The G5 Workstation WIKI!

[MysticCow]

With the demise of TenFourFox, our only browser really, it's time to turn the page into something less Internetty...

Is your G5 feeling its age? Is it just taking up space? Why not turn it into a WORKSTATION? No internet allowed, because the web is just nasty even to our old trusty G5s. Well, mostly no internet allowed, as none at all may prove impossible until later.

Models to look for:

• Power Mac G5 Dual-Core 2.3 GHz (no watercooling to worry about)
• Power Mac G5 Quad-Core 2.5 GHz (nuff said! beware of water-cooling, though)

Other decent choices:

• Late 2004 dual processor models (DP 2GHz/2.3GHz/2.5GHz)

Avoid these models:

• Power Mac G5 1.8 GHz (PCI 2004 model)
• Any liquid cooled G5 model, unless you 10,000,000% know what you are doing.

GPU Upgrades for Towers (iMac G5's cannot upgrade their graphics)

• PCI-E: ATI X1900/X1950, nVidia Quadro FX 4500/7800 GTX
• AGP: nVidia 7800 GS OC/6800 GT, ATI Radeon 9600 Pro/Radeon 9800 Pro

Choice of Mac OS X:

• Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard (compatible with more [recent] applications, but no Classic support)
• Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger (Best for OS 9 "Classic" support if needed)
• Mac OS X v10.3 Panther
• Mac OS X v10.2 Jaguar (only compatible with the original 1.6 GHz, 1.8 GHz and dual-processor 2 GHz PPC970 models)

Mac OS X Applications

• Microsoft Office 2004 or 2008
• iWork 2009 or earlier
• iLife 2009 or ealier
• AppleWorks 6, common on software restore discs from iMac G3's and G4's. Make sure it's the version that will work in OS X.
• Adobe Creative Suite CS4 (and CS3)

Classic layer apps (but seriously try for the OS X version...)

• {Place necessary apps that will only work in Classic on a G5 here}

Useful notes

• {Place useful notes here!}

Do you need this for a G3?

Maybe a G4?

 

[originaldotexe]

GPU's (PCI-E): ATI X1900/X1950, nVidia Quadro FX 4500/7800 GTX
GPU's (AGP): nVidia 7800 GS OC/6800 GT, ATI Radeon 9600 Pro/Radeon 9800 Pro

Second best models: Late 2004 dual processor models (DP 2GHz/2.3GHz/2.5GHz)

OS X Apps (workstation use): Final Cut Studio, Logic Studio, Aperture, Adobe Creative Suite 4, Adobe Lightroom

 

[onre]

Maybe also a list of Audio Unit plugins that you can still buy that work with Logic Studio on a G5? I spent one evening finding these and found out these have PPC versions available:

- Valhalla Room
- Valhalla Shimmer
- Valhalla VintageVerb
- ToonTrack EZdrummer (not version 2!) and all sample kits released before EZdrummer 2
- Lexicon LXP native bundle
- Lexicon PCM native bundles

I am certain there are many others, these are just what I found in one nights worth of browsing & going through licenses I've bought in the past to see whether there is a PPC version available.

 

[MysticCow]

Added a few of the comments in there. Check out the G4 and G3 ones too and don't forget to wiki them up.

 

[Macbookprodude]

With the demise of TenFourFox, our only browser really, it's time to turn the page into something less Internetty...

Is your G5 feeling its age? Is it just taking up space? Why not turn it into a WORKSTATION? No internet allowed, because the web is just nasty even to our old trusty G5s. Well, mostly no internet allowed, as none at all may prove impossible until later.

Models to look for:

• Power Mac G5 Dual-Core 2.3 GHz (no watercooling to worry about)
• Power Mac G5 Quad-Core 2.5 GHz (nuff said!)

