[MacNorth]

Greetings all.

I'm in the market for a used DP/dual G5 PowerMac (I think). Although I have been using Macs since purchasing a new Macintosh Plus way back when I've never been as confused about what to buy as now. Anyhow...

Budget probably dictates a 2.0 GHz of which everymac.com lists no less than 3 major variations. Sigh...

Are there particular models/features I should avoid or ones you would recommend and how can I identify such? I recall reading elsewhere, for example, that some earlier models had slow/problematic PCI buses. I'm sure there are other issues as well.

Any help appreciated,

MacNorth

[imitchellg5]

The early ones had limited problems with PCI buses, I would shoot for a second generation or a new dual core.

[jamil5454]

I'd go for the Dual Core 2.0. It's pretty much got everything sorted out.

[roody]

I agree with jamil5454. The last generation of single core 2.0GHz powermacs hasn't been problematic at all but they only offered PCI instead of PCI-X and only had 4 ram slots instead of 8.

Of course this all depends on how you will use it. I have the exact last revision 2.0GHz single core in question running OSX Server hooked up to an XServe RAID and it performs ridiculously well. It is not my main machine so the ram limitation doesn't bother me and, honestly, I can't tell the speed difference between the PCI Fibre Channel card and the PCI-X one.

I would assume that the single core dual 2.0GHz G5's will be less expensive than the dual cores with no noticable performance difference. Be aware, however, that the ram for the dual cores is less expensive. Also of note is that the dual cores use PCI Express, so if you have PCI or PCI-X cards laying around they will not be usable in the dual core. You may also have difficulty finding PCI-E cards for certain purposes (RAID controller cards etc) but I can't confirm that because I haven't done the research.

All the best with the decision,

B.

[jamil5454]

The one thing that drove me crazy with the single core PowerMacs was the chirping issue.

[roody]

I was under the impressin that they fixed that with the single 1.8's. I may be misinformed there but I've never had that issue with either of mine.

[joe]

I recently bought a 2nd hand dual 2.5Ghz G5 and it doesn't chirp either. ISTR the chirping sound was caused by defective power supplies in some of the earlier duals. If you're buying used be sure to ask questions up front.