A full complement of ports on the G5

[chibiterasu]

So having been more and more annoyed with the selection of ports on the back of the G5, I decide to fill my two remaining PCI-X slots with USB 2.0 (A cheap VIA PCI card) and fire wire (A Sonnet Allergro FW800 64Bit PCI card). More interestingly in a previous thread (https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2-0-usb-card-on-powermac-g4-mdd.1984177/#post-24113168) there was some confusion over these cheap USB 2.0 cards. I ended up buying one with VIA marked on the board but NEC written in the title and description (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321818378916 example listing, there are cheaper ones) I can confirm that the sellers on ebay have it wrong these are indeed VIA controllers (surprise surprise) when you look up the vendor ID. However they are plug and play at least in a PCI based G5 on 10.5.8 (I might boot from the other HDD and test under tiger). I hope that it helps some people when looking to add more USB ports (as cheaply as possible) to a system.

Edit: although further testing is required to fully test the capability of the via card as it maybe unstable.

 

[chabig]

Here's a compliment for you--"That a mighty complement of ports you have there!"

 

[chibiterasu]

Here's a compliment for you--"That a mighty complement of ports you have there!"

Don't you just love auto correct.

*title fixed lol

 

[eyoungren]

?????

The ports on the backside of my G5 (2.3Ghz DC) are USB 2.0. All three are filled but two of those lead to powered USB hubs. One hub is USB 1.0 and intended for all the ports on the back side of my Cinema and Studio Displays.

But the other one is a USB 2.0 hub which sits right under one of my Studio Displays. It's got two USB flash drives plugged into it and a USB dock with 2 SATA drives connected. That particular hub still has about four or five open ports. All USB 2.0.

This was the same setup I had with my G4, only it had a USB 2.0 PCI card, because that was the only option to get USB 2.0 to that Mac.

My use of Firewire is probably different than yours though as I don't really have a need for more than the standard ports.

So, I guess my question is…why not just add a powered USB 2.0 hub?

 

[chibiterasu]

?????

The ports on the backside of my G5 (2.3Ghz DC) are USB 2.0. All three are filled but two of those lead to powered USB hubs. One hub is USB 1.0 and intended for all the ports on the back side of my Cinema and Studio Displays.

But the other one is a USB 2.0 hub which sits right under one of my Studio Displays. It's got two USB flash drives plugged into it and a USB dock with 2 SATA drives connected. That particular hub still has about four or five open ports. All USB 2.0.

This was the same setup I had with my G4, only it had a USB 2.0 PCI card, because that was the only option to get USB 2.0 to that Mac.

My use of Firewire is probably different than yours though as I don't really have a need for more than the standard ports.

So, I guess my question is…why not just add a powered USB 2.0 hub?

Ah a very interesting point, mines only the 2.3DP so I only get 2 ports on the back and I admit, I will probably only ever use 3 of the usbs on the card. The G5 also sits on top of my desk so getting to the back isn't much of a pain for me. I guess I also wanted to limit the amount of cables I have in my life.

The FireWire 800 is for the 2x 4TB external drives I normally have them on USB but I thought what the hell FW800 is faster for little cost.

Does that help??

 

[chabig]

Don't you just love auto correct.

*title fixed lol

Yes. Props to your for fixing the thread title. I don't think many know how to do that.