Going from a 2.0 Dual PowerMac G5 (2005) to a MacPro, Any Advice?

[inaka]

Ok, I've been clinging to this trusty PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0Ghz machine for a while now. This puppy has three 19" LCDs hooked up to it, 8GB of RAM, and I'm now used to the nice amount of screen real estate. It's rock solid, just a bit clunky and slow for certain tasks.

This is the PowerMac7,2 model with a geekbench score of a whopping 1460.

I've been starting to use Xcode for iPhone app development on my laptop and I'm running into the need for snow leopard more and more, like CS5.

Enough is enough, I need a new computer.

I use my current PowerMac G5 as my primary machine for my home business. Use it like 8-10 hrs a day. It's mostly graphics/logo/dtp work in Illustrator/InDesign, with occasional Photoshop work and very rarely Quark (thankfully!). This also includes other non-hardware intensive apps like xcode, Filemaker (with LARGE databases), Dreamweaver, Word, Web apps, etc.

I don't play games, and only occasionally do some light video stuff.

I've been using Macs since my first mac IIcx in 1991 and I've always been a "power" user geek. The thought of having an all-in-one scares me from a longevity point as well as lacking the upgradability of a tower. So the iMac is not really something I'd lean toward.

I have no problem buying a used 2008 Mac Pro, or any other option like the 2010 base model Mac Pro, etc.

Just wanted some advice since I feel the top-of-the-line Mac Pro would be total overkill for a user like me, but I don't want to miss out on anything.

Any help is appreciated, thanks.

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

Wow you've kept that going for a while!! Obviously pretty much every new Mac Pro is going to blow that out of the water. If you're looking for a bargain then a second hand 2008 Octo Mac Pro is by far the best bang for buck. If you're looking at 2010 Mac Pros then it depends on how much you want to spend. The Hexacore offers the best performance overall for the money although it's pretty pricey whereas the Octos offer the most RAM upgradability for the future.

If you're used to running a triple display system and end up going for a used 2008 Mac Pro then you'll probably want to pick up a 5770 or 5870 and a mini display port to dual link dvi adapter (has to be this one since it needs to be an active adapter) and then you'll be able to power all three displays from the one card.

 

[Major Reeves]

Ok, I've been clinging to this trusty PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0Ghz machine for a while now. This puppy has three 19" LCDs hooked up to it, 8GB of RAM, and I'm now used to the nice amount of screen real estate. It's rock solid, just a bit clunky and slow for certain tasks.

This is the PowerMac7,2 model with a geekbench score of a whopping 1460.

I've been starting to use Xcode for iPhone app development on my laptop and I'm running into the need for snow leopard more and more, like CS5.

Enough is enough, I need a new computer.

I use my current PowerMac G5 as my primary machine for my home business. Use it like 8-10 hrs a day. It's mostly graphics/logo/dtp work in Illustrator/InDesign, with occasional Photoshop work and very rarely Quark (thankfully!). This also includes other non-hardware intensive apps like xcode, Filemaker (with LARGE databases), Dreamweaver, Word, Web apps, etc.

I don't play games, and only occasionally do some light video stuff.

I've been using Macs since my first mac IIcx in 1991 and I've always been a "power" user geek. The thought of having an all-in-one scares me from a longevity point as well as lacking the upgradability of a tower. So the iMac is not really something I'd lean toward.

I have no problem buying a used 2008 Mac Pro, or any other option like the 2010 base model Mac Pro, etc.

Just wanted some advice since I feel the top-of-the-line Mac Pro would be total overkill for a user like me, but I don't want to miss out on anything.

Any help is appreciated, thanks.

Well I replaced my quad 2.5ghz and my 6 dual 2.7ghz xservers for a 2.93ghz octo last year. Well it runs matlab, mathematica and xcode just fine.
Basically get what suits you the best.
I would not get the 2008 rev as it uses fb-dims.

 

[inaka]

Hey Spanky, thanks for the quick reply.

Yeah this PowerMac G5 has been really good to me over the years. I just can't seem to part with it. (its like getting rid of Woody from Toy Story )

I have a feeling a 2008 octo might work best for me, and thanks for the vid card info. This would be the MacPro3,1 is that right?

 

[inaka]

I would not get the 2008 rev as it uses fb-dims.

Could you please explain this a bit more?
I don't follow.

 

[CaptainChunk]

Could you please explain this a bit more?
I don't follow.

He's probably referring to slower memory bus (this affects 06-08 MPs). The Xeons used by those machines are based on the older "Core" architecture, which uses a separate memory controller that sits on the northbridge. The memory is DDR2 FB-DIMMs.

In contrast, 09-10 MPs are based on "Nehalem" architecture, which integrates the memory controller(s) on the CPU(s), thus faster. Those machines use faster DDR3 DIMMs.

All of that aside however, the 2008 MP Octo was probably the best bang-for-the-buck MP Apple ever built. In its standard configuration, you got an 8-core machine for under $3,000. You can probably find a decent used one for around $2,000 in a stock config.

 

[strausd]

If you're used to running a triple display system and end up going for a used 2008 Mac Pro then you'll probably want to pick up a 5770 or 5870 and a mini display port to dual link dvi adapter (has to be this one since it needs to be an active adapter) and then you'll be able to power all three displays from the one card.

Is a MDP to Dual link DVI necessary with only 19" monitors? I thought that was only needed for 30"...

 

[Major Reeves]

He's probably referring to slower memory bus (this affects 06-08 MPs). The Xeons used by those machines are based on the older "Core" architecture, which uses a separate memory controller that sits on the northbridge. The memory is DDR2 FB-DIMMs.

In contrast, 09-10 MPs are based on "Nehalem" architecture, which integrates the memory controller(s) on the CPU(s), thus faster. Those machines use faster DDR3 DIMMs.

All of that aside however, the 2008 MP Octo was probably the best bang-for-the-buck MP Apple ever built. In its standard configuration, you got an 8-core machine for under $3,000. You can probably find a decent used one for around $2,000 in a stock config.

FB-Dims also have higher latency and are still expensive compared to ddr3 1066/1333mhz ECC, at least here in europe.

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

Is a MDP to Dual link DVI necessary with only 19" monitors? I thought that was only needed for 30"...

5xxx series cards only have two timing circuits in them which Displayport doesn't need. You can attach 3 screens without anything fancy as long as one has a displayport connector. If you want to connect three DVI driven screens then you'll need at least one active DP->DVI adapter. Bit daft but that's the way it is unfortunately. On a card with two MDP connectors you only need one active adapter. The other can use a cheapo thing.