Other decent choices:

• Late 2004 dual processor models (DP 2GHz/2.3GHz/2.5GHz)

Avoid these models:

• Power Mac G5 1.8 GHz (PCI 2004 model)

GPU Upgrades for Towers (iMac G5's cannot upgrade their graphics)

• PCI-E: ATI X1900/X1950, nVidia Quadro FX 4500/7800 GTX
• AGP: nVidia 7800 GS OC/6800 GT, ATI Radeon 9600 Pro/Radeon 9800 Pro

Choice of Mac OS X:

• Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard (compatible with more [recent] applications, but no Classic support)
• Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger (Best for OS 9 "Classic" support if needed)
• Mac OS X v10.3 Panther
• Mac OS X v10.2 Jaguar (only compatible with the original 1.6 GHz, 1.8 GHz and dual-processor 2 GHz PPC970 models)

Mac OS X Apps

• Microsoft Office 2004 or 2008
• iWork 2009 or earlier
• iLife 2009 or ealier

Classic layer apps (but seriously try for the OS X version...)

• {Place necessary apps that will only work in Classic on a G5 here}

Useful notes

• {Place useful notes here!}

Do you need this for a G3?

Maybe a G4?

Other decent choices:

• Late 2004 dual processor models (DP 2GHz/2.3GHz/2.5GHz) - RUN RUN AWAY FROM THE DUAL 2.7/DUAL 2.5 - these were all prone to leaks, only the Quad or those models with Panasonic are reliable.

 

[Macbookprodude]

Added a few of the comments in there. Check out the G4 and G3 ones too and don't forget to wiki them up.

G3 sadly is not worth using anymore given it’s so so slow for even everyday office tasks - plus, something about the PPC750 makes me sick. I never used a G3, ever - when I entered PowerPC, I went with my 1st G4 sawtooth 350 back in 2000.

 

[davisdelo]

G3 sadly is not worth using anymore given it’s so so slow for even everyday office tasks - plus, something about the PPC750 makes me sick. I never used a G3, ever - when I entered PowerPC, I went with my 1st G4 sawtooth 350 back in 2000.

I always loved the G3 era Macs. It ran super cool, allowing for a lot of form factors. It was the chip that a lot of us got our start on too. The G3
brought the ability to edit modern media to even entry level Macs. It has definitely always been enough for office tasks. My favorites were the G3 iMacs and the dual usb iBooks, probably because those where the models I used back then. For a chip that lacks vector processing it’s very impressive, hell they just sent one to Mars.

 

[Macbookprodude]

I always loved the G3 era Macs. It ran super cool, allowing for a lot of form factors. It was the chip that a lot of us got our start on too. The G3
brought the ability to edit modern media to even entry level Macs. It has definitely always been enough for office tasks. My favorites were the G3 iMacs and the dual usb iBooks, probably because those where the models I used back then. For a chip that lacks vector processing it’s very impressive, hell they just sent one to Mars.

That was then, sadly.. the G3 does not offer anything to us anymore. We shall remember it as the very beginning of the torch for PowerPC and we shall honor it, but as for anything useful, I think in my best judgement G4 and G5 have better support for most modern stuff. Granted, G3 machines are great for small things and also very early gaming, but as for tenfourfox and the survival of PowerPC on the web, it is not viable to us anymore. I am not bashing it, no.. just that its not relevant to web longevity anymore. I got my start with PowerPC by using the G4 and altivec.. if anything, we can build things under altivec, as Apple wasted this technology on just a few apps. We can now harness this power.

 

[Project Alice]

That was then, sadly.. the G3 does not offer anything to us anymore. We shall remember it as the very beginning of the torch for PowerPC and we shall honor it, but as for anything useful, I think in my best judgement G4 and G5 have better support for most modern stuff. Granted, G3 machines are great for small things and also very early gaming, but as for tenfourfox and the survival of PowerPC on the web, it is not viable to us anymore. I am not bashing it, no.. just that its not relevant to web longevity anymore. I got my start with PowerPC by using the G4 and altivec.. if anything, we can build things under altivec, as Apple wasted this technology on just a few apps. We can now harness this power.

