ok so i currently have a G5 PPC mac with 2, 2GHz cpu's and i was thinking of upgrading to one of the new iMacs, the one i am looking at is 3.06 GHz, which one would be faster? and i know that just looking at that you would think ohh four GHz vs 3.06 GHz easy the 4, but wouldnt the newer one be faster than the 6 year old one?
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New iMac vs PPC G5?
- Thread starter guitarlord39
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Yes and no.
G5 Applications are extremly optimized for that processor, and if you ran a PowerPC app on the iMac and the G5, the g5 would win.
However the Intel is new, and thus can run the newer, more optimzed programs.
Also, the RAM Speed and system bus speed of the iMac would make a difference, thus, it would be faster in day to day use, but in terms of sheer processing power (which you probably don't use to the fullest extent) the G5 wins.
The graphics card of the iMac would also be a lot faster, and probably excels the iMac to the better computer.
But hey, if that G5 is working for you, there is no need to spend the extra money.
depends on what apps you wanna run, i doubt youll need a 3.06 intel cpu to browse the web, but then again, it /will/ play starcraft 2 
alright thanks yea the reason i was going to upgrade was because i was trying to install all these applications and almost all of them said that they were intel only. i also needed to use java SE 6
I upgraded from a single 1.6 G5 powermac to a 2.0Ghz Mac Mini. The Mac Mini runs *rings* around the G5. It is so much faster that it surprised me. I hate to say it, but PPC is past its prime.
The iMac will be much MUCH faster. Little things that seemed to run fine start to show that they were running slow before. Plus, you can play 1080p video without so much as a stutter.
YMMV, however.
The iMac will be much MUCH faster. Little things that seemed to run fine start to show that they were running slow before. Plus, you can play 1080p video without so much as a stutter.
YMMV, however.
Well the single 1.6 ghz was the slowest G5..... so yeah I would assume the Mini would be faster.
You also have to remember that the iMac is dual-core, so it's 2x3.06 by that logic. The iMac will absolutely destroy your G5 in basically every capacity
Yes the 3.06ghz will eat the G5 for lunch and crap it out for dinner.
There is a 27" refurb in the Apple store for $1269. I'm thinking of pulling the trigger for one or waiting a bit longer until the i5 drops a bit more in price.
There is a 27" refurb in the Apple store for $1269. I'm thinking of pulling the trigger for one or waiting a bit longer until the i5 drops a bit more in price.
Even a 2.53GHz mini can beat a 2.5GHz dual proc (4 core) Powermac: http://www.primatelabs.ca/geekbench/mac-benchmarks/
The iMac should be at least twice as fast (CPU-wise) than your Powermac.
The iMac should be at least twice as fast (CPU-wise) than your Powermac.
The new iMac is a multi core processor, so it is faster just with that in mind.
Beyond processor speed, you are looking at increased RAM speed, and the 2 biggies, increased bus speed, and GPU speed. Beyond that the PPCs have been fazed out. The latest versions of OS X do not support it, Most current software does not support it. The G5 was a great albeit power hungry chip. I miss the PPC chips. I thought IBM did a great job with them. However the Intel integration is far better then what I had conceived.
Beyond processor speed, you are looking at increased RAM speed, and the 2 biggies, increased bus speed, and GPU speed. Beyond that the PPCs have been fazed out. The latest versions of OS X do not support it, Most current software does not support it. The G5 was a great albeit power hungry chip. I miss the PPC chips. I thought IBM did a great job with them. However the Intel integration is far better then what I had conceived.
Yup. Take a look at my benchmarks, http://browse.geekbench.ca/user/OrangeSVTguy/profile.
My Mini is a little behind my Quad. Just remember that these scores don't test multiple core applications. My Quad still whoops the Mini in Handbrake encoding, it's pretty quick encoding with all 4 cores running.
My Mini is a little behind my Quad. Just remember that these scores don't test multiple core applications. My Quad still whoops the Mini in Handbrake encoding, it's pretty quick encoding with all 4 cores running.
In benchmark tests the iMac will beat the G5 even my mini server beats the G5. The current intel macs are significantly more powerful then the G5s. When you add OpenCL (on intel macs) to the mix there really is no contest in terms of raw processing power.
@mgartner0622
Huh, where are you getting your information from? This is totally false let's consider all the ways:
1.) Ram the G5 best version uses 533 MHz PC2-4200 DDR2 SDRAM the iMac worst case uses 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM. The G5 memory runs at peak speed of ~4266MB/sec the iMac memory runs at ~8533MB/sec twice as fast.
