01-18-2012, 02:20 PM

Hello,

New to the forum. Just bought a MacG5 PPC with dual 1.8ghz Proc/s, 2GB of RAM and a 64mb AGP video card. The OS is OSX 10.5.8(Leopard??).

Based on specs, what should I do with it? Right now it's a file server. what would you use it for?

01-18-2012, 02:28 PM

You could run a small South American Country with it. Put a ton of music on it. Use it as a business box. Just serf the web.

01-18-2012, 02:36 PM

So what your saying is I should get my $80 bucks back or head south?

File server it is!

Originally Posted by Mac SK

You could run a small South American Country with it. Put a ton of music on it. Use it as a business box. Just serf the web.

01-18-2012, 02:46 PM

You could do some graphics on it...as long its your not on the cutting edge. Im posting with a G4 right now..just depends on what you need it for.

01-18-2012, 02:51 PM

I bought it because of the price - $80. Not a huge MAC user but the tower alone seemed like it would be worth what I spent. Gonna hunt for hardware upgrades but I think 2gb of ram is the max.

thanks for the input!!

Originally Posted by Mac SK

You could do some graphics on it...as long its your not on the cutting edge. Im posting with a G4 right now..just depends on what you need it for.

01-18-2012, 04:25 PM

If it is a G5 as you state, the max memory in fact is 16GB for even the first release of 1.8GHz, June 2003. Look for a graphics card as 64MB is zilch these days. The machine will take 8xAGP graphic cards but they must be Mac Pro models, or take a risk with flashed PC cards. An ATI Radeon 9800 would be the go.

01-18-2012, 04:57 PM

16gb of RAM? Its a powerpc g5 with Dual 1.8GHz proc. There's 2gb DDR 3200 (I think its first gen DDR). I am hunting for a better video card - the Mac AGP cards are $$$$ especially when you get into the 256mb range.

So lets say I upgrade the video to 256MB and put 4GB of RAM (will it take and utilize that much) and a 10,000 RPM WDRaptor drive in it......will it be a decent running system? Could I run Photoshop, Dreamweaver - what about video editing?

Originally Posted by harryb2448

If it is a G5 as you state, the max memory in fact is 16GB for even the first release of 1.8GHz, June 2003. Look for a graphics card as 64MB is zilch these days. The machine will take 8xAGP graphic cards but they must be Mac Pro models, or take a risk with flashed PC cards. An ATI Radeon 9800 would be the go.

01-18-2012, 10:37 PM

That is the memory modules you are describing and 8x2GB is 16GB. All the Mac video cards are $$$$$$ so don't look at the 1GB models.

And alas a PowerPC system is old. Best option is for an Intel machine. The last operating system is Leopard OS X.5, now three OS back.

01-18-2012, 10:41 PM

I own the model you state. its max is 8gb 1gb ddr 1 pc3200 sticks

I have mine with 3tb drives in it to serve to apple tv

01-19-2012, 11:33 AM

It's got leopard (10.5.8). Will that OS utilize the 8gb of RAM? What about installing an SSD drive for the OS?

Originally Posted by Ramimac1

I own the model you state. its max is 8gb 1gb ddr 1 pc3200 sticks

I have mine with 3tb drives in it to serve to apple tv

01-20-2012, 05:19 AM

That machine is very old, but with RAM, video and OS upgrades to as far as it can go it would prove to be a decent home computer fully capable of doing most of the things one does with a computer -- particularly if you don't challenge it by putting current versions of software or hardware with it (ie don't buy an iPhone 4S, don't try to run Adobe CS 5.5, etc).

01-20-2012, 03:18 PM

Thanks for the info!!!!

Gonna try to find 8GB's of 1st gen DDR and either a 10k sata drive or an SSD and see if I can make this baby scream.