So, I decided to make a thread about my experiences with a PM G5 that I recently added to my collection. It’s a 7,2 1.8ghz DP that currently has 2.5 GB of RAM and a 160 GB HDD. I have always wanted a PM G5 for the aesthetics, but also because I wanted another PPC Mac that can run Leopard. My 1.5ghz Sawtooth runs Leopard, Sorbet 1.5 to be more specific (which is also what I am now running on my G5), but in order to have Leopard run at its best, you need a CI-capable GPU. Problem with that is that CI-capable GPUs either don’t work in OS 9 or if they do it’s without 2D/3D acceleration. I have gone back and forth many, many times when it comes to CI in Leopard vs 2D/3D acceleration in OS 9 on my Sawtooth and have tried various compromises and eventually decided that the best way forward was to get a G5 and use that for Leopard stuff and focus the Sawtooth more on OS 9 stuff.
I had a 1.9ghz iMac G5 iSight prior to my PM G5 and I really liked it. Unfortunately, the FireWire port turned out to be dead and the display started getting red lines streaking down it. Finding a replacement display was impossible and with the FW port being busted too, I gave up on that iMac.
I found the PM G5 a few months later online. I made an offer, the seller accepted and a few days later my G5 arrived. Unfortunately, the handles had gotten bent during shipping, as is often seen with G5s. I knew this could happen, but it was a risk I knew I had to take because I am not comfortable with or able to do local pickup. The right sides of the lower handles have bent away from the case, but the strip of aluminum they are a part of is still attached to the lower right center of the case. The lower front handle is dented in on the left side and the left panel has come away from the case a tiny bit so you can see the, I guess you would call them, “rivets” inside. The case is still able to stand up on its own though, so I think it’s alright.
Inside, I had to do some reseating. A RAM stick had come loose and there was a loose PCI bracket cover inside too with no screw. The Mac didn’t come with a HDD, so I used the one from my iMac G5. I powered on the PM G5, but it wouldn’t boot. The fans turned on, the power light blinked, but no picture on screen. I eventually figured out it was a RAM issue. There were two mismatched Crucial sticks in addition to the stock RAM. I also discovered that Slot 1 is dead. Once I removed the Crucial sticks and avoided putting anything in Slot 1, the machine booted. Once it booted up, I decided to test out the ports and the Optical Drive. The ports were fine. Having a front headphone jack is amazing! But the Optical Drive tray kept getting stuck. I eventually realized that all it needed was reseating and once i did that it was fine. It did have a problem where the tray would close on its own a few seconds after opening, but that issue has seemed to have fixed itself as I haven’t had that problem since I did my various OS installs.
I wanted to try out Jaguar on here and while it was cool seeing how fast Jaguar boots on here and seeing Classic mode start up so fast was amazing, I knew Jaguar isn’t something I would use often. After a couple of experiments with Tiger and vanilla 10.5.8, I ending up going with the latest release of Sorbet. Sorbet runs really well on here. Leopard in general (meaning both vanilla and Sorbet) just feels better on here than on the Sawtooth. I also love that I can have FireWire 800 on here and watch 720p videos. 720p is a slideshow on the Sawtooth and none of the FW 800 PCI cards I have tried on the Sawtooth works or works for long. I can also both close and open the optical drive tray using the eject key on my Apple Pro Keyboard. On my Sawtooth, I can only do that on 10.5.6 and below.
I added 2 GB of RAM in here already and am currently awaiting another 2 GB kit to arrive along with an SSD plus 2.5’’ to 3.5’’ bracket. I’m debating whether I should replace the stock RAM with a 2 GB kit later on down the road so I can have 6 GB of RAM or if I should leave the stock RAM be and try to be happy with just 4.5 GB of RAM. It’s a bummer I can’t have the max of 8 GB, but oh well.
