Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Why is using my "Powermac G5" different...

Mac Pro 1,1s are under $200.

As much as I love my PPC Macs(I have over 70 of them), a 1,1 is infinitely more useable now. With a new video card and a small amount of work, they will run El Capitan.

I have a(personally owned) one that I use at work. I put an 8800GT in it, along with 16gb of RAM, a pair of quad core processors, and an SSD. I have it set to triple boot Tiger, Snow Leopard, and Mavericks although Mavericks is the main OS on it. It looks great on my desk(especially with a pair of 23" aluminum cinema displays), works perfectly, and is quite fast.
 
 
You can get a stock Mac Pro 1,1 and upgrade to 8 core 2.66 GHz processor, 16GB RAM, and a good graphics card for under $200
 
bunnspecial said:
Tiger
Click to expand...
I have considered installing it on mine for fun, but unfortunately anything before Snow Leopard lacks kexts for GPU acceleration on the 5770, so I'm better off trying it on the G5. I do have Snow Leopard, Lion, Mavericks Server (primary), and El Capitan installed on the SSD though :)
 
redheeler said:
I have considered installing it on mine for fun, but unfortunately anything before Snow Leopard lacks kexts for GPU acceleration on the 5770, so I'm better off trying it on the G5. I do have Snow Leopard, Lion, Mavericks Server (primary), and El Capitan installed on the SSD though :)
Click to expand...
I want a Mac Pro. :)
 
MacCubed said:
You can get a stock Mac Pro 1,1 and upgrade to 8 core 2.66 GHz processor, 16GB RAM, and a good graphics card for under $200
Click to expand...

I don't know that I'd go that far. All said and done, I have probably close to $500 in my MP to get it up to those specs, although admittedly I splurged by buying my GPU from MacVidCards(which I don't regret).

$150 for the MP
$90 for a 256gb SSD
$70 for 12gb RAM(with the large MP-spec heat sinks)
$40 for a pair of quad core processors
$150 for the video card

I could have spent 1/3 of that on a video card, although I wanted boot screens and to retain the ability to boot into older OSs.
 
bunnspecial said:
I don't know that I'd go that far. All said and done, I have probably close to $500 in my MP to get it up to those specs, although admittedly I splurged by buying my GPU from MacVidCards(which I don't regret).

$150 for the MP
$90 for a 256gb SSD
$70 for 12gb RAM(with the large MP-spec heat sinks)
$40 for a pair of quad core processors
$150 for the video card

I could have spent 1/3 of that on a video card, although I wanted boot screens and to retain the ability to boot into older OSs.
Click to expand...
Huh I found RAM on eBay for $30... The video card can be expensive too
 
redheeler said:
I have considered installing it on mine for fun, but unfortunately anything before Snow Leopard lacks kexts for GPU acceleration on the 5770, so I'm better off trying it on the G5. I do have Snow Leopard, Lion, Mavericks Server (primary), and El Capitan installed on the SSD though :)
Click to expand...

That's the main reason I did it. Lightbulbfun helped me out tremendously to get it working with my 8800, although he couldn't get GPU acceleration working with it and ended up having to nuke all the GPU extensions to get it to not KP(there's nothing like having someone in England play around with your computer through Teamviewer :) ). The MP has enough "horsepower" with a(relatively) lightweight OS like Tiger that it's not a huge deal to not have hardware acceleration, although I'm sure it would help.

The computer takes about 10 seconds to boot to the desktop in Tiger from an SSD.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LightBulbFun
I guess I overpaid for mine :)

Even so, I have had 4+ months of use out of it that I wouldn't have had if I'd waited for lower priced stuff to come along. Since I use this computer a lot(and for work), that's sometimes a more important consideration than getting the absolute best price.
 
