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

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

	ApplePower Macintosh G3 (Blue and White)	ApplePower Mac G5 (Late 2005)
Overview
Released
Released	January 1999	October 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)	PowerPC G5 dual-core 2000 MHz (Power Mac Late 2005), PowerPC G5 dual-core 2300 MHz (Power Mac Late 2005) or 2 × PowerPC G5 dual-core 2500 MHz (Power Mac Late 2005)
CPU cores
CPU cores	1	2 or 4
Graphics
Graphics	ATI RAGE 128 (16 MB SDRAM)	NVIDIA GeForce 6600 LE (128 MB) or NVIDIA GeForce 6600 (256 MB)
Memory
Memory	64 MB or 128 MB	512 MB or 16 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.	Dual models have one physical dual-core PowerPC G5 at 2 or 2.3 GHz. Quad has two physical dual-core processors at 2.5 GHz, four cores in total. Each core has 1 MB L2 cache. Front-side bus per physical processor is 1, 1.15 or 1.25 GHz respectively. Macworld’s exact Quad review describes its 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.	Stock dual-core 2 GHz: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 LE with 128 MB GDDR SDRAM. Dual-core 2.3 GHz and Quad: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 with 256 MB GDDR SDRAM. Optional NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT 256 MB and Quadro FX 4500 512 MB; the Quadro occupies the graphics slot and adjacent x4 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 PC2-4200 DDR2 at 533 MHz, installed in matched pairs. Up to 16 GB supported; ECC configurations available from 1 GB. Rows retain the stock drive and graphics at base and maximum supported 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-core 2 GHz and 250 GB on dual-core 2.3 GHz and Quad. 7200 rpm Serial ATA drives; two internal bays. Optional one or two 500 GB drives. One optical bay with 16x SuperDrive supporting 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.	PCI Express: occupied x16 graphics slot, two open x4 slots and one open x8 slot. Older PCI and PCI-X expansion cards cannot be reused in these slots.
Display
Screen
Screen	None built in	None built in
Connections
Ports
Ports	2 × USB-A, Ethernet, headphone jack	4 × USB-A, 2 × 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.	Three USB 2.0, FireWire 800, FireWire 400, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, optical Toslink input/output and analogue audio line-in/out. Four chassis USB 2.0 ports in total, plus two keyboard USB 1.1 ports. AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR are optional, with integrated antennas; built-in support does not mean modules are included.
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.	Stock GeForce 6600 LE/6600 and optional 7800 GT have one single-link and one dual-link DVI port, supporting one 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Display alongside a second display. Optional Quadro FX 4500 has two dual-link DVI outputs for two 30-inch displays and a stereo 3D connector. 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 and optical/analogue external audio connections.
Keyboard and mouse
Keyboard and mouse	Apple USB Keyboard and Apple USB Mouse; Macintosh-to-VGA display adapter.	Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse, USB keyboard extension and DVI-to-VGA adapter.
Design and power
Type
Type	Tower	Tower
Weight
Weight	13 kg	–
Width × depth × height
Width × depth × height	226 × 467 × 432 mm	–
Operating system
Operating system	macOS	macOS
Materials
Materials	–	Aluminium enclosure.
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.	–
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.	Mac OS X Tiger and iLife ’05. Apple confirmed the dual-core 2 and 2.3 GHz models available on 19 October 2005, with Quad expected in early November. Macs Only reports its Quad shipped on 10 November and arrived on 11 November; these later Quad dates do not change the generation’s first sale. The exact specification sheet does not publish weight or dimensions.