Ramón G Castañeda

Q: 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 4:11 AM

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Q: Fastest, RELIABLE used Mac G5 Quad?

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  • by Ramón G Castañeda,

    Ramón G Castañeda Ramón G Castañeda Aug 31, 2011 7:54 AM in response to romko23
    Level 4 (1,468 points)
    Desktops
    Aug 31, 2011 7:54 AM in response to romko23

    Well, I got the G5 Quad already and I'll be picking it up from the shop today.  I had read about the Panasonic pump being more desirable, and I very much hope that's what it has, as this particular unit was built in late June of 2006 according to its serial number.  Not much I can do about it now if this is not the case, but my understanding is that Apple went to the Panasonic pump at some point and did not revert to the dual pump after that.

     

    Since my unit was one of the very last to be built before production of the G5 Quad was halted a few weeks later, I feel and hope that I have a very good chance of having the single Panasonic pump.  Keeping my fingers crossed.

     

    Thank you for this valuable information. 

  • by romko23,

    romko23 romko23 Aug 31, 2011 8:16 PM in response to Ramón G Castañeda
    Level 2 (395 points)
    Aug 31, 2011 8:16 PM in response to Ramón G Castañeda

    Hi,

     

    I do pray tell you do get the single pump, as you will enjoy your Quad G5 a lot more than if it were the dual pump. I would ASK to make sure your pump is single and not dual.

  • by Ramón G Castañeda,

    Ramón G Castañeda Ramón G Castañeda Aug 31, 2011 11:00 PM in response to romko23
    Level 4 (1,468 points)
    Desktops
    Aug 31, 2011 11:00 PM in response to romko23

    romko23 wrote:

     

    Hi,

     

    I do pray tell you do get the single pump, as you will enjoy your Quad G5 a lot more than if it were the dual pump. I would ASK to make sure your pump is single and not dual.

     

    Hi romko 23,

     

    Thanks for your continued interest and your input.  Perhaps I have not expressed myself clearly:  I do NOT have the option of asking, demanding or "making sure" I get a single pump.  I already bought the machine some three weeks ago from a private party, not a commercial reseller.  The machine has whatever it has, period.  (Maybe I'll be able to take a picture of the guts of the Quad and post an image here.)

     

    "The shop" where I went and picked up the machine this afternoon merely swapped the enclosure for me, as the one the machine originally came with got very badly damaged allegedly during shipping.  Images showing damage to the front on the enclosure are below; the back was similarly damaged.

     

     

    _IMG0631.jpg    _IMG0632.jpg

     

    Amazingly the innards were fine, and I subjected them to rigorous tests before deciding to have the enclosure replaced.

     

    The shop just charged me for the labor costs, as I provided the replacement enclosure on my own.  It's a very small, independent shop in Carmichael, California, where a former Apple employee, now an independent IT free-lancer, happens to work.  They have no stake in whatever the machine came with.  They did an outstanding job and also installed the graphics card and the SCSI card for me

     

    I spoke to this guy today when I picked up my Quad, and he tells me that it indeed has the Delphi pump, and that, in his opinion based on experienced gained at Apple, that is a very, very good thing.  Evidently Apple went back to Delphi during the final months of production because "the Panasonic pumps did not hold out as well as it had been hoped". 

     

    As I said, this guy has no financial stake in my purchase of the machine (from an out-of-state private audio and video guy who had just upgraded to a current multi-core Mac Pro).  If anything, he could have used the opportunity afforded by my question following your input to incur more labor costs by suggesting putting in a Panasonic.  He very strongly and adamantly advised against that, but he was in a position actually to get me one, sell it to me, and charge me for installing it.  That he did not, seems pretty persuasive to me.

     

    The bottom line is that I can't do a thing about the confounded pump, and I'll just keep my fingers crossed.

     

    Thanks again, and all I can do is hope for the best.

  • by Ramón G Castañeda,

    Ramón G Castañeda Ramón G Castañeda Aug 31, 2011 11:07 PM in response to romko23
    Level 4 (1,468 points)
    Desktops
    Aug 31, 2011 11:07 PM in response to romko23

    Additionally, I have to consider that this machine has now been working for a tad over five years without the LCS malfunctioning, according to the former owner—who was not even aware that he had a liquid-cooled machine all these years.  It just worked. 

