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New PowerMac G5s: Up to 2.5Ghz, Liquid Cooled

Posted by Hemos on from the making-the-fast-faster dept.

no_demons writes "Apple have just announced the new, completely dual-processor PowerMac G5 lineup. The models all sport an 8x SuperDrive, whilst new the dual-2.5GHz model also features an 'innovative liquid cooled heat sink,' available in July."

7 of 1,009 comments (clear)

  1. Attention to detail... by WIAKywbfatw · · Score: 5, Insightful

    From the Apple link:

    Each of the four thermal zones is equipped with its own dedicated, low-speed fans. Apple engineered the nine fans to spin at very low speeds for minimum acoustic output. Using 21 different sensors, Mac OS X constantly monitors component temperatures in each zone, dynamically adjusting individual fan speeds to the appropriate levels for the quietest possible operation. As a result, the Power Mac G5 runs two times quieter than the previous Power Mac G4 enclosure.

    Nine fans and 21 sensors, generating half as many decibels. Now I'm not an Apple fan-boy but that's the level of attention to detail that seperates Apple from Dell, etc.

    --

    "Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
    1. Re:Attention to detail... by dasmegabyte · · Score: 5, Insightful

      True. I've found that engineers who don't care about how things look on the outside generally don't care too much about how they work on the inside either. Meaning no features that aren't in the spec, no effort expended to fix designs that sound good but won't work in the real world. So we get things like the flimsy door covering the ports on the front of a Dell precision desktop (ports which are impossible to see and useless if you put the tower on the ground, like everybody I work with)...

      Apple's design is more than simply "superficial." It's thorough. When I was looking for laptops, I found plenty of really nice machines with big, fast, hot processors that only got a little more than an hour of battery life. And I found machines with nice, big 17" screens that had super high resolutions, but were only viewable from a tiny angle. And any machine that had similar features and speed were close to two inches thick and weighted upwards of 15 pounds.

      I only found one that was even close to the footprint of my 15" with similar specs, and it was the Apex Ferrari. Now, since I'm not going to buy a gaudy red laptop with a ferrari logo on it, I only had the one choice :).

      --
      Hey freaks: now you're ju
  2. Graphics cards... by radicalskeptic · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The dual 1.8 and dual 2.0 GHz machines come with an "NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra" graphics card. Isn't that card pretty low-end (or midrange at best)? Is it just me, or should a 2,000+ dollar machine come with a decent graphics card?

    Of course, the whole point of a tower is that you can replace the card, but when you're already paying 2,500 USD, should you have to?

    --
    WARNING: If accidentally read, induce vomiting.
  3. Re:cool by cowscows · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm mostly disappointed that they still haven't announced new monitors. I don't want a sleek aluminum G5 sitting next to one of those dated looking plastic cinema displays, with a three inch border around the screen. New displays!

    --

    One time I threw a brick at a duck.

  4. Don't care about apple... by sinner0423 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...as much as I care about the liquid cooling part. I remember liquid cooling my crappy little celeron, thinking it would never go mainstream because of my belief at the time that water + electricity = bad.

    Now, we've got liquid cooled technology backed by Apple. It's pretty sweet, considering you either have to buy a specially designed freon pumping case, or a $500 video card to reap the benefits of this kind of cooling.. Now all you've gotta do is buy a $3000 Mac.

    Sarcasm aside, I think this shows that soon, the PC's on the shelves will mostly all be using some sort of heat pipe / water cooling technology.

    I'm not a Mac fanboy, don't own one, but this really goes to show that Apple can and does set standards for personal computing. With major backing like this, it's only a matter of time before it trickles down to where everyone can be using it for a relatively cheap price. Way to go, Apple.

  5. Re:Clock speed by nine-times · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Clock speed doesn't mean "nothing", it's just not the sole- or even the most meaningful- measurement of over-all system speed. People have mearely noticed that, with all the bottle-necks in a system, merely bumping up clock-speeds without improving the over-all architecture gives deminishing returns.

    What a G5 2.5 Ghz would be equivalent to in terms of Intel or AMD depends on what you're doing and how you benchmark. It really doesn't matter too much, though, unless you're trying to start a Mac vs. PC flame war. It's like comparing Apples and Oranges.

  6. Re:Who cares? by jdbo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    you left out firewire 400/800 card and modem (don't believe that these are on the mobo).

    does this support digitial audio i/o?

    how is WiFI supported? (can it use a card, or does it have to take up a PCI slot?)

    how much to add software equivalent to the following:
    iLife (includes iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD and GarageBand),
    Art Directors Toolkit, EarthLink TotalAccess 2004, GraphicConverter, OmniGraffle, OmniOutliner, QuickBooks for Mac New User Edition, Zinio Reader, Mail, iChat AV, Safari, Sherlock, Address Book, QuickTime, iSync, iCal, DVD Player, Classic environment, Xcode Developer Tools

    esp: iMovie, iDVD, GarageBand, QuickBooks

    also, if you're using windows that cost should be added in

    also, there's the warrantee and online service with the G5.

    finally, you left out shipping costs (unless you can get those prices locally)

    this narrows the gap somewhat.