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dual 2.0 vs. 2.3

Brandhaus

Brandhaus

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 9, 2003
395
18
I know this subject had been beaten to death, but im about to buy in a couple days here, and want to be sure of my decision.

I can order with student discount a dual 2.3 with ATI 9650 and airport + BT for $2433

OR I can get the dual 2.0 with same specs and upgrade the HD to 250 GB for $2001.

The only thing that turns me away is the number of RAM slots. I don't really care about the pci-x slots either. ( I think that is the only difference besides the fsb?)

I am a graphic designer , so I use a lot of image intense programs, but I have never had a computer with over 1.5 gb of ram anyway, so I am not even sure if I will ever use the extra 4 slots. If I get the cheaper 2.0, I have money left for a that dell 20" wide monitor.

What would you do in my situation?
 
lazyboy922 said:
I know this subject had been beaten to death, but im about to buy in a couple days here, and want to be sure of my decision.

I can order with student discount a dual 2.3 with ATI 9650 and airport + BT for $2433

OR I can get the dual 2.0 with same specs and upgrade the HD to 250 GB for $2001.

The only thing that turns me away is the number of RAM slots. I don't really care about the pci-x slots either. ( I think that is the only difference besides the fsb?)

I am a graphic designer , so I use a lot of image intense programs, but I have never had a computer with over 1.5 gb of ram anyway, so I am not even sure if I will ever use the extra 4 slots. If I get the cheaper 2.0, I have money left for a that dell 20" wide monitor.

What would you do in my situation?
Click to expand...
Well I think you just answered your own question. If you don't plan on having more than 1.5 gb of RAM then the extra slots mean nothing. Also you said you don't need the pci-x slots so that doesn't matter. The thing it comes down to is if the 600 Mhz gain will be worth it. Personally I would just get the DP 2.0 system.
 
FWIW

I have a dual 2.0 and use graphic apps as well, such as: Adobe CS and Macromedia Studio MX 2004. Runs fine for me.
 
Well I guess my real question is...is the extra slots worth it? Would I ever even need more than 4 gb of ram?

What do pci-x slots do anyway?
 
lazyboy922 said:
Well I guess my real question is...is the extra slots worth it? Would I ever even need more than 4 gb of ram?
Click to expand...

I have 8 slots and have 1.5GB RAM. I don't need much more RAM as of yet. If I ever got into video editing, I would probably upgrade another 512MB to have 2GB total. So if you just use the graphic apps I mentioned you should be fine. Even if you do do video editing one day, 2GB should be plenty, let alone 4GB.

But for me, I kinda like the option that I can go to 8GB if I ever wanted to. Not that I really would, but I could. But that's just me.
 
I'm kind of thinking the same thing...It's nice to know that I could upgrade if i wanted to.

Plus it's something I want to keep for a while, so knowing it's very upgradable is a nice option to have. I just want that monitor soon lol
 
lazyboy922 said:
Well I guess my real question is...is the extra slots worth it? Would I ever even need more than 4 gb of ram?
Click to expand...

You may not need more that 4GBn now, but once you have it fora while, RAM is key to keeping older machines useful.
 
The dual 2.0 would be fine for what you need, especially if you plan to buy a new machine in a few years anyway (when you might be needing more than 4-8GB). But if you're going to go with a 20" LCD anyway, why not the top end iMac. The duals are great, and faster, and more expandable, but the iMacs are a good value right now. Up the RAM to 1.5 or 2GB with some cheap memory from Newegg.com, get an external firewire drive for backups. The 9600 in the iMacs is fine for 2D stuff.

Otherwise, the speed difference may make it worth it to buy the 2.3s. You can always add more RAM later (and cheaper), and you may need it. The more, the better. If you already have an ok monitor, especially a CRT (I like LCDs, but sometimes they can have color issue... especially with black for some reason), you can always buy a new monitor later and the extra .3MHz may help a little in the long run.
 
I agree with Josh396. I went back and forth as to getting the dual 2.0 or the dual 2.3 GHz system and finally decided on the dual 2.0 GHz system. I didn't need to worry about the PCI-X slots and I will probably not have more than 2 gig of RAM (only 1 gig right now).

I got it last Wednesday, got it setup, and I am loving it. This is from a person who has used heathen machines, as Bo LeBeau, aka MacPhilly, calls them for the past 20 years. :D
 
8 is better than 4

I would recommend the 2.3GHz because it has 8 RAM slots - the point I'm making is different from the maximum RAM you can upgrade to (which is 4GB and 8GB respectively on the 2GHz and 2.3GHz).

If you ever feel tight on your budget and still want to add more RAM gradually with time, having 8 slots gives you the flexibility of adding, say 2x256 or 2x512 without having to throw away your existing RAM. With 4 slots, you already have two of them filled by Apple and you'd only have two more slots for expansion - so to increase the amount of RAM, you'd have to make room for it by getting rid of existing RAM. Another related side effect is that to reach the 4GB limit you'd have to put in 4x1GB modules, which are quite expensive now (and will be for a year or more).

So having 8 slots just makes the future unfold at your pace. :)
 
wiseguy27 said:
I would recommend the 2.3GHz because it has 8 RAM slots - the point I'm making is different from the maximum RAM you can upgrade to (which is 4GB and 8GB respectively on the 2GHz and 2.3GHz).

