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The "best" powermac G5

S

skinniezinho

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 1, 2009
1,112
100
Portugal
Hi guys, guess it's time to "upgrade" my G4, I want a G5, always wanted.
I've been ofered a 1.6GHz single G5 for 75eur, I will get it and try to sell it (here G5s still go like 100-150eur for a 1.6GHZ), and I wanted to get something more powerfull but something reliable too, looking at this article guess the answer is a Dual 2.3 or a Quad right?
I am not afraid of rebuilding LCS , I am only afraid of spending lots of money :p
What do you guys think?
 
skinniezinho said:
Hi guys, guess it's time to "upgrade" my G4, I want a G5, always wanted.
I've been ofered a 1.6GHz single G5 for 75eur, I will get it and try to sell it (here G5s still go like 100-150eur for a 1.6GHZ), and I wanted to get something more powerfull but something reliable too, looking at this article guess the answer is a Dual 2.3 or a Quad right?
I am not afraid of rebuilding LCS , I am only afraid of spending lots of money :p
What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

You are on the right track. But if you have fear with LCS, I would recommend the dual core 2.3GHz. You have PCIe and the best card would ATI X1900 or an nVidia 7800GTX.
 
Nameci said:
You are on the right track. But if you have fear with LCS, I would recommend the dual core 2.3GHz. You have PCIe and the best card would ATI X1900 or an nVidia 7800GTX.
Click to expand...

I second this. The best air cooled G5 you can get is the Dual Core 2.3GHz. I think if you get a Quad G5 look for ones with a later manufacture date and I believe the revision 2 Dual Pump LCS (someone correct me if I am wrong on this).
 
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noodle654 said:
I second this. The best air cooled G5 you can get is the Dual Core 2.3GHz. I think if you get a Quad G5 look for ones with a later manufacture date and I believe the revision 2 Dual Pump LCS (someone correct me if I am wrong on this).
Click to expand...

You want the single pump g5 not the dual as those have a history of leaking
 
Nameci said:
You are on the right track. But if you have fear with LCS, I would recommend the dual core 2.3GHz. You have PCIe and the best card would ATI X1900 or an nVidia 7800GTX.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I have seen a quad with a 7800GT already on it.And I have a X1950Pro laying around, maybe it could flashed.
But I won't do nothing very intensive on it, so even my G4's 6200 would serve.

noodle654 said:
I second this. The best air cooled G5 you can get is the Dual Core 2.3GHz. I think if you get a Quad G5 look for ones with a later manufacture date and I believe the revision 2 Dual Pump LCS (someone correct me if I am wrong on this).
Click to expand...
Here they are kinda rare, I have seen a 2.3 for the double of the price of a quad :/

Lil Chillbil said:
You want the single pump g5 not the dual as those have a history of leaking
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info.If the pump leaks can it be soved using some sealing or do I need to buy a new pump (I've heard some laing models were compatible, always heard good things about them).

Nameci said:
^^^ that kid is correct. What I have is a quad with a single pump and it works great. Never had issues with the hardware. Most of my issues are software related and of my own doing.
Click to expand...

NIce to know =)
 
under my opinion the best invest would be a dual 2,3 if you find any under 150 eur. but if you get a quad would be great too.
the problem for me is the power waste from the G5. so perhaps would be better to expent your money in an early intel mac pro.

other option are the xserve G5, i love these machines.
 
powermi said:
under my opinion the best invest would be a dual 2,3 if you find any under 150 eur. but if you get a quad would be great too.
the problem for me is the power waste from the G5. so perhaps would be better to expent your money in an early intel mac pro.

other option are the xserve G5, i love these machines.
Click to expand...

This is for a secondary computer, it won't be on very much, it is like a "dream", like the G4 was.
Intel?No thanks, for that I would build an hackintosh :p
 
skinniezinho said:
This is for a secondary computer, it won't be on very much, it is like a "dream", like the G4 was.
Intel?No thanks, for that I would build an hackintosh :p
Click to expand...

i respect a lot you position cause your a powerpc user, and also i love people that embrace an architecture till the end, i am with you.

i also would like to have a g5, cause i love the raw power of them and the design too.
 
powermi said:
i respect a lot you position cause your a powerpc user, and also i love people that embrace an architecture till the end, i am with you.

i also would like to have a g5, cause i love the raw power of them and the design too.
Click to expand...

If I wanted something for power I would just use my laptop, it has plenty of power for my needs.
I think G5 is the end of an era, an era of true Mac computers.That's why I want one.If I can use without restrictions better.
 
skinniezinho said:
Thanks, I have seen a quad with a 7800GT already on it.And I have a X1950Pro laying around, maybe it could flashed.
But I won't do nothing very intensive on it, so even my G4's 6200 would serve.
Click to expand...

