Buying a G5

[Walter Biscardi]

Swap out the nVidia for the ATI X800xt. Yes it has an ADC port on it, but it only takes up one slot. I own both and am about to sell off the nVidia card myself.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Creative Genius, Biscardi Creative Media
https://www.biscardicreative.com

Now in Production, “The Rough Cut,” https://www.theroughcutmovie.com

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[Steve Courtney]

Thanks for the response, Walter. Can you explain why I’d want one card over another? I’ll need to justify the change to my boss, and she’s going to prefer to go with the Apple dealer’s recommendation unless I offer a concise explanation. Why is the ATI better than the Nvidia? And assuming it’s too late to make the change, will the Nvidia work okay, or will it give me problems down the road.

Thanks again for the help.

Steve

[Lance Bachelder]

I bought the ATI because it’s a little less expensive but matches the power of the nVidia in almost every case (go to http://www.barefeats.com for benchmarks). The nVidia is huge and overlaps one of the pci slots – the ATI does not. The ATI can also run the 30in display if you get one.

Lance Bachelder
Southern California
Cow Forum Host- Magic Bullet

Apple Dual 2Ghz G5 ATIx800, 2.5GB RAM, OSX Tiger FCP Studio
Intel P4, 2GB RAM, PNY 6600GT XP Pro – Vegas 6 Studio

[Walter Biscardi]

[Lance Bachelder] “the ATI does not. The ATI can also run the 30in display if you get one.”

Actually, the nVidia is supposed to be able to drive dual 30″ monitors.

As Lance notes, the ATI is a bit cheaper and it does not block off one PCI Slot. With only 3 open slots inside a G5 after the graphics card installed, the loss of one of those is huge.

And if it were me, I would not order the RAM from Apple, I would order it from Crucial.com. Less expensive and just as good.

And being totally honest here, the Dual 2.7 is a waste of $3,000 in my opinion. I stayed away from that machine and simply ordered another Dual 2.0 (the original model.) I picked up that and the 20″ Cinema Display and 4 GB RAM for about the same price as just the 2.7. Also, the AppleCare plan covers both the G5 and the Display for one price.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Creative Genius, Biscardi Creative Media
https://www.biscardicreative.com

Now in Production, “The Rough Cut,” https://www.theroughcutmovie.com

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[Jerry Witt]

I agree with Walter. You always pay a premium for the “top dog” in the computer line. I would look at the previous generation 2.0 or 2.5 G5s and spend the difference on RAM, a large monitor or a SATA array.

[Steve Courtney]

Thanks for the tips, everybody. I do think, however, that it’s okay that we buy the best machine out there, as it took them six years to approve the upgrade for this one. Six years from now, y’all will be laughing at me for still having my clunky old 2.7.

(I did give my paymasters three levels of upgrade options, and they went with the most expensive one. I had expected them to approve the 2.0, actually.)

Steve
FCTV
http://www.fostercity.tv

[Samuel Frazier]

I agree with everything said here except the monitor choice. I bought a 24″ Dell LCD (made by Samsung) for around $1000. Its stats are much better than anything else on the market, reviews agree with this, and now I can view anything up to 1080p.

[Steve To]

I echo MusMan as i too bought the Dell 24″ 2450 FPW and it’s superb. Great quality image/brightness/sharpness and component, svideo, vga, dvi inputs! PLus significantly cheaper than the Apple 23″ monitor.

Here in the UK the Dell was 790 pounds, whereas the Apple 23″ is 1049 pounds!

Best of luck

Steve

[Walter Biscardi]

[Steve DSV] “Here in the UK the Dell was 790 pounds, whereas the Apple 23″ is 1049 pounds!”

Holy Smokes! How do you find a console that can hold all that weight! I mean 790 pounds…… that’s uh……. heavy and……. uh…….. Ooooooohhh, nevermind.

Sorry couldn’t resist a really bad joke this morning. 🙂

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Creative Genius, Biscardi Creative Media
https://www.biscardicreative.com

Now in Production, “The Rough Cut,” https://www.theroughcutmovie.com

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[Dg]

Walter ,

Are you running the latest version of FCP on the original Dual 2 G5 ? I have a chance to pick up a refurb original dual 2 Ghz for a decent price and I’m wondering if it is powerful enough to run FCP 5 along with Motion. Does the original Dual G5 have PCI-X slots ?

PD