Apple Power Mac G4 (FW800) vs Apple Power Mac G5 (Early 2005)

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Power Mac G4 (FW800) compared with Power Mac G5 (Early 2005)

	ApplePower Mac G4 (FW800)	ApplePower Mac G5 (Early 2005)
Overview
Released
Released	January 2003	April 2005
Performance
Processor
Processor	PowerPC G4 1000 MHz (Power Mac FW800), 2 × PowerPC G4 1250 MHz (Power Mac FW800) or 2 × PowerPC G4 1420 MHz (Power Mac FW800)	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 or 2	2
Graphics
Graphics	NVIDIA GeForce4 MX (64 MB) or ATI Radeon 9000 Pro (64 MB)	ATI Radeon 9600 (128 MB) or ATI Radeon 9650 (256 MB)
Memory
Memory	256 MB, 512 MB or 2 GB	512 MB, 4 GB or 8 GB (better)
Storage
Storage	60 GB to 120 GB	160 GB to 250 GB (better)
CPU
CPU	Single 1 GHz, dual 1.25 GHz or dual 1.42 GHz PowerPC G4; each physical processor has 256 KB on-chip L2 cache. L3 cache is 1 MB on the single 1 GHz, 1 MB per processor on dual 1.25 GHz and 2 MB per processor on dual 1.42 GHz. Bus is 133 MHz on the single model, 167 MHz on dual models.	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	Single 1 GHz: NVIDIA GeForce4 MX with 64 MB DDR. Dual 1.25/1.42 GHz: ATI Radeon 9000 Pro with 64 MB DDR. Optional NVIDIA GeForce4 Titanium and ATI Radeon 9700 Pro, each 128 MB DDR; independent CTO options stay in details.	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	Single 1 GHz: 256 MB PC2100 DDR at 266 MHz; dual 1.25 GHz: 256 MB PC2700 DDR at 333 MHz; dual 1.42 GHz: 512 MB PC2700. Four DIMM slots support up to 2 GB. Configurations retain stock drives and GPUs at base and maximum supported memory.	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	Stock 60/80/120 GB 7200 rpm Ultra ATA/100 drives on 1/1.25/1.42 GHz respectively. Lower models have Combo DVD-ROM/CD-RW; top model has SuperDrive (DVD-R 4x, CD-R 16x). Four bays support two ATA/100 and two ATA/66 drives; two optical bays, one occupied. Optional 180 GB drive, SuperDrive on lower models and second Combo drive are not assumed in every configuration.	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 open full-length 64-bit 33 MHz PCI slots and AGP 4x graphics slot.	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	1 Gb/s	1 Gb/s
External displays
External displays	Up to 2	Up to 2
Front ports
Front ports	Headphone minijack and built-in speaker.	USB 2.0, FireWire 400 and headphone minijack.
Back ports
Back ports	One FireWire 800 and two FireWire 400 (15 W total), two chassis USB 1.1, Gigabit Ethernet, V.92 modem, ADC/DVI, audio line-in/out and Apple Pro Speakers minijack. Maker four-port USB total includes two ports on the keyboard. Optional AirPort Extreme 54 Mbps 802.11g card and Bluetooth 1.1 module.	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	Two displays in extended desktop or mirroring modes. ADC and DVI connectors with included DVI-to-VGA adapter; digital up to 1920 × 1200, analogue up to 1600 × 1200. A second ADC display needs a separately sold adapter.	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	Built-in speaker; optional Apple Pro Speakers.	Built-in speaker; analogue and optical audio connections.
Keyboard and mouse
Keyboard and mouse	Apple Pro Keyboard, Apple Pro Mouse, USB keyboard extension, DVI-to-VGA adapter and modem cable.	Apple Keyboard, Apple Mouse, USB extension cable and DVI-to-VGA adapter.
Design and power
Type
Type	Tower	Tower
Weight
Weight	19.1 kg (better)	20.2 kg
Width × depth × height
Width × depth × height	227 × 468 × 432 mm	–
Operating system
Operating system	macOS	macOS
Size and weight detail
Size and weight detail	Maker reference 19.1 kg varies with configuration and manufacturing. Height 43.2 cm, width 22.7 cm, depth 46.8 cm.	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	100–125 V or 200–240 V AC, 50–60 Hz; maximum current 6.5 A at low voltage or 7.5 A at high voltage. No wattage is supplied by this sheet.	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 X with Classic environment rather than native Mac OS 9 boot; iLife and productivity software. Single 1 GHz and dual 1.25 GHz were available on 28 January 2003; dual 1.42 GHz was announced for the following month and subsequently reviewed. Its later availability does not change the generation’s first on-sale date.	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.