possible upgrades

[ismail1]

Hi all

Im currently using a dual 2.7ghz PowerPC G5, 4gb 230gb hard drive, osx, 10.5.8. i was wondering on an upgrade possibility, and wanted some input. I am mostly using this mac for photoshop work and the odd video project, i was thinking of maybe upgrading to the new intel imacs or just upgrading this machine.

What options do i have, if i was to upgrade this machine? from my research the most memory i could upgrade to is 8gb, how much of this increase, would this help to improve the performance of my computer?

Or is it time to make the switch to the new intel platform, i really dont want to at the moment.

any input would be much appreciated.

 

[goMac]

You're already on the high end of the PowerPCs. If you need more power, it sounds like it's time to switch to Intel.

The Intel platform isn't really new. It's 6 years old.

 

[Jethryn Freyman]

If you do a lot of Photoshop work going to 8GB would possibly give you a boost, but really the best upgrade would be to go to Intel. Secondhand Mac Pros go for about ~$800 on eBay these days.

 

[Nameci]

But the memory is not cheap for first generation MP's.

 

[ismail1]

thanks for the replies, i am not to keen on a laptop, i would prefer a desktop, are the imacs any good (the intel versions) my ppc g5 is a 2.7ghz, all the imacs are 2.7, except the high end one which is 3.1ghz.

would the new intel imacs do the job, in terms of graphic and video work. Any insights would be grateful

regards

 

[Jethryn Freyman]

thanks for the replies, i am not to keen on a laptop, i would prefer a desktop, are the imacs any good (the intel versions) my ppc g5 is a 2.7ghz, all the imacs are 2.7, except the high end one which is 3.1ghz.

would the new intel imacs do the job, in terms of graphic and video work. Any insights would be grateful

regards

Every current iMac would totally smoke your old Power Mac in terms of performance.

 

[Nova77]

If you want to keep your PPC, you could max out ram, change the video card (better video card makes filter rendering faster), and put in an SSD.

The SSD as a boot/apps drive would give you an incredible boost while using photoshop. I use CS4 on my G4 MDD and it feels incredibly fast.

Some also use SSDs as a photoshop scratch disk, but while this will boost speed, it will also reduce your SSD's life.

Putting $120 in a good SSD might sound too much for some to put into an old machine, but if you take into consideration the fact a new computer would cost you $1200... It might be worth it.

Just as a comparison, my dad owns a macbook pro 2009 (intel) and uses photoshop CS5, and he felt like my computer was faster for photoshop.

Intel switch already? You could, but you don't need to.

 

[goMac]

thanks for the replies, i am not to keen on a laptop, i would prefer a desktop, are the imacs any good (the intel versions) my ppc g5 is a 2.7ghz, all the imacs are 2.7, except the high end one which is 3.1ghz.

would the new intel imacs do the job, in terms of graphic and video work. Any insights would be grateful

regards

The Intel Macs are much faster per ghz than the PowerPCs.

A 2.7 ghz G5 is much slower than a 2.7 ghz Intel. You can't compare the ghz numbers straight across. Honestly, even probably the 2007 Intel iMacs would have given your machine a run for it's money.

(This wouldn't have been true 7-8 years ago, but it is today.)

 

[drorpheus]

If you want to keep your PPC, you could max out ram, change the video card (better video card makes filter rendering faster), and put in an SSD.

Just as a comparison, my dad owns a macbook pro 2009 (intel) and uses photoshop CS5, and he felt like my computer was faster for photoshop.

I would put a Apple NVIDIA 6800 Ultra video card, it was the best one you could get for it, I never got the high end ati card with the huge silver circle heatsink, but i do have the 9600XT and the 9650, and both have screen tearing with websites or any scrolling, maybe its just my cards.

And finally someone else speaks the truth, I have a 27in imac 3.1 and yes the G5 is much more fluid and responsive. The iMac is faster for ripping movies with handbrake, thats about it though, Protools,Logic, both run the same, theres no massive performance gain on the Intel mac, my 2.7 G5 takes about 18sec to boot, where as the imac takes about 45sec. I felt kind of ripped off with the imac, but im sure theres 200 intel fanboys that would argue otherwise.

