Powermac G5 Upgrade Question?

[TehFalcon]

Hello Everyone, First off let me say I am typing this off my iPad so any mistakes are caused by that

Anyway my question today is that I own a dual 1.8ghz G5 and a mid 2010 21.5 inch iMac But it's my fathers and the g5 is mine. I want to speed my G5 up in anyway I can. I Do need alot of disk space so an ssd is not an option on my budget. What I was thinking is a better gfx card and a faster hdd. Let me tell you my specs.

Dual 1.8ghz G5
4gb Ram (MAXED)
320gb 7200rpm 5hdd (Maybe a 10,000rpm drive? Are there limitations on this machine?)
ATI Radeon 9800 pro 256mb (Upgradable????)
16x lightscribe DVD Drive (Best I Could Find)

So what culd be upgraded? It runs 10.5.8

I heard there on HDD Limitations on the dual 1.8, is that true?

Also do I have the best gfx card or is there a better one, If so where could I get it cheap/cheaper?

Thanks everyone!

 

[Tucom]

4Gbs, sure that's the limit on the 1.8Ghz? I think those can go up to 8, I know some 2.0's were capped at 4, but I think your's can go up to 8.

NVM: http://support.apple.com/kb/sp80

Looks like it's capped at 4, bummer, but an SSD would really help for disk caching.


For GPU, that machine can get a big boost in GPU performance from either a Nvidia 6800 Ultra GPU or an ATI Radeon X850XT (<- this model before any Nvidia, heard bad things about the nvidia in terms of reliability and kernel panics, but heard good things too, but I'd go with the ATI first and foremost).


For HDD, an SSD as the *BOOT* drive will really speed things up and you could put the most used apps on it - or all the apps, and then get a 1TB regular HDD for extra space.

Besides that, that'd be it.

I mean, you could also get two SSD's and RAID0 them? Not sure, but that'd def. be a crazy PPC speed demon if that was possible!

 

[TehFalcon]

4Gbs, sure that's the limit on the 1.8Ghz? I think those can go up to 8, I know some 2.0's were capped at 4, but I think your's can go up to 8.

NVM: http://support.apple.com/kb/sp80

Looks like it's capped at 4, bummer, but an SSD would really help for disk caching.


For GPU, that machine can get a big boost in GPU performance from either a Nvidia 6800 Ultra GPU or an ATI Radeon X850XT (<- this model before any Nvidia, heard bad things about the nvidia in terms of reliability and kernel panics, but heard good things too, but I'd go with the ATI first and foremost).


For HDD, an SSD as the *BOOT* drive will really speed things up and you could put the most used apps on it - or all the apps, and then get a 1TB regular HDD for extra space.

Besides that, that'd be it.

I mean, you could also get two SSD's and RAID0 them? Not sure, but that'd def. be a crazy PPC speed demon if that was possible!

Alright, cool. As for those graphics cards those really pricey. Any idea where to find em cheap? And for the HDD I am probley going to get a 300gb 10,000rpm WD HDD for my main drive and use my 7200rpm 320gb drive for backups.

 

[Iroquois]

I Do need alot of disk space so an ssd is not an option on my budget.

The OS and applications do not require more than 20GB of space. Store your data on a cheap 1TB drive.

4gb Ram (MAXED)

8GB is maxed.

I am probley going to get a 300gb 10,000rpm WD HDD for my main drive

Don't pay money for that slow antique garbage. An SSD is 10 times faster.

 

[TehFalcon]

The OS and applications do not require more than 20GB of space. Store your data on a cheap 1TB drive.


8GB is maxed.


Don't pay money for that slow antique garbage. An SSD is 10 times faster.

I'd rather not spend on a 20gb ssd when a 10,000rpm drive as 4x more space and almost is as fast.

4GB IS MAX

 

[TehFalcon]

ALight everyone I have decided to get a 32gb sad for my boot drive. As for a gfxs card I can't afford something tha is 400/600 $$


I have a Radeon 9800 pro 256mb but the only thing that suffers on it is photoshop. Of there is a better card that is under $200 that does better than. My card PLZ let me know. Thanks.

 

[Stygi]

I'd rather not spend on a 20gb ssd when a 10,000rpm drive as 4x more space and almost is as fast.

There is no hard drive on earth that can touch an SSD in performance.
Even the fastest HD has a seek time of 4ms. An SSD has a seek time of 0.1ms. Thats 40x faster.

4GB IS MAX

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g5/stats/powermac_g5_1.8_dp.html
RAM Type: PC3200 DDR Min. RAM Speed: 400 MHz
Details: Supports 400 MHz PC3200 DDR SDRAM.
Standard RAM: 512 MB Maximum RAM: 8.0 GB

Please educate yourself so you will stop embarassing yourself, mkay?

 

[TehFalcon]

There is no hard drive on earth that can touch an SSD in performance.
Even the fastest HD has a seek time of 4ms. An SSD has a seek time of 0.1ms. Thats 40x faster.


http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g5/stats/powermac_g5_1.8_dp.html
RAM Type: PC3200 DDR Min. RAM Speed: 400 MHz
Details: Supports 400 MHz PC3200 DDR SDRAM.
Standard RAM: 512 MB Maximum RAM: 8.0 GB

Please educate yourself so you will stop embarassing yourself, mkay?

Hmm. I am pretty educated. Actually I already know the answers to my questions I jus wanted some opinions. As for the HDD If you would have read my last post I am ending up getting an ssd and as for the ram maybe educate yourself and see that that was the 2003 model. I have the late 2004 model which only supports 4gb.

 

[Stygi]

as for the ram maybe educate yourself and see that that was the 2003 model. I have the late 2004 model which only supports 4gb.

You're embarrassing yourself again. 2GBx4 = 8GB. All PM g5 models support at least 8GB with the 8 slot models supporting 16GB.
4GB is only the official stated limit by Apple.

 

[TehFalcon]

You're embarrassing yourself again. 2GBx4 = 8GB. All PM g5 models support at least 8GB with the 8 slot models supporting 16GB.
4GB is only the official stated limit by Apple.

I Have tried installing 5gb in there. It doesn't boot. I took it to a Mac repair shop, they tried different chips and putting it in pairs. It jus doesn't work with more than 4gb. As soon as the 4th is back in there it's fine. There are 4 slots on the motherboard, ddr 3200 unbuffered.

 

[reddrag0n]

2003 & 2004 G5's with 4 ram slots can ONLY handle 4 GB ram. 4 sticks of 1 GB DDR-400.

2003 & 2004 G5's with 8 ram slots can handle UP TO 8 GB ram. 8 sticks of 1 GB DDR-400

2005 G5's with 8 ram slots can theoretically handle up to 32 GB of DDR2-533.
There was another post in this forum that asked if it could be done.