Is this worth it - Dual powermac.

[ghostshadow]

Hey everyone,

I'm getting ready to make a decision, I'm not sure if it's a wise one or not, so I need some help.

Currently I'm running on a single 1.8 ghz Powermac g5, 1.5 gig ram, 100gig hdd and a 250 gig hdd, nvida 5200 ultra (64 meg version) Still covered by apple care until feb 5 2008.

I was thinking about purchasing an dual 2.0 ghz, 3 gig ram, radeon 9600, 16x super drive, Pci-X etc. for $1,050

I have an offer of 760 for my Powermac do you think it's worth the 290 to "up / downgrade" It's an upgrade, but to a system that came out before mine, I think. Is it really worth it? Or should I stick with my 1.8 single.

I'm an graphics designer, web-dev, i do some video editing here and there, I encode more video than I edit. So would I really benefit at all, should I go for it?

Thanks for your opinion

 

[ChrisA]

Hey everyone,

I'm getting ready to make a decision, I'm not sure if it's a wise one or not, so I need some help.

Currently I'm running on a single 1.8 ghz Powermac g5, 1.5 gig ram, 100gig hdd and a 250 gig hdd, nvida 5200 ultra (64 meg version) Still covered by apple care until feb 5 2008.

I was thinking about purchasing an dual 2.0 ghz, 3 gig ram, radeon 9600, 16x super drive, Pci-X etc. for $1,050

I have an offer of 760 for my Powermac do you think it's worth the 290 to "up / downgrade" It's an upgrade, but to a system that came out before mine, I think. Is it really worth it? Or should I stick with my 1.8 single.

I'm an graphics designer, web-dev, i do some video editing here and there, I encode more video than I edit. So would I really benefit at all, should I go for it?

Thanks for your opinion

If you need to stay with PPC it's a good deal, But an upgrade to Intel would not cost you much more. I just paid $1000 for a last model white 24" iMac.

You will not notice a speed bump from 1.8 to 2.0 but the dual CPU really will help when you try to do lots of stuff at once. Bring up "activity meter" and watch the CPU meter. If iy get pegged nar 100% a lot then the dual CPU machine will help

 

[ghostshadow]

If you need to stay with PPC it's a good deal, But an upgrade to Intel would not cost you much more. I just paid $1000 for a last model white 24" iMac.

You will not notice a speed bump from 1.8 to 2.0 but the dual CPU really will help when you try to do lots of stuff at once. Bring up "activity meter" and watch the CPU meter. If iy get pegged nar 100% a lot then the dual CPU machine will help

Very true, I was thinking about an intel machine. I just feel a little iffy. I wanted an iMac a while back, but I got a pretty good deal on my powermac, so I bought that instead, I've come to enjoy it quite a bit. I just don't know how well I would enjoy the new intel imacs over the powermac. I'm just afraid about performance issues. My lady friend has an Macbook and I'm not happy with how it performs, it'll lag like the dickens doing simple tasks, and it'll speed up and or slow down, get's extremely hot. We had it looked at, and the genius said it seemed to function normally.

I just don't know if I'm going to gain anything from getting an intel iMac. I would like the macpro, but its out of my range. I might look into the imac though. apple has a 20'' 1,099 So, I might be able to swing that. I do like the new ones though except the glossy screen.

Thanks for the input, I might get something totally new ha,ha.

 

[QCassidy352]

If you need to stay with PPC it's a good deal, But an upgrade to Intel would not cost you much more. I just paid $1000 for a last model white 24" iMac.

You will not notice a speed bump from 1.8 to 2.0 but the dual CPU really will help when you try to do lots of stuff at once. Bring up "activity meter" and watch the CPU meter. If iy get pegged nar 100% a lot then the dual CPU machine will help

$1k for a 24" iMac?? Where did you find a deal like that?? Sign me up!

 

[booksacool1]

Hey everyone,

I'm getting ready to make a decision, I'm not sure if it's a wise one or not, so I need some help.

Currently I'm running on a single 1.8 ghz Powermac g5, 1.5 gig ram, 100gig hdd and a 250 gig hdd, nvida 5200 ultra (64 meg version) Still covered by apple care until feb 5 2008.

I was thinking about purchasing an dual 2.0 ghz, 3 gig ram, radeon 9600, 16x super drive, Pci-X etc. for $1,050

I have an offer of 760 for my Powermac do you think it's worth the 290 to "up / downgrade" It's an upgrade, but to a system that came out before mine, I think. Is it really worth it? Or should I stick with my 1.8 single.

I'm an graphics designer, web-dev, i do some video editing here and there, I encode more video than I edit. So would I really benefit at all, should I go for it?

Thanks for your opinion

I wouldn't buy a G5 for $1050, unless you have very specialised needs, i.e PPC, PCI slots etc. Otherwise, it wouldn't be advisable.

Even a low end macbook/mac mini tends to come out ahead in cpu scores over the dual G5. Video encoding is VERY cpu based, and the new Core/Core 2 series handles it very well.

As for the other G5 stuff...
The 9600 is about 1/10 as fast as the gpu in the new macbook pro. It would beat out integrated, but not by that much. The gpu in the new imacs is probably around 8 or so times faster (3 generations newer).
PCI-X is pretty much unused nowadays, kicked out of its place by PCI-E.

So yeah, I'd recommend you take a look at the new imacs if you want a new encoding system. It'd leave the G5 in the dust.

 

[ghostshadow]

I wouldn't buy a G5 for $1050, unless you have very specialised needs, i.e PPC, PCI slots etc. Otherwise, it wouldn't be advisable.

Even a low end macbook/mac mini tends to come out ahead in cpu scores over the dual G5. Video encoding is VERY cpu based, and the new Core/Core 2 series handles it very well.

As for the other G5 stuff...
The 9600 is about 1/10 as fast as the gpu in the new macbook pro. It would beat out integrated, but not by that much. The gpu in the new imacs is probably around 8 or so times faster (3 generations newer).
PCI-X is pretty much unused nowadays, kicked out of its place by PCI-E.

So yeah, I'd recommend you take a look at the new imacs if you want a new encoding system. It'd leave the G5 in the dust.

Thanks for the tips, it looks like I'm going to go for the new iMac. I just bought a new powerbook g4, and I still have my ibook g3, so i'll still have a PPC mac to continue to develop applications on as well. Making them universal will be fun Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.