500 with about the same parts (1GB, Superdrive, 80GB, Geforce FX 5200 or ATI 9000). Which would perform better? You would think ever with a 350MHz difference the dual G4 would because of the two CPUs. What is everyone's thoughts?

[Sun Baked]

Remember more and more stuff is being dumped to the GPU.

And the older G4 cannot really use the AGP-Pro cards -- G4s are stuck with a 30W AGP limit -- the 9800XT is a 75W card, don't know what the 6800 GT or Ultra consumes.

[Blue Velvet]

The dual 1.25 is incredibly noisy. The fans sound like a vaccum cleaner...

(well, that's a bit of an exaggeration but you get my drift)

www.g4noise.com

[GameGuru]

So overall I would be better off getting the single G5 1.6GHz right?

[maclamb]

my 2cents:
For single CPU intensive taks, the G5 will be better.
For multi-processor aware apps, or multi-apps at the same time - the Dual will be faster.
I'm willing to bet the basic UI/desktop activites will be indistinguishable across the two.

[Sun Baked]

So overall I would be better off getting the single G5 1.6GHz right?For overall speed today, the DP machine will be faster.

However, over the long haul you'll be able to take advantage of new OS features and future HW upgrades far longer with the SP 1.6 PowerMac

While this machine may lack PCI-X, there is a chance somebody will nail down the resistors that need to be changed to remove that limitation.

If you can find one with 8 DIMM slots that would be a best case, since Apple got rid of the Rev A SP 1.8 machines by turning them into 1.6 machines -- there may even be a chance that PCI-X is still enabled on those.

[caveman_uk]

Remember more and more stuff is being dumped to the GPU.

And the older G4 cannot really use the AGP-Pro cards -- G4s are stuck with a 30W AGP limit -- the 9800XT is a 75W card, don't know what the 6800 GT or Ultra consumes.
You can get a 9800 card that does work on the G4's. It uses the power from a harddrive connector for additional juice. I think it's only a 4x AGP version though (not 8) and doesn't have ADC - link here (http://eshop.macsales.com/Catalog_Item.cfm?ID=6048&Item=ATI100435050)

Personally I prefer the case design of the G4 as it's
a) smaller
b) takes upto 4 harddrives - G5 takes 2
c) can take 2 optical drives - G5 has only one
d) it's better looking IMHO

The downsides

a) No processor upgrades available - COME ON POWERLOGIX et al!
b) No SATA - fixed with a $60 upgrade card
c) noisier - I have one and unless it's hot where you live it ain't that bad.
d) No USB2 - again a $20 card will fix this

In the end the G5 machine is newer and probably a smidgen faster. But it's your money. If I was buying today and i was in that price range I'd skip both and buy an 1.8GHz imac ;) or get a 1.8 Dual PM.