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Power Macintosh G5 Q&A - Revised August 17, 2008
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Can you recommend a Power Mac G5 that probably will last another seven or eight years? I have a critical need for MacOS 9/Classic support.
This question originally was asked by a reader who had managed to use a Power Macintosh G3/266 DT for nine years and wanted to upgrade to a used Power Macintosh G5 and hang onto it for a similar length of time. This answer has been largely rewritten to provide more general advice for readers interested in maintaining a Power Macintosh G5 for long-term legacy use.
Regarding his upgrade strategy, this reader explained that:
I bought the first Macintosh (128k) and until Apple introduced the Performa series I upgraded every time Apple introduced a new computer. Then I realized I couldn't buy every computer Apple introduced and started re-thinking what I was doing.
I realized I was in a vicious cycle of buying the newest computer -- upgrading all my software -- continuing to upgrade software until my computer bogged down -- then buying the newest computer again and starting the cycle all over. The only ones happy were Apple and the software companies.
So when I bought my Power Macintosh G3/266 DT in 1997 I upgraded to current software then dug in my heels and refused to upgrade unless I was forced. It's worked really great. I am using MacOS 8.5.1, Office 98, Quicken 98, and so on. Everything runs as fast as the day I installed it and it all does everything I want it to do.
Alas, I am at the point where I must upgrade. I am due for a newer computer and want to buy a Power Macintosh G5 that is not the most expensive model.
For those unconcerned by price, the top of the line Power Macintosh G5 "Quad Core" (2.5) (Late 2005) is probably the best option for long-term legacy use. It's the fastest Power Macintosh G5 that will ever be made, has a better liquid cooling system than earlier models, supports 16 GB of RAM, has PCI-Express slots (PCIe), and can be "hacked" to use more than the two officially supported number of hard drives with third-party products. It also shipped with a video card with dual DVI ports, instead of the proprietary ADC port, so one can upgrade to a second display at lower cost (assuming one does not already own an older Apple display with an ADC port). No doubt a Power Macintosh G5 "Quad Core" (2.5) with 16 GB of RAM, five hard drives, and dual displays would provide years of solid performance particularly when using applications optimized for the PowerPC 970MP (G5) processor.
For users with more modest performance needs and a conservative upgrade strategy like the individual who asked the question -- who was able to use MacOS 8.5 well after MacOS X 10.4 "Tiger" was released -- probably any of the Power Macintosh G5 models would provide years of faithful service running MacOS X business applications and MacOS 9 applications within the "Classic" environment.
However, in the interest of long-term use, one would be prudent to avoid the Power Macintosh G5/2.5 DP (PCI-X) (June 2004) and Power Macintosh G5/2.7 DP (PCI-X) (Early 2005) due to potential issues with the liquid cooling system. One also might be less interested in the entry-level Power Macintosh G5/1.6 (PCI), as it uses slower memory, and the odd ball "October 2004" Power Macintosh G5/1.8 (PCI), as it uses a lower cost motherboard based on the one used in the iMac G5, and performance suffers accordingly compared to other models available at the time.
If you are interested in maximizing expansion options, it would be wise to purchase a model that supports at least 8 GB of memory and PCI-X slots (if not 16 GB of memory and PCIe slots), or alternately, if you are certain that you will not need more than 4 GB of memory or expansion slots more modern than PCI, you might choose to purchase a PCI-based model to save money. All models with PCI slots support 4 GB of memory, all with PCI-X slots support 8 GB, and all with PCIe slots support 16 GB.
For convenience sake, assuming you do not already have an older Apple monitor with an ADC connector, and are less inclined to purchase a used ADC-equipped Apple display or upgrade the video card, but you are interested in using dual displays, you might also choose to focus your search on models that have default video cards with dual DVI ports. The "Early 2005" Power Macintosh G5 series -- the Power Macintosh G5/2.0 DP (PCI) and G5/2.3 DP (PCI-X) and G5/2.7 DP (PCI-X) -- and later models have dual DVI ports.
To further cut costs, or boot MacOS 9, you also might consider a model from the Power Macintosh G4 series for long-term legacy use.
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