Apple Power Macintosh G3 (Blue and White) vs Apple Power Mac G5 (Early 2005)

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Power Macintosh G3 (Blue and White) compared with Power Mac G5 (Early 2005)

	ApplePower Macintosh G3 (Blue and White)	ApplePower Mac G5 (Early 2005)
Overview
Released
Released	January 1999	April 2005
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)	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	1	2
Graphics
Graphics	ATI RAGE 128 (16 MB SDRAM)	ATI Radeon 9600 (128 MB) or ATI Radeon 9650 (256 MB)
Memory
Memory	64 MB or 128 MB	512 MB, 4 GB or 8 GB (better)
Storage
Storage	6 GB to 12 GB	160 GB to 250 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.	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	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.	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	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.	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.
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 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.
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. 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	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, 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	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.	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	One built-in speaker; 16-bit stereo input/output at up to 44.1 kHz.	Built-in speaker; analogue and optical audio 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 and DVI-to-VGA adapter.
Design and power
Type
Type	Tower	Tower
Weight
Weight	13 kg (better)	20.2 kg
Width × depth × height
Width × depth × height	226 × 467 × 432 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.	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	200 W maximum continuous, excluding display; 115 V AC (90–132 V) or 230 V AC (180–264 V), 47–63 Hz.	450 W on dual 2/2.3 GHz; 600 W on dual 2.7 GHz, as stated by the maker.
Materials
Materials	–	Aluminium enclosure.
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.	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.