Apple Power Macintosh G3 (Blue and White) vs Apple Power Mac G5 (2003)

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Power Macintosh G3 (Blue and White) compared with Power Mac G5 (2003)

	ApplePower Macintosh G3 (Blue and White)	ApplePower Mac G5 (2003)
Overview
Released
Released	January 1999	August 2003
Performance
Processor
Processor	PowerPC G3 300 MHz (Power Macintosh G3 Blue and White), PowerPC G3 350 MHz (Power Macintosh G3 Blue and White), PowerPC G3 400 MHz (Power Macintosh G3 Blue and White) or PowerPC G3 450 MHz (Power Macintosh G3 Blue and White)	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	1	1 or 2
Graphics
Graphics	ATI RAGE 128 (16 MB SDRAM)	NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra (64 MB) or ATI Radeon 9600 Pro (64 MB)
Memory
Memory	64 MB or 128 MB	256 MB, 512 MB, 4 GB or 8 GB (better)
Storage
Storage	6 GB to 12 GB	80 GB to 160 GB (better)
CPU
CPU	Original 300, 350 and 400 MHz PowerPC G3 range; later 350, 400 and 450 MHz. The 300 MHz has 512 KB backside L2 cache; faster models have 1 MB, all at half processor clock. 100 MHz system bus, integrated FPU, 32 KB each instruction/data L1 cache. Manufacturer supplier is not assigned without exact fitted-chip evidence.	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	ATI RAGE 128 GL PCI card with 16 MB SDRAM, installed in the dedicated 66 MHz PCI slot. Supports QuickDraw 3D RAVE and OpenGL; DVD configurations add a hardware MPEG-2 decoder module.	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	Four 168-pin 3.3 V unbuffered PC100 SDRAM slots; maker maximum 1 GB. Factory memory of 64 or 128 MB stays tied to each configuration.	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.
Storage type
Storage type	Apple’s Japanese model list separates original factory pairs: 300 MHz/64 MB/6 GB ATA/CD (M6670); 350 MHz/64 MB/6 GB ATA/DVD (M6668); 350 MHz/128 MB/12 GB ATA/CD/Zip (M6666); 400 MHz/128 MB/9 GB Ultra2 Wide SCSI/CD (M6665). Later pairs: 350 MHz/64 MB/6 GB ATA/CD (M7556); 400 MHz/64 MB/6 GB ATA/DVD (M7555); 400 MHz/128 MB/12 GB ATA/CD/Zip (M7554); 450 MHz/128 MB/9 GB Ultra2 Wide SCSI/CD (M7553). Service Source distinguishes original 24x or 32x CD drives; current revised sheet gives 32x CD and 5x DVD. Optional BTO combinations are not multiplied into unverified configurations.	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.
Expansion slots
Expansion slots	Four PCI slots: three 64-bit 33 MHz slots and one 32-bit 66 MHz slot occupied by graphics. Two extra internal hard-drive expansion bays; SCSI configurations use a PCI controller card.	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	2 × USB-A, Ethernet, headphone jack	3 × USB-A, Ethernet, headphone jack
Ethernet
Ethernet	0.1 Gb/s	1 Gb/s (better)
External displays
External displays	–	Up to 2
Front ports
Front ports	–	USB 2.0, FireWire 400 and headphone minijack.
Back ports
Back ports	Two 12 Mbps USB ports, two FireWire 400 ports, one ADB port, 10/100BASE-T Ethernet, VGA and stereo audio input/output. Optional 56K modem is separate. Keyboard’s two USB ports excluded from chassis count. Current maker table corrects the developer note: ADB total current maximum is 500 mA, not 100 mA.	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	Graphics supports up to 1600 × 1200 at 32 bits per pixel for 2D; 3D maximum is 1600 × 1200 with thousands of colours or 1280 × 1024 with millions.	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	One built-in speaker; 16-bit stereo input/output at up to 44.1 kHz.	Built-in speaker; external audio can use analogue or optical connections.
Keyboard and mouse
Keyboard and mouse	Apple USB Keyboard and Apple USB Mouse; Macintosh-to-VGA display adapter.	Apple Keyboard, Apple Mouse, USB extension cable, DVI-to-VGA adapter and modem cable.
Design and power
Type
Type	Tower	Tower
Weight
Weight	13 kg (better)	17.8 kg
Width × depth × height
Width × depth × height	226 × 467 × 432 mm	206 × 475 × 511 mm
Operating system
Operating system	macOS	macOS
Size and weight detail
Size and weight detail	Maker centimetre figures converted directly to millimetres. Published 13.0 kg example includes CD-ROM, Zip and an ATA hard drive; fitted devices change weight.	Published height 51.1 cm, width 20.6 cm, depth 47.5 cm; 17.8 kg reference weight varies with configuration.
Materials
Materials	–	Aluminium enclosure with separate thermal zones.
Power supply
Power supply	200 W maximum continuous, excluding display; 115 V AC (90–132 V) or 230 V AC (180–264 V), 47–63 Hz.	–
In the box
In the box	Mac OS 8.5.1 originally; later stock has Mac OS 8.6. Apple’s 5 January 1999 release says the new range arrives on the market; contemporary January demonstration coverage says Apple is now shipping. Month precision retained, no inferred exact first-delivery day. Server G3 bundled configurations are excluded.	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.