appleganger
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Q: How does the Original MacPro compare to Dual 2 G5 for video work

A buddy wants to give me his original MacPro with 2 x 2.66 Ghz Dual Core Xenon processors and 6GB RAM to replace my Dual2 G5 with 4 GB RAM, an ATI Radeon X800XT video card, eSATA dual input card, Miglia AlchemyTV DVR capture card (running on OSTiger started up from a different HD), several external 1TB HDD's, et al. He's concerned it's gonna give out on me sooner or later, and he knows I'm seriously thinking about laying my favorite gal down for her dirt nap because of problems starting to creep up -- they're not awful, but it's harder and harder to work on the net because of old browsers, the fans keep flaring up an down (a problem I've been told is peculiar to old G5's), I keep feeling like I'm running it on borrowed time, and other small annoyances; otherwise, it pretty well keeps up with me almost as fast as i think, handles what I throw at it, and has just been a great machine for me.  The new one would also clear up the desk of extra HDD enclosures and all their wires, and my Pioneer DVD/BluRay Superdrive would also be enclosed -- not a bad prospect either, clutter-wise. My fear stems from remembering trying to run motion and final cut work I'd created on my G5 on the then-new MacPro's at the AppleStore, and they couldn't play them as well as my G5. That makes me wonder if i should just keep what i've got going, or if all the extra processors, speed and RAM would make the native NVIDIA 7300GT card (newly replaced) do what I need just fine, maybe even better than my Radeon X800XT, not to mention being able to run my exisitng software.

 

Anybody got any ideas? Am I just being overly anxious and wrongly looking this gift horse in the mouth?

Mac OS X (10.5.8), Dual2 PowerMac G5, 4 GB RAM

Posted on Oct 9, 2015 2:33 PM

by Allan Jones,Solvedanswer
Allan Jones Allan Jones
Level 8 (35,321 points)
iPad
A:

I'll start with the general stuff and hope someone with more video experience adds on comment about teh video cad issues you raise.

 

This would be easier if we knew the speed of your G5's processors. However, using benchmarks contained in the MacTracker database comparing the 2.66 dual core Mac Pro to the fastest G5 Dual shows this:

 

Screen Shot 2015-10-09 at 3.55.45 PM.png

The MP would have a processing speed advantage of just under 50 percent with no consideration for the video cards. Balance that with the fact that the first Mac Pros cannot run any higher OS level than 10.7.5 means you'd only be delaying the inevitable. Sooner or later, 10.7 won't support modern browsers or Pro software either.

 

We'd be guessing if we said how much time the MP would buy for you. Maybe a year?

 

Of course, if their is no up-front cost involved, you'd get that year almost free outside of needing to upgrade software to run on Intel processors. I've kept my old G4 MDD in service because it has a paid-in-full copy of Adobe Creative Suite 2 on it and works well enough with that version to do what I need. So the G4 stays maintained and set up in the spare room for times I need to use CS.

Posted on Oct 9, 2015 4:07 PM

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appleganger

Q: How does the Original MacPro compare to Dual 2 G5 for video work

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Allan Jones,Solvedanswer

    Allan Jones Allan Jones Oct 9, 2015 4:07 PM in response to appleganger
    Level 8 (35,321 points)
    iPad
    Oct 9, 2015 4:07 PM in response to appleganger

    I'll start with the general stuff and hope someone with more video experience adds on comment about teh video cad issues you raise.

     

    This would be easier if we knew the speed of your G5's processors. However, using benchmarks contained in the MacTracker database comparing the 2.66 dual core Mac Pro to the fastest G5 Dual shows this:

     

    Screen Shot 2015-10-09 at 3.55.45 PM.png

    The MP would have a processing speed advantage of just under 50 percent with no consideration for the video cards. Balance that with the fact that the first Mac Pros cannot run any higher OS level than 10.7.5 means you'd only be delaying the inevitable. Sooner or later, 10.7 won't support modern browsers or Pro software either.

     

    We'd be guessing if we said how much time the MP would buy for you. Maybe a year?

     

    Of course, if their is no up-front cost involved, you'd get that year almost free outside of needing to upgrade software to run on Intel processors. I've kept my old G4 MDD in service because it has a paid-in-full copy of Adobe Creative Suite 2 on it and works well enough with that version to do what I need. So the G4 stays maintained and set up in the spare room for times I need to use CS.

  • by appleganger,

    appleganger appleganger Oct 10, 2015 9:51 AM in response to Allan Jones
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 10, 2015 9:51 AM in response to Allan Jones

    Thanks for the info, Allan. My G5 is the Dual 2, so it looks like a speed increase of at least 200%. I've thought about keeping G5 maintained as well, just because -- and i could continue to use my AlchemyTV DVR card which I use on a startup disk running Tiger.  You've given me lots of positive stuff to think about. Thank you.