My Powermac G5 Project Thread

[eddjedi]

I took your advice and found a pair of 2GB RAM sticks. I didn't realise it was ECC memory when I bought it (rookie mistake, didn't spot the extra chip) but I was pleasantly surprised to find the 2005 G5 in fact supports ECC memory!

Is there any truth in it being noticeably slower than non-ECC memory? Just wondering if it's worth continuing to fill it with ECC memory, or starting again with non-ECC (I read it's not wise to mix both types)

 

[Doq]

You'd be hard-pressed to notice the difference between standard and ECC memory, so you can continue with ECC as you are.

Just make sure you don't accidentally buy fully buffered DIMMs; they will not fit.

 

[eddjedi]

Is it normal for it to take longer to boot with ECC memory installed? I've just noticed today that after the chime I get a black screen for around 30 seconds, then the usual white screen and Apple logo. It feels slower than it used to be to boot, but all seems fine once it's running.

 

[eddjedi]

This G5 seems to be running cooler than the previous one, this is after being on for two hours. I want to fully strip it and redo the thermal paste anyway because the insides were very dusty when I got it, I cleaned everywhere I could but there must still be a lot of dust in the areas I can't reach without disassembly. But this gives me some confidence it's not urgent?

 

[eddjedi]

A few nice upgrades today, I picked up an NVIDIA 6600 from eBay to replace the LE card it originally came with, which doubles my video memory to 256MB. I also found an Atlona Dual Link DVI converter for a good price (£15 GBP) and I can now run a full screen resolution that my Mateview monitor supports natively, so thanks for the tip on that. And finally I found a further 6GB of ECC memory, taking the total up to 10GB. It seems to be much less plentiful than non-ECC memory so might take me a while to max out, but 10GB is plenty for now.





And here's a photo of it connected to my Mateview, and Yamaha speakers via the Arturia USB audio interface. I could honestly almost daily drive this thing if the web browser support was a bit better, it runs like a dream for everything else. What a machine, they don't make computers like this any more.

 

[eddjedi]

I was struggling to find 2GB sticks of ECC RAM at the correct speed, so bought some PC2-6400 sticks instead as I read that they would be down-clocked to match the other memory. They are working but recognised as PC2-3200, so 50% of the rated speed, is this just a bug with System Profiler or will all my memory be running at that slower speed?

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

I was struggling to find 2GB sticks of ECC RAM at the correct speed, so bought some PC2-6400 sticks instead as I read that they would be down-clocked to match the other memory. They are working but recognised as PC2-3200, so 50% of the rated speed, is this just a bug with System Profiler or will all my memory be running at that slower speed?

View attachment 2644410

I don’t think this is syspref glitching. I think the memory controller is forcing the pc24200 to 3200 because the faster pc26400 ram can’t remap its spd table down to match at 4200 for some reason but it can at 3200, so it’s forcing all sticks to run at 3200 which it thinks is the safest, stable operational baseline for the system that won’t crash or hang.

That’s my guess anyhow.

It would be neat to see xbench benchmarks with the mixed ram at lower frequency vs the 4200 alone at higher frequency. I wonder if there is any noticeable real world impact in graphical snappiness in the desktop or in an era game like Q3A or UT with the down clocked mixed ram?

A few nice upgrades today, I picked up an NVIDIA 6600 from eBay to replace the LE card it originally came with, which doubles my video memory to 256MB. I also found an Atlona Dual Link DVI converter for a good price (£15 GBP) and I can now run a full screen resolution that my Mateview monitor supports natively, so thanks for the tip on that. And finally I found a further 6GB of ECC memory, taking the total up to 10GB. It seems to be much less plentiful than non-ECC memory so might take me a while to max out, but 10GB is plenty for now.

View attachment 2631392

View attachment 2631393

And here's a photo of it connected to my Mateview, and Yamaha speakers via the Arturia USB audio interface. I could honestly almost daily drive this thing if the web browser support was a bit better, it runs like a dream for everything else. What a machine, they don't make computers like this any more.

View attachment 2631394

Man, that’s a sweet looking setup 🙂 It turned out really nice! As far as modern browser, per the dev, PPC PowerFox should be getting a very modern jit update if it hasn’t already that should bring added functionality making it a very modern browser for our very old powermacs lol. Give the latest release a shot if you haven’t.

 

[Amethyst1]

A few nice upgrades today, I picked up an NVIDIA 6600 from eBay to replace the LE card it originally came with, which doubles my video memory to 256MB. I also found an Atlona Dual Link DVI converter for a good price (£15 GBP) and I can now run a full screen resolution that my Mateview monitor supports natively, so thanks for the tip on that.

How did I miss that? That looks awesome. 🙂
I know you said previously that SwitchResX didn't want to work for you but if you fancy giving it another go: the Atlona AT-DP400 can do up to 267 MHz pixel clock reliably according to my testing. This is enough for e.g. 2460×1640 at 60 Hz using CVT-RB timings (using CVT-RB v2 with its tighter blanking intervals can give you a little more resolution).
The Atlona starts glitching at higher pixel clocks: flashing green dots appear on the screen, with the number of them increasing as the pixel clock increases.

Can the display support either of those from DisplayPort or HDMI?

