Powermac G5 Upgrades

In June 2003 Apple finally upgraded their desktop line up from the G4 to the IBM made PPC970 - the G5. These machines are awesome, both internally and externally. They support up to 8GB of memory. The machines all shipped with DVD-RW superdrives and SATA hard drives. The connectivity was upgraded with FireWire 800, Airport Extreme, PCI-X slots and 8 x AGP graphics.

The front side bus to the CPU was increased up to 1GHz - almost unheard of on a desktop system. The increased speed and power required a unique case with distinct thermal zones and the biggest heat sinks yet. The benefit? Up to 7 times better performance than the G4 Dual 1.42. A awesome machine for every task.

There were four fairly minor revisions of the PowerMac G5 before the change to the dual core models. See Apple specs for the original Power Mac G5 here, the June 2004 revision here, the late 2004 here and early 2005 here.

The PowerMac G5 is easily identifiable by its size, shape, distinctive handles and front and rear grills. If your machine looks like the picture to the right you've got a PowerMac G5.

To distinguish between the latest PCI-Express dual-core PowerMac G5s and earlier ones, one way to tell is by the number of ethernet ports. Machines dealt with on this page have 1 RJ-45 ethernet port on the back. If you have 2 RJ-45 sockets, you need to refer to this page.

You can also tell the difference by opening System Profiler (Apple Menu > About This Mac, then click on the "More Info" button), then selecting Memory on the window that comes up and checking the speed column for any of the modules already installed. For this earlier PowerMac G5, it will start PC3200 or PC2700. Later dual core machines will start PC2-4200.

Other main distinguishing features are the number of processor cores - these earlier machines use single-core processors (although frequently were sold with dual processors), use DDR RAM as opposed to the newer DDR2 RAM in the later machines. The machines on this page were all sold before October 2005.

There were four fairly minor revisions of the PowerMac G5 before the change to the dual core models. See Apple specs for the original Power Mac G5 here, the June 2004 revision here, the late 2004 here and early 2005 here.

If you are still unsure you can contact us on 01223 833 412 or by email for confirmation.

The PowerMac G5 has either 4 or 8 memory sockets. The machines can accept up to 8.0GB / 4.0GB in RAM - (4 or 8 x 1.GB ). With OS X on the desktop the more RAM you have the more your Mac will love you. Our memory is lifetime guaranteed and comes with a full compatibility guarantee. The easiest way to find out how many available sockets you have is to open the side of the machine - after turning it off at the wall. Use the release catch at the back, remove the plastic cover and the dual fans. Count the number of sockets. If you have 4 you can accept up to 4GB if 8 then 8GB. All RAM for the G5's must be installed in PAIRS - that means matched sizes and types for best performance i.e. to add 512MB of RAM you need 2 x 256MB Sticks.

Please note the RAM listed below is for the non-Dual Core (which is different to dual processor) PowerMac G5s. If you have a PowerMac G5 with only 1 ethernet port, the RAM listed below is correct. If you have a PowerMac G5 with 2 ethernet ports, you need to see the modules listed here.

The PowerMac G5 came equipped with a Superdrive Optical drive loaded with a tray at the front of the machine. There is no internal expansion for a second optical drive. It is possible to use an External DVD writer via USB 2.0 or FireWire (FireWire is better). The below drives will work with your Mac.

If you don't want to fit a new hard drive yourself, you can take advantage of the MacUpgrades Installation Service. Add the installation service from the list below to your cart along with your chosen hard drive. We can also clone your existing hard drive onto the new one, simply add the Clone Original Hard Drive service below to your cart.

Once you have booked the service, send your machine to us, we will carry out the work and return it to you. Alternatively, we do offer a Collection Service with our courier, please see here for details.

Your PowerMac G5 has 1 available 8x AGP socket for upgrading your video capabilities. These new cards offer fantastic gaming and professional outputs across many monitors.

Listed below are the compatible expansion cards we sell for this version of the PowerMac G5.

The following keyboards and mice are compatible with this Mac.

Listed below are power supplies, batteries and related products we supply for this Mac.

Listed below are power cables, tools and related products we supply for this Mac.

This Mac can use any of the following external hard drives.

Any complete machines of this type or similar that we have for sale are listed here. Please note that these are refurbished models with a 3 month warranty, and that delivery is likely to take 3 - 5 working days. These can be purchased online with the standard website courier delivery charge for the mainland UK only. Please contact us for a quote on shipping to other areas.

Here are the various repair services we offer for this Mac. You can have us take the machine in for evaluation, or book a fixed-price repair if you already know what the fault is and the service is listed below (for services without parts, please see the relevant tab on this page for compatible parts that we sell). If you know what the fault is, but we don't have a fixed-price repair listed below, please contact us for a quote.