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What PPC Mac do you recommend?

zen.state said:
Thats entirely vague and inaccurate. Only the MDD (and only 6% of them) had PSU issues. The Yikes, Sawtooth, Gigabit Eth, Digital Audio and Quicksilver all have very reliable logic boards and PSU's.

Failure rates on the Sawtooth were literally lower than 2%. Thats why I chose one to base my FrankenMac project on. I have even bought two functional spares for any possible part needs in the future. Pre-MDD towers can easily be found for well under 100. I have seen mint Sawtooth's on ebay for $55 US.
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This is why I chose to get an MDD. they have a relatively low fail rate and are the most powerful of the G4's, im planning on getting a 1.42ghz model.
 
I have updated the forum with Macintouch's more accurate (and evened at 100) results
Power Mac G5 1.6GHz 398 50 13%
"old" single 1.8GHz Power Mac G5 767 61 8%*
"new" single 1.8GHz Power Mac G5 157 17 10%
Dual 1.8GHz Power Mac G5 1345 103 8%*
single 2GHz Power Mac G5 77 9 11%
Dual 2GHz Power Mac G5 2654 350 13%*
Dual 2.3GHz Power Mac G5 211 4 1%
Dual 2.5GHz Power Mac G5 970 91 9%*
Dual 2.7GHz Power Mac G5 238 8 3%

If you see the highest fail rate is 13%
I had to calculate the ones that were not filled in

For Comparison:
Original iMac G5 17" 2778 501 18% (capacitors)
Original iMac G5 20" 1730 533 31% (capacitors)
New iMac G5 17" 812 100 12%
New iMac G5 20" 589 62 11%

Mac Mini 1.25GHz 803 26 3%
Mac Mini 1.42GHz 902 27 3%
 
adcx64 said:
This is why I chose to get an MDD. they have a relatively low fail rate and are the most powerful of the G4's, im planning on getting a 1.42ghz model.
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The trend I and other MDD owners noticed in an MDD dedicated blog/community back in 07 is that the single 1.25GHz was the biggest one to have the PSU fail.

All the failures I have heard of are mostly single 1.25 models and the odd dual 867MHz model. Can't even recall hearing about other models and I did a lot of research back then. Also, back in 2007 a lot more people still used MDD's so the data back then was more accurate.
 
zen.state said:
The trend I and other MDD owners noticed in an MDD dedicated blog/community back in 07 is that the single 1.25GHz was the biggest one to have the PSU fail.

All the failures I have heard of are mostly single 1.25 models and the odd dual 867MHz model. Can't even recall hearing about other models and I did a lot of research back then. Also, back in 2007 a lot more people still used MDD's so the data back then was more accurate.
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What exactly makes the PSU fail? Is it constant load, or does it happen over time?
 
adcx64 said:
What exactly makes the PSU fail? Is it constant load, or does it happen overtime?
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Pretty sure it was capacitor based like the G5's. The MDD was the last G4 tower so I think Apple started using those bad capacitors just before the G5. The single 1.25 is from the final MDD model named the "2003". The first is just called the MDD and the 2nd model was referred to as the FW800. It's that middle FW800 model that seems to be the most reliable. If you're getting a dual 1.42 then it is for sure a FW800 series model as that speed was only offered in that series.

The FW800 model has the more reliable 360watt PSU. The first and 3rd MDD's use the less stable 400watt PSU.

Grab a great freeware app called "Mactracker" to read up on the 3 different MDD's.
 
zen.state said:
Pretty sure it was capacitor based like the G5's. The MDD was the last G4 tower so I think Apple started using those bad capacitors just before the G5. The single 1.25 is from the final MDD model named the "2003". The first is just called the MDD and the 2nd model was referred to as the FW800. It's that middle FW800 model that seems to be the most reliable. If you're getting a dual 1.42 then it is for sure a FW800 series model as that speed was only offered in that series.

Grab a great freeware app called "Mactracker" to read up on the 3 different MDD's.
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Thanks for the info. Im going to look into Mactracker.

EDIT: just downloaded Mactracker for iOS on my iPad. It's awesome to have all these Mac specs anywhere!
 
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a question on the MDD fans: does anybody know, if there were different fans in the different MDD generations? (I read a comment on ebay that the model shown had "the better Papst Fan, 1. Generation had others").
 
iMac G4. Get a decently specced up one and it'll be reliable and, of course, as with any iMac G4, beautiful.
 
Cox Orange said:
a question on the MDD fans: does anybody know, if there were different fans in the different MDD generations? (I read a comment on ebay that the model shown had "the better Papst Fan, 1. Generation had others").
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Yes, the original fan (blowing air across the cpu) was a Delta 120mm fan. Later with the PSU fan trade in offer was new fans for the PSU and a Papst 120mm fan to go where the loud Delta sat.
 
reddrag0n said:
Yes, the original fan (blowing air across the cpu) was a Delta 120mm fan. Later with the PSU fan trade in offer was new fans for the PSU and a Papst 120mm fan to go where the loud Delta sat.
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The 2x MDD I had in 2007-08 (Dual 867 and 1.42) both had the stock Delta fans. Delta has never catered to the quiet computing market from what I have seen. The tradeoff for louder fans though is massive airflow. Those 120mm x 38mm (most fans are only 25mm deep) Delta in the MDD blow a whopping 150+ CFM. The average 120mm fan on the consumer market is only 40 - 80 CFM.

