Expanding my Power Mac G5.....

Hello All,
I am looking to expand my Power Mac G5 (PCI Slots) with the following cards....will they all work? Thanks in advance.
Card going in slot 2:
http://www.sonnettech.com/product/allegro_usb2.html
Card going in slot 3:
http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=11162
Card going in Slot 4:
http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=11160
Thanks Again...
Regards.
—Matthew—

Hello BDAqua,
BDAqua wrote:
Where are you seeing this, I don't but I'm nearly blind...
On the OWC card, theres a big white block that appears to be a PATA Power Port. (The kind you plug into a PATA Hard Disk Drive)
I really don't think it needs ny power other than what it gets from the PCI bus.
Yeah I hope it doesnt either. You own one?
the LaCie card doesn't seem to have it...must be why its 3 times the price LOL.
My bad, it does, its just a 3.5" Floppy drive power port (I REALLY dont have one of THESE! Lol)
LOL, perhaps it's so they can replace all these under warranty!...
http://mcclint.blogspot.com/2009/02/lacie-*****.html
Used to be more than a million hits Googling Lacie Power Supply problems!
Hmmmmmm.....valid point taken.
Regards.
-Matthew-

Similar Messages

Expanding your Power mac G5

Hi all,
sorry for my English, I want to install a 2nd hard disk but I don't khnow which model. I think to by a Seagate. Currently I have a Seagate 160 Gb model 7200/7 with cache 8 Mb, can I put a model 7200/10 with cache 16Mb?
Help me

