PowerMac G5, is it still useful?

[deadsinatra]

Thanks,

I've taken the plunge and purchased it, and I'll pick it up next week. From what I can see it should be a great workhorse to run Logic 8 and older versions of my plugins. The possibilities offered by Logic 8 could take years to explore along with my plugins, so I don't really see the need for a hobbyist such as myself to have the latest software. I also prefer the older versions of OSX to be honest. I was concerned about the liquid cooling system, but from doing some research it seems the quad and dual G5s were released in OCT 05 with a much more reliable cooling system than previous models.

The impression I also get is that although my 2008 core 2 duo macbook might be core for core more powerful, the quad's four cores should make it perform better for this particular type of application. Also, I'm coming from an old intel CPU system rather than the latest I5 and I7 systems, with only a couple of years to separate it from the G5.

Dan

 

[Cox Orange]

Now, that you have already bought it, you have the possibility to test the machines side by side. If you are a hobbiist and have the Mac in the same room as your recording setup, you might find the Quad to loud (depending on the space between the mics and the Quad, mic direction etc.).

Are you already a member in a logicuser forum? I would recommend asking there for further assistance. It is long since that I had researched on that topic and I don't remember well, but I think I remember something that Logic 8 ran better on PPC-Macs, than Intel-Macs and that with Logic 9 problems occured on PPCs (the most were minimal, such as really rarely used buttons were greyed out or not pressent, when you ran Logic 9 on a PPC.) Concerning performance, I don't remember. Its too long ago. I think member ThunderSnake is maintaining customers that have Logic Studio rigs, so maybe, if you start a new thread on Logic, you will get more concrete answers. Also I remember there was a thread about PPC vs Intel and Logic here in the forum, a few years ago.

 

[deadsinatra]

Thank you for the reply.

It'll be interesting to compare them. I intend to hang on the macbook due to its compatibility with some more recent plugins.

I mainly do sound design with soft synths and field recordings, I don't do any recording in the studio, so the G5's noise shouldn't be a problem.

I found quite a lot of useful information on the Logic forum, especially as it was directly related to how I would use the machine. Some said on the forum they could run Logic from 9.0 to 9,02 very well on PPC, but no version after that is compatible. I bought Logic 9 from the app store, so I think I have very little chance of being able to install it. I could try writing an email asking for a link to the version 9.01 installer and a serial number, but I really don't think they'll do this, even though I legally own the software. I guess it can only be downloaded and installed from the app store.

Logic 8 generally seems to work quite well according to the logic forum users, and they were using the dual core models from 2005, so I'm guessing the quad should be able to handle it, although Logic 9 is apparently more efficient at spreading cpu load across more than 2 cores. I remember reading about issues with Logic 7 not being able to use all 4 cores of the quad properly, but it is possible with Logic 8.

I've read quite a lot of conflicting accounts and opinions of the usefulness of a G5 today, but I think it's a testament to how good the machines were that people are still using them a decade later.

Dan

 

[Anuubis]

I have a powermac G5 2.3GHz dual core. Boot drive is SSD in software RAID0 and packed with 16GB of RAM. So about your question, it all depends on you. Nobody has the right to stop you putting an SSD or upgrading to an enormous amount of RAM. It is your money anyway, not theirs.

Hello Nameci,
I also have a Power Mac G5 PowerMac7,3 Early 2005. How did you accomplish 16GB of RAM? Isn't 8GB the maximum amount?

 

[MacCubed]

Hello Nameci,
I also have a Power Mac G5 PowerMac7,3 Early 2005. How did you accomplish 16GB of RAM? Isn't 8GB the maximum amount?

The late 05' models("Core" models, 2.0/2.3GHz Dual Core, and 2.5GHz Quad Core 11,2) could support up to 16GB of RAM. Yours is a 7,2 which is a Dual Processor model. The "Core" PowerMacs used IBM's new 970MP processor, which had 2 cores, they also incorporated DDR2 RAM and PCI-e graphics. Yours used the 970fx which were single core, so Apple put 2 in, also, it used plain DDR RAM, and AGP based graphics

 

[DJArie]

The late 05' models("Core" models, 2.0/2.3GHz Dual Core, and 2.5GHz Quad Core 11,2) could support up to 16GB of RAM. Yours is a 7,2 which is a Dual Processor model. The "Core" PowerMacs used IBM's new 970MP processor, which had 2 cores, they also incorporated DDR2 RAM and PCI-e graphics. Yours used the 970fx which were single core, so Apple put 2 in, also, it used plain DDR RAM, and AGP based graphics

I still use my QC 2.5 with 16gb ram. I have two displays, and it works fine for Logic 9, Live 8, and other programmes. There are a few other soft synths I'd like to use which are only compatible with OS X 10.6 and later. I'd also love to have the power of a 12 core 3.33ghz Mac Pro tower, which I'm probably going to buy soon.

I'm currently typing this on my PPC G4 MDD. =)

 

[AmazingHenry]

I use my PowerMac G5 DP 2GHz. Still works really well, better than my Core 2 Duo iMac.

 

[Dronecatcher]

I still use my QC 2.5 with 16gb ram. I have two displays, and it works fine for Logic 9, Live 8, and other programmes.

I still consider my Quad overkill for my music - luckily, I use Propellerhead Reason mainly, which means I have redundancy as far back as the G3.