A few questions

[dwd3885]

So the refurbed PowerMac Dual 2ghz G5 I bought a few weeks ago is acting up. Just those annoying chirps, crickets, etc sounds that is all too regular in these machines.

The NAP thing is a possibility, but I feel like I shouldn't have to do that to get a computer without flaws like this. And it cannot be fixed with power supply, etc, so I am either going to return it or sell it on ebay to a user who doesn't mind the chirping.

Which means I am back in the market. It is either the Dual Core 2ghz PowerMac or the latest 20" iMac with iSight. Now, with edu discount it is only a $200 difference in price, but I already have the Dell 2005FPW monitor. I could keep it, or sell it if i get the iMac and save $300 more dollars. So the difference between machines is roughly $500. I am upgrading the RAM in both machines by purchasing a gig aftermarket.

I love the possibility of upgradability in the PowerMac and the dual core. In the iMac I would get a cheaper system and a bigger hard drive, bluetooth and Airport Extreme, which the latter two don't really matter to me. I don't care about the isight or front row.

I am a student in the digital media field that does web design, photo editing, lots of audio mixing and editing. And just a bit of video things like encoding and such. I am not a professional obviously, but it'd be nice to have a better system.

I also want this one to last a while. By a while, I am meaning 3-4 years. That probably has a big influence on what I get. I can't go around making $2000 purchases every year!

Thanks for the help and I understand if this gets not much response, being Christmas and all.

Merry Christmas! God Bless!

 

[kingcrowing]

if you like doing editing of any sort and you plan on using it for 3-4 years, I'd say go dual core, things will change a lot, and you've got a lot of room to grow, up to 1TB of HD space, 16GB of RAM, 512MB Graphics card... grandted thats still gonna be expensive in 3 years, it'll def be a more fiesable option then. and you've already got a nice 20" display so you might as well keep it, and then later on you could get another 2nd display if you need it

 

[840quadra]

Chirps and crickets ?

Honestly I am not sure that you will get away with that in a Dual Core model. My friends Dual core 2.3 makes the same sounds as my Dual 2.0, and they are really not that bad on either system. You must either have an overly vocal G5, something else going on, or you are too picky (sorry). Are you just now wishing for better more current components then what you purchased in your G5, or is this a truly serious issue that is bothering you?

Regardless of the true reason why you are dropping your G5, if you were going to go new, I would strongly recommend a Powermac again. For the type of work you are going to be doing, Dual cores (or processors) will give you more horsepower for doing Graphical and Video work, the other advantages include more space for upgrades, and the ability to run multiple displays with more ease.

Hope your holiday is going well

 

[dwd3885]

Chirps and crickets ?

Honestly I am not sure that you will get away with that in a Dual Core model. My friends Dual core 2.3 makes the same sounds as my Dual 2.0, and they are really not that bad on either system. You must either have an overly vocal G5, something else going on, or you are too picky (sorry). Are you just now wishing for better more current components then what you purchased in your G5, or is this a truly serious issue that is bothering you?

Regardless of the true reason why you are dropping your G5, if you were going to go new, I would strongly recommend a Powermac again. For the type of work you are going to be doing, Dual cores (or processors) will give you more horsepower for doing Graphical and Video work, the other advantages include more space for upgrades, and the ability to run multiple displays with more ease.

Hope your holiday is going well

The sound is really annoying! I cannot stand it. And then I was thinking again about how if I really want to keep this machine and upgrade the graphics and such, AGP won't have any new cards coming to it in the future, so I would need PCI-Express. That is really the only other reason. I am upgrading my card anyway, because I have the 5200 64mb vid card and it stinks!

Another thing is that I'd like a tv tuner and the alchemytv is only for pci/pci-x, so that would be something i would sacrifice if i got the new dual core, since pci express isn't compatible with this card.

TO be honest though, if it wasn't for the noise, i wouldn't have started to consider it, but it occurs when I view quicktime video and everything.

 

[dwd3885]

Chirps and crickets ?

Honestly I am not sure that you will get away with that in a Dual Core model. My friends Dual core 2.3 makes the same sounds as my Dual 2.0, and they are really not that bad on either system. You must either have an overly vocal G5, something else going on, or you are too picky (sorry). Are you just now wishing for better more current components then what you purchased in your G5, or is this a truly serious issue that is bothering you?

Do you think I'd be able to find a good AGP card 3-4 years down the line? Or would the 9800 Pro be able to last me 3-4 years? I bet it might be able to. If it can, and the noises stop somehow, I think I'll keep the Dual Processor. Even though upgrading to the Radeon is going to cost 170, which puts me at 1620. With just a 170 difference to the new Dual Cores.

If the price differences were that close, which one shall it be?