Adopted PowerMac G5 Dual Processor 2.0GHz; need help pls for solutions to upgrade it.

[iluvmacs99]

Since I work in a computer recycling facility, we came across a number of PowerMac G5 that were donated and were actually destined to be dumped and recycled, before some of us decided to rescue them. So I rescued one of the better condition bare G5 and I always wanted one anyhow (the Quad mainly), but this 2.0 DP will do just fine. I already installed 4Gb of DDR RAM (it has 8 slots and all full), a used 7200 rpm 1Tb WD drive and it came with the Nvidia FX5200 card which I know is a not so capable video card. The temperature on both processors are hovering around 45 degrees celsius idle and about 70 degrees celsius working hard. I currently have Tiger 10.4.11 on it and will be keeping it that way for the foreseeable future. It's main purpose is for studio recording and editing audio files served on my network server and I have Sound Studio 3, Audacity and Garage Band installed and in use. So far so good! I was blown by the fact that booting into Tiger 10.4.11 with a 7200 rpm drive was really fast (faster than I remember my old long gone G4 400 AGP did) that I wonder if I need a SSD installed or not. Or I could get a 10,000 rpm Velociraptor drive installed (2nd bay is empty) refurbed from my workplace. Would a 10,000 rpm drive work with the G5's SATA 1?

Right now, I am wondering what I could add or upgrade to this G5. I have the means to scavenge my workplace for better video cards, more RAM and better speced hard drives, but I need to know what I should be looking for. Would a better video card like the 9600XT or 9800 Pro better than my FX5200 for music audio work? Would 4Gb of ram (seemed plenty on this G5) be a limit for podcast and live music editing? Would an SSD or Velociraptor drive be any help in helping to speed up the feel of this G5.

I would personally prefer if I can use scavenged parts that I can buy from my work place. Recycling old parts and repurposing would be my choice. But I would buy a used part off ebay and elsewhere if I can't find what I need locally.

Thank you.

 

[Soba]

Since I work in a computer recycling facility, we came across a number of PowerMac G5 that were donated and were actually destined to be dumped and recycled, before some of us decided to rescue them. So I rescued one of the better condition bare G5 and I always wanted one anyhow (the Quad mainly), but this 2.0 DP will do just fine. I already installed 4Gb of DDR RAM (it has 8 slots and all full), a used 7200 rpm 1Tb WD drive and it came with the Nvidia FX5200 card which I know is a not so capable video card. The temperature on both processors are hovering around 45 degrees celsius idle and about 70 degrees celsius working hard. I currently have Tiger 10.4.11 on it and will be keeping it that way for the foreseeable future. It's main purpose is for studio recording and editing audio files served on my network server and I have Sound Studio 3, Audacity and Garage Band installed and in use. So far so good! I was blown by the fact that booting into Tiger 10.4.11 with a 7200 rpm drive was really fast (faster than I remember my old long gone G4 400 AGP did) that I wonder if I need a SSD installed or not. Or I could get a 10,000 rpm Velociraptor drive installed (2nd bay is empty) refurbed from my workplace. Would a 10,000 rpm drive work with the G5's SATA 1?

Right now, I am wondering what I could add or upgrade to this G5. I have the means to scavenge my workplace for better video cards, more RAM and better speced hard drives, but I need to know what I should be looking for. Would a better video card like the 9600XT or 9800 Pro better than my FX5200 for music audio work? Would 4Gb of ram (seemed plenty on this G5) be a limit for podcast and live music editing? Would an SSD or Velociraptor drive be any help in helping to speed up the feel of this G5.

I would personally prefer if I can use scavenged parts that I can buy from my work place. Recycling old parts and repurposing would be my choice. But I would buy a used part off ebay and elsewhere if I can't find what I need locally.

Thank you.

For audio, I'm not sure you need a better graphics card, but keep your eyes out for a Mac Edition X800 Pro. I used to have one in my G5 and it was a great card. X850's also existed, but these were late models and are hard to find. Both these cards still sell on eBay for decent money, so unless someone doesn't know what they have, I would not expect many to come through your recycling center. Again, I'm not sure you need one for your application; I played games on my dual G5 back in the day, so I definitely used the extra horsepower. The X800 has the distinction of being the only video card I ever sold for more money than I originally bought it for!

