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iMac G5 vs Power Mac G5.

appleish19

appleish19

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 4, 2014
213
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Thinking about buying a iMac G5 or powewmac G5 for some older software and general use.

How does a higher end G5 iMac surf the web these days? I.e. With Adblock, flash blocker and ten four fox.

I just don't know if I want a huge tower if a G5 iMac is sufficient with the web, basic games and lepoard.
What do you think? Tell me what you do with your iMac G5.

Thanks. :):apple:
 
For running older software natively, they're fine. I would go with the PM as they're much more powerful, not likely to be significantly any more expensive, and have better expandibility. These guys do great with things like Adobe CS.

If you're looking for a machine to browse the Internet, a G5 is not (IMO) a satisfactory experience. The inability to properly run flash/java becomes more and more an issue every day. In that case your much better off spending a few extra bucks on an Intel machine. It will make a substantial difference.

If you can't afford an Intel, buying the fastest PM G5 you can afford with the most RAM is your best bet.
 
I say go for the PMG5, the iMac G5s are prone to failure and they will be less powerful than a PMG5. I recommend either an early or late 05' model. These will have the best specs and be the most reliable. Minus the 2.5GHz DP which was the worst in regards to leaky LCSes
 
Get the tower.

One of the strengths of the tower vs. the iMac is that-with the iMac, you're stuck with whatever GPU is in it while you have a multitude of options with the tower. Depending on what you want to run, a better GPU can make a huge differences. Even with programs that aren't GPU intensive, a better GPU can help OSX render some of the GUI effects and take some load off the processor.

Higher end G5s handle the internet fairly gracefully provided that you stay away from flash-heavy sites or other badly bloated sites. I can actually watch Youtube quite comfortably on my Quad, although I do generally have to pause the video and let things "settle down" for 30s or so before I can watch a video without dropped frames or stuttering.

As far as GPUs go-for an AGP-based G5 if it comes with an FX5200, by all means upgrade. The Radeon 9600 is inexpensive and decent. A lot of us have used flashed ATI FireGl X3s, which aren't super expensive and among the best you can get. For a PCIe G5(late '05), the stock 6600 isn't that good-I'd suggest upgrading to a 7800GT at a minimum, and an FX4500 if you want to go all out.
 
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appleish19 said:
Thinking about buying a iMac G5 or powewmac G5 for some older software and general use.

How does a higher end G5 iMac surf the web these days? I.e. With Adblock, flash blocker and ten four fox.

I just don't know if I want a huge tower if a G5 iMac is sufficient with the web, basic games and lepoard.
What do you think? Tell me what you do with your iMac G5.

Thanks. :):apple:
Click to expand...

I had a 20" model iMac last year, this one:

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/specs/imac_g5_1.8_20.html

I used it for graphic design (an A4 colour catalogue, adverts for print and web and some packaging), making music in Garageband & Propellerhead Reason and as my main machine for internet.
All possible but yes, slower than a G5 tower - bear in mind mine was first generation too, the last iSight models are more powerful.
Some people say a G5 iMac is no good for internet but then claim to use a Powerbook for surfing - which makes no sense at all.
As with all PPC machines, optimisation will bring results.
An early Intel iMac will be less expensive than a G5 tower with an upgraded video card and obviously, if your only consideration for surfing the web comfortably is price, a C2D Intel PC is your best option.
 
bunnspecial said:
I can actually watch Youtube quite comfortably on my Quad, although I do generally have to pause the video and let things "settle down" for 30s or so before I can watch a video without dropped frames or stuttering.
Click to expand...
That shouldn't happen with a Quad or a Dual G5 either...unless you're talking 720/1080?
 
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The PowerMac G5s were usually more reliable than the iMac G5s and also had dual CPU/dual core configurations available. I would recommend going for the 2.0 GHz+ Dual Core models for the best expandability and power.
 
appleish19 said:
How does a higher end G5 iMac surf the web these days? I.e. With Adblock, flash blocker and ten four fox.
Click to expand...
Just going to comment on this.

AdBlock. NO!
Flashblocker. NO!
T4Fx w/optimization: YES!

AdBlock and AdBlock Plus have a huge memory leak that has yet to be fixed. Yes, they work, but they take up large amounts of ram over and above what the browser reserves. Flashblock just blocks Flash. Why not use something else that also lets you block Javascript as well? Javascript, next to Flash is one of the biggest issues with browsing our PowerPC Macs have.

My suggestions, BlueHell Firewall and NoScript (which can block Flash).

If you click on the link in my signature you can see some options to optimize TenFourFox for faster/better browsing.
 
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High-end Power Mac G5, please. It's significantly more powerful than the consumer iMac G5. I haven't tried browsing myself on it, but I can certainly tell you that it's the fastest PPC computer you're going to be able to browse the web on currently.
 
OS X is built to use multiple CPUs from the ground up. Anytime you can get a dual processor/core Mac over a single you're doing the right thing. I never got a chance to use a 2.1GHz G5 iMac, but I did have a 1.9GHz iSight G5 for a bit and it was passable back in 2010, but a FAR cry from my dual 2.0GHz G5s and especially the quad G5. It was, however, much faster than the first 2 generations of iMac G5. If your heart is set on an iMac, go for one of the iSight models. MUCH better graphics card, holds an additional 512MB of RAM, and a little faster system bus.
 
