is it even possible to upgrade an old dual core powermac g5 to a quad core or even an 8 core. I have a dual core one and i really need to upgrade to a quad or even 8 but it is so expensive to buy a whole brand new one and i was wondering if there was a way to just get a new processor and more ram or what not.
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Upgrading old dual core power mac to quad core
- Thread starter llbnf12
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I also forgot to mention the rack of test equipment needed if you are trying to change the clock frequency -- and the skill you'd need to hack the service processors code when bringing the new CPU to a stable clock.
Rather unhelpful, don't you think, since that's exactly what he said he didn't want to do?
It's very difficult to "upgrade" the G5 CPU, I suppose primarily because IBM never licensed 3rd-party companies like Sonnet/PowerLogix to supply aftermarket G5 upgrade CPUs, as has been done since the very introduction of the PowerPC (601) through the 604e, PPC750 (and all its iterations.. 750L, 750e/ex etc), G4 (from PPC7400 to the 7448/57). Actually, even some 68K CPUs were available, I think.
I suppose the era of CPU upgradeability has finally come to an end... Motorolla was the one licensing its processors (and I guess now Freescale?), but IBM definitely owns the rights of the Power5-based G5.
You can always do what was suggested above... sell yours and get a new, faster G5. Or possibly try to find a G5 upgrade on eBay.
What are your G5's specs? What do you use it for? Could be the sluggishness you're attributing to the CPU may be caused more by an older (or cluttered) hard drive, or a lack of RAM, or a slower video card (if you're gaming).
If you're still at stock RAM of about 512MB, you could double your CPU speed and in many instances it wouldn't help that much. And a new drive can make it feel like a new machine.
Something to think about
But is it really so expensive? Assuming you ultimately sell off the dual core unit, the investment cost, at this point, status post two years of Macs with Intel processors, in terms of the gap between the sale of the dualie and the purchase of a quad G5 isn't going to be *that* bad.... A quick eBay search suggests that it would be well under $1000....
i believe there have been enough changes to make it not work. or rather, you wouldn't get your money's worth.
sell current machine, buy new machine, and you'll have spent a lot less money than trying to get 2 quad-core 2.8 45nm xeon processors right now.
the processors themselves are more than 1/2 the cost of a brand new mac pro.
I would recommend the same course of action for the OP...sell your machine on ebay or somewhere to a college student while people are still willing to buy G5s (if they still are) and put that money towards a mac pro. Even a used mac pro if you can't afford a new one.
It will cost about the same as getting some more RAM and a new graphics card.
Switching out the processors in a G5 is not cost-effective or even particularly interesting as a project...to get over 2.3ghz dual core, you have to do some SERIOUS mechanical and software trickery. It would probably result in a dead machine and a few fat charges on a credit card.
If your G5 is not working for you, and you don't want to add more RAM or a better graphics card, then you need to jump ship and sell that puppy now.
sell current machine, buy new machine, and you'll have spent a lot less money than trying to get 2 quad-core 2.8 45nm xeon processors right now.
the processors themselves are more than 1/2 the cost of a brand new mac pro.
I would recommend the same course of action for the OP...sell your machine on ebay or somewhere to a college student while people are still willing to buy G5s (if they still are) and put that money towards a mac pro. Even a used mac pro if you can't afford a new one.
It will cost about the same as getting some more RAM and a new graphics card.
Switching out the processors in a G5 is not cost-effective or even particularly interesting as a project...to get over 2.3ghz dual core, you have to do some SERIOUS mechanical and software trickery. It would probably result in a dead machine and a few fat charges on a credit card.
If your G5 is not working for you, and you don't want to add more RAM or a better graphics card, then you need to jump ship and sell that puppy now.
Huh? He wanted to upgrade the CPU and I said its impossible, better is to get a Mac Pro. Advising to get a faster G5 isn't a good idea, as the latest G5 system is over 2 years old already and its dead architecture.
Well, it's a dropped architecture, I wouldn't call it a dead one. The PowerPC 74xx isn't even a dead architecture... it's just not used in desktop computers anymore.. just embedded solutions.
G5's still plenty fast, and had Apple decided to keep going with IBM, there's a good chance they'd have a competitive chip right now (IBM's Power6 is out, meaning you'd have the G6).
It just seems like such a shame to me that the G5's CPU can't be upgraded... nor the Mac Pro's, really. It just gives it such a rigid feeling, almost like a console system. Before, CPU upgrades would buy you years more with your older machine... now not so much.
G5's still plenty fast, and had Apple decided to keep going with IBM, there's a good chance they'd have a competitive chip right now (IBM's Power6 is out, meaning you'd have the G6).
It just seems like such a shame to me that the G5's CPU can't be upgraded... nor the Mac Pro's, really. It just gives it such a rigid feeling, almost like a console system. Before, CPU upgrades would buy you years more with your older machine... now not so much.
Not dead, but dying. By dying I mean software developers are stopping to supporting PPC. How many apps are already out there marked as "Intel-only"?
