Would you buy a G5 now?

[Chaszmyr]

CS3 will be Universal Binary, so why would a G5 have any problems?

The claim is not that the G5 would have problems, I simply think that an Intel iMac would be a better machine for the money.

 

[pjo]

I'd rather buy an iMac for that price range, and everyone here can attest to how much I hate iMacs.

**looks up threads started by generik**

hmm ... I'm not entirely sure you like any mac

EDIT:

To answer the original question: only if I plan to keep it for over 3 years and don't mind the low resale value. The hardware in the Mac Pros seem to have relatively few issues, the main bugs to watch for would be in the software (CS3). Again - this depends on how heavily you depend on the Adobe suit

 

[generik]

**looks up threads started by generik**

hmm ... I'm not entirely sure you like any mac

Bzzzt!

I like my mini, and a C2D MBP, and the MP...

You fail! Find me a post where I beat on either of the 3.

 

[dmw007]

i do remember seeing the intel imacs beating the G5s in several benchmarks....

....yes, in most things besides Photoshop, which is the OP's bread and butter.

 

[FFTT]

For some people, it makes better sense to buy a reasonable hold over machine
for less than $1500.00 to hold them through the end of 2008 when we'll have
Quad Core machines as mainstream Rev "B"

You have to look at the overall cost benefit of the machine and the upgrade to CS3,
Leopard and so on.

My 2004 G5 2.0 GHz 8 DIMM is perfectly capable of running CS2 at a professional level with 2 GB RAM.

The alternative is a Mac Pro costing $1000.00 more.

For some professionals, that's no big deal, but for others that difference can buy
a lot of other supplies.

 

[FFTT]

Excuse the newbie question, but surely CS2 isn't the only reason people are still using G5s?
Are all other pro-apps been upgraded?

another question is the only reaon people are gonna buy CS3 because it will run better, or that the app has actually been improved dramatically?

There are many audio professionals who are very heavily invested in PCI and PCI-X
sound cards who would be spending huge sums of money just to upgrade to PCI-e.

Of course the new machines are better, but if you have to replace all your pro hardware and your software, this can cost a small fortune.

 

[ibookhelp]

i keep going back & forth on this, changing my mind several times throughout the day. i like the idea of saving a 1k, but not sure if that's short sighted. Someone mentioned to avoid the liquid cool g5s. Were there issues with the dual 2.5 that you know of?

 

[Keebler]

I went from a G4 400 Mhz to a G5 1.6 Ghz about three years ago. I was working primarily as a freelance production artist. It was a significant jump, and your jump will be significant as well. Work that once took an hour took about 20 minutes simply because I could run PhotoShop so much faster. Somehow I forgot to tell my client how much more quickly I was working, so my increased billiables helped to pay for they system.

nice..i'm sure your client(s) appreciated that! I never charge my clients based on how fast my computers work...it's not their fault

but, i agree wholeheartedly with everything else. A g5 is a great purchase..sounds like the op can get a great deal. will last for a while and is much faster.

cheers,
keebler

 

[Keebler]

i keep going back & forth on this, changing my mind several times throughout the day. i like the idea of saving a 1k, but not sure if that's short sighted. Someone mentioned to avoid the liquid cool g5s. Were there issues with the dual 2.5 that you know of?

apparently some of them are leaking now. get as high as a dually as you can if it matters. i have a dually 2.0. runs great...has 3.5 gbs ram so it renders nice.

maybe other folks can chime in as to whether or not a better graphics card would be better for your needs. but really, for $1500...i'd be all over that.

 

[kgarchar]

a dual g5 for that price is still going to fly, i'd get that in a heartbeat if i had the money

 

[spicyapple]

Go for it. G5 ram is cheap and runs CS2 perfectly fine. I'd hold off on a Mac Pro until ram prices fall or Intel switches back to a chipset that can support DDR2. The G5 would run 3-4 times faster than your current machine.

 

[vi2867]

Buy an iMac "20...

Buy an iMac "20 it comes with the fast processor (Core 2 Duo), 1 GB Memory and 250 GB Hard Drive.

You can't beat that...

I forgot to mention that CS3 should be coming out in few months...

Most of all it is brand new!

 

[vohdoun]

apparently some of them are leaking now. get as high as a dually as you can if it matters. i have a dually 2.0. runs great...has 3.5 gbs ram so it renders nice.

maybe other folks can chime in as to whether or not a better graphics card would be better for your needs. but really, for $1500...i'd be all over that.

When did they start leaking... I'm on a Dual 2.7 year past June, love this machine.

Either way you're still stuck at a dead wall with Dual or Dual/Quad Core G5's for graphics cards since the Duals are AGP and Dual Cores are PCI-E. It won't work in the Mac Pro and vice versa. Different rom's?

Go for it. G5 ram is cheap and runs CS2 perfectly fine. I'd hold off on a Mac Pro until ram prices fall or Intel switches back to a chipset that can support DDR2. The G5 would run 3-4 times faster than your current machine.

I'm beginning to think thats where apple is making most of the money on how the Mac Pro is much cheaper than what the G5's were.

