For Sale: PowerMac G5 Quad 2.5 GHz

[TeamBlackFox]

I am selling this PowerMac G5 Quad. Currently has a FreeBSD install on it but I have copies of OS X Leopard AND Tiger that I will include.

The HDD has been replaced with a 1TB from the original 500GB due to the old drive making clunking noises indicative of imminent failure.

This is one of the G5s that is likely going to be supported by MorphOS, but you will need to provide a video card as the old Radeon it had overheated and died.

Specs:
Quad 2.5 GHz G5, liquid cooled ( has later cooling block type - does not leak currently )
8GB RAM ( may have some extra RAM around, if I find it I'll add it in for free )
1TB WD Green HDD
NO Video card ( Takes PCIe Mac edition cards )

Local sales ( Ashburn VA is my location, will meet anywhere in Loudoun or Fairfax County ) take priority, if I don't get any local offers then I will be happy to ship it, but it'll be VERY heavy.

Price: $200 - get it out of here!

[magnetic]

Good price it will make an awesome morphos box

[TeamBlackFox]

Yeah magnetic its a good box for its age. I'm just done with Mac and GNU/Linux as I'm only a BSD, IRIX, Solaris and AmigaOS user these days so I want it outta here.

[amigadave]

Good price it will make an awesome morphos box

I agree that the price is pretty good for that model PowerMac, even though it does not come with a video card.  I suggest getting a FireGL X3 (think that is the right model name) with the Radeon R400 GPU, if it can be found in a PCIe format.  

As for both of you claiming that it will soon be supported by MorphOS, I have not seen any official (or even unofficial) statements by anyone that support for the Quad Core G5 PowerMac has been promised, or that any work on such a port project has been started, or will be started any time soon.

I agree that it is logical to expect such a port to eventually be done, but Mark "Big Foot" Olsen and maybe a couple of other members of the MorphOS Dev. Team would first need to obtain that model to work on the port of MorphOS.

Better to not advertise that it will be supported by MorphOS to any buyers, until you have some confirmation that such work has been promised, or started.

Still a good computer though.  If I lived in the area where you are, I would consider buying it and I really don't need any more computers right now.  Good luck with your sale.

[TeamBlackFox]

> Better to not advertise that it will be supported by MorphOS to any buyers

Hmm I see what you mean. Fair enough

[Iggy]

I'd buy it if I had the funds.
I'm currently sitting on a 2.3 GHz PCI-e G5 with the hope that it will eventually be supported by MorphOS.
And FreeBSD on a RISC machine fascinates me.
I've actually considered this OS on an SGI MIPS based system or a Sun Sparc, but this would outperform most of those.

A FireGL X3 will not work in these, but a Radeon X1900GT will (that is what is in mine).
Whoever buys it, I can probably find one of these cards for you.

Personally, I think if MorphOS support is eventually released for this system, then TeamBlackFox is going to regret his decision as this will be the most powerful platform available for that OS.
The 2.5 Quad with its faster memory easily outperforms the earlier 2.7 even when only one core is used.

[amigadave]

A FireGL X3 will not work in these, but a Radeon X1900GT will (that is what is in mine).
Whoever buys it, I can probably find one of these cards for you.

I can vouch for Iggy being the best person for finding and modifying Radeon video cards for use in PPC Mac computers.  He provided me with my FireGL X3 for my Dual 2.7GHz G5 PowerMac.

Personally, I think if MorphOS support is eventually released for this system, then TeamBlackFox is going to regret his decision as this will be the most powerful platform available for that OS.
The 2.5 Quad with its faster memory easily outperforms the earlier 2.7 even when only one core is used.

TeamBlackFox has already stated that he doesn't have any interest in running any of the NG Amiga choices, so unless that changes and he decides he wants to use MorphOS, he may not regret this decision to sell his Quad Core G5.  I'll have to look up the single core performance difference between those two systems out of curiosity, to see how big the difference really would be for running MorphOS.

Even with a performance improvement of the newer Quad 2.5GHz G5 over my Dual 2.7GHz G5, and the ability to use newer PCIe video cards that may become supported in the future, until  MorphOS gets some kind of multi-core support added to it (if ever), the extra heat produced by 3 unused cores and extra waste of electricity, would make me hesitate to use the Quad G5 for running MorphOS.  I sort of feel guilty already about the amount of energy used and heat produced by my Dual 2.7GHz G5, but I guess it will make a good heater for the room my desk is located in this Winter.  :lol:

[TeamBlackFox]

I appreciate the concern Iggy ha-ha, but I'd rather get rid of this one as its in not the best cosmetic condition and I've pretty much sworn off Apple products for good. Plus I need room for an incoming collection of SGIs ( May be a good opportunity for you to have a cheap one as they'll be around (^_^) )

Plus FreeBSD doesn't run on SGI MIPS hardware, but I *think* it will run on their Itanium hardware - I'd have to check with freebsd.org's fora though.

[Iggy]

Thanks David,
But your card was modified by a friend who is much better with R400 cards than I am (although I do mod R200 and R300 cards).
The difference between the 2.5 Quad and the 2.7 isn't great enough to justify the change by itself.
And the X800XT performs pretty close to the X1900GT.

Also, with the PCI-X models we have access to the all the supported PCI cards (like the SB Live, USB 2.0 cards, SCSI cards, etc.).

However, should they start creating video card drivers with bios emulation support, we might eventually see PCI-e cards supported beyond the 1900GT (big might folks, don't even ask the developers about this speculation).

But think about it, a Quad-core 2.5 G5 with an HD4670 card (or better).

[TeamBlackFox]

I'm not gonna change my mind regarding selling this - I've used MorphOS before on a G4 and until its able to address at least 4GB of RAM its rather useless as an OS to me. I'd love to do more with it, but there's nothing going for it in my books. So this thing  is a gigantic paperweight moreorless.

[Iggy]

God I'd kill to find an SGI Fuel like you've got, Fox (or better yet a Quad 1 GHz Tezro).
Like I said, I'd buy the G5, but I already have three (a 1.8 and a 2.7 PCI-X and a 2.3 PCI-e), although yours is slightly better.

Throw 8GB of memory into it and your system would make a great OpenBSD platform.

It's a pity that IRIX isn't being developed anymore. It would have made a great open OS.

Still, I guess Linux has become almost tolerable (and OpenBSD is always there).

As to MorphOS, should the developers take the jump to 64 bit SMP, then we'd finally have an Amigoid OS that could compete outside the realm of "hobbyist OS' ".

[TeamBlackFox]

Yeah OpenBSD is a decent OS, and a good desktop OS especially in todays highly hackable world - I just prefer FreeBSD for the general use and OpenBSD for firewalls, servers etc. The Linux kernel is alright, if a of a questionable design and architecture, but GNU, the userland stuff is outright horrible and is the main reason I won't touch GNU/Linux with a 39 1/2 foot pole. The GNU project and the FSF are convinced that proprietary software is the capitalism of computing and that it should all be socialised under a licence that forces you to keep it socialised.

I'm really interested in MorphOS and I used it on my PowerMac G4 as a demo OS, but I never really had any use for it beyond screwing around.

As far as IRIX goes I'd like to convince SGI to open it up under the MIT licence since they have stopped supporting it - if you have any ideas please PM me .

[TeamBlackFox]

On hold for a member of NekoChan.net

[TheMagicM]

The "MorphOS support" thing...

Even if MorphOS did support it..I bet it would only support 1 core.. I have a dual processor G5 and only 1 is being used.  It *would be nice* if it supported both.   But I digress... sorry for the hijack.

[TheMagicM]

Deleted duplicate post