Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Powermac g5 power consumption, what do you recommend?

Rikintosh

Rikintosh

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 22, 2020
204
242
São Paulo, Brazil
I've been planning to buy a powermac g5 for months, but I'm undecided, initially, I intended to buy the 2.5ghz quadcore, as I found a cool liquid-cooled mac. On the other hand, I was told that they heat up like hell, and my electricity bill would start to come high, due to high consumption. I don't want my electricity bill to go up.

I intend to buy a g5 for its historical value, and because it would be faster than any of my G4, I intend to port some things to mac, so I would be dealing with some tools that require good hardware.

I remember that a few years ago, I had a single core iMac G5 1.8ghz, the performance was very good, the only thing that limited it was the graphics card fx5200 in some games. However, I replaced it with a Powerbook G4 1.67 with radeon 9700 thinking it would do well, and in 2 days of use I noticed a big difference in performance (for the worse).


So, which G5 model would you recommend me?
 
Rikintosh said:
I've been planning to buy a powermac g5 for months, but I'm undecided, initially, I intended to buy the 2.5ghz quadcore, as I found a cool liquid-cooled mac. On the other hand, I was told that they heat up like hell, and my electricity bill would start to come high, due to high consumption. I don't want my electricity bill to go up.

I intend to buy a g5 for its historical value, and because it would be faster than any of my G4, I intend to port some things to mac, so I would be dealing with some tools that require good hardware.

I remember that a few years ago, I had a single core iMac G5 1.8ghz, the performance was very good, the only thing that limited it was the graphics card fx5200 in some games. However, I replaced it with a Powerbook G4 1.67 with radeon 9700 thinking it would do well, and in 2 days of use I noticed a big difference in performance (for the worse).


So, which G5 model would you recommend me?
Click to expand...

I own a single core PowerMac G5 1.8Ghz which is basically a rebadged iMac G5, the same G5 you had with the same FX5200 graphics card which you can upgrade to the Radeon. This G5 is the least power sucking, but will raise your electric bill but not by all that much. My G5 smokes my G4 DSLD 1.67 except the internal Radeon 9700 which smokes the FX5200. Marine Aquarium runs 40fps for the fishies on Radeon 9700, whereas just a tad over 11fps for the fishies on FX5200. The single core G5 is slower than any Dual Core or even a Quad Core 2.5Ghz, but I am not using it for any heavy duty apps anyhow. Just running Sound Studio apps with the occasional Photoshop CS2, so the single core G5 is perfect. Got it also for free so I can't complain either!
 
Rikintosh said:
I've been planning to buy a powermac g5 for months, but I'm undecided, initially, I intended to buy the 2.5ghz quadcore, as I found a cool liquid-cooled mac. On the other hand, I was told that they heat up like hell, and my electricity bill would start to come high, due to high consumption. I don't want my electricity bill to go up.

I intend to buy a g5 for its historical value, and because it would be faster than any of my G4, I intend to port some things to mac, so I would be dealing with some tools that require good hardware.

I remember that a few years ago, I had a single core iMac G5 1.8ghz, the performance was very good, the only thing that limited it was the graphics card fx5200 in some games. However, I replaced it with a Powerbook G4 1.67 with radeon 9700 thinking it would do well, and in 2 days of use I noticed a big difference in performance (for the worse).


So, which G5 model would you recommend me?
Click to expand...
Well, considering what's been happening for us, I can give you some real info, although not in specific numbers.

From about October to May our electric bill ranges in the $150-$200 range. That's with the following running 24/7, no sleep:

1 PowerMac G5 Quad.
1 PowerMac G5 2.3 DC
1 PowerMac G5 2.7 DP
1 PowerMac G4/500
1 PowerMac G3/450
1 Thinkpad L420

Keep in mind, I have a two-story house and there are three other people (my wife and kids) who also generate power demand.

When I got the Quad the electric bill went up $20 a month. That's not much to me, but I guess it's a lot to others. But I leave my electronics on all the time.