Hi japamac
thanks for your answer, but I can't install a drive to 640 GB because can be 500 GB maximum system capacity in my macPower Mac G5 - Technical Specifications
Configurations
Order no. M9020LL/A M9031LL/A M9032LL/A
G5 Processor 1.6GHz PowerPC G5 1.8GHz PowerPC G5 Dual 2GHz PowerPC G5
L2 Cache 512K 512K 512K per processor
Frontside bus 800MHz 900MHz 1GHz per processor
DDR SDRAM main memory 256MB PC2700 (333MHz)
4GB maximum 512MB PC3200 (400MHz)
8GB maximum 512MB PC3200 (400MHz)
8GB maximum
8X AGP Pro graphics NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra with 64MB DDR SDRAM NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra with 64MB DDR SDRAM ATI RADEON 9600 Pro with 64MB DDR SDRAM
Hard drive(5) 80GB Serial ATA; 7200 rpm 160GB Serial ATA; 7200 rpm 160GB Serial ATA; 7200 rpm
Optical drive SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW) SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW) SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW)
PCI slots Three open full-length 33MHz, 64-bit PCI slots Three open full-length PCI-X slots: one 133MHz, 64-bit slot and two 100MHz, 64-bit slots Three open full-length PCI-X slots: one 133MHz, 64-bit slot and two 100MHz, 64-bit slots
High performance I/O One FireWire 800 port, two FireWire 400 ports (one on front); three USB 2.0 ports (one on front), two USB 1.1 ports (on keyboard); AGP 8X Pro slot with graphics card installed, including ADC connector and DVI connector
Bays Two internal hard drive bays (1 occupied); one optical drive bay
Networking Built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T Ethernet and 56K V.92 modem(13)
Wireless AirPort Extreme ready (based on 802.11g specification; IEEE 802.11b Wi-Fi certified)(6); Bluetooth option
Audio Optical digital audio in, optical digital audio out, analog audio in, analog audio out, front headphone minijack and speaker
System software Mac OS X v10.2 “Jaguar”
Software iLife (including iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie and iDVD), QuickBooks for Mac New User Edition, FAXstf, Art Directors Toolkit, Microsoft Office v.X Test Drive, FileMaker Pro Trial, OmniGraffle, OmniOutliner, GraphicConverter, QuickTime, iChat, Safari, Sherlock, Address Book, iCal, iSync, DVD Player, Mail, EarthLink, Acrobat Reader, Classic environment and Apple Developer Tools
Hardware accessories Apple Keyboard, Apple Mouse, USB keyboard extension cable, DVI to VGA adapter, modem cable, AirPort antenna
Limited warranty and service Your Power Mac G5 comes with 90 days of free telephone support and a one-year limited warranty. Purchase the AppleCare Protection Plan to extend your service and support to three full years. Only the AppleCare Protection Plan provides you with direct telephone support from Apple technical experts and the assurance that repairs will be handled by Apple-certified technicians using genuine Apple parts. For more information, visit Apple support or call 800-823-2775.
Internet access All models also include 30 days of free Internet service through EarthLink . Internet access requires a compatible Internet service provider; fees may apply.
Build-to-Order Options
Order a custom-configured computer from the online Apple Store or an authorized Apple reseller.
Memory (PC2700 or PC3200 DDR SDRAM; installed in pairs): 256MB, 512MB, 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB (4)
Hard drives (5) 80GB Serial ATA, 160GB Serial ATA, 250GB Serial ATA
Optical drives SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW), Combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra with 64MB of DDR SDRAM, ATI Radeon 9600 Pro with 64MB of DDR SDRAM, ATI Radeon 9800 Pro with 128MB of DDR SDRAM
Audio Apple iPod, Logitech Z-680 5.1 speakers, Monster 1m Toslink Digital Fiber Optic Cable, Monster 2m Toslink Digital Fiber Optic Cable
External storage Xserve RAID with Apple Fibre Channel PCI Card
Wireless AirPort Extreme Card M8881LL/A
AirPort Extreme Base Station M8930LL/A
AirPort Extreme Base Station (with modem and antenna port) M8799LL/A
Internal Bluetooth module with antenna
Displays Apple Studio Display (17-inch flat panel) M7649ZM/B
Apple Cinema Display (20-inch flat panel) M8893ZM/A
Apple Cinema HD Display (23-inch flat panel) M8537ZM/A
Apple DVI to ADC Display Adapter M8661LL/A
Apple DVI to ADC Video Adapter M9267G/A
Services AppleCare Protection Plan M8850LL/A
.Mac Subscription M8778LL/A
Technical Specifications
Processing
1.6GHz, 1.8GHz, or dual 2GHz PowerPC G5 microprocessors
PowerPC processor architecture with 64-bit data paths and registers
Native support for 32-bit application code
512K on-chip L2 cache running at processor speed
Parallel data structure supporting up to 215 simultaneous in-flight instructions
Simultaneous issue of up to 10 out-of-order operations
Dual-pipeline Velocity Engine for 128-bit single-instruction, multiple-data (SIMD) processing
Two independent double-precision floating-point units
Advanced three-stage branch-prediction logic
800MHz, 900MHz, or 1GHz 64-bit DDR frontside bus supporting up to 8-GBps data throughput; one on each processor on dual processor systems
Point-to-point system controller
Memory
128-bit data paths for up to 6.4-GBps memory throughput
1.6GHz model
256MB of PC2700 (333MHz) DDR SDRAM
Four DIMM slots supporting up to 4GB of main memory
1.8GHz systems and 2Ghz systems
512MB of PC3200 (400MHz) DDR SDRAM
Eight DIMM slots supporting up to 8GB of main memory
Support for the following DIMMs (in pairs):
128MB DIMMs (64-bit-wide, 128- or 256-Mbit)
256MB DIMMs (64-bit-wide, 128- or 256-Mbit)
512MB DIMMs (64-bit-wide, 256-Mbit)
1GB DIMMs (64-bit-wide, 256-Mbit)
Graphics and displays
AGP 8X Pro graphics slot supporting up to 2-GBps data throughput, with one of the following graphics cards installed:
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra with 64MB of DDR SDRAM
ATI Radeon 9600 Pro with 64MB of DDR SDRAM
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro with 128MB of DDR SDRAM (build-to-order option)
Support for digital resolutions up to 1920 by 1200 pixels
Support for analog resolutions up to 1600 by 1200 pixels
ADC and DVI connectors; DVI to VGA adapter included
Dual display support for extended desktop and video mirroring modes
Support for up to two Apple flat panel displays(8)
Storage
Two Serial ATA controllers supporting up to 150-MBps data throughput per hard drive
Two 3.5-inch hard drive expansion bays with drive guides for a second drive
One 80GB or 160GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA drive installed in standard configurations(5)
Support for up to two internal Serial ATA drives; _*500GB maximum system capacity(5)*_
8MB memory buffers on all hard drives
Optical drive bay with SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW) installed; writes DVD-R discs at up to 4x speed, reads DVDs at up to 8x speed, writes CD-R discs at up to16x speed, writes CD-RW discs at up to 10x speed, reads CDs at up to 32x speed
PCI expansion
One of the following configurations:
Three open full-length 64-bit, 33MHz PCI slots, or
One open full-length 64-bit, 133MHz PCI-X slot and two open full-length 64-bit 100MHz PCI-X slots
Communications
10/100/1000BASE-T Ethernet connector (RJ-45)
Built-in 56K V.92 modem (RJ-11) (13)
Expansion slot for optional 54-Mbps AirPort Extreme Card (based on IEEE 802.11g specification; 802.11b Wi-Fi certified) (6)
External AirPort Extreme antenna
Optional Bluetooth 1.1 module and antenna
Peripherals and audio
One FireWire 800 port and two FireWire 400 ports (one on front panel, 15W total power)
Three USB 2.0 ports (on one front panel), two USB 1.1 ports on keyboard
Front headphone minijack and speaker
Optical digital audio in and out Toslink connectors
Stereo audio in and out minijacks
Electrical and environmental requirements
Meets ENERGY STAR requirements
Line voltage: 100-125V AC or 200-240V AC
Frequency: 50Hz to 60Hz, single phase
Maximum current: 6.5A (low-voltage range) or 7.5A (high-voltage range)
Operating temperature: 50° to 95° F (10° to 35° C)
Storage temperature: -40° to 116° F (-40° to 47° C)
Relative humidity: 5% to 95% noncondensing
Maximum altitude: 10,000 feet
Size and weight
Height: 20.1 inches (51.1 cm)
Width: 8.1 inches (20.6 cm)
Depth: 18.7 inches (47.5 cm)
Weight: 39.2 pounds (17.8 kg) (14)
Tests performed by Apple in June 2003 using preproduction Power Mac G5 units. The Power Mac systems ran a PowerPC G5 — optimized version of Photoshop 7.0.1 including optimized AltiVecCore, ACE, and BIB Carbon Libraries; the Dell Dimension ran Photoshop 7.0.1.
“World’s fastest” based on SPEC CPU2000 benchmark results and leading professional application performance tests against 3GHz Pentium 4 — based Dell Dimension 8300 and dual 3.06GHz Xeon-based Dell Precision Workstation 650. SPEC CPU2000 benchmarks run with GCC 3.3 compiler and independently tested; professional applications tested by Apple, June 2003.
Based on SPEC CPU2000 benchmark results against 3GHz Pentium 4 — based Dell Dimension 8300 and dual 3.06GHz Xeon-based Dell Precision Workstation 650, run with GCC 3.3 compiler and independently tested, June 2003.
Selected models.
1GB = 1 billion bytes; actual formatted capacity less.
Achieving data rates of 54 Mbps requires that all users have an AirPort Extreme Card and connect to an AirPort Extreme Base Station. If any user of Wi-Fi certified 802.11b products joins the network, that user will get up to 11 Mbps and AirPort Extreme network users will get less than 54 Mbps. Actual speed will vary based on range, connection rate, site conditions, size of network, and other factors.
Check with manufacturer for compatibility.
Second Apple flat-panel display requires Apple DVI to ADC Adapter, sold separately.
Actual rates will vary.
Preliminary specifications based on preproduction Power Mac G5 units.
Based on SPEC CPU2000 benchmark results against 3GHz Pentium 4 — based Dell Dimension 8300 and dual 3.06GHz Xeon-based Dell Precision Workstation 650m, performed by VeriTest, June 2003.
Tests performed by Apple in June 2003 using preproduction Power Mac G5 units with application software optimized for the PowerPC G5.
Compatible ISP and telephone services required. Your ISP may not support all V.92 features. Modem will function according to V.90 standards if V.92 services are not available. Actual modem speeds lower.
Weight varies by configuration and manufacturing process.
Internet access requires a compatible Internet service provider; fees may apply.
Product contains electronic documentation.
Backup copy of software is included.
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Expanding Your Power Mac G4?

