[Shootingstars]

I just bought the Power Mac G5 2.0GHz today and I'm still thinking if I've made the right choice. How important are the PCI-X slots? Since the G5 2.0GHx doesn't have PCI-X slots then maybe I should of bought the G5 2.3GHz Power Mac.

[rm199]

how long is a piece of string! If you need to install PCI-X cards then those slots are very important... I just made the same choice as yourself (a 2.0 over a 2.3) as I'll never be putting cards in other than a new graphics card so the lack of PCI-X isn't important to me.

[Big Mac]

Shooting, PCI-X is not important at all unless you have a specific expansion card in mind that requires it. PCI-X is an updated version of PCI, but only a few cards take advantage of it. If you're not the professional creative type (pro audio or video), you're probably never going to use the slots anyway. What we will have eventually is PCIe, which is a new serial expansion bus already in high-end PCs that many are impatiently awaiting Apple to add. Now the thing that is more significant about the two higher end G5s is the eight RAM slots they contain, as opposed to the four in the new 2.0. I really prefer to have the full set of slots (which is partially why I went with my Rev. B DP 2.0 last year), but four is not a major handicap.

[lilrabbit129]

I agree, since you always have to add ram in pairs, having only 4 slots, things can fill up fast. I'm still saving for my PM G5, but I can see myself filling it with 2x512 sticks at first, then maybe another 2x512 or 2x1GB sticks in the future. If you got the Rev. C DP 2.0, that's all you can hold. But maybe a few years down the line, and RAM gets even cheaper, you might want to add another 1-2GB's, that's when having 8 slots can really help.

That's just my personal take. That being said, if I could find a Rev. C 2.0 for really cheap, I'd jump on it.

[Hanul]

I got my PM Dual 2GHz two days ago and I'm very happy with the machine. Upgrading from a mini, this is a huge step indeed ;-) I choose the 2GHz, because other than server tasks you never need PCI-X (say for Fibre Channel) or more than 4GB of RAM (or you are into DNA analysis or something like that).