Power Mac G5 Processor upgrade question

Question

Power Mac G5 Processor upgrade question

I wanted to know if i could upgrade my Power Mac G5's Dual 2.0 ghz processor to the dual 2.5 ghz?
my serial number puts my Power Mac's creation date at October-2003
thanks.

Power Mac G5 Dual 2.0ghz, Mac OS X (10.4.11), Stuff

Posted on Nov 4, 2008 6:18 AM

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Answer 1

a brody

Level 10

85,608 points

Nov 4, 2008 8:07 AM in response to Necromancers Toy

Welcome to Apple Discussions!

None of the upgrade chip vendors have officially announced any G5 upgrade programs. Frankenmac/modyourmac type configurations have been made by people on http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/ and http://www.modyourmac.com/ for various upgrades, but the heating issues may preclude such an upgrade. Additionally, the 2.5 Ghz G5s required a special liquid coolent addon which has for some been known to leak. Most it doesn't though. If considering upgrading the processor, look at the differences of the 2.3 Ghz configurations. If they aren't sufficient for your needs, check to see if all your applications have been upgraded for Intel Mac compatibility. If they have, you will get better performance on newer Core2Duo and faster Macs.

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Answer 2

Nov 4, 2008 8:48 AM in response to a brody

i was asking more along the lines of using an authentic apple dual G5 2.5ghz processors w/ the liquid cooling from one of the newer G5's. i strive to get the most i can out of a system first, rather than purchasing a newer model. also i've never been keen on using aftermarket processor upgrades. it appears that the dual liquid cooled 2.5 ghz G5's have the liquid cooling pump mounted on the processor itself and just has requires the connections to control and power it. such as this
http://www.overclockers.com.au/articles/307166/3_small.jpg
would the logic board and power supply of my current G5 support the upgrade to the dual 2.5 ghz?

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Answer 3

iSMH

Level 5

4,310 points

Nov 4, 2008 8:58 AM in response to Necromancers Toy

No, the logic boards on the two systems are different. You are stuck... the only things you can add are RAM, faster/bigger hard drives and a better optical drive, as well as PCI cards.

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Answer 4

Nov 4, 2008 9:02 AM in response to iSMH

what is the processor limitation of the logic board in this system.. dual 2.3 ghz? or the 2.0 ghz that's currently in it.
thanks for the quick responses.

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Answer 5

iSMH

Level 5

4,310 points

Nov 4, 2008 9:04 AM in response to Necromancers Toy

It is what it is- you cannot change them out for anything else.

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Answer 6

Nov 4, 2008 9:35 AM in response to iSMH

Somehow i find that hard to believe.
Making multiple logic boards for Power Mac's seems to be illogical from a cost standpoint.
That being said the G5 line from 2003 came in 1.6, 1.8 and dual 2.0 ghz
Referenced from apples own specification page at
http://support.apple.com/kb/SP96 created on june 23, 2003, four months before the creation of this G5..
Now compare that with the specifications from the June 9, 2004 spec sheet.
http://support.apple.com/kb/SP80
Still using the same FSB.. in the dual 2.0 ghz.. dropped the single 1.6 ghz in favor of the dual 1.8 ghz and added the dual 2.5 ghz. seems to me that the only thing that would possibly be a hold back would be the power supply, a connection on the logic board for the pump power/control and possibly a different style case to accommodate the larger footprint of the cooling structure of the 2.5 ghz. Also that spec list groups the 2004 G5’s memory capacity in the dual 2.0 ghz with that of the dual 2.5 ghz. There seem to be more than enough similarities to warrant me asking such a question.
Some hard facts behind your responses would lend credibility to you're postings.
Somehow I find my question not to be so far out in left field, I had hoped I would receive a response that was a little more involved than "no"..

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Answer 7

iSMH

Level 5

4,310 points

Nov 4, 2008 5:28 PM in response to Necromancers Toy

I didn't mean to be short, but I worked as a Lead Mac Genius at an Apple Store for two years and now head up an Apple-Authorized Service Provider. The logic boards are all different- probably more of the fault of the processor manufacturer, actually. For example, in the G5, line there are 4 different power supplies. Why? The G5 chips were kinda ridiculous when it came to power and heat. Thus, everything else in the machine changed over the different revisions- some had fans, some had liquid cooling, some had both. The PowerMac G5 was a beast of a machine, but a pain in the @@@ for a lot of reasons- including the upgrade path. Sorry for the bad news. I really didn't mean to be rude 😉

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Answer 8

Nov 4, 2008 6:49 PM in response to iSMH

not a problem. 😉
the more i seem to dig into mac products in general the more i seem to realize that there is no simple path to upgrading any of them.
thanks for the response. 🙂

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Answer 9

a brody

Level 10

85,608 points

Nov 5, 2008 4:36 AM in response to Necromancers Toy

The simplest upgrade path is the RAM and hard drive. On Mac OS X, that makes more difference than any processor upgrade will do.

90 times out of 100 what you think will be processor dependent is really dependent on the RAM or hard drive. Furthermore, the moving parts of hard drives, ensure that anything that is hard drive dependent is 1000 times slower than chip memory access.

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Answer 10

iSMH

Level 5

4,310 points

Nov 5, 2008 6:21 AM in response to a brody

I agree- hard drives are a big bottleneck. 7200RPM SATA drives can make a big difference, esp. if you have the stock 5400RPM drives in there.

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Answer 11

Wolfman

Level 1

145 points

Nov 22, 2008 10:28 AM in response to iSMH

Just came across this old post and thought it might be worthwhile to mention that the upgrade from 2Ghz to 2.5Ghz liquid-cooled can easily be done.

That said, just not for your machine (the original G5). The 2nd./3rd. gen. G5 (June 04/Late04) shares the motherboard between the two.

So the upgrade for those machines is no problem. The additional cable from the motherboard to the coolant pump is needed, but will plug into the mobo without issues.

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