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Fastest, RELIABLE used Mac G5 Quad?

I have a need for the fastest PPC (non-Intel) machine in order to run certain software under Tiger for the rest of my life (I have a short personal life expectancy, under 18 months or so). I'd need it to be noticeably faster than my current machine, of course.


There are some G5-Quad and G5-Dual machines available on eBay. I understand that some G5 Quad models are better avoided due to power supply problems, but I'm not sure which ones.


I'd be grateful for any input from the experienced forum contributors who may have any advice.


Thanks in advance.

Dual 1.25MHz MDD G4, 2GB RAM, 4 int dr.3ext FW drives, Mac OS X (10.4.11), nVidia 7800 GS 425MHz 256MB video card, dual 22" CRT monitors

Posted on Aug 2, 2011 4:09 AM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Aug 2, 2011 5:52 AM

Hi-


The Quad is the fastest PPC machine.


They didn't have any more power supply issues than other models, and are possibly one of the more reliable machines.

User uploaded file

http://www.macintouch.com/reliability/pmg5.html


The one caution point for the Quad is the liquid cooling.

However, I haven't seen that the Quad is a prone to failure as early LCS machines (all 2.5 GHz and 2.7 GHz dual processor G5's).


If one wanted to forego the potential minefield of the LCS, a late 2005 2.3 GHz dual core would be the fastest air cooled machine.


Geekbench CPU and Memory Benchmark:


Power Mac G5 (Late 2005)
PowerPC G5 (970MP) 2.5 GHz (4 cores)
3318
Power Mac G5 (June 2004)
PowerPC G5 (970FX) 2.7 GHz (2 cores)
2259
Power Mac G5 (June 2004)
PowerPC G5 (970FX) 2.5 GHz (2 cores)
2100
Power Mac G5 (Late 2005)
PowerPC G5 (970MP) 2.3 GHz (2 cores)
2084
65 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Aug 2, 2011 5:52 AM in response to Ramón G Castañeda

Hi-


The Quad is the fastest PPC machine.


They didn't have any more power supply issues than other models, and are possibly one of the more reliable machines.

User uploaded file

http://www.macintouch.com/reliability/pmg5.html


The one caution point for the Quad is the liquid cooling.

However, I haven't seen that the Quad is a prone to failure as early LCS machines (all 2.5 GHz and 2.7 GHz dual processor G5's).


If one wanted to forego the potential minefield of the LCS, a late 2005 2.3 GHz dual core would be the fastest air cooled machine.


Geekbench CPU and Memory Benchmark:


Power Mac G5 (Late 2005)
PowerPC G5 (970MP) 2.5 GHz (4 cores)
3318
Power Mac G5 (June 2004)
PowerPC G5 (970FX) 2.7 GHz (2 cores)
2259
Power Mac G5 (June 2004)
PowerPC G5 (970FX) 2.5 GHz (2 cores)
2100
Power Mac G5 (Late 2005)
PowerPC G5 (970MP) 2.3 GHz (2 cores)
2084

Aug 3, 2011 6:43 AM in response to Ramón G Castañeda

One thing you can do to improve performance is add PCIe SATA and an SSD or two to help. And the G5 Quad supported SATA II. WD Black 1.5TB $109 make nice drives as well.


Depends on what you will be using it for, but easy to install Sonnet G5 Jive and bracket for 3 drives connected to controller with internal ports. I'd love to see a better way to power 2-3 SSDs as they consume so little but still use standard SATA power connector (3 would fit in one drive bay otherwise).


With 1kw PSU, you might also want a 1500W / 900W UPS to power and protect your Quad investment.


When you get it, look under the floorboards for dust build up as well as for any sign of there having been LCS issue. They can be repaired.


DVWarehouse is a good source for parts.

OWC for some drives, RAM, controllers that are Mac oriented.

ebay for graphic card upgrade if you want/need for your project.

Aug 4, 2011 1:50 AM in response to The hatter

Thank you for another very welcome and useful reply, Hatter.



The hatter wrote:


…Depends on what you will be using it for…


Primaryly to run Photoshop CS4 and VueScan. No plans to step up to CS5 at all.


I've been a satisfied OWC customer for many years, so I'm very familiar with them.


Coincidentally, I'm already running my gear through two APC 1500XS UPS units.


I'd give the G5 a thorough cleaning, inside and out, and write its HD drives to zero.


I'll definitely look into SSDs, especially one for the primary Photoshop scratch disk, though I don't quite follow this part of your answer:



The hatter wrote:


…I'd love to see a better way to power 2-3 SSDs as they consume so little but still use standard SATA power connector (3 would fit in one drive bay otherwise)…


Do you mean you wish there were a better way but there isn't one?


As far as the video card, I'm already running a "mutant" flashed card in my G4 (specifically: nVidia GeForce 7800 GS 425MHz 256 MB). I wonder if I could use that, at least to begin with. I'd like to invest first in RAM to bring the G5 to 16 GB.


I also had a question re SCSI cards, and I started another thread for that:


https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3237843


Thanks once again.


EDIT: Not sure why my equipment isn't showing, maybe I forgot to ckect the button. Here's the info:

Dual bootable, DP MDD 1.25GHz G4 (2004), maxed out at 2GB of RAM; both Spotlight and Dashboard disabled. Photoshop primary scratch disk on dedicated 160GB internal drive; at least 100GB available on each of the four internal drives, up to 300GB on some. Counting external FW drives just over 1TB of drive space available. nVidia GeForce 7800 GS 425MHz 256 MB "mutant" flashed graphics display card. Processor napping enabled through CHUD 3.5.2.


Message was edited by: Ramón G Castañeda

Aug 4, 2011 3:46 AM in response to Ramón G Castañeda

nVidia GeForce 7800 GS 425MHz 256 MB). I wonder if I could use that, at least to begin with

If you get a dual core (Late 2005), No, you won't be able to use the AGP card in the PCIe machines.

All other G5's will happily use the 7800 GS.


So, in answer to the next (anticipated) question, the best card for the PCIe machines is a flashed geforce 7800 GTX.

Aug 4, 2011 6:37 AM in response to Ramón G Castañeda

SSD's are tiny and use just a tiny amount of power.


10 SSDs could be powered off one standard SATA power cable/connector.


But SATA power cables could be re desigined to be smaller? making it possible to put 4 SSDs in one drive bay and have power and data cables.


Ideal SSD is probably on a PCIe card, but PC only for most, and not bootable.


Pre-SSD, I talked a couple people into 4-5 WD 10K VelociRaptors - array for system, another array for scratch, and yet two SSDs $400-500 would do that better.

Fastest, RELIABLE used Mac G5 Quad?

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