Hi,
I have a Power Mac G4 (AGP Graphics)with 385 mgs of RAM. I am currently using the operating system that came with it 9.04, I believe, and am about to purchase Tiger.
My question is....what kind of upgrades can be made to this G4 model, and what is worth doing to it in the future. (I cannot really afford anything at the moment as I will be purchasing the OS X plus a second internal HD) For future reference......would my money be best saved toward ultimately purchasing a newer model computer, rather than spending money to upgrade this one?
I use it for personal and graphic design work, (although not really involved things like video or fancy web stuff.)
Also....any ideas what I should purchase for a second (internal HD?)
Thanks!
G4 400MHz Mac OS 9.0.x AGP Graphics
G4 400MHz Mac OS 9.0.x

Hey there!
Well first thing first;
1.Ensure you have updated your G4's firmware,this can be done by clicking on software update in the control panel. if a firmware update pops up,select it and follow the instructions exactly as is said. This will will improve the systems Firewire compatability and a few minor things. Its also needed if you intend to replace the old CPU with an upgrade card.
2.Upgrade your ram,you should have at least 512MB of ram installed,anything below this will just make your mac run slowly. I would recommend buying a Crucial Mac 512MB stick at £66 (not sure what it is in $), you could use your exsisting ram chips,as long as they match the CL (2/3). if they don't match,system stability and performance may be hinderd.If you bought 512MB of ram, you would end up with a total of 897MB of ram,which should be ok for now,
3.my personal choice for a HD is SeaGate always,great performance and reliability. Quiet and solid performers,better than any other brand i've used yet. A 120GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 8MB Buffer ATA100 will set you back £60. The G4 AGP can only cope with hard drives up to 128GBs,the only relaible way to overide this would be to buy a PCI ATA card like sonnets ATA133 card,which will allow you to install larger size hard drives and benefit from the full ATA133 interface as to the standard ATA66.
By this point your ready to go,and install tiger.
4.Id reccommend a better graphics card as well,as that old Rage 128 Pro is showing it's age badly. The best graphics card for the AGP model is the Radeon 8500 Mac Edition. its fast and has a decent amount of onboard ram. And its Quark Extreme compatible,whcih is part of the OS X interface and software exstensions. They are very rare to get hold of now but if you can get one off ebay,nab it before it goes. They tend to go for £60/£80.OS X tiger will work happy with the old rage card in,but it would benefit greatly to have a better GC.
5.At a latter date,id reccomend a Sonnet Encore/ST G4 1.4Ghz CPU upgrade,they cost about £260. There the fastest performing CPU'S for the agp,as the 2MB L3 Cahce makes up for the 100Mhz FSB. Faster than 1.8Ghz upgrade,as they lack the L3 cache which makes a great deal of difference
Hope that wasn't too confusing for you,Autism doesn't make it easy for me to explain things in great detail. Anything your unsure off,leave us a message and i'll reply ASAP
Delor