There were other PPC processors prior to the G3... 601, 602 (not used by Apple), 603/603e, 604/604e, and the 620 (also not used by Apple, 64bit CPU).
The 750 was a very good CPU at the time. A great upgrade over the 603 series. Not so much for a 604, but it was still faster.
G3s are pretty much capable of anything a G4 is minus altivec instructions.

 

[Macbookprodude]

Well, from what I learned years back the G4 essentially is similar to a G3 just without Altivec, or as Apple called it: Velocity Engine. But, compared to say a PB G4 1ghz Titanium vs say a bondi blue imac - You get what I am saying. Try running TenFourFox on that - hardly usable. I know this since I have a Pismo G4 550 and while the G4 550 sped it up somewhat, it was horribly slower using the G3 500 chip. Now, the Pismo is in my closet as a memory to the only upgradable PowerBook in history. Now, maybe the very rare G3 1ghz and 700 mhz chips can compete, but those are very very hard to find if at all.

 

[Project Alice]

Well, from what I learned years back the G4 essentially is similar to a G3 just without Altivec, or as Apple called it: Velocity Engine. But, compared to say a PB G4 1ghz Titanium vs say a bondi blue imac - You get what I am saying. Try running TenFourFox on that - hardly usable. I know this since I have a Pismo G4 550 and while the G4 550 sped it up somewhat, it was horribly slower using the G3 500 chip. Now, the Pismo is in my closet as a memory to the only upgradable PowerBook in history. Now, maybe the very rare G3 1ghz and 700 mhz chips can compete, but those are very very hard to find if at all.

Meh🤷🏼‍♂️ I’ve Browsed this forum on my iMac G3 a few times. Also on my Pismo, which is also a G4550. It was a 500MHz G3 originally. I used to browse this forum before the upgrade too. G3s are fine for some tasks.

I use them for LAN parties sometimes. Age of empires 2 and Star Craft are both 4:3 games and look like crap on wide screen macs. So I usually put my friends on 14” iBook G3s as I have a few of them. If it doesn’t need Leopard or amazing graphics G3s are plenty. Web browsing is getting so bad a G3 isn’t much slower than a low end G4 anymore.

 

[Macbookprodude]

Web browsing is getting so bad a G3 isn’t much slower than a low end G4 anymore.

Exactly, why its going to be difficult to bring them up to the performance the current middle-higher end G4s can do. G5's are a different category as they are fast enough. Though, even a Quad G5 2.5 ghz struggles with the web which is odd given its great processing power. I would use my G5 only, but it may increase my electric bill

 

[MysticCow]

G3 sadly is not worth using anymore given it’s so so slow for even everyday office tasks - plus, something about the PPC750 makes me sick. I never used a G3, ever - when I entered PowerPC, I went with my 1st G4 sawtooth 350 back in 2000.

If you're using OS X, then a G3 is slow as heck. But under OS 9 it's snappy enough to be a small-scale workstation with software. I still use my G3 iMacs as Word stations and other very lightweight stuff.

And the whole point of the thread is NOT TO HAVE THEM AS WEB BROWSING MACS, BUT RATHER AS A WORKSTATION. The most you have to do online is download a file, which you can do from anywhere to repurpose your PPC Mac as a workstation.

 

[bunnspecial]

Since I know this is a G5 post and not an other architecture post-for programs not written to use Altivec, the 750 and 7400 will give essentially the same performance clock-for-clock. Things get complicated when you start adding in 745x CPUs with L3 cache and other stuff that makes them better over and above Altivec. Sitll, though, there are fringe cases where something like the 1ghz G3 I have in a B&W is the tool of choice. In fact, I'd dare say that there would be more than a few situations where it would outrun the 1ghz Sonnet G4 in the same system since the G4 needs to downclock the FSB to 66mhz.