Thanks guys,

Just to clear a couple things up. I'm currently using a iBook G4 1.2 GHz for all my old software and PowerPC needs. Just looking for something faster.

Any recommendations on a Power Mac G5 what year or gigahertz model to get? I'm looking at dual 1.8 and 2.0 Models and then more expensive dual 2.3 dual 2.7 and of course the quad (my dream :) )

I do have a powerful new Intel MacBook Pro. So it isn't meant for doing all my tasks.

I believe these PowerPCs have a lot of life left in them and am actually starting my collection :)
 
appleish19 said:
Thanks guys,

Just to clear a couple things up. I'm currently using a iBook G4 1.2 GHz for all my old software and PowerPC needs. Just looking for something faster.

Any recommendations on a Power Mac G5 what year or gigahertz model to get? I'm looking at dual 1.8 and 2.0 Models and then more expensive dual 2.3 dual 2.7 and of course the quad (my dream :) )

I do have a powerful new Intel MacBook Pro. So it isn't meant for doing all my tasks.

I believe these PowerPCs have a lot of life left in them and am actually starting my collection :)
Click to expand...
I recommend a DP 2.0 for cheap, and 2.3 DC/2.5 Quad for expensice
 
appleish19 said:
I believe these PowerPCs have a lot of life left in them and am actually starting my collection
Click to expand...
That puts an entirely different slant on things - any G5 is going to be faster but as you're collecting as much as using, I'd fix a budget and get the best condition machine rather than highest spec.
Personally, I would guess a great condition iSight model iMac will have more collectable value than a Powermac in the future.

Regarding Powermac G5 models, I have a Dual 2.3 and in the past had a Dual 2.0 and a Quad - I'd highly recommend the 2.3 as a balance of power and price.
 
Either way you go the iMac and PowerMac G5 are super cool and the last of their breed, on top of being two of Apples most iconic designs.

I think the first iSight iMac will definitely be more sought after by collectors however, consider that all iMac G5s are unreliable and while you can certainly alleviate some of the big problems with either technical skill or money (capacitor replacement) it's probably not worth it to most people either and so they'll be binned or sold broken for cheap. As such I think they're all going to get pretty rare come another five years. The iSight really isn't a much better performer over the ALS (although leagues ahead of the original 1.8/FX5200 ones) so I'd probably just get the nicest one of the ALS or iSight you can find on that front.

Any G5 will be far far faster than that iBook at basically everything though. My G5 iMac will be my daily driver until I save up for a top of the line 5k iMac, so about this time next year. It's honestly just fine for almost everything, provided you use appropriate period software.

If you want the fastest of PPC performance that still holds up super well today a high end PowerMac G5 is the way to go though.
 
An iMac G5 is decent if you get one that had the capacitor issue fixed. However, know that a PowerMac G5 will blow that iMac out of the water performance-wise and might even cost cheaper now.
 
I used to have an iMac G5 (20" 1.8GHz, 2GB RAM) for my PowerPC needs, and it was a fine performer. However, once I got my Power Mac G5 (2.0DP, 8GB RAM) up and running, I realized just how much faster the Power Mac was compared to the iMac. If you can deal with it, I would go for the Power Mac. It's expandable, powerful, and a truly beautiful computer.
 
Agreed with most of the posters. I've had multiple iMac G5's and they never have compared with the g5's I've owned.
 
Well I bought a G5 1.9 iSight. I'm hoping the capacitors have been replaced. Apparently it had been in office use up until about a month ago. So I assume they have been since its been in use since 2005. I'm definitely going to treat it right.
 
Cool beans. Got any pics? What has it got for RAM and hard drive? It's a bit involved to upgrade the HDD in the iSight models but it might be worth it.
 
I'll have to up load some later. It has 512mb but I have a 2gb stick for it. I waiting for it to get here. Thinking about an ssd.
 
appleish19 said:
Well I bought a G5 1.9 iSight. I'm hoping the capacitors have been replaced. Apparently it had been in office use up until about a month ago. So I assume they have been since its been in use since 2005. I'm definitely going to treat it right.
Click to expand...
Luckily the iSight models were pretty much free of the capacitor and bad power supply issues of the earlier models. Clean the exhaust out good though, they were more prone to graphics chip failure.
 
Hrududu said:
Luckily the iSight models were pretty much free of the capacitor and bad power supply issues of the earlier models. Clean the exhaust out good though, they were more prone to graphics chip failure.
Click to expand...
Thanks. That's a bit of a relief. Would dusting the inside be a good idea as well? What do you think of a resosnable priced ssd even with the sata 1 connection.
 
appleish19 said:
Thanks. That's a bit of a relief. Would dusting the inside be a good idea as well? What do you think of a resosnable priced ssd even with the sata 1 connection.
Click to expand...
Getting inside these is almost the same as getting into the white Intel iMacs. It isn't that "hard" Its really just not that fun! It sure isn't a bad idea, but it'll take some time. If you're going to install a new HDD, then you'll already be in there. I haven't shopped SSD's so I really don't know about that.
 
I wonder what speeds a ssd would show over the original hdd with sata 1. I think sata 1 is 1.5Gbps.
Luckily ifixit has some good guides and there's always YouTube to get tutorials. Definitely going to give it a good clean in side and out.
 
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