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

PowerMac G5 questions

LeoTheLion89

LeoTheLion89

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 14, 2012
353
0
i am thinking on getting a G5 at pretty much a steal price and i have a few questions. It is the 2005 DDR2 PCI-E model

do i need a external Wifi and Bluetooth antenna?
does the G5 have a second 5.25 drive bay? i have a 5.25 bay internal desktop speakers id like to install into my G5 if i get it.

Is there a way i can hook a internal USB 2.0 Card reader to a G5?

(This will be the replacement to my current AMD machine)

i can add the 2GB RAM i have from my computer now into the G5 giving it 4GB RAM

i can also install my current 500GB HDD giving it a total of 1.5TB HDD space.

can Ubuntu 12.04 run on a PowerMac G5?
 
The late-2005 models do not need an antenna, but the need an equally pricey sled for the wireless cards. They have only one 5.25" bay. How are you planning to connect the internal card reader? Ubuntu 12.04 can work on a PowerMac G5, but be prepared for some work to get it running well.
 
Intell said:
How are you planning to connect the internal card reader?
Click to expand...

well does a G5 have any USB Headers on the motherboard?

The PowerMac G5 does not have nearly enough USB Ports will any PCI-e USB card work in the G5? Will USB 3.0 work in a G5 with Leopard?

Intell said:
Ubuntu 12.04 can work on a PowerMac G5, but be prepared for some work to get it running well.
Click to expand...

What exactly do i need to do?
 
LeoTheLion89 said:
well does a G5 have any USB Headers on the motherboard?

The PowerMac G5 does not have nearly enough USB Ports will any PCI-e USB card work in the G5? Will USB 3.0 work in a G5 with Leopard?

What exactly do i need to do?
Click to expand...

G5's do not have USB headers on the logicboard. Mostly any NEC chipset equipped USB expansion card will work. There is no way to get USB 3 on a PowerPC Mac. To get Ubuntu working on a G5 well you need to be near guru status with Ubuntu and Linux based operating systems.

LeoTheLion89 said:
thats is my plan but will a normal PC compatible USB card work or do i need a Mac compatible one?
Click to expand...

Mostly any NEC chipset equipped USB expansion card will work.
 
That one doesn't have an NEC chip on it. Thus, it won't work. Look at Nameci's link for a bunch of compatible ones. Just remember, a USB 3.0 one will not work in your PowerMac.
 
Intell said:
That one doesn't have an NEC chip on it. Thus, it won't work. Look at Nameci's link for a bunch of compatible ones. Just remember, a USB 3.0 one will not work in your PowerMac.
Click to expand...

i did but the cheapest is 40 bucks im not even gonna be payng that for the G5!
 
Ok the G5 got too much then what i can afford so i am looking at other Macs i am trying to decide between a G4 Sawtooth (looks like a G3 Blue & White) G4 MDD or a plain PowerMac G4 (simular to the g5 tower)

heres what i am deciding between please let me know the better choice along with y its better then the rest

PowerMac G4 1.0GHz w/ 1GB RAM 80GB HDD and Leopard (Combo Drive) $30
PowerMac G5 A1047 Dual 2.0GHz 2GB RAM SuperDrive (all i need to do is install a HDD) no biggie i got tons of HDDs. $24.99

(I HAVE A PROMISE T100 (OR T10) PCI IDE RAID CARD DOES THIS MODEL G5 HAVE PCI? DOES THE G5 HAVE IDE ON THE LOGICBOARD?) I do have a IDE to SATA converter for drives but im not sure it id fit in the G5 does the G5 have any molex plugs on the PSU?

PowerMac PowerPC G4 867MHz M8493 80GB HDD 1.5GB RAM Leopard $34.99

PowerMac G4 QuickSilver 867MHz 1.5GB RAM 2MB L3 Cache 60GB HDD includes factory DVD Drive Manuals and Restore CDs includes the Tiger OS. ($29.00) I have a 2 port SATA PCI RAID card based on the Silcon Chipset will this RAID card work to give the QuickSilver SATA compatibility?

Mind u i install Leopard off a USB HDD. (In the case of the PowerMac G4s i can just put the HDD directly inside the computer)

so what all of these are the best choice?
 
Last edited:
i found another G5 but im a bit confused the specs dont seem to match the G5 being sold according to the listing its a october 2004 model but it have dual 2.5GHz processors and as far as i know only the 2005 model has 2.5GHz it has a GeForce 6800 if that helps identify it.
 