My testing revealed the MateView will not go lower than 25 Hz via DisplayPort. I didn't test HDMI.

But ideally I want 1920 x 1280 as that's the native standard DPI resolution for this monitor, but any higher resolutions result in this squashed screen:

That's the result of the OS pushing a dual-link DVI signal (>165 MHz) over a single-link DVI/HDMI connection.

It definitely is possible to drive a 4k display, you just need an active converter like the Atlona DP400:

Or use a 4K monitor that supports a very low refresh rate. 18.9 Hz (164.5 MHz pixel clock using CVT-RB) is possible via single-link DVI.

 

[retta283]

That monitor... I must have one. Are you located in the US/Canada, and if so, where did you buy one? I understand that many Huawei products are banned in the US, but I don't get why a monitor would be included in that, strange...

 

[Amethyst1]

The DP400 is basically your only option though but rebrands exist and nobody seems to know the original exists at all to be honest.

The Dr. Bott Digital Video Link DL is a clone of the Atlona AT-DP400.
The Gefen GTV-DVIDL-2-MDP mentioned by @joevt is better because it doesn't glitch at >267 MHz pixel clock.

So nobody has managed to get the specified max resolution "natively" without an adapter? As the below states it should be able to do more than 1440p out of the box using the dual link output.

Two things to consider:

• You need a monitor with a dual-link DVI input (or an active adapter) to properly handle this signal. HDMI in any shape or form doesn't cut it, and DVI-to-DP adapters limited to single-link (such as the Atlona AT-DP200) don't cut it either.
• Single-link DVI goes up to 165 MHz pixel clock. Dual-link DVI kicks in above that (at least on the G5). If you reduce the refresh rate to stay below that limit, you can run e.g. 2560×1600 or even higher resolutions just fine, assuming your monitor can handle lower refresh rates.

As far as I'm know, active DVI-DL to HDMI 1.4+ converters do not exist. So an active DVI-DL to DisplayPort converter is your only option if you do not own a DVI-DL monitor.

Correct. Theoretically you could daisy-chain an avtive DP-to-HDMI adapter to it and go DVI-DL-to-HDMI that way but I haven't tested this route yet, nor would I trust that contraption. 🙂

 

[Amethyst1]

That monitor... I must have one.

What machines would you be using the MateView with? I've done extensive testing when I had mine (also documented in these forums) so might be able to give a few tips. 😉 -- The BenQ RD280U is the same size, resolution and aspect ratio and seems to be available in the US.

I understand that many Huawei products are banned in the US, but I don't get why a monitor would be included in that, strange...

This is pure speculation on my part but the regular "non-wireless" version of the MateView runs some form of Android per the EULA and has Bluetooth and WLAN. Perhaps that is the reason?

 

[retta283]

What machines would you be using the MateView with? I've done extensive testing when I had mine (also documented in these forums) so might be able to give a few tips. 😉 -- The BenQ RD280U is the same size, resolution and aspect ratio and seems to be available in the US.


This is pure speculation on my part but the regular "non-wireless" version of the MateView runs some form of Android per the EULA and has Bluetooth and WLAN. Perhaps that is the reason?

That very well may be why. The BenQ is probably a better option.

I am a bit confused about the implications of the 4K resolution on old Macs and what I would be able to run at. If 1920x1280 would work over DisplayPort that would be more than sufficient as I would only use it with 2009 and later Mac minis. As long as it looks like native resolution even if low PPI. Otherwise it would get used with my M4 MBP and my Windows machine which both will have no issue with 4K.

 

[joevt]

I was struggling to find 2GB sticks of ECC RAM at the correct speed, so bought some PC2-6400 sticks instead as I read that they would be down-clocked to match the other memory. They are working but recognised as PC2-3200, so 50% of the rated speed, is this just a bug with System Profiler or will all my memory be running at that slower speed?

View attachment 2644410

Use decode-dimm to get info about the DIMMs.
https://68kmla.org/bb/threads/g4-mdd-ram-recognised-at-wrong-size.52427/post-595577
It should be able to list all the supported timings.
That thread has methods for getting the SPD data for each DIMM (reading from i2c to get the info directly or get-package-property if the info was captured in the device tree). If the SPD info is captured in the device tree, then you can dump the I/O registry in Mac OS X to get that info.

ioreg -ilw0 > ioreg_g5.txt

 

[eddjedi]

That monitor... I must have one. Are you located in the US/Canada, and if so, where did you buy one? I understand that many Huawei products are banned in the US, but I don't get why a monitor would be included in that, strange...

No sorry I'm in the UK, also this monitor is 5 years old now so as someone else posted there is probably a more modern equivalent with similar specs. One of the best things about it is it has built in Bluetooth, so my mouse and keyboard are paired to the monitor rather than the computer so any computer attached to it via USB C automatically picks up the mouse and keyboard with no faffing. I haven't seen another monitor that does this. Sadly doesn't work for the G5 though as it doesn't take USB C.

 

[eddjedi]

Thanks all, yes I'll have to try and do some benchmarking for the RAM, I imagine that for a computer this old less faster RAM is probably better than more slower RAM? In which case I might take the new stuff out and keep looking. It was only £12 for 8GB, amazing considering how expensive new RAM is these days!