Delta are for people that need cooling first and quiet second or not at all. The 2x 60mm x 25mm in the PSU blow close to 40CFM each at near 6000rpm. Thats why the first MDD especially was so damn loud.

The stock 120mm Delta can get up to about 40 db and the 2x 60mm around 34 db. "Quiet" fans are in the sub 25db range.
 
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hmm. i know the stats for the G5 failure rates, however... i (knock on wood) haven't run into any dramas with any G5 ive owned in the past. Then again, ive not had any dramas with any MDD or Quicky ive owned...

I have had a Gen 1 Mac pro go the way of the dodo, but that was transport related. Both my current PM G5's are humming along nicely, and not looking to give up the ghost any time soon.

Love the G5..
 
As long as you stay away from the liquid-cooled G5's and the iMac G5 you should be okay. (G5 iMacs where at my school and were always blowing logic boards) To be 100% safe though, I would get a high-end G4 Power Mac.

A better option (depending on your budget) would be a first generation Mac Pro. This seems like more of a future- proof option. Unless it needs to be a PPC, get the Mac Pro
 
This I getting weird, don't recommend iMac G5?

I've got a gen1 iMac g5 from launch day and it's still going strong, never missed a beat..
 
I have heard a lot of bad things about the G5 (Wouldn't get one myself!)

I would recommend the powermac g4 mdd dual 1.42Ghz. If you max the ram out it would be super fast!
 
Superfast for a dual 1.42 GHz FW800? You are kidding right? Do you have both so you can tell the difference? have one first of each and then tell us how it compare with each other. The only G5 that a DP g4 can overpower were the single 1.6 and single 1.8 G5's. That is a fact.

I have had PM G3, G4, G5, imac G5. Hearing some facts is not acceptable, using it for yourself speaks for itself.
 
Well, as for myself, i went from a SP MDD 1.4 GHz (OC'ed) to a whopping modded G5 DP 2.5 GHz (air cooled) and yeah, anyone who says an MDD is quicker... honestly, no chance in h**l. My geekbench score is 2136 vs the MDD at 800 some odd. System boots faster, apps run alot faster, everything is smoother, and from personal use, the G5 is a whole lot quieter! I'm sorry, but after a PSU mod on the MDD, it was still loud. Blasted 60 mm fans.

Anyways, for a decent PPC mac to get, i would say a good G5. It took two G5's to build up mine into the beast it is now, but if you go the DP 2 or DP 2.3 GHz, you can't go wrong.
 
Dual core or Quad G5. The later (NOT DUAL PROCESSOR) because they (the dual CORE) support faster DDR2 RAM, PCI-Express, and I think are the most reliable, no?


But yeah, it's funny hearing that G4 can "blow away the G5 and keep up with my Core Duo! etc."....maybe in backwards land? A G5 is far faster than any G4 (only scenario is a dual 1Ghz + G4 can beat a *SINGLE* processor G5 on *multithreaded apps, only*) and can keep up with the older Intel machines.


Thus, G5, and am actually looking to get a G5 Dual Core machine like I think Nameci has for a Core 1 Duo Mac Mini I have, as I already have a C2D Mac Mini as my daily driver.
 
I bought mine with barely nothing on it, no hdd, 512mb ram. I did not even know if it boots. But I have taken the risk and well right now I have this sweet running PM G5 2.3 DC.

Well basing from the pictures it seems that it is booting up well and it only needs a hard drive.
 
zen.state said:
The 2x MDD I had in 2007-08 (Dual 867 and 1.42) both had the stock Delta fans. Delta has never catered to the quiet computing market from what I have seen. The tradeoff for louder fans though is massive airflow. Those 120mm x 38mm (most fans are only 25mm deep) Delta in the MDD blow a whopping 150+ CFM. The average 120mm fan on the consumer market is only 40 - 80 CFM.

Delta are for people that need cooling first and quiet second or not at all. The 2x 60mm x 25mm in the PSU blow close to 40CFM each at near 6000rpm. Thats why the first MDD especially was so damn loud.

The stock 120mm Delta can get up to about 40 db and the 2x 60mm around 34 db. "Quiet" fans are in the sub 25db range.
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So What the heck is the single processor G4 867 from 01? I have one and the thing always sound's like it is taking off.
 
your's is a Quicksilver http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g4/stats/powermac_g4_867_qs.html it is from the first Quicksilver periode model range. Then 2002 there was a second Quicksilver range.
After that the MDDs came.

The first Dual 867MHz MDD had the same systembus Like the Quicksilver (maybe this is why zen.state called it "odd"). I could imagine they used Quicksilver boards and added everything new from the South- and Northbridge downwards, but perhaps it would be easier to design it completely new. I do not know, if my imagination is in anyway possible, since I do not really know how the parts of the boardstructure work together, I just came across the words and that other parts are "connected" to the systembus, which is connected to the CPU. I might be totally wrong!

The MDD had 3. generations:
1. 2x867, 2x 1GHz, 2x 1,25GHz
2. all firewire800-models
3. relaunch of 2x1,25GHz as single and dual version (I guess that is the generation that came with "better" fans, discussed prior.
 
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