If you ever feel tight on your budget and still want to add more RAM gradually with time, having 8 slots gives you the flexibility of adding, say 2x256 or 2x512 without having to throw away your existing RAM. With 4 slots, you already have two of them filled by Apple and you'd only have two more slots for expansion - so to increase the amount of RAM, you'd have to make room for it by getting rid of existing RAM. Another related side effect is that to reach the 4GB limit you'd have to put in 4x1GB modules, which are quite expensive now (and will be for a year or more).

So having 8 slots just makes the future unfold at your pace. :)
Click to expand...


On my PowerMac dual 2 Ghz I have 512 mb or ram. If i desicide to purchase more ram later on, lets say another gig, can I keep the existing ram I have in my computer and add the new ram as well so I'll have 1.5 gigs of ram?
 
wiseguy27 said:
I would recommend the 2.3GHz because it has 8 RAM slots - the point I'm making is different from the maximum RAM you can upgrade to (which is 4GB and 8GB respectively on the 2GHz and 2.3GHz).

If you ever feel tight on your budget and still want to add more RAM gradually with time, having 8 slots gives you the flexibility of adding, say 2x256 or 2x512 without having to throw away your existing RAM. With 4 slots, you already have two of them filled by Apple and you'd only have two more slots for expansion - so to increase the amount of RAM, you'd have to make room for it by getting rid of existing RAM. Another related side effect is that to reach the 4GB limit you'd have to put in 4x1GB modules, which are quite expensive now (and will be for a year or more).

So having 8 slots just makes the future unfold at your pace. :)
Click to expand...

this was the only thing I was worried about when I was doing this decision last week, but went for the dual 2.0 anyway because I couldn't justify the extra money to apple when I need to buy extra hard disks anyway. the 1.5GB I'll have is fine for at least the next year, at which point I'll probably upgrade the GPU before the ram anyway (with so much of my work being in Motion).

now if only canadian customs would clear my powermac! :mad: it's been sitting in the montreal airport since Saturday morning, and the FedEx tracker keeps showing delays with the regulatory agency. I WANT MY BABY! errr, I mean G5 ;)
 
kwajo.com said:
this was the only thing I was worried about when I was doing this decision last week, but went for the dual 2.0 anyway because I couldn't justify the extra money to apple when I need to buy extra hard disks anyway. the 1.5GB I'll have is fine for at least the next year, at which point I'll probably upgrade the GPU before the ram anyway (with so much of my work being in Motion).

now if only canadian customs would clear my powermac! :mad: it's been sitting in the montreal airport since Saturday morning, and the FedEx tracker keeps showing delays with the regulatory agency. I WANT MY BABY! errr, I mean G5 ;)
Click to expand...


Give us a personal review once you get it! :)
 
Any suggestions on the difference in performance between the dual 2.3 and the new dual 2.7 models? Other than the price, of course? Is the difference in power worth the price?

Thanks.
 
I just bought a PM this past weekend, and I went with the 2.3 strictly because of the DIMM slots. The 15% CPU improvement and larger HD would likely not have gotten me to spend the extra money
 
Redneck1089 said:
On my PowerMac dual 2 Ghz I have 512 mb or ram. If i desicide to purchase more ram later on, lets say another gig, can I keep the existing ram I have in my computer and add the new ram as well so I'll have 1.5 gigs of ram?
Click to expand...


yes
 
Get the 2.3. It's sweeeeet.

But forget the 9650 POS. Save your $50 and put it towards a 9800. Barefeats shows the 9650 sucks.
 
Redneck1089 said:
Give us a personal review once you get it! :)
Click to expand...

will do! FedEx estimates it will be here tomorrow around noon, but I'll be at work (can anyone spell sick day? ;) ). I'll review later tomorrow night maybe.

on a related question, I'm thinking about getting a WD Raptor as a 2nd drive, would it be better to use it as the startup drive, or as the scratch drive? I'm undecided on whether the virtues of one outweigh the other, or vice versa
 
kwajo.com said:
will do! FedEx estimates it will be here tomorrow around noon, but I'll be at work (can anyone spell sick day? ;) ). I'll review later tomorrow night maybe.

on a related question, I'm thinking about getting a WD Raptor as a 2nd drive, would it be better to use it as the startup drive, or as the scratch drive? I'm undecided on whether the virtues of one outweigh the other, or vice versa
Click to expand...

Use it as a System Drive and Applications... keep your other drive for "stuff". You will be shocked. Raptor's fly.
 
Redneck1089 said:
On my PowerMac dual 2 Ghz I have 512 mb or ram. If i desicide to purchase more ram later on, lets say another gig, can I keep the existing ram I have in my computer and add the new ram as well so I'll have 1.5 gigs of ram?
Click to expand...
As believo said, the short answer is yes. Just make sure the RAM is Power Mac compatible (and has been tested on the Power Mac). I'm guessing you already know this - RAM is to be added in pairs. So your calculation of 1.5GB would be your existing 2x256 plus a new pair - 2x512MB, and this would fill up 4 slots.
 
I'm looking for the old dual 1.8 with 8 slots RAM.
Anyone knows the part number?
 
keysersoze said:
Get the 2.3. It's sweeeeet.

But forget the 9650 POS. Save your $50 and put it towards a 9800. Barefeats shows the 9650 sucks.
Click to expand...


Youre not kidding are you? Just read the benchmarks, Apple worry me sometimes on how crap their base components are lately. I may have considered the new iMac in the future, but the (650 isnt much better than the trash GPU they had before.
 
How about the Dual 1.8 PM G5 they have in their sale section for $1500 (student discount), are they the 4 or 8 slots?
 
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