01-22-2009, 05:54 PM

Hello all,
I was recently offered a Power mac for $300. As of now I do not have the exact specs, all I currently know is that its a Power mac G5 and its about two and a half years old.
I plan on learning some web design. So I need some guidance as to if this is a good system for running Adobe Master or Adobe Creative Suite.
I would also like to know if it is possible to put an after market motherboard as well as a core 2 duo or even quad core processor in the Power mac, while still running Leopard 10.5.5.
I also want to know what video cards would be compatible with this. Because I plan on hooking this computer up to a 42 inch LCD TV using a dvi to hdmi cable.

If anyone has any suggestions to what other upgrades I should consider (Iunderstand the motherboard on the G5 can handle up to 16 GB of Memory) I'm open minded to all suggestions.

Thanks for all your help.
-Andrew

01-22-2009, 08:05 PM

The Powermac G5 is a very good machine and should suffice for what you're planning on using it for. But as for the upgrades, I don't think you can swap out the motherboard replacing the PowerPC CPU with one from Intel.

Take a look here at the specs from Wiki.

Regards.

01-22-2009, 09:12 PM

Knowing what the processor speed is on the G5 would be very very helpful. Personally I wouldn't want the 1.6 ghz version...but $300 at this point in time is a very good price for almost any G5!

01-22-2009, 09:51 PM

You'll only be able to use Mac OS X Leopard on this machine and would be not be able to use Snow Leopard, Mac OS X's next installment.

Also you'll be stuck with Adobe CS3 as CS4 no longer has PowerPC support. Even so, you want to get into Web Design and CS3 is going to be more than enough for you! And who knows if you might be able to afford an Intel based MacBook in the near future for the Snow Leopard and CS4 usage, and using your G5 as a web server.

I am interested in a G5 also to run a music studio along with graphic design, you'd have to do some digging on the cards but they might be a little hard to find these days. Make sure you don't buy a flashed one from eBay that is wrongly advertised.

01-23-2009, 12:09 AM

Well since the price of this computer is fairly inexpensive I thought it would be a good starter to use for my small business.
Are there any other upgrades that i can use to help maximize the capability of the Power Mac?
Some people said that tons of Ram+Leopard would be the best fit to optimize the speed in an aged G5. I want to also consider aftermarket video cards. The ones in the Aluminum Imacs seem to be fairly inexpensive and decent.

01-23-2009, 11:14 AM

It sounds like a great deal. Make sure you get plenty of RAM and a larger hard drive. A lot of newer hard drives still spin at the same 7200 RPM that your HD does, but they are still much faster because they have more cache and higher data density.

If it's an older Power Mac it'll use DDR, not DDR2, for memory. That's okay. I just looked at NewEgg and it's only about $25 per GB, so you can bump it up to 4 GB for not much money.

Getting a new video card will be a bit harder. I'm not sure if it'd be worth it. You can look, but as far as I know, a lot of video cards for G5s and later are being sold for considerably more than they're worth.

01-23-2009, 03:02 PM

Adobe CS4 runs fine on PowerPC. I have photoshop CS4 running on my MDD G4, and I've installed Illustrator and InDesign CS4 on G5s.

If this system was purchased new 2 1/2 years ago, then its most likely a Dual Core G5, with DDR2 and PCIe video, in which case you're getting a tremendously good deal. I've thinking about picking one of these up and they sell between $600-1500 on ebay.

01-23-2009, 06:39 PM

I would be asking myself the question... "why so cheap?" What is the catch?
Seems low for a dual core G5.

01-23-2009, 07:23 PM

It is from my uncle who is obtaining them from a company that is getting rid of them.

01-27-2009, 07:39 PM

Originally Posted by onequarterasian

It is from my uncle who is obtaining them from a company that is getting rid of them.

Well heck yeah... go for it. I would love one of these G5's especially since I have the whole Studio 8 web designers package from Adobe including all CS2.
If I upgrade beyond G5 I have to buy massive software since CS2 is not supported on intel macs. One of the great tragedies in life. I do not wish to shell out another 600 dollars for Adobe CS 4 I am guessing by now it is 4. Especially if you got a dual core... great deal!!! BTW, Adobe CS3 is an universal app so it works on either a PPC or an intel mac.

01-28-2009, 10:49 AM

Originally Posted by gzairborne

Well heck yeah... go for it. I would love one of these G5's especially since I have the whole Studio 8 web designers package from Adobe including all CS2.
If I upgrade beyond G5 I have to buy massive software since CS2 is not supported on intel macs. One of the great tragedies in life. I do not wish to shell out another 600 dollars for Adobe CS 4 I am guessing by now it is 4. Especially if you got a dual core... great deal!!! BTW, Adobe CS3 is an universal app so it works on either a PPC or an intel mac.

I had CS2 running on a 2.4ghz Santa Rosa Macbook Pro running 10.4.11...
Ran fine

01-28-2009, 04:29 PM

Yeah, I'd snap that right up. The G5 is still a great machine and if Snow Leopard (although not a massive upgrade) supports the PPC procs it will be an even better investment.

Regarding Adobe's CS, I have CS3 at home and at the office. I have tried the 30-day trial of Photoshop CS4 and IMO it is absolutely horrible, so I won't be upgrading from CS3 at all.

I could happily use CS or CS2 over CS4 - heck I'd even go back to 7 if that was the case!!

01-29-2009, 04:56 AM

Also you'll be stuck with Adobe CS3 as CS4 no longer has PowerPC support. Even so, you want to get into Web Design and CS3 is going to be more than enough for you! And who knows if you might be able to afford an Intel based MacBook in the near future for the Snow Leopard and CS4 usage, and using your G5 as a web server.

I am interested in a G5 also to run a music studio along with graphic design, you'd have to do some digging on the cards but they might be a little hard to find these days.
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01-29-2009, 11:20 AM

Originally Posted by kavi12

Also you'll be stuck with Adobe CS3 as CS4 no longer has PowerPC support. Even so, you want to get into Web Design and CS3 is going to be more than enough for you! And who knows if you might be able to afford an Intel based MacBook in the near future for the Snow Leopard and CS4 usage, and using your G5 as a web server.

...I have cs4 running fine on an old G4 as well as first gen G5s...