Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Sell or keep PowerMac G5 Quad

hftvhftv

hftvhftv

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 18, 2014
102
64
I was just thinking on whether I should sell my G5 Quad, I purchased it for $80 and it is in mint condition with a 6600 and 4 GB of RAM with the 250GB original hard drive. Does anyone think this will be worth more in the future or is it going downhill from now on?
 
They all go down hill. If you have the room I would keep it. I have had just about every Mac processor except the G5, I would like to find one cheap locally but they seem to command over $100 on CL.
 
Being the final and fastest PowerPC Mac ever made, it is possible it will gain a little value down the road to someone who just wants one for the collection. Other than that, it is just getting older and further away from being a useful computer to your everyday user. If you want to sell it, then sell. If you don't, then don't. Its really up to you whether or not you'd rather have the cash than the Mac right now.
 
If you have the space and use for it, I'd say keep it. If not, you can get a decent price for it. I'd say it'd be worth about $150-$300, depending on its condition, working state and installed software. If you bump up the RAM a bit more then you might be able to get more money out of it, if you do decide to sell it.

I think the G5s are still quite useable even in today's world. Obviously they aren't going to run the latest versions of Final Cut Pro X or Logic Pro X, but they do seem quite admirable in performance with applications designed for them. I'd like to have a Power Mac G5 quad to replace my Power Mac G4 because it'd be faster, but then again, I don't have the money at hand.
 
hftvhftv said:
I was just thinking on whether I should sell my G5 Quad, I purchased it for $80 and it is in mint condition with a 6600 and 4 GB of RAM with the 250GB original hard drive. Does anyone think this will be worth more in the future or is it going downhill from now on?
Click to expand...

The value is only going to decrease and the value to a buyer is only going to decrease as well. As the web gets more and more harsh towards PPC, many buyers will be turned off coupled with a steadily decreasing parts supply. Make sure you start that machine every once in a while if you keep it to keep the seals good on the LCS.
 
In reply

In my opinion, you should definitely keep it! Especially a PowerPC monster such as the Quad G5. You essentially have one of the fastest PPC machines ever made, and they are still quite capable today! You also have one of the top graphics cards available for your model, but there are of course plenty of newer cards that may work in your G5. I would keep it and go all out for RAM (16GB Max) and I would get at least a 500GB hard drive, as they go for pretty cheap these days. So yes, totally keep it unless you have to sell it for the money, and you would probably get upwards of $150 for your G5 Quad.
 
I scored a pcie dual core 2ghz this weekend with a perfectly good 23" HD Cinema Display, keyboard, mouse and isight camera for $40. Its not that slow either. Was able to surf perfectly fine with it and do everything I normally do. If you don't use it for actual computing its at the very least pretty enough with the door off to display. I would totally keep it. Why give it away?
 
BJonson said:
I scored a pcie dual core 2ghz this weekend with a perfectly good 23" HD Cinema Display, keyboard, mouse and isight camera for $40. Its not that slow either. Was able to surf perfectly fine with it and do everything I normally do. If you don't use it for actual computing its at the very least pretty enough with the door off to display. I would totally keep it. Why give it away?
Click to expand...


Let me know if you need help getting that thing running great in 2014. You can PM me if you need help!
 
Altemose said:
Let me know if you need help getting that thing running great in 2014. You can PM me if you need help!
Click to expand...

Thanks. Seems to be running great. Got an intel ssd in there and was able to scrounge up some ram from my old pentium machine to bring it to 7gb. The ram is faster ram but it works fine. Got it all clean too. Had tons of dust in it. Pretty happy with it.
 
I just sold my 2004 G5 Dual Processor for $225 on ebay 2 days ago. There is still a market for them (a music studio bought mine) I couldn't find anything to do with my G5 and the power cost to keep it running negated any thing I did do. Its up to you but thats what I got.

Specs of sold model: G5 Dual 2.0 PPC, 2GB Ram, 500GB HDD
that reminded me I needed to update my signature.
 
BJonson said:
Thanks. Seems to be running great. Got an intel ssd in there and was able to scrounge up some ram from my old pentium machine to bring it to 7gb. The ram is faster ram but it works fine. Got it all clean too. Had tons of dust in it. Pretty happy with it.
Click to expand...


7GB is plenty for most any use even under Leopard!

UncleSchnitty said:
I just sold my 2004 G5 Dual Processor for $225 on ebay 2 days ago. There is still a market for them (a music studio bought mine) I couldn't find anything to do with my G5 and the power cost to keep it running negated any thing I did do. Its up to you but thats what I got.

Specs of sold model: G5 Dual 2.0 PPC, 2GB Ram, 500GB HDD
that reminded me I needed to update my signature.
Click to expand...


That is a fantastic price you sold it for. Most wouldn't go near that. Make sure you ship it in a Mac Pro or G5 custom box.
 
Altemose said:
That is a fantastic price you sold it for. Most wouldn't go near that. Make sure you ship it in a Mac Pro or G5 custom box.
Click to expand...
I got lucky I think my auction started at $65 with the Buy it now at $225 I guess they really needed it quickly.
 
UncleSchnitty said:
I got lucky I think my auction started at $65 with the Buy it now at $225 I guess they really needed it quickly.
Click to expand...

It's possible that they needed to run legacy hardware/software and had experienced a recent equipment failure. That would be my guess.
 
thekev said:
It's possible that they needed to run legacy hardware/software and had experienced a recent equipment failure. That would be my guess.
Click to expand...

Logic Studio 9 is my guess a lot of people still use that and I still believe firmly that Final Cut Studio 2 is still way better for video editing then newer stuff but thats just my opinion. There are plenty of pro apps that people still use PPC for.

Side note I am kinda sad to see that go. 10+ years and still going. If software I use now still supported it id still be using it. Up until about last week I was asking you guys here to help me find a use for it. I bit the bullet and got a 2011 Macbook air and put that towards it.
 
Altemose said:
What type of box did you use? Many people have problems with damaged cases from shipping on G5s and Mac Pros.
Click to expand...
I sell art so I used a very thick box, heavy paper bunched up bottom top and sides and non static peanuts to fill in any gaps. I am as sure it will be fine as I can be. I ship enough glass to know if I worried about every package I sent out that I would never sleep at night ha
 
UncleSchnitty said:
I just sold my 2004 G5 Dual Processor for $225 on ebay 2 days ago. There is still a market for them (a music studio bought mine) I couldn't find anything to do with my G5 and the power cost to keep it running negated any thing I did do. Its up to you but thats what I got.
Click to expand...
Music studio certainly makes sense. There's some fantastic PPC pro audio software that never got a proper Intel port, and people may not want to rebuy or learn something new.

Unlike video/photo, moving to a Mac Pro really doesn't make that big a difference in speeding up audio work either, so there's no compelling reason to upgrade. I've done pretty decently business-wise in that there are a few such places in my area, most of them are still on PowerMacs, and I'm about the only experienced PPC expert left in the area.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back