Apple Power Macintosh G3 Mini Tower vs Apple Power Mac G5 (2003)

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Power Macintosh G3 Mini Tower compared with Power Mac G5 (2003)

	ApplePower Macintosh G3 Mini Tower	ApplePower Mac G5 (2003)
Overview
Released
Released	November 1997	August 2003
Performance
Processor
Processor	PowerPC G3 233 MHz (Power Macintosh G3 Mini Tower), PowerPC G3 266 MHz (Power Macintosh G3 Mini Tower), PowerPC G3 300 MHz (Power Macintosh G3 Mini Tower) or PowerPC G3 333 MHz (Power Macintosh G3 Mini Tower)	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 3D RAGE II+ (2 MB), ATI 3D RAGE II+ (6 MB) and IX Micro 2D/3D PCI card (8 MB), Built-in graphics (6 MB SGRAM; factory revision varies), Built-in graphics (6 MB SGRAM) and IX Micro 2D/3D PCI card (8 MB) or ATI RAGE Pro Turbo (6 MB)	NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra (64 MB) or ATI Radeon 9600 Pro (64 MB)
Memory
Memory	32 MB, 64 MB or 128 MB	256 MB, 512 MB, 4 GB or 8 GB (better)
Storage
Storage	4 GB to 9 GB	80 GB to 160 GB (better)
CPU
CPU	233 and 266 MHz PowerPC G 3 with 512 KB backside L 2 cache; later 300 and 333 MHz with 1 MB. Apple’s exact Mini Tower Service Source confirms all four clocks and the 66 MHz system architecture. The factory processor supplier is not identified per machine.	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	Built-in 2D/3D accelerator with 2 MB SGRAM, expandable to 6 MB. Original maker sheet specifies ATI RAGE II+; later logic boards changed the accelerator. Optional IX Micro 128-bit PCI graphics card has 8 MB EDO VRAM. EveryMac identifies RAGE Pro Turbo in the later 333 MHz configuration.	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	Three 168-pin 64-bit JEDEC-standard 3.3 V unbuffered SDRAM DIMM slots; maker-supported maximum 384 MB. Stock memory of 32, 64 or 128 MB is tied to the factory ordering table. Unofficial 768 MB upgrades are excluded.	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	May 1998 Apple factory pairs: 233 MHz/32 MB/4 GB IDE (M6431LL/A); 266 MHz/32 MB/6 GB IDE/Zip/audio-video (M6142LL/A); 266 MHz/128 MB/4 GB Ultra Wide SCSI/additional 8 MB PCI graphics (M6459LL/A); 300 MHz/64 MB/4 GB Ultra Wide SCSI (M6572LL/A); 300 MHz/128 MB/two 4 GB Ultra Wide SCSI drives/additional 8 MB PCI graphics (M6494LL/A). All have 24x CD-ROM. Later 333 MHz/128 MB/9 GB/Zip is from EveryMac’s exact record. Optional drive/RAM cross-products are omitted. Internal 1.44 MB floppy and optional 2x DVD-ROM.	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	Three PCI slots accept three 12-inch cards; PERCH I/O card connector and modem slot. Optional SCSI, Ethernet and graphics cards consume PCI slots. Free internal storage bays vary by configuration.	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	Ethernet, headphone jack	3 × USB-A, Ethernet, headphone jack
Ethernet
Ethernet	0.01 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	One ADB, one DB-15 monitor, one DB-25 SCSI, two GeoPort-compatible serial ports, 10BASE-T Ethernet and stereo audio input/output. Optional 10/100BASE-T and FireWire cards are excluded from the standard count.	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	Built-in video supports up to 1600 × 1200, with colour depth depending on SGRAM. Optional PCI graphics card connects a second monitor.	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	–	Built-in speaker; external audio can use analogue or optical connections.
Keyboard and mouse
Keyboard and mouse	–	Apple Keyboard, Apple Mouse, USB extension cable, DVI-to-VGA adapter and modem cable.
Design and power
Type
Type	Tower	Tower
Weight
Weight	15.015 kg (better)	17.8 kg
Width × depth × height
Width × depth × height	243.84 × 452.12 × 386.08 mm	206 × 475 × 511 mm
Operating system
Operating system	macOS	macOS
Size and weight detail
Size and weight detail	Maker gives 33.1 lb and 15.2 × 9.6 × 17.8 inches height × width × depth. Main fields are direct conversions using 25.4 mm/inch and 0.45359237 kg/lb; actual weight depends on fitted devices.	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	240 W maximum; 100–240 V AC, 50–60 Hz (current Apple Mini Tower support table).	–
In the box
In the box	Mac OS 8.0 originally; revised stock includes Mac OS 8.1. November 1997 month is supported by Apple’s opened Store selling the new Desktop/Mini Tower, with stock deliveries in two working days and BTO about two weeks; no exact first delivery day is proven. Server G3 shares the chassis but its bundled server 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.