802.11n in Power Mac G5?

Hi,
Now that Apple have released the new AirPort Extreme Base Station, and released an enabler app for those Macs with an 802.11n card/circuitry in, what options are there for those of us with older Macs?
I'd like to buy the new AEBS and use it with my Power Mac G5 Dual 2.5GHz and 17" MacBook Pro 2.16CD, but there's no point if there is no way of expanding my Power Mac to use it.
Is the AE card in the G5 user-replaceable, and is there an option I can buy to put 802.11n capability in my computer?
Cheers!

this may sound like a silly suggestion, but a temporary fix is to connect the router to the G5 through the gigabit ethernet connection. i don't know of any way to upgrade to "n" as of yet, though if anyone knows i'd be interested too and the Apple TV gizmo seems pretty ineresting.

Best way to update and expand RAM on old Power Mac G5?

I own a Power Mac G5 and am currently transferring all my files and music over. I have already run out of start up disk space after only transferring 1000 tracks and a few files. I'm sure this can't be right, but even so I would like to expand my memory and update to the latest versions of OSX but I have no idea if this is possible with such an old machine or even cost efficient. I would like something that I can do design work on as well as storing around 50,000 song tracks. Help!

HI Nancy,
At the Apple Icon at top left>About this Mac.
Then click on More Info>Hardware and report this upto *but not including the Serial#*...
Hardware Overview:
Machine Name: Power Mac G5 Quad
Machine Model: PowerMac11,2
CPU Type: PowerPC G5 (1.1)
Number Of CPUs: 4
CPU Speed: 2.5 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 1 MB
Memory: 10 GB
Bus Speed: 1.25 GHz
Boot ROM Version: 5.2.7f1
There are 5 different 7,2 G5s, how many RAM slots does it have?
See if you can get the date of manufacture using the serial#.
If you don't know the model, find the Serial# & use it on one of these sites, but don't post the Serial# here...
http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html
http://www.appleserialnumberinfo.com/Desktop/index.php
How to find the serial number of your Apple hardware product...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1349

Power Mac G5 Dual 2.5 freezes up, Power Mac G5 Dual 2.5 freezes up

Hello
I inherited a Dual 2.5 PPC Power Mac G5 from my sister. She was having problems with it suddenly freezing up. She replaced the hard drive but that didn't fix it, and sicne she had a newer Macbook Pro she gave up on it. When I got it I replaced the video card on it with an ATI Radeon, and it seemed to run fine for a while, and then the problem returned. It seemed to have returned after I did all the Apple software upgrades on it (It's running Leopard), but that might be a coincidence. I noticed under Diagnostics on the power up test that some RAM had failed. I also noticed that it was running on 1 gb of RAM even though 2 gb were installed. I removed the faulty Ram (4 256 mb dimms) and hoped that that was the problem. Unfortunately it wasn't. I also installed a temperture reading program. It showed that CPU A is running around 80 C at times and is usually about 10C hotter than CPU B. I'm not sure though if 80C is normal for a G5 or not. I noticed that when it was unplugged that it wouldn't retain the time and date, and took a look at the battery, and sure enough it was starting to leak (but hadn't leaked on to any components). I've ordered a new bttery for it.
I ran a check with Disk Utility and found the HD was ok, but permissions were a bit messed up. Disk Utility wasn't able to fix some of the permissions, but i don't think this is the underlying problem.
I've also opened it and gave everything a thourough vacuuming and cleaning and reseated any removable parts. I took the cover off the liquid cooling unit and vacuumed out the dust. There didn;t seem to be any coolant leaks I could see.
Any suggestions on where I should go from here? I unfortuantely don't have any of the disks for it, so I can't run the AHT until I find one for it (the one for my Macbook Pro wouldn't work).
Sometimes it just freezes. Other times it freezes and the computer fans go on high. It will finally get to a point where it shows the grey multi-language restart screen (where it says to hold down the button to shut it off and the restart).
It was frustrating because on my workbench it was running fine after I switched the video card, and it didn't freeze at all. When I moved it to our computer desk though, the problems returned. Tonight it was to the point where it didn't last 5 minutes.
My thoughts are:
1. Maybe All the RAM is bad
2. Maybe the dead battery is messing it up?
3. When it is heating up with use, something is expanding and not connecting any longer.
What are your thoughts?

