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Powermac G5 questions...

kingcrowing

kingcrowing

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 24, 2004
718
0
Burlington, VT
I'm going to be buying a new computer in the next week or two, 1 option is a new iMac G5 (17" or 20" depending on if i sell my iBook), a 15" Powerbook if the suposed upgrades of the 19th pan out to be good and if i sell my iBook.
My last option is a dual 2.0GHz powermac G5 (new from apple). I would use a dell 17" CRT that i have for a monitor that does 1600x1200, which isn't ideal, but the dual processors would kick butt. My 1 concern is noise, i know the iMac is almost completly silent, and my iBook makes no noise at all, but i've had both a B&W G3, and i've had two different Quicksilvers, and i know that the MDDs were loud too. I loved all of them, but they were just so noisey. I wantd to know if these new G5s were any different? I'm goign to be using it in my room and it will be on or asleep all of the time, so i want it to be as quiet as possible, thanks a lot!
 
velocityg4

velocityg4

macrumors 604
Dec 19, 2004
7,336
4,726
Georgia
The dual 2.0 is only noisy when your using it. I had a digital audio g4 and I must say that this G5 is much quieter. The only time it gets louder is when doing processor intensive tasks, such as video editing. When it is under light load it is rather quiet and when it is in sleep mode the G5 is dead silent. Hope this helps. Oh, if you get the G5 add a gig of RAM even for daily tasks it makes a huge difference in speed, 512mb is just a joke.
 
B

benwa02

macrumors 6502
Dec 6, 2004
288
0
velocityg4 said:
The dual 2.0 is only noisy when your using it. I had a digital audio g4 and I must say that this G5 is much quieter. The only time it gets louder is when doing processor intensive tasks, such as video editing. When it is under light load it is rather quiet and when it is in sleep mode the G5 is dead silent. Hope this helps. Oh, if you get the G5 add a gig of RAM even for daily tasks it makes a huge difference in speed, 512mb is just a joke.
Click to expand...

Same Opinion.

I have a Dual 1.8, 1.25GB RAM
 
risc

risc

macrumors 68030
Jul 23, 2004
2,756
0
Melbourne, Australia
In the time I've owned a Power Mac Dual G5 it has been quiet all of the time. The only time I've heard the fans ramp up to full speed is when I've been in single user mode, and have walked off and forgot about it.
 
P

p0intblank

macrumors 68030
Sep 20, 2005
2,548
2
New Jersey
I've played around with them in stores and they are super quiet. I have never done anything intensive with them since I only did Web browsing, but I intend on getting one soon for in my room. It'd be a hell of a lot quieter than my PC rig, that's for sure! :)
 
I

iEdd

macrumors 68000
Aug 8, 2005
1,956
4
With my dual 2.0, playing music quietly in the background makes it impossible to hear the fans running. When I don't have music, I hear a very quiet whirr sometimes, but the fans are not loud at all.
 
FFTT

FFTT

macrumors 68030
Apr 17, 2004
2,952
1
A Stoned Throw From Ground Zero
I would not buy the newer Rev C dual 2.0.

When the newest models are revealed, I would wait for the price drop on
a new 2.3 ( that day ) or see what the newest models offer.

The Rev C 2.0 uses the crippled prosumer motherboard with only 4 DIMM slots and basic PCI 33Hhz expansion sots.

The Rev C 2.3 is a full PRO Apple with the 8 DIMM slots and 133MHz PCI-X
expansion slots.

The predicted newest models will change over to DDR2 RAM and offer 16X PCI-express which doubles the GPU bandwidth over the current 8X AGP buss.

One possible drawback to the predicted update is that they may only offer
4 DIMM slots forcing the buyer to use extremely expensive DDR2 single 2 GB DIMMs if your configuration needs a total of 8 GB RAM.

The older 8X PCI-X is still a good standard with many good GPU cards available.
Unfortunately you won't be able to transfer a high end PCI-X card over to
a new PCI-e machine.

I would expect to see at least a $300 price reduction if not more
on the current dual 2.3 in the coming weeks.

I would wait till then and consider my alternatives knowing all my options.

If you have a very limited budget, you can also try to find a used of refurbed Rev B dual 2.0.

Model VPN-M9455LL/A

This model is still highly sought after because unlike the Rev C, it offers the full PRO motherboard and PCI-X and you should be able to find one for $1649 or less.
 
Brize

Brize

macrumors 6502a
Jun 13, 2004
732
0
Europe
My Dual 2.0 is whisper silent when idle and under light use. It obviously gets louder when running intensive processes, but nothing annoying or off-putting.

I did have a problem with fan noise on a very hot day last summer when the fans kept kicking in at full blast, presumably to cope with the increase in ambient temperature. Other than that, this has been the quietest computer I've owned by far.
 
Lucky8

Lucky8

macrumors regular
May 18, 2005
218
0
My Dual 1.8 PM G5 was dead silent like it wasn't even powered on except when I was playing WOW in full mode, I heard this cricket noise. But I think that was normal.
 
drlunanerd

drlunanerd

macrumors 68000
Feb 14, 2004
1,698
178
FFTT said:
The Rev C 2.0 uses the crippled prosumer motherboard with only 4 DIMM slots and basic PCI 33Hhz expansion sots.

The Rev C 2.3 is a full PRO Apple with the 8 DIMM slots and 133MHz PCI-X
expansion slots.

The older 8X PCI-X is still a good standard with many good GPU cards available.
Click to expand...

You mean AGP GPU cards surely?

The Rev. C 2GHz is nowhere near as crippled as the Late 2004 1.8GHz PM, which really was a POS and poor value, being based on the iMac mobo. PCI-X is dead in the water now; unless you have specific PCI-X cards you need to use it's not worth paying the extra over any deal you might find on a non-PCI-X model. Ditto for DIMM slots - if you don't have the need or dough for 8GB why pay for it upfront.
 
FFTT

FFTT

macrumors 68030
Apr 17, 2004
2,952
1
A Stoned Throw From Ground Zero
The 2005 Rev "C "dually 2.0 G5 uses the same motherboard as the previous 2004 dual 1.8 G5 4 DIMMs and standard 33Mhz PCI expanson. AGP

The 2004 Rev "B" dual 2.0 is your best buy in a used or refurbed machine.
That Pro 8 DIMM motherboard with PCI-X is still the best option
if you're on a tight budget, but want a fast and very well proven machine.

The 16X dual layer burner and 128 MB GPU in the newer Rev "C" dual 2.0
are nice frills but you sacrifice expandibility for those easy to replace features.

If you still want the best features possible for the money
the dual 2.3 G5 is the sweet spot once the prices drop.

If you absolutey want the cutting edge machine and are able to pay
for that important update, WAIT till the new machines are available and go for it.
 
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