Our Leopard Group is for those using Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.6.Our Tiger Group is for those using Mac OS X 10.4.Our Mac OS 9 Group is for those using Mac OS 9, either natively or in Classic Mode.Got a G3, G4, or G5 Power Mac? Join G-List.Hard drives, optical drives, video cards, and RAM can be replaced inexpensively using third-party components. Logicboards are the most expensive component to repair, followed by the power supply. In each generation, except for the final dual-core one, the fastest model is the least reliable, while the second-fastest is the most reliable. We also note the two components that failed most often. Reliability ratings are based on statistics compiled by MacInTouch in June 2006, at which time the dual-core Power Mac G5 models had only been on the market for 8 months.
Note that the 2.0 GHz model is one of Apple’s entry-level G5s, which means it uses 33 MHz PCI slots instead of 133 MHz PCI-X and has 4 memory slots instead of 8.
The 2.7 GHz model uses a liquid cooling system to keep the CPU from overheating. The case includes four thermal zones and nine fans to handle cooling, each independently controlled for speed. The G5 uses an aluminum enclosure that’s vented in the front and back. System memory is so fast (400 MHz RAM on a 1.0 to 1.35 GHz bus) that Apple doesn’t bother with a level 3 cache.Ī headphone jack, a USB 2.0 port, and a FireWire 400 port are located on the front of the G5 for easy access. The motherboard architecture uses HyperTransport technology. PCI-X slots and an 8 GB RAM ceiling in the faster G5s. The once-standard internal modem is now a build-to-order option.Īs before, the entry level model uses 64-bit PCI slots and only supports up to 4 GB of RAM vs. 8x in last year’s model), larger hard drives, improved graphics cards, twice as much video memory, and Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger preinstalled. Improvements for 2005 include a 16x SuperDrive (vs. It’s nice to see Apple squeeze nearly 10% more speed from the G5 – and sad that Apple still can’t deliver the 3.0 GHz G5 that it promised “within a year” when the first Power Mac G5 was introduced. Making haste slowly, Apple has moved the fastest Power Mac G5 from 2.0 GHz CPUs in 2003 to 2.5 GHz in 2004, and now to 2.7 GHz in 2005.