Hi Curtis,
I'm not sure though if 80C is normal for a G5 or not. I noticed that when it was unplugged that it wouldn't retain the time
Nope, not normal, way too hot, above 70°C... If you have any temps in the 70°C/160°F range, that's likely it.
Have you blown the dust out of everything with high pressure air?\
1. Maybe All the RAM is bad
The Memory test can really only be trusted if it finds a problem, not if it doesn't find a problem.
Memtest OS X...
http://www.memtestosx.org/joomla/index.php
Rember is a freeware GUI for the memtest ...
http://tech.kateva.org/2005/10/rember-freeware-memory-test-utility.html
If you're sure the RAM is good, try the Hair Dryer trick...
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13240047#13240047
https://discussions.apple.com/message/15223603#15223603
https://discussions.apple.com/message/15499912#15499912
https://discussions.apple.com/message/15613068#15613068
It can show on any G5, and even many other computers & electronic devices of the period.
http://www.macintouch.com/reliability/pmg5.html
http://lowendmac.com/ppc/power-macintosh-g5.html
2. Maybe the dead battery is messing it up?
Might be time to replace the PRAM Battery, 4 years is close to their lifespan, far less if ever without AC power, & can cause strange startup problems, thoigh not once vooted as a rule...
See which one your G5 has...
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/CR2032/
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/BAA36VPRAM/
3. When it is heating up with use, something is expanding and not connecting any longer.
Could be the lead free solder issue with the RAM slot, and/or the thermal paste between CPUs & heatsinks need replacing...
https://discussions.apple.com/message/16223700#16223700

Dual monitor for Power mac g5 dual 2.3ghz

I wanted some advice on which monitors to get for a dual monitor setup and if its even possible to setup on my G5 or do I need a different video card?
Here's my computer spechs:
Power mac G5 dual core 2.3 ghz (late 2005)
Model: A1177
Memory: 2GB DDR2 SDRAM
HDD: 250GB
OS X 10.5.8 Leopard
The only thing I run on this is logic studio 8. I wanted to expand my setup but not sure how.
Any advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks
< Edited by Host >

It depends on which video card you have installed, though not much. Whichever card you have installed, you should have two DVI outputs available. With the minimum 256 Meg VRAM, you should be able to support two 1920x1080 monitors without a problem, and the "HD" monitors are getting very plentiful and dropping in price. Were I to buy today, I would make sure to get an LED monitor, as that flavor should have a longer overall life than a florescent panel monitor. You can find monitors in 23" dimensions for under $200 a pop, and more 27" monitors are showing up at a slightly bigger bite.

Power Mac Vs MacBook Pro

Just out of curiosity, would the new 17" MacBook Pro be faster than my recently bought Dual 2GHz Power Mac G5?
I know the Power Mac has heaps more expandability, but let's just compare the stock models for now.

Just out of curiosity, would the new 17" MacBook Pro
be faster than my recently bought Dual 2GHz Power Mac
G5?
I know the Power Mac has heaps more expandability,
but let's just compare the stock models for now.
Apparently the Macbook Pro is the equal to your Power Mac. Take a look at this podcast. The Macbook Pro was 40% faster then the Power Mac 2 Ghz in Java encoding.
http://www.gearlive.com/index.php/news/article/byte-001-macbook-pro-dual-g5-powe rmac-44103/
I own a Power Mac 2.7 and am in the market for a Macbook Pro. So I have been doing some research. Looks like the laptop is faster or equal in most areas.
Hope this helps

3 Cinema Display for G5 Dual 2.3 Power Mac

Hi,
Just wanna know that am i posible to expanding my G5 Dual 2.3 Power Mac into 3 Cinema Display?For the default,i posible to use dual screen...but i wish to add 1 more screen...is that posible to buy a PCI card and slot in my empty slot?if no,what s'ld i do?
thanks

Radeon 9200 mac edition ( PCI ) will do the trick, just dont expect razzle dazzle Quartz Extreme from the card

