On October 19, 2005 Apple computer announced the PowerMac G5 Quad-Core along with the Dual-Core PowerMac G5 2.0GHz and 2.3GHz models. All three models utilize the same aluminum enclosure as previous PowerMac G5 models. In fact, if you are only looking at the external appearance of the PowerMac G5 Quad-Core and compare it to the original PowerMac G5 2.0GHz Dual (as shown in the image above) you will find very few external differences between the two models.

The stock PowerMac G5 Quad only has 512MB of memory installed. This is the same amount of memory that Apple provides with the Mac mini. A $3,299 price tag should provide at least 1GB of installed memory in the standard configuration. Apple evidently disagrees. While you can operate the Quad with 512MB of memory, the performance is degraded considerably and a few programs will not operate. This will lead 99% of all PowerMac G5 Quad owners to purchase additional memory for their computer. Apple charges $300 for upgrading the Quad with two non-EEC 1GB memory chips using the build to order option and they keep the 512MB that is standard with the stock model. As most readers may know, buying memory from Apple is usually the most expensive option you can select.

Installing 2.5GB of memory or more in the PowerMac G5 Quad provides good performance. Two additional 1GB PC2-4200, 533MHz SDRAM modules were installed in the PowerMac G5 Quad at a price of $160 shipped from 18004MEMORY. Memory prices vary, so your price may be higher or lower. The original 512MB of memory was left installed in the first two slots. Memory must be installed in pairs of equal size and specification with one DIMM in Bank 1 (top) and one in Bank 2 (bottom), moving outward as each additional pair is added. See the illustration below for more details.



Page 51 of the PowerMac G5 (Late 2005) manual provides detailed memory installation instructions for the Quad. You will find the PowerMac G5 Quad is much more responsive with additional memory installed. Once the memory is added you may want to test it using the Apple hardware Test (v2.52) that is located on Disc one of the Quad install DVDs. Simply boot from install Disc one while holding down the option key. Then, select Hardware Test as the boot partition. This will allow you to test the logic board, mass storage, memory and video RAM. Pushing "Quick Test" will provide a 12 minute 25 second test of the PowerMac G5 Quad with all of the fans running at full blast. Don't worry, this is normal for a hardware test running on a PowerMac G5. If your memory passes the test, you are ready to put the Quad to work.

The PowerMac G5 Quad ships with a Maxtor 250GB DiamondMax 10 model 6L250MO SATA150 3.5" hard drive. This hard drive is an 8MB model. The 16MB version of the Maxtor 250GB DiamondMax 10 is model: 6L250S0 but it appears that Apple is only installing the 8MB version in the PowerMac G5 Quad. The PowerMac G5 Quad has two 3.5" SATA hard drive bays.

The top SATA drive bay is labeled "A" and the bottom "B". Four rubberized screws are provided for each drive. Four spare screws are mounted on the left side of the plastic drive bay for use with a second drive. The new PowerMac G5 Quad SATA power cabling is provided by a single cable from the top of the "A" bay. SATA data cables are located on top of the "A" bay and underneath the "B" bay. The original PowerMac G5 has a separate SATA power cable for each bay which is a cleaner but probably more expensive solution than the single SATA power cable provided with the PowerMac G5 Quad.

While the stock Maxtor 250GB is a nice SATA hard drive, you can upgrade the PowerMac G5 Quad to a Maxtor MaxLine III 7V300F0 300GB 3.0Gb/s SATA hard drive for additional write performance and a five year warranty. As a test, a Maxtor MaxLine III 7V300F0 300GB was installed in the PowerMac G5 Quad and compared against the stock Maxtor 250GB that is shipped with the Quad. In this test, both hard drives have the same 142GB of data on them. Drive Genius 1.2 was used to benchmark each hard drive. The results are below.

Sustained Read

In the Sustained Read test both drives perform almost identically when mounted on the PowerMac G5 Quad internal SATA bus.

Sustained Write

Once the Sustained Write test begins, the Maxline III 7V300F0 is about 10% faster than the stock Maxtor 250GB that comes with the PowerMac G5 Quad.

Random Read

In the Random Read test the two drives once again perform very closely.

Random Write

In the Random Write test the Maxline III 7V300F0 displays that it provides write capabilities exceeding the abilities of the stock Maxtor 250GB hard drive.

Function	Pioneer A09XL	Pioneer 110	Pioneer 111	LG GWA-4165B
Import 4.2GB DVD	5:54 minutes	6:23 minutes	6:45 minutes	15:46 minutes
DVD-RAM Write	No	Yes	Yes	No
DVD-RAM Read	No	2x	5x	No
iLife 06 DL Support	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
16x DVD±R	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
8x DVD+RW	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
6x DVD-RW	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
4x DVD±R DL	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
8x DVD±R DL	6x	Yes	Yes	No
40X CD-R	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
32X CD-RW	24x	Yes	Yes	Yes

If your PowerMac G5 Quad came with a Pioneer 110 you will be able to import a DVD more than twice as fast as when using the LG GWA-4165B. In fact, it is interesting that the older Pioneer A09XL was the fastest at reading data.


