Getting the most out of a Power Mac G5

[letawookiewin]

Hey guys,

I recently received a Power Mac G5 running on OS X Tiger 10.4.11. I'm wondering what's the most affordable/best way to get this machine running (upgrading) to its fullest capacity? Thanks! Specs are as follows:

Machine Name: Power Mac G5
Machine Model: PowerMac7,2
CPU Type: PowerPC 970 (2.2)
Number Of CPUs: 2
CPU Speed: 1.8 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 2 GB (8 Memory slots available)
Bus Speed: 900 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 5.1.5f0

 

[jbarley]

A search of topics on this forum would be a good start, this has been covered before ad nauseam, other then that all the usual stuff, max out the memory (cheap today), upgrade the OS to Leopard 10.5.8, then run Xslimmer - monoligual etc to trim out the unneeded intel binaries.
I have a dual 1.8 and it runs well after treating it to all of the above.

 

[MacinDan]

Run efficient software (mplayer, vlc, MacTubes) and don't use flash in a web browser. It's fun seeing what you can do with the hardware you have.

I've never seen benchmarks for Xslimmer and Monolingual after they've cleared miniscule amounts of much need hard drive space, but I suspect any speed increase they give you will be offset by the time it takes to install and run them

 

[Michael Anthony]

My G5 is pretty close in specs, being a dual 1.8GHz model. Anyways.

>>Upgrade the memory to at least 4GB, more if you can. Huge improvement over 2GB.
>>Upgrade to 10.5 Leopard, and use the Secrets preference pane and Onyx to turn off or speed up eye candy and animations. This makes everything feel much snappier.
>>Stick an SSD in as your boot drive. Another huge speed boost right there.
>>Uninstall Flash or block Flash by default on websites, it's slow as hell and dangerous to run these days. Use an ad blocker in your browser.

And. Yeah, that's it for now

 

[orestes1984]

Use Camino that has flashblock installed right off the bat.

 

[jwjsr]

Can I install more ram

I have almost the same Power Pc G5, 3 or 4 years ago I was assured that 2.5 GB was max I would ever get. Is it now possible to get more than 2.5 GB ram into this machine?

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: Power Mac G5
Model Identifier: PowerMac7,3
Processor Name: PowerPC G5 (2.2)
Processor Speed: 2 GHz
Number Of CPUs: 2
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 2.5 GB
Bus Speed: 1 GHz
Boot ROM Version: 5.1.8f7
Serial Number (system): RM428ZHSQPM
Hardware UUID: 00000000-0000-1000-8000-000A95D4C0D2


DIMM0/J11:

Size: 256 MB
Type: DDR SDRAM
Speed: PC3200U-30330
Status: OK
Manufacturer: Unknown
Part Number: Unknown
Serial Number: Unknown

DIMM1/J12:

Size: 256 MB
Type: DDR SDRAM
Speed: PC3200U-30330
Status: OK
Manufacturer: Unknown
Part Number: Unknown
Serial Number: Unknown

DIMM2/J13:

Size: 1 GB
Type: DDR SDRAM
Speed: PC3200U-30330
Status: OK
Manufacturer: Unknown
Part Number: Unknown
Serial Number: Unknown

DIMM3/J14:

Size: 1 GB
Type: DDR SDRAM
Speed: PC3200U-30330
Status: OK
Manufacturer: Unknown
Part Number: Unknown
Serial Number: Unknown

DIMM4/J41:

Size: Empty
Type: Empty
Speed: Empty
Status: Empty
Manufacturer: Empty
Part Number: Empty
Serial Number: Empty

DIMM5/J42:

Size: Empty
Type: Empty
Speed: Empty
Status: Empty
Manufacturer: Empty
Part Number: Empty
Serial Number: Empty

DIMM6/J43:

Size: Empty
Type: Empty
Speed: Empty
Status: Empty
Manufacturer: Empty
Part Number: Empty
Serial Number: Empty

DIMM7/J44:

Size: Empty
Type: Empty
Speed: Empty
Status: Empty
Manufacturer: Empty
Part Number: Empty
Serial Number: Empty

 

[jwjsr]

Why did I lose .5gb? Memory was 2.5gb as shown below. Then I popped in 2 more 1gb sticks for a total of 4.5 gb and now it shows 4gb instead of 4.5gb. It no longer recognizes the .5gb in J11 and J12.

Before adding another pair of 1gb sticks--

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: Power Mac G5
Model Identifier: PowerMac7,3
Processor Name: PowerPC G5 (2.2)
Processor Speed: 2 GHz
Number Of CPUs: 2
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 2.5 GB
Bus Speed: 1 GHz
Boot ROM Version: 5.1.8f7
Serial Number (system): RM428ZHSQPM
Hardware UUID: 00000000-0000-1000-8000-000A95D4C0D2


DIMM0/J11:

Size: 256 MB
Type: DDR SDRAM
Speed: PC3200U-30330
Status: OK
Manufacturer: Unknown
Part Number: Unknown
Serial Number: Unknown

DIMM1/J12:

Size: 256 MB
Type: DDR SDRAM
Speed: PC3200U-30330
Status: OK
Manufacturer: Unknown
Part Number: Unknown
Serial Number: Unknown

DIMM2/J13:

Size: 1 GB
Type: DDR SDRAM
Speed: PC3200U-30330
Status: OK
Manufacturer: Unknown
Part Number: Unknown
Serial Number: Unknown

DIMM3/J14:

Size: 1 GB
Type: DDR SDRAM
Speed: PC3200U-30330
Status: OK
Manufacturer: Unknown
Part Number: Unknown
Serial Number: Unknown

DIMM4/J41:

Size: Empty
Type: Empty
Speed: Empty
Status: Empty
Manufacturer: Empty
Part Number: Empty
Serial Number: Empty

DIMM5/J42:

Size: Empty
Type: Empty
Speed: Empty
Status: Empty
Manufacturer: Empty
Part Number: Empty
Serial Number: Empty

DIMM6/J43:

Size: Empty
Type: Empty
Speed: Empty
Status: Empty
Manufacturer: Empty
Part Number: Empty
Serial Number: Empty

DIMM7/J44:

Size: Empty
Type: Empty
Speed: Empty
Status: Empty
Manufacturer: Empty
Part Number: Empty
Serial Number: Empty[/QUOTE]