In terms of GPUs, I have the GeForce 6200 in here now. I chose it because it has more VRAM than the FX 5200 and it wasn’t getting any use since I went back to the Radeon 9000 on my Sawtooth. I did buy a Mac Edition ATI X800 XT from eBay, but the fan on that thing is really noisy. I can drown it out by playing music, but still. On top of that, for the things I do on here, the card made no difference. 720p videos, for example, play the same whether I have the X800 XT or the stock FX 5200 installed. I thought I would upgrade the GPU because why not, but perhaps this was a case where upgrading the GPU wasn’t really necessary.
So yeah, just thought I would make this thread to share my thoughts and experiences with this Mac.
I had a 1.9ghz iMac G5 iSight prior to my PM G5 and I really liked it. Unfortunately, the FireWire port turned out to be dead and the display started getting red lines streaking down it. Finding a replacement display was impossible and with the FW port being busted too, I gave up on that iMac.
I found the PM G5 a few months later online. I made an offer, the seller accepted and a few days later my G5 arrived. Unfortunately, the handles had gotten bent during shipping, as is often seen with G5s. I knew this could happen, but it was a risk I knew I had to take because I am not comfortable with or able to do local pickup. The right sides of the lower handles have bent away from the case, but the strip of aluminum they are a part of is still attached to the lower right center of the case. The lower front handle is dented in on the left side and the left panel has come away from the case a tiny bit so you can see the, I guess you would call them, “rivets” inside. The case is still able to stand up on its own though, so I think it’s alright.
Inside, I had to do some reseating. A RAM stick had come loose and there was a loose PCI bracket cover inside too with no screw. The Mac didn’t come with a HDD, so I used the one from my iMac G5. I powered on the PM G5, but it wouldn’t boot. The fans turned on, the power light blinked, but no picture on screen. I eventually figured out it was a RAM issue. There were two mismatched Crucial sticks in addition to the stock RAM. I also discovered that Slot 1 is dead. Once I removed the Crucial sticks and avoided putting anything in Slot 1, the machine booted. Once it booted up, I decided to test out the ports and the Optical Drive. The ports were fine. Having a front headphone jack is amazing! But the Optical Drive tray kept getting stuck. I eventually realized that all it needed was reseating and once i did that it was fine. It did have a problem where the tray would close on its own a few seconds after opening, but that issue has seemed to have fixed itself as I haven’t had that problem since I did my various OS installs.
I wanted to try out Jaguar on here and while it was cool seeing how fast Jaguar boots on here and seeing Classic mode start up so fast was amazing, I knew Jaguar isn’t something I would use often. After a couple of experiments with Tiger and vanilla 10.5.8, I ending up going with the latest release of Sorbet. Sorbet runs really well on here. Leopard in general (meaning both vanilla and Sorbet) just feels better on here than on the Sawtooth. I also love that I can have FireWire 800 on here and watch 720p videos. 720p is a slideshow on the Sawtooth and none of the FW 800 PCI cards I have tried on the Sawtooth works or works for long. I can also both close and open the optical drive tray using the eject key on my Apple Pro Keyboard. On my Sawtooth, I can only do that on 10.5.6 and below.
I added 2 GB of RAM in here already and am currently awaiting another 2 GB kit to arrive along with an SSD plus 2.5’’ to 3.5’’ bracket. I’m debating whether I should replace the stock RAM with a 2 GB kit later on down the road so I can have 6 GB of RAM or if I should leave the stock RAM be and try to be happy with just 4.5 GB of RAM. It’s a bummer I can’t have the max of 8 GB, but oh well.
In terms of GPUs, I have the GeForce 6200 in here now. I chose it because it has more VRAM than the FX 5200 and it wasn’t getting any use since I went back to the Radeon 9000 on my Sawtooth. I did buy a Mac Edition ATI X800 XT from eBay, but the fan on that thing is really noisy. I can drown it out by playing music, but still. On top of that, for the things I do on here, the card made no difference. 720p videos, for example, play the same whether I have the X800 XT or the stock FX 5200 installed. I thought I would upgrade the GPU because why not, but perhaps this was a case where upgrading the GPU wasn’t really necessary.
So yeah, just thought I would make this thread to share my thoughts and experiences with this Mac.
