Buying a Powermac G5 1.6Ghz...specific logic board questions

[TheScavenger]

Tomorrow I am buying a Powermac G5 1.6Ghz running 10.3.9 for a super low price. It has 1GB of RAM and a 80GB hard drive. I am very familiar with PC and Intel-based Mac hardware (I write hardware reviews for the overclockersclub.com) but I am not sure where to start with the PowerPC stuff.

I understand that the processor can be only be upgraded if the appropriate logic board is used as well. Are the processors compatible with multiple motheboards models or just a specific model? For instance, can a 1.6GHz processor work on a 1.8GHz logic board? Or can a dual 2.0GHz logic board support a single 1.8GHz processor

 

[IroquoisPliskin]

They are a matched set (A 1.8ghz CPU will only work on a 1.8 logic board and a 2.0 with a 2.0, etc). If you change a CPU or even swap the same dual CPUs to the opposite slots you will have to do a thermal calibration. Only an Apple store or service shop has the software disk needed to do that.

In the end it would be cheaper just to skip that 1.6 entirely and buy a machine with the specs/speeds you want rather than kit bashing a bunch of random parts together. G5 hardware isn't anything like a PC.