From June to September our electric bill is $200-$450. Why? It's not because of the Macs. I know that before and I know it now because of what happened to us this year. In the middle of June, the central A/C went out. It was still cool enough to leave all my Macs on for the remainder of the month.

Not until July were we able to get our first evap cooler. June's bill was $299. That's because half the month we had central air. Had we had central for the entire month the bill would have been close to $400.

Since late July we have been operating two portable A/C units, and have installed two window A/C units. Only ONE Mac has been operating 24/7 and that was only since the middle of August. The bill has consistently been around $350. All of that has been because of A/C, as again, only one Mac running and my bill is still high!

I live in Phoenix and this year has seen records shattered. It has been the hottest summer that the city has ever recorded, the hottest month (August) and the most days above 110º (51+) and my electric bill is all air conditioning.

My point here is this: The G5 draws power, I will not deny that. But compared to central air, or four A/C units drawing 1800W per hour EACH, this is NOTHING.

The ONLY reason I have had my Macs off is because two are in the garage where it's anywhere from 95º to 110º+ each day and three are in the living room where we struggle to maintain 88º and where it's been as hot as 95º.

I won't deny the heat aspect.

Hope that helps.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dextructor, TheShortTimer, iluvmacs99 and 1 other person
eyoungren said:
But compared to central air, or four A/C units drawing 1800W per hour EACH, this is NOTHING.
Click to expand...
That's correct, but 7.2kW/h is an insane amount of power (even though it's plain necessary in your case). It's a matter of perspective.
 
iluvmacs99 said:
I own a single core PowerMac G5 1.8Ghz which is basically a rebadged iMac G5, the same G5 you had with the same FX5200 graphics card which you can upgrade to the Radeon. This G5 is the least power sucking, but will raise your electric bill but not by all that much. My G5 smokes my G4 DSLD 1.67 except the internal Radeon 9700 which smokes the FX5200. Marine Aquarium runs 40fps for the fishies on Radeon 9700, whereas just a tad over 11fps for the fishies on FX5200. The single core G5 is slower than any Dual Core or even a Quad Core 2.5Ghz, but I am not using it for any heavy duty apps anyhow. Just running Sound Studio apps with the occasional Photoshop CS2, so the single core G5 is perfect. Got it also for free so I can't complain either!
Click to expand...

It was what I thought at first, but elsewhere, I was told that the first models have a monstrous energy consumption, due to less energy efficiency
  • The 1.6 GHz model had a maximum power consumption of 420 watts.
  • The 1.8 GHz model had a maximum power consumption of 430 watts.
  • G5 Dual 2.0 (2003) 970 with 6800 GT GPU
    • Idle: 170w. 400w under load.
  • G5 Dual 2.3 (Late ‘05) 970MP with Quadro FX 4500 GPU
    • Idle: 150w. 250w under load.
And the G5 Quad 2.5, Peak of 455w

There's something wrong?
 
Amethyst1 said:
That's correct, but 7.2kW/h is an insane amount of power (even though it's plain necessary in your case). It's a matter of perspective.
Click to expand...
The typical A/C unit draws 3500W per hour. Figure that it's on/off during the summer for 10+ hours (and we keep our thermostat around 78º) and that's why our bill is so high every summer.

Maybe it's just because of where I live I expect this, IDK.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Amethyst1
Just to give you some perspective on power consumption since I have a Watts meter built into my central UPS system that protects my entire computer system.

PowerMac G5 1.8Ghz based on the 970fx
80 Watts idle
100 Watts normal usage

Similar to the iMac G5 which the later models are based on the same 970fx. So if you're happy with the iMac G5 power consumption, then the G5 PCI 1.8Ghz will have similar power consumption. And it doesn't get hot nor you would expect it to be.
 
  • Like
Reactions: eyoungren and Amethyst1
iluvmacs99 said:
PowerMac G5 1.8Ghz based on the 970fx
80 Watts idle
100 Watts normal usage
Click to expand...
What's normal usage in your case? And what's power consumption like when the machine is fully taxed?

(As a side note, I'm eyeing an original dual 2 GHz G5 as fastest Jaguar box possible - but I dread to think of its power needs... Oh my.)
 
eyoungren said:
Well, considering what's been happening for us, I can give you some real info, although not in specific numbers.

