G4 or G5?

tubeman · Post by **tubeman** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 2:27 am

hi all, looking for some advice on getting a computer...

i use a 867 Mhz DP Powermac G4 with 2 GB RAM, and 4 hard drives, including two raptors. it runs great but i consistently reach the computer's threshold ? running 20-30 tracks with various plugs and one altiverb can get pretty cumbersome

so, i'm looking at parting with the trusty 867, and getting either a dual 1.42 Ghz G4 or a dual 1.8/2.0 Ghz G5.i realize that a dual 1.8 or 2.0 will have more juice than the dual 1.42, but i'm wondering if the cost difference is worth it ? i would no longer be able to use a digi 001 (leaving me with just an 828mkii until i can afford a 002), i would have to somehow consolidate my hard drives down to just two, and i would have to spend extra money getting ram, where with the G4 i could just move the hard drives and the PC2700 ram sticks.

would the 1.42 be a marked improvement over the 867, or would i just be better off saying f-it and getting a G5 inspite of the cost? btw, i mainly do rock/pop/classical work, but have been using reason, sibelius, and one or two softsynths more and more in conjunction with dp and pt.

sonikbliss · Post by **sonikbliss** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 7:30 am

I would probably go with a G5 as the G4's are starting to get a little long in the tooth. If you do decided to stay with a G4 maybe look at upgrading the cpu in the one you already have instead of buying a newer one. I upgraded my old G4 466MHz to a dual 1.8GHz (Gigadesigns) machine and the improvement was huge. Although if I had to make that decision now I think I would make the jump to a G5 instead.

http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Upgrade ... w+Upgrades
http://macgurus.com/productpages/cpu_upgrades/Giga.php

Jeff White · Post by **Jeff White** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 7:45 am

I have a dual 1.8GHz G5 (4 RAM slots) with 1.25 GB of RAM and 580 gigs of internal space. You can find them for approx $1200 now with at least 80GB of drive space and at least a gig of RAM. Best thing is usually you can find them with a ton more add-ons.

I can easily get 50+ tracks and a ton of plugs (70+) happening on my machine (digital performer 4.61, WAVES, TRacks, Izotope, etc). Just install a second SATA drive and use that as a record drive. It's faster than an external drive.

If you are not going to use VIs, this machine will just kill for audio. I use VIs, but mostly monosynths and print immediately, so I'm ok. But honestly, I can run 30 tracks, Reaktor, Live5 via Rewire in to DP, etc, so this really is a studio in a box.

Plus, I have my PB to use as a dedicated synth if I need it.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Jeff

buzzaudioguy · Post by **buzzaudioguy** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 7:45 am

I upgraded from a single 933 G4 to a dual 1.25 and noticed better performace. I've thought about upgrading to a G5 as well, but I'd have to invest ALOT more that just in a computer to get up and running. I'm running a MOTU PCI system so I'd have to upgrade to a PCIe card as well as upgrade my UAD cards. I've also got 4 hard drives as well (2 of them raided together) and loosing them just didn't make me happy. For now I've decided to stick it out for a while mainly because It's not really slowing me down all that much. Yeah, if I get into a HUGE session it might get slow on my, but for the most part it's pretty stable and just churns right along. So I don't know what to tell you. I like my little dinosaur!!!

buzzaudioguy · Post by **buzzaudioguy** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 7:51 am

jdub wrote:I have a dual 1.8GHz G5 (4 RAM slots) with 1.25 GB of RAM and 580 gigs of internal space. You can find them for approx $1200 now with at least 80GB of drive space and at least a gig of RAM. Best thing is usually you can find them with a ton more add-ons.

I can easily get 50+ tracks and a ton of plugs (70+) happening on my machine (digital performer 4.61, WAVES, TRacks, Izotope, etc). Just install a second SATA drive and use that as a record drive. It's faster than an external drive.

If you are not going to use VIs, this machine will just kill for audio. I use VIs, but mostly monosynths and print immediately, so I'm ok. But honestly, I can run 30 tracks, Reaktor, Live5 via Rewire in to DP, etc, so this really is a studio in a box.

Plus, I have my PB to use as a dedicated synth if I need it.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Jeff

Hey Jeff, are you running the dual 1.8 that has the old style PCI slots or the new PCIx (PCIe)?? I thought about finding one of those, but I've heard mixed things about them being buggy. A couple of guys I've spoke too said to avoid them and just go for the new style PCI models. Seems like yours is running like a champ!
Jason

tubeman · Post by **tubeman** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 9:47 am

ya, my raptor drives are only 74 gb each, so i would probably have to sacrifice those if i switched to a G5 and they weren't cheap. basically, getting a G5 to where i want it to be will end up costing about 500 bucks more than a G4, plus the requirement to buy a digi 002 sooner than later since i wouldn't be able to use the 001 with a
G5.

i looked at the gigadesigns stuff, and it looks like the fastest upgrade for the 867 is a dual 1.33 GHz card for 500.

anyone else have thoughts?

Jeff White · Post by **Jeff White** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 4:48 pm

buzzaudioguy wrote: Hey Jeff, are you running the dual 1.8 that has the old style PCI slots or the new PCIx (PCIe)?? I thought about finding one of those, but I've heard mixed things about them being buggy. A couple of guys I've spoke too said to avoid them and just go for the new style PCI models. Seems like yours is running like a champ!
Jason

Mine is the Dual 1.8 from June of 2004, the second to last model with only four RAM slots, and the last, I believe, to have old style PCI slots. Unfortunately, I just moved this weekend and mine is packed up until I can make some room for it. I'll check the system preferences then. I'm typing on the PB right now.

Jeff

Jonnystevens · Post by **Jonnystevens** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 12:35 pm

I just bought a Powermac G5 Dual core 2.0 GHZ. I have 1.5 gigs of ram and I still get the RTAS plug in/CPU running out of power message sometimes. It's funny that I didn't get that at all when I was recording on a PC.

Hard to say if the expense is worth it for you but i'm overall really happy with my machine.

How much ram is optimal? I'm running protools 7 and I usually have 20-25 tracks running at once.

Jeff White · Post by **Jeff White** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 12:41 pm

Jonnystevens wrote:I just bought a Powermac G5 Dual core 2.0 GHZ. I have 1.5 gigs of ram and I still get the RTAS plug in/CPU running out of power message sometimes. It's funny that I didn't get that at all when I was recording on a PC.

Hard to say if the expense is worth it for you but i'm overall really happy with my machine.

How much ram is optimal? I'm running protools 7 and I usually have 20-25 tracks running at once.

My Dual 1.8GHz has 1.25 gigs of RAM and is able to run 64 tracks of audio with over 80 plugs, which is the hardest that I've pushed it. WAVES, TRacks, DP's MAS plugs, other thrid party stuff. No sweat. My lack of RAM affects project load times and who knows what else, but it works. Not sure about PT7.

Jeff

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