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RMD · Feb 16, 2006, 04:45 AM

I have a dual 2GHZ G5 with 3G's of RAM. I was thinking of bumping it up to 4 GB. Does it matter if I use a generic cheaper type of RAM? I have a Lacie firewire 800 external. And I keep dropping frames on FCP HD. Someone told me that I might want to get an internal HD. Will this make my computer too hot. Do they make some kind of secondary cooling unit I can add. Lastly, I have a Radeon 9600 w/64MB of RAM. I mostly use FCP but have started using Motion 2. Should I upgrade video cards and if so what is the best one out there now for editing and simple animation.

mduell · Feb 16, 2006, 09:27 PM

You can buy cheap generic RAM. It may work fine, or it may causes crashes, freezes, kernel panics, and/or not booting at all.
Another internal drive will not make your Mac overheat.
Yes, upgrading your video card is a good idea for Motion.

bowwowman · Feb 17, 2006, 08:01 AM

Just be sure to get your ram from somewhere that:

A) Guarentees compatibility w/ your machine
B) Has a lifetime warranty, w/ a no-questions-asked-shipping-paid-return policy

I recommend www.datamem.com and/or www.macsales.com.

And yes, you need a much better video card AND a very large, fast HDD for FCP HD & Motion, and NO, they wont make your machine too hot.

The card you can use will depend on the actual version of G5 you have, but look for the higher end Radeons, 9800 and up. HDD's you can find just about everywhere, just has to be SATA and LOTSA GB's

RMD · Feb 20, 2006, 11:25 PM

I appreciate the help. I ended up buying some PNY memory (2GB of PC3200 for $125) at Fry's. I just could'nt pass that up. What symptoms should I look for to see if the RAM I bought is not compatible or slowing my system down. As far as the video card brand you recommended, is there a particular reason you recommended Radeon as appossed to NVIDIA. And finally do you think my using an external Firewire 800 Lacie is the reason I am dropping frames in FCP 5 and the reason I have to render all the video I capture to it since it is my scratch disk? Would the internal solve this issue? Preesh.

RMD · Feb 21, 2006, 08:06 PM

Originally Posted by bowwowman

Just be sure to get your ram from somewhere that:

A) Guarentees compatibility w/ your machine
B) Has a lifetime warranty, w/ a no-questions-asked-shipping-paid-return policy

I recommend www.datamem.com and/or www.macsales.com.

And yes, you need a much better video card AND a very large, fast HDD for FCP HD & Motion, and NO, they wont make your machine too hot.

The card you can use will depend on the actual version of G5 you have, but look for the higher end Radeons, 9800 and up. HDD's you can find just about everywhere, just has to be SATA and LOTSA GB's

I appreciate the help. I ended up buying some PNY memory (2GB of PC3200 for $125) at Fry's. I just could'nt pass that up. What symptoms should I look for to see if the RAM I bought is not compatible or slowing my system down. As far as the video card brand you recommended, is there a particular reason you recommended Radeon as appossed to NVIDIA. And finally do you think my using an external Firewire 800 Lacie is the reason I am dropping frames in FCP 5 and the reason I have to render all the video I capture to it since it is my scratch disk? Would the internal solve this issue? Preesh.

Cincojoe · Mar 4, 2006, 01:38 PM

how has your PNY ram been working out? I'm in the same boat and need to upgrade some ram as well.

PixelBurst · Mar 4, 2006, 04:44 PM

I've had good luck with my generic RAM purchases from 18004memory.com. Both my dual 2ghz G5 and 15" AI Powerbook have had zero problems since the upgrades.

RMD · Mar 6, 2006, 04:27 PM

I guess it's working OK. I have never had 4 gigs of the expensive stuff, so I would'nt know what to compare it to. My computer sees the RAM and it's working so I guess you can't beat that, especially since I got a PNY 2GB ( 2- 1 gig chips) kit at Fry's for $179 w/ a $45 mail in rebate. Your not going to find a better deal anywhere else.

Cincojoe · Mar 6, 2006, 11:12 PM

I got a Kingston's 2GB kit at Fry's this weekend too for 179.00. Seems to be working.

mountainash · Mar 24, 2006, 12:53 PM

Put in another SATA drive. 300Gb is probably a good size at the moment ($/Gb). For graphics, you have a core image enabled card, but it is probably the slowest core image card. ati radeon 9600XT and 9650 are a bit faster, 9800pro or 9800XT are noticably faster, nVidia 6600 and 6800 are noticably faster, nvidia geforce 7800 and quadro fx 4500 are much faster. Also good is Ati radeon x600, x800 and x850.

phew, there's a lot of gfx cards for the G5!