From about October to May our electric bill ranges in the $150-$200 range. That's with the following running 24/7, no sleep:

1 PowerMac G5 Quad.
1 PowerMac G5 2.3 DC
1 PowerMac G5 2.7 DP
1 PowerMac G4/500
1 PowerMac G3/450
1 Thinkpad L420

Keep in mind, I have a two-story house and there are three other people (my wife and kids) who also generate power demand.

When I got the Quad the electric bill went up $20 a month. That's not much to me, but I guess it's a lot to others. But I leave my electronics on all the time.

From June to September our electric bill is $200-$450. Why? It's not because of the Macs. I know that before and I know it now because of what happened to us this year. In the middle of June, the central A/C went out. It was still cool enough to leave all my Macs on for the remainder of the month.

Not until July were we able to get our first evap cooler. June's bill was $299. That's because half the month we had central air. Had we had central for the entire month the bill would have been close to $400.

Since late July we have been operating two portable A/C units, and have installed two window A/C units. Only ONE Mac has been operating 24/7 and that was only since the middle of August. The bill has consistently been around $350. All of that has been because of A/C, as again, only one Mac running and my bill is still high!

I live in Phoenix and this year has seen records shattered. It has been the hottest summer that the city has ever recorded, the hottest month (August) and the most days above 110º (51+) and my electric bill is all air conditioning.

My point here is this: The G5 draws power, I will not deny that. But compared to central air, or four A/C units drawing 1800W per hour EACH, this is NOTHING.

The ONLY reason I have had my Macs off is because two are in the garage where it's anywhere from 95º to 110º+ each day and three are in the living room where we struggle to maintain 88º and where it's been as hot as 95º.

I won't deny the heat aspect.

Hope that helps.
Click to expand...

Do you have good thermal insulation at home? The most important thing to use the air conditioner correctly is to keep the cold air inside the room, so that it will have to work less hours to reach the desired temperature. I live in Brazil, and we also have high temperatures at the end of the year, but I got a great result when I thermally insulated my house. Even the roof, after I just painted it white, I had a difference of 2 to 3 degrees. Another interesting tip is that you can connect the fan OUTPUT of the powermac, to one of those metal tubes used in kitchen hoods , and put them out of the window, so the heat doesn't go up (and get stuck) to the ceiling.

heat.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1042686, B S Magnet, r6mile and 1 other person
Rikintosh said:
  • G5 Dual 2.0 (2003) 970 with 6800 GT GPU
    • Idle: 170w. 400w under load.
Click to expand...

I have this model and that just about tallies with my observation - I plugged mine into a power meter, and it drew 140w just idling at the desktop and 230w running a complex sequence with Logic, but that only used about 50% of the CPU power. To its credit the fans were very quiet but the gust of hot air around my legs was noticeable.

In contrast if I run the exact same sequence with the same copy of Logic in my 2009 Mac Mini it uses 32w. With Chrome and a bunch of tabs open it uses 28w, and it apparently idles at 10w. I have the impression that a lot of former G5 owners switched to the Mac Mini instead of the Macintosh Pro for that same reason (especially the 2009 Mini, because it has dual monitor ports).

Having said that I think the G5's reputation for power consumption came about at a time when an office full of graphic designers or video editors would have a dozen G5s rendering video for eight hours a day, in which case the cost would have mounted up. If you only use it for a few hours a week the cost is trivial.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Amethyst1
AshleyPomeroy said:
In contrast if I run the exact same sequence with the same copy of Logic in my 2009 Mac Mini it uses 32w. With Chrome and a bunch of tabs open it uses 28w, and it apparently idles at 10w.
Click to expand...
The fact that the Mac mini is using low-power laptop parts is showing here.
 
