What are the advantages of the Dual 2.5 GHz

[Cleveland Brown]

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1205042&Tab=11&NoMapp=0

Just found a nice little deal on the net. If you scroll down, you can read some reviews.

I'm sure it isn't as good as something I'd pay $500 for and may not last as long but for that price I could replace it in a few years with one of the now $500 ones that is on sale for half price because they need to make room for newer models.

[Bryan Roberts]

Cleve - do what you think man, but that monitor worries me. I like to try things out first like from Best Buy etc. and if they don't work out you can always take them back. If they do work out, you could still take it back and find a better deal on an internet vendor. The first 19inch LCD I bought was an LG which I was moderately happy with but then had a chance to see the HS94P Sony and ended up taking back the LG to best buy and traded out for the Sony. Couldn't be happier, but again, it's your call obviously.

[Brandon Greenlee]

Not to bring this post even further off topic, but just to let you know Cleveland - TigerDirect has a very bad reputation for not honoring the rebates - do a google search on it.

I agree with Bryan on the LCD issue too. If you are going to make the LCD leap - save yourself the trouble and get a brand that is known for making good LCD's.

Dell, Samsung, Sony, and Apple are all very respected in this regard.

[Boyd Ostroff]

For what it's worth, I tried three different things between my two machines:

G4/1.25ghz single processor with 1.25GB RAM
G5/2.5ghz dual processor with 2.5GB RAM

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FCP 3 render: I took a 30 second clip, duplicated it, placed one copy above the other and set transparency to 50% then rendered. Used the same 7200 RPM external 300GB disk on both machines. AFAIK, FCP 3 is not multi processor aware, so this should be like comparing a G5 clocked twice as fast as a G4:

G4 - 1:46
G5 - 0:46 (2.3x faster)

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Strata 3d Pro 3.9 render: took a large 47MB 3d model with lots of geometry, multiple light sources and haze effect and rendered with raytracing at 1024x675. This program is multi-processor aware. Both machines used the same external drive as above.

G4 - 8:54
G5 - 2:46 (3.2x faster)

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Bryce 5 render: a 400K Bryce landscape with cloudy skies and moon at 1120x620. Not sure whether Bryce if MP aware. For this test I used each machine's internal boot drive:

G4 - 0:44
G5 - 0:19 (2.3x faster)

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My guess is that Bryce isn't MP aware - interesting that this clocked in with the same speed increase as the FCP test. So nothing really earth shaking here, but it does look like I can save some serious time rendering animations (imagine 30 frames per second with render times of 9 minutes per frame on the G4). I also would expect to see more improvement with a newer version of FCP (assuming it doesn't suffer too much from the bloatware syndrome :-)

[Dean Sensui]

"3. Dean: according to the manual the G5 doesn't just prefer matched pairs of RAM, it's a requirement."

Boyd...

I think that beyond matched pairs, I got the impression that it all works better if ALL the RAM is matched. Maybe not. But I had 'em all match anyhow.

I didn't read the manual but just went ahead and installed the additional RAM. Worked fine. But when I heard of the possible conflict, I pulled the other RAM and just ran two pairs of matched RAM for a total of 4 GB.

Gave the other RAM to an old friend who could really make good use of the upgrade. He's a firefighter (he used to be a fellow news photographer) so maybe someday he'll repay the favor by putting out a fire at my house or saving my mom's life someday.

The interior of the 2.5 dual G5 is very cramped. Forget about installing additional hard drives or anything more than a few PCI cards. A significant portion of the interior space is taken up by the cooling system.

[Cleveland Brown]

I looked up Crucial RAM and here is what I found.

http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.asp?Mfr%2BProductline=Apple%2B+Power+Mac&mfr=Apple&cat=RAM&model=Power+Mac+G5+%28Dual+2.5G Hz+DDR%29&submit=Go

The page is a direct link to what RAM will work with the G5 w/dual 2.5s. There are a few diffences in parameters but my thought is that the very top one on the list will work fine.

If you click on some of the different parameter tabs, you are taken to another page that explains what they are. The only one I didn't understand is what the difference between unbuffered and registered means. Also, if your system can not handle both types at the same time, which type comes with the G5? That would make a huge difference if I accidently got the one it did not already have.

Boyd,

If you could look at that for me I would be more than happy to return the favor sometime. Just go to the link and click on the word unbuffered. You'll see it next to every chip listed.

BTW how do you like Motion?

[Rhett Allen]

Cleve, did you click on the link provided where it says UNBUFFERED? Or perhaps you can try the Crucial Dictionary?
You don't need Registered memory. The page at Crucial tells you exactly what you need.
Basically it puts a buffer on the RAM itself to store information from the rest of the system. You have it on the mainboard so you don't need it, the easiest way to tell is LOOK at your RAM, if you see the horizontal blocks, you have Registered Memory, if not, you don't. The other way to tell is, Registered memory is "taller" looking, and the third way is to just read the directions at Crucial and buy what they tell you to, they aren't going to sell you something incompatible with your system. Their reputation is outstanding. I have 2GB in my Powerbook from them and couldn't be happier.

Boyd, nice benchmarks. I've never stopped to really watch how long it takes to do something. I like to take a break every now and again so I don't mind the render times but that's some pretty serious improvements. If I buy a new G5 that means I'm gonna have to work more often! Damn, foiled again! Of course, I've had some Maya projects that took several weeks to render and that's no fun, but that's why I have several machines now.
It'll be interesting to see how it effects your work habits with all that speed now and no long breaks to render.

[Boyd Ostroff]

Regarding RAM, here's what the manual says (page 47):

DIMMs must be installed in equal-sized pairs and fit these specifications:

400 MHz PC 3200 DIMMs
2.5 V
184-pin module
Maximum number of memory devices on DDR SDRAM: 16
Nonparity
No error-correcting codes (NECC)
Unbuffered (registered or buffered DDR-SDRAM cannot be used)

It also says they must conform to the JEDEC specification. It doesn't say anything about needing to use the same size DIMMs in all the slots. I haven't seen this before, but maybe you're on to something? Unless you go the BTO route from the Apple store, your machine will already have two 256MB DIMMs installed - I don't know any firefighters, so I'm keeping mine ;-)

So far so good with eight 512's plus the original two 256's for a total of 2.5GB...

[Boyd Ostroff]

<<<-- Originally posted by Dean Sensui : The interior of the 2.5 dual G5 is very cramped. Forget about installing additional hard drives -->>>

I think you meant "forget about installing more than one additional hard drive," right? I just popped a 250GB SATA Maxtor DiamondMax Plus drive into the second internal bay. It's tight in there, but extremely easy to add a second drive; it took no more than 5 minutes and only requires a small phillips head screwdriver.

They have a clever drive mounting system using special domed plastic screws - there is no drive carrier. Screw these into the drive and just push it straight in. Then pop the two cables onto the connectors and flip the lever to lock the drive in place. All things considered, it's MUCH easier than adding drives to the G4 which involves pressing levers, pushing, sliding, aligning metal cages, screwing the drives into holders, dropping the screws inside the machine, scraping your knuckles, etc.

I just wish they provided a couple more bays on the G5. The thing is such a monster already, why not make it an inch taller and give us a little ROOM? :-)

[Bryan Roberts]

<-----So far so good with eight 512's plus the original two 256's for a total of 2.5GB...

Boyd - you mean four 512's right? ;)

[Boyd Ostroff]

Arrgh, typing too fast without thinking again. Yeah, 4 - 512's :-)