LeoTheLion89 said:
Ok the G5 got too much then what i can afford so i am looking at other Macs i am trying to decide between a G4 Sawtooth (looks like a G3 Blue & White) G4 MDD or a plain PowerMac G4 (simular to the g5 tower)

heres what i am deciding between please let me know the better choice along with y its better then the rest

PowerMac G4 1.0GHz w/ 1GB RAM 80GB HDD and Leopard (Combo Drive) $30
PowerMac G5 A1047 Dual 2.0GHz 2GB RAM SuperDrive (all i need to do is install a HDD) no biggie i got tons of HDDs. $24.99

(I HAVE A PROMISE T100 (OR T10) PCI IDE RAID CARD DOES THIS MODEL G5 HAVE PCI? DOES THE G5 HAVE IDE ON THE LOGICBOARD?) I do have a IDE to SATA converter for drives but im not sure it id fit in the G5 does the G5 have any molex plugs on the PSU?

PowerMac PowerPC G4 867MHz M8493 80GB HDD 1.5GB RAM Leopard $34.99

PowerMac G4 QuickSilver 867MHz 1.5GB RAM 2MB L3 Cache 60GB HDD includes factory DVD Drive Manuals and Restore CDs includes the Tiger OS. ($29.00) I have a 2 port SATA PCI RAID card based on the Silcon Chipset will this RAID card work to give the QuickSilver SATA compatibility?

Mind u i install Leopard off a USB HDD. (In the case of the PowerMac G4s i can just put the HDD directly inside the computer)

so what all of these are the best choice?
Click to expand...

If you don't have or don't want to spend the $40 for a USB card an old PowerMac is probably the wrong tree to bark up. Everything for old Mac';s is expensive.
 
LeoTheLion89 said:
well according to specs this USB card works with Macs and requires OS X for USB 2.0 speeds

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815104306
Click to expand...

There you go, but keep in mind that something that works with Macs may not work with all Macs particularly PowerPC. Some things it's the Open Firmware vs. EFI boot. Some it's the architecture, and some is that old Mac's sometimes don't want to play nice. For example I have two AS media PCIe SATA cards and for the last six weeks they didn't work in the quad. The other day I pick up a Marvell PCIe SATA card play little games with it for a couple hours and throw in the towel. On a whim i put the other cards back in and they work just peachy.

In the end though you'll find that the "cheap" PowerMac will not be so cheap when your done.
 
GermanyChris said:
There you go, but keep in mind that something that works with Macs may not work with all Macs particularly PowerPC. Some things it's the Open Firmware vs. EFI boot. Some it's the architecture, and some is that old Mac's sometimes don't want to play nice. For example I have two AS media PCIe SATA cards and for the last six weeks they didn't work in the quad. The other day I pick up a Marvell PCIe SATA card play little games with it for a couple hours and throw in the towel. On a whim i put the other cards back in and they work just peachy.

In the end though you'll find that the "cheap" PowerMac will not be so cheap when your done.
Click to expand...

well the specs say OS 8.6 and later and "USB 2.0 Requires OS X" so im assuming that means its PowerPC

----------

anther option ill get if not a G5 is a G4 Dual 1.25GHz MDD and i was wondering if the 2.50GHz G5 or the G4 Dual 1.25GHz (equaling the same 2.5GHz) how well these macs will Play YouTube (without need of MacTubes)?

i love MacTubes use it on my eMac all the time however if i can just watch YouTube and other flash media in the browser then i wont need MacTubes.

also can anyone assist me with Trillian issues?
 
GermanyChris said:
In the end though you'll find that the "cheap" PowerMac will not be so cheap when your done.
Click to expand...

well only thing ill have to buy is a USB card in the meantime ill use a USB hub i have no USB cards i already have a Silicon SATA RAID card a Promise T100 IDE Raid Card and a IDE to SATA Drive converter along with more IDE HDDs then i know what to do with to install inside the G4
 
LeoTheLion89 said:
i am thinking on getting a G5 at pretty much a steal price and i have a few questions. It is the 2005 DDR2 PCI-E model

do i need a external Wifi and Bluetooth antenna?
does the G5 have a second 5.25 drive bay? i have a 5.25 bay internal desktop speakers id like to install into my G5 if i get it.

Is there a way i can hook a internal USB 2.0 Card reader to a G5?

(This will be the replacement to my current AMD machine)

i can add the 2GB RAM i have from my computer now into the G5 giving it 4GB RAM

i can also install my current 500GB HDD giving it a total of 1.5TB HDD space.

can Ubuntu 12.04 run on a PowerMac G5?
Click to expand...

