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Quad G5, Should I Buy It?

M

m1maverick

macrumors 65816
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Nov 22, 2020
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Came across this Ebay listing:

RARE Apple A1117/A1177/A1047 PowerMac G5 Quad 2.5GHz

Starting bid is $200 with no bids. It's 10 miles from my location so no need to worry about shipping cost / damage. Always thought it would be cool to have the quad but I've shied away from the water-cooled systems. Where would I look for any potential coolant damage? Do any of the pics show the area where this would be? Looks like it would need a thorough cleaning due to the animal odor / barn find.

I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts.
 
Thanks to everyone for the feedback and catching that it was a DP system. My thought was to ask him if I could stop by and visually inspect the system and, if all looked OK, make him a lower offer. Now I won't even bother.
 
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If you really want a G5 I would rather recommend choosing one of the other two late 2005 models: the 2.0DC or the 2.3DC.

Of course the Quad is faster and its the top of the line but also brings lots of potential trouble and hassle with it. The water (read: acid ;) ) cooling must be rebuilt ASAP or it will leak and damage/destroy the machine. Even the tiniest of leaks will damage the cpu cards long before you notice anything. And it might have done it already in some degree when you get your new machine. And this project is quite a lot of work and not always simple.

Pricing: this varies but I see G5s going for 0-50€ usually and very rarely 100€.
 
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Another easy way to tell if you have a Dual Core Mac is if there is a white plastic strip in the back. All three DCs have an integrated BT/Airport card (connected to a ramp card, which actually IS rare) and this plastic strip is what allows them to send/receive.

If that exists then you either have a 2.0DC, 2.3DC or a Quad. No other model G5s have this strip.
 
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ToniCH said:
If you really want a G5 I would rather recommend choosing one of the other two late 2005 models: the 2.0DC or the 2.3DC.

Of course the Quad is faster and its the top of the line but also brings lots of potential trouble and hassle with it. The water (read: acid ;) ) cooling must be rebuilt ASAP or it will leak and damage/destroy the machine. Even the tiniest of leaks will damage the cpu cards long before you notice anything. And it might have done it already in some degree when you get your new machine. And this project is quite a lot of work and not always simple.

Pricing: this varies but I see G5s going for 0-50€ usually and very rarely 100€.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I have a couple of PPC systems: A 1.8GHz G5 and a 1.67GHz PowerBook G4. I just thought, if the price were right, of adding the king. The problem with the king is the problematic cooling system which has kept me from acquiring one.
 
Did somebody say THE KING?

I got my Quad for $135 sans shipping. I'm pretty sure you don't want to go much higher than that unless the system is already fairly decked out and LCS restored.

I can't believe this wasn't mentioned yet but the absolute easiest way to tell that you're looking at at least an A1117 is the heatsink cover will have a single large "G5" wordmark on it rather than two "G5" wordmarks stacked vertical.

They would also have PCIe slots, absent from all prior G5s.

Of course, having the serial sticker is always welcome to make sure you're getting what you're paying for.

This listing is very sneaky as it has the real model number (A1047) on it, but the A1047 is not even in the same family as the A1117.
 
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Doq said:
I got my Quad for $135 sans shipping. I'm pretty sure you don't want to go much higher than that unless the system is already fairly decked out and LCS restored.
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But would you trust the LCS restoration was done properly? I wouldn't.

I would pay little extra if the machine had a good GPU and max RAM, SSD, other upgrades. But in stock form I would be hard pressed to pay 100€. For 100-150€ one can buy Mac Pro 4.1/5.1 with good upgrades. Not the same thing but anyways... ;)

eBay prices can be misleading as they are often way overpriced and sellers follow each other inflating the price level to ridiculous levels. That is rarely the case when shopping locally.

My PM G5s:
- early 1.8GHz: free from a friend 10 years ago
- Late 2005 2.0DC: 35€, couple of years ago from local classifieds
- Late 2005 Quad + 23" ADC: I helped somebody with his new Mac so he game me his old G5-set + other stuff, last year
- Late 2005 Quad: 40€, earlier this year from local classifieds, this one had a dented case but it's otherwise pristine
 
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ToniCH said:
If you really want a G5 I would rather recommend choosing one of the other two late 2005 models: the 2.0DC or the 2.3DC.

Of course the Quad is faster and its the top of the line but also brings lots of potential trouble and hassle with it. The water (read: acid ;) ) cooling must be rebuilt ASAP or it will leak and damage/destroy the machine. Even the tiniest of leaks will damage the cpu cards long before you notice anything. And it might have done it already in some degree when you get your new machine. And this project is quite a lot of work and not always simple.

Pricing: this varies but I see G5s going for 0-50€ usually and very rarely 100€.
Click to expand...
If the 2.3 DC is the one with a thicker power cable I would avoid. Remember having several at work and they just turned themselves off suddenly at times. I think it was a hardware problem (power supply design?) that never got fixed.
 
star-affinity said:
If the 2.3 DC is the one with a thicker power cable I would avoid. Remember having several at work and they just turned themselves off suddenly at times. I think it was a hardware problem (power supply design?) that never got fixed.
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Before May of 2020 I used to run both my Quad G5 and my 2.3DC 24/7. Both those Macs have the special cable you speak of. Not once, for the three years those Macs were left on did they ever just suddenly shut off.

Is it possible that your work location might have had an aging electrical system or been overloaded? Of course, you could be right that it was some sort of hardware fault. But if multiple Macs were doing this I'd suspect something else.
 
