I have a chance to get a 20" iMac G5 for $15 at a local junk. It's a RevB, and when I tested it at the store it seemed to run fine. 20" is quite a big jump from the 17" model, and the screen quality is much better. But I am worried that it will fail early on me, I've heard a lot of bad stories about these G5 Macs. Anyone here have experience with these things going bad, and what to look out for?
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iMac G5 reliability
- Thread starter retta283
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IIRC it's not recommended to just post "first" or "early", mods will probably just remove it as off-topic.Early
Early
You're not that early...
@retta283, for $15, I'd say you have nothing to lose, especially as the alternative is it getting scrapped.
Even if it does fail, you now have tons of parts to play with, plus a nice enclosure for a future mod.
Man for $15 bucks I’d pick it up and repaste the cpu/gpu along with this fan mod -
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...concerns.2193531/?post=27650215#post-27650215
As far as failure, I’ve read that the caps are the common failure point on these & looking on eBay, replacement cap kits are like $10 USD, so a pretty cheap fix.
I’ve always liked the looks of the white g5/intel AIOs. Best of luck 👍🏼
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...concerns.2193531/?post=27650215#post-27650215
As far as failure, I’ve read that the caps are the common failure point on these & looking on eBay, replacement cap kits are like $10 USD, so a pretty cheap fix.
I’ve always liked the looks of the white g5/intel AIOs. Best of luck 👍🏼
Is that the iSight version?
Mine is still running today with zero issues. Upgraded the ram to 2.5GB and it runs MorphOS ( latest version works on this Mac ) and the latest MintPPC without any issues.
Mine is still running today with zero issues. Upgraded the ram to 2.5GB and it runs MorphOS ( latest version works on this Mac ) and the latest MintPPC without any issues.
RevB is the ambient light sensor, last one before iSight. Luckily it still has the back panel that pops off, so working on it would be easy for basic HDD and RAM swaps.
Sorry, misunderstanding. I refered to:
I just found your wording funny when refering to a 14 y.o. machine
Neither early nor first, though it was very early in the morning in Germany
Ah I got you now. I'm actually from Bavaria and my English is not so good especially as of late lol.Sorry, misunderstanding. I refered to:
I just found your wording funny when refering to a 14 y.o. machine
Neither early nor first, though it was very early in the morning in Germany
I think I'm gonna take the plunge, especially since it's the one with the easy to remove back plate and stand. That should make any cap replacements or other fixes quick. I've always loved the white iMacs, IMO it was the best design they had.
$15 really is a bargain. I bought three of them - they were meant as clients for RDP-connection to a Win2008Server, but after I've added terminal-client-licences to the server as a result all PPCs were kicked off by the certificate-handling of Win2008Server and forced me to switch to white intel-iMacs/Lion, which I do enjoy every day!
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My aunt and uncle had an iMac G5 back in the day and used it until it stopped working from the caps exploding I think, but I picked one up at a garage sale a few years ago for like $25, with a keyboard and mouse. I figured if it stopped working eventually I'll at least have gotten a cheap keyboard, mouse, hard drive, and RAM out of it. I don't use it too often but it's been fine so far.
I don't use it too often but it's been fine so far.Some thoughts;
- I have one - doesn't get used much - using it more / trying Linux is on my list
- For $15 I'd probably pick it up, bearing in mind the below
- PSU caps - if you can solder would be relatively straightforward. I did it - but that wasn't the whole story...Recapped PSU failed after a few months iirc
- I guessed that the main board likely had a problem too (no visible bulging caps) and so went for an ATX PSU @ c400W it was overspec'd - failed after around 1- 1 1/2 years iirc. Replaced under warranty and went for higher spec iirc 550W - no more probs
- My working assumption is that some problematic main board caps are putting the PSU under stress - so a beefy one is necessary to cope. Who knows if that's right...
- Main board caps - suspect less straightforward unless you know what you're doing & have a decent soldering iron - don't think I'd attempt it
- You can remove the Superdrive and install one of those IDE to SATA adapters to connect a 2.5" SATA HDD / SSD
- 2G RAM max - good if 'yours' has it
- Can format and use large >2TB HDD - although iirc it can't be the boot drive?
- My combo WiFi /Bluetooth card has failed BT - saw them on Ebay for not much - not bought one yet
- I have a pdf of the iMacG5 Developer note - attached. If inappropriate someone can let me know and I'll remove