What is the Best & Max Upgrade for Used Power Mac G5

Hi All,
I need your help on purchasing an old Second hand Power Mac G5, which will coast me nearly 1900$ with 20" Cinema Display? is this price is OK for the below Spec.:
Processor: 2.0Ghz Dual Core (1MB Cache for single core)
RAM: 512 MB, DDR SDRAM PCI 533.
Graphic Card: Nvidia 6600 128
Hard Disk: 160GB
And Super Drive for the DVD Rom.
As you see its have an old Graphic Card and Small amount of RAM so what is the best amount I can Add on RAM and Best Graphic Card to get the perfect performance?
And What is the max size of the hard drive supported by the machine is it 2TB or less?
And last not least can I install the new OSX (Leopard) on the machine and is there any difference between MAC Pro G5 and Power Mac G5?
Looking forward for the answers and hopefully as soon as possible because I afraid somebody else will gonna by it, Thanks for the support and Good Bye.
Thanks & Regards,
UAEonline

Hi! It all depends on your use. If the machine is to be used for serious work such as video editing and Photoshop use then the more power you have usually means more productivity. On the other hand if you are just surfing the net and using word applications like Microsoft Office then nearly any machine is suitable. The early G5's could use 8 gigs of ram and the newer ones 16. Look HERE for late model specs and look HERE for slightly older models. For most people the fastest iMac is a hard machine to beat but there are tradeoffs with an all in one machine. If one component fails it's hard to repair but with a tower design such as a G5 or MacPro the components are easily more replaced. Also expandability with a tower is easier. You can multiple hard drives to a tower that you can't with an all-in-one machine. The new Macpros start at 2799 as per APPLE's SITE while the fastest iMac is 2199 as per APPLE's Site. I'm not a video card expert nor a raid expert so I'll leave those questions to others. Tom

Mac Mini Core Duo or Power Mac G5?

Ok, so I'm very excited that I'll be making another Mac purchase soon, but I don't have a lot of money.
What I would like to know, is basically whether to get a Mac Mini Core Duo (hooray for todays update) or a little older Power Mac G5 1.6 or 1.8 GHz.
Why the G5 you say? The case is beautiful! Also, it's a bit more upgradable.
I won't be doing a lot of demanding things, mostly internet, some light Photoshop CS, and other OS X features. With the G5, I won't get Boot Camp but that's why I have 3 other PCs.
So which seems more logical or sensible? Both are pretty close price-wise once I configure the Mini.
Thanks for any input! Just want to get some opinions.
(I also know what model G5 to look for with the increased FSB, RAM, etc. I'll only go for the 1.6GHz if the 1.8 offers a substantial performance boost.)

I have a G5 dual 2.0 (one of the original models) and while I don't own a dual core mini, I've had the chance to test a few of them as they have been bought and added to the networks I support. In my experience, the mini has been noticeably faster in pure processing terms, but the limitations of the slower drive speed makes a considerable difference when comparing systems running disk-intensive tasks.
Add that to the fact that as yet Photoshop is not universal and will thus run under Rosetta on the mini, and is in itself an application that uses considerable 'paging' activity (swapping data to and from the hard drive) and you would find that all else being equal, the G5 would generally surpass the mini's performance. The same would not be true of less disk-intensive applications running in native mode on the intel system, where sheer performance of the dual core system would beat out the G5.
Bear in mind however that RAM is a critical factor. Common experience at present suggests that Intel-based Macs typically require rather more RAM than PPC Macs, and you cannot afford to loose track of the fact that with software such as Photoshop, large, fast hard drives and lots of memory are often more critical than sheer power.
Also bear in mind when making a choice, that a G5 system will consume considerably more power and generate more heat as well as requiring more space. If these considerations are not important to you, then in my view at this time the drive speed, expandability and performance of a G5 running non-native power applications would make the older system a more attractive proposition - certainly for the short term.
To me, the real question would be how soon I would be anticipating replacing the system. Neither would cease to be viable in the next few years, but the more the system would cost to buy, the longer it would typically need to remain in service. If the G5 cost significantly more, it would generally be needed to stay in active service long after Photoshop has gone native and the power of a cheaper intel Mac outstripped the capabilities of the G5.

2nd Power Mac as HD Dock Verses Hard Drive Dock

I had Startech satdock4u2e dock with spaces for four hard drives. I hadn't used it for a awhile, but today I found that someone had left the two fans running, which apparently burned the unit out as nothing works although the light on the power adapter clearly shows its getting power. Probably the same person who trashed part of the operating system. In any case this dock was like $120 to $130.00 when new so it got me to thinking why bother putting such money in an item with such cheap short term fans. Some of the other docking stations I've seen cost a lot more and probably don't use standard parts or or parts which are not replaceable.
I have room for another aluminum cased Power Mac here so I am thinking why not buy a second used Power Mac and essentially use it as a docking station. I am starting to expand my self employment in graphics work and often work with very large images (2GB +/-) so I am looking to archive my work on HDs. As the HD units become full they would be removed from the 2nd Power Mac and placed into storage.
Can I use the second Mac Pro as a slave unit without any OS installed on it or would it be better to install a OS on it, but have no monitor?
I am thinking that I might have to install an OS as I have smcFanControl installed on my current Power Mac for increasing the fan speed and I would want that on the second Power Mac.
I wanting to use Carbon Copy Cloner to update the image files on the 2nd Power Mac. I have two spare ports open on my router so I am thinking of just connecting the 2nd Mac Pro via ethernet.
Any advice would be appreciated.