Rikintosh said:
Do you have good thermal insulation at home? The most important thing to use the air conditioner correctly is to keep the cold air inside the room, so that it will have to work less hours to reach the desired temperature. I live in Brazil, and we also have high temperatures at the end of the year, but I got a great result when I thermally insulated my house. Even the roof, after I just painted it white, I had a difference of 2 to 3 degrees. Another interesting tip is that you can connect the fan OUTPUT of the powermac, to one of those metal tubes used in kitchen hoods , and put them out of the window, so the heat doesn't go up (and get stuck) to the ceiling.

View attachment 951614
Click to expand...
Our home was built in 2007, so I'm pretty sure the insulation is good. I can tell that by the fact that the house retains heat. It'll be cooler outside a lot of times.

The problem with the central A/C is that it's the original one. I am told that most A/C units last about 12 years or so. In Phoenix AZ, you can only expect 10 years. Our system is 13 years old. I didn't know that and stupidly I allowed the home warranty (which was part of the deal in selling the house to us) expire last year without renewing. Had I kept that up, the A/C would have been fixed by now.

OTOH, I lost my job at the end of 2018 so there wasn't much money in 2019 so paying for a home warranty when there were other more pressing bills (like the mortgage) wasn't high on my priority list.
 
Amethyst1 said:
What's normal usage in your case? And what's power consumption like when the machine is fully taxed?

(As a side note, I'm eyeing an original dual 2 GHz G5 as fastest Jaguar box possible - but I dread to think of its power needs... Oh my.)
Click to expand...

My normal usage for the G5 is roughly around 120W acting as a file/print server and sound recording machine. I don't really have any apps that really tax it as you know, the FX5200 is a POS! Games run hopelessly slow. Knew that from the beginning. I did have a dual 2Ghz G5 for about 1 month before the logic board and video card both kicked the bucket. When I had that beast, it was easily I mean easily twice as fast as my slow poke G5 and easily consume 250W normal usage and under load easily 300W+, but it had a nicer Radeon card. The most memorable space heater and did keep my toes comfy during last Christmas playing XPlane 9 before it crashed and burned. This one that it replaced hardly pump out any heat at all even when pushed. Playing Xplane 9 is bearable, albeit at a much lower res. In as yeah; that's because it's a slow poke POS FX5200. LOL!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Amethyst1
Rikintosh said:
It was what I thought at first, but elsewhere, I was told that the first models have a monstrous energy consumption, due to less energy efficiency
  • The 1.6 GHz model had a maximum power consumption of 420 watts.
  • The 1.8 GHz model had a maximum power consumption of 430 watts.
  • G5 Dual 2.0 (2003) 970 with 6800 GT GPU
    • Idle: 170w. 400w under load.
  • G5 Dual 2.3 (Late ‘05) 970MP with Quadro FX 4500 GPU
    • Idle: 150w. 250w under load.
And the G5 Quad 2.5, Peak of 455w

There's something wrong?
Click to expand...

The 1.8Ghz model you quoted was for the PCI-X model; this *IS* the real McCoy G5 and uses the older 970 CPU. The one I have is the PCI model, which is basically the rebadged iMac G5 with a slower 600Mhz system bus and uses the newer 970fx CPU which is more energy efficient. The first 1.8 has a 900Mhz system bus so it's slightly faster. The G5 I have is perfect for what I wanted it to do; support legacy software but without sucking lots of power and being a space heater under medium load in the winter. My former 2.0 DP G5 was a space heater, but was easily twice as fast as my current G5.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Amethyst1
eyoungren said:
Well, considering what's been happening for us, I can give you some real info, although not in specific numbers.

From about October to May our electric bill ranges in the $150-$200 range. That's with the following running 24/7, no sleep:

1 PowerMac G5 Quad.
1 PowerMac G5 2.3 DC
1 PowerMac G5 2.7 DP
1 PowerMac G4/500
1 PowerMac G3/450
1 Thinkpad L420

Keep in mind, I have a two-story house and there are three other people (my wife and kids) who also generate power demand.

When I got the Quad the electric bill went up $20 a month. That's not much to me, but I guess it's a lot to others. But I leave my electronics on all the time.

From June to September our electric bill is $200-$450. Why? It's not because of the Macs. I know that before and I know it now because of what happened to us this year. In the middle of June, the central A/C went out. It was still cool enough to leave all my Macs on for the remainder of the month.