Pioneer 110 -> A10XL
The Pioneer 110D is an inexpensive version of the Pioneer 110, with the only functional difference being that it cannot write to DVD-RAM. You can purchase a Pioneer 110D for about $44 from many on-line stores. A Pioneer 110D can be converted to a Pioneer DVR-A10XL with DVD-RAM capability by downloading the A10XL firmware and using DVRFlash Version 2.2 to upgrade the firmware in the 110D. Stuffit can decompress the archive to extract the two firmware files. Placing the two Pioneer A10XL firmware files in the same directory as DVRFlash and using the proper terminal command will re-flash the drive. After the conversion the Pioneer 110D has DVD-RAM read and write capability. Obviously, you make this conversion at your own risk and understand it may void the Pioneer 110D warranty. Most users will be happy with the Pioneer 110D just the way it is. If you do not use DVD-RAM, the firmware change is a waste of time and an added risk that you may turn your burner into a door stop.

Even if you do not upgrade the Pioneer 110D to support DVD-RAM you should upgrade it to 110D version 1.39 firmware or higher as this adds support for many more media brands which allows burning at higher speeds.

If the GWA-4165B is installed in your PowerMac G5 Quad and you like to backup DVDs, you will be much happier with a Pioneer A09XL or a Pioneer 110 installed. The upgrade fee is very minimal and it is easy to install yourself.

For many generations of PowerMac the PCI bus has been the chief vehicle for internal expansion. There are PCI video cards, audio cards, FireWire cards, USB 2.0 cards, SATA host adapters and IDE ATA host adapters that all work in these slots. Many of these cards work in PowerMac G5 PCI-X models as well as older Macintosh computers with PCI slots. As the PCI standard has been around for a while many of these solutions are relatively inexpensive. However, with the introduction of the PowerMac G5 "Oct 2005" Dual and Quad-Core PPC models, Apple has totally abandoned this standard and replaced all of the PCI-X slots with PCI Express slots also known as PCIe. None of the previously existing PCI cards will work with the new PCI Express slots as the bus design is totally different.

While PCI Express may have the ability to provide fast connectivity for video cards, some users are finding that FireWire 400 and 800 cards using PCI Express slots actually have slower performance than the Apple ports with the same function. In addition, users that want to expand their hard drive options using SATA host adapters are finding that very few solutions are currently shipping for PCI Express on the Macintosh. As SATA host adapter options appear they seem to perform either close to the same speed as the previous PCI-X card or a little slower. Most of the time the PCI Express card is also more expensive.

Based on the fact that PCI Express cards for Mac were not available with the introduction of the PowerMac G5 Quad, it appears that most 3rd party PCI developers had no idea that Apple was dumping PCI-X and substituting it with PCI Express until after the G5 Quad was announced. This has caused relatively few PCI Express offerings to be available even four months after the PowerMac Dual Core introduction. From our point of view, the PowerMac G5 Dual Core would have more upgrade options if it had at least one or two PCI-X slots. Several PC systems support both PCI and PCI Express. The only real change that moving to a pure PCI Express bus has provided so far, is a lack of much to put in the slots. In addition, even if the end user can find a new PCI Express alternative, it is usually costly. FireWire 400 cards in PCI Express format sell for $79.99, while a similar card is less than $20 in PCI format. It will take time for Macintosh developers to support PCI Express solutions and for the competition to bring down the prices to PCI levels.

A few PCI Express (PCIe) cards for the Quad that we were able to find that are currently shipping are listed below.
FireWire 800 card - SIIG NN-E38012-S1 $119.99 (slower write speed than Apple bus). A comparison showing the slower write speed is posted on-line.
FireWire 800 - FWB3414 FW800 $159 (Slower Write Speed) Review.
FireWire800/400/USB2 UFC2412 $159 Review.
6-Port FireWire 800/USB v2.0 Combo $149.95
FireWire 400 card - SIIG NN-E20012-S1 $79.99.
FireWire 400 card - FWA2414 $89.
SATA II card - RocketRAID 2320 $299 Review (No sleep support).
NVIDIA Geforce 6600 Graphics Upgrade Kit $199.

The list of available PCI Express cards for the Quad will grow each month but for existing PCI card owners it may be a costly transition. In the meantime, Apple will introduce the new MacTel PowerMacs within the next eight to ten months and who knows what type of PCI expansion format they might support. We hope that the new MacTel platform supports both PCI-X and PCI Express. In addition, it is time for the Apple PowerMac line to include built in SATA external ports with port multiplier capabilities, also known as SATA PM. SATA is faster than FireWire 800 and more reliable. Some Mac users (including one of the authors of this article), have lost data as a result of FireWire firmware changes and that risk continues to exist each time FireWire is altered. Existing enclosures cannot always adapt to the changes and data can be lost when introducing existing FireWire enclosures to a new generation of Macintosh. That risk does not exist with SATA enclosures as no bridge board is required.