Grant Bennet-Alder wrote:
does not work any longer due to cheap fans
Then pull out the fans, look up the part numbers on their labels, and figure out what air moved in cfm and sound generated in db are. Then look for fans with at least those cfm specs and quieter, and your repair cost will likely be under US$20.
Using a US$1500 Mac Pro silver tower as a hard drive enclosure does not make sense. It could do much more, and uses too much power just to spin up Hard drives.
They don't sell parts. The unit is not meant to be serviced.
These exact fans appear to available from once source in Hong Kong for $15.35 each; however, there is lot of evidence that this place is a scam. How exactly do they ship two fans from H.K. for free for instance? In any case if there is a problem with the items you are expected to ship them back to H.K. as outlined by people who have previously purchased from them. In any case I'd have the same junk fans from China and what is to say the fans didn't burn out other parts of the circuit board to boot.
I am not sure where that $1500 figure comes from, but they don't regularly sell for that used unless you got something extra special and its in mint condition with its original box in which case I wouldn't be buying one of those in the first place.
Power usage is not an issue even if the unit was left running all the time. Less power would be used if kept in sleep mode or shut down completely for once a week backups, which would be similar to wear possible caused by hot swapping them into a dock once a week (i.e., the old leaving them run all the time versus shutting them down argument).
Use a sledge hammer to tap a tack into the wall... whoops broke the dry wall and 2x4!
The FBDIMMs in the 2006-2008 can also put out 10-15W per DIMM and the backside of the case is putting out a lot of heat, enough to warm a room, but generally I don't hear the fans until they hit 1000 rpm and Apple chose to have a default that was too slow to do a good job cooling the memory cage (which blocks air flow from reaching into it properly, and chose to be quiet over adequate or better cooling). And to avoid at any cost going back to the terrible liquid cooling of the G5s.
For casual use I have some fanless open "docks" that are hot-swap and open and yes "warm to the touch" but not hot.
Use to buy only OWC drive cases, some were too loud, some were cheap, never had a problem as far as failure goes.
The balance between noise and cooling, plus how different and what harmonics and sounds people are comfortable with - it may not be "loud" but just the wrong Hz for my ears. You'll love SSDs, a heat sink, no fan, expensive but no moving parts - and fast.
Heat killing disk drives today is less of an issue. 128GB are inside tablets that have no apparent issues or cooling. Servers and big customers demanded and got drives and processors that operate safely 5 and 10 and 15*C warmer than before.
When did you last notice that Seagate and Western Digital 4TB drives have operating temps like these?
http://www.legitreviews.com/seagate-desktop-hdd-15-4tb-vs-wd-black-4tb-hard-driv e-review_2182
The two main killers of electronics are heat and dust. The cooler the drive runs the longer it will last regardless of what the manufacturer's data says. I tend not to believe what the manufacturer's say - as an example I'd give the current argument among some computer users that some of WD's new Caviar Black HDs are not actually caviar black models, but lessor drives with a black sticker.
The cooler a piece of equipment runs the longer it will last generally applies to most other items. After all we have local farmer's who run their $250,000 tractors at night because they run better and it means less wear and the possibility of having a maintenance problem during harvest season where it might 100 F outside.
I must agree the Apple default fan speed is bad. In winter the internal temp is 108 with the fans at default. In summer its its 122/126 with the default Apple fan setting. This area of the country can easily be 30 below zero in winter (with wind chill) and 100 in the summer. With smcFanControl I able to run the temps downward. In the winter this has an advantage of the computers actually heating the room they are in as you have said. - I actually shut off one of the furnace vents.
I tend to baby my computers a lot - I guess that is why I still have 10+ year old G4 PowerPCs running and look like they are new, although I like the ease of use of the aluminum cases much better.

How Noisey are Power Mac G4s?

Hi Guys,
I am looking at replacing my eMac with a Powermac G4, probably a quicksilver or later.
My reason for this is that I am needing more expandability than the eMac currently has.
An issue I have with the eMac is its quite noisy, so I am wondering what the Power Mac is like?
Cheers
Craig

I think one of the Quicksilver models (or maybe it was a MDD) was nicknamed the "windtunnel" if that's any help. I know my QS is fairly noisy and you can tell it is running from 20 feet away. There are Web sites on making them quieter with less noisy fans and other methods. I don't have the reference but I believe the later generation G4s were generally pretty noisy and it wasn't until you get into G5s that things such as variable fan speed really come into play.

