Upgrade Question

[acemillion]

Hello,
I am thinking about upgrading my 6 year old PowerMac G5 dual 1.8 for primarily video editing purposes and using after effects. I got my G5 just before they switched to using intel processors

At first I was leaning towards a new Imac i5 2.66 of apple.com but since you really cant upgrade the hd or ram very much, was thinking about purchasing a MacPro off ebay. One in particular is a Apple Mac Pro Intel Quad Core 2.66.

Either one would have better performance than what I have now. I'm trying to keep the cost low since purchasing a new mac pro at this point is not going to happen.

Any suggestions?

 

[andy.barron]

The mac pro would enable you to use your existing screen, but the iMac 27' is a lovely bit of kit.........

 

[DustinT]

It really depends on which iMac and which Mac Pro we're talking about. Anymore specifics you have would be helpful.

 

[AngryRedTicTac]

If you are talking about the 2.66 i5 from 2009, it will be modestly faster than the 2.66 1,1 Mac Pro. If it's a new 2.5 i5, the imac will be about 50% faster. There are some MAJOR caveats that apply here. First and foremost is disk performance. If you are used to multiple 1TB Caviar Blacks buzzing your info about, you will be hugely disappointed with FW800 performance. If I/O isn't important, the iMacs will both be very nice, though the new machine will absolutely crush the old one. Another major issue is graphics, the old Pro doesn't have a good video card but that can be fixed. If you are going to be needing good graphics performance, the new iMac won't even come close to the old Pro with a 5770.

The old 1,1 Pros are solid machines, and if you're still running a dual 1.8 G5 will be unbelievably fast. My move from G5 tower to Pro was astonishing, and you're running a much slower tower than mine was. If you want a Pro, I wouldn't pay over 800 for a 1,1 now, really wouldn't want to pay more than 700. I just sold my Pro and got an iMac, so I know exactly what I'm talking about on disk performance :-( I sold my 1,1 for 1000, with 8 gigs of ram, a 1TB Caviar, and a genuine Apple HD5770. A stock machine is worth waaaay less, as the ram is hugely expensive, the factory video card is terrible, and the original drive is probably pretty much shot. It's too bad you don't live in Portland, OR as a college is dumping it's 8x2.8 machines for $1400!!!! right now, trying to figure out how to pick one up myself......

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Another thing to think about right now is the new Mini. I originally sold my Pro to buy a Quad i7 server. The graphics performance ended up being inadequate for me, but the dual 750s screamed RAID'd, and processor performance was awesome. If you really don't care about games, and you are ready for Lion, I think I'd go that way. Even the i7 midrange is really fast, but badly letdown by the pathetic hard drive, unless of course you burn a ton of cash to have Apple upgrade it ;-)

 

[r0k]

I would also have to favor the Mini over the iMac because of the hard drive upgradability. You can BYO RAM and HDD to a Mini by removing (I think?) 4 screws. Check iFixit for details. So you could start with the i7 mini and hold your nose over the 3d framerate and when you feel the urge, you can pop in RAM or a third party SSD. I upgraded my kids' old Intel minis with more RAM and SSD and they are a pleasure to use.

 

[acemillion]

Thanks everyone, the two that I was looking at where:

Mac Pro:
Intel 2.66 Xeon Dual Core with 2 processors
4 GB Ram
1900xt video card
1TB Hard Drive
model: ProAugust 2006

imac:
2.5 Quad Core
4 GB ram
AMD HD6750

the quad core is going for about $879 plus shipping while if I get the imac will run me about $1250