DDR2 667MHz Fully buffered DIMM ECC
2GB Mem for Mac Pro $700.00/£470.00
4GB Mem for Mac Pro $1,500.00/£1,009.99

DDR2 533MHz ECC
2GB Mem for Dual/Quad Core $400/$600/£280.00/£420.00
4GB Mem for Dual/Quad Core $1,200/$2,600/£850.00/£1,840.00

DDR400 SDRAM (PC3200)
2GB Mem for Dual PCI-X Machines $400/£280.00
1GB Mem for Dual PCI-X Machines $200/£140.00

I forgot to mention that CS3 should be coming out in few months...

Thought Adobe said next year, March or so...

 

[Willis]

Dont forget, you can run CS2 a 3.0ghz Mac Pro with equal performance to the PM G5 2.5 Quad.

If you hunt down the benchmarks, you'll find it. And, I think that was with 2Gb of ram aswell. Not certain.

 

[suneohair]

go with the G5 and get a MacPro later on when the Rev B is released so that all bugs etc are gone and you can get an awesome computer.

What bugs?

 

[Rickay726]

i dont think i would buy a g5, just becasue its old technology, if i were to buy a new computer i would defintily save the extra money and go for the macpro, or better yet anything that has intel.

 

[SkyBell]

I would kill for a G5.

 

[Garden Knowm]

FYI

I just put (last month) 2 - 750GB seagate HD's in my dual 2.5 G5.. and it is JAMMING!!!

very sweet.. I run FCP and Motion and Safari at the same time all day long..

I only get software crashes because of occasional bugs in FCP.. But I know hwre most of the bugs are.. so i just stay away from certain commands..

cheers

 

[ibookhelp]

now i'm really confused. i found a dual 2.0 g5, GeF 5200 64mb, with 3 gb of ram for 1k. not sure if i'm going in the wrong direction? i just need to multi-task and run cs2. my poor, aging, & trustworthy quicksilver is getting tired.

 

[FFTT]

There is a 2004 Rev "B" 2.0 G5 Dual Processor PCI-X with 8 RAM Slots
Then an early 2005 Rev "C" 2.0 Pro-sumer model with 4 RAM slots PCI

Then the late 2005 Dual Core G5 2.0 PCI-e.

There is also a Dual Processor 2.3 GHz PCI-X
and a Dual Core 2.3 GHz model with PCI-e

The issues with the 2.5 GHz liquid cooled models were a series of bad power supplies causing noise issues as well as some leak issues.
The 3rd party cooling system manufacturer is no longer in business.
Some people have had good luck with their 2.7 GHz liquid cooled, but others have had terrible reliability issues.

I would try to find a 2.3 GHz PCI-e model if you can,
but a 2004 Rev "B" 2.0GHz 8 DIMM like mine is also a great machine.

I would not buy the Rev "C" 2.0 Prosumer model.

 

[ibookhelp]

thanks for the info fftt. that's what i'm looking at now...a dual 2.0 rev b. to hold me over. how's the stock Gforce 5200 video card?

 

[FFTT]

The stock 64MB Gforce 5200 card does fine pushing my Dell 24" display.
The stock 160 GB Maxtor HD is a P.O.S. , so i'd grab a Seagate SATA as soon as you can find one.

My rig is primarily for audio so VRAM doesn't matter.

If you've found a 2004 Rev "B" 2.0 at a good price and it checks out good,
I think you'll be more than happy as long as you run at least 2 GB RAM

You should be able to run CS2 all apps open at the same time.

Just make sure it's the 8 DIMM PCI-X model, 512 MB, SuperDrive, GForce 5200, 160 HD
Model number should say VPN M9455LL/A

They came stock with Panther, so if your seller has it running on Tiger 10.4.8
it's current. Make sure you get all CDs/DVD's and hope the seller added iLife '06

Mine was $1599.00 New in Box on closeout sale spring of 2005

 

[vohdoun]

The issues with the 2.5 GHz liquid cooled models were a series of bad power supplies causing noise issues as well as some leak issues.
The 3rd party cooling system manufacturer is no longer in business.
Some people have had good luck with their 2.7 GHz liquid cooled, but others have had terrible reliability issues.

What was the noise issues? was that only with the 2.5 models or also the 2.7 models?

The only noise issue I have is at night. It's a buzzing sound from the PSU that usually comes on as the lighting in my room uses a dimmer switch even a heavy dimmer switch for one of the uplighters next to the G5, infact many dimmer switches throughout the house.
There's never any buzzing or noise issues during the day.

What were the reliability issues some were having?

 

[Keebler]

When did they start leaking... I'm on a Dual 2.7 year past June, love this machine.

hi V,

I was referring to the quad and someone else has seemed to answer that below.
sorry for the confusion.

i personally want a dual 2.7, but they are somewhat rare to find

Cheers,
Keebler

 

[IlluminatedSage]

i dont see any reason why you wouldnt want one.

A good priced model will provide Excellent power for money.

Unless you really want to run windows type stuff. or programs that would require intel.

go for it.