Apple Mac Pro (M2 Ultra) vs Apple Power Mac G5 (Early 2005)

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Mac Pro (M2 Ultra) compared with Power Mac G5 (Early 2005)

	AppleMac Pro (M2 Ultra)	ApplePower Mac G5 (Early 2005)
Overview
Released
Released	June 2023	April 2005
Performance
Processor
Processor	Apple M2 Ultra	2 × PowerPC G5 2000 MHz (Power Mac Early 2005), 2 × PowerPC G5 2300 MHz (Power Mac Early 2005) or 2 × PowerPC G5 2700 MHz (Power Mac Early 2005)
CPU cores
CPU cores	24	2
Graphics
Graphics	60-core GPU or 76-core GPU	ATI Radeon 9600 (128 MB) or ATI Radeon 9650 (256 MB)
Memory
Memory	64 GB, 128 GB or 192 GB (better)	512 MB, 4 GB or 8 GB
Storage
Storage	1 TB to 8 TB (better)	160 GB to 250 GB
CPU
CPU	24-core CPU with 16 performance cores and 8 efficiency cores	Two physical PowerPC G5 processors at 2, 2.3 or 2.7 GHz, each with 512 KB L2 cache and no L3 cache. Front-side bus per processor is 1, 1.15 or 1.35 GHz. The dual 2.7 GHz model uses liquid cooling.
GPU
GPU	60-core or 76-core GPU; additional graphics cards and MPX modules are not supported	Dual 2 and 2.3 GHz: ATI Radeon 9600 with 128 MB DDR and two single-link DVI outputs. Dual 2.7 GHz: ATI Radeon 9650 with 256 MB GDDR3, one single-link and one dual-link DVI output. Optional NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL with 256 MB has two dual-link DVI outputs and occupies the adjacent PCI slot.
Memory type
Memory type	–	Stock 512 MB PC3200 DDR400, installed in matched pairs. Dual 2 GHz has four DIMM slots and a 4 GB maximum. Dual 2.3 and 2.7 GHz have eight slots and an 8 GB maximum. Configuration rows keep the stock drives 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 160 GB on dual 2 GHz and 250 GB on dual 2.3/2.7 GHz, all 7200 rpm Serial ATA. Two internal drive bays; optional 250 or 400 GB drives, including two 400 GB drives. One optical bay with 16x SuperDrive supporting DVD±R and up to 4x dual-layer DVD+R recording.
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. Dual 2 GHz has three 64-bit 33 MHz PCI slots. Dual 2.3 and 2.7 GHz have PCI-X: two 100 MHz slots and one 133 MHz slot.
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, optical S/PDIF input/output and analogue audio line-in/out. Three chassis USB ports in total, plus keyboard USB 1.1 ports. AirPort Extreme, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR and a V.92 modem are optional.
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	Two displays in extended desktop or mirrored modes. Radeon 9600 supports two displays up to 1920 × 1200; Radeon 9650 supports one 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Display via dual-link DVI. Optional 6800 Ultra DDL supports two 30-inch displays. DVI-to-VGA adapter included.
Speakers
Speakers	Built-in speaker; HDMI multichannel audio output	Built-in speaker; analogue and optical audio 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 and DVI-to-VGA adapter.
Design and power
Type
Type	Tower	Tower
Weight
Weight	16.86 kg (better)	20.2 kg
Width × depth × height
Width × depth × height	218 × 450 × 529 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	The exact maker sheet labels height as 47.5 cm, width 20.6 cm and depth 51.1 cm. Earlier G5 sheets label height/depth in the opposite order; main dimensions are omitted because those published axes conflict. Maker reference weight is 20.2 kg and 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	450 W on dual 2/2.3 GHz; 600 W on dual 2.7 GHz, as stated by the maker.
Materials
Materials	70% recycled aluminium in the enclosure	Aluminium enclosure.
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	Mac OS X Tiger and iLife ’05. Apple’s 27 April 2005 launch says these models are available “this week”; first sale is kept at April precision rather than treating the announcement as a confirmed delivery day. The older single 1.8 GHz model retained in the launch range is represented separately as Late 2004.