002r: G4 Dual 1.0 or G5 single 1.6?

[AverageJoe]

Hey guys-

i'm upgrading and want to know which would be a better buy for a 002R- a G4 (mirror door) dual 1.0 or a rev 1 G5 SINGLE 1.6??

Let's assume all options (RAM and hard drives) are equal for this question.

I'm looking for specific info on whether PT is fully happening with the dual processor thing now, and is it taking advantage of the whole G5 magic.

Thanks!

[mersisblue]

well thats a tough one

Id probably go for the g5 single just because sooner or laterr it'' get a CPU upgrade made for it and will be "potientally " faster than any G4

but if your not interested in modding than Id go for the G4

[AverageJoe]

Yeah, I'm kind of thinking that the G4 is a better choice right now due to price, but the G5 has a longer lifespan. Is that worth the $400 extra, I don't know?

I'm hearing about issues with the 002r and rev2 G5's. The one I'm looking at is a rev1- should I be worried about that?

[Allen Hallada]

You can get the iMac G5 1.6 Ghz now for 1099.00 from the Apple store in the Sale section. I have three and they are great.

Allen

[Musick]

well thats a tough one

Id probably go for the g5 single just because sooner or laterr it'' get a CPU upgrade made for it and will be "potientally " faster than any G4

but if your not interested in modding than Id go for the G4

What do you mean by "sooner or later you'll get a CPU upgrade made for it"?
Do you mean you'll be able to make a single 1.6Ghz G5 a dual G5 processor???

[Jak]

Go the G5, I bought a dual 1.25 G4 last year, and even though it does more than I need, with every new software update the G4 is working harder and harder. I'd go the $400 extra for the G5. And as mentioned above, the new G5 imacs could be a cheap and powerful option.

[j creasey]

the g5 is the only choice! because pt le does not see 2 prosessors so really your asking whats better
1/ a single 1gig pro or
2/ a single 1.6 gig pro
a no brainer really.

[Mikeren]

Pro tools under OSX and PTLE 6+ WILL allow you to completely dedicate one processor of a dual set-up to Pro tools. A single processor can only be set to a max. of 85% usage. As much as I prefer a dual, the math says 85% of a 1.6Ghz (1.36Ghz) is still better than 100% of a 1Ghz. Processor speed (usable) is everything to PT's track and plug-in count. I run my 002R on a dual 1.2 gig upgrade card. I have yet to max it out.

MR

[Slim Shady]

Get the G5, it's a no brainer. The MDD macs were some of the worst Apple ever made (I worked for them when they released them - just a horrible defect rate). They can be very noisy, and have voltage issues if you start loading up the PCI slots. The later revisions fixed some of the problems, but you will still get better performance with the G5 as it has a much faster system bus, RAM speed and uses SATA hard drives, all which help with PT performance in their own way.

PT was never altivec enhanced for G4's as far as I know, and there is no such enhancement for G5's (I find it funny that in Logic you can still only set your processor as a G3 or G4 even though it's made by Apple now). It's also not dual-processor aware as other users have pointed out, so there's really not much of an argument for the dual G4 at all, other than price, and you can get good deals on the 1.6G5's if you look around.

[tele_player]

PT was never altivec enhanced for G4's as far as I know, and there is no such enhancement for G5's (I find it funny that in Logic you can still only set your processor as a G3 or G4 even though it's made by Apple now).

What do you mean by 'there is no such enhancement for G5'? That ProTools hasn't been enhanced, or that G5 doesn't have AltiVec?