Which is faster?

[kgarner]

So I am going to be buying a new Mac soon. I am very much liking the new iMac G5 and was going to buy the 17" 1.8 GHz model. But now I see that Apple has some more 1.6 GHz G5 PowerMacs for a good price, and the expandablility of the PowerMac is intriguing. My question of course is which will be faster.

Does the 1.8 GHz win no matter what, or Does the faster bus speed of the PowerMac make them about the same?

 

[Catfish_Man]

So I am going to be buying a new Mac soon. I am very much liking the new iMac G5 and was going to buy the 17" 1.8 GHz model. But now I see that Apple has some more 1.6 GHz G5 PowerMacs for a good price, and the expandablility of the PowerMac is intriguing. My question of course is which will be faster.

Does the 1.8 GHz win no matter what, or Does the faster bus speed of the PowerMac make them about the same?

Tough question. I'd guess they're quite close, so I'd tend to go for the iMac unless you already have a nice display.

 

[Mr. G4]

So I am going to be buying a new Mac soon. I am very much liking the new iMac G5 and was going to buy the 17" 1.8 GHz model. But now I see that Apple has some more 1.6 GHz G5 PowerMacs for a good price, and the expandablility of the PowerMac is intriguing. My question of course is which will be faster.

Does the 1.8 GHz win no matter what, or Does the faster bus speed of the PowerMac make them about the same?

Don't forget that you still need to add a 17" LCD on top of your Powermac G5.
It's all depends of what you want to do with your Mac...for most usage 64Mb is more than enough.

 

[kgarner]

Yeah I figure that I would be okay with my CRT for now. But I just wanted to know if anyone thought one would be notabley faster than the other. It seems that most of their specs are identical except for processor speed, bus speed, and RAM speed. I am just trying to figure out if it makes much difference.

 

[yoda13]

I would go with the G5 for a few reasons:

1.) the graphics card is upgradeable and you'll be able to play more new games longer, as you can upgrade your card to meet the requirements of the newer games.

2.) 1.6 is not much slower than 1.8

3.) You already have a moniter

4.) You can add more RAM and more internal hard drive storage.

5.) Apple has not ever tried putting the G5 chip in such a small area before. Everything may work out perfectly, and I hope it does, but the cooling system in the tower seems more robust to me.

For these reasons, if I were you, I would choose the 1.6 tower. But that is just me and my two cents.

 

[vouder17]

Ok i think the more important question you need to ask is what you are planning on doing with it, from what it sounds like, you just want a computer.
I say go for the iMac, it is an excellent computer and its sexy wht else do you want.

Anyway that is what i think....

Peace
DjVoTeZ

 

[kgarner]

Ok i think the more important question you need to ask is what you are planning on doing with it, from what it sounds like, you just want a computer.
I say go for the iMac, it is an excellent computer and its sexy wht else do you want.

Anyway that is what i think....

Peace
DjVoTeZ

Actually I am just genuinely curious how these two compare speed wise. I know exactly what I am going to do with it and either of these would be more than adequate for that. I like the sexiness of the iMac, but the expandablility of the PowerMac intrigues me. But only if the speed is the same. That is what I really want to know. Knowing that I can wiegh my options as to which works best for me.

 

[blackfox]

According to LowEndMac...you can buy:

refurb G5/1.6, $1,299, Apple Store
refurb G5/1.8 dual (PCI), $1,699, Apple Store
refurb G5/1.8 dual (PCI-X), $1,799, Apple Store
refurb G5/2.0 dual (2003), $1,999, Apple Store

for $200 more, a dual 1.8 G5 seems like a good deal. Also, the G5 iMac is a rev. A, so you have no idea what you might be getting...plus upgrade potential (or lack thereof)

FWIW...

 

[Sun Baked]

Depends how much memory you'd need/have, memory on a G5 does make a difference in performance and can double the performace of the machine if you get enough.

So a slower machine with enough memory can operate faster than a memory constipated though faster clocked machine.

But with the same amount of memory, we'd see the faster machine performing better.

---

So with a low-end powermac able to hold double the memory, you make the choice.

 

[vouder17]

Actually I am just genuinely curious how these two compare speed wise. I know exactly what I am going to do with it and either of these would be more than adequate for that. I like the sexiness of the iMac, but the expandablility of the PowerMac intrigues me. But only if the speed is the same. That is what I really want to know. Knowing that I can wiegh my options as to which works best for me.

Ok Cool, then maybe check out www.barefeats.com they usually have good speed comparisons, and i believe they have a hole bunch of tests with G5 systems including the single 1.8 and 1.6 G5. So i quess that would give you the closest comparison possible. and according to apple this new iMac seems very expndable apart from tht Damn Graphics card......

Anyway
Cheers
DjVoTeZ

PS: Sorry if my 'a' are missing from some words someone poured beer on my keyboard %$##@