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Hello!

Over the past month or so, I've been pondering the fact of getting one of these new G5s (once I have enough money to actually purchase one, of course) to replace my current AMD Duron 1.1ghz. Ever since then I've been debating wether or not I should choose an iMac or just stick with a PowerMac.
At first I decided I would go with iMac, but then concerns about it's durability and the selectability of the graphics card kind of set me off. And then I considered what I actually do on the computer, and I just assumed that it wouldn't meet my expectations. So now I've looked into the PowerMacs, and the ability to use my current CRT is a plus (It wouldn't go to waste ), and I've come to this model:
• Dual 2GHz PowerPC G5
• 2GB DDR400 SDRAM (PC3200) - 4x512
• 160GB Serial ATA - 7200rpm
• ATI Radeon 9800 XT w/256MB DDR SDRAM
• 8x SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW)
• Apple Keyboard & Apple Mouse - U.S. English
• Mac OS X - U.S. English
At first I was looking into getting 1GB of memory, but from what I've gathered on here I would be better off with 2GB anyways. This would fufill my appetite of casual gaming (Halo, Splinter Cell, UT2004 etc.) from time to time, watching movies and surfing the net, and some Photoshop editing (not graphics-intensive), at least I hope it will. That's why I've come here - to collect advice and/or recommendations to see if this is really what I should get, or if I should maybe reconsider my choices. Note that I'm not going for the most powerful (unless I have to), instead the most efficient and less-costly.
Thanks!

Well, that'll be an awesome setup, but I'd buy the minimum RAM from Apple and get the rest from Crucial -- Apple's RAM prices are insane.

tooki

P.S. Please use descriptive thread titles in the future; "help needed" provides exactly zero clue as to the content of the thread.

tooki

Excellent - I would be halfing the price of the memory if I got Corsair compared to Apple. I would need to get 3 512MB + the default 512MB to get 2GB. That reduces the cost phenomenally.

Sorry about the thread title, I wasn't putting much consideration into it when I created it. You can change it to where it fits more effectively if you wish.

There is an ongoing thread about dual processor machines and their use, and the question that matters there, as well as here I guess, is a DP machine necesary ? I see you mention casual gaming and non-intensive ocassional photoshop work, or "at least I hope I will" ...
If upgradeability is really an issue, you should stick with the PM choice, but if you can fulfill your needs with a BTO iMac G5 or maybe a Mac Mini, I would take those into serious consideration as well. Maybe even consider a Powerbook ... (CRT wouldn't go to waste, you could use it for a dual monitor setup...)
Just my opinion... good hunt!

You misread what I said. I said "at least I hope IT will".

But anyways, thanks for your opinion. I'll try and decide some more and see if this would be the best choice.

I'd say get the cheapest vid card on that setup, which I believe is a Radeon 9600 XT, and upgrade to an X800XT and sell off the 9600XT. HUGE performance advantage while still only taking up the AGP slot... and allowing you to use a 30" display should you ever chose to.

and it preforms better than the 6800 Ultra and costs 100 bucks less... great value, great features.

that, and the RAM which has already been covered.

also, opt for the bluetooth module so you don't have to get a USB dongle down the road.

You've gotta install the RAM in pairs for the dualies. There's 8 slots--- 4 per processor, and you have to have the same slots filled in each of the two banks. Either get 2 x 1GB chips (pricey) or 4 x 512 MB. I wouldn't put more 256 MB chips in there-- they're a waste of slots.

Okay, the way I'm seeing it is this:
(default)
[256]
[]
[]
[]
----
[256]
[]
[]
[]
The configuration I would need to achieve 2GB would look like this:
[512]
[512]
[]
[]
----
[512]
[512]
[]
[]
Which would make 1GB per processor. Is this correct?

No. The RAM is not "per processor", both processors share one unified block of RAM. Because the memory controller uses two banks, that is why you need to buy RAM in pairs (it reads in parallel). (The G5 is not a "NUMA" system. Those are the ones where RAM is dedicated to each processor.)

Regardless, you could just get the minimum RAM from Apple (2x256), and add either two 512MB modules (for a total of 1.5GB), or four 512MB modules (for a total of 2.5GB). I agree that it's not worth buying 256MB modules, unless you get them for really, really cheap.

tooki