04-10-2008, 02:05 AM

Hi,

I am looking at purchasing a second mac this summer to compliment my Macbook Pro. (2,33 Ghz C2D) I will probably have a budget of about $1000. I have been looking at used macs, (powermax.com) and also processor upgrades for older macs.

This machine would be used as a server for file storage/music/home automation, and an offload machine for rendering tasks with a couple of 3D Applications, Poser and Vue.

This would take some of the stress off my laptop, which has already completely died on me once (motherboard).

For $1000, would buying a used G4 and a processor upgrade, either a Single Processor 2.0 Ghz G4 or Dual Processor 1.8Ghz G4 be good, or would a 1st gen G5, with a single 1.6 or 1.8 Ghz Chip, be better?

The animation apps. are actually not very graphics card intensive, and more CPU oriented. I have successfully used these programs on an old 400Mhz G3 with a 16MB video card. Way back when, the programs ran on the old colored CRT imacs.

Besides, I'd probably end up using the laptop for the actual scene setup still, I'd just transfer the file over for the 12 hr render process.

I'm not sure which way would be better. Both have fairly solid upgrade options, and I think they both would be fairly versatile machines.

Doing a little research, I'm seeing claims that the dual 1.8 G4 upgrades are "faster" at some tasks that even the intel chips, much like the G5 chips can still best some of the intels.

However, as I would be looking at the lower end G5's and the high end G4's, I don't know where they would really stand next to each other.

Also, the animation programs can use multiple processes.

I think that would give the speed nod to the multi processor system, no?

Finally, I will not need this system for gaming, as my laptop is still perfectly capable of gaming.

I'm thinking the G4 setup seems better for my needs, but if there is some fatal flaw in my reasoning, please show me.

Thanks

-ST-

04-10-2008, 06:08 PM

Personally I would invest in a maxed out RAM MDD G4, 1.42GHz DP model, with say a 20" LCD display. Lower end G5s seem to be having lots of heating, logic board and graphics problems. Look at these forums or do a Google.

The 1.42DP in mainland USA go for about the $800 from dealers, cheaper on eBay, and display about $200.

04-10-2008, 06:26 PM

I would agree with harryb when it comes to the reliability aspect of the G4. It is a lot more reliable than the G5 but the G5's are a lot faster than the G4. The single 1.8GHz G5 is equally as fast as the dual 1.42GHz G4.

04-10-2008, 07:36 PM

If you are planning on using Leopard, get the G5.
You can even find dual 1.8 G5's for under $1000.

04-10-2008, 07:40 PM

G5. If you plan on using any complex software or multi tasking get the G5. As DB said, you can find good g5s for under $1000

04-11-2008, 06:03 AM

Why are you even looking at G4s and G5s with $1000 to spend?

Get a 20" Core2 2.16Ghz white iMac off ebay.

04-11-2008, 06:33 AM

Originally Posted by Alexis

Why are you even looking at G4s and G5s with $1000 to spend?

Get a 20" Core2 2.16Ghz white iMac off ebay.

Agreed.

Or buy two intel mac minis and make your own little cluster for that price

I can see 3D animation apps from smaller companies as likely candidates to drop PowerPC support in the not too distant future (2-3 years), so if this is supposed to be your long-term "flip a switch and let it run for days" machine for a while to come, you might be better off with an intel mac.

Btw: I know I often take the anti-PowerPC pessimist stance, where in most general-use cases a PowerPC will be fine for a while to come. It's just that if you're depending on one or two specific apps, I wouldn't bet on them supporting PowerPC forever.

04-14-2008, 10:48 PM

Thanks for all of the suggestions.

I think I will go with a Mac Mini. Fairly powerful, cheap and small. I had initially not wanted to go that route due to limited expandability options, but, as I've always wanted a G4 Cube, I guess this will be the next best thing, right?

That will also leave me more money to buy a replacement monitor for my MBP, as the one I have currently will be used with the mini.

As I'm running a 27" screen now, the only possible course of action is a 30" That way, I don't have to deal with upgraditis.

That, and maybe someday, I can add on, and do something like this.

http://www.digitaltigers.com/zenview...ultraelite.asp

Anyway, thanks to everyone who helped me out.

-ST-

04-14-2008, 10:54 PM

What's the resolution of that 27" monitor? Just checking to see if the mini supports the monitors native resolution. I think the mini only supports 1920x1200.

04-15-2008, 03:17 AM

Beware Minis with extremely limited graphics cards etc. and with a notebook HDD may run hot.

04-15-2008, 04:32 AM

The 27" does indeed has a res. of 1920x1200

As for running hot, all I am planning to use it for is a file/music/home automation server,
(with ext. HD's) and a secondary machine for when I'm rendering on my main comp.

Or possibly I will offload the rendering process to the Mini, and let it chew on the render. The renders are actually pretty short. The longest one I've done took 6 hrs on my macbook pro 2.33Ghz, so I doubt the mini would take more than 12. Most renders are on the order of an hour or so. Not really worth moving over.

Again, this is mostly a music/file/home automation server

-ST-