Not until July were we able to get our first evap cooler. June's bill was $299. That's because half the month we had central air. Had we had central for the entire month the bill would have been close to $400.

Since late July we have been operating two portable A/C units, and have installed two window A/C units. Only ONE Mac has been operating 24/7 and that was only since the middle of August. The bill has consistently been around $350. All of that has been because of A/C, as again, only one Mac running and my bill is still high!

I live in Phoenix and this year has seen records shattered. It has been the hottest summer that the city has ever recorded, the hottest month (August) and the most days above 110º (51+) and my electric bill is all air conditioning.

My point here is this: The G5 draws power, I will not deny that. But compared to central air, or four A/C units drawing 1800W per hour EACH, this is NOTHING.

The ONLY reason I have had my Macs off is because two are in the garage where it's anywhere from 95º to 110º+ each day and three are in the living room where we struggle to maintain 88º and where it's been as hot as 95º.

I won't deny the heat aspect.

Hope that helps.
Click to expand...

You also have those six monitors connected to the Quad (or, I guess, the Mac Pro now) running for a big chunk of the day, I’m sure. :D
 
  • Like
Reactions: Amethyst1 and eyoungren
B S Magnet said:
You also have those six monitors connected to the Quad (or, I guess, the Mac Pro now) running for a big chunk of the day, I’m sure. :D
Click to expand...
Let's just say that there are two power sockets on that wall and that all four plugs have powerstrips plugged into that and that two powerstrips have the normal amount of plugs while the other two are heavy duty and have an above average number of sockets.

Let's further assume that almost every socket on all four power strips is filled. Let's also further assume that all the power sockets in the front room are on the same circuit. This knowledge would explain why it is that when the compressor of the front room portable A/C unit kicks in, EVERYTHING, in the front room shuts off.

So yeah…lots of stuff wanting power, :D

I had to find an extension cord of sufficient gauge and amperage to support the A/C unit alone. It's plugged into the socket next to the garbage disposal switch in the kitchen - an entirely different circuit.

PS. My son's room and my daughter's room are on the same circuit as well. We discovered this when getting the A/C units working. My son has one window unit, while my daughter has one portable A/C unit. You cannot run both on the same circuit. I had to run an extension cord for my son's window unit to a socket in the hallway, which is on another circuit.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Amethyst1 and B S Magnet
eyoungren said:
Let's just say that there are two power sockets on that wall and that all four plugs have powerstrips plugged into that and that two powerstrips have the normal amount of plugs while the other two are heavy duty and have an above average number of sockets.

Let's further assume that almost every socket on all four power strips is filled. Let's also further assume that all the power sockets in the front room are on the same circuit. This knowledge would explain why it is that when the compressor of the front room portable A/C unit kicks in, EVERYTHING, in the front room shuts off.

So yeah…lots of stuff wanting power, :D

I had to find an extension cord of sufficient gauge and amperage to support the A/C unit alone. It's plugged into the socket next to the garbage disposal switch in the kitchen - an entirely different circuit.
Click to expand...

A lot of room outlet circuit breakers tend to be either 10A or 15A. Either way, adding an aircon on the circuit atop all the gear running is gonna trip things up for sure.
 
  • Like
Reactions: eyoungren
B S Magnet said:
A lot of room outlet circuit breakers tend to be either 10A or 15A. Either way, adding an aircon on the circuit atop all the gear running is gonna trip things up for sure.
Click to expand...
Yep. I'm fortunate that I seem to have a bit more 15-20 amp circuits than a normal house. OTOH, the home inspector that examined our house before we moved in was surprised to find that we had a 5-ton central A/C unit. Normally, he sees 3-ton units. We are also the beneficiary of the previous owner's documentation. He was the original purchaser and extensively documented repairs, upgrades and kept all the manuals. Hell, we even have the Kaufman and Broad folder that KB gave HIM when they went through the walkthrough before he got the keys.
 
  • Like
Reactions: B S Magnet and Windreader
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back