Activity	G5 Quad	G5 Dual 2.0	G4 400	Mac mini
Boot	228-320	172-278	61-74	23-33
Idle	160	135	53	14
iTunes Play	163-166	139-142	55	15
iTunes RIP	286-288	275-284	67-68	33-34
EyeTV 200	178-186	158-166	82	30
Create AVI Frames per second	245-322 99.62	188-281 69.32	69-71 4.83	31 26.67
Create H.264 Frames per second	330-339 29.92	290-294 15.98	69-71 1.06	31 6.24
Halo	205-309	188-284	60-68	31-33
Sleep	17	10	15	2
Off	1	1	9	<1

The PowerMac G5 Quad electrical and environmental requirements state that it meets Energy Star requirements and that the maximum current is at least 10A (low voltage range) or 5A (high voltage range). The PowerMac G5 Quad Core has a 1000 watt power supply. The PowerMac G5 Quad used above only has the stock Nvidia 6600 graphics card, 2.5GB of memory and the original 250GB hard drive. The Quad is more than twice as powerful as the PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0 in CPU strength. However, in most cases it used less than 20% more energy. Creating an H.264 video file utilized the most energy and that task required about 15% more energy (45 watts) than the G5 Dual 2.0, yet the Quad was 187% faster. Creating an AVI also required 15% more energy and it was only 144% faster. In addition, while idle the Quad uses about 20% more power than the original PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0. Using sleep or turning the Quad off when not in use will save on electricity bills. In sleep mode the Quad uses close to the same amount of power as the PowerMac G4 400, but it requires 100 watts more power just to play a song in iTunes.

For the low CPU usage required by every day web browsing, email and word processing the Mac mini is a great low power solution. It would take approximately six to ten Mac mini computers to come close to the power consumption of a PowerMac G5 Quad. However, it will take Mac mini 4-5 times longer to create an H.264 video file. For a small home server that is on 24 hours a day the Mac mini only uses 15 watts while idle and only 22 watts with an EyeTV 200 connected. This is almost 1/3 of the power of a legacy PowerMac G4 400 and 1/7 of the power usage on an idle Quad. Selecting a computer with the right balance of CPU power versus energy consumption for your needs can save you money on your energy bill.

Based on the data above, I would use a Quad for high CPU intensive tasks like video and turn it off when finished. If the majority of my computing needs required very little high CPU usage or very little multimedia creation, a Mac mini would be an excellent computer choice. If you are using the Mac mini with an external FireWire 400 boot drive like the WiebeTech Maxelerate Max-250 to improve performance, you will need to add 10-14 watts to the Mac mini energy data above to get an accurate power measurement which includes that setup. In addition, if you use the EyeTV 200 you will need to add another 8 watts to the computers energy figures above as it draws its power from the computers FireWire 400 port. EyeTV 200 changes the Mac mini from 2 watts in sleep mode to 9-11 watts and from less than 1 watt when turned off to 7-9 watts usage.

What About the PowerMac G4 Dual 1.25GHz?
The Kill-a-Watt electricity usage monitor is a $30 device that helps you measure electricity usage. However it can easily be off plus or minus two watts. All of the Macintosh computers in the table above were measured with the same Kill-a-Watt unit so the results should be very comparable between each computer. While we were unable to get enough results on the PowerMac G4 1.25GHz dual to include it in the table above, we were able to get a few measurements with another Kill-a-Watt unit. The PowerMac G4 Dual 1.25GHz used 105-150 watts while booting, 142 watts while playing iTunes, 156 watts while ripping a CD, 11 watts while in sleep mode and 6 watts when turned off. These results indicate the PowerMac G4 Dual 1.25GHz will use about the same amount of energy as the PowerMac G5 2.0 Dual when idle, but substantially less when being utilized with CPU intensive applications.

PowerMac G5 Quad gets 4 AMUGs out of 5!
Unless you are spending most of the day compiling Xcode or working with the latest video tools to create multimedia presentations or movies you probably do not need a PowerMac G5 Quad Core. For normal Macintosh applications like playing music, email, web browsing and even playing Halo, the PowerMac G5 Quad did not provide a significant advantage versus the original PowerMac G5 2.0GHz Dual. However, when compressing video using Handbrake, the Quad was able to convert a 141 minute movie to AVI AC3 in 24 minutes versus 37 minutes on the PowerMac G5 2.0GHz Dual. If H.264 was required, the Quad could convert the movie in 1:17 hours while the G5 2.0GHz Dual required 2:22 hours. When the CPU work load is the highest, the Quad performs amazingly well. The only real drawback with the Quad for some PowerMac users will be the total lack of PCI or PCI-X support. The PowerMac G5 Quad-Core is available on Amazon for $3,099.99 after a $200 mail in rebate.

Contact Information:
Apple
1 Infinite Loop
Cupertino,, California 95014
Phone: 408.996.1010
http://www.apple.com/contact/

Copyright 2006
Arizona Macintosh Users Group, Inc. (AMUG)
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