You can go up to 8GB RAM in that system, if you find you have a need.

Any SATA drive should work fine, even if it's SATA 2 or SATA 3. There are occasionally incompatibilities with specific drives, but these are quite rare and I've not personally run into any. If you can get a 10K RPM drive for free, then by all means toss it in, but you are unlikely to notice much difference. You can even install a SATA SSD and it will probably scream in that system, but I don't believe Tiger can be made to support TRIM on such a drive and thus it will likely slow down over time; for simplicity, you might be better off sticking with a spinning hard disk.

Staying on Tiger has some advantages, as Leopard did not perform that well on PowerPC hardware, but it should work well on a dual 2GHz G5. Leopard introduced Time Machine, which for me was one of my original motivations for upgrading to it immediately in 2007, and this might be handy for you. I recommend backing up to a local disk with it; network backups were quite quirky in Leopard. You can always clone your Time Machine drive to a disk image (e.g., using SuperDuper!) on a network server if you'd like that kind of redundancy.

I picked up a pallet of these systems at a recycling center 4 years ago, so I am reliving fond memories now.

 

[Amethyst1]

If you can get a 10K RPM drive for free, then by all means toss it in, but you are unlikely to notice much difference. You can even install a SATA SSD and it will probably scream in that system, but I don't believe Tiger can be made to support TRIM on such a drive and thus it will likely slow down over time; for simplicity, you might be better off sticking with a spinning hard disk.

TRIM support only appeared in Snow Leopard so if going for an SSD, better get one that will do nicely without TRIM support. In my experience, going for a faster drive makes a noticeable difference, and the VelociRaptor's or SSD's lower access time is what makes a system feel zippy. So, go for the fastest drive your budget allows.

 

[iluvmacs99]

Thanks Soba for your in-depth information on the G5. I don't game so probably won't intentionally get the X800 card unless I get to see one in the facility. I did however see the 9800 Pro, but it was broken. Loving the G5 and finally able to re-live what I had missed from 2003-2009 when the dot.com bubble bust wiped me out financially that I had to settle for a lowly PC laptop while letting go of my G4 before being able to get back on my feet a few years later. By then, it was an Intel Mac machine.

 

[Soba]

Thanks Soba for your in-depth information on the G5. I don't game so probably won't intentionally get the X800 card unless I get to see one in the facility. I did however see the 9800 Pro, but it was broken. Loving the G5 and finally able to re-live what I had missed from 2003-2009 when the dot.com bubble bust wiped me out financially that I had to settle for a lowly PC laptop while letting go of my G4 before being able to get back on my feet a few years later. By then, it was an Intel Mac machine.

My first Mac was a new iBook G3, so I was drooling when the G5s were introduced in 2003 and then immediately impoverished myself with a large Apple Online Store order.

Enjoy your machine! I hope it works well for you.

 

[1042686]

These G5s make stout audio work stations for very little $$$. For music production I’d scavenge:

1.) a SSD boot drive.
2.) a couple big fat spinners in raid1 for storage.
3.) Max the ram. Nothing eats up ram like a bunch of tracks, FX & automation etc. & you can get it for the right price.
4.) a usb2.0 or FireWire card (or combo card) for additional I/o . I could see finding aging miscellaneous FireWire recording bits show up over time at your work & could make neat additions to your pmg5 DAW.
5.) an audio interface Of some type to drive audio reference monitors - anything from a cheap uca202 to a FW firebox or Mbox or usb fastrack - something like that unless you’re recording a full live band - then something bigger like A firepod, 002R, etc.

 

[iluvmacs99]

Scavenged a first generation solid state hybrid drive and added into my G5 and that definitely sped up booting and overall feel like having a SSD but without needing TRIM. I have the audio interface and the RAID drives hooked up to my Mini then, so now it's hooked up to the G5 except the RAID is on the network served by the Mini and the I/O performance seemed fine between the G5 and Mini for now. Eventually I'll add a RAID 0 array to the G5 when I can scavenge a RAID PCIX card for it. I already have 2 1Gb sticks in there, so to max it out I need 6 more 1Gb stick. That may take sometime to find and scavenge. Most of the G5s that came in for recycling have 256 to 512mb sticks. Otherwise I'm stoked! It's like Christmas in 2004 which I didn't get to enjoy when I was flat broke.