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Should I buy a Powermac G5?

viktormadarasz

viktormadarasz

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 15, 2010
47
0
Madrid,Spain
Hi,

Im frankly an Apple Fan and fanatic i guess. I have a main desktop Mac Mini 2012 model, I have an iBook G3 for light text editing an mainly Mac OS 9 softwares I have

On my iBook G3 I cant get like Skype and Watching videos or Youtube ( i dont mind cause its not for that)

Should I go get a Powermac G5 for multimedia? VLC , Mactubes, Office package, fluid quick web browsing??There are 2x2ghz 2004 year models for 200 euros more or less with shipping..

What are the limitations multimedia and light medium usage wise if there is any sure beside the 10.5.8 OS boundaries ( i understand i cant use a software which asks for 10.6 or higher)?

Thanks
 
Short Answer is Yes

Long answer/Rant is that only you can answer this question, you seem to be very knowledgeable of the limitations of PowerPc. And if you can accept that then I would go for it. As far as multimedia limitatioins Netflix is a total no as well as all streaming services. It will play Dvds but not Blu-ray your pretty much limited to apps made before 2009 besides the few browsers still in development Stainless is something I recommend and is now opensorce. Tenfourfox is a very good version of firefox. Twitter and facebook will work great and even youtube will work if you turn on the html5 program and you should be able to play video in 1080p with a decent internet connection like I get here in the silicon valley. So in conclusion know the limits that is #1 and #2 flash is the enemy and #3 don't listen to rabidz7 if he tells you that you can run mountain lion on your G5


Chill,
 
Lil Chillbil said:
Short Answer is Yes

Long answer/Rant is that only you can answer this question, you seem to be very knowledgeable of the limitations of PowerPc. And if you can accept that then I would go for it. As far as multimedia limitatioins Netflix is a total no as well as all streaming services. It will play Dvds but not Blu-ray your pretty much limited to apps made before 2009 besides the few browsers still in development Stainless is something I recommend and is now opensorce. Tenfourfox is a very good version of firefox. Twitter and facebook will work great and even youtube will work if you turn on the html5 program and you should be able to play video in 1080p with a decent internet connection like I get here in the silicon valley. So in conclusion know the limits that is #1 and #2 flash is the enemy and #3 don't listen to rabidz7 if he tells you that you can run mountain lion on your G5


Chill,
Click to expand...

Thanks ;) Noo Mountain Lion is great on my Mac mini :)

Sure the limitations are clear, no wish for bluray, flash is enemy :) and the things you mentioned are those Id use it for.

Honestly Im pretty sure Id go for it cause a 1st gen Mac Pro is still over 500€ :( and honestly it doesnt score more in raw cpu power in Geekbench than my Mac mini (above 13 000)

I used to have a G4 MDD so I got the No's and Can not's of PPC I just always wished for that more power and flawless and of course beauty of PPC :)

My iBook G3 sure is light portable and sleek with its 12" but nothing about multimedia beyond iTunes but frankly that I have for Mac OS 9 :) I have a heart for OS 9 and oldschool software ( i grew up in the '80s)

Its a serious sickness... I fell in love with an Apple :)))
 
H.264 videos encoded with High profile don't play really well on my quad PowerMac G5 with VLC / iTunes (QuickTime). Although it is way more powerful than my MacBook Pro in most cases, when it comes to H.264, the G5 isn't a beast :p Probably due to an old encoder/decoder.

Else, well, a G5 can do a lot for standard usage.
 
viktormadarasz said:
Thanks ;) Noo Mountain Lion is great on my Mac mini :)

Sure the limitations are clear, no wish for bluray, flash is enemy :) and the things you mentioned are those Id use it for.

Honestly Im pretty sure Id go for it cause a 1st gen Mac Pro is still over 500€ :( and honestly it doesnt score more in raw cpu power in Geekbench than my Mac mini (above 13 000)

I used to have a G4 MDD so I got the No's and Can not's of PPC I just always wished for that more power and flawless and of course beauty of PPC :)

My iBook G3 sure is light portable and sleek with its 12" but nothing about multimedia beyond iTunes but frankly that I have for Mac OS 9 :) I have a heart for OS 9 and oldschool software ( i grew up in the '80s)

Its a serious sickness... I fell in love with an Apple :)))
Click to expand...