2.) Hard Drive in the G5 SATA 1.5Gb/sec vs iMac SATA 3.0Gb/sec
3.) GPU the G5 GeForce 6600 with 256MB GDDR VRAM the iMac (worst case) Radeon 4670 with 256MB GDDR3 VRAM. Then we can talk architecture the GeForce card in the G5 is the old style specialized graphics hardware. The iMac uses the new general compute architecture built around stream processing units designed to pump out the performance.
4.) Software Integration: to believe that the G5 has more integrated software still then the intel macs is silly. This is manifestly not the case if you use OS 10.6 with programs written for 64 bit intel machines and compare them to what the G5 will do with 10.5 and optimized G5 software; the G5 is toast. (Just consider the number of streams of ProRes 422 HQ that the G5 can do vs what and intel mac can do, or playing back 1920x1080 H.264 @30FPS while doing other things in the background)
5.) Raw processing power the intel machines simply have a new architecture that allows them to do more work faster then the G5. Now granted if we compare to the new POWER 7 architecture from IBM that changes the stakes but we are talking Core i3 vs POWER PC 970MP x2.
So there you have it. Sorry if this is harsh but I hate when people who want advice on what to buy get misled into thinking some thing is better then it is.
Cheers
@mgartner0622
Huh, where are you getting your information from? This is totally false let's consider all the ways:
1.) Ram the G5 best version uses 533 MHz PC2-4200 DDR2 SDRAM the iMac worst case uses 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM. The G5 memory runs at peak speed of ~4266MB/sec the iMac memory runs at ~8533MB/sec twice as fast.
2.) Hard Drive in the G5 SATA 1.5Gb/sec vs iMac SATA 3.0Gb/sec
3.) GPU the G5 GeForce 6600 with 256MB GDDR VRAM the iMac (worst case) Radeon 4670 with 256MB GDDR3 VRAM. Then we can talk architecture the GeForce card in the G5 is the old style specialized graphics hardware. The iMac uses the new general compute architecture built around stream processing units designed to pump out the performance.
4.) Software Integration: to believe that the G5 has more integrated software still then the intel macs is silly. This is manifestly not the case if you use OS 10.6 with programs written for 64 bit intel machines and compare them to what the G5 will do with 10.5 and optimized G5 software; the G5 is toast. (Just consider the number of streams of ProRes 422 HQ that the G5 can do vs what and intel mac can do, or playing back 1920x1080 H.264 @30FPS while doing other things in the background)
5.) Raw processing power the intel machines simply have a new architecture that allows them to do more work faster then the G5. Now granted if we compare to the new POWER 7 architecture from IBM that changes the stakes but we are talking Core i3 vs POWER PC 970MP x2.
So there you have it. Sorry if this is harsh but I hate when people who want advice on what to buy get misled into thinking some thing is better then it is.
Cheers
i recently went from a g5 dual 2.0 w/ 8gb ram to my current iMac 3.06 w/ 4gb of ram.
The new machine is tremendously faster. You never realize how slow the old machine is until your on the new one LOL.
I was able to sell my G5 easily for 400 the same day I listed it on craigslist. Made it easy for me to justify the new iMac to my wife
The new machine is tremendously faster. You never realize how slow the old machine is until your on the new one LOL.
I was able to sell my G5 easily for 400 the same day I listed it on craigslist. Made it easy for me to justify the new iMac to my wife
Yea I Agree With This Statement. Mine Is Equipped With Like Nine Fans. Even If Performance Were Equal, Which I Highly Doubt. I Figure The Mini Fitted With Its Intel Chip Is Significantly Less Power Hungry & More Efficient. I'll Be Looking To Switch Mine Up With A Mini In The Near Future & Maybe Connect To The T.V. Via HDMI
i really depends what you do my dad has a 2.66 quad mac pro with 8gb of ram and the ONLY thing that is really much faster than my dual 2.5 g5 with 3gb of ram is handbrake encodes
It all depends. If your PowerMac serves you good why upgrade? I know for general computing, my PowerBook works perfect, but it's definitely not enough for some things I like to do such as HD YouTube and World of Warcraft (decently, it does run ok though).
Look at the cost of your electric bill, that should give you some insight into whether or not to upgrade. However, you might also have to buy a heater then too if you get rid of the PowerMac.
Look at the cost of your electric bill, that should give you some insight into whether or not to upgrade. However, you might also have to buy a heater then too if you get rid of the PowerMac.