G5 quad - processor upgrade?

newbie, first post....
i've had my g5 quad for about 3 years from new, and its served me well (bought just before intel hit, grrrr..... bad timing on my part). i work it hard, im a photographer, so regularly sit and photoshop (cs2) 16gb of 40mb shots, the measley 2gb of ram is working its little socks off and running tiger still. i'll soon need to upgrade to adobe cs4 and leopard.
My dilemma is that, the G5 is a mega piece of kit, and it cost me a lot of cash, i bought it thinking i could keep it at least 5 years and keeping adding drives and ram - but I think I might need to upgrade to a mac pro with intel. softwares all built around the intels now, and i can't afford to be left behind :-(
That is unless the G5 processor can be upgraded...... looking on various forums I think its an unlikely option and might have to fork out again for a new machine - but i thought that if anyone can give me a definitive answer then its in here!
what if I just chockered up on ram, say whacking in another 4gb? clutching at straws..... all advice appreciated

The quad is still a beast of a machine, easily keeping up with the first gen mac pros. My advice:

1) Upgrade to leopard and buy as much ram as you can (its DDR2 anyways so its cheap)

or

2) You can easily get $1400-$1600 for this machine on ebay, you could sell and pony up another $1000 for a mac pro, but I don't see this as necessary for you.

wow - thats a seriously quick reply - cheers avenger2SER!
hmm, i see what you mean, the ram does look like a viable option for now. and as i thought, processor upgrade idea was pie in the sky :-(
Thing is I'm trying to keep an eye on the future and i've just started using 60mb image files. this is whats prompted me into action - the g5 doesn't know whats hit it! graphics packages are thirsty at the best of times, but now its beyond a joke (GeForce 7800GT 256mb card). i just don't know whether its worth spending a few of hundred quid on leopard and ram and maybe a new graphics card - the next mac pro is probably due out soon. don't know whether i should save the pennies for the new mac pro or beef up the g5 now and run it for a few months and then use it as a server /raid storage or maybe flog it when the new pro is out....
all thoughts on this and earlier post appreciated folk

Do the ram first, try to bump it up to 4gb+, see how it feels and from there, like I said, ram is cheap and you can never have too much. Good luck

Some other things to think about. Buying a Mac Pro may not solve all of your problems. This is because if you continue to use (CS2, specifically Photoshop)...the Mac Pro may actually run it slower than your G5.

This is because the Mac Pro will be running CS2/Photoshop with Rosetta (PowerPC emulation).

So if you're able to come up with the cash for the Mac Pro...then you're also going to have to come up with the cash for the newest version of Photoshop (around $400-$500 US) so that the Mac Pro runs it natively...or buy CS4 ($1500+ US).

Yet another thing to think about...ram for the Mac Pro costs about 2-3x what ram costs for the G5.

The bottom line is...if coming up with the extra cash for the Mac Pro is tough for you at the moment...coming up with even more cash for CS4 & extra ram will be much more difficult.

Hope this helps,

- Nick

cheers nick, yeah my cs2 is due for an upgrade - i generally try and miss every other upgrade, so cs3 passed me by - but gotta get cs4 & lightroom 2 to stay viable on the work front. I know it's not the software area - apologies
I wonder if cs4 would run native on the g5? probably not..... grrrr.
hmmm, the ram isn't cheap on macupgrades.co.uk - but still less than if apple put it in before shipping. Well, it looks like i might be having to replace the g5 (not sure if i'll boost the ram or not, it'll only come to about £50 for 2x2gb sticks - but its still £50) - but will try and hold out for the new release which must be due out in the next few weeks/months - its been a year......

CS4 runs fine on a G5, I have it running a couple of 1.8 G5s as well as my old G4 MDD

purplesnapper said:

c
I wonder if cs4 would run native on the g5? probably not..... grrrr.

Click to expand...

In my 20+ year experience with Macintosh computers...in most cases as software packages are updated or "improved"...they get more complex, and require more computing "horsepower" to run them.

There are exceptions to this rule of course, since Apple has made MAJOR changes throughout the years (OS 9 to OS 10, the original 68000 series processor family to PowerPC processors, PowerPC processor's to Intel).

So I would hazard a guess that CS2 would run faster on your G5 than CS4 (if both packages run natively). But...if CS4 has features that you need that CS2 doesn't, then that's a different issue.

I'm sure the BIG question you would like to know is...Would a Mac Pro run CS4 faster than a G5 running CS2 (both setup's working with the same file's)? Since if the Mac Pro with CS4 was faster, this would save you time doing your work...and as we all know...time is money!!!

Good luck,

- Nick

many thanks folks for all your advice - it's really helped
I've downloaded the 30 day trial for photoshop CS4 and the beta raw plugin that i'll need for the huge images - and I'm delighted to say that the G5 is holding his own impressively! I looked into it more and it looks like ps cs4 DOES run natively on the g5 quad - phew!
There are (yet more..) whispers on when the new macpro is coming, march/april so says the forum chatter - which has focussed my mind. I think the sensible thing to do is work with the trial, then purchase the cs4 upgrade for £515 before the march price increase kicks in. I'm gonna have to buy it at somepoint anyway - and as the g5 is still going strong I know I need to hold on and see what the new macpro processors can do. I could easily spend 300 quid on 4gb of ram and a couple of internal drives, with another £150 on leopard, iwork09 & ilife box set - but if apple stop supporting the powerPCs in the near future on software releases - adobe will follow pretty sharpish. I know the software is transferrable so worth the outlay - but that £300 could perhaps go towards whatevers coming out.
sorry - lots of s/w chat - just thinking this all through.
many thanks avenger2SER and Nick, your time is appreciated

Sounds like a plan "purplesnapper"!

I'm sure you can hold out for a couple more months to see if Apple comes out with new Mac Pro models.

I guess the big question "IF" new models come out is...What will they cost??

If money is not an issue...then no problem. Of course used Mac Pros will also most likely go down in price...so a used Mac Pro could be an option as well.

Good luck,

- Nick