If you looking for as smooth as possible then I would strongly recomend that you get a G5 2.5ghz Quad single pump. pop in 16 gigs of Ram from Owc and a 256gig ssd (make sure its sata 2 not 3) a 2tb western digital drive in the 2nd slot. As far as graphics performance Go for a Nvidia Geforce 6800 ultra. There is better cards out there but not without flashing them
 
rabidz7 said:
You can, just edit a plist.
However, if it asks for intell only, then I can not talk about that. Most people say it is impossible.
Click to expand...

You are wrong. 10.6 is completely different from Leo, and there is a software requirement as well.
 
Lil Chillbil said:
If you looking for as smooth as possible then I would strongly recomend that you get a G5 2.5ghz Quad single pump. pop in 16 gigs of Ram from Owc and a 256gig ssd (make sure its sata 2 not 3) a 2tb western digital drive in the 2nd slot. As far as graphics performance Go for a Nvidia Geforce 6800 ultra. There is better cards out there but not without flashing them
Click to expand...

You are right about quadcore G5s, the only thing that as far as I saw their prices are way over my reasonable limits for a PPC platform.

For a dual 2GHz G5 being charged 200€ its a fair deal for me. How the media performance of those compared to the Quad G5s? VLC with 720p content, Youtube/Mactube , Skype and Webbrowsing (no flash and light Java)?
 
viktormadarasz said:
You are right about quadcore G5s, the only thing that as far as I saw their prices are way over my reasonable limits for a PPC platform.

For a dual 2GHz G5 being charged 200€ its a fair deal for me. How the media performance of those compared to the Quad G5s? VLC with 720p content, Youtube/Mactube , Skype and Webbrowsing (no flash and light Java)?
Click to expand...

Not as good, if you must save a buck then just got for the dual 2.3 air cooled NOT THE DUAL 2.5 WATERCOOLED OR THE 2.7 WATERCOOLED
 
Lil Chillbil said:
Not as good, if you must save a buck then just got for the dual 2.3 air cooled NOT THE DUAL 2.5 WATERCOOLED OR THE 2.7 WATERCOOLED
Click to expand...

By the way it was mentioned somewhere that the later watercooled models equipped with Panasonic brand Liquid Cooling system were more reliable in question of coolant leaking...

Just to be exact: Were there aircooled Quad G5 or Liquid Coolin was the only option to go?
 
Bohab said:
Please read my prior post.

Can your Quad play a 1080p video on one screen while playing a game on another?
Click to expand...

You said:
A G5 is very poor for multimedia, especially anything 1080p. Even the Quad struggles with HD media.
Click to expand...

Nowhere did you say can it play full HD video and game at the same time. You just said G5s are bad for multimedia.
 
ihuman:D said:
You said:

Nowhere did you say can it play full HD video and game at the same time. You just said G5s are bad for multimedia.
Click to expand...

Honestly about a Mac Pro I think I would wait with a Mac Pro till Apple rolls out the new version of it (it will cut the prices of second hand one even if not drastically but with a few hundred euros....and who doesnt want to save 3-400 euros waiting a few months?)

The thing is right now Id love to go with even a Mac Pro 1st gen Intel but still has its prices 550€ up .... so... double than a dual core G5 ( I know that one goes till 10.7.5 and You get what You pay for)

So its not as easy as it gets when You feel attached to anythin with an Apple logo on it ;) Def Hot chicks in tight Apple logo tops ;) jeje
 
Lil Chillbil said:
If you looking for as smooth as possible then I would strongly recomend that you get a G5 2.5ghz Quad single pump. pop in 16 gigs of Ram from Owc and a 256gig ssd (make sure its sata 2 not 3) a 2tb western digital drive in the 2nd slot. As far as graphics performance Go for a Nvidia Geforce 6800 ultra. There is better cards out there but not without flashing them
Click to expand...

That is a 500+ euro computer ($650)
 
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