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The 2.0DC and 2.3DC had the same 450W PSU (661-3737) and same PSU failure rate. Most likely thing to fail in these in early years was the PSU, second was the logic board. The Quad had a bigger 550W PSU (661-3738) and most likely thing to fail was the logic board and second was the PSU. Rate of failure between the DC-models and the Quad was slightly smaller in favor of the Quad. And the late 2005 machines were the better ones in all of G5 lineup over the years, one exception being early 2005 2.3 DP which was the "best" of all (but all were bad). This was the situation when the machines were only 3 years old. Source.

Now today, its a miracle they work at all! ;)

The most likely reason for failures in the PSU was sub par quality caps which flooded the market at the time. Recapping the PSU might be a smart thing to do. And some are surely already recapped.
 
ToniCH said:
eBay prices can be misleading as they are often way overpriced and sellers follow each other inflating the price level to ridiculous levels. That is rarely the case when shopping locally.
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Of course, this assumes there is a local market to shop. This is not always the case. It definitely isn't for me living in the rural western US-- I'd have to at least live near a large city to consider there being a local market.

This leaves online retailers as the only option, and thus subject to online market pricing. My Quad at $135 was actually well below this market pricing, and was likely due to the seller not knowing what they had. I also didn't know what they had; I just got lucky.
 
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I also live in rural area in a Nordic country with ~15 people per km2 (0.3861 square mile). Everything is far away. ;) But, our local "graigs list" seems to almost always have some G5s and other vintage stuff. There are more sellers than takers for this old e-waste. G5s, cMPs and other tower models are good as they are so big, heavy and bulky people want them gone from their homes when they no longer feel the need for them. Sometimes they are too expensive but if one has enough time something will come along. Patience is the key. 👍
 
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Concur with all the comments about avoiding the liquid cooled machines at all costs. This discussion compelled me to get out my PowerMac G5 dual core machine and see if it was still alive; it's one of my least-favorite machines of the thirty or so vintage Macs I have. It is alive, and seems to be OK. In the past it has been something of a problem, especially regarding reliably recognizing its memory (16GB, extraordinary for a PPC machine) and its disks. The SATA connection is only a revision I and I remember having problems finding drives that could work. It is running a SATA I hard disk and a Samsung SSD. Yes it does require the special AC cable and the PSU's are known to be unreliable. (maybe not as bad as the PSUs from an MDD; that's a machine I really hate). Anyway, the computer is on my bench running and I'll play with it for a while.

If you do buy such a thing, be sure that it is not missing any parts. The clear plastic air dam is essential, and the special plastic mounting domes for the disks are also commonly missing.
 

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m1maverick said:
Came across this Ebay listing:

RARE Apple A1117/A1177/A1047 PowerMac G5 Quad 2.5GHz

Starting bid is $200 with no bids. It's 10 miles from my location so no need to worry about shipping cost / damage. Always thought it would be cool to have the quad but I've shied away from the water-cooled systems. Where would I look for any potential coolant damage? Do any of the pics show the area where this would be? Looks like it would need a thorough cleaning due to the animal odor / barn find.

I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts.
Click to expand...

There is no issues with liquid cooling. Price is decent.

Quad is the best PowerPC Mac one can possibly get, hands down. Nothing stands near.
 
ToniCH said:
- Late 2005 Quad + 23" ADC: I helped somebody with his new Mac so he game me his old G5-set + other stuff, last year
- Late 2005 Quad: 40€, earlier this year from local classifieds, this one had a dented case but it's otherwise pristine
Click to expand...

You probably live in a country where these are abundant. At 40 EUR I would have bought two more Quads, but over several years I only saw three being sold locally, two for about 400–500 USD and the third I purchased (160 USD). 40 EUR is insanely cheap, but if it is abroad, it does not help LOL
 
BlueMacawBird said:
Concur with all the comments about avoiding the liquid cooled machines at all costs. This discussion compelled me to get out my PowerMac G5 dual core machine and see if it was still alive; it's one of my least-favorite machines of the thirty or so vintage Macs I have. It is alive, and seems to be OK. In the past it has been something of a problem, especially regarding reliably recognizing its memory (16GB, extraordinary for a PPC machine) and its disks. The SATA connection is only a revision I and I remember having problems finding drives that could work. It is running a SATA I hard disk and a Samsung SSD. Yes it does require the special AC cable and the PSU's are known to be unreliable. (maybe not as bad as the PSUs from an MDD; that's a machine I really hate). Anyway, the computer is on my bench running and I'll play with it for a while.

If you do buy such a thing, be sure that it is not missing any parts. The clear plastic air dam is essential, and the special plastic mounting domes for the disks are also commonly missing.
Click to expand...
I don't even know where to start with this…

First off, I'm not so sure anyone said to 'avoid the liquid cooled machines at all costs'. There were a few warnings about the LCS, but I don't recall those exact words.

I had zero issue with the LCS on my Quad. It was a university Mac, used by a professor, given to another professor who shipped it to me. Four years ago when I put it away it was still functioning perfectly.

I've never cared for the design of the G5, but it turns out I do have a favorite and that is the one that you apparently like the least - the 2.3DC. It was quiet, reliable, stable and never gave me any problems. I did have an issue with one drive not showing up whenever I restarted the Mac. However, having dealt with this SAME issue with my MacPro I now know it's a particular irritant of Western Digital hard drives, which I am partial to and which are mounted in this Mac. So, that issue was not the Mac.

With regards to the SATA connection, yes - you'd have problems. A lot of drives are SATA 2 or SATA 3 and the PowerMac G5 official specs say the G5 is SATA 1. Finding a drive that will automatically scale down or has jumpers can be hard. That's not the G5s fault.

Lastly, as I mentioned earlier, I ran both the Quad and the 2.3DC full power, 24/7 for at least three full years. Not once did the PSU go. When I put them away they were both still fully functional.

So, either you had an anomaly or I had an anomaly. Either way, my experience with a Quad and 2.3DC was not at all your experience.
 
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