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Top 3 G5's for Photoshop?

Beaniecheese

Beaniecheese

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 29, 2009
15
0
With only a few hundred pounds to invest in a mac for mainly photoshop intensive work on CS3 possibly CS4 in the near future, I'm looking to maximise my money and get the best mac to do the work.

I know there are SP, DP, DC and DP DC G5's. This is the part that confuses me as some people say pure CPU power is best for Photoshop regardless of DC etc. But apparently Photoshop uses cores in some filters!

So in a nut shell I'd like you guys, the real experts, to list your top 3 G5's that you'd look at buying for CS3 PS.
 
student_trap

student_trap

macrumors 68000
Mar 14, 2005
1,879
0
'Ol Smokey, UK
without trying to seem like i am being pedantic, your sig says you already have a 1.8 Dual G5 Powermac. Whatever you buy I would doubt the difference would be much from what what you already have. It would definitelynot be woth the cost to upgrade.

Save your money
 
S

snouter

macrumors 6502a
May 26, 2009
767
0
I see dual G5 2GHz for $600 here in the US. It's probably one of the all-time great Macs and there are plenty of them around.

Honestly, even a new Mini is going to be about as good in Photoshop unless you are specifically working with higher-res images. But for screen res stuff...
 
zmttoxics

zmttoxics

macrumors 65816
May 20, 2008
1,020
1
Tallest Skil said:
Buying any PowerPC Mac is a waste of money.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't go that far. The later model G5s are still peppy. Even though Snow Leopard is dropping support, Leopard is still good for another year or 2, and after that you can Linux the box.
 
Beaniecheese

Beaniecheese

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 29, 2009
15
0
If I can pick up a Quad for example for £500 or a 2.7ghz for £400 I dont see that as a waste of money and it will be a huge gain compared to my 1.8ghz!

I simply don't have £1400 for a Pro right now.
 
zmttoxics

zmttoxics

macrumors 65816
May 20, 2008
1,020
1
Beaniecheese said:
If I can pick up a Quad for example for £500 or a 2.7ghz for £400 I dont see that as a waste of money and it will be a huge gain compared to my 1.8ghz!

I simply don't have £1400 for a Pro right now.
Click to expand...

Can you afford an Intel iMac or new Mac Mini though? They may out perform the G5s at the same cost.
 
Darth.Titan

Darth.Titan

macrumors 68030
Oct 31, 2007
2,905
753
Austin, TX
Like Tallest said, it's just not worth it. Use what you have while you save for an Intel machine. If you get into used quad-core G5s you get into the liquid-cooling issues, and anything less would not be worth the "upgrade". Not to mention with Snow Leopard coming out in a matter of months PowerPC is on its last leg. :(

What you have is a perfectly serviceable machine. Save your pennies.
 
Dr.Pants

Dr.Pants

macrumors 65816
Jan 8, 2009
1,181
2
Darth.Titan said:
...it's just not worth it. Use what you have while you save for an Intel machine... What you have is a perfectly serviceable machine. Save your pennies.
Click to expand...

Agreement. Use what you have, and save up for a MacPro. I needed a Macintosh that could accept loads of RAM (I am not done filling it :D), so I got a Quad - However, CS3/4 should work on your G5 well enough until you get a MacPro - I recommend a holdover investment in RAM. A total of 4 GB should be enough to run OSX and a CS program and keep things usable (my opinion)
 
Fizzoid

Fizzoid

macrumors 68020
Jul 11, 2008
2,140
154
UK
Beaniecheese said:
If I can pick up a Quad for example for £500 or a 2.7ghz for £400 I dont see that as a waste of money and it will be a huge gain compared to my 1.8ghz!

I simply don't have £1400 for a Pro right now.
Click to expand...
Apart from the fact Quads are fetching close to (and in some cases over) £1000. A Dual 2Ghz will set you back £500-£600 for a decent one :eek:

If you're looking at putting £500 into a Mac, what about a Mini?
 
Beaniecheese

Beaniecheese

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 29, 2009
15
0
Fizzoid said:
Apart from the fact Quads are fetching close to (and in some cases over) £1000. A Dual 2Ghz will set you back £500-£600 for a decent one :eek:
Click to expand...

I've looked at completed listings on ebay and it's possible to pick up a 2.7ghz for about £450. A Quad for about £550 and 2.5ghz for about £400.

Generally they go for much more but if I keep my price cap I will only get a bargain. Once I'm happy with the machine up and running all apps I can sell my G5 for about £300. So all in all the cost will only be £150+ for 900mhz more CPU for example. I dont think that's bad business. This means I can rip through photoshop quicker.

If I hold on for a Pro I know it will be about 18 months+ before I'm in a position to buy one. In the mean time I'm gimping myself for a measly £150.

The 1.8ghz does cope with CS3 PS but I retouch some large files and add up all that render time and filters, it's a bind. 900mghz would indeed come in very handy.

If you guys could just tell me which G5 you'd get purely to kick ass in photoshop CS3 I'd be very greatful.
 
Fizzoid

Fizzoid

macrumors 68020
Jul 11, 2008
2,140
154
UK
Beaniecheese said:
I've looked at completed listings on ebay and it's possible to pick up a 2.7ghz for about £450. A Quad for about £550 and 2.5ghz for about £400.
Click to expand...
Well, you must be doing better than me, the cheapest 2.5 I've seen in the past few months went for £615 :(

I still think you might be better with an Intel Mini
 
P

PrincessPeach

macrumors regular
Mar 9, 2009
109
0
I'm looking to sell my dual 2.5 in the medium term, when I finally switch up to a Mac Pro which I need for work. The G5 I have is a fairly noisy creature (runs very warm where I have it) but it runs CS4 pretty well at least on my level and is a solid machine. Just wanted to note that I'd personally be very happy to see it shift on eBay for figures like those being mentioned so I don't think the OP is setting himself up for disappointment aiming for that at all if he finds the right impatient seller. Good luck!
 
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