Dual 2.0 GHz G5 *** or *** Dual 2.7 GHz G5 ?

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
I'm oscillating between the new dual 2.0 GHz G5 and the dual 2.7 GHz G5, to replace my almost three years old dual 867 MHz G4. I can afford the 2.7 GHz, but I'm afraid this one will be overkill and I much prefer to save a full 1200$CAN.



To make a precise comparison, here's what I have right now :



Dual 867 MHz G4,

1.5 GB ram,

60 GB HD (30 GB used only),

ATI Radeon 9800Pro video card (128 MB vram),

CD RW - DVD R,

Apple 17" LCD.



I'll take one of those two systems :



Dual 2.0 GHz G5,

2.5 GB ram

160 GB HD

ATI Radeon 9600 (128 MB vram)

CD RW - DVD RW

Apple 20" LCD.



or :



Dual 2.7 GHz G5,

2.5 GB ram

250 GB HD

ATI Radeon 9650 (256 MB vram)

CD RW - DVD RW

Apple 20" LCD.



I'm NOT interested in the 2.3 GHz dual, because the 600$CAN difference (relative to the 2.0 GHz system) isn't worth the small speed diff and the extra space on the HD, IMO.



I do not do any video editing. I'm using the computer for these tasks :



? Word processing (of course, this is minimal)

? eMail and a lot of Internet surfing

? play some games, especially Quake3

? vector drawings for scientific illustrations

? Pictures manipulations with Photoshop

? 3D modeling

? I'm using some heavy Open-GL apps, like Celestia, which are using A LOT of large textures mapped on large complicated 3D models, with live bump mappings, shadows, etc... so real time video card performances are a big concern to me.



Most of the time, I have a dozen of apps all running at the same time, and I hate to death lags and that annoying beach ball, that I'm experiencing too often for my taste on my dual 867 MHz G4.



So in your opinion, what system should I get ? Is the dual 2.0 GHz G5 enough ?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 13
    kwsanderskwsanders Posts: 327member
    I went back and forth between the 2.0 and 2.3 dual G5 systems for about a week before I finally decided on the dual 2.0 system. I do not see the need for PCI-X for myself. As you mentioned, the little speed increase and extra drive space was not worth the $500 or so (USD in my case). I decided to apply that money difference to the 20" Cinema display to go with it instead.
  • Reply 2 of 13
    kalikali Posts: 634member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by kwsanders

    I went back and forth between the 2.0 and 2.3 dual G5 systems for about a week before I finally decided on the dual 2.0 system. I do not see the need for PCI-X for myself. As you mentioned, the little speed increase and extra drive space was not worth the $500 or so (USD in my case). I decided to apply that money difference to the 20" Cinema display to go with it instead.



    Did you tried both computers ? What about the speed differences and overall feel ?



    What may be the uses of PCI-X ?
  • Reply 3 of 13
    kwsanderskwsanders Posts: 327member
    I tried a dual 2.0 GHz system at my local CompUSA store. We do not have an Apple Store here in my area.



    I really liked the feel of the 2.0 GHz system. I was reading a few things about PCI-X and figured that I would probably not be needing it. Someone stated that PCI-X on a non-server machine is a waste. I don't know about that, but all I found for its uses was high-end video capture cards and some high-speed storage devices.



    I went with the lower priced system.
  • Reply 4 of 13
    kalikali Posts: 634member
    What was your previous system ? How can you compare it with your new one ? Please, tell me more about your systems features (video card, memory, etc).
  • Reply 5 of 13
    xoolxool Posts: 2,460member
    What about getting the 2.0 system but with a better graphics card?



    I have a rev a 2.0 system and wonder when I'll need to replace it. Sure, there will always be faster equipment, but this box is doing great and it's already a year and a half old. This may be the first computer I'm not dying to replace after 3-4 years.
  • Reply 6 of 13
    kalikali Posts: 634member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Xool

    What about getting the 2.0 system but with a better graphics card?



    I have a rev a 2.0 system and wonder when I'll need to replace it. Sure, there will always be faster equipment, but this box is doing great and it's already a year and a half old. This may be the first computer I'm not dying to replace after 3-4 years.




    Please, tell me more about it. What are the specs ? What was your previous sytem ? Any comments on comparisons ?
  • Reply 7 of 13
    the cool gutthe cool gut Posts: 1,714member
    It's too bad you can't get to a reseller that has both you can try. I went to mine and tried both - I definately got the sense that the 2.7 had an edge over the 2.0 - based mostly on Spotlight performance. But is it worth the 1200? Thats a tough call. My only hesitation with the 2.7 is liquid cooling. If you go with the 2.0 you should definitely give the graphics card a bump.



    The 2.7 has been dumped on a lot, because people where expecting more by now, but it is still a 35% increase is clock speed over the 2.0.
  • Reply 8 of 13
    kalikali Posts: 634member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by the cool gut

    It's too bad you can't get to a reseller that has both you can try. I went to mine and tried both - I definately got the sense that the 2.7 had an edge over the 2.0 - based mostly on Spotlight performance. But is it worth the 1200? Thats a tough call. My only hesitation with the 2.7 is liquid cooling. If you go with the 2.0 you should definitely give the graphics card a bump.