Power Mac 10.5.8 Cannot Eject Drives or Send Files to Trash

Hello,
I'm posting to the forum for a friend. He is using a Power Mac OSX 10.5.8 with Dual 2 GHz Power PC G5 processor. The past two months he has been having issues deleting files and ejecting drives (flash drives and external hard drives). He will move files to the trash and the animation (poof of dust) and sound will occur but the actual file is not deleted. Also, when he tries to eject any drives, an error message appears stating the drive is in use by other applications. However, no other applications besides finder are open, and when I check the task manager, none are running in the background. This error has caused one of his external hard drives to become corrupted. We recently updated the computer and after the update the permissions were messed up and we couldn't even create a new folder due to insufficient permisions. We're currently running all available first-aid commands from disk utility. If anyone knows what the issue might be, please respond.
Much appreciated, blessings.
Isabel

Hello,
Could be many things, we should start with this...
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu at top of the screen. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
*Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.*
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Select your Mac OS X volume.
5. Click Repair Disk, (not Repair Permissions). Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then try a Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it completes.
(Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.)
If perchance you can't find your install Disc, at least try it from the Safe Boot part onward.

Power Mac G5: A common dilemma: to upgrade or buy new

I know there are a lot of discussions on this topic going around, but everyone's needs and uses are different, so I'd appreciate any input on my situation.
I own a Dual 1.8 GHz Power Mac G5 with only 1GB RAM and a failing 160GB hard drive.
At this point, I basically only use this machine for web browsing, iTunes, and Garageband, and am running Tiger.
I had been having some major hard drive problems so I wiped my system and re-installed Tiger , importing everything from my iBookG4 (which, I recently dropped and the screen connection has failed and is unusable except for as an external hard drive in target disk mode. it is probably too expensive to fix for what its worth so I will probably try to sell it for scrap).
Anyway, everything was ok for about a week until I opened firefox and noticed all my settings and bookmarks were gone. When I restarted my computer, my music, pictures, documents, and movies folders were all unable to be located (although my applications were fine and my hard drive still showed that the space was the same). I'm not sure if I imported some problem from my iBook or if my hard drive was just messing up again, but I've decided that I either need to upgrade or get a new computer.
Basically, I am thinking about upgrading my memory, getting a new hard drive, and upgrading to leopard (mostly for time machine). Or, possibly getting a new iMac or waiting a bit and then getting a new iMac or even (gasp) a PC (highly unlikely).
I was going to get the memory from ramjet and I was thinking of only adding 1GB to make 2GB but could be persuaded of getting more but 400Mhz DDR memory is a bit more expensive than other types. As for the hard drive, I was thinking about getting a Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA 3.0Gb/s 320-GB Hard Drive with a 16 MB cache. I could pay $15 more for a 500GB with 32 MB cache but i really don't need the space and am unsure whether the cache will really help much. Seagates used to have a pretty good rep I thought, but now they seem to be getting mixed reviews, so I don't know.
Obviously, I am no computer expert, so any help would be great. Would it be worth it to spend between $250 and $325 to get the memory, drive, and leapord when I could maybe sell my G5 and my 23" apple cinema display (the old clear kind) and get an iMac? I could maybe get about $700 - $800 for the G5 and around $300 - $350 for the display. Will an iMac be faster than my G5 with the upgrades? I don't think I need a mac pro for my current uses.
Thanks for your help. Feel free to offer advice on what to do with my iBook too.
-rhineth

Memory: $60 for 2 x 1GB, I'd call that very affordable.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/3200DDR2GBP/
Disk drives: 2 x $69 for pair of WD Caviar 640GB
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Western%20Digital/WD6400AAKS/
It is not about capacity as much as speed and quiet, cool, and how well it handles OS X. I use half the drive, other half is unformatted free space. I'd skip the Seagates. 7200.11 is current.
I expect new iMacs in '09 as they are overdue.
Hard drives you keep or put in FW case.
Current Leopard is 10.5.4 DVD but would be nice to see another DVD now with 10.5.6, $109 (Amazon, maybe less Newegg?).
iMac vs others:
http://www.macworld.com/article/133467/2008/05/imaccomparison.html
http://www.barefeats.com/harper7.html
http://www.barefeats.com/imp02.html
Sounds like three things you may not be doing or have:
SuperDuper for backups. You don't need Leopard.
Disk Warrior. Everyone, or I should say "HFS+" needs #1 disk repair utility.
Backup drives. Two backup sets you switch between, and a small "emergency" partition on one for running Disk Warrior and such.
I replace or move older drives to backup use and put new boot drive in on a yearly basis. Some new drives and memory should be all you need. A couple people even stress their system with graphics and video, and upgrading to 3 or 4 new drives revived their system so that they could hold on and wait another year.

Expanding my Power Mac G5.....

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