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Who still uses PowerMac G5?

I have been using my dual 2.0 G5 Powermac every day since I bought it in September of 2005. I use it for video editing and DVD authoring, and it has yet to give me a single problem.

I would love to upgrade to a Mac Pro, but they're so stupid expensive that I can't justify it until my G5 starts to falter (or until I can't put any more software on it due to the non-Intel chip, which is starting to become the issue).
 
afrowq said:
I have been using my dual 2.0 G5 Powermac every day since I bought it in September of 2005. I use it for video editing and DVD authoring, and it has yet to give me a single problem.

I would love to upgrade to a Mac Pro, but they're so stupid expensive that I can't justify it until my G5 starts to falter (or until I can't put any more software on it due to the non-Intel chip, which is starting to become the issue).
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Thats good to hear... I would love to get the new Mac Pros, but I like to wait what Apple is willing to bring the new 2010 Mac Pros.....
 
hugodrax said:
I know a place that has a Blue G3 tower running OS 8 or 9 and something calle d sorenson audio?

They use it for the audio analog in and the you can go to the website and listen to the audio.

They have been using it for ever since they bought the G3 for this purpose.
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I know a couple of pro studios that still use G3 b/ws, and several that still use G4s. Audio is far less demanding than video; if you can record a clean 24 bit or higher signal, then the only difference in a newer machine is how fast things work or, if you need a newer OS for your software, then that. We still use a modded Sawtooth for all our audio work and it works just fine; we record and do analog mixing in OS9 (due to our recording hardware not having an OSX driver) and do digital mixing and mastering in OSX.
 
thewireman said:
Does anybody here know if I could use PCI USB 3.0 slot in my PowerMac? Would it work? Thanks again.
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It'd probably be hit and miss, and mainly if the controller played with OpenFirmware. Sonnet might make one, but I doubt it.
 
Just ordered a G5 on ebay the other day, with an older 20" cinema display. I'm happy to see people still use them as daily computers, which is what I plan to do.
 
I just got a Dual 1.8Ghz with 1.5GB DDR ram,and a 500GB HD in it,it's a sweet computer and quickly became my main system.I now have put a 1TB drive in it for Time Machine and have 4GB of DDR Samsung Performance Ram coming from OWC in the next couple days.
 
My dual 2.0 is still going strong after nearly 5 years. Runs PS2 w/ sizable files at acceptabe speeds. Also like the old copy i have of iMovie HD.

Have to give it up to another family member soon unfortunatey...

Curious to know if 4GB RAM is still the max for a dual 2.0?
 
hoya87eagle91 said:
My dual 2.0 is still going strong after nearly 5 years. Runs PS2 w/ sizable files at acceptabe speeds. Also like the old copy i have of iMovie HD.

Have to give it up to another family member soon unfortunatey...

Curious to know if 4GB RAM is still the max for a dual 2.0?
Click to expand...

I had 5.5GB in mine, although it's sitting in my closet since the arrival of my Mac Pro.....:D
 
G5 versus low end Intel Mac mini

Why get a G5 (apart from expansion) when you get get a brand new mac mini with applecare. If you look at Geekbench, the 2.53Ghz Mac mini currently shipping performs better than the Quad 2.5Ghz G5 PowerMac (the fastest and most expensive PPC apple shipped).... and you get to run Snow Leopard on the mini and no such luck on the G5.

Check out some YouTube videos of people who dropped SSD drives in their 2009 Mac minis if you think performance is an issue
 
hoya87eagle91 said:
My dual 2.0 is still going strong after nearly 5 years. Runs PS2 w/ sizable files at acceptabe speeds. Also like the old copy i have of iMovie HD.

Have to give it up to another family member soon unfortunatey...

Curious to know if 4GB RAM is still the max for a dual 2.0?
Click to expand...

dcpmark said:
I had 5.5GB in mine, although it's sitting in my closet since the arrival of my Mac Pro.....:D
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My 2.3 Dual G5 has 6GB of memory. I think 8 is the max, but can't remember now.

