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Which would you choose? - Powermac specs...

A

arcsbite

Guest
Original poster
Jan 14, 2006
749
1
ok, which of these 2 machines would you recommend and why (I'm learning more and more about powermacs daily here!)

contestant no.1

Apple certified refurb
Dual 2.7GHz PowerPC G5
1.35GHz frontside bus per processor
512K L2 cache per processor
512MB DDR400 SDRAM
Expandable to 8GB SDRAM
250GB Serial ATA
16x SuperDrive (double-layer)
Three PCI-X Slots256MB DDR video memory

Price - 1,399.31

contestant no.2

None Refurb - New
Dual-core 2.3GHz PowerPC G5 processor
1.15GHz frontside bus per processor
1MB L2 cache per core
512MB memory (533MHz DDR2 SDRAM)
250GB Serial ATA hard drive
16x SuperDrive (double-layer)
Three open PCI-Express expansion slots
NVIDIA GeForce 6600 with 256MB GDDR SDRAM

Price - 1,749.00
 
Benjamindaines said:
4 processors, PCI Express (faster), 1MB L2 cache, and you can pack it with a lot more memory (that last one may not apply to you if you're not going for Pro level video editing in the future.
Click to expand...

so i'm guessing Dual 2.7 and Dual Core 2.5 are different?
I mean other than the obvious 0.2Ghz
I thought they were both Dual processors and therefore the 2.7 would be faster.
I have no idea what the cache is all about though lol
 
Benjamindaines said:
The 2.7 only has 2 processors and the quad has 4 so add everything together the Quad will be faster and more powerful.
Click to expand...

ummm...the Quad isn't in the list :confused:
 
arcsbite said:
ummm...the Quad isn't in the list :confused:
Click to expand...
Wow, talk about a long day, I completely read that wrong. Disregard everything I've said, I would go with the 2.7 but the only problem you might run into is that it doesn't have PCI Express and that seems to be what Apple is really backing now.
 
Benjamindaines said:
Wow, talk about a long day, I completely read that wrong.
Click to expand...

LOL, don't worry about it.
I was re reading my post over and over again to check, I was convinced that the 2.7GHz was a great deal but seemed too good to be true, so when you mentioned taking the 2.5 I was like "Oohhh I did miss something"
 
Id take number 2 also. it will retain its value longer and it also has faster memory and PCI slots.
 
macEfan said:
Id take number 2 also. it will retain its value longer and it also has faster memory and PCI slots.
Click to expand...

:confused:

so faster memory is better than faster processors?
 
If you can afford either one then I'd definitely go with the second option.

The dual core 2.3 will stack up nicely against the dual cpu 2.7. The faster memory on the dual core 2.3 will help you out as well. The only thing the 2.7 has over it is the faster bus speed, but it's not a lot. Also the PCI-Express expansion slots will be nice for future expansion, if needed.

Not to mention the dual core 2.3 is brand new and will hold it's value better.

And just to clear it up, if you don't already know, "dual-core" is actually one physical processor but it has two cores, so it's a dual. The 2.7 dual is two actual processors, both with single cores. Make sense? ;)
 
Real issue

If you go to www.barefeats.com you will find that the 2.7 holds it's own against the DC models except the Quad of course. The real issue is the PCI Express slots. Now most PCI-E cards are expensive at this time, but the a PCI-E video cards will be faster along with anything PCI-E. However, the top ATI card available for Mac is PCI-X at the moment which most mac gamers have. Of course there are two NVIDIA PCI-E cards that are awesome for the DC models. It all depends on your budget I guess. The 2.7 Proccesor wise is faster and is very expandable at a lower cost than the DC 2.3. As far as the memory goes...How much extensive multi-tasking will you be doing and what apps? Most Pro's are very happy with the 2.7 and would only go for the Quad for an upgrade.
 
evilgEEk said:
If you can afford either one then I'd definitely go with the second option.

The dual core 2.3 will stack up nicely against the dual cpu 2.7. The faster memory on the dual core 2.3 will help you out as well. The only thing the 2.7 has over it is the faster bus speed, but it's not a lot. Also the PCI-Express expansion slots will be nice for future expansion, if needed.

Not to mention the dual core 2.3 is brand new and will hold it's value better.

And just to clear it up, if you don't already know, "dual-core" is actually one physical processor but it has two cores, so it's a dual. The 2.7 dual is two actual processors, both with single cores. Make sense? ;)
Click to expand...

it makes sense, thanks!
so...i'm guessing that one processor with 2 cores can work smoother together than 2 seperate processors.

wow...think I have to look further into this.
 
Technically it is supposed to run cooler, but it the case of the DC G5's it wasn't much and Apple didn't redesign the case anyway. The 2.7 uses liquid cooling, however not sure about the DC. I imagine they don't.
 
As far as speed goes, the 2.7GHz DP Power Mac G5 will be faster. While the 2.3GHz DC Power Mac G5 does have faster RAM (533MHz vs. 400MHz) DDR-2 has a higher latency than regular DDR. That said, the 2.3GHz DC model does offer PCI-Express.

I suppose that I would go for the 2.7GHz DP Power Mac G5.- but it really is a toss up. Either way you go, you will get one heck of a computer! :)
 
asencif said:
Technically it is supposed to run cooler, but it the case of the DC G5's it wasn't much and Apple didn't redesign the case anyway. The 2.7 uses liquid cooling, however not sure about the DC. I imagine they don't.
Click to expand...

The 2.3GHz DC Power Mac G5s are air(fan) cooled.
 
I would go with #2 since it's an updated G5.

But the real issue is, what are you going to do with this machine? Photo editing? Making movies?
 
Eevee said:
I would go with #2 since it's an updated G5.

But the real issue is, what are you going to do with this machine? Photo editing? Making movies?
Click to expand...

I'll be using it for my multimedia course, so pretty much all of the above.
a lot of Photo Shop and Final Cut to start with
 
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