Your G4's 6200 is an AGP card and it won't work in a late 2005 G5.
 
my 6800 works in the g5 is 256 ddr 8x, perhaps we could exchange them if you get an g5.
wich are the stock cards on the duals and the quads.?
 
Can vouch for the DC 2.3, never had a single thing go wrong with mine, load it with RAM and a decent video card and try to get one with the Airport intact for wifi (if you intend to use wifi) - USB wifi dongles consume more CPU cycles. Good hunting.
 
If the liquid cooling system is still running in 2013, its probably not a faulty one. I have no problem relying on my quad 2.5 G5 as my primary system. Worrying about the LCS just doesn't happen at this point.
 
powermi said:
my 6800 works in the g5 is 256 ddr 8x, perhaps we could exchange them if you get an g5.
wich are the stock cards on the duals and the quads.?
Click to expand...
Sorry I didn't understand your question, do you want to exchange for what card?
The G5 that I am getting now is a single 1.6 (the graphic card is a fx5200), but I plan to sell it (if I can!) to fund a dual or a quad.

powermi said:
today i saw here in Spain few dual from 150 eur to 200. not expensive. i am going to fall in the temptation..
Click to expand...

Here in Portugal I found a Dual 1.8 for 150eur with keyboard and monitor, it is not expensive, but I've seen 1 or 2 Quads for 200-250, but they disappeared :p

wobegong said:
Can vouch for the DC 2.3, never had a single thing go wrong with mine, load it with RAM and a decent video card and try to get one with the Airport intact for wifi (if you intend to use wifi) - USB wifi dongles consume more CPU cycles. Good hunting.
Click to expand...

Do you have any experience with PCI cards?
I have a Ralink 2860 based "N 300Mbps" card that I've used with the G4.
But I can get a airport extreme too.
The only 2.3 that I saw here in Portugal the owner is asking 450eur, too much for me.

Hrududu said:
If the liquid cooling system is still running in 2013, its probably not a faulty one. I have no problem relying on my quad 2.5 G5 as my primary system. Worrying about the LCS just doesn't happen at this point.
Click to expand...

Kinda true, but it is better to keep watching it =)

So sa I said, for now a G5 1.6,fx5200,1.5Gb,80Gb is coming, bought it for cheap, will put my geforce 6200 there, and try to sell it, still looking for a quad =)
 
666sheep said:
I think you'd get more profit from selling your 6200 separately.
Click to expand...
Ok, it is now on macrumors marketplace.

wobegong said:
No sorry, I actually use a USB at the moment but plan to get an Airport soon.
Click to expand...

I have here one laying around, when I get the G5 I will test it's performance vs the pci card.

Edit:
Guess the luck came:

Power Mac G5 Quad 2.5 Ghz
RAM 2Gb
Nvidia GeForce 7800GT
Seagate 250Gb
AirPort Extreme
Bluetooth
Mac OS X v 10.5.8
DVD-RW

230eur =)

If anyone needs G4 bits grab me a pm =)
 
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i was preparing a G4 QS for photo editing, with a 6800 GT, a SATA card and full loaded of RAM, but perhaps should be better to use a powermac G5, i think that it would be a moster of raw power.

the problem is that i have few powermacs G4, some ibooks and powerbooks. i am a powerpc addict in a small apartment.. :cool:
 
a g5 option for you

I have a G5 dual core 2.5 that is looking for a home. It has a 500 Gb hard drive in it, 2 Gb of RAM, and I don't know what kind of graphics card. It came from storage at my workplace and I borrowed my son-in-law's screen to test it out. It sounds like it boots up and the green light comes on on the keyboard but nothing shows up on the screen. I also tried plugging a PC monitor into the smaller of the two ports and the cable matched up but nothing showed up on the screen. If you can tell me what to do to test it further or you want to make me an offer "as is" I will entertain just about anything. My suspicion is that the graphics card may be dead. If you haappen to have a spare one and want to send it to insure that this thing works I'm open to options. I just don't want to sink much money into it. Another option would be to give me some ideas what I can do to further test it. If I could buy a cheap $20 graphics card just to insure that it works though my price would certainly go up. One thing I don't know is whether or not a PC monitor should work for certain graphics cards.
 
skinniezinho said:
Do you have any experience with PCI cards?
I have a Ralink 2860 based "N 300Mbps" card that I've used with the G4.
But I can get a airport extreme too.
The only 2.3 that I saw here in Portugal the owner is asking 450eur, too much for me.
Click to expand...

No - Its a PCIe so PCI cards won't work. I use a USB D-Link DWA-125 currently.
 
gonosz said:
Hi, I saw you have a G4 with Voodoo 2 and you are upgrading to G5. I'd also love to have a G5 and I wonder would it work together with a VooDoo 5?
Click to expand...

I don't have them anymore.
3dfx Voodoo's only work with OS9, so your only bet is a Powerful G4.
 
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