    The 2.7 has been dumped on a lot, because people where expecting more by now, but it is still a 35% increase is clock speed over the 2.0.




    I tend to go for the 2.0 GHz. I, too, have some reticences with the liquid cooling thing. I'm not sure with this. I don't need the extra 90 GB, between the 160 GB (on the 2.0 GHz) and the 250 GB (on the 2.7 GHz). In the future, if I really need more HD space (I doubt it), I could buy another HD and add it inside the 2.0 MHz model. Also, about the ATI 9650 video card in the 2.7 GHz, I don't think it's really worth it, despite the memory (256 MB vs 128 MB in the 2.0 GHz). If I get the 2.0 GHz, I'll most probably upgrade the video card with a much better one. And about the PCI-X card, I'm not sure I'll need it, even in the far away future. The only card I may add is a TV-tuner. Any opinion on this ?



    And the 8 GB max memory in the 2.7 GHz, is it really worth it ? With the 2.0 GHz, the max memory is 4 GB (I'll have 2.5 GB). Is this really enough ?
  • Reply 9 of 13
    andrewsandrews Posts: 4member
    How about this.....



    Get a Rev B. 2.0 GHz with the 8 RAM slots and PCI-X. Take your Radeon 9800 Pro and put it into the G5 box - I did exactly this with mine. Then go to http://xlr8yourmac.com/tips/FlashingDVR-117guide.html and flash the Pioneer D117 in the G5 Rev B. to a Pioneer 108 - you'll get 16X DVD-R burning and Dual Layer support.



    This way, you'll have everything the new 2.0GHz has plus the PCI-X and 8 RAM slots.



    Plus, I found the Rev B. 2.0GHz for $100 cheaper than the new (Rev C.) with a free 1GB of RAM included. It's a no brainer...
  • Reply 10 of 13
    kwsanderskwsanders Posts: 327member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Kali

    What was your previous system ? How can you compare it with your new one ? Please, tell me more about your systems features (video card, memory, etc).



    I have never had a Mac before. I have three desktops and two laptops in my home right now. Well, one of the laptops belongs to my wife, but they are all Windows based machines. So, I cannot rightly compare these to any kind of Mac.



    Anyway, my desktop that I am using right now is a home-built machine with an AMD Athlon XP 2000+ (1.67 GHz) CPU, 512 meg of RAM, and a GeForce4 TI-4600 video card with 128 meg of video RAM. It is a nice machine, but the Power Mac will blow it away.



    My personal laptop, which I also use at work every single day, is a Dell Inspiron 8500. It has a 2.4 GHz processor, 1 gig of RAM, and a Hitachi 60 gig 7200 rpm drive. It is a good laptop, but there again, the dual G5 Power Mac is going to blow it away.
  • Reply 11 of 13
    kwsanderskwsanders Posts: 327member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by andrews

    Plus, I found the Rev B. 2.0GHz for $100 cheaper than the new (Rev C.) with a free 1GB of RAM included. It's a no brainer...



    I wish this thread had started and you had posted this before I ordered my new system last week. hahahaha



    Oh well... I am still going to be happy when my system gets here.
  • Reply 12 of 13
    xoolxool Posts: 2,460member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Kali

    Please, tell me more about it. What are the specs ? What was your previous sytem ? Any comments on comparisons ?



    I have a dual 2 GHz tower with 1.5 GB of Ram. It still has the original 9800 Pro OEM 128 MB graphics card. It ordered it with a 160 GB HD but since I have added a second 350 GB drive that is about twice as fast. Installation was a snap, in fact easier than installing the extra 1 GB of ram as I didn't have to remove the processor fans.



    I ordered it with bluetooth since it couldn't be added later. I added airport when I upgrade my old graphite basestation to AirPort Extreme. I have a superdrive, but only recently started to burn DVDs with any frequency. Burned many CDs though.



    I have a 20" Cinema display but the older ADC model. I'm jealous of the new models slim bezel as well as FireWire ports and USB 2.0. I still use my wired keyboard primarily to give me extra, handy USB ports. I generally use the Apple bluetooth mouse.



    Before this I used a Rev A 500 MHz Titanium PowerBook, with 40 GB HD and 768 MB of Ram. Its Rage 128 mobile GPU with 8 MB of VRam has always been its biggest drawback. My previous desktop was a 266 MHz A/V Beige G3 minitower. It was a frankentower with many upgrades over the years.



    This G5 tower has been one of the best systems I've used. When it came out it was top of the line and was definitely speedy. Generally I feel it still is. I'm glad I opted for the better graphics card, as that will help the machine stand the test of time a bit longer.



    Used it with many types of apps as well as to develop my own.



    What more would you like to know?
  • Reply 13 of 13
    kalikali Posts: 634member
    Actually, I'm trying to decide if it's worth to upgrade from my dual 867 MHz G4. I like this system, but I can put it on its knees too often for my taste. I have the beachball too often in Safari, especially after that OS X 10.3.9 upgrade ( ). I run many apps at the same time and the computer is doing a lot of cache swapping, despite its 1.5 GB of ram. Also, the screen (17" LCD) is a bit too small for me. The 20" should be perfect.



    Maybe the solution is to buy the 20" screen, install Tiger, and add more memory ? I'm not sure this is a smart move. The upgrade to G5 may be better. I need to convince myself.
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