  • by BDAqua,

    BDAqua BDAqua Aug 31, 2011 11:23 PM in response to Ramón G Castañeda
    Level 10 (123,765 points)
    Aug 31, 2011 11:23 PM in response to Ramón G Castañeda

     

  • by romko23,

    romko23 romko23 Aug 31, 2011 11:27 PM in response to Ramón G Castañeda
    Level 2 (395 points)
    Aug 31, 2011 11:27 PM in response to Ramón G Castañeda

    I beg to differ.. many people have told me that Apple LIED about the dual delphi pump.. It is not reliable at all. Eventually, you will get some kind of gumming inside the tubes and one of the pumps will fail. The failure rate of the Delphi is very sad compared to the Panasonic pumps. But, either way.. just try to maintain your G5 and keep the G5 away from heat.. the dual pump version I had died because of ambient temps in my room over 80 degrees.. then again, the machine was probably bad anyway and the guy from Amazon just wanted my money.. 700 dollars worth. The dual pump G5 Quad was bought in April of 2011 an finally died in August. The company Mike's Tech Shop in NY told me the single pump is much more reliable than the dual as he told me that DELPHI themselves were not a great LCS manufactuer.

  • by romko23,

    romko23 romko23 Aug 31, 2011 11:28 PM in response to BDAqua
    Level 2 (395 points)
    Aug 31, 2011 11:28 PM in response to BDAqua

    You might want to keep an eye on your dual delphi pump, if thats what you have.

  • by BDAqua,

    BDAqua BDAqua Aug 31, 2011 11:41 PM in response to romko23
    Level 10 (123,765 points)
    Aug 31, 2011 11:41 PM in response to romko23

    iStat only reports one pump RPM!

  • by Ramón G Castañeda,

    Ramón G Castañeda Ramón G Castañeda Sep 1, 2011 12:06 AM in response to romko23
    Level 4 (1,468 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 1, 2011 12:06 AM in response to romko23

    romko23 wrote:

     

    …The company Mike's Tech Shop in NY told me the single pump is much more reliable than the dual as he told me that DELPHI themselves were not a great LCS manufactuer.

     

    That part is debatable, sorry, but irrelevant at this point.  Delphi is considered by many to be a reliable supplier of cooling systems for a variety of industries.  No need to take the word of a single tech somewhere in NY.

     

    I'm not going to argue with you, as it would be like two bald-headed men fighting over a comb, as there's nothing I can do anout what pump my Quad has.  It's that simple.

     

    I do thank you for your interest and for your generosity with your time.

  • by Ramón G Castañeda,

    Ramón G Castañeda Ramón G Castañeda Sep 1, 2011 12:11 AM in response to BDAqua
    Level 4 (1,468 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 1, 2011 12:11 AM in response to BDAqua

    BDAqua wrote:

     

    iStat only reports one pump RPM!

     

    That's more than a little cryptic for the uninitiated among us.    Can you give me a hint, please?

     

    Thanks in advance.

  • by BDAqua,

    BDAqua BDAqua Sep 1, 2011 12:37 AM in response to Ramón G Castañeda
    Level 10 (123,765 points)
    Sep 1, 2011 12:37 AM in response to Ramón G Castañeda

    Mine is a late 2006 G5 Quad also, I'd open it up & have a look, 'cept I'm close to blind, and it's in use about 24/7/366, but I surmise it means there's only one pump to report!

  • by Ramón G Castañeda,

    Ramón G Castañeda Ramón G Castañeda Sep 1, 2011 12:49 AM in response to BDAqua
    Level 4 (1,468 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 1, 2011 12:49 AM in response to BDAqua

    BDAqua wrote:

     

    …I surmise it means there's only one pump to report!

     

    Actually, the part I was unclear about was "iStat".  Off to Google it… 

  • by Ramón G Castañeda,

    Ramón G Castañeda Ramón G Castañeda Sep 1, 2011 2:17 AM in response to Ramón G Castañeda
    Level 4 (1,468 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 1, 2011 2:17 AM in response to Ramón G Castañeda

    Never mind.  I just learned iStat is a Dashboard widget, and I have Dashboard permanently disabled in all my boot volumes, same as Spotblight. 

  • by BDAqua,

    BDAqua BDAqua Sep 1, 2011 12:12 PM in response to Ramón G Castañeda
    Level 10 (123,765 points)
    Sep 1, 2011 12:12 PM in response to Ramón G Castañeda

    Try iStat Menus, I almost hesitate to post a link since everybody now seems to have MacKeeper ads!

     

    http://download.cnet.com/iStat-Menus/3000-2086_4-10786476.html

  • by Ramón G Castañeda,

    Ramón G Castañeda Ramón G Castañeda Sep 1, 2011 12:25 PM in response to BDAqua
    Level 4 (1,468 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 1, 2011 12:25 PM in response to BDAqua

    BDAqua wrote:

     

    Try iStat Menus…

     

    http://download.cnet.com/iStat-Menus/3000-2086_4-10786476.html

     

     

    Oooooh!  That looks most interesting and useful.  Thanks! 

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