Apple Power Macintosh G3 Desktop vs Apple Power Mac G5 (Late 2005)
Better figure, where one is clearly better
| ApplePower Macintosh G3 Desktop | ApplePower Mac G5 (Late 2005) | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Released | November 1997 | October 2005 |
| Performance | ||
| Processor | PowerPC G3 233 MHz (Power Macintosh G3 Desktop), PowerPC G3 266 MHz (Power Macintosh G3 Desktop) or PowerPC G3 300 MHz (Power Macintosh G3 Desktop) | 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 | 1 | 2 or 4 |
| Graphics | ATI 3D RAGE II+ (2 MB), ATI 3D RAGE II+, RAGE Pro or RAGE Pro Turbo (2 MB; dated factory revisions) or ATI 3D RAGE Pro Turbo (2 MB) | NVIDIA GeForce 6600 LE (128 MB) or NVIDIA GeForce 6600 (256 MB) |
| Memory | 32 MB or 64 MB | 512 MB or 16 GB (better) |
| Storage | 4 GB to 6 GB | 160 GB to 250 GB (better) |
| CPU | 233 or 266 MHz PowerPC G3 at launch, with 512 KB backside L2 cache at 117 or 133 MHz. The later 300 MHz option has 1 MB at 150 MHz; all use a 66 MHz system bus and 32 KB each instruction/data L1 cache. Apple names IBM/Motorola as G3 suppliers but does not identify each fitted processor supplier. | 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 | Original ATI 3D RAGE II+ with 2 MB SGRAM, expandable to 6 MB. Apple Service Source distinguishes later RAGE Pro logic boards. EveryMac identifies May 1998 RAGE Pro and August 1998 RAGE Pro Turbo revisions; dated 300 MHz stock graphics are described explicitly rather than assigned to all models. | 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 | Three 168-pin 3.3 V unbuffered SDRAM DIMM slots. Original support table gives 192 MB maximum; later Apple Service Source specifies 384 MB with DIMMs no taller than 1.15 inches (192 MB with 1.25-inch DIMMs). Unofficial 768 MB upgrades are excluded. | 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 | Launch factory pairs: M6141LL/A 233 MHz/32 MB/4 GB IDE/CD-ROM; M6202LL/A 266 MHz/32 MB/4 GB IDE/CD-ROM/100 MB Zip. Later 300 MHz/32 or 64 MB/6 GB/24x CD-ROM/Zip pairs are from EveryMac’s exact Desktop record; precise graphics revisions vary. Maker BTO options include 4 or 9 GB Ultra Wide SCSI, 2x DVD-ROM, Zip, faster Ethernet and FireWire cards; unproven cross-combinations are omitted. Internal SuperDrive accepts 1.44 MB and 800 KB floppy disks. | 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 | Three PCI slots, plus a PERCH audio or audio/video I/O card slot; optional modem attaches to the I/O card. Desktop has one or two free 3.5-inch storage bays depending on the Zip configuration. | 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 | None built in | None built in |
| Connections | ||
| Ports | Ethernet, headphone jack | 4 × USB-A, 2 × Ethernet, headphone jack |
| Ethernet | 0.01 Gb/s | 1 Gb/s (better) |
| External displays | – | Up to 2 |
| Front ports | – | USB 2.0, FireWire 400 and headphone minijack. |
| Back ports | One DB-15 monitor connector, one DB-25 external SCSI connector, two DMA serial ports compatible with LocalTalk/GeoPort, one ADB connector, 10BASE-T Ethernet and stereo audio input/output. Optional expansion cards do not count as standard ports. | 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 | Built-in monitor port supports resolutions up to 1600 × 1200; available colour depths depend on graphics memory. Optional separate graphics card supports a second monitor. | 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 | – | Built-in speaker and optical/analogue external audio connections. |
| Keyboard and mouse | AppleDesign Keyboard, ADB Mouse II and Apple PlainTalk microphone (Service Source). | Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse, USB keyboard extension and DVI-to-VGA adapter. |
| Design and power | ||
| Type | Compact | Tower |
| Weight | 9.979 kg | – |
| Width × depth × height | 365.76 × 429.26 × 160.02 mm | – |
| Operating system | macOS | macOS |
| Materials | – | Aluminium enclosure. |
| Size and weight detail | Current maker support table gives 6.3 inches height, 14.4 inches width, 16.9 inches depth and 22 lb; main fields are direct unit conversions. Older Service Source differs at 15.6 × 36.5 × 43.0 cm and 9.97 kg. Weight varies with fitted devices. | – |
| Power supply | 230 W maximum continuous and 290 W peak input (Service Source). Voltage-selector settings cover 100–130 V or 200–240 V AC; 50–60 Hz. | – |
| In the box | Mac OS 8.0 originally; revised logic board requires Mac OS 8.1 and System Enabler 777. November 1997 month is supported by Apple’s November release confirming immediate G3 availability and the opened Apple Store notice describing actual sales. No exact first-delivery day is established. | 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. |
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