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Suggestions for PowerMac G5 DC 2.3GHz...

Not meaning to offend you or anybody else, but dudes, the upcoming refreshed 11" base model MBA will smoke that thing and run circles around it at the same time
 
Scarrus said:
Not meaning to offend you or anybody else, but dudes, the upcoming refreshed 11" base model MBA will smoke that thing and run circles around it at the same time
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And your point is?

Hey, let's compare a $1000+ new computer with a $200 5-6 year old computer.

Everyone is aware of the differences.

A lot of people on this forum, especially the people who post regularly in the PowerPC forum either are trying to get a nice Mac experience on a budget due to limited finances, or love the PowerPC machines, which have a different character/feel than the new Macs. For many people, it's both.
 
Your are right cocacolakid. Thanks for the PM.

With due respect to the poster before you. I can well afford the greatest and the latest. But why would I? There is no thrill in it.

It is more fun tinkering things and make it work.
 
Now I got 8.5GB on it, and the extra 4gb did make it feel like it is fast. Opening apps on just a bounce.

I wonder what improvement will additional 8GB do the system performance. It seems more fluid at 8.5 gb.
 
VanneDC said:
I love the PPC PM 🙂 would rather have one of them than those crappy flimsy MBA's anyday.
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I agree with this statement, and I own an 11" MacBook Air (along with you know like 12 PPC Macs). The G5 is much more useful for everything apart from my bad back than my MacBook Air, and I will hold the same view with the next generation, especially given my MacBook Air cant exactly host a Music Studio for instance, or be used to edit video, whereas G5s can do both of those with ease with a little effort.
 
Did you ever get the X1900XT working? I doubt it came DOA and is a working card. Is it installed in the bottom most slot on the machine? If I'm right then it can't be installed in any other slot, as they're only 4x and 8x PCIe lanes, and the 16x lane is that high for power too, so try that and let us know?

And props on that BEAUTIFUL, "CRAPPY(can't be serious there ofcourse..can I have it? 😀 lol )" AWESOME, STILL EXCELLENT G5. Having a Mac Mini C2D myself I miss the G5's, such elegant PPC machines.

Eventually life moves on and the G5's will become relatively unuseable I'd imagine, but I think for even another 5 years even for certain heavy lifting they'll be killer and that Dual Core model(s) really are the best, looking to actually trade an Intel Core 1 Duo mac mini for one right now 😎
 
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Nope, I never did get it to work. I put it in slot 1 which is 16x first and it never did send any video signal to the monitor. Cooling fans full blast on boot. The computer boots because I can hear the boot chime. It seems that based on my research it was not an original X1900 mac edition, but probably a flashed pc or an unflashed pc card.

Anyway, charge that to experience. I am more happy with my setup.

This is what I got right now;
2 21" Acer monitors with 1920 x 1080 res
Nvidia 6600 gfx
64 GB SSD as boot drive
1 TB as Internal Data Storage
8.5 GB of ram and counting, target is to have a full 16gb on it.

Things planning to put on;
Apple Airport runway card, since i already have the Airport Extreme card
Aluminum Wireless Keyboard
Magic Mouse
A couple of Apple Cinema Display 23" or a massive 30" ACD

This is just a hobby folks, like putting together an old 'stang.
 
Dude, the G5's are still epic machines I think, solid workhourses and I couldn't agree more that there's that spirit of putting together the beautiful machines the G5's still are, esp. since they have some advantages vs. Intel Macs; 1.) PPC, meaning no Intel mac viruses that if any do come out lol, 2.) Compatible w/ older Mac software 3.) vs. like the Mac Mini I have which screams, the G5 can take PCIe cards, faster GPU, and multiple full size HDDs.

And 4.) Seriously, are they not just drop dead in the GORGEOUS area?

And seriously, props on that EPIC G5, one of the best models ever made 🙂 The DC's are really the only G5 I'd buy for serious work due to the improvements all around internally (and to a degree, externally)
 
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Yes they are gorgeous, but not drop dead though... lol.

It scores low on geekbench, but geekbench is geekbench. I don't think they are reliable.

I have used a Mac Proc 2x2.66 Xeon, and I am more satisfied and excited by the performance of the PM G5 2.3DC.
 
Nameci said:
Yes they are gorgeous, but not drop dead though... lol.

It scores low on geekbench, but geekbench is geekbench. I don't think they are reliable.

I have used a Mac Proc 2x2.66 Xeon, and I am more satisfied and excited by the performance of the PM G5 2.3DC.
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Yeah, idk to me though I'd say drop dead just because there's a certain elegance I think that the G5 still possess that no other Apple product does IMO. Lian Li (maker of excellent quality PC cases) even copied the G5 case as faithfully as PC possible for what I think are obvious reasons: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/185491-28-does-lian-produce-apple-case

Then again, it's possibly Lian Li even produced the Apple case, but I have doubts.


EDIT: Yeah bummer for the ATI card, but yeah chalk it up to lack of research eh? That happens sometimes.
 