If it is a DDR2 PCI-E model it has the antenna built in next to the back I/O. However, the bluetooth/airport slider card thing is expensive as mentioned above.

USB 2: Add a PCI-e usb card, or use an external hub.
Drive Bay: Just one. You can take the optical drive out if you wish...
RAM: http://www.crucial.com/index.aspx << Go here and use the memory advisor to find the exact type of RAM you will need. There are other tools but I find this the easiest, and I have never had a problem with Micron/Crucial memory.


By the way, be wary of the liquid cooling systems in many of these powermacs. Be sure you know the exact model based on the processor speed. Then you can determine whether or not it has a liquid cooling system. If it is a quad, then it will probably not suffer from the coolant leak problem anytime soon.
 
Davy.Shalom said:
If it is a DDR2 PCI-E model it has the antenna built in next to the back I/O. However, the bluetooth/airport slider card thing is expensive as mentioned above.

USB 2: Add a PCI-e usb card, or use an external hub.
Drive Bay: Just one. You can take the optical drive out if you wish...
RAM: http://www.crucial.com/index.aspx << Go here and use the memory advisor to find the exact type of RAM you will need. There are other tools but I find this the easiest, and I have never had a problem with Micron/Crucial memory.


By the way, be wary of the liquid cooling systems in many of these powermacs. Be sure you know the exact model based on the processor speed. Then you can determine whether or not it has a liquid cooling system. If it is a quad, then it will probably not suffer from the coolant leak problem anytime soon.
Click to expand...

The G5 i will get would be a October 2004 as mention in the MPN it has PCI and AGP. It is the single 2.5GHz model

if that falls through i will get a MDD G4 Dual 1.25GHz CPUs DVD Drive 2GB DDR RAM no HDD
 
Depending what you want to do the G4 might be too slow, the G5 is still a usable computer but just remember it's not Intel so getting newer software is becoming harder.

Don't get me wrong I've owned a G4 and still use a G5 and love them but time is marching on, if you can afford to go for an Mac Pro, but even the early models of these can't run the latest Mac OS X. But don't blame Apple, ever tried getting Win7 to work on a 7 year old PC?

I'm not saying don't buy, just be aware of the limitations of the G5 and more so the G4.
 
LeoTheLion89 said:
The G5 i will get would be a October 2004 as mention in the MPN it has PCI and AGP. It is the single 2.5GHz model
Click to expand...

Such a Mac has never existed.

The only G5 that was released in October 2004 was the 1.8Ghz single G5 with PCI slots.

Both 2.5Ghz G5's were dual and had either PCI-X or PCIe slots.
 
Lancer said:
Depending what you want to do the G4 might be too slow, the G5 is still a usable computer but just remember it's not Intel so getting newer software is becoming harder.

Don't get me wrong I've owned a G4 and still use a G5 and love them but time is marching on, if you can afford to go for an Mac Pro, but even the early models of these can't run the latest Mac OS X. But don't blame Apple, ever tried getting Win7 to work on a 7 year old PC?

I'm not saying don't buy, just be aware of the limitations of the G5 and more so the G4.
Click to expand...

actually yes i am running Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit on my Socket 478 P4 system with DDR RAM and the motherboard is dated 2004

also running Windows 7 on my AM2 DDR2 system 64bit which the motherboard maker dont support 7 on the system.

----------
Intell said:
Such a Mac has never existed.

The only G5 that was released in October 2004 was the 1.8Ghz single G5 with PCI slots.

Both 2.5Ghz G5's were dual and had either PCI-X or PCIe slots.
Click to expand...

heres some of the listed specs:

Brand Apple
Product Family Power Mac G5
Model ID PowerMac9,1
Model Number A1093
MPN ApplePowerMacG5October2004
UPC 718908487402

Motherboard
Video Output Interface AGP 8x
Motherboard I/O Ports FireWire (IEEE1394a) x 2, FireWire (IEEE1394b) x 1, RJ45 Lan Port x 1, USB 1.1 x 2, USB 2.0 x 3
Bus Speed 600 MHz

Technical Features
Expansion Bays 2 x 3.5" (Internal Access)
Expansion Slots AGP x8 x 1, PCI-X 64 Bit (33 MHz) x 3

Miscellaneous
Release Date October, 2004
Exterior Color Silver
Other Features Dual Channel Memory Architecture

Processor Speed: 2.50 GHz Product Family: Power Mac G5
Memory: 8 GB
 
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