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Is G5 as fast as Core Duo?

E

Evgenij

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 11, 2009
19
0
Well, as I reported in another post , I went to the Apple store to see how much it would cost to repair my Macbook Pro and they told me that it would cost almost $700.

Since I don't have that money I decided to sell it instead and sold it for $430. Aside from the video card issue the Macbook Pro was fast for me. Since I sold it I decided to look for something else instead. I sold my iPod touch and so now my budget is almost $600.

On eBay they have Powermac G5 (dual 2.0GHz) with 2GB of RAM. My Macbook was 1.83Ghz Core Duo. Does that Powermac match the CPU performance of the Macbook or is it slower?

I was thinking about getting an original Core Duo 20 inch iMac but I was shocked to see that none of them are available at that price and they are from 2006! The only models availabel for $600 are all 17 inch.

Lastly, I looked at Powerbooks G4's but, from what I understand, they are much slower than what I had.

So now I am thinking more about the Powermac G5. Is it as fast as the Macbook Pro I had or should I look into something else? Thanks.
 
Evgenij said:
Well, as I reported in another post , I went to the Apple store to see how much it would cost to repair my Macbook Pro and they told me that it would cost almost $700.

Since I don't have that money I decided to sell it instead and sold it for $430. Aside from the video card issue the Macbook Pro was fast for me. Since I sold it I decided to look for something else instead. I sold my iPod touch and so now my budget is almost $600.

On eBay they have Powermac G5 (dual 2.0GHz) with 2GB of RAM. My Macbook was 1.83Ghz Core Duo. Does that Powermac match the CPU performance of the Macbook or is it slower?

I was thinking about getting an original Core Duo 20 inch iMac but I was shocked to see that none of them are available at that price and they are from 2006! The only models availabel for $600 are all 17 inch.

Lastly, I looked at Powerbooks G4's but, from what I understand, they are much slower than what I had.

So now I am thinking more about the Powermac G5. Is it as fast as the Macbook Pro I had or should I look into something else? Thanks.
Click to expand...

The G5 is most likely faster. Core duo is still pre core 2 duo, which is the first to use the core architecture, despite the core name being in core duo, its Pentium M based.
 
Well, according to the Geekbench 2 scores from MacTracker, the MBP scores 2291 while the G5 comes in at 1671 (although varies, depending on year)
 
since you're considering a G5, I assume you have a monitor. If that's the case, how about a mac mini? If you could stretch that budget just a *bit* you could get the low-end mini and upgrade the RAM to 2 or 4 GB. A 2009 mini would be faster than either your MBP or a G5 and would, of course, come with a new warranty.
 
QCassidy352 said:
since you're considering a G5, I assume you have a monitor. If that's the case, how about a mac mini? If you could stretch that budget just a *bit* you could get the low-end mini and upgrade the RAM to 2 or 4 GB. A 2009 mini would be faster than either your MBP or a G5 and would, of course, come with a new warranty.
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The only problem with the mini is, no dedicated graphics card, although a lot of the G5's dissapointingly came with only a 7300gt which isn't very fast.
 
QCassidy352 said:
since you're considering a G5, I assume you have a monitor. If that's the case, how about a mac mini? If you could stretch that budget just a *bit* you could get the low-end mini and upgrade the RAM to 2 or 4 GB. A 2009 mini would be faster than either your MBP or a G5 and would, of course, come with a new warranty.
Click to expand...

Agreed. You get a faster, cooler, quieter processor on a newer architecture, faster RAM, a graphics card which is stronger than the 6600, a warranty and it's guaranteed to work with Snow Leopard. You'd probably save your self a bundle on energy bills too :p No-one should be buying G5 now unless you're getting an amazing deal.
 
blackhand1001 said:
The only problem with the mini is, no dedicated graphics card, although a lot of the G5's dissapointingly came with only a 7300gt which isn't very fast.
Click to expand...

I think the first gen mac pros came with a 7300gt; the G5s came with substantially worse cards than that unless you BTO. I think the standard on even the last gen of G5 was an nvidea 6600 LE which was a pretty bad card. Yes you'd have options, like the 7800 or even the radeon 1900 mac edition, but a) only if the G5 were the last generation (dual core), and b) those are expensive.

BlizzardBomb said:
Agreed. You get a faster, cooler, quieter processor on a newer architecture, faster RAM, a graphics card which is stronger than the 6600, a warranty and it's guaranteed to work with Snow Leopard. You'd probably save your self a bundle on energy bills too :p No-one should be buying G5 now unless you're getting an amazing deal.
Click to expand...

