Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

Tastannin · Dec 9, 2003, 02:49 PM

I'm considering a move up to a G5 soon - right now I only can afford either the 1.6 or the 1.8 SP versions. I have several 120GB drives and a ACARD ATA Raid Card I'd like to use with the G5. Was wondering if I could put a drive or two in the space where the 2nd cpu would be in the SP version? Smart move? Dumb move? Comments?

Thanks!

AngryAngel · Dec 9, 2003, 07:26 PM

I have a 1.6 G5. There is definately room in the spare processor space. you'll need to buy expensive round cables instead of ribbon ones (to get down the back, over the barrier between the card 'zone' and the processor 'zone', but still under the clear air funnelling plastic).

The air coming out of the lower back processor fan (i.e. the one for the processor which isn't there) blows out cold air (the one above blows out hot air)- so I am sure there is enough heat dissappating capacity. The fans may run a little faster than usual, though. Make sure the HDD's are not too near the heatsink, as it gets hot (even though it is huge).

Having said that, the advantages of dual machines are so great, that I would go with a dual and cut your losses with the ATA drives and controller card.

ngrundy · Dec 10, 2003, 05:14 AM

put the PATA drives into a firewire case prehaps?

sanity assassin · Dec 10, 2003, 06:50 AM

Originally posted by ngrundy:
put the PATA drives into a firewire case prehaps?

An idea. but that strangle the data throughput to firewire speed.

proton · Dec 10, 2003, 08:29 AM

Originally posted by sanity assassin:
An idea. but that strangle the data throughput to firewire speed.

Uhm... maximum parallel ATA speed: 133Mbit/sec. Minimum Firewire speed: 400Mbit/sec (but you've also got a Firewire 800 port there too).

- proton

Zoro · Dec 10, 2003, 08:43 AM

Originally posted by proton:
Uhm... maximum parallel ATA speed: 133Mbit/sec. Minimum Firewire speed: 400Mbit/sec (but you've also got a Firewire 800 port there too).

- proton

ATA is 133MBytes/sec, Firewire 800 is 800 Mbits/sec so ATA133 is (theorically) 25% faster than firewire 800

Tastannin · Dec 10, 2003, 01:06 PM

Originally posted by AngryAngel:
...you'll need to buy expensive round cables instead of ribbon ones...

...Having said that, the advantages of dual machines are so great, that I would go with a dual and cut your losses with the ATA drives and controller card.

AngryAngel,

Thanks for your remarks. I already have round cables so it wouldn't be a big deal. As for your recommendation of getting a dual - I would love to do so, but I really don't know if I can afford one at this time. Yes, I know a dual would be better - I already have a dual 800 G4, and was thinking a jump to a 1.6 or a 1.8 SP would still be big enough to make the move worth it. Maybe I should just be patient with the dual 800 and wait until I can afford whatever dual G5 Apple has out at the time.

Thanks again,
Ryan

Tastannin · Dec 10, 2003, 01:08 PM

Originally posted by ngrundy:
put the PATA drives into a firewire case prehaps?

ngrundy,

I've already considered that, but I already have an external firewire drive with two trays with drives in them for backup purposes I'd actually like to be able to put in two ATA drives and stripe them together inside the G5 if possible.

Ryan

Tastannin · Dec 10, 2003, 01:17 PM

I don't want too many firewire drives hanging off the firewire buses anyways. I'm planning to do some video work and don't want to capture to firewire if I'm bringing video in with firewire.

I really am just trying to save some money - by not having to buy a big and expensive SATA drive for the 2nd bay - instead I thought it'd be nice to use the two ATA drives I already have and stripe them together with my ACARD inside the G5. That'd give me room for my video work.

saru boy · Dec 11, 2003, 02:41 AM

How are you gonna power those drives? Run a cable from the power plug of the optical drive all the down to the base of the G5 box? Good luck...

AngryAngel · Dec 11, 2003, 04:20 AM

You could run a splitter off of the unused SATA power cable. This may require rewiring the plugs, as it may be hard to get adapters from SATA power type to std. 4-pin power cables.

Alternatively, you can open up the power supply at the bottom and tap the power at the source.

For both you would have to be pretty confident of your electronics ability. And for the latter, you would throw your warrantee out of the window.

-Q- · Dec 11, 2003, 10:35 AM

Originally posted by Tastannin:
Maybe I should just be patient with the dual 800 and wait until I can afford whatever dual G5 Apple has out at the time.

I'd vote for this one. You'll end up with a far better machine than you can have now. The 1.6 really isn't worth your time and OS X really leverages the dual processors well.

If you can stick it out, I'd wait.

As for the drives, I really think you'd have a tough time fitting more than one ATA drive in that case without mucking with the airflow too much.

tooki · Dec 11, 2003, 08:48 PM

Just use FireWire, I don't think hacking drives into the bottom of a G5 would be a good idea. Besides, ATA100 is the fastest officially ratified standard (ATA133 is not an official standard!!), but no drive is that fast. You won't notice a difference putting it into a FireWire 800 case (which is also 100MB/sec). And you won't risk causing severe damage to your G5.

tooki

FauxCaster · Dec 11, 2003, 09:10 PM

You'd kill the resell value of that Mac so fast. You'd even get less than you paid for it on ebay!! A modded Mac is a worthless Mac in the eyes of the world.

CIA · Dec 12, 2003, 08:13 AM

As a fellow DP 800 owner, I would hold off on buying a G5, unless you are doing intense processor load stuff ALL day. I would spend a little now, to max out the RAM, and maybe get a newer video card, and then save for a dual machine next summer or fall. I maxed out my QS DP800, and it should last me untill the G6's come out in late '04 or early '()5.

b16309 · Dec 17, 2003, 08:13 PM

I've just bought a dual G5 but just this fall added a 160 GB ATA 133 Hard Drive to my old G4. If you guys are saying you can take the old ATA out of the G4 and place it in a casing of its own and then connect it to the G5 via firewire, I'd like to know exactly how to do that so I can use my "Old" 160 ATA Drive as storage for my New G5. MANY THANKS!

Stephen

rhogue islander · Dec 17, 2003, 08:42 PM

It's pretty much as simple as that.

Buy a firewire drive enclosure that accepts 3.5" drives from CompUSA or get one online (be certain that it has an oxford chipset), place your ATA hard disk in it, connect the ata and power cables, close it up, power it on, connect the firewire cable and you're good to go.

You can also place CDRW drives in them if you are interested in making copies of CD's on the fly.

b16309 · Dec 18, 2003, 08:03 AM

Thanks....I will give that a try. Sounds simple.

I'll be back if I get stuck javascript:smilie('

')

Stephen

saru boy · Dec 19, 2003, 04:49 AM

Originally posted by rhogue islander:
Buy a firewire drive enclosure that accepts 3.5" drives from CompUSA or get one online (be certain that it has an oxford chipset), place your ATA hard disk in it, connect the ata and power cables, close it up, power it on, connect the firewire cable and you're good to go.

You can also place CDRW drives in them if you are interested in making copies of CD's on the fly.

You'll need a 5.25" case if you want an external CD-RW drive (or DVD/DVRW or what have you).

haifischjunge · Dec 19, 2003, 07:28 AM

I added a ATA HD to a G5 in my office, by replacing the original cabel connecting the superdrive with a longer one with a second connector and simply put the normal ATA HD on top of the superdrive.

that all, not very professional I know, however quick and dirty and of course working