I LOVE MY DC 2.3!! I use it over my Intel machines, it is definitely worth the money that I paid for it. it is my main mac. 🙂.
 
Will I achieve performance if I put another SSD and make a software RAID0 out of two SSD's as boot? Would it be justifiable? I would delegate all data storage on a fw800 external drive. Boot up and app loading times would be fast I suppose.

Any comments on this?
 
Nameci said:
Will I achieve performance if I put another SSD and make a software RAID0 out of two SSD's as boot? Would it be justifiable? I would delegate all data storage on a fw800 external drive. Boot up and app loading times would be fast I suppose.

Any comments on this?
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I would not trust software raid at all. Plus, the SATAI interface is likely to be the bottleneck anyway.
 
I have done software raid0 previously and I find them stable enough, never had a single issue. This is not a mission critical computer.

Will putting in a PCI-e SATA card improve the performance?
 
Probably be buying and upgrading gfx card this week; what would you guys recommend? Quadro FX 4500 or GeForce 7800 GTX? Both are 512 MB i suppose.

Which is more noisy? And which is more faster?

Found the comparison for speed, my worries now is on the noise.

http://www.barefeats.com/mutant4.html
 
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Nameci said:
Probably be buying and upgrading gfx card this week; what would you guys recommend? Quadro FX 4500 or GeForce 7800 GTX? Both are 512 MB i suppose.

Which is more noisy? And which is more faster?

Found the comparison for speed, my worries now is on the noise.

http://www.barefeats.com/mutant4.html
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Wow I didn't realize the 7800 was faster than the Quadro. I've owned both.
Quadro is silent almost, 7800 annoying with it's oem fan. You have to put a new fan on it. google around.
 
I will be running CAD applications on this machine aside from learning Final Cut, so it seems the quadro is a better choice than the geforce 7800 gtx evethough the latter is faster.

And besides I really wanted a quieter machine.
 
Lol THE fx 4500 and THE 7800gtx are exactly THE Same card.

Speaking if which I just received my fx in the mail last week and now just gotta flash it to Mac, then finally get rid of that crappy 6600 that's in there ATM.
 
Nameci said:
I will be running CAD applications on this machine aside from learning Final Cut, so it seems the quadro is a better choice than the geforce 7800 gtx evethough the latter is faster.

And besides I really wanted a quieter machine.
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I think he was talking about the 7800GT, which has that tiny, dinky single slot fan that blows the air back in the case, and was the only 7800 that was officially licensed and made by Apple.


He probably hasn't owned the 7800GTX, which AFAIK is the same exact cooler as the Quadro, so would be just as quiet and appreciably faster, and can only be obtained in the form of a flashed PC card, unless that's incorrect? But that's the cheapest way to get them and work just as well as any that would have been (or maybe were) made or licensed by Apple.

Either way, the 7800GT *X* would be, by far, the best choice IMO, unless you find the Quadro for a far better price than what the GTX can be had for.

And VanneDC, you have a G5? It's not in your sig.
 
Van had a quad previously, sold it and bought a dual core 2.3ghz.

If the QFX 4500 and GF 7800GTX are one and the same why the link below says the latter is faster? The QFX is a work station card and the GF is a consumer card, if my understanding is right?

Got my 4GB RAM today from mail, installed and to my frustration it doesn't work. Was not recognized by system profiler. Guess this pair goes to trash.
 
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Namci your right mate, the clocks do differ, but the 7800gtx was never offered by apple and is a modded bios based off a mixture of the 7800gt and THE quadro. This 7800gtx rom isn't available anywhere as I searched around a year ago for it when I had a quadro in my quad.

I think it may even b an urban legend 😉

Hehe at any rate the fx4500 and the gtx7800 are exactly the same card, but just the rom differs and thus different clock and mem speeds.

I'd still love to get my hands-on that 7800gtx rom and flash it to the fx4500, but can't see it ever turning up.

Also there are quite a few quadro cards on eBay, but hardly any 7800gtx's.

Oh and don't be confused about the 7900gtx as it's a complete different core even though the card looks the same 🙂
 
I had a bad experience with my ATI x1900 bought from the bay. It never had a video output although the fan is working no LED indicators on the board. A hard lesson for me, I have taken the risk.

So I was apprehensive about buying a flashed card with 7800GTX. I have my sights locked on a QFX 4500. It is claimed to be original taken out from a working PMQ 2.5. The price is stiff, but hey it doesn't matter to a hobbyist and collector.

I am now running Final Cut on it for learning, Adobe CS4, and CAD softwares both elex and mechanical. I think anti-aliasing with QFX would help me a lot. I don't play games on the computer. I am already too old for it.
 
mate, the fx4500 should be pretty cheap now adays anyways... i just got mine for just under 80 aus and 20 bucks shipping to Un-Zed. 🙂
easy to flash mate, ive done 2 already, you just need a x86 mobo with pcie slot available and a dos disk.. very easy..

Pm me if you wantt help with flashing a card mate as if you grab a mac fx4500, i can only shudder to think how much that would be 🙂

cheers
 
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