Excellent points. Have you listened to a G5 lately? They can sound like jet engines when they get going. I've yet to hear my 2009 mini in any situation other than reading from a CD.

Edit: also, I'll add that while I don't recommend getting any G5 right now, generation does matter. I think there were 4 distinct generations of G5, and each one had a dual 2.0 model. Those dual 2.0s differ considerably, however: they use different RAM, have different video card options, and different ages. Also, the last gen was dual core, not dual processor, so it should run cooler and quieter.
 
QCassidy352 said:
I think the first gen mac pros came with a 7300gt; the G5s came with substantially worse cards than that unless you BTO. I think the standard on even the last gen of G5 was an nvidea 6600 LE which was a pretty bad card.
Click to expand...
From someone who's trying to get a cheap G5 (me), most of the ones I've been looking at have the GeForce 5200
 
Fizzoid said:
From someone who's trying to get a cheap G5 (me), most of the ones I've been looking at have the GeForce 5200
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oh, haha, right, I forgot that card. That was the low-end on the very early G5s. Now *that* was a bad card!

www.everymac.com for a full description of the base configuration (and notes about custom configurations) of every mac ever made. :)
 
QCassidy352 said:
since you're considering a G5, I assume you have a monitor. If that's the case, how about a mac mini? If you could stretch that budget just a *bit* you could get the low-end mini and upgrade the RAM to 2 or 4 GB. A 2009 mini would be faster than either your MBP or a G5 and would, of course, come with a new warranty.
Click to expand...

I do have a monitor, 20 inch Cinema Display. Do you really think that the mini's are faster than the G5? I read somewhere that Powermacs are comparable to Mac Pros.
 
Evgenij said:
I do have a monitor, 20 inch Cinema Display. Do you really think that the mini's are faster than the G5? I read somewhere that Powermacs are comparable to Mac Pros.
Click to expand...

The Mini would be MUCH faster at just about everything.

The only thing you should be eyeing a G5 for is to fill the need for a second machine, or a machine that can hold multiple HDDs in the case. Standard the G5 held two, but there is this overly expensive kit you can get that will give you the option for three more.

The last late October 06 G5 dual core machines are actually very quiet, take up to 16GB of DDR2 RAM support 30" and 23" monitors, and since they take PCIe are still very current, but since you aren't going to have ANY GFX options and aren't guaranteed a new OS it's best to stay away.

Look for an older Core Duo iMac (white) or like everyone is saying a brand new, current generation Mac Mini.

p.s. The only G5 that would ever come close to a Mac Pro, or beat (speed wise) a Core 2 Duo is the Quad, and that machine is just too over prices since everyone that wants to sell it still thinks it's worth $1200 or more.
 
Thank you so much for your replies!

I decided to finally settle for a new Mac mini 2.0 from Apple. It will cost a little more then my budget because of the tax and shipping but I guess I can always withhold from buying a video game or two ;) Or I can just buy from Amazon.

Thanks so much, everybody!
 
Congrats. Thats a better decision. ;)

blackhand1001 said:
The G5 is most likely faster. Core duo is still pre core 2 duo, which is the first to use the core architecture, despite the core name being in core duo, its Pentium M based.
Click to expand...
I disagree here, Core Duo is NOT Pentium M based.
 
QCassidy352 said:
I think the first gen mac pros came with a 7300gt; the G5s came with substantially worse cards than that unless you BTO. I think the standard on even the last gen of G5 was an nvidea 6600 LE which was a pretty bad card. Yes you'd have options, like the 7800 or even the radeon 1900 mac edition, but a) only if the G5 were the last generation (dual core), and b) those are expensive.



Excellent points. Have you listened to a G5 lately? They can sound like jet engines when they get going. I've yet to hear my 2009 mini in any situation other than reading from a CD.

Edit: also, I'll add that while I don't recommend getting any G5 right now, generation does matter. I think there were 4 distinct generations of G5, and each one had a dual 2.0 model. Those dual 2.0s differ considerably, however: they use different RAM, have different video card options, and different ages. Also, the last gen was dual core, not dual processor, so it should run cooler and quieter.
Click to expand...

Personally, I like the sound of my PowerMac Quad, and it is not as loud as the others that I have used in the past.
 
I used to have a Dual 2GHz G5 (the 970FX model, between the original dual processor and the last dual core versions)..

It was slower than my brother's 1.8GHz core duo imac for most tasks. As strange as that sounds, the dual G4s always felt just as fast at the same basic stuff..

That said, I'd definitely get a mini.
 
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