Low End Mac Reader Specials

Memory To Go Special: MacPro 8 Core 8GB kit $232 / 4GB kit $116 / 2GB kit $72. New Macbook 2GB DDR3-$65. HARD DRIVES available -- Free shipping / LIfetime warranty.

Download Typestyler, still the Ultimate Styling Tool for Internet, Print and Video Graphics. Works great in Classic with a Native OS X Version on the way. Free Tryout: www.typestyler.com

LA Computer Company: Specials on AppleCare, iMac's, Apple Batteries and Apple A/C Adapters. Also Great prices on Used Apple Computers. Call 1-800-941-7654 Click Here.

Mac users can finally play Party Poker for Mac. Not only that, they can also learn how to play PokerStars for Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, laptops, and LCD TVs side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for a new cell phone GPS products or MP3 players. The Ciao network makes searching products easy for you.

Power Macintosh

Power Macintosh G5

Power Macintosh G5 (2003)

The World's Fastest Personal Computer

Overview

The Power Mac G5 was introduced on June 23, 2003 - the same day Intel officially unveiled the 3.2 GHz Pentium4. In terms of clock speed, that means Intel had a 6.7% speed bump the same day that Apple announced a 40% improvement (from 1.42 GHz to 2.0 GHz).

Specs are those "accidentally leaked" on Apple's site the previous Thursday. Apple is using the 64-bit PowerPC 970 processor from IBM, since Motorola abandoned their G5 development plans long ago. The PPC 970 is based on the same core as IBM's supercomputers.

Both the Power Mac G5 and the PowerPC 970 CPU were designed from the ground up to support symmetric multiprocessing (processing using two or more CPUs). The PPC 970 uses the same Velocity Engine instructions as Motorola's G4 processor, and it's fully compatible with existing 32-bit software.

The motherboard architecture uses the new HyperTransport technology. System memory is so fast (400 MHz on an 800 MHz to 1.0 GHz bus) that there's no need for a level 3 cache.

New to Apple are Serial ATA for internal hard drives, which supports up to 1.5 GBps bandwidth, and USB 2.0, which will give Mac users full speed access to some of the wonderful USB 2.0 peripherals developed over the past year or so. The Power Mac G5 also adopts the new twice-as-fast AGP 8x bus for video cards.

One headphone jack, USB 2.0 port, and FireWire port are located on the front of the G5 for easy access.

The G5 is in a new aluminum enclosure that's vented in the front and back. The case includes four thermal G5 cooling systemzones and 9 fans to handle cooling, each independently controlled for speed. Apple claims the Power Mac G5 is "twice as quiet" as the Power Mac G4. The case is a bit taller and slightly narrower than the Power Mac G4 and just a little deeper. It's also nearly 3 pounds lighter.

The single CPU 1.8 GHz model was discontinued and replaced by a dual processor model selling for $100 more 2003.11.18. This model provides 90% of the raw horsepower of the 2.0 GHz model at 87% the price, making it a better value for those who don't need that last 10% of speed.

Note that the 1.6 GHz model is one of Apple's entry-level G5s, which means it uses 33 MHz PCI slots instead of 100/133 MHz PCI-X, has 4 memory slots instead of 8, and uses a 450W power supply instead of 600W.

You should have the most recent firmware installed in your Power Mac G5. The newest version is Power Mac G5 Uniprocessor Firmware Update 5.1.5f2, which is only for 1.6 GHz G5 Power Macs. Apple recommends removing any third-party RAM before installing this firmware update.

Power Mac G5 Reliability

Reliability ratings are based on statistics compiled by MacInTouch in June 2006, at which time the dual-core Power Mac G5 models had only been on the market for 8 months. Letter grades are based on failure rate: A = 0-6%, B = 7-12%, C = 13-18%, D = 19-24%, and F = 25% or higher. We also note the two components that failed most often.

  • G5/1.6 single (June 2003), D- (24%, logicboard, hard drive)
  • G5/1.8 single (June 2003), D+ (19%, logicboard, video card)
  • G5/2.0 dual (June 2003), F (32%, video card, logicboard)

In each generation, except for the final dual-core one, the fastest model is the least reliable, while the second-fastest is the most reliable. Logicboards are the most expensive component to repair, followed by the power supply. Hard drives, optical drives, video cards, and RAM can be replaced inexpensively using third-party components.

The Upgrade Box

Details

Accelerators & Upgrades

Online Resources

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2009 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
  LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
  Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
  Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
  PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
  Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.


Have a question?
Ask an expert!

Navigation

Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Video Cards
Email Lists
InfoMac's Low
End Mac Forum

Favorite Sites

MacSurfer
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
   Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
   Mac FAQ
Abandonware
   Petition
Mac vs. PC Info

Affiliates

The Apple Store
Mac Connection
MacMall
TechRestore
MacResQ
ExperCom
Crucial Memory
batteries.com

Advertise

All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For price quotes and advertising information, please contact at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Open Link

Problems viewing this page with Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6? It works fine in other browsers, including IE 7. We recommend Firefox for those using Windows, as it is standards based and more secure than IE 6 (and earlier). More LEM visitors use Firefox than any other browser.