Apple Mac Pro (M2 Ultra) vs Apple Power Mac G5 (2003)

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Mac Pro (M2 Ultra) compared with Power Mac G5 (2003)

	AppleMac Pro (M2 Ultra)	ApplePower Mac G5 (2003)
Overview
Released
Released	June 2023	August 2003
Performance
Processor
Processor	Apple M2 Ultra	PowerPC G5 1600 MHz (Power Mac 2003), PowerPC G5 1800 MHz (Power Mac 2003), 2 × PowerPC G5 2000 MHz (Power Mac 2003) or 2 × PowerPC G5 1800 MHz (Power Mac 2003)
CPU cores
CPU cores	24	1 or 2
Graphics
Graphics	60-core GPU or 76-core GPU	NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra (64 MB) or ATI Radeon 9600 Pro (64 MB)
Memory
Memory	64 GB, 128 GB or 192 GB (better)	256 MB, 512 MB, 4 GB or 8 GB
Storage
Storage	1 TB to 8 TB (better)	80 GB to 160 GB
CPU
CPU	24-core CPU with 16 performance cores and 8 efficiency cores	Single 1.6 or 1.8 GHz, or dual 2 GHz PowerPC G5 processors; Apple identifies IBM fabrication. Each physical processor has 512 KB L2 cache. Front-side bus per processor is 800 MHz, 900 MHz or 1 GHz respectively. A dual 1.8 GHz configuration was added on 18 November 2003, available immediately; it remains part of this generation.
GPU
GPU	60-core or 76-core GPU; additional graphics cards and MPX modules are not supported	Stock 1.6 and 1.8 GHz: NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra with 64 MB DDR. Stock dual 2 GHz: ATI Radeon 9600 Pro with 64 MB DDR. November dual 1.8 GHz: GeForce FX 5200 Ultra 64 MB. Optional ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128 MB.
Memory type
Memory type	–	Single 1.6 GHz: 256 MB DDR333, four DIMM slots, maximum 4 GB. Single 1.8 GHz and dual 2 GHz: 512 MB DDR400, eight slots, maximum 8 GB. November dual 1.8 GHz also has 512 MB DDR400 and an 8 GB maximum. DIMMs are installed in matched pairs. Each configuration retains its stock drive and graphics at base and maximum memory.
AI engine
AI engine	32-core Neural Engine	–
Memory bandwidth
Memory bandwidth	800 GB/s	–
Storage type
Storage type	1 TB SSD, configurable to 2 TB, 4 TB or 8 TB; two internal SATA connectors up to 6 Gb/s	Stock 80 GB on the single 1.6 GHz; 160 GB on the single 1.8 GHz, dual 2 GHz and November dual 1.8 GHz. 7200 rpm Serial ATA drives; two internal bays with 150 MB/s interfaces. One optical bay with 4x DVD-R SuperDrive; optional Combo drive and 80, 160 or 250 GB drives.
Media engine
Media engine	Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW; two video decode engines, four video encode engines and four ProRes encode and decode engines	–
Expansion slots
Expansion slots	Six full-length PCIe 4.0 slots (two x16 and four x8); one half-length x4 PCIe 3.0 slot with Apple I/O card installed; up to 300 W auxiliary power through two 75 W six-pin and one 150 W eight-pin connectors	AGP 8x Pro graphics slot. Single 1.6 GHz has three 64-bit 33 MHz PCI slots; faster original models and the November dual 1.8 GHz have PCI-X slots, two at 100 MHz and one at 133 MHz.
Display
Screen
Screen	None built in	None built in
Connections
Ports
Ports	8 × Thunderbolt 4, 2 × USB-A, 2 × HDMI, 2 × Ethernet, headphone jack	3 × USB-A, Ethernet, headphone jack
Ethernet
Ethernet	10 Gb/s (better)	1 Gb/s
External displays
External displays	Up to 8 (better)	Up to 2
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 6E	–
Bluetooth
Bluetooth	5.3	–
Front ports
Front ports	Two Thunderbolt 4 ports on top of the tower or at the front of the rack enclosure	USB 2.0, FireWire 400 and headphone minijack.
Back ports
Back ports	Six Thunderbolt 4 ports with DisplayPort, USB 4 up to 40 Gb/s and USB 3.1 Gen 2 up to 10 Gb/s; two USB-A up to 5 Gb/s; two HDMI; two 10 Gb Ethernet supporting 1, 2.5, 5 and 10 Gb/s; 3.5 mm jack with high-impedance headphone support; additional internal USB-A up to 5 Gb/s	Two USB 2.0, FireWire 800, FireWire 400, Gigabit Ethernet, V.92 modem, optical Toslink audio input/output and analogue line-in/out. Optional 54 Mbps AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth 1.1 with external antennas. Three chassis USB ports in total; keyboard ports are separate.
External displays
External displays	Up to eight displays at 4K 60 Hz, six at 6K 60 Hz or three at 8K 60 Hz; each HDMI port supports one at 8K 60 Hz or 4K 240 Hz, with VRR, HDR and multichannel audio	ADC and DVI connectors with DVI-to-VGA adapter; two displays in extended desktop or mirrored modes. A second ADC display needs an optional adapter.
Speakers
Speakers	Built-in speaker; HDMI multichannel audio output	Built-in speaker; external audio can use analogue or optical connections.
Keyboard and mouse
Keyboard and mouse	Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad, Magic Mouse; optional Magic Trackpad	Apple Keyboard, Apple Mouse, USB extension cable, DVI-to-VGA adapter and modem cable.
Design and power
Type
Type	Tower	Tower
Weight
Weight	16.86 kg (better)	17.8 kg
Width × depth × height
Width × depth × height	218 × 450 × 529 mm	206 × 475 × 511 mm
Operating system
Operating system	macOS	macOS
Size and weight detail
Size and weight detail	Tower with feet is 529 × 218 × 450 mm and 16.86 kg; optional wheels increase height to 557 mm. Rack enclosure is 5U, 220.2 × 482 × 539.5 mm including handles (493.5 mm from fascia), and 17.21 kg; rack depth range 609.6–1,066.8 mm	Published height 51.1 cm, width 20.6 cm, depth 47.5 cm; 17.8 kg reference weight varies with configuration.
Power supply
Power supply	Built-in; maximum continuous power 1,280 W at 108–125 V or 220–240 V, or 1,180 W at 100–107 V	–
Materials
Materials	70% recycled aluminium in the enclosure	Aluminium enclosure with separate thermal zones.
Colours
Colours	Silver	–
In the box
In the box	Mac Pro, Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad, Magic Mouse, 2 m power lead, 1 m USB-C charge cable; rack mount rails included with the rack enclosure, shipped separately	Original models shipped with Mac OS X Jaguar; the November dual 1.8 GHz announcement includes Panther. Apple’s 18 August 2003 shipping release confirms immediate availability of the single-processor models; the original dual 2 GHz was due later that month.