how good are the quad g5's? please help

I am thinking of getting a quad g5. First off Ill explain what I need it for.

I will be using it with logic 7 and 8 to make music. Most going to be using alot of soft synths with in logic. Since apple has no real mid range mac pro's, I think it would be better to get a used qaud g5


are there any known issues with the quads? revisions? Problems? For example, the mac I have now is a dual powermac g4 867 and it had a loud fan problem but for the most part I have dealt with it. Do the quads have a fan problem?

I heard some g5's have liquid cooling, do the quads have this? Do they over heat? Whats a good price to get a quad for?

I do not care much about the benchmarks they mostly do, I care about actual benchmarks in logic, because thats what I will be using it with. Any logic users care to comment?

The new mac pros are nice, but I can not justify spending $3000 on them. Please help me. Thanks

4God said:

I had a G5 Quad for about 6 months. It was great. I used it for work in ProTools, Final Cut and Motion. I didn't have any overheating problems and yes, it is liquid cooled.
I can't answer your question about Logic, but with ProTools it was very stable.

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liquid cooled? Does the liquid evaporate? Do you need to keep pouring liquid into the g5? I am sorry if it sounds stupid, but I do not know how these things work.


Did you ever run into the quad overloading in pro tools? Why did you get rid of it, was it not powerful enough?

portent said:

The liquid cooling system is a sealed system. Coolant is pumped over the cpus and then to a "radiator" in a loop. In general, this system helps to make them slightly quieter than the air-cooled G4s and G5s that preceeded them.

No properly working Mac will overheat, but a failure of the cooling system (like a leak) could cause problems.

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a leak, are the g5's known to leak?

also, why are the g5 quads still selling for almost $2000??? For that much I would just buy a new mac pro.

whats the best reasonable price to buy a used quad?

BlizzardBomb said:

Here's a question. How much is this used G5 costing you? You could just get a brand new Mac Pro for $2299 with a single quad-core processor (which would perform better than the G5, as well as adding some Intel future-proofing for updates).

It may cost a little more right now, but if you ever plan on selling again down the line, the Mac Pro would retain its value better than a Power Mac G5 so you would get your money back on the other end.



I think in extremely rare cases, a few Power Mac G5s were known to leak, which does cause big problems. Look for a warranty if you plan on buying used.

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I was looking to spend no more then $1600. Also, I was told that the quad g5 is almost as fast as the model you mentioned for 2299.