The G5 found a new use the other day. No longer my primary system, but it is our media computer. It can't show NetFlix and some network stuff, but come spring, the Wii will do NetFlix which will be good enough for the short term.
 
thewireman said:
Just wondering how many of you out there still uses Powermac G5s..

Is there some kind of website where I can find nice add ons? Like bluetooth and stuff like that? PCI cards?

What the hottest add on for them?

Thanks!

Mike
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I use mine with pride ;) It's not the fastest for today's technology, but it packs a punch that can't be beaten by any Mac Mini or MacBook Air(yet),
and the FX4500 is so much better than the 9400M in said systems, I wonder if the GeForce 8800 GT for the Mac Pro would work in the last gen G5 Quad?
 
Quad 2.5 G5 =) said:
I use mine with pride ;) It's not the fastest for today's technology, but it packs a punch that can't be beaten by any Mac Mini or MacBook Air(yet),
and the FX4500 is so much better than the 9400M in said systems, I wonder if the GeForce 8800 GT for the Mac Pro would work in the last gen G5 Quad?
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I see you have several MBP's and you still use a G5? That's pretty cool.I sold my G5 for my new Macbook,I miss the whole desktop feel,but now I just plug my mouse and keyboard in this andI'm good to go.I like having 2 powerbricks too,one on the desk one by the bed or in the living room. :) I would love to get a Quad G5 one day,they seem pretty cool,watercooling in a older machine is pretty awesome too.
 
macgeek18 said:
I see you have several MBP's and you still use a G5? That's pretty cool.I sold my G5 for my new Macbook,I miss the whole desktop feel,but now I just plug my mouse and keyboard in this andI'm good to go.I like having 2 powerbricks too,one on the desk one by the bed or in the living room. :) I would love to get a Quad G5 one day,they seem pretty cool,watercooling in a older machine is pretty awesome too.
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Yeah, the Unibody MBP is actually my dad's, but i just threw it into the mix for fun. I personally use the G5, which is my main machine, and the 12" PB is for anyone around the house who needs it for basic things, surfing the web, email, etc.
 
Quad 2.5 G5 =) said:
Yeah, the Unibody MBP is actually my dad's, but i just threw it into the mix for fun. I personally use the G5, which is my main machine, and the 12" PB is for anyone around the house who needs it for basic things, surfing the web, email, etc.
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Yeah- I still use my dual core G5 for most of what I do. I have a 2.4 black MacBook, but the G5 can hold more RAM, has a faster hard drive, 256 video card and a faster disc burner. It's still more practical for work than the MB.
 
Quad 2.5 G5 =) said:
I use mine with pride ;) It's not the fastest for today's technology, but it packs a punch that can't be beaten by any Mac Mini or MacBook Air(yet),
Click to expand...

Indeed,this is why I enjoy mine :D

I wonder if the GeForce 8800 GT for the Mac Pro would work in the last gen G5 Quad?
Click to expand...

Unfortunatly not. The G5 uses Openfirmware, wheras the Macpro uses EFI. If somebody wrote an OpenFirmware ROM for the 8800GT and wrote a PowerPC driver, then it would work. but at the moment,no.
 
Dr.Pants said:
Indeed,this is why I enjoy mine :D



Unfortunatly not. The G5 uses Openfirmware, wheras the Macpro uses EFI. If somebody wrote an OpenFirmware ROM for the 8800GT and wrote a PowerPC driver, then it would work. but at the moment,no.
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How unfortunate. It is a pity that with the exception for a few upgrades, we will only be able to keep our G5 towers alive and up to date for so long.
 
I've got a G5 dual 2.0 that I've used daily since I got it in 2005. Overall I love it. It's got an upgraded video card (512MB ATI mac version), two new HDDs (one WD 1TB for boot, and one 500GB WD), and 3GB or RAM. I'd say about 80% of the time it's great.