 

[MacHamster68]

i would keep the PowerMac G5 , upgrade the Ram to 8 Gb , get a SSD or a new WD velociraptor , but get a raid controler sonnets tempo 4 i is best that will give you a performance boost due to increased read write speeds that put a ssd to shame ,
oh i forgot not as much as in my G5 2.3dual core due to the fact the 2.7 has PCIx instead of PCIe , nevertheless it will boost performance noticable

other cheap option would be to gut a broken PowerMac G5 and make a AMD Phenom hackintosh , cheaper then any MacPro or intel iMac
and works as good
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1sDAWKs2vA

 

[Nova77]

Is this the AGP model? I think the only one to have pcie are the quad G5s. If it is the case, the best video card you can get would be an nvidia 7800 GT 512 MB, but since they are hard to find, you can also get the 7800 GS 256 MB. These are in fact the best AGP cards ever made.

 

[MacHamster68]

Is this the AGP model? I think the only one to have pcie are the quad G5s. If it is the case, the best video card you can get would be an nvidia 7800 GT 512 MB, but since they are hard to find, you can also get the 7800 GS 256 MB. These are in fact the best AGP cards ever made.

not quiet the dual cores 2.0 and 2.3 (not to be mistaken with the dual processors ) had PCIe too

 

[goMac]

And finally someone else speaks the truth, I have a 27in imac 3.1 and yes the G5 is much more fluid and responsive. The iMac is faster for ripping movies with handbrake, thats about it though, Protools,Logic, both run the same, theres no massive performance gain on the Intel mac, my 2.7 G5 takes about 18sec to boot, where as the imac takes about 45sec. I felt kind of ripped off with the imac, but im sure theres 200 intel fanboys that would argue otherwise.

Boot times really depend on the hard drive speed. Doesn't change that the OP is doing video editing, which is highly dependent on both the processor and GPU speeds. Both of which a new iMac would be significantly faster at, even if he upgraded the GPU on his G5.

 

[Nova77]

Boot times really depend on the hard drive speed. Doesn't change that the OP is doing video editing, which is highly dependent on both the processor and GPU speeds. Both of which a new iMac would be significantly faster at, even if he upgraded the GPU on his G5.

True, a better CPU will help with everything, and intel will get you more compatibily with new apps. But lets not forget that a dual 2.7 ghz G5 has plenty enough power for homemade video editing. Unless the OP is doing pro video editing in 1080p HD, he doesn't need more. I mean, lets face it, people where doing video edit on old G3's and G4's back in the day, and it worked... And as for myself, I remember editing dvd quality video on my powerbook G4 1.67ghz laptop with final cut pro last summer; no problem at all.

Also, hard drive speed is a huge factor for video editing, even more than the CPU when dealing with uncompressed video formats. From what I've read, it seems like an enourmous RAID 0 array (of SSDs or SAS...) is the thing to focus on when dealing with 1080 HD.

 

[Nameci]

And there goes the story about Intel vs PPC...

can we just be happy with what we got?

To the OP, the decision is up to you. You can upgrade your dual 2.7, but it has its limits. If you wanted more ditch the PPC and go Intel. Bottomline, it all boils down on what makes you happy.

To tell you the truth, the search for performance has no bounds, it is endless. The limit is just how deep your pocket is.

 

[ghett0tech]

i'm currently using a g5 with 6GB RAM and two 500GB HDD as my main computer. only thing is my streaming of videos is super slow and laggy. nothing a better graphics card won't fix. these can easily still be used for a modern day device

 

[goMac]

True, a better CPU will help with everything, and intel will get you more compatibily with new apps. But lets not forget that a dual 2.7 ghz G5 has plenty enough power for homemade video editing.

And I'd agree, but OP has already said a dual 2.7 ghz G5 is not fast enough for what he's doing.

Thus, you can say that a PowerPC is fast enough. But we're already operating on the assumption that it's not. Given how CPU bound video editing software is, a CPU upgrade would be in order, but there is no CPU upgrade for a 2.7 ghz G5... Given that...

This isn't about PowerPCs being slow. Logically we can break this down. If OP says a 2.7 ghz G5 is too slow for him for video editing, the best upgrade is to move to Intel. We're already past "is a 2.7 ghz G5 fast enough for OP's needs?"

 

[Cox Orange]

Is this the AGP model? I think the only one to have pcie are the quad G5s. If it is the case, the best video card you can get would be an nvidia 7800 GT 512 MB, but since they are hard to find, you can also get the 7800 GS 256 MB. These are in fact the best AGP cards ever made.

(If you keep the G5) You can flash a PC 7800GS. The best, which is the fastest of all 7800GS after flashing, is said to be the Gainward Bliss 7800GS 512MB (though 256MB are only recognised). (not the gainward bliss "+"!)

If you deside to keep the G5 and you have time, there are sometimes defective AGP-G5s with better graphics cards in it. You could buy one and sell the rest as/for parts.