09-21-2010, 04:55 PM

Ok I have had my Mac G5 for 3 years now its a power pc Dual 2.5, I am starting to use my Mac for more and more things. Now I am finding is that developers are moving away from Motorola Based to Intel Only... This is very frustrating to me. So I did some research but to no luck. What I would like to know is can I change out my MB from the Motorola to an Intel board and processer?

Is it possible ?
is it Legal (licensing) ?
Is it worth while? $$$$$$

I don't have the money to buy a new Mac right now but I might be able to buy pieces and parts to build my own.. I have done this with all my winblows machines in the past.

TIA for any input..

09-21-2010, 05:33 PM

I don't know if it's possible, but I can certainly give you my opinion of whether or not it would be worth it; no. A new motherboard is not the only component that would have to be changed out. You would need a new PS among other components. Probably cost more than buying an entry level white MacBook.

Your G5 is still a very good machine. It's fast and can run Leopard 10.5.8 which is a modern version of OS X. While it's true that all active development for the future is being done on the Intel platform, your G5 can be useful for several more years. If you need an Intel box, buy a cheap Win machine. There's certainly no shortage of them.

09-21-2010, 05:37 PM

Originally Posted by Clark20ry

Ok I have had my Mac G5 for 3 years now its a power pc Dual 2.5, I am starting to use my Mac for more and more things. Now I am finding is that developers are moving away from Motorola Based to Intel Only... This is very frustrating to me.

This is certainly nothing new...and not new news. Macintoshes with Intel processors came out in 2006.

Originally Posted by Clark20ry

What I would like to know is can I change out my MB from the Motorola to an Intel board and processer?

Is it possible ?
is it Legal (licensing) ?
Is it worth while? $$$$$$

I don't have the money to buy a new Mac right now but I might be able to buy pieces and parts to build my own.. I have done this with all my winblows machines in the past.

TIA for any input..

Can I assume that when you say you want to swap an "Intel board & processor"...that you mean a Macintosh motherboard with an Intel processor? It may be possible to put a Mac Pro motherboard into a G5 Powermac housing...since they use the same case...the problem is all of the parts you need are going to cost you a lot of money buying them separately!

Doing this sort of project is not like in the "Windows" computer world...where upgrade parts can be found cheap...and building your own computer is common (if you have the desire & expertise to do it).

You would be MUCH better off just buying a used (but older to save money) Intel Mac-Mini, Intel iMac, or Macintosh Intel laptop. Any of these Intel Core 2 Duo based Apple computers will be able to do what you need your computer to do (be able to run software for Apple Intel only computers).

HTH,

- Nick

09-21-2010, 06:08 PM

Thats what I thought, I have built all of my computers (windoze). I wanted to swap out my motherboard with a newer Intel from a desktop or replacement MB.... I wasn't sure if it could be done... I have not had to open my G5 other than adding a bigger HD...

Thanks...