With that said, when I last used a G5 seriously as a workstation a few years ago, I used a dual 2.7. I chose that computer for two reasons. One of those was that I was doing single threaded tasks primarily, and the 2.7 is faster than the Quad at single threaded tasks. The other is that I tried-in vain-to get SCSI working on that computer for one specific peripheral, and even though I never could get a card that would play nice with the computer, have OS X drivers, and have external ports with a connector I could actually find(I managed various combinations that satisfied 2 of those 3, but not all 3) the Mac SCSI landscape in PCI/PCI-X is a lot more promising than in PCIe.

 

[sysmem]

Models to look for:

• Power Mac G5 Dual-Core 2.3 GHz (no watercooling to worry about)
• Power Mac G5 Quad-Core 2.5 GHz (nuff said! beware of water-cooling, though)

Other decent choices:

• Late 2004 dual processor models (DP 2GHz/2.3GHz/2.5GHz)

Would it make sense to add the Panasonic cooler 2.7 models somewhere here? They are said to have no problems

 

[davisdelo]

Seeing this thread pop up again reminded me of a great addition to any G5. The AJA Kona 3, I have the pcie version but I’m pretty sure there’s AGP versions out there too. These things make working in FCP a lot smoother, they make pretty good multitrack inputs for DAWs too.

 

[Macbookprodude]

Would it make sense to add the Panasonic cooler 2.7 models somewhere here? They are said to have no problems

Quad will not work with Panasonic that was for the dual 2.5/2.7

 

[sysmem]

Quad will not work with Panasonic that was for the dual 2.5/2.7

Yes. I’m not talking about the cooler itself, but the 2.7GHz models that came with the Panasonic cooler as a recommended/other decent model. Just because it isn’t a quad doesn’t make it worthless. I’d say it’s the best AGP G5 you can get.

 

[Macbookprodude]

Yes. I’m not talking about the cooler itself, but the 2.7GHz models that came with the Panasonic cooler as a recommended/other decent model. Just because it isn’t a quad doesn’t make it worthless. I’d say it’s the best AGP G5 you can get.

I understand, but PCIe is much better than AGP, that is if you want just a G5 and don't need PCIe capability. Yes, the Dual 2.7 is the best, but the Quad G5 destroys it.

 

[Macbookprodude]

I always loved the G3 era Macs. It ran super cool, allowing for a lot of form factors. It was the chip that a lot of us got our start on too. The G3
brought the ability to edit modern media to even entry level Macs. It has definitely always been enough for office tasks. My favorites were the G3 iMacs and the dual usb iBooks, probably because those where the models I used back then. For a chip that lacks vector processing it’s very impressive, hell they just sent one to Mars.

You see, I got into PowerPC with the G4, so I don't really know much about the G3. Maybe I am missing something with G3 ? In 1999-2000 my first Mac was a G4 350 Sawtooth. At first I looked at the Yikes! or PCI graphics but something told me it was not worth it.

 

[philgxxd]

The dual 2.7Ghz G5’s leaked also, so did mine…

 

[sysmem]

The dual 2.7Ghz G5’s leaked also, so did mine…

Do you know if it had a Panasonic or Delphi cooler?
The Delphi coolers on the 2.7s were bad. I haven’t heard anyone complain about the Panasonic coolers yet, but they were also less common.

 

[fourbirds]

What are some of the more useful PCI-e expansion cards compatible with the Powermac G5? Just pulled the quad (A1177) out of storage to replace my dying DLSD powerbook and I'm hoping to a have a bit of fun with it. I'm already on the lookout for a better video card that won't break the bank.

 

[davisdelo]

What are some of the more useful PCI-e expansion cards compatible with the Powermac G5? Just pulled the quad (A1177) out of storage to replace my dying DLSD powerbook and I'm hoping to a have a bit of fun with it. I'm already on the lookout for a better video card that won't break the bank.

A sata card is great for adding more storage, it’s hard to find one with good compatibility though. Mine, for instance, kills the onboard ethernet. If you find any old Sonnet PCI-e cards they tend to work really well, the esata ones are still pretty easy to find.

 

[Macbookprodude]

The dual 2.7Ghz G5’s leaked also, so did mine…

They all leaked ! The Quad leaks too but not much.