Liquinn said:
I want a Mac Pro. :)
Click to expand...
They're great. Much more versatile and upgradable than G5s. Good luck finding one for a good price :)
bunnspecial said:
That's the main reason I did it. Lightbulbfun helped me out tremendously to get it working with my 8800, although he couldn't get GPU acceleration working with it and ended up having to nuke all the GPU extensions to get it to not KP(there's nothing like having someone in England play around with your computer through Teamviewer :) ). The MP has enough "horsepower" with a(relatively) lightweight OS like Tiger that it's not a huge deal to not have hardware acceleration, although I'm sure it would help.

The computer takes about 10 seconds to boot to the desktop in Tiger from an SSD.
Click to expand...
Am I correct in thinking that unlike Leopard, Tiger is not a universal OS, meaning I can't simply boot off one of my PPC Macs? I don't have an Intel-compatible Tiger installer.
 
redheeler said:
They're great. Much more versatile and upgradable than G5s. Good luck finding one for a good price :)

Am I correct in thinking that unlike Leopard, Tiger is not a universal OS, meaning I can't simply boot off one of my PPC Macs? I don't have an Intel-compatible Tiger installer.
Click to expand...
Is a 2006/2008 mac pro a good buy? Why is buying something second hand not the same as new?=[
 
redheeler said:
Am I correct in thinking that unlike Leopard, Tiger is not a universal OS, meaning I can't simply boot off one of my PPC Macs? I don't have an Intel-compatible Tiger installer.
Click to expand...

That's correct. With the exception of one of the late releases of Tiger server, all versions of Tiger are processor specific. Furthermore, aside from the above mentioned version of server, there was never a retail release for Intel-the retail disks are all PPC. The Intel versions are system-specific "gray" disks. The version on my Mac Pro actually came from a late '07 MBP- @LightBulbFun thought it might work since the 8800 is from the same GPU family as the 8600 in those MBPs.

Interestingly enough, the opposite is true of Leopard-both the retail and gray disks are universal(although there are no PPC Leopard gray disks). When I first got my Blackbook, I didn't have the gray disks for it and wanted to install Leopard(the original shipping OS). My Leopard DVD is 10.5.0, and wouldn't install on the late '07 Blackbook. I grabbed a Powerbook I had handy and cloned the 10.5.8 install off of it-it worked perfectly. I did finally get the restore disks, and have that computer set to dual boot Leopard and Mountain Lion.
 
Liquinn said:
Is a 2006/2008 mac pro a good buy? Why is buying something second hand not the same as new?=[
Click to expand...
Yes, the 2006-2008 Mac Pros are still very capable and a good buy depending on the price. There is an upside to buying used (besides the price), and that is many of them have been upgraded. I bought mine in good condition with the 5770 GPU and 3 GB RAM already installed, and would consider it a good deal.
 
redheeler said:
Yes, the 2006-2008 Mac Pros are still very capable and a good buy depending on the price. There is an upside to buying used (besides the price), and that is many of them have been upgraded. I bought mine in good condition with the 5770 GPU and 3 GB RAM already installed, and would consider it a good deal.
Click to expand...
Hm. When I buy used I usually don't get the box. (When I bought my 4S I bought the box separately). What are the pros and the cons of buying used? A 2006 Mac Pro would be good for my G5 - but how could I transport it from my mums place to mine? (She's 10 mins away).
 
Liquinn said:
Hm. When I buy used I usually don't get the box. (When I bought my 4S I bought the box separately). What are the pros and the cons of buying used? A 2006 Mac Pro would be good for my G5 - but how could I transport it from my mums place to mine? (She's 10 mins away).
Click to expand...
I don't think it matters what the pros and cons are, as you're not likely to find a Mac Pro of that age new in box. Mine actually did come used in the original box, though.
Liquinn said:
And work a 2006/2007 Mac Pro work with my TBD?
Click to expand...
No. None of the classic Mac Pros have Thunderbolt.
 
redheeler said:
I don't think it matters what the pros and cons are, as you're not likely to find a Mac Pro of that age new in box. Mine actually did come used in the original box, though.

No. None of the classic Mac Pros have Thunderbolt.
Click to expand...
So I'd need a TB enabled MP to use it with my TBD? Or could I use it headless?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back