I have been getting a little impatient with it lately. Recently I've been doing a lot more photography with larger files. When I have LightRoom, PhotoShop, iPhoto, iTunes, and Safari open it slows to a crawl. Sometimes it's in paging because I've ran out of RAM. But other times the CPUs are maxed when exporting images or applying a filter in PS.

This system only takes 4GB or ram, so I'm kind of at the end of that rope, unless I want to toss two 512MB chips...

I've been waiting and researching upgrading to a new Mac Pro but as has been said 100s of times it is so expensive!

So for now I'm waiting for the 2010 models to come out.

Any suggestions on what to do with the old G5? eBay is out because I'm in AK and this thing is heavy! So that leaves craigs list. I don't need a file server, and would be using the new MP as my main/media machine.:apple:
 
bzollinger said:
I've got a G5 dual 2.0 that I've used daily since I got it in 2005. Overall I love it. It's got an upgraded video card (512MB ATI mac version), two new HDDs (one WD 1TB for boot, and one 500GB WD), and 3GB or RAM. I'd say about 80% of the time it's great.

I have been getting a little impatient with it lately. Recently I've been doing a lot more photography with larger files. When I have LightRoom, PhotoShop, iPhoto, iTunes, and Safari open it slows to a crawl. Sometimes it's in paging because I've ran out of RAM. But other times the CPUs are maxed when exporting images or applying a filter in PS.

This system only takes 4GB or ram, so I'm kind of at the end of that rope, unless I want to toss two 512MB chips...

I've been waiting and researching upgrading to a new Mac Pro but as has been said 100s of times it is so expensive!

So for now I'm waiting for the 2010 models to come out.

Any suggestions on what to do with the old G5? eBay is out because I'm in AK and this thing is heavy! So that leaves craigs list. I don't need a file server, and would be using the new MP as my main/media machine.:apple:
Click to expand...

If you have kids, an aunt/uncle/cousin that needs a newer computer, wife, etc..you could give/sell it to them.
 
hoya87eagle91 said:
My dual 2.0 is still going strong after nearly 5 years. Runs PS2 w/ sizable files at acceptabe speeds. Also like the old copy i have of iMovie HD.

Have to give it up to another family member soon unfortunatey...

Curious to know if 4GB RAM is still the max for a dual 2.0?
Click to expand...

The first G5s had 4 and 8 memory slots so they only accepted 4gb and 8gb respectfully. They used the slower DDR memory and can only use 1gb dimms. The late 2005 dual-core models had 8 slots and uses DDR2 and can accept 2gb dimms so 16gb is the max on these models.

dellar said:
Why get a G5 (apart from expansion) when you get get a brand new mac mini with applecare. If you look at Geekbench, the 2.53Ghz Mac mini currently shipping performs better than the Quad 2.5Ghz G5 PowerMac (the fastest and most expensive PPC apple shipped).... and you get to run Snow Leopard on the mini and no such luck on the G5.

Check out some YouTube videos of people who dropped SSD drives in their 2009 Mac minis if you think performance is an issue
Click to expand...
Troll :rolleyes:
Amazing how a new computer can outperform a 5 year old computer ;)
 
For me - my dual 2.0 G5 with CS4 can do everything I need it to do in a timely manner.

I don't do a large volume of work at once so this machine will be with me as long as commerical printers are able to print files from them, and others are able to read my files. Reading someone future lastest files on the newest software versions could be another story. Being able to use the internet and e-mail is a must.

If this all goes down the tubes then I would consider upgrading. I'll hold off as long as possible since a new computer is not just about the cost of the computer; all the peripheral hardware that has to be upgraded because the new machine won't read the old equipment, and new software needs to be puchased - which will often exceed the cost of the computer itself. What a racket. I think the computer industry would grind to a standstill if they built in too much backward compatibiltiy.

Lastly - who really has time to learn the newest software when what you have works great. Computers are tools to get work done - not make you a slave to all the interface changes software devlopers keep coming up with. Granted, some are improvements, others break something that wasn't broken to begin with,

Mike
 
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