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slick316

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 28, 2005
377
28
Hi,

I was looking at the refurb stuff on Apples website and noticed a PowerMac G5 for $1650. It looked like a good price, but the specs bothered me:
Dual 2.0GHz G5
512MB Ram
80GB Hard drive
8x SuperDrive
Radeon 9600 (I think it had 128mb ram)
PCI-X/56K modem

I thought they added PCI express to the latest models, I mean, it will cost you a minimum $2500 for a brand new G5 PM with PCI-X, so $1650 for an older model with PCI-X sounded good. By the time I thought and went back to the website to look at it again, it was gone. I dont know if it was a mistake and it was pulled off the site, or if it was a great deal and someone ended up buying it or something.
Just wondering what you guys thought about it.
 

slick316

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 28, 2005
377
28
dubbz said:
The dual PM's have had PCI-X for a long time.

Not to be confused with PCIe/PCI Express.


Sorry to be dumb, but what is PCI-X? I know what PCI Express is, and thats what I thought PCI-X was.
 

solvs

macrumors 603
Jun 25, 2002
5,684
1
LaLaLand, CA
PCI-X has been a part of the PowerMacs ever since they went to G5s. Well, the high end ones. PCI-Express is not shipping in any current Mac. It's a replacement for AGP, not PCI. But yeah, the older dual 2GHz used to be the high end. You'd get a refurb previous generation dual 2. The new dual 2 is the low-end, so PCI and only 4 RAM slots.
 

Chaszmyr

macrumors 601
Aug 9, 2002
4,267
86
solvs said:
PCI-X has been a part of the PowerMacs ever since they went to G5s. Well, the high end ones. PCI-Express is not shipping in any current Mac. It's a replacement for AGP, not PCI. But yeah, the older dual 2GHz used to be the high end. You'd get a refurb previous generation dual 2. The new dual 2 is the low-end, so PCI and only 4 RAM slots.

Strictly speaking, PCI-Express is a replacement for both AGP and PCI, but most PC motherboard manufacturers cheaped out and only offer one or two PCI-e slots.

PCI-X is practically entirely worthless. The only thing I know of that uses PCI-X is Apple's Fibre Channel Card (for controlling the XServe RAID).
 

risc

macrumors 68030
Jul 23, 2004
2,756
0
Melbourne, Australia
slick316 said:
Sorry to be dumb, but what is PCI-X? I know what PCI Express is, and thats what I thought PCI-X was.

PCI-X is 64 bit PCI running at 100/133 MHz they also have PCI-X 2 now which runs at 200/266 MHz. It's basically the standard PCI slot for high end workstations, and x86 x86-64 Server hardware. There are plenty of x86 PCI-X cards, I don't know if there are very many at all for OS X but I'd expect there to be FC adapters, SCSI cards, RAID cards, and I'd assume there would also be high end audio stuff running off PCI-X.
 

risc

macrumors 68030
Jul 23, 2004
2,756
0
Melbourne, Australia
Chaszmyr said:
Strictly speaking, PCI-Express is a replacement for both AGP and PCI, but most PC motherboard manufacturers cheaped out and only offer one or two PCI-e slots.

PCI-X is practically entirely worthless. The only thing I know of that uses PCI-X is Apple's Fibre Channel Card (for controlling the XServe RAID).

PCIe x 16 is for video - I've seen plenty of PCIe x 16 video cards here at work
PCIe x 1,2, or 4 is for normal cards - the only PCIe stuff I've had access to at work for these smaller slots is modems.

The statement about PCI-X being worthless might be true on the Mac, but it's completly wrong for the rest of the industry.
 

Catfish_Man

macrumors 68030
Sep 13, 2001
2,579
2
Portland, OR
risc said:
PCIe x 16 is for video - I've seen plenty of PCIe x 16 video cards here at work
PCIe x 1,2, or 4 is for normal cards - the only PCIe stuff I've had access to at work for these smaller slots is modems.

The statement about PCI-X being worthless might be true on the Mac, but it's completly wrong for the rest of the industry.

You didn't read the thread, did you? PCI-E is NOT PCI-X.
 

risc

macrumors 68030
Jul 23, 2004
2,756
0
Melbourne, Australia
Catfish_Man said:
You didn't read the thread, did you? PCI-E is NOT PCI-X.

Actually I did. If you had taken the time to read ALL of the thread you would of noticed that I pointed out what PCI-X actually was. Then I went ahead and corrected the guy that said PCIe is an AGP/PCI replacement, when in fact there are 2 types of PCIe one for video and one for PCI replacement.

PCI-X is 64 bit PCI running at 100/133 MHz they also have PCI-X 2 now which runs at 200/266 MHz. It's basically the standard PCI slot for high end workstations, and x86 x86-64 Server hardware. There are plenty of x86 PCI-X cards, I don't know if there are very many at all for OS X but I'd expect there to be FC adapters, SCSI cards, RAID cards, and I'd assume there would also be high end audio stuff running off PCI-X.

But hey thanks for your usefull comments. ;)
 

slick316

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 28, 2005
377
28
Thanks for clearing that up for me guys. I am a Windows user for over 10 years, but new to the Mac world, I learn more and more everyday.

I needed that info because my friend wants to switch over to Mac's for his business and was inquiring about the PowerMac's and since I have two myself, he considers me the Mac expert, lol. So glad I have a forum like this to turn to for info.
 
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